Professional Development for Teaching activities support all of McMaster’s educators (TAs, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, instructors, faculty, and staff) as they strive to enhance their teaching and provide a positive student learning experience.
The MacPherson Institute designs and delivers a broad range of programming for educators throughout their careers from first-time teaching assistants to those preparing for teaching awards. Our goal is to provide flexible teaching development activities that are relevant to instructors at different career stages and with unique disciplinary contexts.
*524 of 1011 total full-time faculty members engaged in meaningful pedagogical discussions or activities during this period (includes consultations, workshops, events, retreats, meetings, and IQAP support.) Please note: this number is an estimate based on current tracking capabilities.
***Educators is intended to include, but not limited to, community partners, faculty, graduate students, librarians, postdoctoral fellows, sessional instructors, staff, teaching assistants, and undergraduate students who are involved in teaching in some capacity.
Over the course of the Evaluation of Teaching Advisory Committee’s work in 2021 and subsequent 2022 implementation groups for revising McMaster’s Record of Activities, creating resources for the Peer Observation of Teaching process, and reframing Student Evaluations of Teaching to focus on students’ learning experience, it became evident that there are many projects underway at the institution to make meaningful enhancements to the work of valuing or evaluating teaching at McMaster. To coordinate and connect stakeholders involved in these various projects, the MacPherson Institute established a Valuing and Evaluating Teaching (VET) Hub. The purpose of this network was to facilitate connections across grassroots and centralized initiatives led by individuals or teams. The VET Hub will help foster the exchange of ideas, collaboration, and the identification of common challenges. The network also enables a direct line of communication with McMaster leadership and the broader university community, ensuring that their contributions to McMaster’s culture of teaching excellence are recognized.
Curriculum Development activities focus on enhancing student learning experiences through academic program reviews and new program development. These supports are grounded in a philosophical approach that values student-centeredness and evidence-informed decision-making.
Departments have access to support for the development and refinement of program learning outcomes, curriculum mapping, administration of site visits, coordination of the Student Curriculum Consultants program and guidance on the Quality Assurance and institutional curriculum approvals processes. Support can also be provided to programs as they implement areas of improvement or enhancement identified during the Quality Assurance process.
Digital Pedagogy activities connect the teaching and learning community at McMaster to approaches and skills to help transform teaching using digital methods, tools and media with a goal of accessible and engaging student learning experiences.
The MacPherson Institute provides pedagogical training, guidance and expertise in online, blended and open learning design, as well as the integration and use of educational technologies. Instructors can also seek advice on the pedagogical use of institutionally supported educational technology tools, Open Educational Resources and tech-enabled teaching and learning grants.
The MacPherson Institute provides training and support for MacVideo, McMaster’s video portal, which allows users to make videos and other media available online to anyone they choose.
In 2023, the MacPherson Institute launched 3 new EdTech Stations to support the development of teaching and learning content. Instructors can use these spaces to develop learning modules, create video and audio content, explore virtual and augmented reality tools, design web-based content and much more. These private rooms are equipped with a variety of design software and educational technology hardware to make production easy and accessible.
Open Education Week
Hosted by Open Education Global (OEG), Open Education Week is an annual, week-long event that aims to raise awareness, showcase initiatives and highlight open education efforts in teaching and learning worldwide. Open Education Week provides instructors, practitioners and students with an opportunity to gain an understanding of open educational practices (OEP) and be inspired by the wealth of open educational resources (OER) being developed by the local and global communities.
OER Grant Program
14 faculty, instructional assistants and staff received grants to support 9 projects to foster the creation of free online textbooks and other openly licensed digital education materials in 2023-2024. The OER Grant program, supported by the Office of the Provost, McMaster Libraries, McMaster Students Union and the MacPherson Insititute, provides successful applicants with funding to create or adapt and customize OERs, enabling new pedagogical approaches and cost savings for students.
Over the past year, the MacPherson Institute has provided a variety of resources and workshops focused on enhancing accessibility practices in course design and delivery.
The MacPherson Institute supports, administers and provides training for a number of Learning Technologies tools including McMaster University’s Learning Management System: Avenue to Learn. Learning Technologies continue to play an important role in the student experience as instructors adapt to hybrid learning environments and leverage media in their classrooms both in-person and online.
The MacPherson Institute provides pedagogical training on a variety of educational technology tools that are institutionally supported.
In the fall of 2023, the Course Outline Library was launched to support a streamlined and simplified creation and archiving process for undergraduate course outlines across all Faculties.
The MacPherson Institute has helped with the implementation of the tool which included building custom templates to address unique use-cases in faculties and departments, providing a variety of training opportunities and designing resources to assist with onboarding to the platform.
In 2023, the MacPherson Institute classroom space was updated to meet the standards set for McMaster classrooms elsewhere on campus.
Updates include:
Scholarly Teaching activities enhance teaching and learning by supporting, generating, disseminating, promoting and recognizing research that has the capacity to inform educational initiatives and student learning.
The MacPherson Institute’s research successes over the past five years are attributed to the rapid uptake of the Student Partners Program; successful support for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) capacity through grant funding, workshops, communities of practice, conferences and individual consultations; development of research programs focused on key areas of teaching and learning practice including equity and inclusion in higher education and student-faculty partnership; contributions to educational development in international contexts; and, the establishment of research collaborations and networks that support local and international research and practice more broadly.
In 2024, the MacPherson Institute planned and executed the Students as Partners Community Forum pilot event. The initiative brought together students and educators who have created, planned to create or have participated in student partnership programs within and beyond McMaster. The pilot events ran on May 28 and June 26, 2024.
The International Journal for Students as Partners (IJSaP) is a journal about learning and teaching together in higher education. IJSaP explores new perspectives, practices, and policies regarding how students and staff are working in partnership to enhance learning and teaching in higher education. Shared responsibility for teaching and learning is the underlying premise of students as partners, and IJSaP is produced using a student-staff partnership approach.
The MacPherson Institute recognizes and celebrates teaching and learning through a variety of awards and grant opportunities. Grants and awards support in acknowledging exceptional contributions to teaching as a professional practice and in some cases provide financial support to research or implement a teaching and learning initiative.
In partnership with the President’s Office, the MacPherson Institute supports the President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teaching and Learning.
The MacPherson Institute awards Leadership in Teaching and Learning Fellowships each year to faculty champions who act as leaders and mentors to advance improvement in teaching and learning and to enhance student learning experiences. The award for fellows is up to $15,000 over two years.
The MacPherson Institute supports the Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award each year. This award builds on the connection between research and teaching by engaging undergraduate students in research to enhance the learning environment and recognizes an innovative scholar within the first eight years of their research career.
In partnership with the University Library, the MacPherson Institute supports the Open Education Resources Grant program.
In partnership with the Office of the Vice Provost (Teaching and Learning), the MacPherson Institute contributes funding and support for the implementation of the Partnered in Teaching and Learning Strategy.
2023 Grant Recipients
In order to cultivate an environment where learning deeply matters and teaching is valued and recognized by the collective McMaster community, the MacPherson Institute coordinates and delivers a variety of conferences and events throughout the year. These opportunities offer members of the teaching and learning community at McMaster and beyond to learn and grow together, to build connections across institutions and disciplines, and to celebrate teaching as a professional practice.
In December 2023, the MacPherson Institute hosted the annual Innovations in Education Conference with a theme focused on “Taking risks and embracing challenge.” The theme aimed to foster a dynamic exchange of ideas, experiences, and best practices among educators, researchers, administrators, and other stakeholders in the field of teaching and learning. The purpose of the event was to enable an exploration of the ways educators are thinking outside the box and addressing novel challenges by taking risks to enhance the student learning experience.
The conference featured programming that explored the opportunities and challenges that arise from innovation, such as personalized learning, collaborative teaching models, interdisciplinary approaches, and inclusive education.
Keynote speaker, Ronald A. Beghetto, delivered a timely and relevant session titled “Cultivating Creative Agency in the Face of Uncertainty, Risk and Artificial Intelligence,” to initiate an engaging conversation about the possibilities and challenges faced by the teaching and learning field in the wake of this new technology.
For the fourth consecutive year, the MacPherson Institute brought together educators, faculty members, instructors and staff from across McMaster University to participate in professional development programming and celebrations of teaching as a professional practice for Teaching and Learning Month in May. The MacPherson Institute supports this initiative by coordinating and promoting events offered by the MacPherson Institute and various units across campus into a month-long event series with a single point of registration. In 2023, 12 campus partners contributed teaching and learning events with over 500 attendees engaging in sessions throughout the month.
To support McMaster faculties, departments and programs in bringing educators together to share ideas and experiences in teaching and learning, the MacPherson Institute offered $10,000 in funding and in-kind support to run 4 teaching and learning events reaching nearly 200 participants.
In partnership with the Educational Development Community in Canada, the MacPherson Institute supported the development and execution of the EDCC Conference in February 2024.