Welcome
Welcome to the MacPherson Institute.
We collaborate to explore, enhance, support, and recognize teaching and learning experiences at McMaster.
We offer a wide variety of programs, workshops, services and supports to all members of the McMaster community to cultivate an environment where learning deeply matters, and teaching is valued and recognized. Through these activities, educators have the opportunity to build teaching skills, develop and redesign courses, gain knowledge of educational technology tools and much more.
Since 2013, the MacPherson Institute has experienced considerable growth and change. We have expanded the quality and quantity of our supports and services; developed partnerships with educators across the McMaster community; and advanced the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at McMaster and beyond.
In 2018-19 we embarked on a journey to re-discover what the teaching and learning communities wanted from us. The self-study process helped us create a roadmap for our strategy moving forward that resulted in our new Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan outlines three key pillars that will help guide our mission and mandate moving forward.
Partnerships: We will continue to connect and collaborate with the McMaster communities.
Programs and Services: We will continue to support teaching through scholarship, supports and activities to foster positive student-centred learning.
Process: We will commit to procedures and policies that support the Strategic Plan and the culture of McMaster and the MacPherson Institute.
Teaching and learning are the heart of what we do. Together with you, we look forward to building on past successes and developing new initiatives to address the teaching and learning priorities that have been identified by our community. We will continue to ask, listen and respond to feedback as we continue to grow, adapt and change.
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Tribute to Paul R. MacPherson
Paul R. MacPherson leaves behind a legacy of incredible impact. His support and generosity reached many students, instructors and staff at McMaster University and beyond. Over the years, he contributed to the teaching and learning community in many ways, including in 2016, when he generously donated $5 million to invest in the development of great teachers at McMaster. In recognition of this substantial gift, the “McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning” was renamed the “Paul R. MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Excellence in Teaching.”
The Susan Vajoczki Legacy Fund
The Susan Vajoczki Legacy Fund has been established at McMaster to honour Sue’s memory and distinguished academic career. The fund will be used to create an ongoing undergraduate scholarship to help talented students pursue research in Geography and Earth Sciences, pedagogical research, and evidence-based teaching and learning projects. For those wishing to do so, donations may be made to the Susan Vajoczki Legacy Fund, c/o Advancement Office, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L8 or may be made online.
Celebrating 50 Years
2022 is an important year for us—it marks 50 years of teaching and learning at McMaster University. The MacPherson Institute was established in 1972 as the Shell Canada Centre for Science Teachers, but has been known by many names over the years including: the Instructional Development Centre (IDC), the Learning Technologies Resource Centre (LTRC), the Centre for Leadership in Learning (CLL), and the McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (MIIETL). As one of the first teaching centres in Canada to reach this 50 year milestone, we are excited to share this exciting anniversary at the Innovations in Education Conference with our valued teaching and learning community.
To commemorate this anniversary, and in alignment with our mission to “collaborate to explore, enhance, support, and recognize teaching and learning experiences at McMaster,” we are celebrating 50 years of teaching and learning stories at McMaster with the creation of “Where learning deeply matters: Reflections on the past, present, and future of teaching and McMaster University.” This anthology commemorates the history of teaching and learning at McMaster University and the many iterations of the MacPherson Institute since 1972.
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Where learning deeply matters: Reflections on the past, present, and future of teaching and McMaster University
The collected chapters in this anthology span decades of teaching and learning experiences at McMaster, represent a wide-range of perspectives (over 75 authors), and offer provocations for our teaching and learning future. This book would not have been possible without the energy and commitment of the editors, Dr. Alise de Bie and Dr. Cathy Grise, student partners, authors and many staff contributors. We owe particular gratitude to Dr. Alise de Bie, whose contributions to this book have been extraordinary. Readers – those in the present and those in the future – will benefit from Alise’s vision for this work and dedication to its execution.
The publication of this book coincides with the first day of the Innovations in Education Conference, hosted by the Paul R. MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation and Excellence in Teaching and Learning.