Welcome
We offer multi-day workshops in the spring each year that provide instructors the opportunity to benefit from intensive teaching development, including the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW), Course (re)Design Workshop (CrDW), and Assessment Development workshop (ADW). These workshops are open to educators at McMaster University.
Click the tabs above to learn more about this programming.
Instructional Skills Workshop
The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) is an intensive multi-day workshop that’s offered in a small group setting (4-5 peers) and is designed to enhance teaching effectiveness. Participants design and deliver three lessons and receive verbal, written, and video feedback from their peers who have been learners in the lessons.
Lessons are 10 minutes in length and can be either in the area of expertise of the participant or an area of interest broadly. Using an intensive experiential learning approach, participants are provided with information on the theory and practice of teaching adult learners, the selection and writing of intended learning outcomes with accompanying lesson plans, techniques for eliciting learner participation, and suggestions for evaluating learning. Reflection and examination of one’s teaching practices are encouraged.
Each participant must prepare and present three lessons and provide feedback to every member of their small group in a timely fashion to receive their Instructional Skills Workshop certificate.
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:
- Construct intended learning outcomes (ILOs) that are specific, measurable, and action-oriented,
- Incorporate active learning strategies into lessons,
- Plan lessons using the BOPPPS model of lesson planning,
- Deliver lessons using the BOPPPS model,
- Collect feedback from learners about lesson delivery,
- Utilize feedback from learners to improve lesson delivery, and
- Provide valuable and considerate constructive feedback on others’ lessons.
Format
Participants will attend large group sessions and then will break into smaller subgroups to prepare and present three different lessons. During each of the lessons, you will: set daily goals for yourself, deliver a 10-minute lesson, receive feedback on your lesson from your peers, and provide your peers with feedback on their lessons. Opportunity to reflect on how you could improve upon your lessons will be provided. Feedback will be provided in a safe and encouraging environment where all are learning in the process.
Assessments
Completion of the workshop is assessed on a Pass or Fail basis. To pass, you must satisfactorily do the following:
- Attend all sessions in full,
- Plan and deliver three 10-minute lessons using the BOPPPS model of lesson planning,
- Utilize feedback to brainstorm how you would improve upon your lessons, and
- Provide valuable and considerate constructive feedback on others’ lessons.
Information Box Group
Learn More
The case for Instructional Skills Workshops and teaching development explored in an article on University Affairs.
Information Box Group
Instructional Skills Workshop
ISW, Professional Development
Feb 18, 2025 to Feb 21, 2025
8:30AM to 4:30PM
Course (re)Design Workshop
The Course (re)Design Workshop (CrDW) is an intensive, multi-day workshop that aims to engage and support educators in designing or redesigning a course. The CrDW includes facilitated sessions on course design topics, including constructive alignment, intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment. The CrDW also includes facilitated peer feedback in small groups. The structure of the CrDW encourages participants to focus on a single course design while developing more general skills applicable to any course. The course design principles discussed will be applicable to any modality of offering a course (in-person, blended, and online).
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this workshop, participants should have designed a constructively aligned, learner-centred and evidence-informed course. Moreover, they will have:
- Explained and accounted for the alignment between course and program level learning outcomes,
- Identified campus policies and resources useful for implementing individual course design features and pedagogies, and
- Shared and received feedback on their course designs with interdisciplinary peers.
Format
The CrDW is designed to be highly supportive, collegial, and collaborative. The workshop features large group sessions during which participants explore theories and course design principles. These are complemented by interactive small group sessions designed so that each participant receives peer feedback on specific aspects of their course design. Opportunities to consult with the facilitators and additional teaching and learning support staff are also available.
Who Can Participate
You are eligible to register if you are:
- Teaching or contributing to a course that will be offered during the upcoming academic year,
- Eager to learn more about a scholarly and learner-centred approach to course design, and
- Able to commit to the dates of the CrDW in full.
Upcoming Dates
There are no upcoming dates confirmed for this workshop. If you are interested in being notified when dates become available, please email Emily Hynes (hynese@mcmaster.ca) to be added to a waitlist.
Assessment Development Workshop
The Assessment Development Workshop (ADW) is an intensive, multi-day workshop that facilitates and supports the design and development of effective and inclusive assessments.
Participants will engage in facilitated topic sessions, collaborative reflective teaching practice – including giving and receiving feedback – and self-guided learning to enhance or redesign an existing assessment or start from the beginning and create a new one.
The facilitated sessions will focus on topics including foundational design topics like: constructive alignment, universal design for learning (UDL), evaluation frameworks, and designing or adapting assessments for contextual considerations like generative AI and equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA).
Workshop Objective
Participants will apply learning, feedback from peers – informed and inspired by facilitated topics sessions – and input from workshop facilitators as they design or redesign an assessment and its corresponding evaluation framework that:
- Constructively aligns with one or more course-level intended learning outcomes,
- Adheres to the principles of constructive alignment, universal design for learning (UDL), and accessibility,
- Follows McMaster’s Guidelines on the Use of Generative AI in Teaching and Learning, as well as any course-level policy regarding the usage of generative AI, and
- Benefits from both reflection and constructive feedback (offered by peers and those experienced in educational development).
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:
- Design or redesign an assessment in keeping with instructional and learning design principles,
- Design or redesign a corresponding evaluation framework in keeping with instructional and learning design principles,
- Engage in reflective teaching practice by giving, receiving, and reflecting on feedback related to assessment and evaluation design, and
- Apply various assessment design approaches and considerations, including generative AI.
Requirements
Participants will need to have an existing course assessment to enhance, or an idea for new assessment for the first day of the workshop. There is no summative evaluation for the workshop, however workshop completion will require participants to:
- Attend all sessions in full,
- Redesign / design an existing assessment and corresponding evaluation framework,
- Utilize feedback to brainstorm how they would redesign / design their assessment and corresponding evaluation framework, and
- Provide valuable and considerate constructive feedback on others’ assessment and evaluation designs.
Who Can Participate
You are eligible to register if you are:
- Teaching or contributing to a course that will be offered during the upcoming academic year,
- Eager to learn more about an instructional and learning design approach to assessment and evaluation framework design, and
- Able to commit to the dates of the ADW in full.