Getting Started
New to teaching at McMaster? Welcome! To help you get started in your new role, we’ve developed the New Instructor Handbook with information on the university, your role, and teaching and learning at McMaster.
Topics include:
- McMaster’s course policies
- Institutionally supported teaching technologies
- Considerations for university teaching
- Accessibility and accommodations
- Working with a teaching team
- Teaching Development Planning Tool
The New Faculty Orientation is an opportunity to hear from senior administration about the wider university goals regarding teaching and learning and engage in discussion with McMaster faculty and staff about teaching experiences on campus.
This year’s event will be Thursday, August 17, 2023. Registration details are coming soon.
Resources to Expand your Teaching and Learning Knowledge
Each Faculty has a designated key contact from the MacPherson Institute. You can contact these Educational Developers for:
- guidance or feedback on teaching portfolio development, including teaching philosophy statement and evidence of teaching effectiveness
- consultation and resources on specific teaching methods and course design
- opportunities for classroom observation (being visited by us or visiting an experienced teacher’s class) and instructional skills training
- evaluating and improving course design/delivery through the MacPherson Institute’s course refinement service (many of our leading teachers have taken advantage of this service)
We also offer a number of programs, including intensive workshops and the Teaching and Learning Certificates of Completion Program, which provide a strong foundation in different pedagogical approaches, as well as the opportunity to practice your instructional skills and access supportive networks.
Within the MacPherson Institute accordion, add the following text below the existing text:
You can use the Teaching Development Planning Tool to help you plan relevant and appropriate teaching development opportunities over the first four years of their teaching practice. Educational developers are also available to help with articulating your teaching goals and identifying appropriate teaching and learning activities.
McMaster Continuing Education has partnered with Ed2Go to provide professional development activities for instructors! Take a look at their course offerings here, which include “Creating the Inclusive Classroom” and “Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities.”
As well, McMaster Continuing Education has a partnership with You Got Class, which offers three courses to help instructors develop online courses: Designing Online Instruction, Advanced Teaching Online, and Fostering Online Discussion.
UTS is the central IT services unit at McMaster. They provide support for several IT tools and services that are essential for all campus community members, including MacID, email, and productivity tools. In addition: they offer many new services that have been rapidly introduced to help instructors teach and engage students in the remote learning environment.
LinkedIn Learning is free for all McMaster faculty, staff, and students. It contains training and just-in-time resources on a variety of topics, including this Teams for Instructors playlist. Learn more about LinkedIn Learning on the UTS website here.
The Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship supports a wide range of research and teaching activities across campus. Sherman Centre staff and affiliates consult with researchers on projects and grant applications, at any stage of development, by helping expand methodologies to include digital approaches.
The Centre offers curriculum development by collaborating with instructors to integrate digital tools and methods into undergraduate and graduate classrooms. And their annual Do More With Digital Scholarship workshop series (open to students, researchers, and instructors) provides introductory training on a variety of digital tools in an interactive, hands-on learning environment.
Contact scds@mcmaster.ca to inquire further or to book a consultation session.
Resources to Improve the Student Experience
The McMaster Equity and Inclusion Office has a wealth of programming and resources available on their website linked here. These resources provide more information on how to ensure educational experiences are equitable and inclusive. In addition, the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office’s website is a great resource for instructors looking for prevention education and response training.
Education needs to be accessible to all students, but many instructors voice concerns about how to make sure content is accessible. The Accessibility Hub’s Training page here contains a wealth of resources on this subject, including Accessible Education Training for Instructional Staff, available here.
Free for McMaster employees, Mental Health First Aid Training is a great way to ensure you are well prepared to support students’ whole persons. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a two-day interactive course with a focus on adults with mental health problems. Practical skills are taught using a model that is easy to apply in real life settings. Previous experience dealing with mental health issues is not required.
Professor Hippo-on-Campus was created by a team at McMaster to support instructors interacting with students in varying conditions of mental health. As demand for student mental health support and services is increasing, it is important that instructors feel prepared and are comfortable addressing student needs in ways that are consistent with and appropriate to their roles. The Professor Hippo-on-Campus program has been designed and tested to help accomplish this goal in an accessible and engaging format.
The SAS website contains some great information for instructors, including a guide to acknowledging accommodations and a list of resources to support instructors who wish to learn more about accessibility and supporting students with disabilities.
The Student Support and Case Management Office (SSCM) provides support to students throughout their time at university, providing resources to manage issues as well as crisis prevention and intervention for students who may be having trouble on campus. The SSCM has two primary areas of focus: administering the Code of Student Rights and Responsibilities (the Code), and providing support to students through Case Management services. The SSCM is available for consultation and can assist if you are concerned about a student’s behaviour within the learning environment (in-person or online) and/or are concerned about a student who may be experiencing multiple barriers and/or challenges.
Resources to Share with your Students
This page is a collection of resources that instructors can share with their students to help with the transition to university life. Students can consult these references for advice, tips, and strategies to succeed at McMaster.
New faculty members face a balancing act in their new jobs and enter our programming with a variety of learning needs. To help navigate this situation, we can help new faculty map out relevant teaching development opportunities for themselves over the first five years of their teaching practice.
Prior to the consultation, faculty will be asked to reflect on their teaching values and beliefs, identify immediate and longer-term teaching development goals, and describe prior knowledge about teaching and learning in higher education
In the consultation, the faculty member will work with an educational developer to develop a suggested timetable for the achievement of both short- and longer-term teaching goals.
To request a Teaching Development Plan consult, get in touch with your Faculty’s key contact.
CUPE 3906 represents Sessional Faculty at McMaster responsible for the delivery of degree credit courses. The University and CUPE collaborate on a Sessional Faculty Notes document that contains important resources for Sessional Faculty and Hourly Rated Sessional Music Faculty, including information about parking, e-mail access, grade submission, the appeals process, student resources, teaching resources, and more.