Teaching and Learning Month

Beginning in 2020, the MacPherson Institute organized several campus partners to collectively promote campus-wide events related to teaching and learning in May. Feedback from those partners indicated that the initiative was helpful and that they would participate again in the future. 

This year, Teaching and Learning Month will focus on providing professional development and celebrating teaching and learning. With your help we can reach a wide audience across the university to ensure our educators, faculty members, instructors and staff have a comprehensive view of the various activities happening on campus related to teaching and learning this May.  

What is Teaching and Learning Month?

• The month of May tends to be a time of year when educators are interested in participating in additional learning opportunities and professional development.  
• Many campus units, including the MacPherson Institute, offer an array of training opportunities related to teaching and learning during this time.  
• To build awareness and to create a network of communications channels sharing a comprehensive collection of all the events happening, the MacPherson Institute has reached out to campus partners to understand what events they are offering.  
• As a result, the MacPherson Institute will offer support in promoting these events and ask our partners to contribute to promoting Teaching and Learning Month through their own communications channels to raise the profile of all events.  

What kind of events can be included in Teaching and Learning Month promotion?

• Any events that are related to teaching and learning at McMaster. 
• Event audiences can include (but are not limited to): educators, instructors, faculty members, staff, administrators, grad students, TAs, sessional instructors, librarians, etc.  
• Topics can include (but are not limited to): technology, teaching pedagogy, course design, instructional skills, inclusivity, diversity, equity, accessibility, and sustainability.  
• While events with a broad audience are preferred, we recognize there are faculty- and unit-specific events/programming that may generate a diverse and broad audience.  
• If you aren’t sure if your event would be a good fit—please connect with us!
  

Why should I partner with the MacPherson Institute?

• Partnering with the MacPherson Institute means we will help promote your event through our website, e-newsletter, social media and cross promote throughout May during our own MacPherson Institute teaching and learning training events. 
• We will also ask you to promote Teaching and Learning Month through your communications channels, to help generate further awareness about the variety of programming available across the university.  
• All partner events will be listed on the MacPherson Institute – Teaching and Learning Month webpage for easy reference throughout May.  

 How can I partner?

• If you are interested in partnering with us to promote Teaching and Learning Month, send us an email at hynese@mcmaster.ca. The MacPherson Institute will follow up with more instructions about how you can share the details about your upcoming programming and event(s). 
• If you are planning to offer training/events in May but aren’t ready with all the details – that’s fine! Let us know that you plan to participate, and we’ll determine how to connect with you when you are ready.  

 When is the deadline to submit events/programming?

• We will continue accepting events up until April 26th – but we cannot guarantee that events submitted after this time will be included in all promotion. 
  

Who else is participating?

• We are actively reaching out to campus partners now and will be able to share more details about who is participating in the coming weeks.  
• Last year our partners included CUPE 3906, the Equity and Inclusion Office, Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship, McMaster Libraries, McMaster Students Union, the Office of Community Engagement, and the McMaster University Waterloo Regional Campus.