In order to cultivate an environment where learning deeply matters and teaching is valued and recognized by the collective McMaster community, the MacPherson Institute hosts a variety of conferences and events throughout the year. These gatherings provide opportunities for educators at McMaster and beyond to learn together, build cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional connections, and celebrate teaching as a vital professional practice.
Innovations in Education Conference
Each year the MacPherson Institute hosts the Innovations in Education Conference, an event that is open to McMaster and other post-secondary institutions, designed to explore current issues, trends and innovations in teaching and learning. In 2024, the conference saw the largest and most engaged audience to date, attracting over 265 participants—nearly half from outside the McMaster teaching and learning community. The two-day virtual conference focused on the theme of “Creating Belonging Through Inclusive and Accessible Learning Experiences,” which featured 51 dynamic sessions selected from over 70 submissions, including workshops, panels, research presentations, and two keynote speakers. All sessions were recorded and remain available on Zoom Events until December 2025, extending the reach and impact of the conference.
Information Box Group
Lightning Rounds
Workshops
Panel Discussions
Teaching and Learning Month
Each year the MacPherson Institute helps coordinate and promote teaching and learning activities in May to reach educators, faculty members, instructors and staff from across McMaster University. Teaching and Learning Month is an initiative to help inform educators about professional development programming opportunities and to celebrate teaching as a professional practice.
The month-long event series includes a mix of in-person, hybrid and virtual sessions with a single point of registration hosted by the MacPherson Institute and promoted across campus. In 2024, we saw the highest number of events submitted and the greatest engagement since launching the initiative in 2020. 19 campus partners contributed teaching and learning events with over 560 attendees engaging in sessions throughout the month.
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Total Events in May 2024
Events Offered by the MacPherson Institute
Events Offered by Campus Partners
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Attendees
Teaching and Learning Month Website Views
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MacPherson-Supported Partnered Events
To support McMaster faculties, departments and programs in bringing educators together to share ideas and experiences in teaching and learning, the MacPherson Institute collaborated to support several teaching and learning events with campus partners.
Generative AI: Instructor Panel Series
The MacPherson Institute helped support several panel discussions about generative AI in teaching and learning.
- In November 2024, 55 participants engaged in the Generative AI for Assessment and Evaluation session, which presented critical commentary on the potential impacts of generative AI, particularly on assessment and evaluation.
- In Mach 2025, in partnership with the Student Success Centre, 36 participants engaged in the Generative AI and Writing Pedagogies: Instructor Panel, which presented critical commentary on the potential impacts of generative AI on various aspects of teaching and writing.
Curation as a Teaching Strategy Workshop
In partnership with the McMaster University Library, the MacPherson Institute supported a workshop about the process of finding, evaluating, and contextualizing, freely-available, online learning materials to create rich learning experiences for students. 7 participants attended this workshop as part of Open Education Week 2025.
Visiting Scholars and Knowledge Exchanges
In 2024-2025 the MacPherson Institute received several requests from international institutions to connect and visit our office. Visitors from these institutions were interested to learn more about organizational structure, strategic approaches, professional development programs and student partnership.
University of Birmingham
Professor Michael Grove (University of Birmingham) visited McMaster University in October 2024 for four days, attending meetings with MacPherson Institute and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Topics included Generative AI, student feedback, educational research, and various teaching and learning professional development programming.
University of Kentucky: Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment
A team led by Dr. Lou Hirsch (University of Kentucky) visited the MacPherson Institute in February 2025 to learn about our flagship programs in student partnerships, Educational Developer apprenticeships, quality assurance and curriculum development, and our key contact liaison model of service delivery.
“These sorts of exchange opportunities are the only real way to learn about other programs and get to see people doing good work in their own environment. I thought the meeting was perfect for us. The MacPherson Institute is highly organized and uniquely structured for great impact at McMaster. In addition to the strategic thinking embodied by all the program leads, everyone we met with was super nice and really, truly, deeply cared about their colleagues, peers, and students.”
– University of Kentucky Visitors
Visiting Scholars Impact
Hosting visiting scholars provided a unique opportunity to exchange knowledge and share experiences. The MacPherson Institute learned more about how other institutions are structured and how their programming is delivered, while also sharing its own innovative and collaborative approaches to teaching and learning. These in-depth conversations also remind us of the universal challenges and shared aspirations that unite educators across the world while offering a chance to engage in rich dialogue with peers who bring fresh perspectives to our shared work.
“These conversations helped us reflect critically on our own practices and affirm the importance of creating space for reciprocal learning. Some of the key takeaways included the value of making student-staff partnerships visible, the importance of supporting educational leadership in teaching through programming opportunities, and the power of storytelling in advancing educational development.”
– MacPherson Institute Staff