Hi Rhea! You’re working at the Centre of Teaching and Learning (CTL) at CNC. Tell us a bit more about your work and the team.
I’ve been in education for most of my career. Before I joined CNC, I taught secondary school and worked as a teacher-librarian here in Prince George. Now, as an education developer, I support teaching faculty in helping them to become better at meeting their students’ needs.
My children often describe it as ‘teaching the teachers’, however it’s a bit more complex than that. I work with our instructors to develop their skills and get them the right tools and resources to best support and engage their students. In addition to the many instructor resources that CTL provides, faculty members often come to us with ideas or questions of their own.
Our CTL department works with the principles of inclusive and universal design. We know that all learners are unique and so we must design a flexible learning environment for all students. That means taking a holistic approach with multiple options of presenting information to students, engaging them in learning, and asking them to demonstrate their learning.
We want students’ personalities to show by choosing topics and assignments that have a personal influence or connection for them, and that they can continue to build and reflect upon throughout their study and career.
“If we have the opportunity through education
to create equal opportunities for students to succeed, we should do it.”
What are you working on right now?
My work tends to be quite topical. I would say that 30 per cent of my portfolio right now is around emerging educational technologies. Many instructors are eager to learn how they can integrate artificial intelligence (AI) thoughtfully in their classrooms and in their processes to improve their course delivery, planning and workload. We’re also looking at how they can teach their students to use AI while maintaining academic integrity and creativity.
You recently got invited to an educational development conference in Kenya. How did that come about?
When I started my job here at CNC, I wanted to get a deeper understanding of what centres for teaching and learning across the world do and how our own CTL aligns with some of those beneficial practices and ideas.
As I kept reading through different articles, I came across something called the
International Consortium for Educational Development. It’s a global organization that provides a community for educational developers like me.
When I saw they were inviting speakers for their upcoming
conference in Kenya, I submitted an abstract on the question that had occupied my thoughts for a while:
how do we assess the role and impact of educational developers in higher education? I wasn’t expecting anything as it was my first time doing that type of conference abstract. But I got an invitation to speak and ended up having a phenomenal time with people from around the globe.
How was it to represent CNC at an international conference?
It was a very humbling experience to hear what education developers at institutions large and small are doing to support their teachers. On an international scale, there is somewhat of an internalized bias towards smaller or northern-located institutions when you’re sharing where you’re from.
It was interesting to hear and see that higher education across the planet is challenged with the same issues, whether it’s a world-famous school, one in the middle of Kenya or in Northern B.C.
I had conversations with educational developers from around 50 different countries, and they were struck by the great work that CNC and our instructors are doing. For me, it was so energizing to share these bite-sized pieces of best practices with others.
What conference learnings did you bring back to Prince George with you?
Something that came out of the preparation for my own session and that was reiterated repeatedly is how relational our jobs are. As education developers, we’re in this sweet spot of being generous peers to the faculty that we work with.
We won’t always have the numbers and stats to prove the value of our work. So the stories of impact from instructors and students are really important for us. No student will be talking about how their instructor increased their pass rate by X percentage. What they’ll be talking about is the connection they made with that faculty member and how that impacted their learning journey.
At CNC, we’re seeking to incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing in how we educate and operate. How was the discussion around Indigenization of education at the conference?
I got to listen to perspectives from many institutions and countries—from the Americas and Africa to Eurasia and Oceania—that may be a bit further along than we are here in B.C. or Canada. The keynotes and discussions about Indigenizing and decolonizing were big and challenging. It’s a conversation that doesn’t provide you with immediate answers or ready-made solutions on how to do this in an authentic way that honours Indigenous Peoples.
I’m excited that CNC recently rolled out its
Indigenous Education Plan and I know it’s work that is not happening instantly or seamlessly. We’ll have to do our very best, learn from our mistakes and that of other institutions, and work on progress together.
Any final tips for employees looking to further their professional development at CNC?
We have excellent
professional development support here at CNC, and I think it shows in our practice. When we get better, our students get better. Specially for faculty, in August, we’re kicking off a Back-to-School bootcamp series to get ready for the fall semester.
Additionally, we have our Foundations of Teaching and Learning series, i and there will be a variety of Communities of Practice on offer, including ‘Sustainable Teaching Practices’ and ‘Authentic Assessments’. The team of educational developers in CTL is always happy to help with big questions about teaching and learning so please
reach out to us!
I would also say that if you got in interest in something, reach out to people and find your group or professional body. Following the conference, I’m now part of a global thinktank that is going to look into humanizing assessments that move away from skills-only teaching. The idea is to design culturally responsive lessons and curricula that embrace students’ full abilities and ingenuity.
It’s important that you find other people that you can share your ideas and expertise with. After all, learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum.