ctl 2007 newsletter

Teaching and Learning at Queen’s

A publication of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Winter 2007

From the Director

A very happy new year to everyone! I hope you have all had an enjoyable and restful break for the holiday season, whatever holy day, if any, you observed. I am always

excited at the beginning of a new calendar year. It is a time of hope, anticipation, renewed energy, and new resolve to achieve personal and professional goals. It is an opportune time for refl ection on the previous year: on goals accomplished, mistakes made and lessons learnt.

A new year also provides an excellent opportunity for us to refl ect, individually and collectively, on the state of teaching and learning

at Queen’s. How do we facilitate student learning in our separate roles, and how are we doing as an institution in promoting a culture where excellence in teaching is valued, nurtured and recognized? What implications will the new Strategic Plan have for our teaching and learning in the New Year? At the Centre for Teaching and Learning, we applaud the Plan’s emphasis on student learning and we are enthusiastic about continuing to off er an array of programs and services to help all who teach in their eff orts to engage students and enhance their learning.

Through this newslett er, the Centre for Teaching and Learning intends to provide an opportunity for the entire Queen’s community to engage in public discussions about teaching and learning. We invite contributions from all of our readers. Do you have any ideas about how we can celebrate excellence in teaching and learning on a regular basis? Have you read a useful or controversial article or book on some aspect of teaching? Do you have a funny or inspiring classroom experience that you would like to share? Is there a classroom problem that you think other readers might be able to help you solve? Have you designed and implemented an innovative activity or a research project to enhance student learning or to increase understanding of the teaching and learning process? If you have answered in the affi rmative to any of these questions, I encourage you to write about your problem, story, teaching tip, activity, book review, or research project, and submit it for possible publication in a future issue of this newslett er. We welcome contributions on innovations, research, personal insights and experiences that promote excellence in teaching and improve the teaching-learning connection in any discipline.

In this inaugural issue, the three recipients of the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award to date share their perspectives on teaching. Made possible through generous gift s from the TD Bank and the Queen’s University Chancellor, in whose honour it is named, this award recognizes teaching that has had an outstanding infl uence on the quality of student learning. The 2006 recipient, John Smol, who was also one of the recipients of the inaugural Award for Excellence in Graduate

In this Issue

From the DirectorJoy Mighty....................... 1

Unveiling the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching AwardSculpture....................... 2

Blending Research and Teaching: An Important SynergismJohn Smol....................... 3

About the Sculptor....................... 4

A Critical Incident in TeachingMaggie Berg....................... 5

Confessions of a Large Class Afi cionado? Morris Orzech....................... 6

Mark Your Calendar ....................... 7

Resource Corner....................... 8

Upcoming Conferences....................... 8

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Teaching and Learning at Queen’s Winter 2007

In December 2005, the Queen’s community was honoured and privileged to witness the unveiling of a sculpture representing the

Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Award mounted on the western wall of the loggia in the Stauff er Library. We are deeply grateful to Chancellor Baillie and the TD Bank for their generous gift s that established this award which recognizes undergraduate or graduate teaching that has had an outstanding infl uence on the quality of student learning at Queen’s University. Both Chancellor Baillie and Ron McInnis, a Senior Vice-President of the TD Bank, were present to perform the ceremonial unveiling.

Capturing the essence of the award, the large copper sculpture was created by local artist Barry Blunden. The sculpture portrays an open book set upon a brick wall, with copper vines climbing them. The vines bring much life to the sculpture,

Supervision, explains that at the core of his teaching philosophy lies a strong belief in and commitment to the integration of teaching and research. Maggie Berg, the 2005 Baillie Award recipient, relates a critical moment in her teaching when she took the time to listen, really listen, to her students and how that experience transformed the student-teacher relationship. The fi rst recipient of the Baillie Award, Morris Orzech, confesses that he asked to teach large classes and refl ects on how his teaching has evolved over the years into a problem-solving approach.

We thank these outstanding teachers for publicly sharing their very diff erent experiences and refl ections on teaching with us, giving us some insight into their respective philosophies and approaches, and reinforcing for us that there is no one best way to eff ective teaching and learning.Also in this issue, in the Resource Corner, is a list of books on the theme of student engagement

and active learning. These books can enhance your teaching practice or scholarship and are available for loan from the Centre for Teaching and Learning upon request. In addition, we have provided a schedule of some of the Centre-sponsored activities planned for the 2007 Winter Term in the Mark Your Calendar section, and a list of local, national and international conferences where you might participate in a broader community of scholars of teaching and learning.

Finally, I encourage you to send us your feedback on this newslett er. At the Centre for Teaching and Learning, we always welcome your comments and are particularly interested in your ideas for engaging in public discussion about promoting student learning at Queen’s.

Happy reading and have a rewarding and enjoyable term, everyone!

continued from page 1

Unveiling the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award Sculpture

just as the award winners bring to life the deep and active learning of the students in their classes. The name of each year’s recipient of this prestigious award is inscribed on the sculpture. The next time you are in the Stauff er library, take a few minutes to absorb all the elements that this beautiful piece of art represents, and ask yourself if you know of any colleagues who are deserving of this award. If you do, please nominate them!

Joy Mighty is Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning, and is cross-appointed to the School of Business.

From left to right: Morris Orzech, Chancellor Baillie and Maggie Berg

Blending Research and Teaching: An Important SynergismJohn Smol, 2006 Recipient of the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award


I was delighted to hear that I was the recipient of both the 2006 Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award, and the inaugural Award for

Excellence in Graduate Supervision in the Life Sciences, Natural Sciences and Engineering. I also welcome the opportunity to share some of my ideas on teaching and research in this newslett er.

1) lecturing; 2) laboratory explorations and skill development; 3) fi eld-based training; and 4) commitment to explaining the results of our work to the public at large.

First, students require a solid foundation of information, vocabulary, concepts and ideas of past work, presented in a context that makes the material interesting and meaningful. Much of this information is passed on using lectures, directed readings, and open discussions. Although seemingly recently discredited as an eff ective teaching tool, lectures still form the foundation of my teaching. If we are going to expect students to “push the edges of the envelope”, we are fi rst going to have to describe to them the characteristics and the dimensions of “the envelope”. To use my own fi eld as an example, progress in environmental research is moving very quickly. Eff ective lecturing, using up-to-date examples, placed in the correct social, political and scientifi c context, is a critical part of education. The last thing we need in environmental science is half-baked scientists and poorly informed decision makers. The stakes are simply too high.

Second, students in the sciences must receive training in important (and up-to-date) lab-based skills that they will require to take their readings, concepts,

and approaches into practice. This is typically done with lab work; practical experience that has to be carefully integrated into the other aspects of the learning environment, with the additional challenges of severe restrictions on resources.

Third, what may be especially important in environmental research, but applicable to many other fi elds, is training in the most eff ective and safe use of fi eld-based studies. It is hard to talk about the view from the mountaintop, if you never saw the mountain.

“It is hard to talk about the view from the mountaintop, if you never saw the mountain.”

Our collective goals as university professors are to channel ambition and vision in the creative process we call science. At the same time, we must continually demonstrate, by example, the importance

of maintaining a strong moral compass in what we do. Science and other forms of scholarship can and do make a big diff erence in the world. We should never underestimate the importance of what we do. For a democracy to function eff ectively, it needs an educated and an active citizenry.

Although a variety of teaching approaches can be highly eff ective, my overall philosophy is to att empt to blend research and teaching. We hear a lot in universities about the confl icting commitments of a professor’s time and eff orts into teaching or research, as if they are totally separate. However, for me, teaching and research have all merged together. If you are excited about research, and research is simply trying to fi nd answers to questions that you, as a curious person, pose, you will almost certainly be excited about communicating your fi ndings and ideas. Research and teaching blend one into another. Just because you are excited and active in research does not give you an excuse for not being active and excited about teaching.

There are many eff ective ways to excel at teaching, some of which are more relevant to certain disciplines. However, using the analogy of the strength of a four-legged stool, I have strived for teaching excellence in four major areas:



“... my overall philosophy is to attempt to blend research and teaching.”

Fourth, and oft en the most challenging in both the undergraduate and graduate training program, is the development of eff ective writt en and oral communication skills. Classroom walls are not barriers to communication, or at least they should not be barriers. I believe we should strive to show repeatedly, by example, that our work is important, and that the majority of people are very interested in what goes on in universities, but that the onus is on us to bridge these gaps. This can be done with lectures to the public, informing politicians and other decision makers of our results and the relevance of this work, and explaining it in appropriate terms.

In addition, I believe it is important to instill in students an appreciation

of the positive force of criticism. Criticisms and challenges are what make science and other scholarship move forward. This can have negative implications for some, who (like me) are uncomfortable in contentious situations. Nonetheless, I think we have to convey to students that challenges and critical commentaries can be done in a constructive and helpful manner. By the same token, it is equally important to show that cynicism and unfounded criticism is the last resort of the scoundrel. As an editor of two international journals, and as a member of the grant selection boards of a number of organizations, I att empt to convey to my students the positive sides of this critical approach that is required if science is to advance. And yes, we also need to have the courage to, at times, “throw stones at giants”.

Finally, my teaching philosophy includes this fi nal requirement: Always make time to laugh out loud with your students at least once (and preferably more times) a day.

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John P. Smol is Professor in the Department of Biology and the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change. He is the 2006 Recipient of the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award.

About the sculptor ...The copper sculptures that symbolize the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Award were created by local artist and metalworker Barry Blunden. Barry, pictured below, has been working with metal from an early age and his art work adorns many buildings around Kingston. Barry teaches his craft to individual students in his studio or through workshops for the Ontario Metal Arts Guild. He fi nds individual instruction most eff ective because of its potential for impacting student learning. Barry loves his work and excels at it, knowing that it will last for hundreds of years.

The individual Baillie Award sculpture which is presented each year at the Fall Convocation, depicts an open, vine-covered book that symbolizes the recipient’s impact on student learning and bears his or her name, department and the year of the award.

Left : Barry Blunden, local artist and metalworker, is pictured at the unveiling.

Below: Individual sculpture presented to award winners

A Critical Incident in TeachingMaggie Berg, 2005 Recipient of the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award

Rather than off ering general refl ections on teaching, I would like to tell you about something that happened in my

undergraduate English class last week. It was Friday morning in the tenth week of term; of 93 students about 80 were present. Despite the fact that I was, with three courses, crawling to the fi nish line, I had a great class planned (I thought!). We were going to discuss the principles of New Criticism and then do

a New Critical reading of a poem put up on an overhead. The students had previously blown me away with their insights into other poems in similar experiments. I handed out questions and, as usual, gave time for exchanges with a

about how with 93 students I could provide a dating service! I told the students that the professors were under stress too at this time of year. What surprised me most about this class was the reaction. At the end I found myself surrounded by people saying “Thank you for listening,” “Thank you for lett ing us get it off our chests,” “Thank you for noticing that we are there– or, rather, when we are not.” I received more emails later thanking me for caring. I have put a sticky note on my class outline to remind me next year to schedule some short gaps, especially towards the end of term. In future I will make a point of checking with the students about what they are dealing with outside the class. I am troubled that such a simple question could generate such a response. I want to ask what we hope to achieve in our courses– is it simply covering material that we think is important?

“I want to ask what we hope to acheive in our courses - is it simply covering material that we think is important?”


neighbour. The volume of discussion was high. I brought it back to the group. There was a palpable silence. I re-phrased a couple of questions and tried again. A few brave people made half-hearted comments. I was trying hard to quell my usual inner voice about how I was a bad teacher, I must be boring them etc. But something prompted me to ask “What’s up?” There was a stunned silence. “There is a marked diff erence between when you are talking to each other and when you are talking to me,” I added. There was an embarrassed titt er. “Really,” I said, “What’s up? We have three days allott ed to this topic, we can talk about something else right now. Do you have many essays to write? ” A chorus came back like a Greek tragedy: “Five.” Then hands started going up: “It’s been raining for weeks,” “My room-mates and I take it in turns to be sick,” “It’s so hard to juggle the expectations of fi ve professors who each thinks theirs is the only course that matt ers,” “I am in a long-distance relationship and it really sucks right now,” “Christmas seems so near and yet so far.” With each comment there were noises of recognition.

So, we talked about washing your hands, about not expecting to be perfect in all fi ve essays, about taking time to play frisbee. We laughed and joked

During the class the students recommended the movie “Accepted.” I watched it. It’s a goofy teenage fi lm about a group of kids who open their own

university and do it their way. I loved it, and I thought the message was quite profound– that young people know what they need to know. As my colleague Vicki Remenda– one of our University Chairs of Teaching and Learning– believes, true learning exists when (as Arthur Koestler put it), “teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.” Although I wholeheartedly believe this, I fi nd it hard to translate into practice in a large lecture. The fi rst step may be listening to the students.

Maggie Berg is Professor in the Department of English and an Educational Development Faculty Associate in the Centre for Teaching and Learning. She is the 2005 Recipient of the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award.


I confess: I asked to teach a large class. Worse, I asked that this large class replace the three sections traditionally taught. It was 1992

and, with others in my department, I saw on the horizon a signifi cant reduction in instructor complement. I hoped that by undertaking the amalgamation on our own terms we could achieve a bett er outcome than from change forged in a crisis atmosphere. 1992 was also the year when the Queen’s Instructional Development Centre (now the Centre for Teaching and Learning) was formed – an event signifi cant in my not having to say I’m sorry.

Confession of a Large Class Afi cionado?Morris Orzech, 2004 Recipient of the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Awards

The prospect of a large class made me seek IDC advice from Chris Knapper, who led me to the idea of using a student package to address a familiar quandary in a lecture-based course.

Printed notes available to students would avoid the frantic copying that interferes with thoughtful engagement during class. Gaps deliberately introduced into the notes would provide att ention-gett ing moments, and an incentive for students to att end class. I dubbed this package Incomplete Course Notes. Less than a year aft er introducing these notes I had an epiphany that led me to rethink them from scratch.

It was the end of a full-day IDC workshop. I was inspired by George Brown’s contagious energy, but my brain was full and I welcomed the segment of fi nal questions. Someone asked: How can you keep students att entive in a large class? The answer echoed suggestions in the reading I had borrowed from the IDC: Avoid long expository segments; use att ention-gett ing changes in ideas, activities, voice; consider using some form of interactive notes. “Sounds familiar,” I thought, “but why not just call them incomplete notes and avoid trendy buzzwords?” Then it hit me like a

“Am I indirectly asserting that large classes are not necessarily a bad thing?”

shot of mental adrenalin: that “interactive” was not a buzzword, but a wonderful suggestion for how to reshape and improve my “incomplete” notes. I did that for the next year’s class. The nature of the gaps in the notes changed. Pieces of explanations became questions to the class, with space to record responses. My illustrative examples gave way to space for students to contribute theirs during class – with the incidental bonus that (with the computer I arranged to have in class) I could model for students when and how to use the technology that I wanted them to exploit for investigation and exploration. In place of my illustrative pictures I left space for ones students would draw on the board. When my Incomplete Notes became Interactive Notes the change wasn’t a matt er of adopting a “trendy buzzword”.By the time large classes became a fi nancial necessity I was grateful to have had a few years

to prepare – with the IDC at my side. I had benefi tt ed from class observation by Susan Wilcox, and learned from her how to get trustworthy student

feedback. That feedback provided guidance for what might work in other courses, and evidence that colleagues could credit.

Am I indirectly asserting that large classes are not necessarily a bad thing? That viewpoint is arguable, but not the thrust of my narrative. What I see as signifi cant is that the context in which we teach makes changes inevitable, and though critique of changes is a respectable activity, so is dealing with them as problems to be solved. Not just technical problems, but ones involving ethical goals: student learning; a good experience for students and teacher; honest appraisal of successes and misses. In this problem-solving it makes sense to seek and consider advice of people with accumulated experience and expertise.



Teaching Matt ers: Arts and ScienceFriday, February 9, 2007, 11:30 - 1:00Monday, March 5, 2007, 11:30 - 1:00Tuesday, April 17, 8:30 - 4:30

The Teacher’s Voice SeriesWednesday, January 17, 2007, 1:30 - 4:30Wednesday, February 7, 2007, 1:30 - 4:30Friday, March 2, 2007, 9:00 - 12:00

Experiments in TeachingMonday, January 22, 2007, 2:30 - 4:00Thursday, February 1, 2007, 9:30 - 11:00

Teachers’ Writing CircleFriday, February 2, 2007, 12:00 - 2:00 Friday, March 2, 2007, 12:00 - 2:00Friday, March 30, 2007, 12:00 - 2:00

Teachers’ Reading CircleFriday, February 16, 2007, 12:30 - 2:00Friday, March 16, 2007, 12:30 - 2:00Friday, April 13, 2007, 12:30 - 2:00

English Communication TestingMonday, January 8, 2007, 8:30 - 12:30Tuesday, January 9, 2007, 8:30 - 12:30

TA Workshop SeriesBegins Wednesday, January 17, 2007,5:30 - 7:00

SGS 901: Teaching and Learning in Higher EducationBegins Tuesday, January 9, 2007, 9:00 - 12:00

Professional Development Day for Teaching AssistantsMonday, January 15, 2007, 8:30 - 4:00

SGS 802: English Communication Skills for TeachingBegins Tuesday, January 16, 2007, 5:00 - 8:00pm

Integrating Learning Objects in your CoursesMonday, March 5, 2007, 1:30 - 3:00

Brown Bag Conversations with Principal HitchcockThursday, March 8, 2007, 12:00 - 1:00

Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents Workshop on Undergraduate Degree Level ExpectationsThursday, March 22, 2007, 8:30 - 4:30Friday, March 23, 2007, 8:30 - 4:30

Teaching Improvement Project System(TIPS) II/ Enabling Professional Practice (EPP) IIThursday, March 29, 2007, 9:00 - 12:00

Applied ICE: A working session for those familiar with the ‘Ideas, Connections, Extensions’ modelWednesday, April 11, 2007, 9:30 - 11:30

Focus on Diversity RetreatFriday, April 20, 2007, 9:00 - 4:30

Cross-Faculty Teaching ForumMay 16 and 17, 2007

Mark Your Calendar!

My association with the Centre for Teaching and Learning, begun more than a decade ago in seeking help for a teaching problem, continues to this day. It has helped me develop a richer perspective on teaching and learning that has made the classroom experience more intellectually rewarding and enjoyable for me and my students.

The issue of large classes has become for me just one aspect of the ferment that is a natural part of teaching, part of the background of a problem-solving approach to teaching, and of an open-minded outlook, that deserve my intellectual engagement and commitment.

For details: www.queensu.ca/ctl/programs/calendar/winter2007.htm

Morris Orzech is Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. He is the 2004 Recipient of the Chancellor A. Charles Baillie Teaching Award.

Teaching and Learning at Queen’s is published by the:Centre for Teaching and LearningQueen’s University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6

Phone: 613-533-6428 Fax: 613-533-6735 Email: [email protected]: www.queensu.ca/ctl/

Editor: Joy Mighty Designer: Sandra Murray

Resource Corner

Upcoming Conferences


2007 AERA Annual Meeting and Exhibition April 9-13, 2007, Chicago, Illinois www.aera.net/annualmeeting/?id=282

18th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning April 2-7, 2007, Ponte Verda Beach, Florida www.teachlearn.org/fi nal.html

The Lilly-East Conference on College and University Teaching April 12-14, 2007, University of Delaware www.udel.edu/lillyeast/index.html

STLHE 2007: Evolving Scholarship June 13-16, 2007, University of Alberta www.ualberta.ca/~uts/STLHE/

2007 Conference of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning July 2-5, 2007, Sydney, Australia www.indiana.edu/~issotl07/

The International Study Association for Teachers and Teaching (ISATT) 13th Biennial Conference: Totems and Taboos – Risk and Relevance in Research on Teachers and Teaching July 5-9, 2007, Brock University www.ed.brocku.ca/isatt 2007/

HERDSA 2007 International Conference: Enhancing Higher Education, Theory and Scholarship July 8-11, 2007, Adelaide, Australia conference.herdsa.org.au/2007/

Bean, J. (2001). Engaging ideas: The professor’s guide to integrating writing, critical thinking and active learning in the classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Crosling, G. & Webb, G. (2002). Supporting student learning: Case studies, experience and practice from higher education. London: Kogan Page.

Donald, J. G. (2002). Learning to think: Disciplinary perspectives. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Knight, P., Aitken, E. N., & Rogerson, R.J. (2000). Forever bett er: Continuous quality improvement in higher education. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

Race, P. (1999). Enhancing student learning. Birmingham: Staff and Educational Development Association.

Simpson, N. & Layne, J. (Eds). (2006). Student learning communities, faculty learning communities, & faculty development. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-centred teaching: Five key changes to practice. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

The following resources on the theme of student engagement and active learning are available for loan from the CTL library.

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