Current Newsletter

Dear Educational Leadership faculty,
This spring edition of the newsletter includes information about EL mentoring, professional learning, funding, and scholarship dissemination opportunities. You can find this same content and more, as well as past newsletters on the ELNet website. Visit the website at: https://elnet.sites.olt.ubc.ca/

1. ELNet Announcements
   • Message from the ELNet Chair
   • Sign up for an EL Mentor
2. PD Resources and Opportunities
   • CTLT/CTL Workshops
   • Impact Series (UBC-O)
   • Communities of Practice
3. SoTL
   • Funding Opportunities and Workshops

1. ELNet Announcements

Message from ELNet Chair

Happy spring and end of winter term!  I am always amazed at how fast the terms fly by.  I hope you are feeling pleased with how you impacted your students and colleagues at UBC and beyond.  The wonderful thing about completing a term is the ideas and inspiration that it brings for the future.  With spring and summer professional development events on the horizon, I encourage you to participate; share stories and scholarship, discuss and reconnect with colleagues, realize the opportunities for networking and collaborating.  Teaching, SoTL and EL projects can find roots and flourish. Take time to reflect on your teaching evaluations and other feedback. Draw themes and set goals to continue developing your teaching practice and scholarship, no matter if you are one year or 30 into your career! And most importantly, take time to take care of you; we are so invested in our students and projects during the term that we often put ourselves low on the priority list.  We need to be well to teach and lead well.  Move that desk outside!  🙂

In other news, this spring we can expect to hear some ideas for moving EL forward at UBC. After more than a decade of existence, results from a significant research project exploring successes and challenges in the EL stream will soon be shared.

Finally, ELNet is looking for new executive team members and mentors. Please reach out to me if you are interested.

Sally Willis-Stewart
sally.willis-stewart@ubc.ca

Sign up for an EL Mentor

The ELNET Mentoring Program pairs interested EL faculty with a more established mentor for EL-specific support and connection. The opportunity to be paired with a mentor is available anytime during the academic year and at any career stage.

Spring can be a great time to seek mentorship as you reflect on your past year of teaching and scholarship, want to focus on change and development in your spring/summer term, and/or if you are heading for reappointment, promotion and/or tenure in the next year or two. Please visit the link below for more details of our mentoring program and how to get connected:

https://elnet.sites.olt.ubc.ca/mentoring/

2. PD Resources and Opportunities

CTLT/CTL Workshops

Celebrate Learning Week

Celebrate Learning Week is May 6–10, 2024, taking place across both UBC campuses, with options of in-person and virtual sessions.  The theme this year is “Remembering the Human in the Loop.” This week is a great way to connect with colleagues, learn, discuss and get inspired. For more information and to register, visit our website.

CTLT Spring Institute 

The CTLT Spring Institute, taking place from June 3–6, 2024, offers educators in the UBC teaching and learning community a platform to share innovative practices and research around teaching, learning and technology. Browse in-person and virtual events from this week-long initiative.

Course Design Intensive

May 23, 28 & 30 | 9:00 am–4:00 pm | Online

This three-day intensive program helps participants work, individually and collaboratively, to design or re-design a course they will be offering in the next term or later. Apply by May 13.

Applying Anti-Racist Pedagogy in the Classroom (AA-RPC)

June 6, 13, 20 & 27 | 9:00 am–12:00 pm | In-person UBCV

In this cohort-based program, explore anti-racist approaches and practices, learn to foster caring classroom climates, and effectively support IBPOC students through collaborative and reflective learning. Apply by May 23. 

Impact Series (UBC-O)

Monday, April 22 | 2:00–3:00 pm | In-person (ADM 101, UBCO)

The Impact Series is a monthly speaker series hosted by the Faculty of Science at UBC-O as a way to strategize how to help EL faculty members document impact in their narrative. The next speaker in the series is Dr. Manuela Reekie Those interested in joining, please send an email to the event organizer, Dr. Bowen Hui in advance at bowen.hui@ubc.ca, just in case there are issues with room capacity.

Materials from past speakers are provided here, but password protected. Contact Dr Hui for access.

Communities of Practice

Educational Leadership and Teaching (UBC-O)

Friday, May 17 | 11:30–12:30 pm | In-person (ADM103i, UBCO)

This CoP aims to facilitate growth, success and innovation in the EL initiatives that faculty take on, and having a collaborative and social environment to do so provides a wonderful opportunity. This CoP will be beneficial for new and experienced EL faculty as teaching excellence is at the heart of it, and often where our EL inspirations come from. To join this CoP, email ctl.ubco@ubc.ca and you will be added as a member to the community and to the Teams collaboration space. Find more information and additional future meeting dates here.

3. SoTL

Funding Support for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Two SOTL-related funding opportunities are now accepting proposals: SOTL Linkage grants (proposals due June 30) and SOTL Seed Grants (proposals due May 27). Review further details at the iSOTL website.

Upcoming SOTL Workshops

Best Practices in Survey Design

May 14 | 10:30 am–12:00 pm | Online

Gain an understanding of when surveys serve as an appropriate evaluation tool, explore the most common questions used in teaching and learning projects, and learn best practices around inclusivity and diversity. Register.

Classroom Evaluation and Research: Do I Need Ethics Approval?

June 11 | 2:00 pm–3:30 pm | Online

Learn about ethical considerations for conducting research and evaluation in the classroom, and when you need ethics approval from the BREB. Register.

Getting your SoTL Work Published

June 25 | 1:00 pm–2:30 pm | Online

Discuss different approaches to writing SoTL work and share guiding principles for writing in some of the most common SoTL genres: empirical research articles, reflective essays and conference presentations. Register.

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Best wishes and don’t hesitate to be in touch if you have content to share in future newsletters,

Kathryn Accurso on behalf of the UBC Educational Leadership Network Executive Team (ELNet)