Educator Professional Learning Survey

Wednesday, September 11, 2024 | By

As part of the Brock University Academic Plan Action 1.b: Invest in the development of robust professional development opportunities for faculty, academic staff, and graduate students, including in the design of effective learning experiences and assessments across all course delivery modes, CPI invited feedback in June 2024.

CPI invited instructional staff (faculty, TAs, librarians, course coordinators, marker-graders) to share their professional learning needs for 2024-25. We received a total of 80 responses (79 instructors, 1 librarian) from all six faculties.Forty respondents identified themselves as being from Applied Health Sciences (6); Education (6); Goodman School of Business (5); Humanities (9); Social Sciences (8); Math & Sciences (5); Other (1).

Respondents identified a need for more resources on the CPI website on a wide variety of topics. In response, CPI has added new teaching resources related to:

  • Student Engagement
  • Generative AI
  • Using Brightspace
  • Teaching Large Classes
  • Working with Teaching Assistants
  • Assessment and Grading Strategies (with and without TAs)
  • Strategies for Accommodations and Accessibility
  • More voices from Brock faculty (Faculty Spotlight)

Respondents indicated that current workshop timings during the week, and some availability in the evenings across all modalities, were preferred. CPI Workshops are posted on experienceBU, including online drop-ins.

Respondents indicated they wanted to know more, now that they are familiar with Brightspace. Advanced Workshops on topics were offered this fall and more are planned. Instructors are welcome to review the recordings.

What are your most pressing professional learning needs as an educator at Brock? Please comment on desired areas of focus and/or teaching challenges you would like CPI to focus on. Generative AI •Opportunities •How to use; more support learning about •Disruption caused by •Design assignments to discourage use of •Support in detection •Policies to deal with academic misconduct related to Large Classes •Active Learning •Assessments (meaningful and feasible) •Curriculum / course mapping student progress •Peer evaluation •Efficient Grading (with and without Tas) Teaching Assistants •Supervising •Support for consistent Grading •Facilitating Seminars Accommodations •How to manage/support •Social anxiety – group work, presentations Assessments •Designing with UDL in mind •Support for more multimodal •Crafting learning outcomes, aligning to assessments •Experiential Learning •Ungrading Technology •Better use of Brightspace oSupport for quiz creation oSupport for creating more intuitive content that will support students to read the material (user interface design, cognitive load theory) oIntegration with other tools like MS Teams and Forms Open Educational Resources (OER) •Support in using/creating •More information about the grant program continuation Modalities •Analog teaching (put the devices away) •Teaching in the “live moment”; “traditional teaching” •Better use of Classroom technology •Balancing appropriate use of online/in person •Stop supporting online learning •Provide more support for online learning •Offer more workshops online Profile of a Brock student in 2024 (Who are our learners and what do they need?) •Engagement / attendance •Effects of COVID-19; providing flexibility but also maintaining integrity of the course/program/degree •Support for learning skills (Note-taking, reading, writing) •Problem-solving; critical thinking •Discussion/debate/dealing with controversial issues/ exposure to new ideas / meaningful dialogue Resources •Connect to recent empirical evidence/literature •Draw Upon Faculty Experience •Add more resources to the CPI website •Provide more drop-in support

Certificate Programs for Instructors

Certificate Programs for Teaching Assistants

CPI offers a workshop program which allows TAs to complete the following certificates:

Being better prepared to use Brock’s classrooms and Classroom Technology

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