The Teaching Commons offers a range of peer-based programs supporting a reflective teaching practice. Our programs include opportunities to discuss teaching practices with peer colleagues, students, and community members, as well as micro teaching in small groups with feedback, as well as through observation and dialogue. Additional information about these programs can be found below.
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Communities of practice
The Teaching Commons is seeking members of our York Community to come together as a teaching and learning community of practice (CoP) to help enhance our teaching and learning practices. CoPs will offer opportunities to engage in collegial professional development as you discuss and share experiences.
We currently have two communities of practice running:
Learn more and join the community of practice: generative AI pedagogies at York
Fictional classrooms: Talking about teaching through narrative
What can we learn about our own teaching practices and identities from fictional depictions of higher education? Join us in “Fictional Classrooms” as we explore and reflect on narratives of education in films, television, short stories, and novels, whether they speak to us as learners, educators, researchers, artists, or simply as humans. Monthly meetings alternate between text and screen, and opportunities for both and asynchronous online engagement are provided.
Contact Robin Sutherland-Harris (robinsh@yorku.ca) to learn more.
Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW)
The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) is an internationally recognized certificate. It is a peer-based, intensive, three-day workshop for participants to further develop teaching effectiveness together, and give and receive feedback on new teaching strategies.
Reading for teaching
A collaborative program co-facilitated by the Teaching Commons and York University Libraries, Reading for Teaching is an informal, collegial opportunity to engage with colleagues from across campus interested in reading and talking about teaching. In Winter 2024, we will be reading Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (Peter Felten & Leo M. Lambert). You can learn more and register for our Winter 2024 offering here.
To learn more about our discussions, read our Teaching Commons blog post reflecting on our past year reading How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching (Joshua R. Eyler).
For more information, including all past readings, visit the Reading for Teaching section.
Teaching wheels
Interested in seeing how other faculty at York are designing and delivering their courses? Want to get some feedback about your own online course? Teaching Wheels is a peer-observation program facilitated by Teaching Commons staff, in which participants join each other’s courses as guests in order to see different approaches to teaching in action, share strategies, feedback, and insights with one another, and enhance their own teaching through observation and reflection.
If your Faculty or Department would like us to facilitate Teaching Wheels tailored to your needs and community, please reach out to Lisa Endersby for more information. Note that a minimum of ten participants is required.