Training

I continuously try to enhance my skills to improve my teaching and research. Here is an overview of some of the specialist courses I have taken to do so:

Graduate Supervision Series, University of Waterloo

This series of workshops introduces graduate supervision policies and discusses best practices. Individual sessions cover issues and resources relevant to supervising students at University of Waterloo, such as writing resources, ethics and integrity requirements, and the management of milestones, as well as more general issues, such as supervisory alignment, honing research questions, the supervision life cycle, working with students and co-supervisors in the context of cultural and gender diversity, and career support for various job markets.

Foundations of Teaching and Learning, Australian National University

This course covers a number of topics important to effective university teaching. In addition to policies related to Australian higher education, it addresses the following pedagogical issues: reflective teaching practices, fundamentals of research-led education, how students learn, constructive alignment of learning outcomes and assessment, flexible and technology-enhanced learning, evaluation, student support, and course design.

Digital Archives, E-Journals, and Interactive Design, University of Denver

This workshop is designed for scholars interested in building electronic research and production models that reach new audiences within and beyond academia. Workshop meetings combine practical hands-on experience with theoretical studies concerning the ways in which digital archives, electronic databases, interactive design tools, and open-access publishing remediate fields and objects of knowledge.

Video Production, University of Denver

Digital video is a tool that facilitates collaboration across time and space. Some scholars give cameras to participants in their study so that they can represent themselves on their own terms, while others use video to enhance their abilities to share knowledge and narratives. Visual literacy is a continuous thread throughout this workshop, which focuses on the challenges of planning a shoot, framing a shot, and creating meanings through scripting and editing decisions.

Inside-Out Prison Exchange Instructor Training, Temple University

The Institute is a comprehensive seven-day, 60-hour intensive training program that covers everything necessary to develop a course in the Inside-Out model: curriculum development, setting parameters, institutional relationships, group dynamics, interactive pedagogical approaches, and much more. Two or more of the days provide an opportunity to learn this educational method through observation, hands-on experience, and engagement with the Think Tank, a working group inside Graterford Prison, a large maximum-security facility.

Advanced Pedagogy, University of California, Irvine

Each year, the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation selects a cadre of excellent and experienced Teaching Assistant mentors from various disciplines to serve as Pedagogical Fellows. While a Pedagogical Fellow, I undertook this yearlong course sequence and other training requirements (which were rebadged as the Certificate in Course Design and Certificate in Teaching Excellence in 2016). The course covers social constructivist learning epistemology, a wide range of active learning strategies, and how to design a learning-centered curriculum. Participants also receive training to provide effective teaching consultation and advice to peers.