During the mid-term break, the Centre for Academic Excellence held Niagara College’s 2023 Instructional Skills Workshop – an internationally-recognized teaching certification program. The ISW serves as a laboratory for new and experienced instructors who wish to refine and expand their teaching practice, to explore new ideas, or to revisit the fundamentals.
Hosted at the Daniel J. Patterson Campus, eight individuals (a mix of part-time and full-time faculty from various departments) participated in the three day-intensive, in-person workshop.
The workshop offered faculty the opportunity to explore conditions that give rise to powerful learning experiences among students. For new faculty members, it provided an opportunity to learn about the unique culture and value system of the organization, while acting as a renewing and revitalizing activity for more seasoned members.
Using an intensive experiential learning approach, participants were provided with information on the theory and practice of teaching adult learners, the selection and writing of useful learning objectives with accompanying lesson plans, techniques for eliciting learner participation, and suggestions for evaluation of learning. Participants also designed and delivered three lessons and receive verbal, written, and video feedback from their peers.
Faculty graduates left the workshop with was a strong sense of community and friendships that were made between new colleagues, as none of them were previously acquainted. They also gained a better development of classroom facilitation skills and improvement on their lesson development skills, all of which can beneficially transfer back into the classroom and the institution.
