Memorial University is launching a renewed Teaching and Learning Framework (TLF), building on the spirit of collaboration and community in 21st-century learning that was the focus of the first TLF, launched in 2011.
The renewed framework is available here.
Student experience first
Placing the student educational experience at its core, the renewed TLF calls on staff, educators and academic leaders to increase collaborative and interdisciplinary initiatives that enable student accessibility, deepen learners’ engagement and facilitate student success.
“This document captures some of the changes already in place in the teaching and learning environment – our commitment to strengthening interdisciplinary programming, to providing more opportunities for experiential learning, to the Indigenization of curricula and to ensuring Memorial is both a welcoming and stimulating site of post-secondary education,” said Dr. Noreen Golfman, provost and vice-president (academic).
Three spheres
New and current initiatives are referenced in the framework that embody the three “spheres” of accessibility, engagement and student success.
These are designed to help start shifting the teaching and learning environment towards more collaborative and interdisciplinary initiatives in support of teaching and learning.
Examples of specific initiatives include the Student Success Collaborative, a program launched at Memorial in fall 2018 to enhance the student experience by empowering students to succeed through personalized supports and resources tailored to meet their needs; innovative interdisciplinary community-collaborative programming; and the university’s first Indigenization strategy, currently under development.
‘Framework into reality’
The Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning (CITL) will continue to be strengthened as the centre of a network for teaching and learning at Memorial, taking the university even further in advancing its instruction and academic programming.
“CITL has a central role to play in the roll-out of the TLF.”
This includes support for developing engaging learning experiences, incorporating educational technologies, facilitating course and program curriculum development, and educator development.
“CITL has a central role to play in the roll-out of the TLF, supporting educators, staff, administrators and students in turning the plan that’s articulated in the framework into reality,” said Dr. Gavan Watson, associate vice-president (academic), teaching and learning, and director of CITL.
“The TLF is an opportunity for units to think about the kinds of learning experiences that happen inside the classroom, but also the learning that takes place outside the classroom — those kinds of experiential learning opportunities where students are engaged in authentic “real-world” learning.”
Extensive consultation
The revised framework is the result of extensive consultation, which involved the creation of a committee tasked with reviewing the first framework, and its results and outcomes, to create a path for a new framework that aligns with the university’s mission and priorities around interdisciplinary programming, experiential learning, the Indigenization of the academy, and enhancing student success and supports.
“Though the TLF provides a clear vision, this work is going to happen at the unit level.”
With the framework endorsed by Senate and approved by the Board of Regents, next steps involve members of CITL meeting with all units across the university to discuss how they might move forward and harness opportunities within the context of the framework.
“Though the TLF provides a clear vision, this work is going to happen at the unit level,” said Dr. Watson.
“There’s a real opportunity here for engagement across the entire university and across campuses, and I look forward to working with members of the university community to build new and transformational teaching and learning experiences.”
