A Strategic Initiative Harnessing Stories of Teaching and Learning

This spotlight session focuses on a 2016 initiative undertaken by a teaching and learning centre in a large, research-intensive Canadian university. The initiative grew out of the following inquiry: How can a centre for teaching and learning contribute to an enhanced public discourse that includes a focus on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), scholarly and reflective teaching, and innovations in teaching and learning? The initiative includes a university-wide symposium using a facilitated design process (creating an opportunity for the unexpected), as well as the launch of a new print and digital publication, that captures teaching and learning stories of pedagogical research, innovation and risk-taking. Reporting on core outcomes and data from this initiative, this session offers an important reflective analysis on how teaching and learning centres invite change in institutional teaching and learning cultures and convey meaningful and public stories about innovative and challenging teaching and learning practices.