Fall Perspectives on Teaching Conference

CTL-Site-Banner---Fall-Perspectives.png

Fall Perspectives on Teaching 2025:
Thursday, August 28 from 9:00AM to 3:45PM

9:00 am to 9:15 am Opening Remarks (SEB 2200/Zoom)

Susan Lewis, Vice Provost (Academic Programs)
Aisha Haque (Director, Centre for Teaching and Learning)

9:15 am to 10:40 am OPENING PLENARY (SEB 2200/Zoom)

Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Generative AI in Higher Education

Nicole Campbell (Physiology and Pharmacology; Western Teaching Fellow)
Christina Booker (Chemistry)
Dan Bousfield (Political Science)
William J. Turkel (History; Generative AI Teaching Fellow)
Moderator: Dani Dilkes (Centre for Teaching and Learning)

This interdisciplinary panel brings together diverse perspectives on how to approach Generative AI in both undergraduate and graduate education. To mark the launch of a new Open Educational Resource (OER) highlighting key considerations for engaging with Generative AI, the session will open with an introduction to seven Domains of AI-Awareness: Knowledge, Skill, Values, Affect, Ethics, Pedagogy and Interconnectedness. These domains will serve as a framework for the panel discussion. Panelists will be invited to reflect on their own values, beliefs, and experiences with Generative AI, and share how these inform emerging pedagogical practices. They will offer strategies for establishing clear boundaries on Generative AI-use that support meaningful learning, align with learner motivations, and foster the development of new skills. Specific examples of course and assessment designs and other pedagogical practices will be discussed.

10:40 am to 11:00 am Refreshment Break (outside SEB 2200)

11:00 am to 12:15 pm FEATURE SESSION (seb 2200/Zoom)

Knowledge Justice in the Age of AI: Launching a New Open Educational Resource

Ashley McKeown (Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing)
Heather Campbell (Curriculum Librarian, Western Libraries)

How do we decolonize our teaching while helping students navigate generative AI—especially when the technology keeps changing? This session introduces a new open educational resource (OER) that brings these timely questions together through the lens of knowledge justice. Created in collaboration between Western Libraries, the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, the Centre for Teaching and Learning, and the Instructional Technology resource Center (ITRC), this resource encourages learners to recognize how systems of knowledge, from academic publishing to generative AI, are silencing equity-deserving voices while appearing objective or authoritative. Together, we’ll walk through the OER’s structure and share ideas for integrating it into your courses, and we’ll hear reflections from students and instructors who have piloted its use.

12:15 pm to 1:15 pm Break

1:15 pm to 2:30 pm Concurrent Sessions

Session A (SEB 2200/Zoom)
Creating Health-Inclusive Learning Environments

Ryan Tennant (PhD Candidate, University of Waterloo)

Description

With the return to in-person learning, how can we create a ‘new normal’ in higher education that ensures all students can safely and fully participate? This interactive workshop introduces Health-Inclusive Pedagogy (HIP), a framework developed to address the growing need for accessible, inclusive, and health-conscious learning environments. Drawing on disability research, student perspectives, and lived experience, this session explores how HIP builds on and extends Universal Design for Learning and Trauma-Informed Pedagogy by integrating strategies for course design and facilitation that prioritize health. Through real-world examples from a course titled The Wicked Problem of Accessibility, attendees will learn how HIP can be applied in practice, consider how it shifts the burden of resiliency from students and instructors to the course environment, and gain hands-on experience using tools and approaches to create health-inclusive learning environments of their own.

Session B (SEB 1200/Zoom)
Creating Time and Space to Rediscover The Joy of Learning

Nicole Campbell (Physiology and Pharmacology; Western Teaching Fellow)

Description

In the face of increasing stress, workload demands, and institutional pressures, joy in teaching and learning can feel elusive. As part of the 3M National Teaching Fellows project, a group of ten educators set out to reconnect with what energizes them and support others in doing the same. In this interactive session, Nicole Campbell shares their collaborative project: a reflective, multi-use resource designed to help educators carve out time and space to rediscover joy, purpose, and growth in their teaching and learning practices. Through shared stories, creative prompts, and moments of reflection, participants will explore ways to reclaim joy and meaning in their academic work. Attendees will leave with access to the resource and ideas for adapting it in their own contexts.

 

2:30 pm to 2:45 pm Refreshment Break (outside SEB 2200)

2:45 pm to 3:45 pm CLOSING PLENARY (SEB 2200/Zoom)

Creating Connection and Community: Fostering Belonging for Students and Faculty

Shauna Burke (Health Studies) & Ken Meadows (Centre for Teaching and Learning)

In this interactive session, we will discuss the complex and fluid nature of connection and belonging within the post-secondary context; review research that highlights the relationship between belonging and positive outcomes such as academic success and well-being for students, and job satisfaction and work-related happiness for faculty and staff; and explore pedagogical, personal, and professional practices that foster opportunities for community, connection, and belonging in post-secondary settings.

Conference Information

Registration

Registration Instructions

  1. Login to Western Connect using your Western username and password.
  2. Select Event Calenders, then Centre for Teaching and Learning.
  3. Select the event you wish to register in. Details and a description of the program will appear.
  4. Select the Register for this Event button.
  5. You will receive an automated confirmation email to your Western email account.

If you have any questions or problems registering for this event, please consult our help guide or contact ctl@uwo.ca.

Audience

This event is open to all; however, it is designed with instructors in mind.

Offered

  • Spring Perspectives - annually in May
  • Fall Perspectives - annually in August/ September

What to Expect

Offered twice a year, Perspectives on Teaching is a conference designed to showcase teaching innovations at Western, and introduce instructors to best practices in student-centered instruction which can enhance the student experience.

Faculty members are invited to present innovative teaching approaches or research on their teaching during Spring Perspectives each year.  

Previous Conference Programs

Visit our Youtube Channel for keynotes from past conferences.