|
|
|
|
Welcome Back! Your Essential Teaching Resources for Winter 2026 |
|
|
A Message from Esther Ignagni,
Executive Director, CELT |
|
|
|
Happy new year from all of us at CELT. We hope you have had a restful winter break. We invite new and returning faculty, contract lecturers, academic assistants and educational staff to take part in CELT programming, grants and learning events over the Winter semester.
As a teaching community we create conditions in which students can grow, discover, critically engage and imagine. At best, we strive to create students who show up in their communities, ready to make a difference. Yet, students continue to learn under challenging conditions brought about by high housing, transportation and food costs. Their studies are often in tension with their commitments to work and home. Many continue to be personally affected by world events including political violence, with thoughts of home never entirely separate from the classroom.
We know that students learn best when they bring their whole selves to learning spaces and when their everyday realities are recognized. CELT staff are committed to supporting faculty and contract lecturers to deliver high quality, engaging and equitable courses. Below we highlight some of the resources offered over the winter.
The Learning & Teaching Grants and the Black Focused Pedagogy Grants are intended to support faculty in projects that foster the University’s continuing commitment to teaching excellence and pedagogical leadership, along with our community’s ongoing dedication to equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and decolonization (EDIA + D) in the classroom. Please consider submitting an application for these funding opportunities.
For new and returning contract lecturers, we draw your attention to the Certificate in Instructional Excellence. Even if you do not plan to complete the certificate, the CIE modules offer guidance and additional resources to support course design, assessment, inclusive teaching methods, managing GenAI in the classroom and other topics.
As a learning and teaching community, we continue to face technological advances that open up new possibilities for research, access and everyday tasks, but raise deep ethical questions about trust, agency and accountability. As we contemplate student, faculty and our personal use of GenAI, we are asking new questions about our relationship with students, our teaching and assessment methods and our pedagogy. Keeping the human at the centre of our work remains a priority. CELT invites you to explore the many GenAI resources through upcoming workshops, new digital resources and an upcoming Generative AI Teaching Fellowship.
CELT is preparing for the 2026 Learning & Teaching Conference to be held May 11-12, 2026. We invite you to consider submitting an abstract for a talk, roundtable, community event or workshop in order to learn, share your experiences, critically reflect and re-imagine together. |
|
|
|
|
Gearing Up for a New Term Guide for Winter, 2026 |
|
|
|
A quick reference document with the links to essential tools, resources, and best practices to help ease you back into the classroom this Winter. |
|
|
|
|
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Events |
|
This winter, join CELT for a series of workshops and events focussed on GenAI in the classroom and beyond. Please click the linked titles to read more details and register in advance of each event. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Learning and Teaching Grants Program |
 |
|
The Learning and Teaching Grants Program (LTG), funded by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic, reflects the University’s continuing commitment to teaching excellence and pedagogical leadership, along with our community’s ongoing dedication to equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and decolonization (EDIA + D) in the classroom.
We encourage proposals that explore new methods for modifying the University curriculum to improve the student learning experience, and to address EDIA + D inside and outside the lecture hall, classroom, lab, studio, and online. The goal of this internal grant program is to support the integration of research and evaluation into teaching practice and to disseminate the results of successful projects to the University teaching community.
Each grant ranges from $5,000 to $12,000.
Deadline: Friday, January 23, 2026 by 4 p.m EST |
| Learn more and submit your LTG application |
|
The Black-Focused Pedagogy Grants |
 |
|
The Black-Focused Pedagogy Grants (BFPG) are offered by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) in partnership with the Presidential Implementation Committee to Confront Anti-Black Racism and the Black Scholarship Institute (BSI).
We encourage proposals that advance research in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), create mentorship opportunities for Black students, and center Black and Afrocentric experiences in teaching. Proposals are welcomed from a wide range of fields, including arts, social services, law, education, communication, sciences, entrepreneurship, community, and government.
Three grants will be awarded in Spring 2026. Each grant provides up to $11,500.
Deadline: Friday, January 23, 2026 by 4 p.m EST
|
| Learn more and submit your BFPG application |
|
|
|
|
Applications open for the GenAI Teaching Fellowship |
|
|
|
The GenAI Teaching Fellowship celebrates and supports faculty at TMU who are leading innovative, ethical, and pedagogically sound integrations of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in teaching and learning. Supported by a three-year fellowship, the GenAI Teaching Fellow will design and lead a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project that advances our collective understanding of GenAI’s role in higher education. They will also receive access to exclusive professional development opportunities, connect with other educational innovators, and deepen their expertise in AI-enhanced pedagogy and educational leadership.
The selected Fellow will receive $11,000 in research funding over three years and one course release (one semester) during the fellowship period.
Deadline: Friday, January 23, 2026, by 4 p.m. EST |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Certificate in Instructional Excellence
The Certificate in Instructional Excellence provides contract lecturers (CUPE 1 and 2) with opportunities to enhance their teaching and participate in a supportive community of fellow educators. CUPE 1 or 2 Contract Lecturers with an active contract, or a contract that was active within nine months, are automatically registered and are encouraged to make use of this comprehensive resource by completing the module on D2L.
Completing Level 1 of the CIE meets Article 18.2.b of the CUPE 3904 Unit 1 Collective Agreement 2024-2027, granting a teaching assessment waiver in semesters #4, #5 and #6.
For more information about the CIE or troubleshooting, please contact askcelt@torontomu.ca
|
| Read more on the CIE webpage |
|
|
|
|
Distinguished Lecture in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Dr. Janice Miller Young
February 06, 2026, 12 - 1:30 p.m.
In-person, location TBD.
The Distinguished Lecture in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is an annual lecture series that showcases leading scholars whose work has shaped thinking and practice in teaching and learning in higher education. The series provides a forum for engaging with impactful SoTL research, tracing scholars’ pathways into SoTL, and exploring how evidence-informed pedagogical inquiry can enhance student learning. |
|
|
|
This year’s inaugural lecture will be given by Dr. Janice Miller-Young, Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Director of Engineering Experiential Learning at the University of Alberta, who writes:
“This Distinguished lecture traces my personal and scholarly journey in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), beginning with my first small study and expanding outward into multi-year and mixed method research programs… Rather than offering a prescriptive roadmap, this lecture invites attendees to view SoTL as an ongoing scholarly journey—one that requires curiosity, humility, reflexivity, and collaboration. By sharing both my intellectual development and the evolving nature of my research practice, I aim to open space for others to reflect on their own SoTL trajectories and on the kinds of scholarly practices needed to sustain and advance the field.”
|
| Read more and register for the Distinguished Lecture in SoTL |
|
|
|
|
2026 Learning and Teaching Conference:
Call for Proposals & Save the Date |
 |
|
The 2026 TMU Learning & Teaching Conference is now accepting proposals for presentations relevant to the conference theme of Opening Doors, Closing Gaps Through Learning and Teaching. The Conference will run from May 11 - 12, 2026 with pre-conference events held on May 11, and May 12 offering a full day of programming including lunch and community building opportunities.
Following a successful collaboration in 2025, TMU’s annual Learning and Teaching Conference and IT Conference are partnering once again to explore and strengthen the many points of connection between TMU’s academic teaching and information technology communities.
The deadline for proposal submissions to both events is Friday, February 13, 2026.
|
| Learn more and submit a proposal for LTC 2026 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stay up-to-date on upcoming events, programs, grants, awards and best practices through our mailing list. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
