Yesterday I met with the Director at the Centre for Teaching and Learning Innovation and my mentor Liesel Knaack for my mid-year review as a Faculty Developer on her team. The meeting was positive, supportive, and inspiring. The main feedback and theme that I’m walking away with from our meeting is that I need to thicken my foundation of knowledge in teaching and learning. My lack of foundational knowledge in this area is something that came up when I was writing my self-assessment, but my meeting with Liesel really helped shine a spotlight on it and frame it as an exciting area of growth and development rather than a lack.  

Liesel went into detail using the analogy of a house and the potential I have to use the next part of this year to focus on thickening the foundation and beams to give it a stronger structure. Through my courses in the PIDP (Provincial Instructor Diploma Program) at Vancouver Community College I have had the chance to read some foundational texts in teaching and learning, like Brookfield’s The Skillful Teacher (2015) and Angelo and Cross’ Classroom Assessment Techniques (1993). But there are so many more authors, books, online articles and websites that I need to read, review, and understand in order to thicken my foundation (including most if not all from this list).  

The analogy I used with Liesel was a coffee cup. Due to my personality, personal and professional experience, and who I am I have a strong cup. But I only have a tiny bit of coffee at the bottom! Its easy for me to get pulled into learning about the attractive things I can add to coffee – the foam, cream, cinnamon, etc. GenAI! Ungrading! Radical Pegagogy! … and more!  These are all topics I’m drawn to and curious about, and will continue to pursue to some degree, but at the same time I really need to focus on filling my cup with that foundational knowledge – the actual coffee – before I put too much time and energy into what’s going to go on top of the coffee. 

Another great aspect of my conversation with Liesel was thinking about the learning I’m doing and will continue to do in my role as an instructor that complements my learning as a Faculty Developer. In my Self-Assessment it came up for me that I have a lot more learning to do about Program Review. It was somewhat of a relief to hear in my meeting that I don’t have to learn every single thing in my Faculty Developer position. In my role as an instructor in Human Services we are deep in our own Program Review process, so I can continue my learning about Program Review through my participation in the process rather than being overly concerned about studying Program Review or observing other departments at the point. Another area that I want to continue to learn and grow in is Indigenization. I know we will be doing a lot of work on Indigenization in the Human Services department, so I can learn about it there and bring that learning into my Faculty Developer role. I feel privileged to be working as a Faculty Developer and instructor simultaneously. I see these roles as two strands of the same rope that wind around each other and form complementary learning to create a stronger whole. 

Overall my Mid-Year Evaluation was a positive experience. I feel I am leaving with a strong theme and goal in terms of building my foundation in teaching and learning, as well as some other helpful metaphors to help me along in the second part of my year in this role. My next step will be to write up a mini action-plan with specific books, videos, and websites to read and dates to accomplish them by to keep me on-track and accountable. I look forward to continuing this learning!