After more than 30 years engaged in higher education administration in the U.S. and Canada, I took the plunge and returned to my teaching roots.  And what an adventure it has been!

I took nearly everything that our Centre for Teaching and Learning offered as a way of rebooting and modernizing my approach to teaching.  This took me through the Certificate in University Teaching, Blackboard Boot Camp, the Teaching Dossier Academy, and lots more. I learned about SoTL and scholarly teaching.  It resulted in me adopting “teaching for learning” as my teaching style, which, of course, was a perfect match to my dean of students’ experiences putting students first in all we do.

More recently, I have explored the open practice world with the help of our Office of Open Learning.  It has left me inspired to move away from traditional pedagogies and adopt a more open path to teaching and learning.  This led me to explore educational technologies, curation, collaboration, experimentation, and scholarship related to open practice.  I am even currently considering the development of an Open Educational Resource for one of my courses and have now created an ePortfolio!

The combination of “teaching for learning” and entering the open learning world has led me to want to learn more about how we as educators, teachers, researchers, and supporters of student learning can more fully centre our work on enhancing student learning.

Where this adventure will lead me, I do not know.  What I hope is that it will make me a better teacher, facilitator, mentor, and coach for my students.

I cannot wait to experience what is next on my journey.

From time to time, I will write in this blog about my experiences.  Maybe you will tune in and reflect with me about how you incorporate “teaching for learning” and open learning pedagogies in your teaching.

Join me!

Clayton Smith