Teaching Academy

Inspiring teaching and learning on campus

Supporting the development of teaching practices on campus

The Teaching Academy is a community of institutional-level teaching award recipients at the University of Calgary, who have been recognized for their exemplary contributions to teaching and learning. The Teaching Academy provides opportunities for supporting the development of individual and collective teaching practices on our campus.

Purpose

The Teaching Academy is intended to establish a network of colleagues who can collectively develop teaching and learning expertise at the University of Calgary. This is driven by the following foundational beliefs about the scholarship and practice of teaching.

Foundational beliefs about teaching

  • Knowledge and understanding of excellent teaching is informed by research, but driven by practice
  • Teaching expertise is shared across disciplines and across campus
  • Teaching is a developmental skill that can be deliberately strengthened
  • Opportunities for teaching feedback and development need to be offered in a low-risk and encouraging manner
  • Development of University of Calgary teachers and Teaching Academy members is a worthwhile pursuit that leads to enhanced teaching practices, both at the University of Calgary and more broadly within post-secondary education

Principles of practice

  • Interdisciplinarity, and welcoming of perspectives and practices from all scholarly disciplines
  • Inclusion of all teaching colleagues at the University of Calgary
  • Accessibility, or offering multiple modes of, and avenues for, engagement in teaching development
  • Respectfulness and collegiality

Activities

Each Teaching Academy activity has a unique structure and mechanisms for delivery. These activities are supported by the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning.

Every academic year, the Teaching Academy provides opportunities for members to work on a collaborative project to support the quality and breadth of learning, which can include

  • Meeting the teaching needs of individual instructors
  • Providing developmental support to a wide range of teaching colleagues
  • Improving the quality of classroom experiences for both teachers and students

In years when funding becomes available, the Teaching Academy confers grants of $500 to $1,000 to fund small educational leadership projects by members of the Teaching Academy, in collaboration with non-Academy partners, that help colleagues to strengthen their teaching practice and thereby enhance student learning opportunities.  . 

Funding for these grants is provided through the Students’ Union Quality Money Program, which invests in the improvement of our campus community. We would like to thank the Students’ Union for their ongoing contributions to Teaching Academy educational leadership projects.

A call for proposals is sent to members of the Teaching Academy during the fall term and recipients of the grant are notified in the new year.  Refer to the quarterly Teaching Academy newsletter to learn more. 

2024 grant recipients

  • Chelsea Rozanski | Faculty of Arts
  • Tracey L. Clancy, PhD, Shannon Parker, PhD | Faculty of Nursing
  • Jean-Yin Tan, PhD, Gordon Atkins, PhD | Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
  • Soroush Sabbaghan, PhD, Bibek Dahal, Angela Judge-Stasiak, Beatriz Antonieta Moya | Werklund School of Education
  • Polly L. Knowlton Cockett, Hyacinth Schaeffer | Werklund School of Education
  • Jacob Lamb, PhD, Robyn Mae Paul, PhD | Schulich School of Engineering