CELT Welcomes Two New Educational Developers
The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching has welcomed two new educational developers who will oversee strategic portfolios related to equity and anti-racist pedagogy as well as pedagogical research and evaluation.
Renée Ferguson joins CELT as a specialist in anti-racist, anti-oppressive, anti-colonial and equity-focused pedagogical practices. Following a reflective and evidence-based practice, Renée will be available to support Faculty, Instructors, TA/GAs with course design, assessment and facilitation strategies. She will also consult with Schools and Departments that are working to create more accessible, inclusive curricula.
For over a decade, Renée has been teaching Social Work and Women and Gender Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University, Dalhousie University and the University of Toronto, Mississauga.
"It’s such a joy to be working on a team full of deep thinkers; people who see education as a justice issue and spend time pouring over ways to address social inequities through the lens of teaching and learning. The icing on the cake is that this deep thinking occurs within a flexible and creative environment, which for me, is inseparable from issues of justice. There is so much room for collaboration, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what grows out of all these opportunities to work with colleagues across the university."
Jenny Ge joins CELT from Queen’s University where she did her PhD in Education, with concentrations in assessment and evaluation. Her research examines how educators can be supported in developing their role-related identities to strengthen their practice. She has also previously taught in the teacher education programs at both Queen’s and the University of Toronto. Jenny will be working closely with CELT Teaching Fellows and Grant holders on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and will be supporting faculty in the Excellence in Teaching Program (ETP) to measure and evaluate the impact of their teaching practices.
"I’m excited to connect and collaborate with the amazing folks across the CELT on not only impactful programming for instructors, but also larger initiatives to support equity, experiential learning, growth-oriented assessment, and more diverse ways of knowing, expression, and being. Everyone I’ve met has been so wonderful and passionate about their work, and it’s inspiring me to both ideate and reflect on how I can best serve others in this role."
According to CELT Associate Director, Curtis Maloley, these two new positions will play a pivotal role in shaping how Centre staff support Faculty and Instructors to meet their teaching goals, and to support a more collaborative process of teaching development.
“The Centre is committed to supporting the development of evidence-based teaching programs that are relevant to faculty at different career stages and in different disciplines. Faculty and Instructors across TMU have made it clear to us that they want to deepen their ability to be more intentionally inclusive of the diverse learners in their classrooms, and they are interested in being able to better demonstrate the impact of their teaching practice. I think these two positions will really help us to support these priorities at Toronto Met.”
Both Renée Ferguson and Jenny Ge, along with the entire Teaching Development team are available for one-on-one consultations, virtually or in-person.
For more information, visit the Centre's Consultations page.
