CUPE-stream of the Excellence in Teaching Program set to launch
Since it was introduced in 2021, the Excellence in Teaching Program (ETP) has been a key initiative within the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching. Designed to provide faculty with opportunities to enhance the impact of their teaching, the professional development program was born from the Centre’s dedication to enriching the student learning experience and supporting educators during each stage of their career.
The ETP was first piloted with tenured and tenure-track faculty. Now, in collaboration with CUPE, the educational development team at CELT has been working towards the development of a CUPE-specific stream of the ETP.
“Many of us working at CELT come from the ranks of CUPE and have a good sense of what it feels like to be juggling a desire to expand and develop our teaching with time constraints. We felt it was important to develop a program that would speak to the needs of our CUPE colleagues."
To ensure that this new CUPE-specific version of the ETP would meet the unique professional development needs of contract academics, Renée Ferguson and Michelle Schwartz, Educational Developers with CELT, teamed up with the CUPE executive to develop a survey that was distributed to all CUPE 1 and 2 members in October. Over 200 CUPE members responded. “The collaboration made sense,” says Ferguson. “I was a CUPE member for over 10 years, and so it seemed important to bring that experience into this relationship.”
In reviewing the survey responses, a number of key themes became apparent. Time was identified as a key barrier to professional development, leading to reduced or missed opportunities for CUPE members to participate. Many CUPE members are teaching at TMU but also working full-time jobs in their fields, marrying technical and subject-matter know-how with teaching about their expertise. Wanting more recognition for this balancing act was a theme in the survey, with strong calls for virtual and asynchronous professional development options that build accessible spaces for PD engagement. As one CUPE member put it, “I have a full-time day job and am a single mother. Evenings or asynchronous would be the only times available for me to participate.”
Ferguson, together with Schwartz, are in the process of building the foundation for the new program using the feedback from CUPE members. The survey results identified six main areas of interest for contract academics: advancing equity and diversity, building a professional and academic portfolio, course material preparation, grading, responding to challenging situations, and facilitation. These areas will form the basis for the upcoming CUPE programming.
“We’re excited by what’s possible here. We got all this great info from CUPE members and now we can build an ETP program. We see this as a living project, meaning that as the year goes by, we are going to use what we learned from the survey to create something that speaks to the needs and desires of CUPE academics. I see it as a process of building, reviewing, and building some more.”
The new stream is set to be launched this year, but CUPE contract academics are welcome to (google form) register now (external link) to receive updates as it rolls out.
To learn more about the Excellence in Teaching Program, please visit the CELT website, or email the Centre at teachingcentre@torontomu.ca.