Schulich researchers receive inaugural teaching and learning grants

Tracey Clancy and her colleagues have wondered for some time about the impact of co-teaching: whether students learn from how they are taught as well as what they are taught.

Clancy has co-taught the nurse as educator course in the Faculty of Nursing for the past few years, and notes that true co-teaching is more than dividing up lectures and topics. It involves building a relationship based around trust and respect for the other teacher’s background, knowledge and experience. Clancy wondered whether exposing students to effective co-teaching helped foster their leadership abilities as nurses.

Clancy and her collaborators will be researching that question over the next two years, after securing a University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grant.

Some 25 projects received funding through the inaugural Teaching and Learning Grants program. The program was introduced to provide funding for instructors to develop their teaching practice, and for individuals and groups to conduct research around teaching and learning.

“It’s an amazing opportunity,” Clancy said. “It really demonstrates the level of commitment the university has to teaching, and the significance of teaching.”

“The University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants program is designed to support inquiry that will help us understand and improve student learning within and across disciplines,” says Lynn Taylor, vice-provost (teaching and learning). “These grants support the integration of teaching and research in ways that will have a direct impact on the quality and breadth of our students’ learning experiences by developing, assessing and sharing new approaches to learning.”

The Teaching and Learning Grants are offered in three dedicated streams: the practice stream, for teachers to adopt innovative or creative approaches to learning; the scholarship stream, for research into student learning and how it can be improved; and the experiential learning stream, for projects that integrate experiential learning into a course or program.

The following Schulich School of Engineering researchers were awarded Teaching and Learning Grants:

Experiential Learning, Individual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grants
Investigators: Farnaz Sadeghpour
Project title: Experiential learning in construction engineering and management education

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Collaborative Teams
Investigators: Thomas O’Neill, Marjan Eggermont, William Rosehart, Robert Brennan, Ron Hugo
Project title: Building teamwork and communication skills in engineering education

Visit UToday to learn more about all grant award recipients.