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Dissertation Pedagogies

May 26 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT
Four cartoon-styled human figures of sitting around a table in deep, energetic discussion as evidenced by the icons of lightbulbs, clocks, speech bubbles and more surrounding them.

Dissertation Pedagogies

Date: Tuesday, May 26th, 2026

Time: 8:00-9:30pm (AT) / 7:00-8:30pm (ET) / 4:00-5:30pm (PT)

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Facilitated by Drs. Sarah Gibbons (UofGuelph) and Tommy Mayberry (Yorkville + TFS)

Workshop Description and Learning Outcomes:

Research shows that graduate students view feedback from their supervisors and committee members as critical to their successes with theses and dissertations—and not just with the content they are writing about, but with the actual writing and processes of writing and/as thinking as well. However, providing effective, relational, and human-centred feedback on thesis and dissertation projects, especially in our current moment of ongoing, compounding global polycrises, can be a challenging, time-consuming, and even frustrating process for faculty.

Drawing on research from writing studies, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), and the facilitators’ own lived experienced as dissertators who’ve become writing pedagogues and faculty developers, this workshop is designed for faculty and instructors to:

  • discuss strategies for providing effective, relational, human-centred and humanized feedback on their Graduate students’ thesis and dissertation projects;
  • identify approaches and tools that graduate students (and faculty and instructors!) can use to address feedback as they write, revise, and polish their theses and dissertations;
  • begin sharing ideas, successes, and failures with instructional peers on practices for thesis and dissertation pedagogies;
  • re-envision taken-for-granted assumptions and traditions of the supervisor-supervisee dyad to decolonize relationships in thesis and dissertation pedagogies and approaches; and
  • stretch yourself toward embodying sustainable, responsible, and accountable thesis and dissertation pedagogy processes and practices.

This workshop is open both to new faculty and instructors as well as to seasoned supervisors and committee members to come together as we collectively work toward embodying and sustaining effective thesis and dissertation pedagogy processes at Yorkville and Toronto Film School.

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