CTEI Ready-to-Teach – Week Five – Option One
2026-08-04 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Toronto)
CTEI Ready-to-Teach – Week Five – Option One
Date: Tuesday, August 4th, 2026
Time: 1:00-2:30pm (AT) / 12:00-1:30pm (ET) / 9:00-10:30am (PT)
Registration link
Session Description:
Join the Centre for Teaching Excellence and Innovation to kick off the Ready-to-Teach program as you begin your time with Yorkville University and Toronto Film School.
The session will utilize active learning strategies which may include small breakout rooms and the use of other digital engagement tools.
Remember: You only need to sign up for one synchronous session in each of the scheduled synchronous weeks (Week 1, 3, and 5 of the CTEI Ready-to-Teach program).
If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach the Centre at ctei@yorkvilleu.ca.
The virtual doors will be closed to late attendees after 5 minutes.

CTEI Ready-to-Teach – Week Five – Option Two
2026-08-05 13:00 - 14:30
CTEI Ready-to-Teach – Week Five – Option Two
Date: Wednesday, August 5th, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:30pm (AT) / 1:00-2:30pm (ET) / 10:00-11:30am (PT)
Registration link
Session Description:
Join the Centre for Teaching Excellence and Innovation to kick off the Ready-to-Teach program as you begin your time with Yorkville University and Toronto Film School.
The session will utilize active learning strategies which may include small breakout rooms and the use of other digital engagement tools.
Remember: You only need to sign up for one synchronous session in each of the scheduled synchronous weeks (Week 1, 3, and 5 of the CTEI Ready-to-Teach program).
If you have any questions or concerns, you can reach the Centre at ctei@yorkvilleu.ca.
The virtual doors will be closed to late attendees after 5 minutes.

Journal Club – August 2026 Meeting
2026-08-12 13:00 - 14:00
Journal Club – August 2026 Meeting
Date: Wednesday, August 12th, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:00pm (AT) / 1:00-2:00pm (ET) / 10:00-11:00am (PT)
Registration link
“Journal Club” CTEI Communities Description:
Join the CTEI for monthly get-togethers where members will gather to share and discuss ideas on teaching, learning, and education more broadly. Discussions will be guided by selected journal articles balancing theory and practice.
For August 2026’s Meeting, we are reading and discussing: Mohamed et al.’s “Decolonial AI: Decolonial Theory as Sociotechnical Foresight in Artificial Intelligence” (2020).
Meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month at 10-11AM PT / 1-2PM ET / 2-3PM AT.
Check out our CTEI Communities page for more details and to register!

Fictional Classrooms: National Community of Practice (Summer 2026) – August 2026 Meeting
2026-08-17 14:30 - 2026-08-23 15:30
Fictional Classrooms: National Community of Practice (Summer 2026) – June 2026 Meeting
Date: Monday, June 22nd, 2026
Time: 3:30-4:30pm (AT) / 2:30-3:30pm (ET) / 11:30am-12:30pm (PT)
Sign up to join! (you may be prompted to log in to your Google account)
Fictional Classrooms National Community of Practice Description:
Over the past four years, our very own Matthew Dunleavy (CTEI Senior Educational Developer, Faculty Excellence and Development) and his colleague, Robin Sutherland-Harris (York University), have facilitated the Fictional Classrooms community. The current iteration brings together educational/curriculum/faculty/instructional developers and instructors from across Canada and the US to explore and reflect on narratives of education in films, television, short stories, and novels. These works may speak to us as learners, educators, developers, researchers, artists, and/or simply as humans.
For Summer 2026, the Fictional Classrooms community will be discussing Moo (1995) by Jane Smiley (novel):

Part One – June 22
Parts Two and Three – July 20
Parts Four and Five – August 17

The synopsis:
In this darkly satirical send-up of academia and the Midwest, we are introduced to Moo University, a distinguished institution devoted to the study of agriculture. Amid cow pastures and waving fields of grain, Moo’s campus churns with devious plots, mischievous intrigue, lusty liaisons, and academic one-upmanship: Chairman X of the Horticulture Department harbors a secret fantasy to kill the dean; Mrs. Walker, the provost’s right hand and campus information queen, knows where all the bodies are buried; Timothy Monahan, associate professor of English, advocates eavesdropping for his creative writing assignments; and Bob Carlson, a sophomore, feeds and maintains his only friend: a hog named Earl Butz.
You can read about all these selections (and previous selections) in our what to read/watch list.
To join the Fictional Classrooms Community for Summer 2026:
Please sign up as follows:

Visit https://groups.google.com/search?q=FictionalClassroomsED (you may be prompted to log in to your Google account)
On the right-hand side, click the small “Join” icon (next to the star) and ask to join group.
Matthew and Robin will approve your request within 2 working days, and you will then have access to the group, including their shared Google Folder and Calendar.

Note from Matthew and Robin: We approach the Fictional Classrooms program with a “read-what-you-can” mentality. We understand that we can get busy and may not finish readings each month, but we encourage you to attend each session regardless of how much you have been able to engage with the text or film so we can still have fruitful conversations and build community.

Journal Club – September 2026 Meeting
2026-09-09 13:00 - 14:00
Journal Club – September 2026 Meeting
Date: Wednesday, September 9th, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:00pm (AT) / 1:00-2:00pm (ET) / 10:00-11:00am (PT)
Registration link
“Journal Club” CTEI Communities Description:
Join the CTEI for monthly get-togethers where members will gather to share and discuss ideas on teaching, learning, and education more broadly. Discussions will be guided by selected journal articles balancing theory and practice.
For September 2026’s Meeting, we are reading and discussing: Mahesh and McIsaac’s “Distance Education: Learner-Teacher Interaction and Time Spent by Teaching” (1999).
Meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month at 10-11AM PT / 1-2PM ET / 2-3PM AT.
Check out our CTEI Communities page for more details and to register!

Facilitating Meaningful, Effective Feedback
2026-09-15 12:00 - 13:30
Facilitating Meaningful, Effective Feedback
Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Time: 1:00-2:30pm (AT) / 12:00-1:30pm (ET) / 9:00-10:30am (PT)
Registration link
Workshop Description:

In Designing Effective Feedback Processes in Higher Education: A Learning-Focused Approach, Naomi Winstone and David Carless argue for a more student-centered approach to feedback. They argue that an old paradigm viewed feedback as simply a transmission of comments from teacher to student but ask us to embody a new feedback paradigm that prioritizes dialogue and interaction between teachers and students. Using this vision of feedback, in this workshop, we challenge our assumptions about feedback and redesign this integral part of formative and summative assessment to encourage student engagement, sense-making, and uptake. By the end of this CTEI Workshop, you will be able to:

Create spaces for meaningful formative and summative feedback;

Design meaningful feedback mechanisms in different modalities; and,

Assess the effectiveness of different feedback strategies for your teaching context.

CTEI Reflective Quarterly Gathering - September 2026
2026-09-28 12:00 - 13:00
CTEI Reflective Quarterly Gathering
Date: Monday, September 28th, 2026
Time: 1:00-2:00pm (AT) / 12:00-1:00pm (ET) / 9:00-10:00am (PT)
Registration link
Event Description:
Join us for our quarterly, semi-structured gathering to reflect on the past term and look ahead to the next! (Re)connect with your peers across Yorkville and Toronto Film School to celebrate what’s working, unpack what is challenging us, and identify emerging teaching and learning needs.
Through guided reflection and small-group conversation, participants will share strategies, compare experiences, and surface practical takeaways to inform the upcoming term. This is a collegial, supportive, interactive space designed to foster shared learning. So, grab your tea, coffee, water, or pop and come say “Hi”!

Journal Club – October 2026 Meeting
2026-10-14 13:00 - 14:00
Journal Club – October 2026 Meeting
Date: Wednesday, October 14th, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:00pm (AT) / 1:00-2:00pm (ET) / 10:00-11:00am (PT)
Registration link
“Journal Club” CTEI Communities Description:
Join the CTEI for monthly get-togethers where members will gather to share and discuss ideas on teaching, learning, and education more broadly. Discussions will be guided by selected journal articles balancing theory and practice.
For October 2026’s Meeting, we are reading and discussing: Juuso Henrik Nieminen’s “How Does Assessment Shape Student Identities? An Integrative Review” (2024).
Meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month at 10-11AM PT / 1-2PM ET / 2-3PM AT.
Check out our CTEI Communities page for more details and to register!

Teaching Philosophy/Reflecting on Teaching
2026-11-17 12:00 - 13:30
Teaching Philosophy/Reflecting on Teaching
Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2026
Time: 1:00-2:30pm (AT) / 12:00-1:30pm (ET) / 9:00-10:30am (PT)
Registration link
Workshop Description:

In this session, we will give a brief introduction to teaching philosophies – the unique and personal statements that articulate your beliefs and values in teaching and learning. You are invited to bring a pre-existing or draft statement or just something to write/type/record on in case you are inspired!
This introduction will be followed by time to ask questions as well as go over some activities (including some GenAI prompting) to help you explore your beliefs and values so that you can identify what you may wish to include in your own teaching philosophy statement.

Journal Club – November 2026 Meeting
2026-11-18 13:00 - 14:00
Journal Club – November 2026 Meeting
Date: Wednesday, November 18th, 2026
Time: 2:00-3:00pm (AT) / 1:00-2:00pm (ET) / 11:00am-12:00pm (PT)
Registration link
“Journal Club” CTEI Communities Description:
Join the CTEI for monthly get-togethers where members will gather to share and discuss ideas on teaching, learning, and education more broadly. Discussions will be guided by selected journal articles balancing theory and practice.
For November 2026’s Meeting, we are reading and discussing: Joshua Hill’s “SoTL as Reconciliation: Seeking to contribute to decolonization and Indigenization of teaching, learning, and research in Canadian Universities” (2024).
Meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month at 11AM-12PM PT / 1-2PM ET / 2-3PM AT.
Check out our CTEI Communities page for more details and to register!
