Centres for Learning and Teaching Innovation
When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020 and Institutions across the world shifted to emergency online learning, an ad hoc group of Aurora College Instructors and Administrators came together to look at how they could support AC students and Instructors. From this initial group of 11 people, the proposal to develop and pilot an AC Centre for Learning and Teaching Innovation was born. The proposal received pilot funding and the CLTI was formed in the fall of 2020 with three Instructors on transfer assignments from their regular teaching roles.
The CLTI is situated across multiple campuses to maximize support for Instructors and staff across the college.
During the first year, a lot of the focus of the CLTI, especially in the area of Educational Technology, was focused on supporting students navigate the complexities of the new online environment. The CLTI team also worked with an external consultant to develop an evaluation plan for the pilot phase.
The evaluation was carried out from April 2021-March 2022 and the final pilot evaluation report was produced in June of 2022. This report supported the proof of concept pilot and indicated that there is an ongoing need for learning and teaching support at Aurora College.
In March 2022, the CLTI hired its first Director and expanded to include a Coordinator of Program Development and Evaluation. In 2022 it will also bring on a Coordinator, Continuous Quality Improvement and Accreditation Lead to further support ongoing CQI initiatives as Aurora College transforms into a polytechnic university.
The CLTI supports the professional development not only of the AC Instructional staff but also the non-Instructional staff.
Take a look at how we can support your team under our Services tab and if there is a workshop or topic your are interested in but don’t see listed, please reach out and we will work with you to see how we can meet your needs.
The importance of this centre is that it is at the centre of all teachings, and teaching is the centre of this centre.
Mr. Tea Ching Cen Tar
Timeline for CLTI
Since first launched at AC, some key dates in the on-going history of the CLTI are as follows:
- Pandemic/ad hoc group
- Proposal for pilot (May 2020)
- Pilot started (Oct 2020)
- Evaluation of pilot started
- Evaluation of pilot completed (June 2022)
- Defining role and scope of services (May/June 2022)
- Prioritizing activities and expanding service offerings (Fall 2022)
