Thank you everyone for your comments and feedback, and for the inspiration received from reading others' posts. My activity below hasn't changed considerably as it's written, but I feel the ideas have been shaped by your comments, and I feel more confident as we move this program forward in the coming months.
Context:
This task would be a ‘capstone’ activity at for a Faculty Development program,
currently in development. The aim of the program is to move away from one-off
workshops, to series of interconnected/related workshops that culminate in
reflective tasks directly related to each participant's teaching practice and
professional learning goals. The purpose of the workshop series is to give faculty
tools for engaged teaching, curriculum and assessment design, intercultural
communication, de-colonizing, etc.
As faculty teach across departments and have varied schedules, the program will need to be flexible, yet motivating enough, to allow for follow-up and completion. We will aim to work with participants—virtually and face-to-face—after the workshops for a) setting an intention to try something new/different in their class, b) reflecting on how the trial worked, and c) celebrating those who take risks to change-up their teaching approach(es).
Reflection Task:
Purpose: To apply new knowledge from the workshops into participants' own teaching practices to gain the experiential element, and then to reflect on this application to delve deeper and recognize changes and opportunities for their teaching practices through the process.
Step 1: Make an intention to make changes in your teaching practice. From the workshops, think of 1-3 changes you wish to make and plan the steps to implement these changes. For example, you could ....
- revise your course/class learning outcomes (even just one or two)
- create a detailed lesson plan that integrates one or two active learning strategies
- introduce self-regulated learning activities to your students
- invite students to a discussion around land acknowledgement
Step 2: After implementing the above, take time to reflect on the outcome. Consider asking yourself the following questions: What was your reaction? How did students respond? What went well? What was the most challenging part? Will you continue or abandon this change in your practice? Share your reflection in the Brightspace course shell using the medium of your choice; for example: a blog post, a journal reflection, a video, a dialogue, etc.
Program Completion
Once faculty have attended a series of relevant workshops and completed their reflection tasks, they will be invited to a celebratory lunch. There may also be opportunities to share their journey at a symposium event. Some may be eligible to apply for funding to attend (and present) at a conference related to their professional learning goals.