Cultivating an inclusive and sustainable SoTL
Being Comfortable with Discomfort: Centering Student Agency Requires Educators to Relinquish Control
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada
Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada
Traditional classrooms often position instructors as the sole authorities, but learner-centered approaches necessitate a shift - one that requires educators to embrace discomfort, unpredictability, and mess as they redistribute power to students. In this workshop, we will explore the emotional and practical challenges of relinquishing control, and consider strategies to collaboratively design learning spaces where students co-create assessments, rubrics, and policies. We will explore how student-centred practices not only help us shed the mental load of micromanaging our students, but more importantly, can build a culture of reciprocal trust. These practices are extracted from our pedagogical research study on embedding scientific literacy and process skills into existing science curricula.
We focus on applicable, feasible tools for partnership by modelling some of the ways we facilitate these approaches in the classroom e.g., through co-designing assessments and rubrics with students. Through reflection, participants will also examine their own anxieties about ambiguity and fear of failure, considering how factors like career stage, discipline, and institutional structures shape their (dis)comfort with shared authority. Activities - including role-playing student perspectives and drafting co-created assessments and rubrics - aim to highlight the tensions, shared anxieties, and benefits of fostering student agency.
This workshop is designed for educators at all career stages who seek to balance structure with flexibility, recognizing that discomfort is not a barrier but a necessity for transformative learning. Our participants will leave with i) ideas and models to trial a student-centered strategy in their own teaching contexts, and ii) frameworks to reflect on their own power, listen to student voices, and experiment with pedagogical practices that honour shared ownership of the learning journey.
Research on teaching and learning
Opening Pedagogical Borders: Coaching as a Framework for Inclusive, Student-Centered Learning
SAIT, University of Saskatchewan
SAIT
In a time of complexity and rapid change, SoTL practitioners are called to reimagine teaching and learning in ways that centre equity, inclusion, and relationality. Coaching pedagogy offers a powerful and sustainable framework that invites educators to shift from directive teaching to collaborative co-inquiry—supporting student identity development, capability growth, and self-directed learning (Bovill, 2020; Griffiths & Campbell, 2009; hooks, 1994). By intentionally positioning students as active participants in their learning, coaching pedagogy opens pedagogical borders and creates opportunities to recognize, value, and respond to diverse lived experiences.
Grounded in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb & Kolb, 2017) and informed by co-active coaching principles (Whitworth et al., 1998), this workshop introduces a four-phase Coaching Pedagogy Framework designed to cultivate inclusive learning environments that affirm diverse student experiences and promote holistic development:
Research on teaching and learning
Where is SoTL? Navigating the Literature, Framing Your Work
Mount Royal University
MacEwan University
The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is a dynamic and growing field that invites educators to engage in systematic inquiry into student learning. Yet for many newcomers — and even experienced researchers from outside education — SoTL literature can feel elusive. What "counts" as SoTL? How is it different from education research or pedagogical theory? Where do you look when search engines fail to yield relevant results?
This workshop offers an applied, librarian-led introduction to finding and working with SoTL literature. We will begin by demystifying the genre: identifying the features of SoTL writing, discussing where it appears, and offering search strategies and tools tailored to SoTL's interdisciplinary and boundary-crossing nature. Drawing on frameworks from Miller-Young & Yeo (2023), Healey & Healey (2023), Werder (2022), and others, participants will learn how to identify key journals, use SoTL-specific databases and repositories, and distinguish SoTL literature from adjacent fields while also re-thinking what “counts” as literature.
The second half of the session will involve a hands-on application: participants will workshop their own project ideas by identifying keywords, relevant literature, and potential methodological alignments, culminating in the creation of a basic research matrix to scaffold their inquiry.
This session is ideal for scholars at any stage who are exploring SoTL questions or mentoring others through the process of SoTL research. By grounding the search process in SoTL theory and practice, we aim to "open borders" between disciplines, practices, and the literature itself — cultivating a more inclusive and sustainable SoTL culture.
Cultivating an inclusive and sustainable SoTL
From Support to Strategy: Mapping the Dimensions of SoTL Leadership
University of Saskcatchewan
As the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) continues to evolve, so too does the role of those who lead, mentor, and support SoTL practitioners. This interactive workshop invites faculty, educational developers, and institutional champions to explore their own SoTL leadership journeys through the lens of Simmons and Taylor’s (2019) four dimensions of SoTL leadership: advocacy, collaboration, collegiality, and agency.
Participants will engage in reflective mapping activities to identify their current leadership practices, uncover areas for growth, and envision new strategies for fostering a thriving SoTL culture. Through guided dialogue and peer exchange, attendees will explore how to:
- Advocate for SoTL within institutional structures and policies
- Build collaborative networks that support scholarly teaching
- Cultivate collegial environments that value inquiry and reflection
- Empower others—and themselves—to lead with purpose and authenticity
This session will also introduce a flexible “SoTL Leadership Map” tool that participants can adapt to their own contexts. Whether you are a formal leader or an informal champion, this workshop will help you clarify your role in shaping the SoTL ecosystem and sustaining meaningful educational change.
Ideal for those who support SoTL through mentorship, programming, or strategic planning, this session offers both practical tools and space for critical reflection. Join us to chart your course, connect with fellow leaders, and strengthen your capacity to guide others on their SoTL journeys.
Challenging ways of being, knowing, and doing
Opening with the Land: An Elder-led Experience of Blackfoot Knowledge in Banff National Park
Mount Royal University
Begin your conference journey by grounding yourself in place and relationship through an Elder-led, land-based experience in Banff National Park. This immersive session centers Blackfoot language and oral knowledge, inviting participants to engage holistically with the land, one another, and Indigenous ways of knowing. Guided by Blackfoot Elder Duane Mistaken Chief, attendees will experience storytelling, reflection, and ceremony that foster a deeper connection to territory, relationality, and responsibilities in Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).This session offers a unique opportunity to reflect on Indigenous knowledge systems, language revitalization, and decolonization in SoTL practices. As we explore what it means to “open borders,” we will also consider the boundaries of knowledge, pedagogy, and place — and how they are reimagined through Indigenous worldviews. Together, we will consider how SoTL can become more inclusive and reciprocal, and how place-based and Indigenous pedagogies can inform scholarly inquiry and practice in times of complexity, opportunity, and change.