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This fall, the Faculty of Health launched its inaugural edition of the Engaged Educator Series, an ambitious new interactive program that aims to help faculty members and instructors stay connected, sharpen their tech skills and find new ways to foster engaged students.

The theme for this year’s series is “Teaching with Technology,” an inspired choice, given that there’s always something to learn when it comes to teaching with tech—an essential tool for fostering student engagement.

“We chose the theme to address the timely challenges faculty members face related to integrating technology into their teaching and courses” says Yasaman Delaviz, Director, Strategic Enrolment Management and Program Development at the Faculty of Health. “For example, with the introduction of artificial intelligence, how do we use that in the classroom? How do we make sure that we use it responsibly? How do we teach students to use AI in a responsible manner?”

Artificial intelligence is only one of six tech topics covered in the series, which is essentially a full, online course that also explores course design, ensuring accessibility with online documents and integrating community-based projects into teaching platforms. What makes it unique is that it offers spaces built in for discussion, so that educators can still share insights and experiences about what works well in their classrooms.

In addition, the team that brought this to life—which also includes Lisa Endersby, Educational Developer and Jennifer Barolet, Educational Program Support—thought the most effective way to show of some of the best new tools that can be used for engaged education was to actually model them in the course—as opposed to merely explaining how to use them.   

“We demo some tools so that faculty can experience the technology from a student perspective” says Delaviz. “If you use it yourself and like it, in my opinion, you’re more likely to want to use it in the classroom.”

One of these tools is the “digital badge” that’s offered to instructors and faculty members who enroll in the Engaged Educator Series.

“We wanted to walk the talk, so we’re offering a digital badge to faculty members who do at least four of the six activities,” says Karin Page-Cutrara, Vice Dean, Learning, Teaching and Academic Programs. “And these activities aren't superfluous or superficial. They’re meant to support educators in what they do every day and be useful to them.”

“Engaged educators lead to engaged students,” she continues. “And students engaged in meaningful learning are successful and satisfied with their program and become proud alumni.”