South asain man in dark button up shirt with beard, sit smiling and at desk while notetaking and viewing a laptop screen

Image by kate_sept2004 from Getty

Upcoming events, workshops, and webinars

Content reviewed:

Teaching and learning focused on online, blended or distributed workshops, webinars, panel discussions, and other professional development events MB Hub has gathered for our membership. We have highlighted events from Partner institutions and organizations such as Educause and Quality Matters and sibling organizations from Canada (BC Campus and Contact North | Contact Nord).

July professional development events

The Desiring Autism and Neurodivergence in Education Symposium by Queens Univeristy and Re•Storying Autism

The Desiring Autism and Neurodivergence in Education: Critical, Creative, and Decolonial Perspectives Symposium is being held July 23-25, 2024 at Queen’s University in what is currently known as Kingston, Ontario.

We invite researchers, students, artists, and activists to join us. We seek new conversations, contestations and perspectives that build solidarity and Autistic justice across sites of difference and tension in Autism research, politics and practice including, for example, self-advocacy and parent advocacy; rural and urban experiences; global North and South disability perspectives; unsettling settler and elevating Indigenous understandings of difference; critical educator/practitioner and user/consumer experiences; rethinking biomedical and neurodiversity approaches.
Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2024 to Thursday, July 25, 2024     
Location: Online

Digital textbooks, online homework, interactive lab modules, and more – digital course materials are now fully integrated into the classroom. One example of a growing digital course material is online educational resources (OER); OER are free, openly licensed, learning resources that allow customization and revision of the materials.

This webinar will review digital course materials faculty report regularly using in their classrooms and OER awareness and adoption trends. How many faculty provide a digital textbook? How many faculty use OER materials? How have these changed in recent years?

This research comes from the latest results on digital curricula adoption and OER awareness in the 2023-24 survey by Bay View Analytics. This is the tenth survey in the series of annual surveys benchmarking the rise of digital classroom tools, especially OER. This survey included a US national sample of higher education faculty and administrators.

Presenters: Jeff Seaman and Julia Seaman
Date: July 31, 2024
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Location: Online

August professional development events

Building Interactivity with H5P and Pressbooks by Campus Manitoba

When digital learning materials are interactive, they boost student engagement and success. Activities like quizzes, flashcards, and interactive videos make learning more immersive and encourage students to test their knowledge and practice new skills.

Pressbooks allows users to easily create, clone, and adapt a variety of interactive elements using our H5P plugin. With Pressbooks Results, we also support LMS grade passback for H5P activities.

Hear from Campus Manitoba presenters and join a hands-on workshop to see what Pressbooks makes possible with interactivity, student engagement, and H5P.

Date: Thursday, August 22nd,
Time: 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Location: Online

How Faculty and Instructors Can Reduce Their Workload and Save Time with AI Teaching Assistant Pro by Contact North | Contact Nord

Learn how to use the AI Teaching Assistant Pro to support your teaching. AI Teaching Assistant Pro is a free Digital Assistant developed by Contact North | Contact Nord.

Five takeaways from this interactive webinar

  • Discover how AI Teaching Assistant Pro can support you no matter what subject areas you teach.
  • See how you can effortlessly create a course syllabus by entering a topic.
  • Understand how to create high quality multiple-choice and essay questions.
  • Gain ideas from the generated teaching notes on how you can better engage students in your course.
  • Learn how PowerPoint slides can easily be created and downloaded from AI Teaching Assistant Pro.

Important: Follow your institution’s policy on using AI tools. Ensure that the tools used adhere to guidelines for privacy, data protection regulations, data storage, and respect for copyrighted content and training data. 

Presenter: Ron Owston, Contact North Research Associate in AI in Higher Education
Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. (CT)
Location: Online

How might we decolonize higher education?  What does that mean in reality?

This week the Future Trends Forum is delighted to host Dr. Oscar Mwaanga, program director for the Post Graduate Certificate in International Sports Management at the University of London Worldwide.

Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024 
Time:  1:00 to 2:00 p.m. (CT)) 
Location: Online 

FLO Friday: What’s So “Safe” About Safe Spaces in Higher Education? by BCcampus

Educators have described their classes and institutions as “safe spaces” with increasing frequency and certainty since the 1990s. This certainty, implying that a safe space is somehow better for learning outcomes, has been widely adopted with little critical consideration of what it truly means and what is expected when an educational space is labeled “safe”.  

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:  

  • Recognize “safe space” as an educational metaphor 
  • Explain their obligations to others when they welcome them to a safe space 
  • Identify the implicit promises others make when a place or situation is labeled a safe space 

Presenter: Bhuvinder Singh Vaid
Date: Friday, August 30, 2024
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. (CT)
Location: Online

Truth and Reconciliation events

Truth and Reconciliation Week Lunch and Learn webinars by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Be moved by the powerful stories of survival and strength. Unlock the power of understanding and immerse yourself in UN-learning of the myths of our colonial history. Registration for National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) free annual Truth and Reconciliation Week Lunch and Learn webinars are now open.

Languages: English, French, and ASL interpretation provided.
Dates: September 23-27
Time: 12:00 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. (CT)
Location: Online

Fall professional development events

How might colleges and universities prepare students for the job market?

This week the Future Trends Forum is delighted to host Jeff Strohl, research professor and director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW).

Date: Thursday, September 12, 2024 
Time:  1:00 to 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Location: Online 

Stanford Neurodiversity Summit 2024: Putting Strengths-Based Approaches in Action by the Stanford Neurodiversity Project

This hybrid summit is a unique conference bringing together neurodiverse/neurodivergent individuals, employers, service agencies, educators and students, parents, and professionals from all areas of the field. We are planning the conference with Universal Design in mind to maximize accessibility and inclusion.

At this forum, we will share visions, innovations, and inspirations about how neurodiversity can make our society better. Here is where neurodiverse/neurodivergent people, their family members and friends, educators, clinicians, researchers, and all other stakeholders and professionals learn from each other. Neurodiverse individuals will share their unique life and professional journeys, and some will share their significant contributions to the community. Other professionals and stakeholders will illustrate how their work enhances the lives of neurodiverse individuals.

Dates: Sunday September 22, 2024, to Tuesday September 24, 2024.
Program: Program at a Glance
Featured speakers:

  • Dilip Jeste, M.D., Director of Global Research Network on Social Determinants of Mental Health and Exposomics
  • Morenike Onaiwu, Ph.D. Advocate, author, public speaker, and social science researcher
  • Judy Mark, President Disability Voices United and parent of a neurodiverse young man
  • Meng-Chuan Lai, M.D. Ph.D, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Sex and Gender Science Chair, Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
  • Temple Grandin, Ph.D., Author and advocate, Professor of Animal Science, Colorado State University

Location: online
Cost: $20 UDS

FLO MicroCourse: Decolonizing Pedagogies – Reframing the Ways We Teach by BCcampus

Join BC campus for this free one-week Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) MicroCourse offering you opportunities to reframe some of the pedagogical approaches that could be hindering your journey towards reconciliation.

Each day will introduce a new approach or resource aimed at weaving Indigenous perspectives into our practice, fostering decolonization and expanding our teaching repertoire.

Learning Outcomes

  • Become acquainted with the Government of British Columbia’s distinctions-based approach.
  • Reflect on what stops us, and what motivates us, to do the work of decolonization and reconciliation.
  • Share similarities and differences in our practice.
  • Create visions for the future based on our individual contexts and collective aspirations.

Facilitator: Dr. Carmen Rodriguez de France
Dates: Monday, September 23, 2024, to Friday September 27th, 2024

While most of the learning will happen asynchronously, BCcampus has one optional synchronous session planned on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. (PT) This session will be recorded and shared publicly after the event.

To get the most out of this learning experience, participants can expect to invest 2.5 asynchronous hours each day to review and reflect on the course materials and resources.

Registration closes: September 20, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. PT.

FLO Friday: Mindfully Using Technology in the Classroom by BCcampus

Join us for this free 1-hour Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) session that will highlight different aspects of being mindful in our selection, utilization, and purpose of bringing technology into the classroom. Topics range from protecting personal information, to providing alternatives if students are uncomfortable sharing digital data within a platform, to offering multiples ways of engaging with technology including being anonymous or using pseudonyms, & always making it clear to students why we are asking them to engage with a specific tool. 

Learning outcomes

  • When prompted with a case-study scenario, you will dialogue in small groups around how to best support the student(s) in that situation while proposing at least one solution or action-point.
  • Following a short self-reflection activity, you will critically evaluate your own utilization of different technologies including the Zoom platform we are hosting this session on.
  • You will dialogue with colleagues around key tenants of the B.C. Digital Literacy Framework as it relates to your own work using technology mindfully in the classroom

Facilitator: Dr. Gerry Gourlay (she/fer)
Date: Friday, October18, 2024
Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Location: Online

FLO Friday: Creating an Inclusive Classroom Using Learner-Centred Design by BCcampus

This one-hour Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) Friday workshop will explore the transformative power of learner-centred design in fostering inclusivity in virtual educational settings. Drawing on the wisdom of group collaboration and leveraging tools and techniques from Liberating Structures, this session will delve into practical strategies and innovative approaches to design culturally safe and inclusive learning experiences, celebrate diversity, accommodate varying learning styles, and promote participation.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Network with peers to share their learning and classroom design challenges and experiences,
  • Experiment with several Liberating Structures promoting participant and learning engagement an online environment,
  • Compare their experience to learning and teaching principles and practices, focusing on designing and creating safe and inclusive learning spaces, and
  • Reflect on the use of Liberating Structures in their own, and their learners’ contexts.

Presenter: Kele Fleming
Date: Friday, November 29, 2024
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Location: Online

Get these events in your inbox

Stay current on resources, upcoming workshops or events for instructional staff by signing up for the monthly MB Hub newsletter.

Sign up for the MB Hub newsletter