May 2026: Fostering relationship-rich classrooms
Choose from a variety of (in-person and online) facilitated events and self-access activities to suit different schedules and ways of participating.
Offered in partnership with the Office of Science Education
What are relationship-rich classrooms?
Relationships are a vital part of the educational experience. Learning environments that prioritize trust, belonging, and meaningful interaction foster crucial connections, which help students engage with academic content, develop essential learning skills, and overcome challenges. In an age increasingly shaped by generative AI, relationships cultivated in the classroom serve as a vital counterbalance, grounding learning in empathy, authenticity, and shared experience.
Programming
May 1 (with Mays Imad) | May 4 - 8 | May 11- 15 | May 18 - 22 | May 25 - 29
Cultivating connections for student learning: Relationships that spark understanding
A conversation with Mays Imad
Friday, May 1, 10:00 - 11:00am
💻Online
Join us for an online session with neuroscientist and educator Prof. Mays Imad as she explores how relationship rich teaching nurtures meaning, sparks insight, and sustains learning. Drawing on her research in neuroscience and motivation, Mays will share with us how caring, connected classrooms help students make sense of complexity, experience “aha” moments, and build lasting understanding.
Read some of Mays’ recent publications in The Teaching Professor:
Teaching for Meaning: How Neuroscience Informs Connected, Relevant, and Coherent Learning
Teaching for Replay, State, and Sustainability: Making Learning Stick, Settle, and Endure
Facilitated events
What’s a teaching strategy that supports equity and inclusion? McGill survey results
Monday, May 4, 1:00 - 1:45pm
💻 Online
Around 370 McGill students responded to a survey inviting them to share a teaching strategy that supported equity and inclusion, from their classroom experiences. The research team will share the survey background, methodology, results, and articulate results’ links to relationship-rich education, with time for attendees’ questions and reflections on transferability.
Exploring student perspectives on relationship-rich education
Tuesday, May 5, 10:00 - 11:00am
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
Join us for this unique, interactive event developed in collaboration with undergraduate student leaders where you will hear directly from students about what relationship-rich education looks and feels like. Engage in activities designed to facilitate meaningful dialogue with students, and gain insight into how belonging and support shape student learning experiences.
Why mattering matters: How valuing students fuels engagement
Wednesday, May 6, 10:00 - 11:15am
💻 Online
Discover how fostering "mattering"—helping students feel valued and able to add value—boosts motivation and engagement. Join us for a watch party to view and discuss a recorded webinar by researcher and educator Zach Mercurio, who offers practical strategies to notice students, affirm their contributions, and build a classroom culture where they feel genuinely seen, heard, and significant.
Using voice and body to connect with students
Thursday, May 7, 1:00 - 3:00pm
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
Ever thought about how your voice and body can strengthen your communication with students? Acting and directing educator Myrna Wyatt Selkirk leads this workshop on breathing, resonance, articulation, eye contact, stillness, and listening. Discover simple vocal and physical warm ups, and practice connecting more fully with the words you speak. Bring a short, written text and be ready to participate!
Intentional errors: Glitch pedagogy as educational method
Friday, May 8, 10:00 - 11:00am
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
This workshop introduces “glitch pedagogy,” reframing system breakdowns as meaningful learning moments rather than problems to eliminate. Through polls, storytelling, video examples, and small group discussion, instructors will explore how embracing imperfection can enliven teaching. The session also highlights how these moments—when shared openly—can strengthen relationships with students by modeling how we all learn, thereby building trust and demonstrating authenticity.
Self-access activities
Inclusive classroom strategies to support relationship-rich education
Students’ learning experience can be enhanced when classroom dynamics are intentionally designed to support human connection and reduce barriers to participation.
Check out Oleson and McNair’s (2023) book Promoting inclusive classroom dynamics in higher education: A research-based pedagogical guide for faculty to gain practical, research‑informed strategies for creating inclusive classroom environments where all students can participate and feel valued.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- How do inclusive pedagogical practices align with your own approach to teaching?
- What is one idea from the book—big or small—that challenged or reframed how you think about student participation or engagement?
- What’s one strategy described in the book that you are keen to try implementing or simply explore further?
Relationship-rich education: How human connections drive success
What does "relationship-rich education" really mean? Deepen your understanding of this month's theme by perusing Chapter 1 (or maybe more!) of this foundational book by Peter Felten and Leo M. Lambert.
Based on research conducted at post-secondary institutions across the United States, Relationship-rich education explores intentional approaches to cultivating relationships in the classroom, on campus, and within institutional culture.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- How does "relationship-rich education education" align with your own approach to teaching?
- How do you provide your students with opportunities to build meaningful connections in the classroom?
- Can you recall one significant connection you had with a peer, teaching assistant, or instructor during your undergraduate studies? What impact did this relationship have on your academic journey?
“We missed you in class today”: How noticing students promotes engagement
What is the relationship between being recognized and learning? In his blog post Great Teachers Make Students Feel Noticed, educator Zach Mercurio shows how making students feel genuinely noticed can improve engagement, motivation, and academic success.
Drawing on research and practical classroom examples, Zach addresses small actions instructors can take to demonstrate genuine care for students while keeping in mind constraints, such as workload.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- Recall the last time someone said, “I missed you.” How did that make you feel?
- In what specific ways do you (or could you) structure your classroom interactions to ensure that students feel genuinely seen and valued as people?
How voice training can help teachers improve well-being in the classroom
In higher ed, where instructors rely heavily on oral communication to convey complex ideas, facilitate discussions, and build rapport, adopting voice care and voice awareness practices can enhance student engagement, reduce classroom anxiety, and support instructor well-being.
Read this Conversation article
Reflection question:
- In what ways might your stress levels be influencing your vocal delivery, and how could voice awareness or voice care practices help you me communicate more effectively and protect your wellbeing?
The weekly quiz: May 1-8, 2026
How much have you learned about “relationship-rich education” this week? Take our quiz to check your understanding of this week’s Teaching for Learning Month events and self-access activities.
Facilitated events
Confirm humanity: Humanizing online learning
Monday, May 11, 10:00 - 11:30am
💻 Online
When teaching online, we can become focused on confirming that students, and their work, are “not robots”—but how are we confirming our humanity to them? In this workshop, we will explore strategies you can use to purposefully humanize your online teaching presence, enhancing connection that motivates deeper learning.
Engaging students with Polling @ McGill (Vevox)
Tuesday, May 12, 10:00 - 11:00am
💻 Online
Have you tried using polling to engage students in learning, check their progress, or ask for feedback? Join us for an introduction to the different types of polling questions available with Polling @ McGill (Vevox) and when best to use them.
Session outcomes:
- Participate in Polling @ McGill questions as a student.
- Explore how polling can be used to increase student engagement.
- Identify the types of questions and feedback you can collect.
How can learning technologies foster classroom relationships?
This event is part of our regular suite of workshops – we are offering it this month because learning technologies can play a powerful role in building and strengthening classroom relationships by enhancing communication and collaboration, supporting inclusivity and equity, tracking student progress, and providing spaces to give and receive feedback.
Making space for in-class connections
Wednesday, May 13, 10:00 - 10:45am
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
This panel will explore how flipped classroom and blended learning approaches can foster in-class connection opportunities that enhance the student learning experience. Panelists will share examples of reshaping class time to foster community and conversation among students and with the course teaching team.
Fostering dialogues with students on sustainability
Thursday, May 14, 1:00 - 2:00pm
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
Rather than one-way transmission of sustainability content, this workshop, organized by the team behind the Sustainability Education Fellows (SEF) program, explores dialogic teaching approaches that invite students to share their own perspectives, disciplinary lenses, and lived experiences related to sustainability.
Self-access activities
Using learning management systems to build rapport with students
Connecting with students has been shown to support positive learning experiences and Learning Management Systems (e.g., myCourses) have built-in features that support instructors with rapport-building in online environments. This Teaching for Learning blog post describes two aspects of pedagogy—rapport building and spaced practice—that can be supported with tools typically available in LMSs.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- In your experience, how can online tools be used to build connections with students?
- How might virtual rapport-building efforts translate into in-person teaching strategies?
Taking the pulse with student polls
Student polling tools are designed to support interactive teaching and student engagement across in-person, online, and blended learning environments. Instructors can use polls to learn more about their students, gather anonymous feedback, and check students' understanding of course content (among other uses!)
Learn about Polling @ McGill (Vevox)
Reflection/discussion questions:
- How do you (or could you) use polling strategically to deepen learning, encourage reflection, and/or support relationship-building?
- What strategies do you use to learn more about your students?
Creating a welcoming, inclusive learning environment
Curious about fostering a supportive environment conducive to learning? This TL KB article features strategies that address the collective responsibility of instructors and students in creating such a learning environment, as well as beginning-of-term “welcome” strategies.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- What steps do you take to foster a welcoming learning environment?
- How could learning about your students help you adapt your teaching approach to support their learning?
Fostering relationship-rich classrooms
Explore these strategies and insights from McGill instructors to see how you can create learning environments that deepen connection, foster belonging, and support students’ engagement and motivation, which may be especially important in an era increasingly shaped by generative AI.
The weekly quiz: May 11-15, 2026
How much have you learned about “relationship-rich education” this week? Take our quiz to check your understanding of this week’s Teaching for Learning Month events and self-access activities.
Facilitated events
Peer assessment with FeedbackFruits
Tuesday, May 19, 1:00 - 2:00pm
💻 Online
Have you tried using peer assessment in your courses? Peer assessment can help students reflect on their work and learn to provide constructive feedback. We will introduce you to key parameters for designing peer assessment activities and get you started with FeedbackFruits - a tool to manage peer assessment online.
How can learning technologies foster classroom relationships?
This event is part of our regular suite of workshops – we are offering it this month because learning technologies can play a powerful role in building and strengthening classroom relationships by enhancing communication and collaboration, supporting inclusivity and equity, tracking student progress, and providing spaces to give and receive feedback.
Fostering equitable and inclusive classrooms: Change one thing!
Wednesday, May 20, 10:00 - 11:15am
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
Want to make your classroom more equitable and inclusive, but unsure where to start? Take part to pick one strategy that prioritizes meaningful connections that you’d like to implement, then consider and problem-solve possible implementation challenges. Numerous strategies are informed by McGill students’ descriptions of teaching that they found supportive.
Support, skills development, and community for productive internships
Thursday, May 21, 1:00 - 2:00pm
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
Discover this new “Summer Internships in Management” course that helps students maximize internship learning through peer support and guided reflection. Designed to bridge theory and practice while building professional self awareness and transferable skills, it also offers strategies that instructors in other disciplines can use to prepare students for real-world experiences.
Fostering sustainable relationships in instructor-student course design partnerships
Friday, May 22, 10 - 11:00am
💻 Online
The Sustainability Education Fellows program pairs instructors and students to collaborate on course design. This workshop for instructors and graduate student TAs/RAs explores strategies for fostering strong, sustainable working relationships, grounded in sustainability principles. It highlights how shared practices and strong working relationships improve communication, enrich teaching, and enhance student learning.
Mindfulness to enhance the learning environment
Friday, May 22, 1:00 - 2:00pm
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
Mindfulness can foster relationships with and among students by helping educators and students cultivate presence and emotional attunement. From this common ground, mindfulness and metacognitive process reflection can enhance the learning environment and meaningfulness for student engagement. Join us to explore simple practices and experience brief guided activities that have been used in McGill classes.
Self-access activities
Peer assessment of other students’ assignments
Peer assessment can have benefits for students, such as learning to provide feedback in a constructive manner and critically reflecting on their own work by engaging with the assessment criteria as they provide feedback on peers’ work.
Learn more about peer assessment
Learn about creating peer assessment activities with FeedbackFruits
Building relationships through inclusive teaching strategies
Inclusive teaching strategies—such as learning students’ names, using their pronouns, and communicating support—promote belonging and trust. These practices align directly with relationship rich education by fostering connection, respect, and meaningful student–instructor relationships.
Read about incorporating equitable and inclusive teaching strategies
Reflection/discussion questions:
- Many inclusive strategies in the article—such as learning students’ names and pronouns, communicating office hour purpose, and affirming students’ ability to succeed—are relational acts that foster belonging. How might implementing one of these strategies strengthen trust and connection in your classroom?
- Because the article encourages small, intentional steps toward equity and inclusion, instructors can signal care, respect, and attentiveness to students’ diverse needs. How could adopting even one equitable teaching practice deepen students’ sense of being seen and supported as individuals?
Assessing experience, deepening connections
Experiential learning requires knowing students, engaging with their experiences, supporting their individual growth, and inviting reflective dialogue—all relevant to relationship rich education. Assessing experiential learning well means assessing the human experience of learning, not just the product, which directly strengthens relational teaching practices.
Read about assessment of experiential learning
Reflection/discussion questions:
- Experiential learning often involves varied, personal learning processes and outcomes for each student. How can you use these moments of individuality—through conversation, feedback, or check ins—to build stronger relationships and better understand who your students are as learners?
- Given that experiential learning can yield different outcomes for each student and values both process and product, how can your assessment practices make students feel seen, supported, and connected in ways that promote belonging and trust?
The weekly quiz: May 18-22, 2026
How much have you learned about “relationship-rich education” this week? Take our quiz to check your understanding of this week’s Teaching for Learning Month events and self-access activities.
Facilitated events
Come try Copilot!
Monday, May 25, 1:00 - 2:00pm
💻 Online
Curious about integrating AI into your teaching or exploring its possibilities for learning? Join us to try out Copilot, McGill’s approved generative AI tool. This beginner-friendly session will allow participants to experiment using Copilot along with other novice users.
Session outcomes
- Navigate the Copilot interface to perform basic tasks.
- Practice refining prompts to improve AI-generated responses.
How can learning technologies foster classroom relationships?
This event is part of our regular suite of workshops – we are offering it this month because learning technologies can play a powerful role in building and strengthening classroom relationships by enhancing communication and collaboration, supporting inclusivity and equity, tracking student progress, and providing spaces to give and receive feedback.
Building confidence through connection: Relationship-rich approaches to citation literacy
Tuesday, May 26, 10:00 - 10:30am
🏛️ McLennan Library, M1-76 (e-Classroom) ‼️Note: Different location than our other events‼️
Students often experience anxiety and uncertainty when citing sources. Partnerships between instructors and liaison librarians can create relationship-rich learning environments that help students build confidence and competence in citation practices. In this session, participants will explore practical ways to integrate citation guidance into coursework through librarian-led programming.
Resource Libraries Citation Guide
Better prompts with Copilot
Wednesday, May 27, 1:00 - 2:00pm
💻 Online
For instructors already experimenting with Copilot, this guided session dives deeper into crafting more effective and intentional prompts. Participants will work through examples and teaching-related scenarios to explore advanced prompting techniques.
Session outcomes
- Identify characteristics of effective prompts for educational use.
- Apply advanced prompting strategies to improve Copilot’s responses.
- Tailor prompts for different teaching scenarios (e.g., lesson planning, feedback, student engagement).
- Evaluate and iterate on prompts to achieve desired outcomes
How can learning technologies foster classroom relationships?
This event is part of our regular suite of workshops – we are offering it this month because learning technologies can play a powerful role in building and strengthening classroom relationships by enhancing communication and collaboration, supporting inclusivity and equity, tracking student progress, and providing spaces to give and receive feedback.
Sharing experiences with generative AI: Teaching and Learning Community
Thursday, May 28, 1:00 - 2:00pm
🏛️ McLennan Library Building, Room MS-74
This Community provides a space to exchange ideas and build connections with colleagues exploring similar questions around the integration of AI in higher education.
Take part to:
- Get ideas for designing gen AI tools into your assessment tasks.
- Learn how other McGill instructors are managing gen AI in their classrooms.
- Find inspiration for using gen AI as part of your teaching practice.
- Explore the latest research on gen AI and pedagogy.
- Share ideas with colleagues.
(Re)Designing assessments in the age of gen AI
Friday, May 29, 10:00am - 12:00pm
💻 Online
This hands-on workshop supports instructors in rethinking their assessment strategies in light of generative AI. Whether the goal is to integrate AI into their assessments, or to design assessments that minimize its use, this session will provide frameworks, examples, and collaborative discussion.
Session outcomes
- Make informed decisions about designing gen AI in or out of assessment tasks.
- Apply constructive alignment to assessment tasks where gen AI use has been designed in or out.
- Work with a framework to build gen AI into assessment design.
How can learning technologies foster classroom relationships?
This event is part of our regular suite of workshops – we are offering it this month because learning technologies can play a powerful role in building and strengthening classroom relationships by enhancing communication and collaboration, supporting inclusivity and equity, tracking student progress, and providing spaces to give and receive feedback.
Self-access activities
Ethical AI and human connections
This self paced module, Generative AI for teaching and learning myCourses, introduces gen AI in teaching and learning, including a section on ethical use that addresses transparency, privacy, intellectual property, accessibility, and environmental/human impacts.
Complete this section of the module
Reflection questions:
- How might your use of gen AI support or hinder the relationship rich aspects of your teaching—such as trust, care, belonging, and meaningful human connection—given considerations like transparency, privacy, accessibility, intellectual property, and environmental/human impact?
- As you think about fostering meaningful instructor-student and student-student relationships, how could ethical choices around gen AI shape the learning environment you want to create?
Ever heard of “citation justice”?
Read about what it is and how it can lead to student success.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- What are the things you consider important when deciding who/what to cite?
- Who does the research you cite benefit?
Teaching with gen AI: Preparing students for an AI shaped future
Bowen and Watson’s (2024) Teaching with AI: A practical guide to a new era of human learning shows educators how to use AI as a practical classroom tool, offering strategies for interactive learning, assignment and assessment design, and navigating issues like academic integrity. It aims to help instructors build confidence and prepare students for an AI shaped future.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- How might using gen AI as a teaching tool strengthen—or risk weakening—the relationship rich elements of learning, such as trust, care, authentic dialogue, and meaningful instructor student connection?
- As gen AI reshapes teaching practices, how can educators intentionally preserve and deepen the human relationships that most influence student motivation, belonging, and success?
AI literacy starts with a conversation: Transparency, metacognition, and starting small
Can open conversations about AI help students reflect on their learning? In this episode of the Teach.Learn.Share podcast, Prof. Nikki Lobczowski shares how she models transparent use of generative AI, while encouraging her students to think critically about how their own use of AI tools might support their learning (or not). The conversation addresses common concerns—including AI literacy, assessment, and time constraints—and emphasizes the value of gradual changes over sweeping course redesigns.
Reflection/discussion questions:
- How might openly discussing your own use of generative AI—and inviting students to reflect on theirs—strengthen trust, transparency, and a sense of partnership in your classroom?
- In what ways can conversations about how (and whether) AI supports learning become opportunities to deepen relationships, understand students’ needs, and foster a more connected, reflective learning environment?
Gen AI course outline statements
McGill does not assume generative AI will or should be used in every course. Instructors should specify in their course outline whether AI tools are permitted, ensuring their guidance aligns with course learning outcomes and the course’s specific context. See examples of course outline statements from McGill instructors:
See examples of course outline statements
Reflection/discussion questions:
- How can the way you communicate your gen AI expectations for your course—whether AI is permitted, limited, or not permitted—help build trust, clarity, and a sense of partnership with students?
- In what ways might a transparent, learning centered AI policy in your course outline support stronger instructor–student relationships, belonging, and shared responsibility for learning?
The weekly quiz: May 25-29, 2026
How much have you learned about “relationship-rich education” this week? Take our quiz to check your understanding of this week’s Teaching for Learning Month events and self-access activities.
