We regularly offer workshops for McGill instructors and units on a variety of topics relevant to McGill’s diverse teaching and learning landscape. 

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Scheduled workshops

Scheduled workshops are usually offered at the beginning and end of each term.

We may offer additional special-interest workshops outside of the list below, depending on interest and available resources.

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On-request workshops

Interested in supporting professional development for instructors in your unit?

Our workshops can be offered on request for a group of instructors within an individual Faculty or department.

Workshops can be offered on campus or online.

Book an on-request workshop

Workshop descriptions

This list provides an overview of workshops we offer most regularly, with links to supporting resources. Click on each individual title to learn more. 

Categories are provided for reference, though workshop content might overlap categories in some cases. Workshops have varying levels of interaction – see descriptions for more details. 

 

Course design

We offer course design programming in three different formats throughout the year. We can also offer course design content on request. 

Learn more

 

Course management

Managing your course in myCourses

Curious about how myCourses can help you stay connected with your students and enable them to stay on track? Join us to explore the different tools and strategies to help you manage your course, communicate expectations, and help your students succeed.

Session outcomes
  • Design your home page with purpose to enhance the course experience.
  • Identify strategies and procedures for managing student grades using Grades.
  • Track student activities using Class Progress and Intelligent Agents.
  • Promote non-graded activities using Awards.
Related resources
Tools for preparing course content

Discover how to create, curate, and organize your course content. Get an overview of the various tools available in myCourses and beyond to create your course content, organize your materials, and engage your students by designing learning activities.

Session outcomes
  • Demonstrate how to organize and manage content in myCourses.
  • Explore how to curate and create materials for your course.
  • Identify strategies for students to practice your content.
Related resources

 

Teaching strategies

Engaging students with Polling @ McGill

 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 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.
Related resources
Enhancing student engagement with social annotation

 Want students to come better prepared for class? Introduce them to social annotation using Perusall - a strategy where students collaboratively comment on text, videos, or images online. Foster engagement with course material in large and small classes.

Session outcomes
  • Describe key considerations when designing social (collaborative) annotation assignments.
  • Implement social annotation assignments to support collaborative engagement with course content using Perusall.
Related resources
Promoting student interaction and engagement

 Keep your courses interactive and engaging using McGill’s teaching and learning tools. Discover how to keep your students actively engaged, and interacting with their peers and instructors in meaningful ways.

Session outcomes
  • Define engagement and interaction for an in-person and online teaching and learning environment.
  • Identify different technologies and strategies to facilitate interactive activities (in person and online).
Related resources
Supporting community and learning with Mural

 Are you interested in creating engaging and collaborative learning activities using digital workspaces? This hands-on workshop introduces you to the basics of getting started with Mural as a facilitator and explores different types of activities that can be set up in Mural — including brainstorming, active learning strategies and structured group problem-solving.

Session outcomes
  • Use Mural key features.
  • Develop strategies to build community and improve learning using Mural.
  • Describe key considerations when getting started and designing a Mural activity.
Related resources
Teaching strategies to engage students in learning

 Wondering how to enhance student engagement, promote discussions, and encourage deep learning? Join us for a session where you will experience several strategies through demonstrations and peer sharing. You will leave with concrete ideas for planning your classes.

Session outcomes
  • Experience several teaching strategies to engage students in learning.
  • Identify which of these strategies you might use in your courses.
Related resources

 

Assessment

Assessing participation

 How do you assess student participation in your course? In this workshop, we explore various types of participation, along with what it means for a student to be present, engaged, or an active learner in different class contexts. We also consider how student performance in these contexts can be fairly assessed using clear expectations.

Session outcomes
  • Articulate why you want students to participate in class.
  • Identify what participation looks like in your specific course context.
  • Find several strategies for how to assess participation in your course context.
Related resources
Creating online assessments in myCourses

 Wondering which myCourses assessment tools can best support student learning? Learn about the various types of assessment tools available in myCourses, with emphasis on the Quiz and Assignment tools.

Session outcomes
  • Describe how assessments can be set up in myCourses to support academic integrity.
  • Distinguish which tool is most suitable for different types of assessments.
  • Identify the capabilities of the Quiz and Assignment tools in myCourses.
Related resources
Designing effective teamwork assignments

 Have your students complained about peers not pulling their weight in team assignments? Using peer assessment for teamwork contribution has the potential to mitigate some of the challenges students face with working in teams, as well as develop their collaboration and negotiation skills. In this session, we will address how to design and plan effective teamwork assignments and use FeedbackFruits to implement them.

Session outcomes
  • Describe key considerations when designing effective teamwork assignments.
  • Implement FeedbackFruits to support peer assessment of teamwork.
Related resources
Developing meaningful assessment criteria

 Did you know that having meaningful assessment criteria allows you to see whether students are learning what you want them to? Join us for this workshop where we invite you to bring an assessment task (paper, presentation, report, exam, etc.) from one of your courses. You will use it as a starting point for developing assessment criteria that promote learning.

Session outcomes
  • Explain the connection between learning outcomes and assessment tasks.
  • Identify good practice in writing assessment criteria.
  • Develop assessment criteria that support student learning. 
Related resources
Feedback strategies: Engaging students in dialogue

 How can we engage students with feedback and encourage them to take greater responsibility for their learning before, during, and after assignments? The goal of this 4-part series is to address these concerns with feedback strategies that engage students in dialogue. We present several strategies suited to writing assignments, such as essays, research (term) papers, and lab reports. N.B.: Individual sessions or the entire series may be offered.

  • Strategy 1: Annotating writing submissions 
  • Strategy 2: Submitting interactive cover sheets
  • Strategy 3: Collaborating on assessment criteria
  • Strategy 4: Dividing assignments into multiple stages
Session outcomes
  • Articulate an expanded conception of the feed in feedback.
  • Implement feedback strategies appropriate for your students’ learning context that engage these students in dialogue.
Related resources
Peer assessment with FeedbackFruits

 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.

Related resources
Planning blended learning activities and assessments

 Does designing courses with a blend of online and in-person learning activities seem like a daunting task? Are you thinking about ways to implement assessments that encourage academic integrity? We will share strategies to help you plan different activities and assessments so that students achieve course learning outcomes.

Session outcomes
  • Determine which components of your course should be in person and which should be online.
  • Identify the assessment sweet spot in your course.
Related resources
(Re)designing assessments in the age of AI

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.
Related resources

 

Fostering equitable and inclusive classrooms

Attending to microaggressions

Have you or your students experienced a microaggression in the classroom? While it may only take a moment for a microaggression to occur, its impact can last much longer. Join us in exploring ways to attend to microaggressions before, during, and after they occur. Share and learn from colleagues about strategies for addressing microaggressions.

Session outcomes
  • Define and identify microaggressions.
  • Identify strategies for responding to microaggressions (before, during, and after they occur) in the classroom environment.
  • Pick which of those strategies you might use in your class.
Related resources
Change one thing!

Want to make your classroom a more equitable and inclusive learning environment, but unsure where to start? Take part to pick one strategy to implement in your course, consider possible implementation challenges, and decide how to address them. You can also share with and learn from other participants while considering varied strategies, ideas for accountability, and ways to stay connected!

Session outcomes
  • Explore various equitable and inclusive strategies for potential use in your course. 
  • Identify a strategy you would like to try. 
  • Develop a plan to integrate that strategy into an upcoming course. 
Related resources
Taking action amidst uncertainty

Have you ever felt unprepared to address an equity or inclusion concern that arose in your classroom?

When an equity or inclusion concern arises in a classroom, uncertainty can abound: As an instructor, how should you address the concern? If you don’t feel prepared to address it, what can you do? It can be natural to hesitate in such circumstances for fear of “making the wrong moves.” Fortunately, there isn’t only one right way to proceed. This discussion will focus on how to see such occurrences as opportunities for learning for instructors and students alike. Take part to share ideas with other instructors and consider strategies for addressing these concerns and taking action, even amidst uncertainty.

Session outcomes
  • Identify what supports your learning and your students’ learning, so you can intentionally approach uncertain moments as a learner. 
  • Consider techniques and strategies that you can draw on in uncertain moments. 
  • Determine which techniques and strategies would be appropriate for use in your course(s).
Related resources

 

Other topics

Come try Copilot!

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.
Related resources
Better prompts with Copilot

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
Related resources
Developing a teaching portfolio

This workshop introduces participants to the purpose, structure, and preparation of a teaching portfolio. Whether you're preparing for reappointment, tenure, or simply seeking to reflect on your teaching practice, the workshop will guide you in documenting the diverse elements of your teaching and presenting them effectively. Participants will explore strategies for selecting and organizing content that showcases their pedagogical journey and aligns with the expectations of McGill’s review committees.

Session outcomes
  • Articulate the pedagogical values and practices that underpin your teaching approach.
  • Identify key components and types of evidence appropriate for inclusion in a teaching portfolio.
  • Organize materials to effectively demonstrate the breadth and depth of your teaching experience.
Related resources