Culturally and Socially Diverse Settings

Seek to eliminate potential biases and adapt your behaviour to new situations without losing your own cultural sense of self. The following resources are designed to help you work respectfully and effectively across cultural and social diversity.

  • Teaching Assistant Training Program

    The Teaching Assistant Training Program is a hands-on, two-and-a-half- day session taught by current Teaching Assistants (TAs) and designed for new TAs embarking on their teaching careers. Learn about fair grading practices, diversity in the classroom, lecturing, and giving students feedback on written work. Choose from concurrent sessions designed to meet your specific discipline-related teaching needs such as vocal health for lecturers or using small group discussion methods in the classroom for tutorial leaders. Get real-time, hands-on teaching experience in our unique micro-teaching sessions, where you can try out your teaching skills and techniques with a small group of your peers and receive helpful, constructive feedback. At the end of the session, you’ll receive a certificate as evidence of your commitment to the development of your knowledge and skill as a teacher.

  • Cross-Cultural Team Communications

    Navigating, contributing and building effective teams may be the single most important skill that spans disciplines and industries in our current and diverse workplaces. In this online module, learn tools and techniques to build your awareness of multicultural team performance, navigate workplace cultural communication, and use effective conversations to deal with conflict in international and multicultural team settings.

  • SGPS 9500: The Theory and Practice of University Teaching

    SGPS 9500 is a graduate level credit course on teaching and learning in higher education. The goals of the course are to deepen your understanding of foundational theory and research relevant to university teaching, and to provide an opportunity for engaging in course design and facilitating student engagement. The course begins by exploring how to devise and align learning outcomes, assessments, and active learning activities. Then, over the semester, students have the chance to develop and revise a teaching philosophy statement, receive feedback on short teaching presentations, and create a comprehensive course syllabus. In small groups, students will also develop a webpage and seminar presentation on a pedagogical topic of their choice. SGPS 9500 is an interdisciplinary course, meaning that students will engage deeply with educational theory and practice alongside instructors and peers from across academic disciplines.

  • The Blanket Exercise

    The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is an interactive learning experience that teaches the Indigenous rights history we're rarely taught. Blanket Exercise participants take on the roles of Indigenous people in Canada. By engaging on an emotional and intellectual level, the Blanket Exercise effectively educates and increases empathy. See more at https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/