About CTL

Carol Hawthorne
Interim Director and Curriculum Developer

Room: SGW - H631.10
Email: carol.hawthorne@concordia.ca

Carol Hawthorne is a Curriculum Developer in the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Concordia University and a teacher at the university’s Centre for Continuing Education. As an instructional designer, she practices constructive alignment and is especially interested in student engagement.

As an educator, her focus is on active learning methodologies and using evaluation rubrics and meta-cognitive strategies to promote learner success.

Donna Kahérakwas Goodleaf, Ed. D.
Director, Decolonizing Curriculum and Pedagogy

Room: SGW - H631
Email: donna.goodleaf@concordia.ca

Donna Kahérakwas Goodleaf is Turtle Clan and is a citizen from the Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) Nation, Kahnawake Territory, which is part of the Rotinonhsión:ni Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. She is a Kanien’kehá:ka educator and scholar who joined Concordia university in January of 2018 as the new Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogical Advisor for the Centre for Teaching and Learning. Her primary role is to develop university-wide training for Concordia faculty on decolonizing and Indigenizing their curriculum programs of study in ways that re-center the advancement and integration of Indigenous peoples’ diverse humanities - intellectual, scientific and cultural knowledge systems, worldviews, epistemologies, histories, research and pedagogies across all academic units. She also serves on the Indigenous Directions Leadership Group. 

Her faculty teaching and Indigenous-centered curriculum design experiences in various academic programs in the Humanities span across Canada and the United States.  In addition, Donna has vast experiences working in Indigenous communities on a local, national and international level in the areas of Indigenous-centered education, language and cultural revitalization programs.  Her current research interests are in decolonization and advancing Indigenous Humanities, Indigenous –centered-education, protection and promotion of Indigenous language and cultural rights, Indigenous land rights and rights to self-determination and Human Rights.

Alicia Cundell
Teaching Consultant

Room: LOY- AD426; Temporary location: SGW - H631.08
Phone: 848-2424 ext 2499
Email: alicia.cundell@concordia.ca

Alicia works with faculty to develop their teaching through consultations, teaching observations and workshops. As a represntative of the CTL, she also sits on a number of committees and liaises with various units to further the CTL's mission of supporting and sustaining excellence, inclusion, and opportunity for the entire academic community.

Alicia has more than 20 years of combined teaching, training and educational development experience, and has worked extensively in teacher training, e-learning, curriculum development and instructional design. She taught internationally for over decade, having held teaching, teacher training and administrative positions across the Middle East, Asia and Europe. 

Her current areas of interest include blended learning, educational technologies, and inclusive teaching.

John Bentley
Senior Instructional Developer

Room: SGW - H631
Email: john.bentley@concordia.ca

John's role as Senior Instructional Developer is to oversee the production of the CTL website, plan and communicate CTL events, create communties of practice, design learning spaces, and provide support to faculty with the adoption of active learning techniques and learning technologies for teaching. Instructors wishing to adapt their courses to include a focus on active learning, technology enhanced, blended and/or online learning frameworks can contact John for more information.

Prior to joining Concordia, John worked in television, radio and web production and project management for BBC Education, the BBC Open University Production Centre in the UK, and CBC Radio. John has also taught high school, university and worked in distance education and educational technology as a member of international partnership projects. His interest is in working with faculty, students and staff on the design of innovative learning spaces, active and collaborative learning techniques, and strategies for using digital media in teaching and learning including the development and assessment of instructional content for technology enhanced, online and blended learning.

Carole Brazeau
Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy Advisor

Room: SGW - H631
Email: carole.brazeau@concordia.ca

Carole Brazeau is Anishinabe (Algonquin) and a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec. Since December 2021, as the Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy Advisor at the Centre for Teaching and Learning, she is working with and supporting Dr. Kahérakwas Donna Goodleaf, Director, Decolonizing Curriculum and Pedagogy’s work that includes developing and implementing university-wide training for faculty on decolonizing and Indigenizing curriculum programs as well as implementing the goals of Concordia’s Indigenous Directions Action Plan.

Prior to joining the CTL team, for three decades, Carole served in various capacities within Indigenous peoples’ communities, non-governmental organizations, national, regional program trainings, and initiatives. A Concordia University alumna, she holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Women’s Studies. Carole also pursued graduate studies in Canadian Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. She was a Fellow at the 2016 Indigenous Fellowship Programme, a United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights training programme, on the U.N. system, international human rights mechanisms, and Indigenous issues in Geneva. As well, as an Anishinabe Kokome (grandmother) and advocate, Carole’s main priority is the protection of our mother earth, especially water and the promotion and respect for Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination.

Dr. Manasvini Narayana, Ph.D.
Manager, Online Exams

Room: SGW - H631
Phone: 848-2424 ext 4054
Email: manasvini.narayana@concordia.ca

Manasvini oversees online exams run on the Concordia Online Exams (COLE) Platform. Working with members of the COLE team, she supports faculty in designing and implementing online exams that meet the needs of the course, the students, and the instructors. In a post pandemic world, Manas hopes to facilitate digital-first modes for inclusive assessment of learning at Concordia.

Manas has spent over 25 years in the areas of learning and assessment design, educational technology, teaching, research, program and product management. She had led teams of instructional designers, teachers, and workshop facilitators in several domains: K-12, university, workplace training and lifelong learning. Manas’ doctoral research addressed higher education curriculum. Her interests lie at the intersection of learning, technology, and human transformation.  

Manas is a South Asian immigrant to Canada and is investigating what is means to be an immigrant settler on unceded indigenous lands.

Ariel Harlap
Instructional Designer

Room: SGW - H631
Email: ariel.harlap@concordia.ca

Ariel (ah-ree-el; he/they) is an Instructional Designer since September 2022, local to Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal (settler) and of Jewish descent. He has a multi-disciplinary background in geosciences, Python programming in applied sciences, community technology education, 3D printing and maker education, social business development, team leadership, and instructional design.

He is available to support the Concordia community with needs assessments, systems mapping, group facilitation, designing accessible learning resources, using challenge-based learning in your classroom, and general instructional design practices.

Mike Barcomb, Ph.D.
Educational Technologist

Room: SGW - H631
Email: michael.barcomb@concordia.ca

Mike Barcomb is the Educational Technologist for the CTL and focuses on the pedagogical application of technology such as Moodle, digital gamification, virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and a/synchronous learning. His current research agenda focuses on the effect that low-cost and open-source materials, often including gamified elements, can have on teaching and learning. Mike’s understanding of educational technology theories and research prepares him to understand the theoretical and practical implications of including technology in your curriculum.

Please get in touch with Mike if you are interested in incorporating technology into your course and do not know where to begin. You are also encouraged to contact Mike if you have included technology and would like to review your findings or plan the next steps.