Creative teaching strategies

Ten faculty members signed on to learn more about creative teaching methods at a workshop organized by the Centre for Teaching and Learning Services and the Office of the Vice-Provost Teaching and Learning on April 20.

The professors, who all started teaching at Concordia in the last two years, were led through a series of exercises by Silvy Panet-Raymond, professor in Contemporary Dance, and Liselyn Adams, Associate Vice-President International Relations. The workshop was intended to help the professors — from all four Faculties and departments ranging from Industrial Engineering and Finance to Visual Arts — better use their bodies, their intuition and their accumulated knowledge in the classroom.

Faculty members transferred balls from person to person among a series of creative exercises intended to help them rethink teaching practices at a workshop on April 20. | Photo by Concordia University

For instance, Adams, who also teaches in the music department, told a story about Beethoven’s childhood that was then retold and developed from one person to the next around a circle. “As soon as the person hesitated or lost the thread, the next person picked up any aspect of the story,” says Panet-Raymond. “You really begin to see how much of an impact interpretation has on transmitting information from one person to another.”

The participants were also asked to determine the size of the room they were in without measuring it in the usual way. “We wanted the professors to start using their bodies and their intuition to solve problems,” says Panet-Raymond. “They were able to creatively use knowledge they’d acquired elsewhere to address the problem. Participants realized that they don’t just bring their teaching knowledge into the classroom, they bring the accumulated experience of a lifetime.”

The workshop, will help Adams and Panet-Raymond prepare a workshop for l’Université internationale d’été en pédagogie universitaire, a collaboration between l’Université de Bordeaux, l’Université Laval and Concordia University. This summer will mark the second year of the week-long event.


Related links:
•    Vice-Provost Teaching and Learning
•    Centre for Teaching and Learning Services
•    L’Université internationale d’été en pédagogie universitaire on YouTube