Group Work: A design and facilitation guide for instructors
In this guide, we have attempted to communicate salient research on (online) group work and lessons learned on applying this research within our context. This guide is meant to provide support to Instructors designing groupwork.
This guide is divided into three (3) main categories: Foundations, Design, and Delivery. Within each category, we have tried to present information that responds to the most common questions we have encountered (both in the research and in practice).
In addition, where possible, we have provided exemplars from Arts and Science Online courses, sample wording, insights from instructors, etc. embedded in these sections and in the appendices.
Faculty Positionality Statements
Queen鈥檚 Strategic Framework commits to 鈥渁dvanc[ing] highly effective pedagogies鈥 in order to 鈥渂uild a diverse, equitable, inclusive and anti-racist community for our people, to [I]indigenize and decolonize the academy.鈥 In addition, one of the six strategic goals of the framework is aimed at 鈥渢eaching and learning reform oriented toward a pluralistic and culturally relevant global environment鈥 (成人大片 Strategy, n.d.)
One of the initial steps you could take to contribute to these efforts is creating a positionality statement that can be included in your syllabi, teaching philosophy statements, or promotion and tenure package. It can also be utilized to inform your course content, pedagogical approaches, and engagement with students.
To create a positionality statement, you will need to intentionally reflect on your own positionality as an educator. This reflection can help you consider how 鈥榳ho you are鈥欌攎eaning the combination of your social identities (gender, race, ethnicity, class, and many others)鈥斺渋nfluence[s] and inform[s] how you move through the world, what knowledge you produce and value, and the biases through which everything you say, think, and do, is filtered, intentionally or otherwise" (Carroll, Driessens, Fargo, Prendi, Zaza, 2022, p. 98).
TA Essentials
TA Essentials is a series of five (5) online, self-paced, modules that have been designed to give you an introduction to TAing at Queen鈥檚. They focus on many different areas of your TA role, from seminar and discussion facilitation, grading and providing feedback, and using different educational technologies. Approaches for developing your skills and strategies as an inclusive and accessible educator are woven through all five modules as we aim to help you become an inclusive educator in all the different facets of your role. Topics on accessibility, anti-racism, and inclusive pedagogy are detailed in more depth in Module 2: Inclusion: I-EDIAA at Queen鈥檚 and Module 3: Accessibility and Academic Accommodations and Considerations.
The TA Essentials modules were built from another resource called the TA Toolkit which was developed by the Educational Development Associates (EDA) at the Centre for Teaching and Learning. While the TA Toolkit is an online resource page on the CTL website, the TA Essentials have created a more interactive way to present the materials 鈥 offering you opportunities to think through scenarios, brainstorm your own teaching preferences, as well offer some great tips from current and past TAs.