Abstracts – 2025 UNBC Teaching and Learning Conference

Keynote

Jessica Riddell

This year’s keynote will be delivered remotely by Dr. Jessica Riddell. On-campus conference participants will have the option of attending the keynote livestream either together on-campus or online.

“Hope Circuits: Rewiring Higher Education for Purpose, Belonging, and Becoming“

Abstract:

As universities face overlapping crises—rising student disengagement, erosion of trust in institutions, polarization, and systemic inequities—there is an urgent need to reimagine education not as a transactional path to employment, but as a transformational practice of meaning-making, community-building, and human becoming. In this opening keynote, Dr. Jessica Riddell invites us into the Hope Circuits framework: a set of ten conceptual tools to help educators, administrators, and students metabolize the disruptions of our time—and build educational ecosystems rooted in abundance, agency, and interdependence.

Framed around the Hope Circuits project, this keynote explores how institutions like UNBC can become ecosystems of hope—spaces that offer students not only academic success but also emotional grounding, civic engagement, and a deep sense of purpose. Drawing on her work in “vigorous civility,” ecosystem-based learning, and transformative teaching, we will explore how hope is not a feeling or a stance but rather an educational practice that challenges the actual in the name of the possible—and one that must be cultivated at the level of course design, faculty culture, institutional systems, and place-based mission.

Participants will explore how the ten conceptual tools of Hope Circuits can reframe approaches to higher education and help us live into questions together – including first-year learning, retention, Indigenous engagement, and regional program integration – that help us live into better answers together. This talk invites us to consider how higher education can evolve from a system of sorting and scarcity into one of belonging, flourishing, and public purpose.

BIO:

Dr. Jessica Riddell is a Full Professor of Early Modern Literature in the English Department at Bishop’s University (Québec, Canada). She holds the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair of Undergraduate Teaching Excellence; in this capacity, she leads conversations about systems-change in higher education that shifts the focus from resilience to human and ecological flourishing. In her research, teaching, leadership, and administration, she facilitates dialogue at the national and international levels about how universities fulfil their public purpose.

An award-winning educator, decorated scholar, and best-selling author, Dr. Riddell has published on Shakespeare, institutional culture change, inter-institutional collaborations, experiential learning, and inclusive high impact practices. Her book Shakespeare’s Guide to Life, Hope, and Learning (University of Toronto Press, 2023) with co-authors Dr. Lisa Dickson and Dr. Shannon Murray, theorized that the theatre provides us with critical spaces for exercising hope muscles in our classroom and in a creative democracy. Her most recent book, Hope Circuits: Rewiring Universities and other Systems for Human Flourishing (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024) recently won the Society of Professors of Education 2025 Outstanding Book Award through AERA (American Educational Studies Association). Hope Circuits addresses the fragmentation, weakening of purpose, and instrumental practices of higher education and issues an expansive call for the reinvention of universities and the renewal of their social contract.

Dr. Riddell has long been a philosophical figure in the higher education sector and a respected insider-advocate for shaping systems for human benefit. As the founder of the Hope Circuits Institute, she facilitates collective sense-making for boards, senior leadership teams, senates, and various departments and offices across the university ecosystem. At a time where there are so many indictments of higher education, her work invites people, communities, and institutions to engage in strategic planning around governance, relational wellbeing, student success, learning and teaching innovation, advancement, campus-wide engagement, and departmental/divisional renewal. In addition to retreats, books clubs, workshops and other forms of campus engagement, Dr. Riddell hosts hope summits, consults on policy development, and facilitates roundtables that offers an antidote to a sector-wide mission drift at a moment when publicly funded social institutions are under siege.

Dr. Riddell is a leading intellectual at the intersection between the humanities and higher education. She is one of Canada’s most prolific public scholars on the role universities play in a civil, just society and regularly convenes conversations about how education shapes creative democracy. As an inter-disciplinary researcher, she’s engaged in knowledge creation in diverse fields from Shakespeare to transformative learning, inclusive high-impact practices to systems and design thinking and collective sense making.

Dr. Riddell has a robust leadership portfolio in higher education and serves on several boards, including the Board of Directors for the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), as VP Quebec for Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada (SWAAC), and has served as a member of the Research Advisory Board for Future Skills Centre, the 3M National Fellows Council, Board Member of the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE), and as VP Canada for International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSoTL). She also currently sits as a three-term Governor on the Bishop’s University Board of Governors and just finished a two-term (six years) on Senate as Humanities Senator at Bishop’s University.

She has received research funding from SSHRC, ECQ (Entente Canada et Québec), and STLHE (Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) and was awarded funding for innovation from the McConnell Foundation, The Jarislowsky Foundation, CEWIL (Canadian Experiential Work-Integrated Learning), Business Higher Education Round Table (BHER).

Dr. Riddell was received the William and Nancy Turner Award for Teaching Excellence (2011-2012) at Bishop’s University, received the 3M National Teaching Fellowship in 2015, was the recipient of a D2L Innovation Award for Teaching and Learning in 2022, and won the inaugural award from Forces Avenir (Quebec’s highest recognition in higher education) for Most Engaged Faculty/Staff Member in 2022.

Dr. Riddell convenes conversations in the public sphere and builds a shared belief that we can only engage in systems-change work when we are in communion with others, illuminated by the fundamental guiding values of equity, justice, and empathy. Her work moves us beyond the “way it has always been” into new spaces where universities can be on the frontline of social and economic renewal.

Panels

Community-Engaged Learning: Reconciling the Ideal and the Real

Our panelists each have unique perspectives on the subject of place-based and community-engaged learning, after engaging in academic spaces at UNBC, and in community-based spaces in Prince George. Our collective experiences suggest that the road towards substantive and meaningful community connectivity while balancing the nature and obligations of academic life is one that requires slow, steady, life long commitment.

Panelists

Dr. Annie Booth holds a PhD in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a Masters in Environmental Studies from York University in Ontario,as well as a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Victoria. She oversees the annual Inspiring Women Among Us event, and is the faculty advisor for a number of BA programs. She is the Chair of the Environmental and Sustainability Studies Curriculum Committee. Dr. Booth is deeply committed to community engagement and research that addresses community needs.

Emma Faulkner is completing a Masters of Arts in the Natural Resources department at UNBC, focusing on food security and food systems. Emma has lived and worked in and for the community of Prince George for more than 20 years, and is interested in finding ways to ensure unmet community needs are brought out into the light through research and activism. Emma is a firm believer that wisdom comes from many and unexpected sources and should be respected regardless of job title or designation!

Third Panelist TBA

Teaching for neuro-inclusivity—the sequel. A second shared reflection from our inclusive pedagogy learning journeys

Teaching for neuro-inclusivity—the sequel. A second shared reflection from our inclusive pedagogy learning journeys.

We are three educators with different careers and interactions with pedagogy. We came together during a 2024 Teaching and Learning Conference session about neuro-diverse education. We maintained contact and wrote the chapter “Professional, Personal and Pedagogical: Faculty Reflections for Compassionate Learning Environments” in Waldock and Keates’ (eds.) 2025 book Applications and Practices for Empowering Neurodivergent Learners. In this session, we will present ideas from our chapter, and bridge these with current thoughts. This “sequel” follows our chapter’s combination of individual voices and shared reflections.

Panelists

Dr. Joanie Crandall is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education, University of Northern British Columbia. She has been an instructional designer, teacher, principal, instructional coach, college director, multi-disciplinary research centre coordinator, and consultant. Her research interests are grounded in decolonizing education through context-responsive, culturally relevant, interdisciplinary, social justice approaches.

Dr. Zoë A. Meletis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Graduate Coordinator for Natural Resources and Environmental Studies at UNBC. Her research and teaching focus on local perceptions of environment and place, tourism, and conservation, especially sea turtle conservation, human dimensions of wildlife, and justice issues related to inadequate planning and environmental management.

Dr. Shendah Benoit is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. Drawing from 25 years of experience in the K-12 education sector, Dr. Benoit’s teaching focuses on inclusive education, literacy, and neurodiversity. Her research interests include strength-based inclusion, positive organizational practices, compassionate systems, and empowering families.

1 Hour Workshops

Virtual Reality: Pedagogy and Practice

Virtual reality (VR) can be classified as a type of multimedia tool, a method of learning that involves both text and images, where a virtual reality environment (VRE) is the simulated world the participant is experiencing. VREs extend the dynamic nature of multi-media lessons with an extra component; the ability to interact with the compound in its dynamic state. Thus, VRE combines the interactivity of real-world models with the ‘reactive’ component of an animation. Use of virtual reality needs to be taken with intent – identification of a specific aspect of the material that using VR is going to enhance the learning experience by reducing cognitive load. Cognitive load can be defined as the amount of information which is able to be processed in memory at any given time. Overloading a learner with more information than they can handle prevents effective processing to long-term memory, so VRE content must follow best educational practices to be effective. The use of a VRE environment has the potential to be a robust pedagogical tool for many disciplines, but requires consideration before implementing due to the costs, both upfront and ongoing.

In this workshop we will discuss the ways of using VRE in a teaching context, from adapting pre-existing programs to designing VR environments from scratch, including a discussion of functional constraints and associated costs. We will present our progress towards building a VRE for use in organic chemistry, and participants will be able to experience that environment. In addition, we wish to discuss potential future collaborations with participants of other programs that might see a benefit from the use of VR.

Facilitators

Dr. Kalindi Morgan – Dr. Morgan is an Assistant Professor in Chemistry. She has taught chemistry courses at UNBC for 4 years and for 2 years before that at UBC-Vancouver and remotely at St. Mary’s University in Calgary and Vancouver Island University in Naniamo. She has an interest in inclusive chemistry and science education as well as evidence-driven learning strategies.

Dr. Andrea Gorrell – Dr. Gorrell is an Associate Professor in Biochemistry. She has taught at UNBC for over twenty years. She has an interest in science instruction and best pedagogical practices.

Adrien Zimmerman – Ms. Zimmerman is an undergraduate Integrated Science student, who worked on virtual reality environment and lesson planning for the Organic Chemistry VR Pilot Project. She has been a tutor and PASS leader for two years, with an interest in expanding the accessibility of organic chemistry to undergraduate students.

Teaching Development Special Interest Group (SIG): Supporting Early and Mid-Career Academics through Peer Learning and Mentorship: A Proposal

This Special Interest Group (SIG) is the outcome of key discussions in the last workshop on preparing teaching dossiers. There was a suggestion to establish a SIG to support early and mid-career academics committed to teaching excellence and navigating the complexities of academic career progression. The group will provide a collaborative space for faculty, instructors, sessionals, lecturers, etc., to share practices, reflect on their teaching identity, and receive guidance from senior colleagues on promotion, tenure, and academic leadership pathways.

It is fair to say that many institutions would value teaching as part of academic promotion, early-career academics often face challenges in understanding how to document, articulate, and demonstrate excellence in teaching. Mid-career academics may seek renewed purpose, recognition, or direction. This SIG will work to address some of these challenges by providing a safe and, respectful, structured peer support and mentorship program.

The SIG goals and objectives
1. Build a supportive peer network for early and mid-career academics focused on teaching development and career growth
2. Be a conduit to access experienced senior academics who can provide mentorship on career progression, promotion, and academic leadership
3. Support the development of teaching dossiers, reflective statements, and evidence of impact for PAR, promotion and tenure
4. Provide a space for dialogue around challenges and strategies for sustaining teaching excellence throughout an academic career
5. Encourage a culture of recognition, collaboration, and scholarly engagement with teaching across positions, ranks and disciplines at UNBC.

Facilitators

Ben Daniel, PhD, SMIEEE, is the Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology at UNBC. He is also a Full Professor (Tenured) in Computer Science, at UNBC. He is an adjunct Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He has held several visiting Professorial positions at Makerere University in Uganda, State University of Zanzibar, in Tanzania, and University of Technology Malaysia.

Graduate Supervision

This workshop will equip supervisors with practical strategies for effective graduate student mentorship. We will explore techniques for setting clear expectations, providing constructive feedback, and fostering a supportive learning environment. Participants will learn how to navigate common challenges in supervision, such as managing conflict and addressing student concerns. The session will also cover best practices for conducting effective meetings and monitoring progress.

Facilitator

Katerina Standish is the vice provost of graduate and postdoctoral studies and professor of global and international studies at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. Dr Standish is an expert on culture, violence, and conflict transformation. She is an enthusiastic content analyst who specializes in unobtrusive curricular analysis. Her publications include content on conflict and cultural learning, social, cultural, and political violence, and self-harm. Dr. Standish approaches research, scholarship, and professional development through a Unity Lens. Dr. Standish created Encounter Theory (2021) and has published numerous books and refereed Peace and Conflict Studies articles. Her book, Suicide Through a Peacebuilding Lens (2020) was nominated for the Conflict Research Society (CRS) Book of the Year Prize. She holds a doctoral degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba and a master’s in human security and Peacebuilding from Royal Roads University. She earned a post-baccalaureate and undergraduate degree from Simon Fraser University. Dr. Standish is a former Director of the Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace & Justice at St. Paul’s College, senior editor of the Palgrave Handbook of Positive Peace, former Editor and Chief (2021-2025), and current Associate Editor of Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice.

Learning as healing: The importance of Indigenous pedagogy in Western institutions

Through a circle discussion and activity with the participants, this workshop explores strengths and challenges that are encountered when incorporating Indigenous pedagogical approaches within a Western system. Western education systems have been crucial instruments in colonialism. The outcomes have resulted in Indigenous peoples too often disconnected not only from their own cultural knowledge and community history, but also from their sense of identity and wellbeing. Even as the education system remains a site of potential harm for Indigenous peoples, however, it is now also potentially a site to bring about healing. Post-secondary education has been gradually opening up to the relevance of Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Creating this space allows Indigenous students to find their voices. As Gregory Cajete has stated, “[t]here is a shared body of understanding among many Indigenous peoples that education is really about helping an individual find his or her face, which means finding out who you are, where you come from, and your unique character” (Cajete, 2000, p. 183). This self-knowledge is vital to the journey of reclaiming wellbeing and the healing from ongoing colonialism.

Using a sharing circle format, I aim to integrate holistic, or whole, learning approaches in this workshop. I will share some of the learning that I have gained in different post-secondary settings, including challenges and strengths. As well, the participants will be invited to share their own challenges and successes. I will use an activity with the participants to help generate ideas about how to integrate land and community in teaching, and what it means to build holistic teaching and relationships. Creating space to think about how we incorporate Indigenous knowledges is crucial in creating culturally safe education, learning that is rooted in Indigenous worldviews, and transmitted through Indigenous pedagogies for the coming generations.

Facilitators

Nancy Stevens completed her PhD in Indigenous Studies at Trent University, her MEd in Adult Education – Indigenous Specialization at OISE/University of Toronto, and her BA in Social Development Studies – Social Work stream through the University of Waterloo.

Nancy spent most of her career as a counsellor and program coordinator with Indigenous mental health and women’s services in Ontario and the Yukon Territory. Concurrently, she taught as a part-time post-secondary instructor in Indigenous social work and human service programs. As a woman of Kaien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) and European descent, and as an adoptee, Nancy has a deep interest in the intersections of identity, trauma, and healing. She did not grow up connected to her ancestral culture, but through her role as a helper and through her education, has been heavily influenced by Anishinaabe teachings and practices.

Nancy’s research maintains the thread of her focus as a counsellor in Indigenous services and the issues that emerge, not only for those seeking help, but also for the helpers. Questions around ethics and the context of differences in worldviews and the importance of ensuring Indigenous clients of mainstream helping services are receiving culturally safe and appropriate care are some of her areas of research. She also has an extensive background in curriculum, workshop and training development and facilitation for frontline community workers, educators, and administrators.

3 Hour Workshops

Teaching Innovations for First Year Courses at UNBC

This workshop is aimed at faculty, graduate students and staff who are either teaching first year course or supporting the first-year experience. By the end of the workshop, participants will have identified their hopes for student success in their classes or programs and will have mapped out the types of skills and practices students may need to engage in to meet the aspirations of the instructor. Participants will also identify a future action to apply to their classes or programs. Participants will also be introduced to some of the current First Year programming at UNBC.

Facilitators

Dr. Umesh Parshotam has been a faculty member in Chemistry since September 1999. He has received the UNBC University Excellence Award for Teaching, the Robert Tait Award for Implementing Teaching Excellence at UNBC, and the Advancement of Information Literacy Award at UNBC. He has been a facilitator for Instructional Skills Workshops, and facilitated workshops on reading and case studies at the UNBC Teaching and Learning Conference.

Dr. Heather Smith is a Professor of Global and International Studies and a 3M National Teaching Fellow. She has a long history of facilitating teaching and learning workshops on topics such as students as partners, teaching your first class, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and interactive teaching. Her most recent publication is the Oxford Handbook of International Studies Pedagogy, co-edited with David J. Hornsby and Mark Boyer. She was Acting Director/Director of the UNBC Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology from 2012-2018.

Dr. Dana Wessell Lightfoot is a Professor and Chair of History and has received the University Excellence Award for Teaching and the Robert Tait Award for Implementing Teaching Excellence at UNBC. She has taught/facilitated workshops on ungrading, crafting your teaching philosophy, using web tools to facilitate classroom discussion, and using alternative assignments in History courses, among other topics, at UNBC and national and international conferences.

Capstone Reader Project: How technology-enhanced student-centred practice builds a community of learning

This workshop highlights some of the key goals and strategies of the ANTH 460 Capstone course and particularly the Capstone Reader project (enhanced by UNBC’s Open Journal Systems (OJS) platform, the primary open access journal publishing software in academia). This course aims to allow the students to “know what they know” and thus, go armed with the confidence of their education into the next chapters of their lives. The principal focus of this course is a research paper that tackles key issues that students are passionate about in the field of Anthropology. The final publication of the paper involves many scaffolded steps. At each of these steps, we identify the transferable skills they have practiced allowing students to reflect on their learning. Through their own connection to the learning process, students take ownership of the material to communicate relevant issues to a reading audience of first year anthropology students. Throughout the process, students are connected to academic support services in the library through an embedded librarianship model. By designing the course curriculum to foster a community of learning (between students, instructor, and librarian), students are engaged and empowered throughout this collaborative project.

A primary aim of the workshop is for participants to leave with concrete ideas on how to centre and highlight student research as research, and to gain an appreciation of why this is important in terms of enhancing student success, connecting to UNBC’s READY Roadmap: Academic Plan 2025–2031, etc. Using the ANTH 460 Capstone Reader project and the use of UNBC’s OJS platform as an example, we address concepts and themes of technology-enhanced learning. By integrating the platform in the course, we create another learning opportunity for students and bring quality student research out of the classroom and make it openly available for all in the UNBC community and beyond.

Facilitators

Angele Smith is Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology. She is a social/cultural anthropologist with two primary research fields focusing on Migration, Belonging, Identity, Place, Precarity, and Social Justice. Her international project concerns asylum seekers in Ireland, while her national project involves young adult mobile tourism workers in Banff, Alberta.

Smith is committed to the education of Undergraduate and Graduate students and is dedicated to educational leadership. She has undertaken integrated co-teaching of a foundational first year course (IASK), has co-directed interdisciplinary, international ethnographic field schools in Ireland and the Isle of Man, and has received multiple excellence in teaching awards. (she/her)

Geoffrey Boyd is the Metadata Librarian at UNBC’s Geoffrey R. Weller Library and liaison to Anthropology, History, and First Nations Studies in the Faculty of Indigenous Studies, Social Sciences, and Humanities. He has worked at UNBC for almost 10 years and holds a Master of Library and Information Studies degree from the University of Alberta and a BA in Political Science from the University of Victoria. (he/him)

AI in Higher Education: Are We Worrying Too Much? Myths, Misunderstandings, and Missed Opportunities

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used more and more in schools and universities. But along with the excitement, many concerns have also emerged, about cheating, loss of critical thinking, job loss, and the fear that AI will replace people. While some caution is useful, many of these fears are based on myths or misunderstandings, and they can slow down progress.

This session explores the most common myths about AI in education, for both teaching and support roles. For example, many worry that students will stop thinking for themselves, or that AI will make staff and educators less needed. Others are unsure how AI might change their roles, and some feel left out of conversations about new technologies. These fears can cause stress, resistance, and confusion across the institution.
In this session, we will break down these fears and look at what research and real examples actually tell us. We’ll offer simple tools to help staff, faculty, and leaders talk about AI in ways that are grounded, inclusive, and practical. The goal is to replace fear with informed confidence and help everyone find their place in shaping the future of AI in education.

Who This Is For: Educators, teaching and support staff, academic leaders, and anyone interested in the future of education.

Session Format: Interactive workshop

What You’ll Learn:

What are the most common fears and myths about AI and what’s actually true
How fear-based thinking affects both educators and staff
Ways to involve all roles in AI planning and discussions
A simple method to talk about AI without hype or fear
How to support safe, smart, and inclusive use of AI on campus

Facilitators

Making Space for Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning in Postsecondary Settings: Ideas, Vision and Mythbusting

The focus of this workshop is the understanding and practice of trauma-informed education in better supporting students learning experience and increased wellness for students, faculty and staff. This workshop will bring practical ideas and strategies for educators for each of the key principles of trauma-informed practice including safety, trustworthiness and transparency, support and connection, collaboration, empowerment, voice and choice and resiliency. We will help clarify what trauma-informed teaching and learning is and what it is not, correcting some of the myths and misunderstandings that exist. Material from other postsecondary institutions who are working to become fully trauma-informed in their approaches to education will be shared. We encourage educators and staff who are passionate about creating compassionate learning communities to come and share their ideas in a safe, supported environment. We will offer resources we have compiled to augment the material shared in the pp and discussions.
This workshop directly works with the conference theme of supporting student success and retention as well as decolonizing education, as many of the principles inherent in trauma-informed teaching and learning ,may align with many Indigenous worldviews. Our intent is to make this workshop engaging and useful to both new and seasoned faculty and staff.

Facilitators

Linda O’Neill is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and is the Coordinator of the UNBC Masters in Counselling Program, having spent the past 18 years at UNBC. She has spent years advocating for trauma-informed practice and care throughout BC in all types of interdisciplinary agencies and services. She is also the Clinical Coordinator at the non-profit Community Counselling Centre in Prince George, the main practicum site for the Counselling Program. For this workshop she will bring some special guests including other trauma-informed practitioners who will share their ideas and experiences.

Lightning Talks

pieces of paper cut out in lightning bolt shapes.

The lightning talk session will consist of a series of concise, focused presentations lasting no more than 10 minutes each. Conference staff will provide cues during each talk to ensure speakers keep within the 10-minute limit. The lightning talk format covers a single topic in a quick, engaging manner, and aims to convey key points or sparking interest in a short amount of time. See this resource for more on the lighting talk format.

The lightning talks will feature the following topics:

From Setback to Comeback: Intentional Tools for Academic Resilience and Success (Aimee Omit)
Beyond bibs and bobs? An exploration of virtual reality and other forms of spatial representation in a senior design studio (Mark Groulx)
Introducing the Experiential Learning (EL) Hub: A Tool for Student Success (Sonia Sidhu)
Writing Success in the Classroom: Academic Writing, Genre, and UDL (Taylor Morphett)
Microsoft Forms as a Classroom Response System: How It Went in a First-Year Science Course (Meghan Costello)
Numeracy is for EVERYONE: A Community Partnership (Christine Ho Younghusband)
Graphic Novels for Empathy-Based Learning (Darryn DiFrancesco)
Introducing REFLECT: a tool to support self-reflection on teaching practices (Sean Maurice)