U of C hires learning champion

Addressing complaints

In a bid to address complaints over teaching quality, the University of Calgary has hired a new “champion” for student learning.

The university announced this week the appointment of Dalhousie University academic Lynn Taylor as its first vice-provost of teaching and learning.

The position was created in response to ongoing concerns over teaching complaints at the U of C.

Taylor will be responsible for improvements across campus, including encouraging more professional development and helping professors get a handle on new technology.

The vice-provost will also oversee the creation of metrics designed to evaluate instructors.

U of C ranked below average for student satisfaction and quality of teaching in the latest survey of post-secondary institutions published by the Globe and Mail. Mount Royal University was perceived as much better.

“It was clear that we needed more of a focus on teaching and learning,” said Dru Marshall, provost and vice-president academic.

“The students have told me that they think the quality of teaching needs to be examined, that we need to have a focus on quality of teaching at the University of Calgary and (Taylor) is going to provide that.”

U of C has been criticized for putting too narrow a focus on becoming a top research institution at the expense of teaching quality at the undergraduate level.

In a five-year strategy published last fall, the university announced its goal to become one of Canada’s top five research universities by 2016.

“We don’t see teaching and research as mutually exclusive; we think those should be tied together,” Marshall said. “We’re really interested in enhancing the student experience . . . and we’re really going to be putting a focus on teaching quality.”

A spokesperson for the students union said the administration and student government still has some work do to when it comes to taking student feedback into consideration.

“We’ve always advocated for a larger emphasis on teaching and learning, especially in the environment of a research institution,” said students union vicepresident Ola Mohajer.

“We see this as a really hopeful step toward having that champion on campus, as a member of administration to ensure that teaching and learning is always a priority at our institution.”

Mohajer said improvements still need to be made at the undergraduate level to promote better access to professors and technology in the classroom, as well as access to internship and fellowship opportunities.

Taylor said she is looking forward to taking on her new role this August.

“The university has really made a commitment to take a systematic approach to making the learning experience of students and the teaching experiences of professors the very best they can be and that is unusual across institutions in our country,” Taylor said.

The U of C also announced the appointment of its new dean and viceprovost of graduate studies Wednesday.

Lisa Young has served as interim vice-provost for the past year and takes up the post officially starting in July.