Teaching Matters: Supporting Change with Dr. Natasha Kenny

As we move further and further from the immense pivot forced by the pandemic and begin to return to a sense of normalcy or begin to feel more comfortable in our changed world, we have to consider what we have changed and where we are headed.

Dr. Natasha Kenny from the University of Calgary’s Taylor Institute graciously presented to UPEI for a Teaching and Learning Centre Teaching Matters event. Her talk, Supporting change in teaching and learning cultures, communities, and practices, is a reflective look at what changes we have seen since March 2020 and how we decide to continue to develop our personal pedagogies, our courses and programs, and influence meaningful change at our institutions.

The emergency pivot of the pandemic increased focus on some of the weaknesses and problems in our institutions, infrastructural weaknesses, governance structures, workload, and well-being, particularly for marginalized people.

The important classes of change that Dr. Kenny noted were in pedagogy, shared leadership, and humanity. In terms of pedagogy, Dr. Kenny noted that there wasn’t the digital revolution that many prognosticated would be a result of our emergency online pivot. There were a lot of barriers here, both in terms of infrastructure, the pace required to adapt, and the context of the pandemic itself. Dr. Kenny highlighted the importance of shared leadership as a strategy in approaching the pandemic response, it was a problem that no one person could overcome and as a result required formal and informal structures, committees, conversations, and collaboration. These collaborative communities were key in helping us navigate through the pandemic response and lead into Dr. Kenny’s third area: humanity. The people who participate in those collaborative communities are still individuals who worked hard in difficult times and against a variety of factors either caused by the pandemic, exacerbated by it, or entirely pre-existing COVID-19, those people are experiencing burn out and exhaustion. Additionally there was more exposure of the systemic inequality that amplifies the burden placed on marginalized people.

By examining the challenges overcome, being grappled with, or being ignored we can set priorities, goals, and come together in community. To see more of Dr. Kenny’s insights please check out the UPEI Teaching and Learning Centre recording of her presentation: Supporting change in teaching and learning cultures, communities, and practices.