By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS
Carleton University is celebrating 80 years of research, teaching, learning and community partnerships this year, and Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) is also celebrating a big milestone – it’s our 30th anniversary!
Back in July 1992, the university established its first teaching centre, called the Teaching and Learning Resource Centre (TLRC), with a funding allocation from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities’ Transitions Fund. The TLRC opened on the fifth floor of the MacOdrum Library with two employees, and was led by Carole Dence, the department’s initial director. The TLRC’s mandate was to enhance teaching and learning across all disciplines at both the undergraduate and graduate level – not too dissimilar from elements of TLS’ current mission.
Some early highlights of the TLRC included leadership with educational technologies, such as experimenting with laser discs for education and CDROMs, training faculty and staff on how to use the early internet for teaching, supporting faculty nominations for 3M National Teaching Fellowships, establishing communities of practices, and supporting the Seminar in University Teaching (a for-credit course offered by the Department of Psychology).
In 2002, the TLRC merged with instructional television (itv). Both units formed what was known as the Educational Development Centre (EDC), and shared office space together on the fourth floor of Tory Building (and then in 2006, moved to the fourth floor Dunton Tower).
To avoid any confusion for students and the campus community, itv retained its name until it was rebranded to Carleton University Television (CUTV) in early 2004, and then Carleton University OnLine (CUOL) in 2010.
In 2004, Instructional Media Services (IMS) joined the EDC fold, creating one of the first all-encompassing teaching and learning centres in Canada, and adding support for classroom technology, events and the operation of Carleton’s performance space, the KM theatre, to the centre’s portfolio.
The EDC’s formative years were led by Carol Miles – and it was a time of significant transition and growth. Programs and services grew with increased attention to new faculty orientation, distance and online learning, certificate programs, the use of the learning management system, innovation in teaching and learning, and support for teaching assistants.
In early 2012, the EDC was led on an interim basis by Alan Steele, until Joy Mighty’s appointment as Associate Vice-President (Teaching and Learning) later that year. Our current name, Teaching and Learning Services, first appeared in 2013, and the organization became a bit clearer – the EDC was associated with teaching support, CUOL was responsible for online learning and IMS was focused on classroom technology and event support.
Under Joy’s leadership, TLS strengthened its external partnerships and expanded online learning programming via many eCampusOntario grants (second most of all Ontario universities), completed the transition from the WebCT learning management system to cuLearn, and shepherded increased recognition for excellence in teaching and learning.
With Joy’s retirement from TLS in 2018, Adrian Chan briefly steered the department until David Hornsby joined Carleton in late 2018. Under David, TLS has continued to evolve, with the Discovery Centre being added to the organization in 2019. In the last three years, TLS has been reshaped and renewed – with a greater focus on supporting student success, experiential learning, online programming, the design of student-centred learning spaces, partnerships between learners and teachers, and the adoption of innovative teaching approaches. The organization and team names also changed – Carleton’s teaching and learning centre is known simply as Teaching and Learning Services, with internal team names for functional areas: Digital Learning, Teaching Excellence and Innovation, Learning Spaces, Event Support, Media Production and the Future Learning Lab.
In the last 30 years Carleton has changed significantly, and so has the university’s teaching and learning services. While the scope of the work has changed dramatically, one constant has remained – the dedication and care of TLS team members, past and present, in supporting and encouraging our instructors, students, teaching assistants and teaching support colleagues’ success.
To help celebrate our 30th anniversary look for short stories of teaching and learning at Carleton in the coming months – stories of hidden heroes within TLS, instructors and their stories, and stories when things perhaps don’t go quite as we intended…(i.e., our April Fool’s newsletter).