Suzanne Le-May Sheffield - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Suzanne Le-May Sheffield

Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 2011

This paper shares new insights on the first-year university student transition experience. Our re... more This paper shares new insights on the first-year university student transition experience. Our research focuses on students’ practice of academic skills developed in a ‘Foundations for Learning’ course, from their own perspective, after they completed the course. Once they had an opportunity to practice what they learned in subsequent courses we investigated how such practice impacts students’ attitudes toward learning and their university experience.

International Journal for Academic Development, 2021

We invite you to imagine a landscape with hills and meandering pathways. As you look from your ge... more We invite you to imagine a landscape with hills and meandering pathways. As you look from your gentle mind's eye, you see not a static landscape, but one that is in movement, that has an energy, a flow, a momentum. As your eyes travel across this landscape you see single paths that interweave with others, where 'there' and 'here' intersect. As academic developers, over the past half century, we have helped to forge many pathways across this rugged landscape of higher education and have brought many academic colleagues along with us through our ongoing commitment to deep, caring, and immersive work (Bolander Laksov & Huijser, 2020; Gibbs, 2013; Knapper, 2003). At times, we go back across this already-traversed terrain to meet people where they are, working to ensure the sustainability of our work. Other times, we pause on this journey to revel in what is and to reflect on how far we have come. And yet, at other times, we envision what could be and plough boldly forward, guided by hope (McGowan & Felten, 2021), exploring new horizons that beckon us as we embrace, as Sutherland (2018) has suggested, 'the whole of the academic role', the 'whole of the institution', and the 'whole person' (pp. 261-262). Along the way, a key aspect of academic developers' success has been our valuing of supportive and facilitative approaches, working side-by-side with academic colleagues to build collaborative, community-orientated teaching and research cultures in which we embed our academic development work (Shagrir, 2017). At the same time, we have been increasingly asked to fill leadership roles, both within these communities and in our larger institutions. Are we, as Shelda Debowski (2014) asks, 'agents of change' or 'partners in arms'? We are challenged to stay 'part of' the collegial communities we are invited into and create, meeting faculty where they are at, partnering with them, and celebrating good work, while at the same time, we are increasingly tasked with achieving institutional directives or goals that may not completely align with the collaborative communities of which we consider ourselves to be a part (Sugrue et al., 2018). These challenges remind us of the complexity and intricacy of navigating the interconnected paths of identity, belongingness, and cultural membership inherent in each academic development initiative. Considered collectively, the articles in this issue capture these tensions in our academic development work and compel us to consider the positionalities we might, or must, take up as we move forward. Two articles draw our attention to an enduring need to nurture opportunities for individual teaching and learning development, despite previous and ongoing work in these areas (Gilmore, 2021; Sabourin, 2021). Yet other articles focus on a need for academic developers to build community groups to advance more process-oriented academic development initiatives (Kim et al., 2021; Turner et al., 2021). Finally, two articles beckon us to grow our academic developer identities and roles as cultural change agents within the university attending to the development of the whole

International Journal for Academic Development, 2019

Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 2015

This paper examines the stages of development for a framework of teaching assistant (TA) competen... more This paper examines the stages of development for a framework of teaching assistant (TA) competencies initiated by the Teaching Assistant and Graduate Student Advancement (TAGSA) special interest group (SIG) of the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE). TAGSA initiated an iterative consultative process to inform the creation of the competencies that sought input from the STLHE community on four occasions. At each stage of the consultations, the competencies were formed and re-formed, their purpose and value debated, and the challenges of creating a development framework recognized. This process, described in this paper, resulted in a clear, succinct and flexible framework that can be used across institutions in multiple contexts.

Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 2013

Over the last 15 years, graduate students applying for academic positions in post-secondary educa... more Over the last 15 years, graduate students applying for academic positions in post-secondary education have increasingly been asked to include a statement of teaching interests, a teaching philosophy, or a teaching dossier with their applications. Even if a potential employer does not request any of these documents, many interviewees are expected to be able to reflect and articulate intelligently about their teaching philosophy in a job interview and/or to demonstrate their teaching. In Canada and the United States, research has shown that hiring committees are looking for candidates that not only have teaching experience, but who can also talk about and demonstrate their teaching (Meizlish & Kaplan, 2008; Schonwetter, Taylor, & Ellis, 2006). However, what types of teaching documentation are required of applicants when they are applying for entry-level academic positions outside of North America? Especially as developing countries are increasingly seeking Canadian faculty for the...

Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, 2018

Educational developers in universities and colleges design, develop, and deliver courses and prog... more Educational developers in universities and colleges design, develop, and deliver courses and programs for professors and teaching assistants (TAs) to support teaching and learning in postsecondary institutions. While courses that professors and TAs teach are often accredited by the institution or a professional body, courses offered by educational developers are often not accredited at all. With this anomaly in mind, the Educational Developers Caucus (EDC) created a working group to first explore the appetite for a Canadian accreditation process, and then to design and implement a framework. This article describes the process and product of the accreditation working group and reports on an initial evaluation of its impact, arguing for its valuable contribution to enhancing the quality of faculty and TA development programs and courses and thereby of teaching and learning.

Atlantis Critical Studies in Gender Culture Social Justice, 2009

promotes and encourages graduate students' teaching development via the Centre for Learning and T... more promotes and encourages graduate students' teaching development via the Centre for Learning and Teaching. She has taught history and is an author. Her current research interests are in the field of higher education and include science education, first-year students' transition to university, wom en in academe, and the professional development of graduate students.

Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 2020

Professional and Support Staff in Higher Education, 2018

Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching, Jun 2015