To mark the end of the Winter Session, Arts ISIT hosted an in-person gathering for Arts instructors to connect and reflect on teaching practices, student engagement, and the evolving classroom.
What emerged was a rich exchange of ideas and a strong desire for connection across disciplines.
Reflection as a core teaching practice
Reflection, for both instructors and students, was a recurring theme. Faculty shared strategies for embedding reflection into coursework in ways that support deeper engagement. For example:
- Reading journals that ask students to respond creatively to academic articles through handwritten notes, drawings, or mind maps.
- Short in-class reflection periods, either via Canvas or anonymous index cards, where students share what they found engaging or what they want to learn more about.
- Starting subsequent classes by highlighting student reflections on screen (something participants noted students find motivating and validating).
- Creating video recordings for language courses that students later watch and reflect on.
These practices reinforce the importance of “reflecting back,” helping students see how their thinking is valued and evolving throughout the course.
Hands‑on, creative learning
Instructors across disciplines emphasized a shift away from slide‑heavy lectures toward more hands‑on, participatory approaches. For example:
- Assigning students to design board games based on course texts, integrating concepts such as place identity, narrative, power, and relationships.
- Encouraging students to create a collective creative product, like a shared story.
- Using games, pair discussions, and peer teaching, where students help each other work through challenging concepts.
- Designing activities that create something meaningful that can’t easily happen online and motivate students to attend and engage in person.
- Creating space in the classroom for experimentation and shared control, trusting students to explore ideas together before intentionally bringing the group back to the lecture.
Faculty noted that students are consistently engaged with more practical, interactive learning experiences.
One Creative Writing instructor noted that a departmental survey showed a strong majority of students favour stricter limits on AI use in the classroom, highlighting the need for transparent discussions about technology, academic integrity, and critical thinking.
Connecting learning to students’ lives
Faculty shared innovative ways of helping students relate course content to the world around them, such as assignments where students track their “media diet” to reflect on what they consume online and how it relates to the course learnings.
These approaches grounded academic concepts in lived experience, making learning more relevant and applicable for students.
Building community across Arts
Several participants noted how valuable it was to connect with fellow Arts instructors, many of whom face similar teaching challenges but rarely have time or structures to meet. As one instructor shared, “I don’t even know who is above or below me in our office building!”.
The event highlighted a clear appetite for more cross‑departmental conversation and community building.
Key takeaways
- Creative, visible, and student-driven reflection is a powerful engagement tool.
- Hands-on, experiential learning resonates strongly with students.
- Students are seeking learning experiences that feel practical, human, and relevant to their futures.
- Flexibility and experimentation in teaching can coexist with structure and intention.
- Arts instructors value opportunities to connect across disciplines and roles.
We’re grateful to everyone who joined the conversation and shared their practices. The ideas sparked during this gathering point to exciting possibilities for continued collaboration and innovation in Arts teaching.
Stay tuned to our monthly newsletter and website for details on our next event! Our annual conference this year will be on Wednesday, August 26. More information to come!
