• Home
  • Workshops & Events

DesignEd Workshops, Events, & Community

Scrabble tiles spelling 'Still Learning'

2025–2026 Sessions

DesignEd offers a series of sessions on various topics related to teaching, learning, course design, media development, and other key skills for teaching in higher education. Sessions are held on the second Friday of the month. Check out our upcoming and past offerings below:

📅 Upcoming Workshops

Cait, a white woman with brown shoulder-length hair wears a gray blouse and round, black-rimmed glasses as she smiles into the camera.

Using Structure to Promote Student Engagement (click to register)

10 October 2025, 12-1:30 pm on Zoom

As instructors, we often have a vision of how we want students to engage with us, with the material, and with each other. Then, we get to the classroom, and students don’t always engage in those ways. This can be deflating, and sometimes we can even ascribe intent to our students when they don’t show up in the ways we hope. In this session, Dr. Cait Kirby will use the window of tolerance as a framework for understanding how emotional dysregulation can result in a lack of engagement. Discussions will include strategies for leveraging structure to support student regulation, and ultimately promote student engagement. Zoom auto-captions will be enabled and the session will not be recorded.

Photo of Cathy Richardson Kineweskwêw

Integrating Sensitivities to Indigenous Matters into Teaching and Learning (click to register)

14 November 2025, 12-1:30 pm on Zoom

Dr. Cathy Richardson Kineweskwêw will talk about her goals as the Chair of Indigenous Healing Knowledges at Concordia University. Part of her ambition is to decolonize the classroom, which means promoting dignity-centered practices, working in circle, centering Indigenous and marginalized knowledges and perspectives, and exploring how we can attend to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Her work includes a focus on cultural safety and creating a sense of inclusion and belonging in the classroom and workspaces.

📚 Past Workshops (click to expand)
Incorporating Reflection into Your Courses

Reflections are commonly used as a graded or non-graded course activity. But what are the benefits? What challenges do students and instructors face when using them? What things should we keep in mind when designing reflection-based activities? What are some examples? These are the topics we'll discuss in this session.

Presenters: Dr. Anushka Ataullahjan, Assistant Professor, School of Health Studies, Western University
Najmeh Keyhani, FHS Curriculum Specialist

Using AI to Facilitate or Enhance Your Teaching

Join us for a peek into how other faculty members are using AI in their teaching. You'll also get the opportunity to try some tools yourself during the session.

Presenters: Dr. Andrews Tawiah, Assistant Professor, School of Physical Therapy, Western University
Najmeh Keyhani, FHS Curriculum Specialist
Julie Whitehead, Senior Instructional Designer

Decolonizing Evidence-Based Healthcare

Decolonial and Indigenous lenses were applied to evidence-based healthcare. Goals: 1) Summarize evidence-based healthcare through decolonial and Indigenous lenses; 2) Name and critically evaluate evidence-based healthcare regarding the knowledge system(s) that inform it; and 3) Describe intercultural counseling strategies that honour Indigenous medicines and practices.

Presenter: Dr. Jaris Swidrovich, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto

Clarifying Policies on Scholastic Offenses & Academic Considerations

The Student Absence Portal, and how it gathers and transmits information from students;
Undocumented absences, and when students can use them;
What to do when you receive an “approved” academic consideration through the portal;
How flexibility impacts your obligations related to academic considerations;
Current policies at UWO surrounding plagiarism and AI usage;
Current policies concerning cellphone possession and usage during exams;
What to do when you suspect a student of cheating (in an exam or on an assignment)

Presenter: Dr. Andrew Johnson, FHS Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs, Western University

Health Professions Education from a Justice Lens

This session introduced participants to different dimensions of the curriculum. Empirical examples were provided to illustrate how educational approaches or choices can impact students from EDGs in different ways. Participants were invited to problem-solve around a given scenario and/or discuss their own courses and curricula in light of these concepts.

Presenters: Dr. Tal Jarus (Professor, Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy at University of British Columbia) and Dr. Hiba Zafran (Assistant Professor, School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University)
Date: Fri. Dec. 13, 12–1:30 p.m.

Interprofessional Education (IPE)

What is it? Why do we need it? And ways you can incorporate it into your courses.

Presenters: Dr. Laura Brunton (Assistant Dean of IPE and Assistant Professor, School of Physical Therapy at Western University), Najmeh Keyhani (FHS Curriculum Specialist)
Date: Fri. Nov. 8, 12–1:30 p.m.

Flexible Assessments: Why, How, and Examples

Presenters: Dr. Sean McWatt (Assistant Professor, School of Kinesiology), Najmeh Keyhani (FHS Curriculum Specialist)
Date: Fri. Oct. 11, 12–1:30 p.m.

Teaching Supports from the DesignEd Team

Presenters: Najmeh Keyhani, Julie Whitehead, Dave McNulty, Gelila Ayele
Date: Fri. Sep. 13, 12–1:30 p.m.