Schulich’s New Teaching & Learning Office of Curriculum Innovation and Teaching Excellence (CITE)

By Detlev Zwick, Interim Dean of the Schulich School of Business

Dear Schulich Faculty and Staff,

I am delighted to announce that, in response to the growing need for more high-quality teaching and learning support and development, the School has recently created a new department, the Office of Curriculum Innovation and Teaching Excellence (CITE). This new office brings together the resources and expertise related to teaching, learning and program quality that are currently housed across three departments within the School: the Office of the Associate Dean Academic, the Schulich Centre for Teaching Excellence (SCTE), and Schulich IS&T. The consolidation of these resources under one roof, reporting to the Associate Dean Academic, will enable the School to offer a more strategic, coordinated and forward-thinking approach to teaching and learning related matters and the design and quality assurance of our program and course offerings.

The creation of the CITE office will allow us to attain a range of new and important goals, including: 

• Coordination of Schulich’s instructional design, educational technology, curricular improvement and faculty development services to improve program quality, market-relevance and competitiveness
• Streamlining of teaching and learning service provision for faculty to prevent siloed solutions to issues (i.e., the creation of a one-stop-shop for instructor questions about teaching and learning)
• Establishment of a long-term, strategic approach to issues of teaching, learning and program quality that takes into account emerging educational models, directions, research, and opportunities
• Creation of the capacity and support for the execution of innovative experiments and pilots
• Raising of awareness of successful teaching and learning initiatives in the Schulich community and beyond

To achieve these goals, the main functions and services of the new office will include:

• Facilitation of/contribution to teaching and learning strategic planning
• Support for program quality reviews and accreditations, competitive analyses, new curricular proposals, continuous improvement of existing curricula, and innovative T&L pilot projects
• Instructional design and development including media production services
• Faculty onboarding, development and training
• Teaching consultation and resolution of classroom issues

The new CITE office will report into Associate Dean Academic Marcia Annisette and will be led by Emily Rush, Director of Curriculum Innovation and Teaching Excellence (and her replacement TBC while she is on maternity leave as of mid October). The office will initially comprise the following roles and team members:

• Jeff Pinto, Manager, Educational Technologies
• Lisa Siegel, Instructional Designer
• Teresa Back, Program Assistant
• Cory Bildfell, Customer Success and Implementation Specialist
• Arjun Sundal, Canvas Support Analyst
• Emily Rooks, Educational Technology Support Assistant
• Peter Macdonald, Director, SCTE
• Ingo Holzinger, Faculty Lead, e-Learning
• Minerva Cernea, Faculty Lead, Experiential Education

The School is also in the process of hiring two academic technologists to support faculty with remote/online and hybrid course delivery as well as enhance the work of the office.

Meet the New CITE Team

The pandemic has significantly altered both course delivery and teaching and learning at Schulich, and I recognize that many of you have put in significant effort to prepare for a radically different teaching and learning experience this term. For some, this may also be your first time navigating teaching in a virtual environment.  As the School adapts and responds to the challenges stemming from the pandemic, and prepares for an altered teaching and learning landscape that will almost certainly remain once it subsides, it is clear that we have an increased need for high-quality teaching and learning support and development within the faculty, whether related to instructional design and pedagogy, curricular development, or the use of instructional technology. With this new CITE team in place, the faculty can expect to receive more coordinated and effective service provision in relation to their teaching and learning needs. The creation of the office should also be seen as an important signal of the School’s ongoing commitment to curricular, teaching, and learning excellence, particularly in the most challenging of times.

I want to extend my sincere thanks to each of you for your efforts to transition your courses to a remote/online format, not only for this Fall but the past Winter and Summer terms as well, and for your dedication to maintaining Schulich’s high quality standards with regard to the learning experience we provide our students.

For any questions about the CITE office or for use of its services, please contact CITE@schulich.yorku.ca.

All the best for the remainder of the term.