Bridging the Bow: YYC SoTL Network
May 23, 2025 | 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
In person at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning
Join us for a dynamic day of connection and collaboration at "Bridging the Bow," bringing together Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) communities from across Calgary. This professional development event, co-hosted by Mount Royal University's Mokakiiks Centre for SoTL and the University of Calgary's Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, features half-day workshops and a networking lunch designed to foster cross-institutional partnerships.
Educators, researchers, and SoTL practitioners will share insights, explore collaborative opportunities, and strengthen our teaching and learning connections.
Have questions?
Contact the event team for more information.
Dr. Erika Smith
Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, University of Calgary
Dr. Michelle Yeo
Mokakiiks Centre for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Mount Royal University
Schedule overview
| 8:30 – 9 a.m. | Welcoming remarks |
| 9 – 10:30 a.m. | Morning workshops pt. 1 |
| 10:30 – 10:45 a.m. | Coffee break |
| 10:45 – 12 p.m. | Morning workshops pt. 2 |
| 12 – 1 p.m. | SoTL Networking Lunch |
| 1 – 2:30 p.m. | Afternoon workshops pt.1 |
| 2:30 – 2:45 p.m. | Coffee break |
| 2:45 – 4 p.m. | Afternoon workshops pt. 2 |
| 4 – 4:30 p.m. | Closing remarks |
8:30 - 9 a.m. | Welcoming remarks
Hosted in TI 160
AM Workshop 1 | TI 118-20
Approaches to SoTL
- Michelle Yeo (Mount Royal University)
- Janice Miller-Young (University of Alberta)
- Karen Manarin (Mount Royal University)
AM Workshop 2 | TI 148
Communicate & Collaborate: Maximizing Student Success with Faculty/Staff Co-Led Initiatives
- Alberto de Salvatierra (University of Calgary)
- Sarah Ha (University of Calgary)
12 - 1 p.m. | SoTL Networking Lunch
Hosted in TI 160
1 - 4 p.m. | Afternoon workshops
PM Workshop 1 | TI 118-20
Writing SoTL: Finding and Refining Your SoTL Voice
- Sarah Banting (Mount Royal University)
PM Workshop 2 | TI 148
Mobilizing and Translating Knowledge in SoTL Contexts
- Richard Hayman (Mount Royal University)
- Erika Smith (University of Calgary)
4 - 4:30 p.m. | Closing remarks
Hosted in TI 160
Approaches to SoTL
This methodology workshop will focus on common approaches to conducting SoTL. We will begin by describing how empirical approaches fit in the larger SoTL landscape, before outlining some things to think about when doing quantitative, qualitative empirical, and mixed methods research. Participants will have the opportunity to consider where their assumptions fit on a SoTL spectrum and which methodologies and methods align with those assumptions.
Michelle Yeo, PhD
Dr. Michelle Yeo is a Professor and Director of the Mokakiiks Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. She is past president of the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL). Dr Yeo is co-author of SoTL Research Methodologies: A Guide to Conceptualizing and Conducting the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Her current research program includes three pillars: student experience of learning, scholarship of educational development, and decolonizing practices in higher education. She is interested in understanding and catalyzing complex development and supporting authentic reflective practice at all levels of the institution.
Janice Miller-Young, PhD
Dr. Janice Miller-Young is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta, a former Academic Director of UofA's Centre for Teaching and Learning, and a former Director of MRU's Institute for SoTL. Her research focuses on undergraduate engineering education and faculty development in SoTL. Relevant publications include SoTL Research Methodologies, Becoming a SoTL Scholar, and Conceptualizing and Communicating SOTL.
Karen Manarin, PhD
Dr. Karen Manarin was a Professor of English at Mount Royal University. She is interested in academic identities, undergraduate strategies when reading, and humanities approaches to SoTL. Publications include SoTL Research Methodologies, Reading across the Disciplines, and Critical Reading in Higher Education.
SoTL Research Methodologies by Michelle Yeo, Janice Miller-Young, Karen Manarin
Communicate & Collaborate: Maximizing Student Success with Faculty/Staff Co-Led Initiatives
Launching a new degree program requires strong collaboration among faculty, staff, students, and senior leadership. This session explores the challenges, successes, and lessons learned from implementing a new undergraduate program, highlighting how collective efforts drive student success.
Using the World Café methodology, participants will engage in interactive discussions on key elements of holistic support. Framed by Tinto’s (2017) student persistence model, topics include proactive advising, instructor collaboration, leadership engagement, and student feedback. Attendees will share experiences and strategies, fostering a shared learning environment to enhance programming efforts and build stronger, more inclusive student support systems.
Alberto de Salvatierra, MLA, MDes
Alberto de Salvatierra is Associate Dean (Undergraduate) and Associate Professor of Urbanism and Data in Architecture at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL), where he directs the Bachelor of Design in City Innovation (BDCI) program. He is also Founder and Director of the Center for Civilization, a design research lab and think tank through which he has secured over 1.4 million dollars in grant funding for various research initiatives over the last 5 years.
A transdisciplinary polymath, designer, and urbanist, Alberto’s work has been published widely and exhibited both domestically and abroad. Previously, he’s been part of the Harvard Kennedy School’s inaugural STS program on Expertise, Trust and Democracy, and an invited panelist and delegate to the United Nations.
Sarah Ha, MEd
Sarah Ha is the Undergraduate Program Specialist and lead academic advisor at the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape (SAPL). With over 13 years of student affairs experience, she played a key role in developing supports for SAPL’s first undergraduate program, the Bachelor of Design in City Innovation. As a co-principal investigator, she researches how collaborative advising, teaching, and program design enhance student success. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary and a Master of Education from Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Writing SoTL: Finding and Refining Your SoTL Voice
Writing in a new-to-you discipline can be a disorienting experience. Entering a new field means not only acquiring a new vocabulary but developing potentially new ways of positioning your work in relation to the field, new ways of presenting and discussing results, and even new ways of presenting yourself in writing. (And sometimes, in your SoTL work, there’s more than one version of you to write about: you the researcher, you the teacher.)
This workshop will balance information and conversation with writing time, making space for you to experiment with your own writing voice and find different ways of positioning your project in relation to existing work. We will examine examples of voice and positioning in SoTL writing; share techniques for identifying the kind of voice favoured by different journals; and tune in to the voice you’re already developing.
Sarah Banting, PhD
Sarah Banting is Associate Professor of Writing in the Department of English, Languages, and Cultures at Mount Royal University, where her teaching and recent research focus on disciplinary styles in academic writing. Her current research focuses on curriculum and learning outcomes in English. She is at work on her first SoTL project, with the support of the Mokakiiks Center for SoTL at Mount Royal.
Robert Boschman
Mobilizing and Translating Knowledge in SoTL Contexts
SoTL researchers can extend their impact through knowledge mobilization (KM) and knowledge translation (KT) processes. This workshop challenges traditional impact narratives while exploring innovative strategies to engage diverse audiences beyond academia. Using a transdisciplinary educational development framework, we'll examine approaches for wider knowledge dissemination across varied audiences. Participants will explore how to situate SoTL within KM and KT contexts, discuss evolving impact narratives, and apply practical strategies through real-world examples.
This workshop provides tools to navigate KM and KT in the digital age, making scholarly work more publicly accessible and relevant. Our approach welcomes participants from all disciplines and career stages, and is grounded in both the SoTL literature and our own professional practice.
Erika Smith, PhD
Erika Smith, PhD is an Educational Development Consultant specializing in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. She has 20 years of professional experience in diverse learning environments. Erika supports curriculum, pedagogy, and technology innovations and initiatives under the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning umbrella. She is Senior Associate Editor and a founding member of Imagining SoTL, a peer-reviewed open-access journal, and co-PI on a SSHRC-funded SoTL initiative that integrates students as partners in knowledge co-creation. She has written for The Conversation and widely shares and translates knowledge via videos, infographics, and social media.
Richard Hayman, MA, MLIS
Richard Hayman, MA, MLIS is an Associate Professor and Digital Initiatives Librarian at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta. As a researcher-practitioner interested in open access and scholarly communications, educational technologies, and evidence-based practice in academic (library) settings, his expertise engages multidisciplinary modes of knowledge exploration, creation, mobilization, and translation. He is committed to open practices in research ensuring his publications are available via open access and supporting others seeking to do the same. Richard is currently co-PI on a SoTL-focused scoping review project.
