Scaffolding a Transformative Transition to Distance and Online Learning
Virtual Symposium Series
The Office of the Vice-Provost, Academic Affairs in collaboration with the Teaching and Learning Support Service (TLSS) invite you to participate in Scaffolding a Transformative Transition to Distance and Online Learning, a three-part series of virtual events to take stock and make sense of recent experiences transitioning courses to distance/online modalities and to help advance current thinking about effective design, and facilitation of teaching and learning, in virtual contexts. Among varied sessions on the theme and opportunities to exchange with peers, these events will feature expertise from online teaching and learning scholars/practitioners from across Canada and abroad.
In support of the integration of renewed pedagogical perspectives and practices, this series seeks to:
- Scaffold reflection and dialogue regarding the transition of instructional practices to distance and online learning modalities;
- Cross-pollinate and exchange instructional and assessment ideas and practices across disciplinary boundaries; and
- Foster opportunities to undertake and showcase action research examining instructional and learning experiences in distance/online modalities.
Snapshot of the Symposium Series
Symposium Series Events
Future Symposia
Building on the exchanges initiated at the November 20th symposium, this second event held on Wednesday February 17th aims to go deeper and focus on 1- transforming attitudes toward distance/online modalities, and 2- transforming perspectives regarding the teaching and learning paradigm. Keynote speakers include Martine Pellerin (University of Alberta) and Sean Michael Morris (University of Colorado) will share their work on motivation and attitudinal shifts in innovative and digital pedagogies.
Program at a glance
10:00 a.m. |
Welcoming Remarks and Overview of the Symposium Theme This session will feature a 20min. breakout group discussion about the nature of shifts in attitudes in professors and students with respect to online instruction and learning. |
10:45 a.m. |
Health break |
11:00 a.m. |
Keynote – Martine Pellerin Ph.D., University of Alberta Distance/Online Teaching and Learning in the Age of COVID-19: A Paradigm Shift to Transform Perspectives on Teaching and Learning. *Presentation in French with simultaneous interpretation |
12:00 p.m. |
Discussion space In this space, participants can:
|
12:30 p.m. |
Presentation & Discussion of Resources related to the Enhancement of Online Learning and Pedagogies of Care Three guest experts will present concurrently, and address lessons learned in the recent transition to online instruction and learning and how these lessons have led to, or leveraged the use of, specific resources. |
1:00 p.m. |
Health break |
1:15 p.m. |
Keynote – Sean Michael Morris, University of Colorado Teaching through the Screen: Critical Digital Pedagogy after COVID-19. *Presentation in English with simultaneous interpretation |
2:15 p.m. |
Discussion space In this space, participants can:
|
2:45 p.m. |
Panel with Students and Professors |
3:45 p.m. |
Health break |
4:00 p.m. |
Concluding Remarks and Looking Ahead |
4:20 p.m. |
End of the day |
Keynote Speakers

Sean Michael Morris, University of Colorado
Sean Michael Morris is Senior Instructor of Learning, Design, and Technology in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado at Denver. He is also the Director of Digital Pedagogy Lab, an international professional development gathering for educators committed to issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, critical digital pedagogy, and imagining a new future for education. He co-authored An Urgency of Teachers: the Work of Critical Digital Pedagogy, co-edited Critical Digital Pedagogy: A Collection, and has contributed to Disrupting Digital Humanities, Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities, MOOCs and their Afterlives: Experiments in Scale and Access in Higher Education, Applied Pedagogies: Strategies for Online Writing Instruction, and Critical Examinations of Distance Education Transformation Across Disciplines. His work has been featured by The Guardian, National Public Radio, The Economist, Izvestia, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, along with other publications and numerous podcasts.
Teaching through the Screen: Critical Digital Pedagogy after COVID-19
The precipitate shift to remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic came with no reliable best practices. Finding themselves suddenly distant, learners and teachers had few choices outside of improvisation. A profound lack of literacy in digital pedagogies created a crisis that affected not only the curriculum, but the community of the classroom. The natural synergy of being together in a room abruptly became an unnatural shift to turning mics and cameras on and off in the framework of a video conference. Many have supposed that out of this crisis might grow a new educational approach or institution—one that might support faculty and staff to advance educational equity, and move away from the all too common one-size-fits-all approach of online learning. To affect this transformation, we must consider a critical digital pedagogy, one that integrates digital literacies with equitable practices to create meaningful learning on both sides of the screen.

Martine Pellerin, Ph.D., University of Alberta
Martine Pellerin is Vice-Dean of Research and Innovation and Full Professor at the University of Alberta (Faculté Saint-Jean). She received her PhD in Educational Technologies from the University of Calgary in 2005. She has taught distance/online education for over 15 years. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the education program in the areas of digital technologies, online education and digital literacy. Her research interests include: the integration of digital technologies in teaching and learning at the primary/secondary/university level; inclusion; digital literacy, digital skills development and digital citizenship; and online education. She is responsible for initiatives related to digital transformation and the transfer of distance/online education at the Saint-Jean Campus. She has received the IT Ambassador Award and Team Innovation from the University of Alberta for her technological leadership.
Distance/Online Education and Learning in the Age of COVID-19: a Paradigm Shift Aimed at Transforming Perspectives Related to teaching and Learning.
The COVID-19 crisis has led to a rapid shift to distance/online learning. Despite the crucial role of technology in the adoption of these new teaching modalities, the emergence of a new paradigm regarding pedagogical practices is at the heart of the transformation. For the first time in the history of education, the traditional model of knowledge transmission, with the teacher at the center as the expert and the students as passive receivers of it, is in jeopardy. This paradigm shift is leading to a transformation of the role of the teacher into that of a coach and that of the student into that of an active actor in the learning process. The emergence of new pedagogical practices aims at engaging students through the co-construction of knowledge, the co-creation of content, inquiry-based learning and the development of solutions as global citizens to the global challenges and issues we collectively face. New technologies are also contributing to this paradigm shift by fostering new forms of presentation and expression of knowledge.
Past Symposium
This first event examined the essence and meaning of distance and online learning and provided opportunities to share challenges and pedagogical approaches that best facilitate learning. Recordings of each program session (and related materials) are posted on the virtual platform.
Program at a glance
10:00 a.m. |
Welcoming remarks |
10:10 a.m. |
Speaking to Scaffolding the Transition to Online Learning |
10:30 a.m. |
Sharing and Reflecting on Transition Experiences |
Health break (10-15 min.) |
|
11:30 a.m. |
Keynote – Benoît Raucent Ph.D., Université catholique de Louvain |
Health break (10-15 min.) |
|
12:45 p.m. |
Unpacking Key Instructor and Student Issues |
Health break (10-15 min.) |
|
1:45 p.m. |
Panel with Instructors – Challenges and Opportunities |
Health break (10-15 min.) |
|
2:45 p.m. |
Keynote – Jon Dron Ph.D., Athabasca University |
Health break (10-15 min.) |
|
4:00 p.m. |
Snapshot of Resources to Facilitate the Transition |
4:15 p.m. |
Bringing it All Together and Looking Ahead |
4:30 p.m. |
End of the day |
Keynote Speakers

Benoît Raucent Ph.D., Université catholique de Louvain
Benoit Raucent is a professor at the École Polytechnique de Louvain (EPL) and president of the Louvain Learning Lab (LLL) at UCLouvain (Belgium). At the EPL, he coordinated the reform of the first two years of civil engineering studies, called "Candis 2000". Benoit is the author of several publications related to active pedagogy. Within the LLL, he coordinates over twenty pedagogical advisors and manages the collection of the Louvain Learning Lab's resources that explore different facets of university pedagogy.
Key Questions and Reflections for Approaching Distance Instruction
Why move toward a distance modality? Possibly to leverage distance learning as an opportunity to respond to current needs and to make it a common way to access training. This presentation is intended to provide those involved in distance education -- professors, teachers, tutors, advisors, instructional designers, and management personnel -- with insights into the issues that arise when initiating distance education activities, as well as to foster reflection geared toward changing established distance education practices.

Jon Dron Ph.D., Athabasca University
Professor Jon Dron is a member of the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute and former Chair of the School of Computing and Information Systems, Athabasca University (Canada’s open, online university). He is also an Honorary Faculty Fellow in the Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Brighton, UK. Jon is an award-winning teacher, and is a UK National Teaching Fellow. Jon’s research in learning technologies is highly cross-disciplinary, including social, pedagogical, technological, systemic and philosophical aspects of technology and learning design & management. He is the author of Control & Constraint in E-Learning: Choosing When to Choose, and (with Terry Anderson) of Teaching Crowds: Learning and Social Media (https://teachingcrowds.ca).
How Distance Changes Everything
Like most complex technologies, in-person educational systems have evolved to include a wide range of counter-technologies - including methods of teaching (pedagogies) - that were invented to overcome the problems caused by in-person educational systems, most notably in terms of their adverse effects on learner autonomy and intrinsic motivation. Distance teaching creates new motivational problems of its own, especially with regard to social relatedness. However, it can solve some problems that are foundational and endemic in in-person learning, particularly in its support for learner autonomy. Unfortunately, these benefits are rarely fully realized because we too often needlessly transfer pedagogies that solve problems for in-person teaching, many of which can be positively harmful outside their original context. In this presentation I will reveal some of the central Faustian Bargains of in-person and online learning, and will suggest practical approaches to thinking about how and when to use both.
Platform Access
Access to the Virtual Symposium Series Platform
To access the virtual platform, please login at : Virtual Platform Login
If you have not registered and set your password, please complete the fields below. Within 48hrs (weekdays) you will receive a notification with instructions to access the platform. Please note that if you register between Dec 22nd and January 4th (University holiday period), you will not receive a notification or access to the virtual platform until Jan 5th.