The School of Teaching and Learning (TCH) hosted a Research Celebration in early April that brought together over 100 people to present, discuss and learn about current education research projects.
“Our graduate students are educators working in schools and their work of teaching has been so incredibly difficult the past few years”, said Dr. Anna Smith, associate professor in the School of Teaching and Learning. “It is important that we recognize and celebrate these educators who are so dedicated to their craft that they are pursuing graduate degrees, conducting research, and teaching all at the same time.”
The night of celebration was held in conjunction with the University Research Symposium which showcases graduate student research from across the University. Many TCH students hosted posters during the University event but were unable to attend because they were teaching during the day. The TCH celebration organizers planned the event in the evening to ensure that many graduate students could participate. In fact, the event was hosted in a hybrid format so that graduate students could participate from anywhere with a total of 52 student participants and nearly 50 family and friends.
The evening began with TCH faculty sharing their current research projects and then hosting a discussion with attendees that modeled how the students could present their research later in the evening. Each graduate student then participated in a poster session and discussion or a roundtable discussion.
“Teaching and learning has been so dynamic the past few years and teachers have learned so much,” said Smith. “This event was so important in that it allowed for a formalized way to reflect. Formalizing teacher knowledge through critical research is imperative so that we can learn from it and improve teaching moving forward.”
Many TCH faculty were in involved in supporting the event, but a special shout out goes to the planning committee: Drs. Ryan Brown, Anna Smith, and Erin Quast, and graduate students, Toryn Davis and Munchuree Kaosayapandhu.
The planning team hopes to make this an annual celebration and to continue to grow the event to showcase the important work of graduate students in TCH.
