I’m starting a blog!

Have you ever surprised yourself by doing something completely out of character? As an introvert who prefers staying behind the scenes, starting a blog feels completely out of character for me. However, six months into my year-long sabbatical, I’m embracing discomfort and diving into this new adventure, hoping this leads to meaningful conversations about teaching and learning. Here’s why:

5 reasons I’m starting this blog

1. To intentionally create time and space in my schedule for reflection, thinking, reading, and learning about interesting topics.
2. My love of writing! Currently, beyond emails, most of my writing consists of academic articles, which can be intense and slow. I’m looking for a space to share, learn, and write in a less formal format.
3. To ensure at my mid-career juncture I stay engaged, excited, and never stop learning new things.
4. To articulate and deepen my thoughts and beliefs about post-secondary education, teaching, leadership, collaboration, and communication, with the hope that this supports my growth in teaching and leadership practices (and maybe helps others, too!).
5. To participate in discussions about topics that matter to me, gather resources, highlight interesting work by others, and learn as much as I can.

Secret bonus reason: To share my photography! I’m a hobby photographer, and I love the idea of fueling my creativity by sharing my photos alongside my thoughts on teaching, learning, and collaboration. See some of my recent photos below!

About me…

In 2008, I finished my PhD (8 months pregnant with my eldest son) in Aquatic Ecology, where I studied carbon exchange from freshwater systems. Shortly after my son was born, I was a sessional instructor for a couple of courses, and I knew teaching was for me. Since that point, I’ve spent 15 years working in post-secondary education, recently being promoted to professor (teaching).

I spent the first 10 years of my career teaching in a Biological Sciences department, in courses ranging from large (350+) second-year introductory ecology courses to small upper-level population ecology and peer mentoring courses. I have received numerous teaching awards, including Canada’s most prestigious award, the 3M National Teaching Fellowship. See the article in Maclean’s magazine here.

My teaching is grounded in experiential learning, and I’m excited to share in future posts on this blog reflections, resources, and experiences with:

• case-based teaching
• course-based Research Experiences
• alternative/authentic assessment
• team-based Learning
• quantitative skills development and associations with grit and gender identity
• introverts in highly collaborative classrooms
• and more…

Check out my teaching philosophy in this post here.

For the past 5 years, I was the academic lead for the College of Discovery, Creativity, and Innovation, based out of a Teaching and Learning Center.  I was responsible for the leadership of the institutional undergraduate research initiative. In this role, I focused on:

• increasing access and inclusion in research and experiential learning,
• creating frameworks for developing high-quality undergraduate research experiences
• taking steps toward decolonizing institutional definitions of experiential learning
• assessing and evaluating institutional experiential initiatives
• integrating experiential learning into the curriculum

You can check out my leadership philosophy in this post here.

If this sounds interesting, stay tuned for blog posts on these leadership topics!

In my non-academic life, I have a wonderful partner, and I am a mom to two teen boys and two furry dog babies. I love spending time outdoors, hiking, biking, taking photos, and walking. If I’m not doing those things, you will find me reading or snoozing with the pups.  

Joining the Blogosphere: Is it too late?

When I was mulling around the idea of starting a blog, I wondered whether I’m too late to the blogging game to start. My search for ‘Is blogging dead?’ revealed it’s thriving, with 600 million active blogs and over 6 million daily posts. I am late to the game, but it’s far from over, with millions of new bloggers like me starting every year. I’m excited to join this community and hopeful that, among the 600 million other bloggers out there, I can carve out a niche—no matter how small—and create a meaningful, thoughtful contribution to the dialogue on teaching and learning.

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I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topics I plan to explore. Please comment, share, or suggest ideas—I’m here to learn alongside you!