Strengthen Your Teaching Through Instructional Skills Workshops (ISWs)
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Conestoga faculty can register for an Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) to enhance their lesson planning techniques and teaching practices. As of January 2023, the ISW is offered as a free, credited, course, one of two courses in the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) & Critically-Reflective Teaching micro-credential.
Please see below for more details on the ISW, including what to expect, the benefits, and how to advance to the ISW 2.0 and Facilitator Development Workshop (FDW).
What the ISW entails
In this three- or four-day workshop, participants design and deliver three “mini-lessons” following the BOPPPS framework, after which they receive verbal, written and video feedback from the workshop facilitator and other participants who act as learners.
Each day is a combination of workshops and teaching cycles. During the teaching cycle, each participant delivers a micro-lesson to their peers for which they receive feedback. They also participate as students while their peers deliver their lessons. Here they provide the feedback.
By the end of the ISW, participants will be able to develop useful, interactive and practical lesson plans; use questioning techniques that unlock their students’ higher-order thinking skills; and create student-centered learning opportunities.
Participants and facilitators of an Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) held in November 2022.
Benefits of the ISW
The ISW reinforces the importance of crafting solid learning outcomes, focusing on how they accompany interactive lessons so students can apply course material in real-world scenarios.
Participants form a sense of community and collegiality among their peers, emphasizing critical thinking and active learning in group settings. One of the ISW’s goals is to prepare faculty for facilitating group conversations and collaborative learning with their students.
Participants receive an official ISW certificate acknowledging their successful completion of the workshop.
Advancing to the ISW 2.0
After completing the ISW at Conestoga, faculty may take the Instructional Skills Workshop 2.0: an additional three-day workshop designed to enhance teaching practices through educational technology.
Visit the Instructional Skills Workshop 2.0 page on Conestoga’s Continuing Education website for more information, including current opportunities to register. Please be sure you’ve completed the original Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) – EDEV0995 as a prerequisite.
Advancing to the Facilitator Development Workshop (FDW)
Conestoga also offers faculty the opportunity to complete the Facilitator Development Workshop (FDW), designed for those who wish to lead their own ISW. An intensive 40-hour workshop held over five days, a group of four or five participants will act instructors, learners and facilitators with each other.
Note: Faculty with active teaching contracts and employee e-mail addresses may register for these workshops (which act as courses, for which you’ll earn a credit) through the Student Portal. If you encounter difficulty, please e-mail teachingandlearning@conestogac.on.ca and provide the course title and section number so we can register you on your behalf.
