Samantha Burton, Hoda Eiliat, Florida Doci, Kaitlyn Gillard, and Erika KustraA five-member team of UWindsor students won a prize for their poster presentation exploring teaching culture indicators. From left, Samantha Burton, Hoda Eiliat, Florida Doci, Kaitlyn Gillard, and Erika Kustra (missing: Carly Del Pup).

UWindsor students win international poster prize

A project involving collaboration between eight educational institutions received a boost earlier this month when it took home a prize from an international conference on teaching and learning.

A five-member team of University of Windsor students, working under the supervision of Erika Kustra, director of teaching and learning development, won the Dr. Wilbert J. McKeachie International Poster Prize at the Windsor-Oakland Teaching and Learning Conference in Rochester, Michigan, May 14 to 15.

The winning poster explored the results of a study conducted with faculty and students, at three of the eight partner institutions, to explore their perceptions of institutional teaching culture, and whether the institution values teaching.

It was one of 22 posters from which a combination of peer review and an international panel of judges selected the winner. The prize promotes the importance and value of posters for the exploration of effective and innovative teaching and learning practices, and the dissemination of research results.

“The project is a collaboration of eight institutions interested in developing a process to assess and enhance institutional cultures that value teaching,” says Dr. Kustra. It is one of five Ministry Productivity Innovation Fund grants the Centre for Teaching and Learning received from the Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, totaling over $1 million.

“I am incredibly proud of this team. The undergraduate and graduate students come from very different disciplines, and work together in a new area,” Kustra says. “The fact that students won the award this year is an excellent example of the conference theme this year, Empowering Students.”

This year’s conference welcomed more than 200 participants—including 50 students—from 12 institutions across Ontario and Michigan to Oakland University. The conference is a joint initiative of the two universities, sponsored by both institutions’ provosts, and intended to foster collaboration and exchange about innovative and effective teaching among faculty, staff, and students. For more information on the conference, visit www.uwindsor.ca/tlconf.