At the University of Alberta, we believe in the power of educators to ignite minds and shape futures. That's why, in alignment with SHAPE: A Strategic Plan of Impact, the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) empowers our academic community to create transformative learning experiences and re-imagine teaching and learning at the university.
The Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) relaunched the TLEF program in November 2024. I am excited to share the 2024-25 TLEF recipients, a passionate group of innovators who are redefining the student journey. Their projects dive deep into the heart of societal challenges and will resonate far beyond our campuses. From. immersive experiential learning that tackles real-world problems to the ethical integration of AI tools, from deep community engagement to vital decolonization efforts, from the creation of accessible open educational resources to the forging of powerful inter-faculty collaborations, this year's TLEF projects are a testament to the U of A's commitment to impactful, student-centred education.
Please join me in celebrating and congratulating this talented group of recipients! I look forward to seeing these projects come to life in U of A's classrooms and beyond.
Karsten Mündel, PhD
Vice-Provost (Learning Initiatives)
Experiential Learning Activity to improve knowledge and attitudes of physiotherapy students toward people living with dementia
Recipients: Gabriela Abbud, Crystal MacLellan and Mark Hall (Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, Department of Physical Therapy)
Through experiential (simulation) learning, master’s students will complete daily tasks using equipment that affects their senses, mimicking the effects of dementia. This process is expected to increase their empathy, confidence and competence to deliver effective patient care to this growing population.
Sounds of research: Building capacity for new sonic approaches to teaching and learning
Recipients: Sean Luyk and Lucinda Johnston (Library & Museums); Scott Smallwood and Tom Merklinger (Sound Studies Institute); Oliver Rossier (Office of Research, College of Social Sciences and Humanities)
Initiatives include a research communications competition for graduate students; workshops in auditory literacy, sound recording and editing, field recording and audio editing suites; and improving existing sound equipment for teaching, learning and research.
Lights, camera, care: Immersive videos for mastery of clinical skills in radiation therapy
Recipients: Jen Dewhurst and Brian Chwyl (Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, Department of Oncology)
Investigating the impact of RadSkills, an open-education resource for radiation therapy students, on simulation resources, and growing RadSkills’ digital library and developing it as an international community of practice.
Transforming introductory-level courses in Women's and Gender Studies
Recipients: Chloë Taylor, Katy Campbell, Michelle Meagher, Randelle Nixon and Simone Pfleger (Faculty of Arts, Department of Women's and Gender Studies)
Developing a pilot project to reintroduce three in-person introductory-level courses, adding small tutorial groups and training undergraduate students and graduate teaching assistants to lead them.
Experiential and relational learning in the inner city
Recipients: Lisa Prins (Faculty of Arts, Community Service-Learning), Allison Sivak (University of Alberta Library)
An experiential learning course rooted in arts and land-based learning and teaching to generate arts and communications to be publicly shared to celebrate the building of the okimaw peyesew kamik (King Thunderbird Centre). Offered in collaboration with Edmonton artist Dr. Christina Battle, cultural advisor and language holder Cliff Cardinal (Saddle Lake Cree Nation), Boyle Street Community Services and the Society of Northern Alberta Printmakers.
Community-engaged course delivery: Applying a pedagogy of healing to a required nursing course
Recipients: Gillian Lemermeyer and Kristin Zelyck (Faculty of Nursing)
This project will integrate scholarly inquiry and research methods into the process of co-creating a pedagogy of healing for a required nursing course. It will embrace a deeply embedded and relational approach, employing community-engaged methods such as Indigenous Ceremony, Elder-led sharing circles and fostering connection through shared meals and visiting.
takahki-masinahikê: Academic writing textbook in Native Studies
Recipients: Jessie Loyer (Library); Nancy Van Styvendale, Faye Findlay and Paul L. Gareau (Faculty of Native Studies); Nancy Bray and Jessica Friederichsen (Writing Studies); Danielle Gardiner Milln, Rachel Cobb and Evelyn Steinhauer (Aboriginal Teacher Education Program)
Creating an open educational resource that draws from the work of Indigenous writers, grounded in the context of this territory, that offers students the skills to communicate their own positionality, self-location and purpose in their academic writing and participation in scholarly discussions. The resource will focus on the theory, skills and practice of academic reading, writing and communicating within the discipline of Native Studies.
Beyond barriers: developing an accessible prison-to-postsecondary transitional framework
Recipients: Nancy Van Styvendale, Devonn Drossel, and Bonita Bohnet (Faculty of Native Studies)
Part of the Light Fires: Indigenous Prison Arts & Education Project, the transitional framework will support formerly and currently incarcerated students in their pursuit of post-secondary education.
Virtual wildfire field trips
Recipients: Jen Beverly, Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Science, Renewable Resources Department.
This project will result in the creation of a set of virtual field trips using 360-degree cameras, documenting wildfire operations to bring immersive field-based learning to the classroom. These will be paired with scenario-based assignments to provide a deeply engaging setting for skills development and the practical application of knowledge.
3D anatomy: diversifying, digitizing and decolonizing anatomy instruction in communication sciences and disorders
Recipients: Renzo Garcia, Daniel Aalto and Jasmine Travers (Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, Communication Sciences and Disorders)
This project aims to implement extended reality and living anatomy methods of learning into the lab section of the anatomy course in the speech-language pathology program.
Using Google Gemini to provide international students with continuous formative feedback on their writing assignments
Recipients: Mark Gierl (Faculty of Education); Tahereh Firoozi, Hollis Lai (School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry); Don Mason and Lisa Matthew (English Language School, Faculty of Education)
Using large language models, advanced natural language processing methods and psychometric validation techniques, this project will create, train and evaluate the use of Google Gemini, a generative pre-trained transformer, to identify common writing and grammatical errors in order to provide English Language School students with individualized constructive feedback on their writing assignments.
Shaping the future of health education: AI-enhanced teaching and practice
Recipients: Tim Konoval and Trish Manns (College of Health Sciences); Ken Core (Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences); Mark Hall and Eric Parent (Physical Therapy); Afsaneh Lavasanifar and Forughalsadat Sanaee (Pharmacy); Gillian Lemermeyer (Nursing); Jeffrey Franc, Minn-Nyoung Yoon and Roshan Abraham (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry); Liz Dennett (Sperber Health Science Library)
This project will focus on developing targeted learning initiatives that integrate AI into health sciences education.
The Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) encourages the development of novel and impactful teaching practices that enhance students' learning experiences and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and excellence in education. The 2026 call for applications will open in the fall. Learn more.