The Teaching Track is a type of faculty position that involves specializing in teaching and may or may not include a research mandate. These positions are being considered, debated, and implemented across Canada (e.g., Bradshaw, 2013; Chapnick, 2012) and therefore have the potential for creating division or harmony. The objective of this preconference day is to draw experiences from stakeholders from across different institutional contexts (e.g., current Teaching Track faculty, current University/College administrators) with the ultimate goal of creating a set of best practices that administrators, faculty associations, and others can use to create or strengthen an existing Tenure Track Teaching Stream.
First, we will invite a breadth of experiences and perspectives from participants centering on a few basic topics: what value the Teaching Track brings to individuals and to the institution, how Teaching Track positions differ across institutions, and what challenges people face in the Teaching Track. Next, we will use the results of the earlier discussion to collaboratively identify and imagine best practices institutions can use to successfully implement and foster the development of a Teaching Track. Participants will leave with a draft list of Ten Quick Tips for implementing a Tenure Track Teaching Stream they can bring to their institutions. To maximize the potential impact of this preconference, we will integrate results with data from an ongoing national survey led by the co-authors in a publication.
