For more than 20 years, we have worked with the UBC Science community and external partners to expand the body of theoretical and practical knowledge about teaching science and help students expand the depth and breadth of their learning. Our goal is to create an environment that supports reflective teaching and learning practices and facilitate discourse and system-wide transformational improvements in science education.
Expertise in educational research, pedagogy and curriculum development
Skylight supports or leads the development, implementation and assessment of teaching and learning activities. We provide evidence and analysis to inform decision-making faculty wide.
- Skylight collaborates with partners on campus-wide surveys on faculty teaching practices, attitudes towards specific practices and perceptions of support for teaching.
- We advise and connect units to support new course development and implementation.
- Skylight provides start-up and ongoing training for department-based educational developers.
- We facilitate teaching and learning reading groups and we are a founding partner in UBC’s Writing Across the Curriculum + program.
- Skylight contributes to the growing body of knowledge on science education and faculty development.
- We share our expertise and collaborate with other institutions.
Services and support for teaching and learning enhancement
Skylight identifies, plans, leads and evaluates teaching and learning projects and initiatives of various scope and scale. We act as a liaison between teachers and resources to facilitate the adoption of best practices and build capacity for change within the Faculty of Science. We also provide opportunities for reflective professional development, reflective approaches to teaching practice, and informal sharing of teaching and learning best practices.
- From inception to completion Skylight supports faculty on large-scale, multi-year teaching and learning projects.
- We directly fund small teaching and learning enhancement projects through two annual Skylight Development Grant competitions.
- Skylight develops and facilitates mid-program evaluation surveys to help faculty members and departments make informed decisions about program curriculum.
- We foster community building and showcase people and projects through events, open houses and symposia.
Learning technology ecosystem innovation and support
In partnership with CTLT and departments, Skylight leads the strategic management and enhancement of the learning technologies ecosystem in the Faculty of Science. Our services cater to a diverse set of LT needs—from operations to evaluation research and support for faculty in the pedagogical uses of technologies.
- Skylight works with partners to plan and implement a new learning technology environment in the Faculty of Science.
- Skylight, in partnership with faculty, and in collaboration with CTLT, is developing multiple new learning technologies, including a system that supports teaching and learning critical-thinking and decision-making skills and a natural language processing system designed to help students with automated formative feedback on aspects of their written argumentation.
- Skylight is involved in efforts to bring together high-quality open education materials--with the goal of supporting cooperation among instructional experts and sharing resources that address common cross-disciplinary challenges.
- In collaboration with partners, Skylight oversees the Learning Technology Rover initiative within the Faculty, providing on-site support to faculty members.
