We Belong Together: Workshop Series
Fall 2023 - Spring 2024
The We Belong Together Workshop Series brought together educators, staff, and students to explore what it means to foster belonging in teaching and learning. Held between Fall 2023 and Spring 2024, the four workshop series invited participants to reflect on themes such as identity, inclusion, psychological safety, and decolonizing curriculum—grounded in values of equity, accessibility, and well-being. Through sessions that ranged from faculty-led discussions to powerful student perspectives, the series offered space for reflection, dialogue, and shared learning. At its heart, the series affirmed a simple yet powerful truth: we all belong together in our academic community, and belonging is essential for everyone to thrive.
WORKSHOPS IN THIS SERIES:
1. Psychological Safety & Belonging: Student Perspectives & Experiences
- Friday, April 5, 2024 (11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.)
- In-person: Killam Library, Room B400, or, Online via MS Teams
Speakers
- Gloria Piazza (BSc in medical sciences)
- Youna McGowan (Neuroscience)
- Katarzyna Farrell (BSc and 2020 Loran Scholar, which is Canada's largest and most comprehensive undergraduate merit award)
In this final workshop of the 'We Belong Together' series, attendees heard from student leaders their perspectives and experiences of belonging in courses and academic programs. Specifically, the student leaders who presented shared the principles of psychological safety and its role in facilitating a sense of belonging in the classroom. As students, our presenters shared the important role educators play when it comes to the well-being of their students, and shared ideas on how educators can foster a safe and welcoming classroom environment.
One important aspect of leadership is to create a shared vision, and our presenters advocated for a psychologically safe classroom environment to help professors and students reach a shared vision of an ideal classroom learning community.
Session recording
- Since students were sharing their personal experiences and perspectives, this session was not recorded.
2. Steeped in Belonging: Decolonizing Curriculum over Tea and Luskinikn
- Friday, March 1, 2024 (11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.)
- In-person: Ko'jua Okuom room, Killam Library, or, Online via MS Teams
Speakers
- Elder Ann LaBillois (Dalhousie Elder in Residence)
- Rachelle McKay (Education Developer, Indigenous Knowledges & Ways of Knowing, Dalhousie Centre for Learning and Teaching)
Decolonization efforts can cultivate student belonging by creating more equitable and inclusive learning environments. In this session, participants joined Elder in Residence, Ann LaBillois, and CLT Education Developer of Indigenous Knowledges & Ways of Knowing, Rachelle McKay, to discuss why decolonization is important and how it can be implemented in terms of both curriculum and pedagogy.
Recognizing that decolonization is highly contextual work, this session created a space for staff and faculty members to gather and share challenges and experiences surrounding curricular and pedagogic decolonization through guided discussion.
Keeping with tradition, Tea and Liskinikn (Mi'kmaq Bannock) were served to in-person attendees.
Session recording
Link to recording (available on MyDal; requires Dal login and opens in new tab/window)3. Creating a sense of belonging for students
- Friday, November 17, 2023 (10:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m.)
- Online via MS Teams
Speakers
- Shazia Nawaz Awan, Ed.D. (Educational Developer - Internationalization & Intercultural Competency, Dal Centre for Learning and Teaching)
In this second workshop of the 'We Belong Together' workshop series, attendees explored the topic of actioning belonging, i.e., creating and fostering a sense of belonging in our classrooms.
The session facilitator explored this topic from an inter-cultural competency and inclusive classroom lens. An important lesson shared during the session focused on the different ways in which educators can take micro actions every day to ensure a healthy climate in their courses that further leads to the healthy development of each student.
Session recording
Link to recording (available on MyDal; requires Dal login and opens in new tab/window)4. Belonging: The Comfort and Discomfort
- Tuesday, November 14, 2023 (10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.)
- In-person: Killam Library, Room B400, or, Online via MS Teams
Speakers
- Catherine Martin (Director, Indigenous Community Engagement)
- Matthew Thomas (Advisor at the Dalhousie Black Student Advising Centre)
In this inaugural workshop of the 'We Belong Together' workshop series, attendees explored the concept of Belonging as it applies to teaching and learning, and reflected on what this aspect may mean to individuals with different identities in our teaching and learning community.
Presenters shared their perspectives and experiences about the sense of belonging in different aspects of both university lives and life beyond learning and teaching contexts. An important lesson shared during this event was on the relationship between individuals' positionality that influences perceptions and perspective taking; especially delving into the impact that positionality can have on how an educator can facilitate the sense of belonging in their teaching and learning.