Dimensions of teaching and learning
The 3M REFLECT Design Team arrived at 8 dimensions which instructors may wish to explore as they reflect on their teaching and learning practice.
Note: the dimensions outlined below are not mutually exclusive and may overlap in your teaching and learning practice.
Classroom Practices
Learning outcomes, discussion strategies, appropriate challenge, content knowledge development and evidence-informed learning strategies such as active learning.
Assessment of Learning
Implementing varied assessment approaches that are suitable for diverse representations of student learning. Assessment may involve scaffolding, effective timing of interventions and feedback, and alignment with learning outcomes and discipline-specific practices.
Assessment of Teaching
The externally and internally motivated evaluation of one’s teaching practices. Students’ perspectives of learning and peer observations/commentary may factor into how educators explore effective methods of teaching and learning.
Achievement and
Well-being
Being aware of, and providing support for, student well-being. Instructors may seek to enact relationship-based teaching to foster a sense of care and compassion in their teaching approaches while teaching reflective strategies for self-regulation and self-determination.
Decolonization and Indigenization
Understanding Indigenous Knowledges and Ways of Knowing in relation to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, UNDRIP, and post-secondary Indigenization efforts; decolonization of pedagogical approaches and content.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Incorporating practices that imbue justice, respect, and acknowledgement of the range of diversities (gender and sexual orientation, 2SLGBTTQIAA+, race, language, culture, religion, neurodivergence, and more); addressing bias in content, pedagogy, and assessment.
Educational Leadership
Demonstrating innovation in teaching practices and supporting others in post-secondary through mentorship and collaboration. Helping to create a community of educators who seek to enhance teaching, learning, and assessment methods across disciplines and professional fields.
Global Context
Awareness of the realities and impacts of global events on societies and different cultural groups, and inclusion of pedagogical mechanisms to signal care, empathy, and commitment to short and long-term planetary health.
Classroom Practices
This dimension includes but is not limited to learning outcomes, discussion strategies, appropriate challenge, and content knowledge development. Classroom practices can take place in a variety of classroom contexts and environments (labs, theatres, fieldwork, clinical, online etc.) and focus on supporting student learning, active strategies, evidence-based teaching and assessment, feedback, challenging and engaging content, and the development of robust and contemporary knowledge associated with the domain.
Teaching Strategies (TS)
Appropriate Challenge (AC)
Content Knowledge Expertise (CKE)
Assessment of Learning
This dimension includes but is not limited to the implementation of varied assessment approaches that are suitable for diverse representations of student learning. Assessment may involve scaffolding, effective timing of interventions and reviews, and alignment with learning outcomes and discipline-specific practices. Faculty who strive for effective assessment strategies are explicit in sharing criteria, grading methods, rationale for varied assessments, and ensure that students understand what the purpose of the assessment is and how the assessment will be used in arriving at a fair and justifiable summary of students’ learning. Assessment practices need to engender trust between instructors and students when it comes to grades for course work.
Modality (MO)
Scaffolding (S)
Trust (T)
Assessment of Teaching
This dimension includes but is not limited to the externally and internally motivated evaluation of one’s teaching practices. Student perspectives of learning and peer observations/commentary may factor into how educators explore effective methods of teaching and learning. As educators understand the inherent biases that can surface in student evaluations, this dimension speaks to the importance of critical self-reflection, formative and informal assessment techniques, and collaboration with other educators to refine teaching.
Student Experience of Learning (SE)
Peer Review of Teaching (PR)
Critical Reflection Assessment Strategies (AS)
Achievement and Well-being
This dimension includes but is not limited to instructors being aware of, and providing support for, student well-being. Instructors may seek to enact relationship-based teaching to foster a sense of care and compassion in their teaching approaches. Students are encouraged to develop agency and are taught reflective strategies to empower them for self-regulation and self-determination of their needs and aspirations. Achievement is seen to include growth in personal qualities, strengths, and self-knowledge as part of a successful academic experience. Instructors create opportunities to develop students’ identity and coping mechanisms.
Relational Teaching (RT)
Self-Determination and Agency (SDA)
Personal Growth (PG)
Decolonization and Indigenization
This dimension includes but is not limited to understanding Indigenous Knowledges and Ways of Knowing in relation to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, UNDRIP, and post-secondary Indigenization efforts. Indigenous perspectives require educators to decolonize pedagogies by shifting western pedagogies to include story, interdisciplinarity, land-based learning, Elder knowledge, and local Indigenous community connections. When applicable, this dimension expects educators to reference Indigenous knowledge within disciplines, including the vast contributions of Indigenous Peoples that have been systemically hidden or excluded from the corpus of disciplinary content.
Calls to Action (CA)
Decolonization (D)
Anti-Oppressive Teaching (AT)
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
This dimension includes but is not limited to practices that imbue justice, respect, and acknowledgement of the range of diversities (gender and sexual orientation, 2SLGBTTQIAA+, race, language, culture, religion, neurodivergence, etc.) in the classroom. It includes equity of access and accessibility for all learners and learning approaches, Universal Design for Learning, and welcoming and safe pedagogies where students have a voice in the learning experience. Inclusive Teaching recognizes individual students’ needs and incorporates students’ diverse perspectives through the use of inclusive language and equitable opportunities for all levels of learners to succeed. The difference between equity and equality are clearly understood and conveyed with a foundation of awareness of bias and social justice driving instructional decisions, arrangements, and content.
Equity and Justice (EJ)
Diverse Lived Experiences (DLE)
Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (AUD)
Educational Leadership
This dimension includes but is not limited to educators who demonstrate innovation in teaching practices, and support others in post-secondary through mentorship and collaboration. The focus is on creating a community of educators who seek to enhance teaching, learning, and assessment methods across disciplines and professional fields. This dimension speaks to the need for leadership in education beyond the limits of the classroom in local and global contexts through partnerships and community-based learning experiences and collaborations.
Innovation (I)
Mentorship (ME)
Leadership and Impact (LI)
Global Context
Awareness of the realities and impacts of global events on societies and different cultural groups, and inclusion of pedagogical mechanisms to signal care, empathy, and commitment to short and long-term planetary health. Educators understand the imperative of the climate crisis and geopolitical contexts and make explicit connections between real world topics and discipline-specific curriculum to expand learners’ sense of awareness, agency, and global citizenship. As future generations confront ecological grief and climate anxiety in the context of geopolitical tensions, educators must equip them with the knowledge, competencies, and mindsets to understand and address the global context of learning.