Who We Are
SALTISE (Supporting Active Learning & Technological Innovation in Studies of Education), and S4 (Systems, Supporting, Student Success) is a learning community service that brings together instructors and professional development staff from English and French educational institutions within the greater Montreal area, as well as other regions of Quebec. The key goals of SALTISE/S4 are based on the ideals of implementing evidence-based pedagogy involving instructional innovations and often leveraging the use of educational technology to promote improved learning.
Objectives
SALTISE/S4 organizes events and workshops designed to aid the education community and all who are interested in developing ways to encourage greater student engagement leading to learning. Increased student engagement leads to a more successful pedagogy. SALTISE/S4 has hosted international and national scholars, as well as provided opportunities for local experts to share best practices in the area of active learning pedagogy and the use of technology. Over the years, these activities have brought together hundreds of instructors from around Quebec. SALTISE/S4 members have presented their expanding repertoire of best practices at conferences in Quebec, across Canada, and internationally. SALTISE/S4 members are among some of the most dedicated instructors and have won provincial and national awards for their inventiveness, design of pedagogical innovations and community building – e.g., the Shifting Minds National Award from the C21 Canada; Canadian Association of Physicists teaching award (2011 & 2013); and the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education College Sector Educator Award 2012 & 2016, among others.Funding
SALTISE began as a two-year Chantier 3 inter-order grant1 funded by Quebec’s Ministry of Education, Sports and Leisure (MELS)- Grant title: L’appel à la technologie et à l’innovation pour parfaire l’enseignement des sciences, grant #1126.
- Grant written by: Professors Robert Bracewell, Gail Seiler & Roger Azevedo (McGill’s Faculty of Education); Professors Elizabeth S. Charles & Silvia d’Apollonia (Dawson College); Professor Nathaniel Lasry (John Abbott College). Collaborators: Professor Ken Ragan (Faculty of Science, McGill); Professors Marielle Beauchemin & Kevin Lenton (Vanier College); Murray Bronet (John Abbott College); Chris Whittaker & Suzanne Kunicki (Dawson College).
- Grant awarded: 2011-13
- Grant title: Active Learning & Pedagogical Innovation Center (ALPIC). French title: Centre d’apprentissage actif et d’innovation pédagogique.
- Grant written by: Professors Elizabeth S. Charles (Dawson College) & Nathaniel Lasry (John Abbott College), grant held by Dawson College in collaboration with John Abbott College.
- Grant awarded: 2014-15; 2015-16; 2016-17
What we do
Annual Conference
SALTISE hosts international and national scholars, and provides opportunities for local experts to share best practices in the area of active learning pedagogy and the use of technology through our annual conference. Check out our past conferencesAwards
SALTISE gives three types of awards:- Lifetime Award
- Best Practices & Pedagogical Innovators Award
- Student Award. The SALTISE “Student Award” recognizes students who stand as contributors to the SALTISE community through the promotion of academic excellence, use of innovative pedagogies in their role as Teaching Assistants (TA), Research Assistants (RA), Course Lecturers and other tasks that support and/or are consistent with the goals of the SALTISE community.
Innovations & Resources
[accordion] [accordion_item title="MyDALITE"] Distributed Active Learning Integrated Technology Environment — myDALITE— is a free open-source web-based platform that promotes conceptual learning. Its pedagogical foundations are guided by social learning and based on learning principles and practical know-how. myDALITE has a growing database of questions in subjects ranging from chemistry to the humanities. It is funded by the SALTISE/S4 grant and aims to be the home of an open-source community offering high-impact high-quality learning resources built for teachers by teachers Click here to discover more about myDALITE and learn how to sign up. [/accordion_item] [accordion_item title="CourseFlow"]CourseFlow is an interactive and dynamic tool developed by the SALTISE/S4 team that allows for instructional design and pedagogical planning at the lesson level (activity or lesson plan), the course level, and the program level. In practical terms it may be considered an interactive and dynamic course outline and lesson planning tool.
Click here to discover more about CourseFlow and learn how to sign up. [/accordion_item] [accordion_item title="Active Learning Classrooms"] Active Learning (AL) classrooms are spaces designed to facilitate the implementation of active learning pedagogies by supporting collaboration between students. Often, ALC are technology-rich learning spaces featuring computing devices, installed or brought into the room. SALTISE members, primarily at Dawson College and McGill University, have made considerable contributions to the design and research of active learning classrooms. [/accordion_item] [/accordion]Community Outreach
Learning Communities & Partners
Associated local communities and partners who promote evidence-based instruction, new pedagogies, and develop best practices, click here to discover the list.
Mini-grants
The aim of the SALTISE Mini-Grant program is to support efforts to develop materials and tools that enrich the students learning experiences and promote the use of active learning instruction at the post-secondary level. Eligible individuals include faculty, instructional designers and professionals; and, post-doctoral and graduate students working with eligible faculty in Quebec- Learn more about the SALTISE mini-grant program here.
- Check out the mini-grant projects SALTISE has supported here.
Innovators - Members of the SALTISE Community
SALTISE is a community of educational researchers, post-secondary instructors and faculty developers, across Montreal and the Province of Quebec who actively promote national and international collaborations and partnerships. Our common interests are the exploration and implementation of evidence-based innovations in pedagogy and educational technology. [button link="/community/saltise-innovators/" new_tab="false" alignment="left" colour="blue"]Meet the SALTISE community[/button]Who's Who at SALTISE
Current Executive Members
SALTISE’s organizational structure is composed of Directors and Executive Committee members. The aim of this structure is to have representatives from all of our participating institutions. With that, the number of members on the Executive Committee is not rigid but is intended to be expanding. [button link="https://www.saltise.ca/about-us/saltise-innovators/" new_tab="false" alignment="left" colour="blue"]Discover our current executive members[/button]Past Executive Committee Members
We thank our past committee members for their contribution and support of SALTISE.- Nathaniel Lasry (Saltise Co-director, Physics, John Abbott College)
- Jim Sparks (Education advisor, Champlain College)
- Founding Members (emeritus and external) Roger Azevedo (North Carolina State University, external), Bob Bracewell (McGill University, emeritus), Silvia d’Apollonia (Dawson College, emeritus), Gale Seiler (Iowa State University, external)
Past Conference Committee members
We thank all our conference committee members! Throughout the years SALTISE has grown due to the support of countless volunteers. [accordion] [accordion_item title="SALTISE 10th conference committees - 2021"] THÈME | Aller de l’avant ensemble : opportunités et défis pour l’innovation pédagogique THEME | Moving Forward Together: Opportunities and Challenges for Pedagogical Innovation [row] [one_third] Conference Co-Chairs / Coordinators- Suéli Bonafim (SALTISE),
- Bojana Krsmanovic
- Alicia Cundell (Concordia University)
- Suéli Bonafim (SALTISE)