Four USask educators receive Lieutenant Governor’s Post-Secondary Teaching Award – News

This award recognizes excellence in innovative practices, including but not limited to technology and innovation approaches that support equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Approaches may also include innovative practices for the Indigenization of curriculum and instruction, including a focus on trades and pathways, innovative assessment practices, as well as innovative approaches to student engagement.

What does this award mean to you?

This recognition for innovative teaching is truly a community achievement, celebrating the creativity and collaborative spirit of my students and colleagues in the Educational Technology and Design (ETAD) graduate program. Teaching is the most inspiring and hopeful work I know. USask is a special place where we turn that hope into action, working together to support individual and collective human flourishing within and beyond our learning communities.

How do you continue to grow and integrate different teaching methods?

I continue to grow as an educator by learning alongside my students and listening closely to their feedback on how I can offer flexible, accessible, and meaningful learning opportunities. My pedagogical goal is to empower students to gain technical capability and agency as creators, while also encouraging them to think critically about their work and its impact. Authentic assignments include designing digital games and escape rooms for experiential learning, making apps for pro-social and environmental change, and co-creating immersive environments guided by wisdom from Traditional Knowledge Keepers.

How does student success influence the way you teach?

Student success shapes every decision I make in course design, pedagogy, assessment, and mentorship. Students thrive when they feel seen, respected, and encouraged to take intellectual and creative risks. My teaching is grounded in relationships and guided by the belief that students learn what they care about, from people they care about, and when they know they are under their instructor’s umbrella of care.

Is there anything that students have taught you?

I get my best ideas from ETAD students! They continually remind me that learning is not something we deliver; it’s something we co-create. Through collaborative scholarship in my courses, I’ve learned that creativity, insight, and innovation flourish when we design together, rather than in isolation. This co-design approach has led to co-authoring award-winning research papers, publishing student-authored conference proceedings, and developing open-access textbooks on AI and instructional design. My students show me that curiosity is contagious, and that an open, inquiry-driven learning community is synergistic as we explore the trustworthy integration of emerging and converging technologies in higher education.

How do you make sure AI is used in a way that upholds academic integrity?

My approach to AI in education is grounded in values of trust, transparency, and care. I intentionally design learning environments where integrity, relationships, and original thought thrive through human mentorship that can’t be replicated by algorithms or machines. In my courses, AI is not used to replace thinking, creativity, or personal voice. Instead, students learn to analyze, critique, question, and design with AI in ways that align with human values and responsible innovation. To support this, I include a clear AI Ethics statement in each syllabus that can be summarized as: Do no harm.