Education knows no bounds: Faculty gain new skills in Slovenia

Lake Bled

Lake Bled with the Julian Alps in the background. A delegation from McMaster recently travelled to the Eastern European nation to learn new skills and information at the International Management Teachers Academy.


Philippa Carter has honed her skills over the course of nearly 30 years at the front of the classroom.

But she readily admits there’s always more to learn when it comes to teaching — even for veteran instructors.

That’s why Carter recently joined six faculty members and Arshad Ahmad (McMaster’s associate vice-president, Teaching and Learning) in Bled, Slovenia, for the International Management Teachers Academy.

Originally developed for young faculty in business and management to develop curricula, course design and teaching skills, this year’s conference was the first to be open to faculty from all areas.

Among the many things Carter learned is the value of group work in the classroom.

“You learn so much from your peers,” she said. “Students don’t always like it at first, but they always end of getting so much out of it.”

Ahmad says the retreat was a chance for faculty to get a new perspective on what it is they do every day on campus.

“Whether you’re from a large institution or a small one, no matter what language you speak, no matter what country you’re from, the issues that faculty face in the classroom are universal,” said Ahmad, one of the IMTA’s core members who helped facilitate the two-week program. “We can come up with ways to tackle those issues much more easily by coming together like this than we can individually.”

This year’s conference included attendees from 22 countries, including Canada, Japan, Denmark, India, Kazakhstan, Montenegro and Singapore.

McMaster faculty members Elzbieta Grodek, Brenda Vrkljan, Andrew Mitchell, Peter Vilks, Linda Stockton and Teal McAteer also took part in the IMTA conference.