The Senate Committee on the Enhancement of Teaching (SCENT) announces its events for the winter 2016 semester! Our theme for the semester is “Academic Freedom, Pedagogy, and Curriculum: what do they mean for you?” Through a series of events taking place over the next few months, SCENT aims to engage the campus community in a series of conversations about academic freedom and its relation to pedagogy and curriculum—that is, to what we say and do in the classroom, and with students. While academic freedom is more commonly invoked when faculty talk about research and scholarship, it is also a central idea to the profession as a whole, and clearly impacts our work as teachers too. What do we do in the classroom, and with and for students? Are there limitations or boundaries around what we do or can do or even should do? If so, who or what sets those? What does academic freedom in our teaching mean to different Faculties and Schools, and in different subject areas? How does academic freedom affect students? And how would we (or do we) negotiate what are no doubt differences in how we all answer these questions?

In addressing these and other questions, with the goal of generating much discussion on campus about what we teach and how we teach, SCENT is pleased to organize three major events for this semester: 

• an ongoing blog and discussion forum, to which we will post short articles about this theme every few weeks over the semester, and invite colleagues to respond to them;
• a ‘faculty rants and raves’ event on Wednesday, March 9 (4:00-5:00pm), where faculty are invited to volunteer to rant and rave about academic freedom, in a variety of formats--rants, poems, skits, songs, raps, musings, etc. that can take a variety of tones--funny, angry, sad, thoughtful… (cash bar, nachos provided); 
• a guest speaker, Dr. Len Findlay, University of Saskatchewan, on Wednesday April 27, who will give a public talk and hold a workshop on this theme.

Check out our new SCENT website at projects.upei.ca/scent (still under construction)--where you’ll find information about SCENT and the blog mentioned above. And lots more information will be coming your way throughout the semester about all of these events! Book the key dates now—and stay tuned for much more from us as we get going on this provocative theme, around which we all surely have much to say!

For more information, contact: Ann Braithwaite, Chair of SCENT, abraithwaite@upei.ca or Gerald Wandio, Faculty Development Office, at fdo@upei.ca