Category: Student Learning

  • Learning to Learn Online: An Open Educational Resource (OER) for Students and Instructors

    Learning to Learn Online: An Open Educational Resource (OER) for Students and Instructors

    For months now, members of the CIEL have been shouldering questions about how to help students be effective online learners. Now, thanks to some student authors and the power of Pressbooks, the world of higher education is privy to a timely resource that provides tips for students (and instructors!) as they continue to transition to…

  • Vancouver Island Team-Based Learning Institute (August 14-16, 2019)

    Vancouver Island Team-Based Learning Institute (August 14-16, 2019)

    **Information for Non-VIU Guest Registrants**  August 14-16, 2019 | Vancouver Island University | Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada    Tine Reimers and Bill Roberson of Vancouver Island University, and Jim Sibley of University of British Columbia will be your facilitators for the Institute. As users of Team-Based Learning (TBL) and authors of numerous TBL publications, they have coached hundreds of post-secondary instructors in the use of…

  • NEW – VIULearn quizzes now save automatically!

    NEW – VIULearn quizzes now save automatically!

    As of October 19, 2018, you no longer need to manually save your answers when taking a quiz! As you complete each question on a quiz, your responses will now be automatically saved. Below, we’ve put images showing the old version (with the save button) next to what it will look like when a question…

  • Tao of Marking: Caring For Students through Unmarking Your Courses

    Tao of Marking: Caring For Students through Unmarking Your Courses

    Photo by David Emrich on Unsplash The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning at Vancouver Island University is putting on a series of activities this year about marking and grading. We are asking faculty to examine their marking and grading practices, and consider how best to align these processes with perspectives and techniques that make caring for…

  • Introducing VIU’s Open Education Working Group

    Introducing VIU’s Open Education Working Group

    Photo by James Sutton on Unsplash The VIU Open Education Working Group (VIU-OEWG) brings together key stakeholders from across the institution to provide advice and support for VIU’s open education initiatives, which include the creation, adaptation, and adoption of open educational resources while embracing innovative open pedagogies. Email maxwell.stevenson@viu.ca if you wish to join this meeting. Meetings happen…

  • Fostering Greater Student Independence: VIU’s August Team-Based Learning Course Redesign

    Fostering Greater Student Independence: VIU’s August Team-Based Learning Course Redesign

    On August 20-23, the Centre launched its 6th cohort of Team-Based-Learning Course Re-Designers Michaelsen’s Team-Based Learning Model is a method that fosters greater student independence and personal responsibility for learning. The key is a simple, coherent set of instructional protocols that, when adopted consistently, ensure that all the forces for engagement are aligned for high-level…

  • Grade 8-12 and VIU Classroom Visit Initiative

    Grade 8-12 and VIU Classroom Visit Initiative

    The Grade 8-12 and VIU Classroom Visit Initiative was a new offering of professional learning for Vancouver Island University campus community members (faculty, support staff, administration) to visit local high school classrooms (grades 8-12) in School Districts 68 and 69 and The High School at VIU. The initiative is now over for signing up.  Initiative…

  • What makes VIU Excellent in Teaching and Learning?

    What makes VIU Excellent in Teaching and Learning?

    In May 2018, Vancouver Island University was named a finalist in the Global Teaching Excellence Awards from the Higher Education Academy headquartered in the United Kingdom. One of 17 finalists, VIU was the only other Canadian institution that was named a finalist besides McMaster University, which won the award. The 2018 award received 400 submissions…

  • Join us for the New Faculty Orientation to Teaching!

    Join us for the New Faculty Orientation to Teaching!

    Join us!  Meet with VIU colleagues, learn more about the students we have at VIU, and connect with the staff who are ready to help with your teaching questions. The event is built around lively discussions with other new (and “almost new”) faculty about what the hallmarks of successful student engagement are, and what tools…

  • Cleaning Up VIULearn: New Process for VIU as of July 2018

    Cleaning Up VIULearn: New Process for VIU as of July 2018

    New Process for VIULearn Course Cleanup Status: Currently we have over 40,000 courses dating back to Intersession 2012 when we began using D2L’s Brightspace software (branded VIULearn). Many of these courses were never used or are not used anymore. The accumulation of old courses can make managing VIULearn challenging and creates a messy view for faculty. Rationale: It…

  • 5 Key Changes in BC’s New K-12 Curriculum: What are the Implications for Post-Secondary?

    5 Key Changes in BC’s New K-12 Curriculum: What are the Implications for Post-Secondary?

    By Liesel Knaack, Director, Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning, Vancouver Island University PDF of Blog Post (1.5 MB) British Columbia’s Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system is being updated and enhanced. New mandated curriculum for Kindergarten (K) to Grade 9 began in Fall of 2016. New Grade 10-12 curricula will roll out in…

  • Engaging students with Open Education at VIULearns 2016

    Engaging students with Open Education at VIULearns 2016

    Last week during the VIULearns event on the Nanaimo campus I had a chance to engage students directly with the idea of open education. I positioned our booth to draw students in around all aspects of open education; including open access, open data, open educational resources, open licenses, open educational practices, and open source software.…