Category: 5x5x25
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The Tension between “What” and “How” in Teaching
by Bryan Webber, Teaching Faculty Member, Faculty of Management, VIU I have come to believe that living in the ongoing tension between the “what” and the “how” is of critical importance to me as an educator. I always need to accompany anything I wish students to learn with the question of how such learning can…
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What to say about teaching and learning?
by Rob Ferguson, Teaching Faculty Member and Co-Chair, Department of Recreation and Tourism Management, Faculty of Management, VIU What to say about teaching and learning? For me, linking these two terms with ‘and’ has always seemed somewhat problematic. The English language seems to fall short here in capturing the essence of teaching and learning by…
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Best Course Ever!
by Marilyn Assaf, Communications Officer, University Relations, VIU Reflecting upon my undergraduate experience at Vancouver Island University, my thoughts immediately turn to the best course ever! It was a third-year elective called Fostering Leadership Development, and it was the last course needed to complete my undergraduate degree. I was looking forward to this course, so…
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My First Year at a Teaching and Learning Centre
by Melissa Robertson, Learning Technologies Support Specialist, Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL), VIU For my first post in the 5X5X25 challenge, I decided to reflect on my learning journey while working at the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning. When I first started at the Centre, I had decided I no…
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Cell Phone Obsession—Are Students Paying Attention Anymore?
by Andrea Noble, Online Course Support Assistant, Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL), VIU “To be physically alone is still relatively easy, but many of us struggle daily to turn off e-mail, computers, or cell phones. For many of us, going to concerts, lectures, the movies, or social activities provided time to be…
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Language as a Tool and a Barrier
by Olaf Ernst, Visiting Scholar, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences I am writing these first words of my very first blog post in the middle of the night, after I suddenly woke up thinking about a specific term in English which I could not remember… Hi everyone, my name is Olaf Ernst and it…
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Skeletons as Learning Tools
by Wendy Simms, Technician, Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, VIU Every two years, the VIU Biology Department offers a course called Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy (Biology 358). Part of the laboratory component of this course requires students to rearticulate an animal skeleton. It is an extremely popular project not only because it involves drills and…
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Seating Arrangements in Your Classroom
by Nick Yaremchuk, Teacher, The International High School, VIU More and more teachers that I talk to are considering how seating arrangements in their classrooms affect their teaching, affect their students’ learning, and affect discourse in their classrooms. For many educators, gone are the days of straight rows of desks with students facing the front…
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Where Do You Learn That?
By Carrie Johns, Secretary Registrar and Convocation, Registration Centre, VIU My son is two years old. He learns new skills and new words at an incredible rate: yesterday, he pulled on his shoes by himself – today, he asked for chocolate milk and French fries for dinner. (I expect that tomorrow, I’ll hand him the…
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Life and Learning
By Deirdre Godwin, Program Assistant, Professional Development and Training, Faculties of Health and Human Services& Trades and Applied Technology, VIU Life is a learning experience. When I was growing up, I always swore that I would never be a teacher. My father taught for over 30 years in the Nanaimo District, and I guess I…
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Going Text-less
By Sandra Johnstone, Teaching Faculty Member, Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, VIU A round of applause This semester – Spring 2014 – I experienced a first in my teaching career. While we were reviewing the course outline for my first year earth science class the students broke out into applause. Now, I flatter…