Category: Student Learning
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A light-bulb moment 30 years in the making
by Sandra Johnstone, Teaching Faculty, Faculty of Science and Technology, VIU Illumination A few weeks ago I had a busy day. I attended a morning meeting to discuss learning outcomes for our programs in the Earth Science department. In the afternoon my daughter and I jumped on the ferry to visit my parents. Over the…
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What’s the purpose of higher education?
by Andrea Noble, Online Course Support Assistant, Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning (CIEL) 100% Human Connection If the purpose of higher education is to gather information, the Internet would’ve replaced teachers by now. When teachers bring the human element into the classroom, students experience transformational learning. Ideally, we should inspire each other to…
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Auditory Learners and the Lecture Format
by Doris Carey, Faculty Member, Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation, VIU In my decades as an educator, few students have ever claimed that their preferred learning modality is auditory. Not that it matters, since no research evidence exists to support the widely held belief that students learn best when their preferred modality is accommodated.…
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Aboriginal Education: Humility Through Service
By Sherryl Maglione (Miss Magz), Cowichan Campus, ABE English Instructor, Vancouver Island University As an Aboriginal educator, teaching Aboriginal students has, over time and very simply, become my focus, passion, and life’s work. My life’s journey as an Aboriginal educator, through service to others, has been professionally and personally fulfilling, and is yet still evolving. …
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QuickWrites
By Sherryl Maglione (Miss Magz), Cowichan Campus, ABE English Instructor, Vancouver Island University I used to have an exercise like that back in elementary, but with computers, and the exercise was quick-type. I hated it, though. But with this quick-write, I personally found it easy enough that I could enjoy the exercise. Plus, it’s a…
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International Education Creates Value-Added Opportunities For Faculty and Students
By Sharon Kelly, Teaching Faculty Member and Degree Advisor, Faculty of Management/Educational Counsellor, Student Affairs, VIU I feel ever so lucky to be able to work at Vancouver Island University where international students are welcomed and international experiences for students and faculty alike are encouraged as well as supported. And NEW! Starting in fall 2013,…
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Goal Setting, Planning (and Monitoring) Skills Part 2: How To Avoid Becoming A One Trick Pony
By Sharon Kelly, Teaching Faculty Member and Degree Advisor, Faculty of Management/Educational Counsellor, Student Affairs, VIU Pardon the mini essay tone of this blog post: I think I wrote this as much for me as for you! Goal setting and planning skills are used for everything from planning an event, to planning finances, to planning…
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Think Outside the Dodecahedron Part 2
by Anna Atkinson, Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Vancouver Island University If you promise not to tell anyone, I’ll let you in on a secret: I don’t find business writing all that interesting. But I teach it, all the time . . . it’s one of the courses that our faculty offers…
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Calibrated Peer Review Part III
By Barbara Metcalf, Teaching Faculty Member, Bachelor of Nursing Program, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, VIU For all blog posts on this topic see Calibrated Peer Review Part I, Part II, Part IV and Part V I thought I would start this posting by describing the Calibrated Peer Review (CPR)…
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Shanghai Immersion
by Bryan Webber, Teaching Faculty Member, Faculty of Management, VIU I like to think that I’ve been reasonably engaged with the international presence here at VIU. I regularly teach classes with a significant international composition (for example, one of my classes this semester has approximately 33% international students –and that’s relatively low for our courses…
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Goal Setting and Planning (Part 1): Overcoming Obstacles
By Sharon Kelly, Teaching Faculty Member and Degree Advisor, Faculty of Management/Educational Counsellor, Student Affairs, VIU VIU is an open access institution. And each year, new students join programs with big dreams and high hopes. They have spent time exploring their options, thinking and preparing, applying, getting transcripts in or assessments complete and once admitted…
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The Power of the Negative Example
by Doris Carey, Faculty Member, Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation, VIU When introducing a new concept, instructors tend to provide a concise definition of the term and follow up with a few examples of the concept. For example, if I’m introducing a lesson on polynomials, I make a list of algebraic expressions with three,…