Category: Teaching & Learning
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Course Redesign Institute
Teaching Faculty Members: Do you have a course next term that could use a boost of new ideas or an enhancement to engage students more? Do you want to reconsider your assignments and ensure they are in alignment with intended learning outcomes? Might you have a course that is working okay for you and your students, but it could be…
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Mid-Year New Faculty Orientation
We invite all new VIU teaching faculty and newly appointed sessional instructors to join us on Friday, January 9 for VIU’s Mid-Year New Faculty Orientation. Breakfast and lunch are included. The purpose of the Orientation, sponsored by the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching, is to introduce you to teaching and learning resources for…
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Facilitating Inquiry-based Learning: Reflections of a Rookie
by Sandra Johnstone, Teaching Faculty, Faculty of Science and Technology, VIU My inspiration This semester is the first time that I have designed and facilitated a course that centres on a semester-long collaborative research project. The course was a third-year earth science course in Geochemistry, with ten students enrolled. The project was based on 162…
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Learning and Nanaimo Bars
by Greg Klimes, Teaching Faculty, RMOT, Faculty of Science and Technology, Vancouver Island University In my program I delve into the basic principles of law enforcement, as it relates to the protection of our natural resources. In any successful program to be successful, there are always two 2 parts involved. Education and consequences. Education would…
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VIU looked at with Dutch glasses
by Olaf Ernst, Visiting Scholar, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences (Visiting Department of Recreation and Tourism Management, VIU) As you probably remember I am not a regular VIU faculty member, but a long-resident visiting scholar from a country on the other side of the globe. Now, after having been here for almost three months…
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What Successful Teachers Do
by Doris Carey, Faculty Member, Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation, VIU I recently read an article with an intriguing title: The Differences Between Successful And Unsuccessful People (Jacqueline Smith, Business Insider, March 19, 2014). I immediately thought of what I might include in a list of the differences between successful and unsuccessful students, thinking…
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I am a bad teacher . . . (?)
by Anna Atkinson, Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Vancouver Island University At this time of year—actually, at this time of term, no matter which term it is—the question of whether I’m actually a terrible teacher looms large. I’m tired, my students are tired, the workload has intensified, and for some perverse reason…
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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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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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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…