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VIULearn Quiz Tool: What can it do?
This week I ran two sessions to introduce the VIULearn Quiz tool to those who may never have used it, or may be wondering what else they can use it for. This session walked through the key settings and fields in the tool from creating a question to grading a quiz. There were lots of…
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Teaching with Empathy in the Time of COVID19
We are in uncharted waters, have been dumped in very suddenly: and the water’s cold! All of us—students, faculty and staff—have had our lives upended by the COVID19 virus: schedules have been revamped; kids are home from school; we’re self-isolating so we have to avoid friends and neighbors ‘just in case’; we’re working from home,…
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9 Suggestions for Assessment in the Age of the Coronavirus
If you’re under pressure to reconfigure quizzes, tests, exams and other assignments because of time pressure or or lack of access to physical settings (such as during a pandemic), this is a good opportunity to revisit principles and practices that might help you through this situation. As always, the focus should be on supporting students…
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Transitioning to remote studies mid-stream: Teaching strategies for student independence and success
Introduction In the case of a crisis or unexpected emergency, instructors may have to work remotely, conducting their classes from beyond VIU. In addition to using robust online tools, instructors can also consider transitioning their coursework to a more self-directed or independent study model. In this case, students are given greater agency, autonomy, and responsibility…
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Episode 4: Willing Partners: VIU’s Writing Centre and International Academic Support (IAS) on their commitment to student success
“…helping them to perform the best they can.” -John Hill, Coordinator Writing (and Thinking) Centre VIU’s Writing Centre and International Academic Support (IAS) provide essential and valued services to hundreds of VIU students every semester. In this podcast, I sit down with Sylvia Arnold and John Hill to discuss their experiences providing these supports. In…
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Pedagogy of the Poinsettia: Teaching and Learning in VIU’s Horticulture Program
In this third episode of the Share Drive, I talk to Jessica Gemella from VIU’s Horticulture Program. Jessica and I (along with Marilyn Funk and Sally Vinden) have been working on a curriculum enhancement project over the last two years, resulting in a number of changes to the Horticulture program. I talk with Jessica about…
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The Share Drive Episode: #2 “Spread the Nerd Around”
In this episode of the Share Drive, I sit down with the vibrant and tech-savvy Anwen Burk, former Learning Technology Support Specialist (LTSS) at VIU’s Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning. Recorded before Anwen left VIU, this podcast highlights the dynamic intersections of technology and pedagogy, and touches on frameworks that conceptualize an effective…
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Open Access Week – Open Textbooks A Brief Commentary
If you are reading this, you may have heard of open textbooks and be wondering what they are and why they may be of benefit to your students and your teaching practice. Here I will briefly make a few arguments which support the use of open textbooks and I hope that will encourage you to…
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A Brave New Pedagogical World: VIU’s Council for Teaching and Learning Engages with Open Pedagogies for 2019-2020
This year, VIU’s Teaching and Learning Leadership Council is engaging with the brave new world of open pedagogies. According to BCcampus (2019), open pedagogy, also known as open educational practices (OEP), “…is the use of open educational resources (OER) to support learning, or the open sharing of teaching practices with a goal of improving education…
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Why Trades Education needs to open its doors to open education
Since the turn of the 21st century, Trades Education has been subjected to rapid changes due to advances in technology, changes in global markets, and other influences such as climate change. A prime example of this pace of change can be seen in the automotive trade. Volvo Cars have committed to putting one million electric…
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Open Access Week 2019: Reflections on Open Access, OER, and Community of Practice
The International Open Access Week theme for 2019, #OAWeek2019, is “Open for Whom? Equity in Open Knowledge”, a call to reflect and act so that the future we build is one where “strategies and structures for opening knowledge must be co-designed in and with the communities they serve—especially those that are often marginalized or excluded from these…
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Are you ready to UN-Teach?
(This project fulfills the course requirement—“Roles and Responsibilities” –- for the VIU Recognition of Achievement for Student Engagement.) Successful teachers are agents of deep change. They can be singlehandedly responsible for altering permanently the way students think, act, and view the world—no matter what their discipline, content, or area of expertise. And no matter their…