• What’s New in VIULearn? (Summer 2016)

    This summer, there have been changes to the names of some of the tools you use in VIULearn. For instance, “Dropbox” for submitting assignments has been creating some confusion with the internet storage service “Dropbox”. Additionally, there have been a variety of improvements to navigation for you and your learners. These changes rolled out on…

  • What’s New in VIULearn this Month? (March-April 2016)

    Every month, VIULearn is updated by our software provider D2L. Most of the time you won’t even notice the changes, because they are behind-the-scenes improvements. An example of a behind-the-scenes improvement was an improvement to the Import / Export / Copy Components tool that allowed bigger courses to be copied faster. Sometimes, there are improvements…

  • Exciting Ways to Use the New “Not” Release Conditions

    You may have seen my previous blog post where I talked briefly about the new “not” release conditions. If you were wondering what these conditions could be used for, I’m here to give you a few ideas to get you started. What Do You Mean by “Not” Release Conditions? Ever since VIU first adopted VIULearn…

  • What’s New in VIULearn this Month? (February-March 2016)

    Every month, VIULearn is updated by our software provider D2L. Most of the time you won’t even notice the changes, because they are behind-the-scenes improvements. An example of a behind-the-scenes improvement was an improvement to the Import / Export / Copy Components tool that allowed bigger courses to be copied faster. Sometimes, there are improvements…

  • Using Classroom Response Systems to Gather Student Feedback

    Using Classroom Response Systems to Gather Student Feedback

    Recently we were approached by a department looking to gather feedback from students for a program review. As the feedback that they were looking to gather was in the form of multiple-choice responses, we decided to use student response systems in the classroom to gather the survey responses. The TurningPoint Clicker system is a basic…

  • OpenEd 2015 Conference

    OpenEd 2015 Conference

    I have just returned from OpenEd 2015 in Vancouver, a conference focused on exploring developments in open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices. I attended this conference when it was last hosted in Vancouver in 2012 and was delighted to see it return to the area. The conference attracts many top researchers in this field…

  • Self-Paced Fully-Online VIULearn Orientations for Learners

    VIULearn is a learning management system. Some teaching faculty members use it to upload files for you (like your course syllabus or their PowerPoints), create Discussions or Quizzes, and have you upload assignments or view grades. Some teaching faculty members even run fully-online courses in VIULearn. This means that some of your course activities or…

  • Teaching Excellence Video Series: Marilyn Funk discusses her community-based project on Newcastle Island

    Teaching Excellence Video Series: Marilyn Funk discusses her community-based project on Newcastle Island

    Marilyn Funk from the Department of Resource Management and Protection discusses her community-based project which students participate in on Newcastle Island.

  • VIU Faculty Fast Start Institute

    Initial “Launch” Workshop Dates: Tuesday August 25 and Wednesday, August 26, 2015 (2 days) Time Each Day:  8:30 AM – 3 PM each day (breakfast and lunch will be included) Description The goal of a faculty member is to thrive and excel, not merely survive. The Faculty Fast Start Institute is a Fall 2015 (one…

  • VIULearn Course Homepage Changes

    Over the last two years the CIEL has collected feedback on the homepage that we use for all of our courses in VIULearn. We have received a lot of great suggestions and have made some changes to the basic page template for this fall. We have tested this design with several departments on campus and…

  • Teaching Excellence Video Series: Bernie Krynowsky shares his guiding principles for effective teaching and engaging students

    Teaching Excellence Video Series: Bernie Krynowsky shares his guiding principles for effective teaching and engaging students

    Bernie Krynowsky from Education discusses how wisdom, passion, and caring shape his approach to teaching. Bernie discusses his strategies for keeping students engaged in the classroom through a variety of means and techniques. Bernie discusses his philosophy on being a professional educator and how he maintains his passion for teaching.

  • Teaching Excellence Video Series: Gail Krivel-Zacks on concept mapping and designing meaningful case studies

    Teaching Excellence Video Series: Gail Krivel-Zacks on concept mapping and designing meaningful case studies

    Gail Krivel-Zacks from Education talks about using concept mapping to help students organize information with complex relationships and to help students demonstrate learning over time. Gail discusses a process by which she had students create relevant case studies for other students to create a deeper and more meaningful learning experience.