The CIEL Blog

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Teaching Metacognition: Learning in Mutable

    By Sharon Kelly, Teaching Faculty Member and Degree Advisor, Faculty of Management/Educational Counsellor, Student Affairs, VIU I believe in people’s ability to grow, change and develop over time – it was something my mother taught me.  This great potential for growth is why I love working as an educator and why I also love the…

  • 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…

  • The Journey of Becoming a Teacher

    by Greg Klimes, Teaching Faculty Member, Faculty of Science and Technology, VIU I never considered myself a “teacher” nor was it ever a career aspiration of mine to become a teacher. That word implied someone who taught in the K to 12 environments, many whom I have the utmost of respect and admiration for. I…

  • A lesson I bring to my VIU students

      By Susan Lymbery, Teaching Faculty Member, Faculty of Academic and Career Preparation and Faculty of Arts and Humanities, VIU I’d been twenty-five years out of high school when my son encouraged me to enrol at Malaspina University-College.  Eight years later, I found myself teaching at Cowichan Tribes Yu’thuy’thut Adult Training Centre.  One day, as…

  • Some thoughts on Textbooks, Open Textbooks and Reviewing for BCCampus

    by Jessie Key, Teaching Faculty Member, Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, VIU Textbooks are one of the primary resources of instruction for most courses at the university level. They can act as a framework or backbone to the topics addressed in the course by providing explanations, examples, and practice problems to students. An ideal…