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The Share Drive (Ep. 22): Trust in the Process
This podcast was recorded in Fall 2022 when Vicki Nygaard was teaching Sociology of Gender Relations (SOCI 322). We talked about a project her class was working on at the time – the creation of a book on gender. That book, Gender: Reflections and Intersections, has now been published online and is also available for…
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End of Year Cleanup
As we get to the end of the spring semester we want to remind you about the cleanup processes for VIULearn, VIUTube and VIUBlogs.
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Blended Learning
There are many ways to describe blended learning. One of my favourites describes blended learning as a “pedagogical approach that combines the effectiveness and socialization opportunities of the classroom with the technologically enhanced active learning possibilities of the online environment.” The Handbook of Blended Learning : Global Perspectives, Local Designs I like this one because…
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Backward Design
How do you approach the design of your course? Teachers often discuss the broad topics and content we teach in our courses. A standard curriculum and instructional design method is to plan by units or lessons, chunking content into topics, sequencing lessons, and creating assessments to measure learning. However, topic-driven planning may lead to poor…
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The Share Drive (Ep.21): How Much Water Do We Have?
It is Sustainable Development Week at VIU, so we wanted to share an example of how the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be integrated into your course design. In this podcast I spoke with Dr. Jerome Lesemann from VIU’s Earth Science Faculty about how he incorporated the SDGs into a recent course using a…
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Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework we can use to design courses that are more inclusive and accessible. The framework, developed by CAST, is quite extensive and there are many resources available that can help you implement UDL principles. In this blog post we will provide an overview of the three UDL guidelines…
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Strategies for Asynchronous Online Learning
A topic of interest in higher education these days is the future of instructional modalities. Educause describes a trend in students’ preferences for modalities that are mostly or entirely online because of the many benefits for students. Online asynchronous courses are characterized by self-paced flexible design to accommodate the needs of students. Students access course…
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Flexible Assessment
What is Flexible Assessment? Flexible assessment can take many forms. The flexibility may come from format, due dates or topic. It can apply to individual assignments or the assessment plan for your entire course. However, the success of any approach to flexible assessment will stem from the development of clearly established learning outcomes. Why Adopt…
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Difficult Conversations in the Classroom
We’ve all had (or worried about) that experience where the in-class discussion is lively and productive, until a student says something that upsets everyone. How to respond on the spot? How to mend the community that is your classroom after someone has said something ‘out of line’? Or, if the case allows, how to make…
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Gathering Together: VIU’s 2023 Teaching and Learning Conference
The 2023 Teaching and Learning Conference is open for registration and proposal submissions! Our conference theme “Gathering Together” invites you to explore ways that teaching, and learning can be done in relationship with others. Join us May 11-12 as we take part in an ever-growing conversation about how we can foster relational bonds that create,…
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The Share Drive (Ep. 20)
In our 20th(!) episode of the Share Drive we chat with Georgina Martin (Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies) and Shannon Dames, (Bachelor of Science in Nursing), about the innovative work they have been doing in the Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy program at VIU.
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UnGrading: What is it? How would you DO it?
A few thoughts on grades by people who think deeply about teaching and learning: Grades are not a good incentive.Grades are not good feedback.Grades encourage competitiveness over collaboration.Grades are not good markers of learning.Grades don’t reflect the idiosyncratic, subjective, emotional character of learning.Grades aren’t “fair”. Grades can dampen existing intrinsic motivation, give rise to extrinsic…