UBC Okanagan's 2nd Annual Learning Conference 

Learning Free of Boundaries

Program

Thursday, May 4

8:30 Coffee, juice, water, muffins, fruit & registration Lecture Theatre SSC 026

12:00 Lunch UBC Okanagan Sun Room

Friday, May 5

8:40 Coffee and open discussion Arts Atrium

Session Descriptions

Concurrent Session 1: Thursday, 10:35 – 11:15

Environmental Issues and Critical Thinking: Synergies for effective teaching
Session Leader(s): Phil Balcaen (bio)
Location: ART 183

Many informing institutions such as The National Science Teachers Association, Post Secondary Educators, Health Care Professional Groups, identify critical thinking as a desired goal for education. Despite strong statements of intent, little attention is paid to “how” this might be accomplished. This position is supported by Parker’s (1991) analysis of many learning environments where he observes that the teaching of thinking remains “more wish than practice.” In addition, Paul, Elder and Bartell (1997) studied 66 postsecondary institutions and found a similar situation where most professors claim to teach thinking but few could explain what they mean by critical thinking or how they teach it. As Case and Wright (1999) point out, this situation is partly due to a “hazy” understanding of what critical thinking is and the lack of teaching strategies supporting the development of critical thinking.

During the session, the Dr. Balcaen will describe an approach that tales advantage of synergies between environmental science content and a proposed method of teaching critical thinking. This approach encourages educators to teach conventional content within the context of environmental or other complex issues while maintaining an explicit focus on learning to teaching critical thinking.

Voice Tools and Language Exchange
Session Leader(s): Nina Langton (bio)
Location: ART 185

Horizon Wimba voice capabilities have been added to WebCT, enabling users to undertake spoken interactions such as voice board discussion, chat and e-mail. This presentation will explore specific uses of these voice tools, including a language exchange mini-project undertaken by students in Japan and Canada using voice-enhanced discussion board. The subject class is a second-year beginner class at UBCO, where live access to native speakers is limited. Voice tools present the potential to increase students' exposure to both formal and informal spoken Japanese, and enable collaborative learning based on spoken interaction.

One World, Many Ways to Understand it: An interdisciplinary introduction to motion
Session Leader(s): Rod Watkins (bio) and Maria Maciaszek (bio)
Location: ART 180

As instructors aiming to provide students with well-rounded education it is very important to remind students that the divisions so apparent in our institutionalized departments are ultimately pragmatic in nature. There is not a world of physics, a world of chemistry, a world of anthropology, a word of psychology, a word of philosophy. Rather, there is one world, which can be understood physically, chemically, anthropologically, psychologically and philosophically. In order to show what we mean, participants in the session will be asked to participate in a simple free fall/reaction time experiment.

Studying the results will serve as an occasion to discuss amongst the participants the historical, mathematical, philosophical, biological, psychological, and even sociological aspects of the human study of motion.

Concurrent Session 2: Thursday, 11:20 – 12:00

Dismantling the Boundaries Between Teachers and Learners
Session Leader(s): Susan Hillock (bio)
Location: ART 183

Traditionally, the act of knowing and the content of what we teach as knowledge have been viewed as separate from one another. This has often resulted in a "banking" style of university education whereby "expert" professors deposit knowledge into the "brains" of passive student recipients. A reconstruction of education dismantles the boundaries between overvaluing knowledge as product to studying / understanding knowing as process. With this, we begin to see a cooperative dialectical process engaging both professors and students as knowledge creators. Some of the key concepts in this transformation include an emphasis on critical thinking, reflexivity, strengths, dialogue, and action. This interactive presentation will facilitate discussion about the challenges related to dismantling these traditional boundaries and applying these concepts in the classroom. This discussion will be framed by considering the criterion of pragmatics, simplicity, and values.

An Online Case-Based Learning Course Incorporating Self-Directed Learning, Small Group Peer Teaching and Learning, and Instructor Facilitated Learning
Session Leader(s): Niamh Kelly (bio)
Location: ART 185

‘Human Bacterial Infections’ (PATH417) is a case-based online learning course delivered at UBC as an upper level science course. The learning occurs when students, working first on their own and then in groups, are directed to acquire content by working through case scenarios. Understanding of this content is pushed to deeper levels through the use of small group learning with peer feedback, instructor feedback, and, the use of e-portfolios. Using the online course as a framework, Niamh will demonstrate how this course allows for individual, peer, and instructor facilitated learning.

Round table debate: Interdisciplinary research, learning and teaching
Session Leader(s): Manuela Ungureanu, Mercedes Duran-Cogan, and David Jefferess
Location: ART 180

Dr. Manuela Ungureanu (Philosophy) and Dr. Mercedes F. Durán-Cogan (Critical Studies) will lead a round table debate on the subject of Interdisciplinary research, learning, and teaching. They will propose that collaborations between scholars across disciplinary boundaries are not only possible, but will often result in particularly interesting research initiatives and in the development of interdisciplinary students. 

Concurrent Session 3: Thursday 1:00 – 1:40

Sharing Knowledge—Developing Classrooms as Communities of Practice
Session Leader(s): Marc Arellano (bio)
Location: ART 183

Gone Fishing? Go beyond fishing for answers from your students and students fishing for grades by building a Community of Learning in your classroom. This session focuses on the best practices for using educational technology and learner-led instruction. Be prepared to contribute to the discussion and build your own community of educators.

Experiences and Reflections about a Web-Based Formative Assessment Program to Promote First Year College Students’ Transition to Self-Reflective Learners
Session Leader(s): Carl Doigle (bio)
Location: ART 185

In this session, the results of an on-going study on the use of electronic communication tools (email, WebCT, web forms) to assist students in developing critical thinking skills, content mastery, and meta-cognition of their learning processes will be presented. Participants will be asked to reflect on and discuss the possible benefits of web-based assessments over the more traditional “hard-copy” paper-based approach and the role of formative assessment in promoting mastery learning and students’ meta-cognition.

Archives in the Classroom
Session Leader(s): Vicki Green (bio) and Tamara Porteous (bio)
Location: ART 180

This session will demonstrate the use of archival material to create learning resources for students. Vicki will discuss the importance and use of archives in local museum. Tamara will show how local and on line sources have been used to develop an inquiry question: who started the Okanagan Hotel fire?

Concurrent Session 4: Thursday, 1:45 – 2:25

Beyond Text: Representing learning in diverse ways
Session Leader(s): Sharon McCoubrey (bio)
Location: ART 183

This session will explore some alternate types of assignments we can offer students in our courses that move beyond the written essay. Having students represent their ideas and what they have learned in means other than the standard essay can extend their learning and facilitate the development of alternate ways of knowing. Both the benefits of diverse assignments and the challenges of evaluation will be addressed.

Removing the Boundaries of Knowledges Exchange in an Online Community
Session Leader(s): Elizabeth Wallace (bio) and Sylvia Currie (bio)
Location: ART 185

This session will demonstrate how SCoPE, an online community hosted by Simon Fraser University, supports the exchange of existing knowledges, and facilitates the creation of new knowledges. Community members and guests meet in virtual forums to discuss topics of interest, and to use the resources and tools. The features of the community will be explained, and quantitative and qualitative data will be used to show how boundaries to knowledges exchange have been overcome. In addition to attending the face-to-face session, conference participants can experience SCoPE by joining the forum on Online Knowledges Exchange. Between May 1-10, log on to http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca and click on the discussion link on the homepage, to meet Sylvia, Elizabeth and others who share your interests in this topic.

No More Tears: How faculty and librarians can work together to improve the student learning experience
Session Leader(s): Marjorie Mitchell (bio) and Robert Janke (bio)
Location: ART 180

This interactive discussion will introduce some “best practices” for faculty-librarian collaboration and offer participants an opportunity to share their experiences working with librarians. Faculty and librarians will have time to discuss new and different ways of fostering collaboration to meet the changing needs of today’s students. This session is applicable to any institution having faculty and librarians.

Concurrent Session 5: Thursday, 2:40 – 3:20

Unkept: Autoethnographic Fiction as a Means for Generating and Sharing Relationally Complicated Knowledges
Session Leader(s): Jacqui Gingras (bio)
Location: ART 183

“Narrative capacity constitutes a precondition for giving an account of oneself and assuming responsibility for one’s actions through that means.”

Judith Butler, Giving an Account of Oneself, 2005

This session provides participants an opportunity to consider the potential of autoethnography (self/culture/writing) combined with fiction writing as a means to foster learner-centred approaches from the inside out. Such a process is described against the backdrop of a recently completed dissertation in Curriculum and Instruction where the researcher combined social theorizing and arts-based methods to explore identity, professional socialization, and practice within the culture of dietetics. Autoethnographic fiction was the impetus behind an imagined, embodied curriculum depicting what might have resulted if dietetic students, educators, and practitioners acknowledged the relationality, emotionality, and (unkept) promises of their profession. In offering this work, the presenter calls for a renegotiation of how knowledge is shared through the asking of “Who am I?” In posing this question, session participants are invited to also engage in storying a reflexive turn such that ‘doing’ (performativity) re-emerges from ‘being’ (identity). Performativity initiated through critical social discourse and giving an account of ourselves begs the question of what it means to be human while endeavouring to embrace the joys, complexities, and contradictions that are learning, education, and practice.

On-line Collaborative Learning: An on-going debate
Session Leader(s): Karen Ragoonaden (bio)
Location: ART 185

This session will describe how students enrolled in the Secondary Teacher Education Program at UBC Okanagan use on-line collaborative learning to bridge the gap between campus course work and a school-based professional practicum. Particular emphasis will be placed on French as second language pre-service teachers who use their second language on-line. Students learn how to communicate, to share and eventually to collaborate in order to resolve issues stemming from the practicum. We will be looking at examples of successful collaboration and examples of less successful collaborations.

Informal Learning Space
Session Leader(s): Justin Marples (bio)
Location: ART 180

Student learning is traditionally and widely acknowledged to occur at scheduled, formal spaces, such a classrooms, libraries and laboratories. What is largely becoming a part of the academic landscape is the recognition that an equal amount of learning and exchange of ideas occurs in unscheduled, informal spaces. The guiding parameter is that the entire campus is a learning space, with the objective to enhance the informal spaces so as to not only support student learning, but stimulate it. This presentation will introduce the design parameters and principles utilized to guide the development of these informal learning spaces, include images and examples of Student Social Spaces at UBC Vancouver and other North American campuses, as well as outline the process in place to support this initiative. This initiative represents a necessary response as UBC strives to become one of the world’s best universities. Justin Marples, Director, Classroom Services, UBC, will lead the presentation and an interactive discussion.

Concurrent Session 6: Friday, 9:00 – 9:40

Faculty and Librarians: Working together to improve student research assignments
Session Leader(s): Jan Gattrell (bio), Carolyn Hay (bio) and James Laitinen (bio)
Location: ART 183

Faculty know that librarians work with students on research assignments through orientations, prepared handouts, and one-one-one sessions. Workshop participants will learn how librarians can work with faculty to develop assignments that strengthen student research skills. These skills are a core component of information literacy. Find out about the Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and see how your assignments promote these abilities.

“Knowledge Building” within Graduate Programs
Session Leader(s): Phil Balcaen (bio)
Location: ART 185

The Faculty of Education at UBC O is experimenting with the use of Knowledge Forum™ (KF) software (www.knowledgeforum.com) to support “knowledge building” within our graduate cohort focused on teaching and learning. The concept of “knowledge building” (Bereiter, 2002; Scardamalia, 2002) used here includes such notions as an emphasis on learning how to learn (particularly metacognition and self-regulation); collective knowledge advancement; and (van Aalst’s (2005) point that ideas about teaching and learning are improvable through scrutiny, testing, debate, and practice. Within our work, Knowledge Forum™ serves as an on-line tool where graduate students express their emerging understanding about aspects of their studies and as a potential method for inquiry into graduate student learning. During the presentation, the presenters will briefly outline the broad research community using KF, demonstrate use of KF, and engage participants about the knowledge building capacity and research implications within Graduate Programs at UBC O.

Language, Culture and Society (Round Table)
Session Leader(s): Grisel Garcia Perez (bio)
Location: ART 180

Language is the most important means of interaction between people and is enriched by the uses that one can make of it. The meanings are conveyed in the form of language and can be situational, social, and cultural. The round table will discuss the ways in which these meanings can be taught in the context of a first, second and third year language course.

The Art of Wine Tasting with Rhys Pender Thursday, 3:30 - 4:20 in the Okanagan Room (SSC)

Friday, May 5

Concurrent Session 7: Friday, 9:45 – 10:25

Community Service-Learning: Creating “learning exchanges” among students, faculty, and community members
Session Leader(s): Margo Fryer (bio)
Location: ART 183

Community Service-Learning (CSL) is a powerful approach to learning that features prominently in UBC’s Trek 2010 vision and the UBC Okanagan Academic Plan. This interactive presentation will provide an overview of Community Service-Learning—the integration of meaningful voluntary service in the community with classroom learning—and engage participants in discussion of how this innovative pedagogy can be advanced at UBC Okanagan. The presentation will explain the key features of CSL, the various forms it can take, the benefits it brings to those involved, and the challenges that participants can face. Once this overview has been given, session participants will brainstorm and discuss how CSL can most effectively be advanced at UBC Okanagan: What opportunities exist to develop CSL programs that will strengthen the university’s connections with the local community while creating “learning exchanges” that enable students, faculty, and community members to learn from each other by working together to address important community issues?

Hybridized Learning – Using the Internet for Formative Means of Evaluation or How Blogging Saved my Life
Session Leader(s): Marc Arellano (bio)
Location: ART 185

Do grades really matter? Not all learning takes place between four walls.  Compliment summative forms of evaluation with formative feedback via the Internet. This session investigates the collaborative mode of blogging and how this developing genre can be utilized as an effective tool for learner and professor feedback.

EJournals: the digital divide in Canadian higher education
Session Leader(s): Terence Day (bio)
Location: ART 180

A recent study suggests that Canadian geographers publish in a wide range of refereed journals, many of which are interdisciplinary (De Loe, 2003). EJournals mediate teaching and learning in many undergraduate and graduate courses in geography, but do we pay attention to the availability of these journals when we decide where to publish? A list of the twenty journals that contained ten or more articles by Canadian geographers in the period 1999-2001 was compared with online library catalogue holdings in Canadian universities and colleges. The results showed a wide variation in the availability of these twenty journals, ranging from eighteen at some major universities, to just three at a BC University College. Does the availability of these journals in some universities and not in others represent a competitive advantage for those institutions that are the “haves”? Are we saying that our work is not worth passing on to students, if we decide to publish in journals that are only available to students on the “have” side of the digital divide?

After presentation and exploration of the results, participants are invited to explore whether the results can be generalized to other disciplines, and whether there needs to be clearer thinking about the relationships between teaching and the electronic diffusion of research results. Is there a risk that the digital divide becomes a knowledge divide? Or will paper save the day? Multidisciplinary perspectives are welcome, and therefore the discussion will be open to all.

Spotlight Sessions 10:40 – 12:00 (80 minutes)

Experience It Session - Team-Based Learning: An Exciting Alternative to Lecturing in Large Classes
Session Leader(s): Jim Sibley (bio)
Location: ART 183

The team-based learning (TBL) methodology has proven to be a powerful tool that can be applied to a variety of disciplines and class sizes. TBL addresses many issues and problems that we all commonly encounter when using other styles of group and team work. Come experience TBL and hear success stories from the Faculty of Applied Science at the University of British Columbia. - Vancouver.

21 Takeaways: Instant Learner-Centred Teaching Strategies You Can Use Tomorrow
Session Leader(s): Stan Chung (bio)
Location: ART 185

3 Simple Ways to Transform Your Teaching Forever
4 Surefire Secrets to Design Group Projects
5 Killer Ways to Teach to Large Sections
4 Ways to Assess without Murdering Yourself with Marking
5 Easy Strategies to Boost Student Satisfaction

Do you want to improve your teaching? Learn 21 instant tips that you can “takeaway.” Stan Chung has trained teachers for 17 years. Formerly Coordinator of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at the College of New Caledonia, he is Associate Dean of Arts + Foundational Programs at Okanagan College.

This learning conference coincides with the annual Okanagan Spring Wine Festival (May 4 - 7).    For wine festival event information consult the official event listing.

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Last reviewed 5/16/2012 10:44:18 AM