May 7 & 8, 2008
Program
Wednesday, May 7
|
Time |
Event |
Location |
|
8:00-8:50 |
Registration & Coffee |
|
|
9:00-10:15 |
Keynote: Joy Mighty |
ART366 |
|
10:15-10:35 |
Refreshment Break |
|
|
10:40-11:30 |
Session 1 (concurrent sessions)
Student Learning Journals: A Constructivist's View on Learning and Assessment |
ART376
|
|
11:40-12:45 |
Box Lunch- Pick up your box lunch and choose a room to discuss/share one of the following topics: |
|
|
12:45-1:35 |
Session 2 (concurrent sessions)
Constructing Portfolios in Practice
Introduction to Team-Based Learning |
|
|
1:40-2:30 |
Session 3 (concurrent sessions)
Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of ePortfolio Learning |
|
|
2:30-2:45 |
Refreshment Break |
|
|
2:45-3:35 |
Session 4 (concurrent sessions)
Clickers in the Classroom |
|
Thursday, May 8
|
Time |
Event |
Location |
|
9:00-10:15 |
Keynote: Richard Schwier |
ART366 |
|
10:15-10:35 |
Refreshment Break |
|
|
10:40-11:30 |
Session 5 (concurrent sessions)
A Modest Proposal: Is this a Better Way to Meet the English Requirements for the BA and BSc degrees?
Mentoring Relationships |
ART386 |
|
11:40-12:45 |
Lunch |
SunRoom |
|
12:45-1:35 |
Session 6 (concurrent sessions)
Telecollaboration and Intercultural Awareness
Integration of Learning Opportunities between Courses |
|
|
1:40-2:30 |
Spotlight Session |
|
Session 1: Wednesday, 10:40-11:30
The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Affiliates Program: Building Collaborative Partnerships in Support of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Session Leader: Gary Hunt & Joanne Jones (bio)
Location: ART366
The Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) represents a major initiative of The Carnegie Foundation. More than 200 institutions have been affiliated with CASTL through the CASTL Institutional Leadership Program and the CASTL Affiliates Program since 1998. The purpose of these initiatives is to encourage and support institutions in their commitment to the scholarship of teaching and learning by exploring the place of such work in their settings, and undertaking activities that provide support and recognition for ongoing inquiry into evidence-based improvement of student learning. A major goal of the CASTL programs is to foster opportunities for member institutions to communicate and collaborate in their efforts to support the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) has recently become a member of the CASTL Affiliates Program. We invite participants to join our discussion who are interested in learning about these initiatives and those from institutions that are currently members of the Affiliates Program or the Institutional Leadership Program.
The presenters will provide a brief overview of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and it goals. We will explain the potential benefits of being an Affiliate member and the goals that TRU has set. We will present a draft survey under development at TRU that will measure the level of faculty engagement in, and attitudes toward scholarly teaching and the SoTL.
Negotiation of Engagement: The Case of Student Laptops in Class
Session Leader: Terence Day (bio)
Location:ART376
Negotiation of engagement: The case of student laptops in class. Non-academic use of laptops by students in class creates many problems. Some professors have banned them outright, but bans are not popular with students. Is there room for negotiation on this issue?
Student Learning Journals: A Constructivist's View on Learning and Assessment
Session Leader: Arnica Rowan (bio)
Location: ART382
Imagine a learning environment where students are engaged and paying attention. Imagine learners voluntarily making time for reflection and further study. Imagine looking forward to marking!
It’s a classic challenge for post-secondary teachers: how do you communicate new ideas while encouraging critical thinking and higher-level processing in the classroom? Arnica Rowan shares one solution: learning journals. Based on the constructivist approach to learning (There is no wrong answer! Learners’ experiences are relevant! Follow your own passions/interests!) Rowan will share real student journal pages, approaches for encouraging deep-thinking, techniques for working with different learning styles and marking strategies. As a participant, you will get a chance to break-in your own learning journal and try out different archiving techniques. Be prepared to ditch your notes, drop your binders and immerse yourself in a different learning flow!
Study Skills: Transition from Elementary and High School to University
Session Leaders: Rejeanne Droppo & Grisel García Pérez (bio)
Location: ART386
Studying at university poses challenges which are different from previous learning experiences students have had because at this level students are in control of their own learning. Developing study skills is an integral part of the student's life. Students can develop them through practice, trial and error and from feedback from tutors and peers. There are some approaches, however, that will help students in their overall studying experience at the university level. This study relates the support students have had during their school years in relation to study skills and suggests some approaches which could make the transition from high school to first year university smoother.
Session 2: Wednesday, 12:45-1:35
Students and Educators Engaging in Activism as a means to Engage in Learning and Transforming the Social World
Session Leaders: Wilma van der Veen (bio)
Location: ART366
Academia has traditionally shunned activism, claiming that it has no place in post-secondary education due to a lack of objectivity. Increasing numbers of post-secondary educators are throwing off the confines of this traditional empirical approach and proclaiming their activism as an integral part of engaging and inviting participation in a socially relevant education. In this light, activism is viewed as an essential part of the educator's role in society and in their profession, certainly, as legitimate as engaging in teaching and traditionally defined research. Rooted in feminist, liberatory and critical perspectives, amongst others, organizers and participants of this session will challenge the hegemony of objectivity within academia by emphasizing the need to establish closer links between academic learning and social transformation as a means of addressing urgent local and global issues and developing critically aware and engaged citizens. In this session we will explore interactively ideas and strategies for making social activism an integral part of a transformative and holistic educational experience. Contributors include Wilma van der Veen, College Professor, Sociology, Okanagan College; Xiaoping Li, College Professor, Sociology, Okanagan College; Jake Kennedy, College Professor, English, Okanagan College; Vicki Nygaard, College Professor, Sociology, Okanagan College, David Jefferess, Assistant Professor, Critical Studies, UBCO, and several students from OC & UBCO, Amaris Langley, Angela Froese, Lisa Santos, Margaretha Ten Holder, Nicholas Burke and Samantha Robinson.
Constructing Portfolios in Practice
Session Leader: Kathy Rush (bio)
Location: ART376
Portfolios are not a new teaching strategy but have been used in a variety of ways to showcase student competence, achievement, and personal and professional development. Such an approach is particularly valuable in bridging the theory-practice gap with students who bring extensive practice experience to learning situations. A graduate nursing education course converged with a group of masters’ students representing diverse roles and practice experiences, to create the context for using portfolios as a unique learning opportunity. The course on teaching and learning in practice provided a natural classroom environment for modeling the constructivist philosophy that underpinned the course. It was during the process of course co-construction by students and teacher that the idea was generated for the portfolio as a major learning and evaluative activity. This presentation will describe the process used in developing the portfolio assignment, its content elements, evaluative criteria and grading, and student and teacher reflections on the assignment. Major themes emerged from students’ evaluations of the portfolio assignment and these will be highlighted as well as future plans for the ongoing development of this assignment.
Introduction to Team-Based Learning
Session Leader: Patricia Lasserre (bio)
Location: ART386
The generation Millennium is team-oriented, and very well versed on technology. Team-based learning (TBL), a teaching technique successfully used in Medicine since the late 80s, exploits that knowledge by enforcing individual accountability, emphasizing team work, and using any possible method (technological or not) to provide the immediate feedback this generation expects. After experiencing the technique hands-on, participants will understand how students achieve a deeper understanding by getting more actively engaged in their learning. TBL can be implemented gradually and flexibly, making it a very attractive technique as an alternative to traditional lecture format.
Session 3: Wednesday, 1:40-2:30
Student and Teacher Assessment of Graduate Attribute Development
Session Leader: Tracy Taylor (bio)
Location: ART386
The session reports on a project designed to develop good practice for the assurance of learning goals in the Australian higher education context, where graduate attribute development is a common program focus. The project entails teachers and students being supported in their expanded use of standards-based assessment where detailed criteria are developed and aligned to program goals (expressed as desired graduate attributes). An online tool, ReView©, facilitates a transparent, reliable and criterion-referenced learning environment and supports assurance of learning as students can use the tool for reflection and self assessment, and faculty in design and review. This session will:
1. Describe key relevant differences of Assurance of Learning (AoL) in Australia
2. Evaluate an innovative tool for communicating, grading, tracking and assuring learning standards
Reflect on the potential application of a collaborative, technology-supported, bottom-up approach to AoL.
What Do Students Want from their Professors?
Session Leader: Terence Day (bio)
Location: ART366
What do students want from their professors? This study uses ratemyprofessor.com to track the relative importance of a range of student concerns as they progress through their undergraduate program. There will be ample time for discussion, and comments are invited.
Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of ePortfolio Learning
Session Leader: Karen Gardner (bio)
Location: ART376
An ePortfolio assignment in BLOG format was presented to 3rd year dental students as a didactic option at the UBCV Faculty of Dentistry in their Operative Clinical Simulation module. In the 1st year, 17 students elected to partake after which a survey was conducted to assess its effectiveness. Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the survey was conducted establishing 4 psychometric domains. Continuing analysis of the assignment for validation will continue with additional analysis performed on the ePortfolio’s influence on the student’s learning skills profile.
Session 4: Wednesday, 2:45-3:35
Assessment for Learning: A Paradigm Shift for Post Secondary Teaching
Session Leader: Sharon McCoubrey (bio)
Location: ART376
Does the current transition to Assessment for Learning belong in the post-secondary context? This session will review the basic principles of assessment for learning, will explore some possible applications, and will examine the ways in which this approach can enhance student learning.
4 Ways to Engage our Students
Session Leader: Lorin Card (bio)
Location: ART386
The presentation focuses on 4 ways to engage students in a teaching and learning environment. The first way is to make some elements “hands on” practical work. Theoretical work should not be ignored, but students will the best when the work is practical, as well. Second, students need to see the usefulness of what they are learning so the material should be as up-to-date and relevant as possible, and the students should be able to see the relevance. And finally, we, as professors, should help the students see and know that we care about them. Passion and enthusiasium are a major part of caring about something, but our student should also know that we care about them as individuals, not just numbers, and are concerned about their success. Pope states that in small colleges, if there is a sense of community and “family”, students will work hard and be motivated to succeed. That is the essence of the presentation.
Clickers in the Classroom
Session Leader: Teresa Wrzesniewski (bio)
Location: ART366
Teaching introductory level physics to undergraduate students who come to class with many misconceptions about the subject and generally with a negative attitude towards physics (they take the course because it is required for their programs) is a challenge for every instructor, no matter how experienced, knowledgeable and dedicated he or she could be. The problem is even more pronounced in large classes, where personal contact with students is limited and students’ participation is very difficult to achieve.
Implementation of computer animations and “clickers” (PRS) in Phys. 112/122 at UBCO, combined with peer instruction techniques, completely transformed the classroom dynamics and educational outcomes. The level of students’ satisfaction and their participation improved dramatically, as well as their general attitude towards the course. However, there was an initial adjustment to this new teaching format as both the professor and the students had to learn to overcome their teaching and learning habits.
This presentation is intended to share first hand experience in implementing new teaching tools and strategies with those colleagues who teach introductory science courses and who encounter similar problems. The use of clickers will be demonstrated. The strategies that worked well and ones that did not work as well will be presented and hopefully a constructive discussion will follow.
Session 5: Thursday, 10:40-11:30
Web 2.0 Communities of Practice: Preferred Pedagogical Practices of Digital Natives
Session Leader: Shaunda Wood (bio)
Location: ART366
The implementation of constructivist notions of theory into practice has been attempted in many learning environments, and most recently with technology and higher education. This session will discuss assumptions for designing constructivist practices in technology-based classrooms that address the ‘Digital Natives’ philosophy of learning.
A Modest Proposal: Is this a Better Way to Meet the English Requirements for the BA and BSc degrees?
Session Leaders: Trudy Kavanagh & Jan Cioe (bio)
Location: ART376
Under the topic area of Curriculum Design, the question is posed, “How do we address issues of literacy across the curriculum”? In this session, we propose a modification of the first-year English requirement for undergraduate degrees, and explore ways in which writing skills taught in discipline-specific courses might replace that requirement.
Mentoring Relationships
Session Leaders: Shirley Chau & Bhavana Kapal (bio)
Location: ART386
Our discussion will focus on how our mentoring relationship enhanced learner engagement for both student and faculty. Through our interactions and dialogue, we were able to engage in critical thinking and apply an anti-oppressive lens. This discussion is our self-reflection on our process of the directed studies course.
Session 6: Thursday, 12:45-1:35
Diversity 101
Session Leaders: Karen Ragoonaden, David Jefferess, Bhavana Kapal & Melissa Unruh (bio)
Location: ART366
How do university campuses foster diversity and inclusivity? This interactive session will begin with a panel discussing challenges faced in regards to Diversity in Higher Education. Faculty, staff and students will discuss a series of practical implementations stemming from a series of Diversity Forums held on the UBC Okanagan campus since September 2007. In keeping with a collaborative approach, we invite members of this conference to share their experience, their practice and their research in helping us build a community which embraces and promotes diversity and inclusivity.
Telecollaboration and Intercultural Awareness
Session Leader: Alwyn Spies (bio)
Location: ART376
Intercultural awareness, as a chief component of global citizenship, is part of UBC-O's 2010 initiative, yet just how instruction and programming actually influence intercultural development is largely a matter of opinion and not empirical research. This study, involving online multi-media collaboration between second-year Japanese language students in Canada and Taiwan, uses both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore connections between intercultural awareness and Japanese language development and hypothesizes that online exchanges between multicultural learners of a second language can potentially contribute to increased intercultural awareness.
Integration of Learning Opportunities between Courses
Session Leader: Leslie Blyth (bio)
Location: ART386
This presentation examines the development of two co-requisite courses to assist in aiding student learning. Scheduling an Entrepreneurship course as a co-requisite with another course provides the opportunity for each course to support the other.
Spotlight Session: Thursday, 1:40-2:30
Faculty Voices: Engaging Learners
Location: ART 366
Student engagement is critical to learning in higher education. This panel brings together experienced faculty who will share their own experience with engaging learners and strategies their home institutions are implementing. You are invited to submit questions to the panel in advance by emailing peter.arthur@ubc.ca .
Panelists:
1. Richard Schwier (University of Saskatchewan)
2. Tracy Taylor (University of Technology Sydney)
3. Shaunda Wood (St Thomas University)
4. Gary Hunt (Thompson Rivers University)
5. Rachelle Hole (UBC Okanagan)
6. Jan Cioe (UBC Okanagan)
Last reviewed 
5/16/2012 9:18:55 AM
