at Laurier A NEWSLETTER FROM LAURIER’S TEACHING AND LEARNING COUNCIL
FALL 2014
WELCOME MESSAGE from PAT ROGERS
DEADLINES
Welcome to the second issue of Laurier’s Teaching and Learning
Project Grant Applications October 15, 2014 more…
Laurier’s 2015/2016 Teaching Fellowships January 30, 2015 more...
Nominations for Faculty Awards February 2, 2015 more...
Nominations for Teaching and Instructional Assistants March 2, 2015 more…
Newsletter. In this issue, we introduce two new columns: Academic Integrity issues, challenges and suggestions for promoting a culture of integrity are highlighted below; and on page 4, Diversity and Equity issues are explored by Laura Mae Lindo, the DEO’s new director. Welcome as well to Joe Beer, CTIE’s new associate director for academic development! And in late breaking news, we announce two new OCUFA Teaching Awards: Congratulations to Donna Kotsopoulos and Edmund Pries!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
DID YOU KNOW?
Coming Soon to a Student Near You!
Many of you may have seen the release
Congratulations to Laurier’s 2014 OCUFA Teaching Award recipients! more...
of the Apple Watch illustrated here. If you check out their website, you’ll see that the watch is one of many beautiful and different designs. And therein lies the challenge for us as educators. Will we begin to inspect every watch to determine if it’s ‘only’ a watch? How are we to ensure fairness
Donna Kotsopoulos Education
and integrity in an environment where, very soon, our students
Edmund Pries Global Studies
will have computing power literally at hand and we won’t be able to stop it without becoming very intrusive? No longer will we manage exams by simply taking books and cell phones away.
Congratulations to Laurier’s 2014/2015 Teaching Fellows more...
Google claims their glasses are not far from production and a whole host of computer ‘wearables’ are at the design table. All of this suggests that we too perhaps need to be re-designing, to be thinking anew about how we appraise student work, what we assign and how we grade. Certainly the era of recycling last year’s exam needs to be a thing of the past. Some suggest more oral examinations, others whole new ways of learning that recognize and value the information so readily available rather than trying to deny it. However we respond, the conversations and ideas must continue! Lea Caragata Academic Integrity Advisor
Gavin Brockett History
Deena Mandell Social Work
Eileen Wood Psychology
DID YOU KNOW? continued...
CTIE Awarded Over $1 Million for
ANNOUNCEMENTS continued…
Online Development by MTCU
Congratulations to Laurier’s OUSA Award for Teaching Excellence recipient! more...
Tracking and Assessing Learning Outcomes Earlier this year, Laurier was one of five partner institutions awarded funding by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and
Sofy Carayannopoulos Business & Economics
Universities to develop an online system for tracking and assessing program-level learning outcomes. Working with Desire2Learn’s (D2L’s) Insights analytics module, the project is led by the Centre for Teaching Innovation and Excellence (CTIE) and, for the fall term 2014, pilot involves four academic departments: Chemistry, Political Science, Journalism and the Seminary.
Congratulations to our recipients of the Award for Teaching Excellence more…
“We are proud to support the Centre for Teaching Innovation and Excellence in their efforts to improve learning outcomes for all students,” said John Baker, D2L President and CEO. “The analytics project CTIE is embarking on will empower faculty to better align learning activities and assessments to the learning objectives. This will allow for more granular feedback to students and faculty on learner achievement, and support personalized learning to keep students on track. This project with CTIE and partners will be a global showcase.”
Quality Standards and Course Development
Ken Maly Chemistry
Terry Sturtevant Mike McCleary Physics & Computer Film Studies Science
The overall goal of the Ontario Online Initiative (OOI) is to establish a Centre of Excellence to act as a hub for developing and supporting effective practices in online teaching and learning and to provide a centralized location where students are able to access online programs and courses. The Centre of Excellence is ultimately intended to include both universities and colleges in Ontario. CTIE was successful in obtaining Ministry funding for two projects related to this new initiative. One project involved Laurier as the lead institution in a research project to recommend quality standards for online course development and delivery. The other project involved development of nine online courses to be included in the new OOI consortium. Both projects were completed during the summer. The extent of this funding places Laurier as a leader in the province with respect to the high quality of our online offerings. Congratulations to the entire CTIE team for this achievement! more...
Hold the Date! IELC 2015, May 6 – 8 With over 216 participants including Laurier’s faculty, staff, students, Laurier’s external community partners and over 20 institutions Canada-wide, IELC 2014 showcased high impact practices and partnerships in higher education. To view a three minute IELC video, click here...
WHAT’S NEW?
ANNOUNCEMENTS continued…
Introducing, Joe Beer, Associate Director: Academic Development in CTIE
New Certificate in Program Evaluation as Organizational Development (PEOD) The PEOD certificate will teach individuals and/or organizations how to effectively assess and evaluate their programs and services, analyze their findings and then implement them to improve what they offer. PEOD provides an excellent learning opportunity for those who are required to evaluate programs in their workplace, report on program progress, and/or demonstrate their effectiveness. PEOD is offered through Continuing Studies in partnership with the Centre for Research, Learning and Community Action (CCRLA) and begins in early September in blended format at the Waterloo campus. Further information contact Sue Weare. more…
TA and Graduate Development Series CTIE, in collaboration with other units on campus (e.g., the Writing Centre, Career Services), is rolling out a new series for graduate students and teaching/instructional assistants. Instructional and career-related sessions will be provided on the Brantford and Waterloo campuses throughout the fall and winter terms. more…
Teaching Development Opportunities CTIE offers a variety of services and development opportunities for faculty, instructional staff, graduate students, and others to meet one-on-one or come together with others to discuss teaching, learning and technology-related matters ( e.g., communities of practice, just-in-time workshops). Find out about these and other offerings by visiting the Centre website and exploring its respective units! more...
It is with great pleasure that I take this opportunity to introduce myself to the Laurier Teaching and Learning community. My name is Joe Beer and I am the new Associate Director: Academic Development in the Centre for Teaching Innovation and Excellence. In this role, I am charged with assisting to advance the areas of Educational Development, Quality Assurance, and Community Service Learning along with offering more focused support to the needs of faculty at the Brantford campus. The majority of my background has been at the University of Auckland in New Zealand in the Department of Management and International Business within the Business School. Over the years there, I have performed a variety of roles such as coordinating a large introductory course, managing curriculum development processes, managing department quality assurance processes, developing graduate teaching assistants and mentoring new faculty. The underlying driver of my career at Auckland was a passion for teaching and a focus on creating engaging and interactive learning environments that improve the quality of the learning experience for students and faculty. I look forward to getting to know the broader Laurier community and contributing to the teaching and learning environment here along with the CTIE team.
Second Active Learning Classroom Opened in September! Laurier’s first Active Learning Classroom, which opened September 2012, has generated excitement across campus among both students and faculty. Active Learning Classrooms weave collaboration and technology together to create integrated and engaged classroom experiences. More than 1000 students have already had transformative learning experiences in Laurier’s first Active Learning Classroom, and a second, larger Active Learning Classroom opened on the Waterloo campus in September 2014. Additional classrooms are in the planning phase, at Brantford and Waterloo, as Laurier continues to innovate in the area of classroom design. more...
WHAT’S NEW? continued…
EVENTS
The Diversity and Equity Office (DEO): A New Director, a New Vision, and a New Approach
Annual Teaching Day Kitchener/Waterloo, October 14, 2014 Brantford, October 15, 2014 Watch your inbox for further details! more…
Long Night Against Procrastination (LNAP) November 6, 2014 at 8 pm (in each time zone) to November 7, 2014 at 8 am Following a hugely successful event last year, the Writing Centre is partnering again with the Mathematics Assistance Centre to put on this fall’s LNAP. Our third annual event will be one for the record books as institutions across Canada have been invited to host LNAP on the same evening. About 15 universities have signed on so far! Save the date and let your students know. more…
University Teaching Certificate (UTC) Now in its second year, UTC provides an opportunity for Laurier graduate students (full-time and part-time) and post-doctoral fellows to develop their instructional knowledge and skills. A basic and advanced certificate option is available. more...
CSL/CEL in the Classroom Community of Practice This Community of Practice will provide a forum for Laurier faculty to share their experiences with Community Service Learning (CSL) and Community Engaged Learning (CEL). Furthermore, it will be an opportunity for faculty new to CSL/CEL to learn from the experiences of their colleagues and increase their awareness of how it can be used to connect theory with practice. CSL/CEL supports the deepening of student engagement with both course materials and its enactment in society, along with the attainment of enriched learning outcomes embedded in real experiences within community organizations. Further information, contact Gail Roth
Interested in helping to ensure that diversity and equity are Integrated across all aspects of life at Laurier, the DEO begins 2014-2015 with a desire to COLLABORATE. And with this spirit of collaboration, a variety of opportunities for faculty, staff and students to come together in the promotion of equity and diversity initiatives at Laurier are becoming realities. Here is a sneak peek at what we are working on:
The DEO is pleased to launch our “Learning Out Loud” (a.k.a. LOL) sessions aimed to initiate explicit dialogues about diversity and equity issues. Monthly seminars will allow for discussions on topics such as “Unsafe Discussions of the Safe Space Discourse” and “Activism Re-Wired.”
The DEO is pleased to announce their collaboration with the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre. With a vision to work alongside experts in their fields, the DEO is building community partnerships that support faculty, staff, and student needs.
The DEO is pleased to develop faculty-student group partnerships. With a “Not My Laurier” campaign developed by student athletes, and “Our School Video Project” devoted to documenting real issues that arise in Laurier classrooms, the DEO aims to develop innovative ways to share important snapshots of student experiences with faculty. Our goal? To promote constructive and critical communications between professors and students on a variety of diversity and equity related topics.
And with your help, things can only get better. If you are interested in collaborating with the DEO, require support as you consider ways of integrating diversity and equity themes into your courses or programs, desire innovative resources, or simply long for a discussion with others about ways that diversity and equity can be integrated across Laurier’s campuses, we would love to hear from you. Twitter, Facebook, and the “DEO’s Learning Out Loud @ Laurier” Blog coming soon…so look out! The DEO has lots of surprises in store for everyone. Laura Mae Lindo Director: Diversity and Equity more...
WHAT’S NEW? continued…
SOMETHING TO SHARE?
Exams: A High Stakes Activity for
Selfies Engage Students in First Year
Students and Professors
Sociology Class It’s never easy to take exams,
Selfies and shared experiences are used to engage
but the stakes are higher
students in Kimberly Ellis-Hale’s first year sociology
for English Language Learners
class. This novel approach has integrated several
(ELLs). When ELL students take
departments at the university and has given students
exams, regardless of how well they
the opportunity to share their learning journey with
have studied, they can get answers
their peers. Students took photos and wrote
wrong due to the syntax,
reflections on each step of the learning process
vocabulary, or unfamiliar cultural references used in the questions.
leading up to their final project. These were then
The end result can be an inaccurate assessment of the students’
put together and shared with the class on
abilities and a feeling that the exam was “tricky” or “unfair.”
MyLearningSpace, giving students the opportunity
Proficient speakers of English can also be confused by exam
to share and observe each other’s experiences step
questions written by ELL faculty. Something as simple as a missing
by step throughout the course. more...
article (a/an/the) can result in a student having to re-read a question multiple times to understand exactly what is being asked. The end result can be an unfair assessment.
Laurier’s Teaching and Learning Council
Nadine LeGros of the Intercultural Development Office is
Current members include: Mary-Louise-Byrne,
available to review the language in exam questions and
Ruth Cruikshank, Gail Forsyth, Shohini Ghose,
in so doing contribute to the success of students and faculty.
Sandy Hughes, Donna Kotsopoulos, Stephen MacNeil, Joan Norris, and Michael Steeleworthy.
Teaching in a New Culture
The council is chaired by Pat Rogers and was originally established and chaired by Deborah
Different cultures have different assumptions about what
MacLatchy. TLC is looking to broaden its
constitutes effective teacher talk, student mentoring, and
membership base, if you would like to join
classroom management. These hidden expectations can make
the council please contact Pat Rogers. more…
teaching in a new culture especially challenging. Nadine LeGros is available to provide confidential 1:1 support in all areas of language and teaching for internationally trained faculty members.
Call for Contributions Do you have an idea, an upcoming event,
New Technologies in the Writing Centre The Writing Centre is looking for ways to stay current with new technologies. Boba Samuels and Jordana Garbati from the Writing Centre (Waterloo) shared their strategy for integrating technology to connect with students in new ways at IELC 2014. Visit the updated Writing Centre website! more…
workshop or a research project that you would like to share? Submit your ideas to Connie Davison by December 15, 2014