Jamie provided a safe, engaging class. Some of us entered the course with apprehension. Jamie swiftly quashed any anxieties cementing herself as easily approachable. She curated an environment where it was okay to make mistakes and even encouraged them. Every lab ended with going around in a circle, telling one thing we did great, one thing we need to improve, followed by a high five. Exactly what a bunch of nervous 1st year students need for confidence. Jamie is one of these rare instructors, humble, yet still maintaining the position of expert – a very tight rope to walk. Jamie makes what would be a high-stress learning environment more manageable so students can thrive. I thoroughly enjoy Jamie as a teacher and a person.
Jamie, a recipient of a Camosun Teacher Recognition Award in 2024 and 2025, is a faculty member in the Bachelor of Athletic and Exercise Therapy (BAET) program. After graduating from this very program in 2013, Jamie became a Certified Athletic Therapist and moved to Vancouver where she worked as with several professional and semi professional sports teams. She also completed a Masters in Rehabilitation Science. When COVID, hit, Jamie moved back to Victoria and covered a maternity leave as the manager of the Athletic and Exercise Therapy Clinic at Camosun. Then, about just over a year later began teaching in the Massage Therapy department, as well as in the Athletic and Exercise Therapy department, finally becoming continuing in BAET in 2022. Like many faculty members I have spoken to, Jamie did not plan on becoming a teacher but is happy her journey led her here.
I asked Jamie what she teaches in the BAET program. “A few years ago, I became a Red Cross First Responder and First Aid Instructor, so now I primarily teach emergency conditions. I also teach anatomy and facilitate students who are out at placements.” I was curious what the emergency conditions courses covered. “These courses go beyond basic CPR to prepare students for real-life emergencies in the sporting environments. The students learn how to manage everything from concussions and spinal injuries to fractures and environmental emergencies like heat stroke, all while applying advanced first response skills. It’s hands-on, practical training designed for those ready to take charge when injuries happen on the field. When I describe this course to friends, I say, if you’re watching a pro sport and someone gets injured, we are the professionals who run out on the field to help. We are the only profession taught at Camosun College where students are required to be first responders.”
Jamie is a fairly new instructor at Camosun, and I wondered what she enjoys most about teaching. “It’s figuring out where students are struggling and finding the right teaching techniques to help them understand the material.” Jamie’s classes are lab-heavy with smaller cohorts, so she is able to interact closely with them and meet them where they are at. “Everything I do is for the students. If I didn’t get to interact with the students as much as I do in this program, I don’t know if I’d enjoy teaching as much.”
I asked Jamie what a typical class looks like for her and her students. “My musculoskeletal anatomy and emergency conditions classes have three-hour labs, and we typically start each class by reviewing the last lab topic. For example, in emergency conditions I’ll start off by running a scenario on what we worked on the week before. We review the goals they set out in the last class and discuss if they achieved those goals. We then transition to the current lab by learning the new content and setting goals for the week ahead.” Jamie explained that emergency conditions is a demanding class due to the nature of the content. “We talk about life and death conditions every single day, which can be challenging for students, so I try to foster a safe environment where we can make mistakes. And sometimes we have fun, especially with role-play. When we run scenarios, someone plays the patient, so I will give that student an overview of what to do and how to act. But some students will put way too much into their acting which makes us all laugh.”
I returned to that idea of creating a safe space in the classroom and asked Jamie how important that is to her. “I create a safe classroom by setting clear expectations, when it’s time to focus and when it’s okay to have fun, and modeling that balance myself. During scenarios, we stay serious and professional, but once they’re over, it’s important to take a breath and laugh. A safe space also means understanding that everyone makes mistakes, and that’s okay that we learn and grow together.” Most of the students in Jamie’s courses also move together in a cohort, which supports building a safe class community. “In this intense program, students have to get close. And while the classroom is quiet the first few weeks of their first term, we immediately start working together, and by the time they hit the end of their second semester, they can work with anybody.”
Assessments in Jamie’s courses are practical for the most part. “Practical evaluations make up most of their grade. In the second level of Emergency Conditions, students work toward becoming certified First Responders, as I’m a Red Cross instructor and certifier. By the end of the course, they’ve met all the requirements for this external certification.” As part of our renewed program, I’ve added psychological first aid, which students will actively learn by interviewing an Athletic Therapist who works in the field. From this, the students will develop a better understanding of the stressors they feel as a First Responder in Athletic Therapy. Jamie at the time of this interview, was completing the Psychological First Aid Instructor in order to add evidence-based content on the different short and long term stresses of First Responders.
I knew Jamie had not been at Camosun long, but I wondered what memories she might already have from her teaching. “It’s those “aha” moments I love it when a student who’s been struggling suddenly gets it. In Emergency Conditions 1, some students open up about personal experiences with trauma. I’ve had several who’ve witnessed a cardiac arrest or even lost a friend. I always let them know upfront that we’ll be discussing these kinds of situations, and if they’ve lived through something similar, some topics might bring up tough memories. When students who’ve lived through those types of experiences come to me afterward and say they have a better relationship with it now, because they finally understand what happened, that really stands out to me.”
As we neared the end of our conversation, I asked Jamie what advice she might have for a new faculty member at the college. “If you recognize that not all learners are like you, you can push the boundaries of a traditional classroom. Not all learners can learn from notes or PowerPoints, and we need to understand their needs and adjust. Providing a variety of assessment techniques and classroom activities is what a student coming to an applied institution like Camosun is looking for. So, take a step back from what you think a traditional classroom is and push the envelope on what you can do in those classrooms.”