Category: CETL

What are They Seeing When They See Me? A reflection from Robin Fast, Education Developer, CETL

Last spring, Camosun College Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) Book Club participants read Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning.

If you’re anything like me, you spend time wondering how you are coming across to the students in your class. Do I sound competent? Do I look competent? What are they deciding about me as they enter my class for the first time and what impact will those decisions have on their ability to engage in the learning process? Does dressing casually help them relax or tell them I can’t be taken seriously? Is my age – too young or too old – colouring their perceptions before we even begin to work together?

I could share more of these questions but I’m already tiring myself with my own angst.

Thankfully, Picture a Professor explores this challenge, focusing specifically on the experiences of faculty who do not meet the societal expectations of what a professor should be. The authors examine the stereotypes that follow teachers into the classroom; unpack how these biases can impact teachers, students, and the learning process; and offer practical strategies, both at the classroom and institutional level, for disrupting biases and supporting a diverse academy and engaged pedagogy.

According to the text, we often fail to acknowledge that identity matters. We ignore the impact our bodies, and biases about our bodies, have on the teaching and learning process and, as a result, conversations about effective teaching and learning practice are incomplete. The authors point out that “White women, women faculty of colour, faculty with physical disabilities,, non-binary faculty, and all Black, Indigenous, and people of Colour faculty must navigate different intersectional mazes of racial, gender, and other biases about embodied identity on an exhausting daily basis.”

Picture a Professor is divided into four sections with authors telling their stories and offering strategies on managing the first day of class, building trust and rapport with students, increasing equity through anti-racist pedagogies, and the value of teaching with our whole selves.

According to Jassamyn Neuhaus, the book’s editor, while each author writes from their own experience and describe strategies that align with their own context, several principles emerge that can be widely applied. First, the authors consistently engage in ongoing learning and reflection. “They try new things, assess, reflect on what worked and what didn’t, revise, and try again.” Second, the authors don’t “go it alone,” but instead study the existing research to “help them understand their own experiences and to develop teaching strategies.” They “find their people” and engage in conversations about teaching and learning with others in similar situations. And finally, the authors reimagine the role of the professor in the teaching and learning process. They share power in the classroom, create authentic learning experiences, and build strong, supportive classrooms, viewing themselves as part of the learning community they are building.

Picture a Professor led to deep discussions for the Book Club. We shared our own biases about what a professor should be and examined how we fit or didn’t fit those images. We considered our places of privilege and how that influenced our work. We talked about the characteristics we hold and what influence they might have on the perception students have of our abilities. We shared our first-day strategies and talked about what we might change or add for the next semester that would help students get to know us, help them examine and manage their perceptions and expectations, and help to build a more effective learning community. We talked about how bringing more of ourselves to our teaching, through stories and other strategies, could strengthen our relationships with students and their engagement with our courses and with their own learning journey. We considered the vulnerability that many faculty experience because of the biases held by students and colleagues and discussed how we could implement the tools shared in the text to disrupt these biases.

If you are interested in exploring these ideas, Picture a Professor is a wonderfully thought provoking resource.

Additional resources can be found with any of us at CETL and:

Camosun’s LibGuide: Equity, diversity, and inclusion

Camosun’s LibGuide: Dismantling racism & oppression

 

Camosun Story #51: Martha

Martha is the Chair of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) – my Chair – and is also an Educational Developer in the Faculty Development unit of CETL. She also taught for many years in the Community, Family, and Child Studies Program.

I asked Martha what it was like for her when we all moved online in March 2020.  “One thing that stands out for me is how we suddenly all needed to know how to use Teams, and I remember diving in deeply to learn how it worked.  While it was a steep learning curve, I realized that it would be our primary tool for communicating with each other in CETL, and with other faculty. Then I began thinking about all the other ways that we could use Teams as a space for meeting and sharing resources.”  Martha also realized that because CETL was deluged with messages from panicked faculty looking for help with teaching and assessing online, she “took a crash course on using the LibGuides [the Research Guides in the Library]. We focused on collaborating to find and vet resources so we could build them on the LibGuides. I spent a lot of my time learning those tools and collaborating within CETL and with the librarians.”  Collaboration went beyond Camosun as well.  Martha remembers a site developed by STLHE (Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) which shared resources related to teaching and learning online from across Canada. It “became an important place to check-in and find what else was going on, what other people were doing, and then sharing that to our Camosun community.”

During this initial frenetic time, Martha said “I remember feeling excited, and there was this sense that we were all in the same boat together.  I was amazed at how everybody rose to the occasion; we were getting things done as opposed to meeting to talk about planning to get things done. There was a sense of immediacy, taking action, and collaboration.”  I asked how she felt about this lack of time for planning (post-secondary institutions can be notorious for endless planning and discussions before any action is taken – certainly not what was happening back in March 2020).  “I tend to be action oriented; I recognize that everything is always a work in progress and will never be perfect. I would rather create something, get feedback, keep working on it, have it evolve, and keep adding to it. So, this way of working fit with my style.”

Of course, there were challenges.  “I’ve never been a techie, but I’m always willing to try new things, and am not afraid of technology. I was happy to get in there and muck about and give it a try, which was good because there was no choice. I admit, however, I felt frustrated with the technology because as I learned more about Teams, for example, I discovered that there were some things that it couldn’t do that I thought it should be able to do.  So, I have become more familiar with the imperfections of technology – that it’s not going to save the world, but it’s a ‘good enough’ tool for so many things.”  Of course, the technology was not the only barrier to Martha doing some of the things she wanted to do.  “One of my original visions for using Teams was to support the communities of practice with things like resource sharing and chats.  But faculty were so busy, they didn’t necessarily want to check in on Teams outside of the scheduled meetings, so that hasn’t been utilized to the full extent of how I imagined it. I haven’t given up on it yet though – I still think we could be doing more with Teams; I just haven’t quite figured out how to take it to that next level.” And maybe once people are a little less fatigued from the past couple of years, Martha will find a way!

But Martha prefers to think of challenges as opportunities.  “For example, working from home seemed like a challenge initially, but it turns out I flourished working from home. The two-campus issue evaporated and became a non-issue both for our team working together and for providing support to faculty on two campuses. The challenge of learning new technology immediately became an opportunity because attendance at workshops and communities of practice increased exponentially, not just for people desperately needing to learn new tools, but for people needing to connect with each other in community.”  It’s worth noting that these online workshops and communities of practice continue – some of them much more robustly than they were pre-COVID.

As someone who was a classroom instructor, but now provides learning opportunities and support to classroom instructors, Martha says she “didn’t feel as put on-the-spot compared to faculty using technology for the first time with a classroom full of students. They’ve been out there, in the fire, learning from their mistakes in the moment. And from what I hear, a lot of them have advanced so far teaching online, I feel a little bit left behind.  But one positive outcome from what we have provided in CETL is a recognition that peer-to-peer support and learning is incredibly valuable. What faculty can now teach each other is phenomenal because they have that on-the-ground experience to share.  I feel that an important role I can play through CETL is building more of those opportunities for them to connect with each other.”  In addition to supporting interdisciplinary peer-to-peer connection and learning, Martha also sees a role for CETL to take what we hear from faculty and push those messages up so that college leadership hears what’s going on. “We have this wonderful opportunity to be involved in community conversations with faculty on a regular basis, hearing so many different perspectives, so it’s important for us to amplify those voices any chance we get.”

The amplification of cross-discipline conversations is one reward from the past two years. Ironically, another benefit Martha sees, is “the recognition that mental health and well-being is something we all need to pay attention to, for both employees and students, beyond the pandemic times.” And related to this, faculty thinking more about creating community in their classrooms.  “Faculty came to realize that they had to focus on what was most important for their courses, and that creating a sense of belonging for students was fundamental for their success.”  Creating community in the classroom was always important, but “it may have been taken for granted before, whereas when things moved online, faculty had to be more intentional about building community and engagement.” That’s one of those silver linings that came out of the past two years: even when teaching in-person, it’s worth spending time on and being intentional creating those classroom communities.

Martha noted that another interesting conversation that came out of the past two years was around assessments, and specifically online assessments.  “There was a bit of a panic around cheating, looking at how faculty could tighten up online exams, using online proctoring, etc.  Then there was some recognition that going in that direction means you’re chasing something you’ll never catch.  So, we worked with faculty to explore other ways of assessing, and I think we have had a good response shifting from thinking punitively to more creatively in terms of assessment. But as we return to in-person teaching and learning, we need to consider how we can continue to build on creative assessment and make it part of what we do.”

Like many of us in CETL, Martha is “concerned we will lose the opportunity for creativity that opened up through the chaos of the past two years. Now there seems to be a sense of shutting down the creativity we had embraced. I recognize there’s a balance – you don’t want total chaos all the time and you need to have some boundaries, but you also need to have a willingness to take risks. I’m concerned that things are getting shut down under the guise of returning to normal. Even though we’re in a time of financial constraint post pandemic, going back is not the only solution to our problems.”  And we need to accept that students are going to have different expectations of us as faculty, and as an institution.  “Why would a student come to an in-person class if they don’t have to? If students have competing commitments for their time, there needs to be a really good reason for them to come in-person, and we need to figure out what that is – what about the in-person classroom is an enrichment for them?”

Martha has some words of wisdom to leave us with, reflecting on the past few years, at where we are now, and what our future might hold. For the institutions: “We need to keep trusting our collective wisdom and expertise and trusting each other. Individually we’re not responsible to solve it all, but we each can just do our own little piece.  We’ve learned that we can do it over the past two years and we’re still standing.”  And with regards to CETL: “For the past couple of years we’ve known what our work is and what we need to accomplish. But what’s next is not clear. I think for me, that means we need to revisit and refocus on what our values and priorities are, what’s most important. Our values have to drive our work and be at the core of what we do.”

Open Conversation Cafe, Survey, and Workshops at Camosun

Are you a Camosun faculty or staff member?  Do you want to know more about Open Education or share your experiences with Open Educational Resources or Open Pedagogy with others?  The Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning has some opportunities for you!  Don’t see what you are looking for or have questions?  Email Emily at schudele@camosun.ca.

Open Education Conversation Cafe

Open Education Conversation Café March 30, 3-4:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Have you heard of Open Education, but are not sure what it is? Have you been using, or wanting to use Open Educational Resources or Open Pedagogy?  Let’s explore ways to integrate these into your courses.

Open Education Survey for Camosun Faculty

CETL and the Camosun Library need your help!

We are investigating faculty members’ perceptions and use of Open Educational Resources (OER), such as freely available online textbooks and other course materials. Whether or not you are using OER, we would like to hear from you to provide valuable insight for us on how we can better support initiatives related to OER going forward.

This short survey will take about 5–10 minutes to complete and will remain open until February 28th. If you have any questions about this or want to talk more about how OER can support you and your students, email Emily Schudel at schudele@camosun.ca.  Thanks for your time. Click here to fill out the survey

Definition of Open Educational Resources (UNESCO, 2016): Open Educational Resources (OER) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or that are openly licensed (for example, with a Creative Commons license). The nature of open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OER range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video, and animations.  In addition, OER can help improve the learning experience for students while mitigating financial barriers which may prevent them from achieving their academic goals.

Spring Open Education Workshops

Introduction to Open Ed & Open Ed Resources May 10, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Learn how to help students achieve course learning outcomes in a more efficient way while balancing your workload as an instructor. Bring relevant information, such as program outcomes, course outline, activities, assignments, and tests/exams to the workshop.

Introduction to Open Pedagogy May 13, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Open pedagogy allows the full potential of education to be realized. It invites students in as co-creators, creating rich opportunities for deep and active learning and empowers faculty to make education more diverse and inclusive.  Together, we will begin to explore the full potential of open pedagogy.

Introduction to H5P for interactive learning May 17, 1-2:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

H5P technology makes it possible to integrate interactive learning elements into HTML pages in D2L, WordPress, or Pressbooks. H5P applications include formative quizzes (with immediate feedback), flash cards, slide decks, images with clickable hotspots, and interactive videos; see: https://h5p.org/content-types-and-applications for more information. This workshop will introduce you to a range of H5P applications that are commonly used to support teaching and learning. During the workshop you will build some H5P content that you can reuse to support your own courses.

Redesign Your Course to be More Open May 31, 1:30-3:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Wondering how to get started integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) into your courses? This workshop will help you get started.

Camosun Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning February Bulletin

In this bulletin from the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning you will find information and opportunities that we hope are of interest to you. To get in touch with us go to: CETL Contact Information.  Note that registration and survey links are for Camosun faculty and staff only.

NEW: Teacher Recognition Initiatives

These initiatives are brought to you by Camosun’s Teaching and Learning Council – a collaborative, peer-based, interdisciplinary group of faculty from across the college with a passion for advancing quality teaching and learning at Camosun, including advocacy, supports and strategies.

  1. Teaching Excellence Shout Out! Recognize a great teacher by sharing a Shout Out. This is an opportunity to acknowledge big and small contributions to teaching and learning at Camosun.  Submit your accolades here and we will post them in the Bulletin each month.
  2. Four Instructors will be recognized each year at Camosun’s annual Walls Optional Conference. Nominations can come from peers or students, and need to be submitted to CETL by March 15.  Click here for more details and to access the nomination form.

SHOUT OUT!


 To Anastasia Butcher of the Early Learning and Care (ELC) Program, who brings much energy, time, and thought to enhancing curriculum for students through experiential learning.  From Kristin Ross Submit your SHOUT OUT here

Hold the Date for Camosun’s annual Walls Optional conference, April 28

The Walls Optional committee invites proposals for the Thursday, April 28 conference. We are planning for an in-person conference if we can, but there will also be some virtual options.

Over the past two years, our teaching and learning communities have been disrupted in fundamental ways. Walls Optional 2022 provides an opportunity for us to reground, reconnect, and reflect as a college community.  Theme: Regrounding and Reconnecting 

  • How did the reconnection to campus this fall impact your teaching and learning? 
  • What keeps you grounded and connected in your work and practice? 
  • What aspirations do have for our teaching and learning communities going forward? 

Call for Proposals will remain open until Friday, March 4.   Click here to submit your proposal

Open Education Survey for Camosun Faculty

CETL and the Camosun Library need your help!

We are investigating faculty members’ perceptions and use of Open Educational Resources (OER), such as freely available online textbooks and other course materials. Whether or not you are using OER, we would like to hear from you to provide valuable insight for us on how we can better support initiatives related to OER going forward.

This short survey will take about 5–10 minutes to complete and will remain open until February 28th. If you have any questions about this or want to talk more about how OER can support you and your students, email Emily Schudel at schudele@camosun.ca.  Thanks for your time. Click here to fill out the survey

Definition of Open Educational Resources (UNESCO, 2016): Open Educational Resources (OER) are any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or that are openly licensed (for example, with a Creative Commons license). The nature of open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use, adapt and re-share them. OER range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video, and animations.  In addition, OER can help improve the learning experience for students while mitigating financial barriers which may prevent them from achieving their academic goals.

CETL Learning Opportunities – February through April

Copyright Q&A February 8, 11am-12pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Course packs are due on March 15th for the spring/summer term. Now is a great time to get your questions answered about copyright, fair dealing, and using copyrighted materials in your class.

Lunch and Learn Article Discussion Series February 16, March 16, April 20, 12-1pm ONLINE

Read an article and then meet with faculty colleagues for some lively conversation on various topics related to teaching and learning.

  1. Grading as Instruction February 16, 12-1pm REGISTER HERE
  2. In-the-moment Responses for Addressing Classroom Aggression March 16, 12-1pm  REGISTER HERE
  3. Designing Self-care Practices for this Academic Year  April 20, 12-1pm  REGISTER HERE

Open Education Conversation Café March 30, 3-4:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Have you heard of Open Education, but are not sure what it is? Have you been using, or wanting to use Open Educational Resources or Open Pedagogy?  Let’s explore ways to integrate these into your courses.

How to Export Your Final Marks from D2L to myCamosun

This workshop will walk you through the process of how to export your final grades from D2L to myCamosun. Have your final grades ready to publish in D2L and follow along with the steps provided. We will help troubleshoot the process.

Getting Started with D2L

This workshop will provide you with an overview of the essential teaching tools available in our learning management system, and D2L Brightspace.

  • Focus on Supporting Face-to-Face Delivery April 26, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE
  • Focus on Supporting Online and Blended Delivery April 26, 1-2:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Getting Started with Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Web Conferencing April 27, 1-2:30 ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Collaborate is a web-conferencing tool that integrates with D2L. This session will provide you with a basic overview of the tools and functions within Collaborate as well as provide instructors with tips on how to use this tool to connect with students and facilitate effective learning experiences.

CETL Learning Opportunities – May through June

Workshops:

Streamlining Your Course May 3, 10-11:30am IN-PERSON REGISTER HERE

Learn how to help students achieve course learning outcomes in a more efficient way while balancing your workload as an instructor. Bring relevant information, such as program outcomes, course outline, activities, assignments, and tests/exams to the workshop.

Streamlining Your Assessment

This two-part workshop will provide you with strategies for streamlining your assessment practices to make them more effective and efficient. Part 1 will focus on assessment design and Part 2 will focus on how D2L can provide administrative efficiencies.

Streamlining Your Marking with Rubrics

This two-part workshop will give you with strategies for designing and using rubrics to provide effective and efficient feedback to students. Part 1 will focus on the pedagogical advantages of rubrics as a means of providing feedback to students, as well ask key design considerations. Part 2 will focus on how to create a rubric in D2L, attach it to various assessment items, and mark student work using the rubric.

  • Part 1: Rubric Design May 24, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE
  • Part 2: Rubric Tool in D2L May 31, 10:00-11:30 ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Open Education workshops

  • Introduction to Open Ed & Open Ed Resources May 10, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE 

    Learn how to help students achieve course learning outcomes in a more efficient way while balancing your workload as an instructor. Bring relevant information, such as program outcomes, course outline, activities, assignments, and tests/exams to the workshop.

  • Introduction to Open Pedagogy May 13, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HEREOpen pedagogy allows the full potential of education to be realized. It invites students in as co-creators, creating rich opportunities for deep and active learning and empowers faculty to make education more diverse and inclusive.  Together, we will begin to explore the full potential of open pedagogy.
  • Redesign Your Course to be More Open May 31, 1:30-3:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HEREWondering how to get started integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) into your courses? This workshop will help you get started.

New Student Onboarding: A Faculty Perspective May 30, 10-11:30am ONLINE REGISTER HERE

This session will explore how we as faculty can support our ‘new to Camosun’ or ‘new to D2L’ students to be successful in our own courses and in D2L in general. We will discuss how using D2L to facilitate this process can foster confidence in the students and provide them with the information they need to be able to fully participate in their in-class, blended and online courses. Please bring your ideas with you as there will be an opportunity to share with the group.

Deterring Plagiarism June 1, 10-11:30am HYBRID REGISTER HERE

Learn strategies and tools for deterring plagiarism and encouraging academic honesty in your courses. Participants will be invited to share their own ideas and to discuss how best to promote a culture of academic integrity at the college. This workshop will be offered in hybrid format. Participants can join in person or via MS Teams.

eLearning workshops (focus on online tools):

All these eLearning workshops take place online in Blackboard Collaborate.  Click on the links for a description and to register.

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

D2L

Content management in D2L

May 2, 1-2:30pm

Setting up your gradebook

May 5, 10-11:30am

Advanced quizzing

May 11, 10-11:30am

Introduction to quizzes in D2L  May 4, 10-11:30am

Facilitating creative online discussions

May 16, 10-11:30am

Working with master courses

May 12, 1-2:30pm

 

Spring Cleaning

May 19, 10-11:30am

Advanced content creation using templates and accessible design  

May 25, 10-11:30am

Accessibility

Text-to-Speech support for students: An orientation to the ReadSpeaker tools in Your D2L course  May 5, 1-2:30pm

Introduction to ALLY tool in D2L

May 12, 10am-12:30pm

Using the accessibility reports in D2L: What do I need to do?

May 18, 10-11:30am

Creating accessible content for your online classroom: 7 things you can do right now! 

May 10, 1-2:30pm

Introduction to H5P for interactive learning

May 17, 1-2:30pm

Kaltura

Enhancing your courses with video (Introduction to Kaltura) May 19, 1-2:30pm

Going deeper with videos and Kaltura  May 26, 2-3:30pm

Creating great accessible Kaltura capture videos  June 2, 1-2:30pm

Courses:

Instructional Skills Workshop May 2-5, IN-PERSON, Lansdowne Campus REGISTER HERE

The 3œ day peer-based workshop is an excellent opportunity to learn in a fun, safe environment with colleagues from across the college, and improve your teaching practice. (More info)

Great Teachers Seminar May 9-12, IN-PERSON, Honeymoon Bay Retreat Centre REGISTER HERE

Venture beyond the limits of your usual environment and deepen your connection with colleagues. Engage in a learning process of shared information and experiences, self-reflection, and action planning. Explore a variety of teaching strategies, innovations, challenges and solutions.

Working Together: Indigenizing your Course May 13, 20, 27, June 3 IN-PERSON 9:30am-12pm. REGISTER HERE

Enhance and integrate your course with Indigenous ways of being and doing in this practical and hands on workshop series. We will work together using the Circle of Courage model as a teaching and learning framework with instructors implementing their changes into their course in the Fall.

FLO Blended Learning May 16-June 3, ONLINE AND IN-PERSON at both campuses REGISTER HERE

Learn research-based concepts, principles, and strategies that will make facilitating a course with both online and face-to-face components effective and engaging. This course will help you create seamless lesson plans that utilize the most applicable elements of both the online and face-to-face environments.

Camosun Communities of Practice (ONLINE)

Check out these new Camosun resources

  • NEW! Active Learning Guide  Chock-full of engaging teaching strategies
  • NEW! Types of Assessment Guide Learn about authentic assessment with specific examples
  • NEW! Feedback Guide and Rubrics Guide Tips to improve and streamline your marking
  • NEW!  Reducing Test Anxiety Strategies to help students manage their stress around exams

Healthy Together!

Employee wellness program

CAL faculty support

Supports for instructors

Applied Learning

Introducing  CamSTAR

Office of Student Support

Resources for faculty

Library workshops

For students

HR – OPD

Employee learning opportunities

Other learning opportunities

The Teaching Professor Conference June 3-5, Atlanta Georgie

BC Campus learning opportunities:

 

 

 

 

Camosun Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning January Bulletin

In this bulletin from the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning you will find articles, links, and learning opportunities that may be of interest to you. For general information please contact CETL . For information specifically about online teaching, contact eLearning.  Note that registration links are for Camosun faculty and staff only.

What’s the number one message we’ve heard from instructor conversations this fall? They’ve continued to use and build on their online experience as they returned to the in-person classroom and would like to keep developing more of these online resources and skills. Three words capture some key messages: DIVERSITY, COMPLEXITY, and FLEXIBILITY. What else did they have to say? Read more


Camosun Communities of Practice (ONLINE)

Start the new year off by joining one of Camosun’s peer-led communities.

Feel free to drop-in, or contact Martha McAlister to get on a distribution list.

Teaching and Learning CoP Next: February 3, 3-4pm 

This is a time to meet as an inter-disciplinary group of faculty with common challenges and passions for teaching and learning. We can learn so much from each other! Come and share ideas and inspiration around effective classroom strategies, assessment, marking, rubrics, engaged learning, supporting students with different learning needs, and any other topics that arise through collegial conversation.

Indigenous Education CoP Next: February 3, 9-10:30am  

For any Camosun employee interested in Indigenization including (but not restricted to) those who have completed TELTIN TTE WILNEW. You may be seeking greater understanding, maintaining momentum, looking to spark some ideas, or simply to enjoy the connection, inspiration, teaching, and learning that happens in circle. Join us as we explore current issues, through discussing articles, documentaries, or a situation that arose recently in your work.

Accessible Education CoP Next: January 18, 12-1pm 

Join us to talk about practical approaches for increasing our collective capacity to deliver accessible learning opportunities for persons with disabilities. We explore the intersectionality of accommodations, accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in post-secondary education. We seek to enhance the experience of all students by identifying and learning more about where accessibility-related barriers occur in our teaching and learning practices, and sharing ideas and expertise for removing barriers to learning.

Mindfulness in Education CoP Next: January 11, 9-9:30am 

Take a break, for guided meditation in a collegial environment. During this stressful time of uncertainty, it seems more important than ever to stay connected in community, and practice our mindfulness.

Chair Share CoP Next: January 7, 8:30-9:30am.

All chairs and program leaders are welcome! Feeling isolated in your role?  You are not alone! Meet with other chairs and program leaders from across the college to discuss whatever is on your mind. Topics are emergent, so come with your ideas and leave feeling more energized and connected.

As you prepare for your 2022 Winter courses, eLearning has a few updates:

  • Kaltura Express Capture has been enabled in D2L. Express Capture allows you to make short video recordings on the fly, automatically uploading them to your My Media area. Just go to your My Media area, click the Add New button, and select Express Capture. If you are using a phone or tablet, you can choose between front or back camera. Perfect for those quick intro videos, skills videos, audio assignments, or feedback videos.
  • Changes to the Assignment tool. Anonymous marking has now been enabled to help reduce marker bias during the assessment process. The transition to the new assignment create/edit interface is also now complete so the old interface is no longer accessible.
  • A reminder that with the new D2L/Colleague integration, a D2L course site is generated for all course sections automatically. If you do not want a D2L course site to support your course, please contact eLearning to have the site removed.
  • Do you need eLearning support? Submit a ticket request through eLearning’s new Ticketing Portal. Using portal will help us respond to your needs in a more timely and efficient way.
  • Visit the eLearning Tutorial website for self-serve support and the eLearning blog for a look at what’s new in eLearning.

CETL Learning Opportunities

Faculty Book Club February 1, 8, 15, 3:30-4:30pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

Pulling Together: Indigenization Guide for Teachers (study group) HYBRID DELIVERY REGISTER HERE

  • Join us for a series of guided conversations on the Indigenization of teaching and learning at Camosun College. February 2-March 30, every second Wednesday, 9-11am.

Copyright Q&A February 8, 11am-12pm ONLINE REGISTER HERE

  • Course packs are due on March 15th for the spring/summer term. Now is a great time to get your questions answered about copyright, fair dealing, and using copyrighted materials in your class.

Instructional Skills Workshop May 2-5, IN-PERSON, Lansdowne Campus REGISTER HERE

  • The 3Âœ day peer-based workshop is an excellent opportunity to learn in a fun, safe environment with colleagues from across the college, and improve your teaching practice. (More info)

Great Teachers Seminar May 9-12, IN-PERSON, Honeymoon Bay Retreat Centre REGISTER HERE

  • Venture beyond the limits of your usual environment and deepen your connection with colleagues. Engage in a learning process of shared information and experiences, self-reflection, and action planning. Explore a variety of teaching strategies, innovations, instructional challenges and solutions. (More info)

FLO Blended Learning May 16-June 3, ONLINE AND IN-PERSON at both campuses REGISTER HERE

  • Learn research-based concepts, principles, and strategies that will make facilitating a course with both online and face-to-face components effective and engaging. This course will help you create seamless lesson plans that utilize the most applicable elements of both the online and face-to-face environments.

 Stay tuned! Registration will open mid-winter for the following spring offerings:

With Scheduled Development Intents due on February 1st, now is a good time to start planning what you want to do with your time. In addition to the offerings above, below are some other spring CETL offerings planned:

(NOTE: For planning purposes, faculty can assume most of these workshops will be one to 1.5 hours)

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

D2L

Getting started with D2L to support face-to-face classes

Setting up your gradebook

Working with master courses

Quizzes in D2L

Advanced quizzing

Getting started with D2L to support your blended and online classes

Use D2L to create and deliver great assignments

Part 1: Designing effective assignments

Part 2: Creating, grading and providing feedback in D2L

Streamline the marking process using rubrics and other feedback Tools

Part 1: Intro to feedback and rubrics

Part 2: Creating and using rubrics in D2L

Creating Discussions

Advanced content creation using templates and accessible design

Content Management in D2L

Spring Cleaning

Accessibility

Text-to-Speech support for students: An orientation to the ReadSpeaker tools in Your D2L course

Introduction to the ALLY tool in D2L

Using the accessibility reports in D2L: What do I need to do?

Creating accessible content for your online classroom: 7 things you can do right now!

Using student stories and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to design for accessibility

Collaborate

Introduction to Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

Supported practice sessions: On-demand small group sessions on practice or groups

Kaltura

Enhancing your courses with video (Kaltura intro)

Going deeper with videos and Kaltura

Creating great accessible Kaltura capture videos

Open Education/Open Educational Resources (OER)

Intro to Open Ed and OER

Introduction to H5P

Introduction to open pedagogy

Intro to Creative Commons

Intro to Open ETC’s WordPress

Redesigning your course to be more open

Introduction to common open tools and resources

Assessment

Aligning assessment with outcomes

Feedback and formative assessment

Alternative assessment

Deterring Plagiarism

Self and peer assessment

Online tools to design and manage assessments

Other

New student onboarding: A faculty perspective

Check out CETL’s new website!

 We hope our new look will help you more easily find what you need including:

Library workshops especially for faculty in January

 Faculty Library Research Refresher—Online, Wednesday, January 5th, 12:00pm to 12:45pm

For new or returning faculty, join this online session to see a demo of the Camosun library’s main search tool, Single Search, and the variety of online resources available. We will take a look at the range of available databases, and show you how to find resource citations. This session will be of interest to instructors who want to integrate library research and resources into their assignments or D2L course.

Faculty APA refresher—Online, Thursday, January 6th, 12:00pm to 12:45pm

Needing an APA Refresher before you dive into the semester? This 45 minute session for faculty will provide an overview of APA Style 7th edition and the library resources available to help you guide your students to the appropriate library resources and supports. Bring your questions if you have them!

Academic integrity for faculty: Promoting library resources to your students—Online, Friday, January 7th 12:00pm to 12:30pm

Want to promote academic integrity in the classroom and wonder where to start? This short session for faculty provides an overview of available library resources to help you support, encourage and guide your students in their understanding and practice of academic integrity. By using library research guides, citation guides, videos, tutorials and librarian support, students will feel more confident to complete their assignments with integrity.

Have questions or would like to set-up a one-on-one session with a librarian? Please don’t hesitate to contact me or your subject liaison librarian.

 Healthy Together!

 CAL faculty support

Office of Student Support

 Library workshops

OPD

Centre for Teaching & Learning November Bulletin

“The first two months here have been a whirlwind adventure!  My [department team] have been very supportive
 That said, and I’ll be honest, the first couple of weeks felt like I was being dropped in at the deep end
 I had never taught before, and it had been… well, about 20 years since I spoke in front of a group larger than a few people.  WHoooo!  
 And now guiding and teaching many impressionable minds
 Good thing I’m passionate about and thoroughly know the subject matter that I’m teaching
 I haven’t been this excited about going to work in a long, long time.” Quote from a new faculty member

Invitation to join the Teaching and Learning Council

The Camosun College T&L Council is a collaborative, peer-based, interdisciplinary group of faculty from across the college with a passion for advancing quality teaching and learning at Camosun, including advocacy, supports and strategies. We are seeking faculty with enrolled students willing to act as champions, and actively engage in the Council’s projects. Learn more here


Deadline for expressions of interest: November 12

Camosun Showcase 2022: Professional, Scholarly and Creative Activity

Call for submissions to share your knowledge and expertise! Are you interested in sharing your stories of innovation, research, and creativity with the college community and beyond? Are you interested in highlighting the relevant and important work that you have done individually or collaboratively with colleagues, students, or community?  Are you interested in writing about how you realized the ‘opportunity in the crisis’ in the last year and a half in terms of your students’ learning or your instruction? Learn more here


Deadline for expressions of interest: December 13

Past Showcase Issues

Camosun’s Open Education Project

Congratulation to all who have participated in helping to build capacity for open education at Camosun. We received a BCcampus Open Sustainability grant that helped support a group of faculty to develop/redevelop their courses using open education resources. It has been a collaborative project involving support from across the college.  Through this funding and matching funds from the college, this project has brought together 11 faculty members, as well as librarians, copyright experts, instructional designers (with expertise in Universal Design for Learning, OERs, educational technology, etc.), curriculum developers, indigenization specialists, and others in an extensive (and exceptional!) collaboration. Together, we are working towards creating a framework for best practices in bringing OER sustainably into every-day use at the college.

Take a few minutes and listen to faculty speak about their projects

  1. Sandra Carr: Open textbook for Joinery/Woodworking
  2. Michelle Clement: Revising an open textbook for Marketing
  3. Brian Coey: Open textbook for Sheet Metal/Welding
  4. Pooja Gupta: Open math homework and ancillary resources to support existing open textbooks
  5. Peggy Hunter: Revising/enhancing existing WordPress Biology lab site (interactive images, self-tests)
  6. Stephanie Ingraham: Open textbook for Physics
  7. Liz Morch: Five nutrition modules on WordPress
  8. Alex Purdy, Jana Suraci, Sarah Erdelyi: Open textbook on Allied Health patient management

More Camosun faculty stories

We now have a collection of 41 inspirational stories from faculty across the college. Enjoy reading them!

·       Story #40: Laura

·       Story #41: Michelle

For more information about either the Open Education or the Faculty Stories projects, contact Emily Schudel at schudele@camosun.ca.

Free learning opportunities and resources

NEW! Rubrics guide

NEW! Dismantling racism & oppression Anti-racism & social justice guide

Magna Publications free resources (Faculty Focus newsletter, Teaching Professor email updates)

Anti-racist writing pedagogy workshop November 10, 12:30-1:30pm. Join Zoom here

BC Campus free learning opportunities:

 

Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning September Bulletin

Welcome to September from CETL at Camosun College.  Included here are some resources that might interest anyone getting ready to return to face-to-face teaching this fall, or exploring other modes of teaching after everything we’ve learned last year!

“Everyone is exhausted
 Everyone has a metaphor
 Everyone appreciated a chance to reflect
 Everyone has learned more about themselves
 Everyone has embraced (mostly) change
 Everyone tried new things they will keep using
 Everyone put themselves in the shoes of their students
” From: Faculty stories: A reflection

Check out all our Faculty Stories, where faculty at Camosun share their reflections on the past year.

Tips on teaching while wearing a mask

As you know, Camosun now has a mandatory mask requirement for all indoor public spaces, including classrooms. Teaching and learning in a mask may be new to many of us, and so let’s be patient as we all work through this new reality together. Below are some resources that may be of help:

Beyond the basics of adapting to masks, perhaps this is another “challenge as opportunity” to reflect on how we continually improve our teaching practice. This might provide an incentive to move away from instructor-focused teaching toward learning-focused teaching/facilitation, incorporating more blended and active learning, and some of the skills and technologies that we’ve learned to use over the past 18 months.

Blended learning resources

As we get ready for the coming semester, many of us are wondering how to leverage our recent experience and are exploring ways to integrate classroom and online learning.  If we use a blended model, how do we make the most of both the classroom and the online experience? How do we ensure we are altering rather than adding to student work? How do we match the delivery to the desired outcome? Below are a few resources that can help. Expect additional resources and learning opportunities as we move into the fall. Questions or ideas? Email Robin Fast or Emily Schudel

Encouraging academic integrity through a preventative framework: Start off right

“Langara College has created an open access toolkit for educators titled: Encouraging Academic Integrity Through a Preventative Framework (2020). The e-book is available for free through BC Campus Pressbooks Open Education Resources. This toolkit was a collaborative initiative that arose because of increasing requests from faculty for support in addressing and promoting academic integrity in higher education. It is meant to be a starting point on a journey towards a solution-focused discourse on educational integrity, using the Complexity Quadrant to reframe conversations around academic integrity and develop assessments that encourage it.”

(description taken from BC Academic Integrity Network email promotion)

Camosun eLearning Updates

There have been some changes with some of the tools we support here in eLearning at Camosun we wanted to let you know about here:

D2L/Colleague Integration

The new D2L/Colleague Integration will result in changes and improvements to the faculty and student experience in D2L. Read our CETL notice to learn more.

Coming Soon to Collaborate: Gallery View with 25 Simultaneous Videos

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra has been working on improvements to its video gallery to enable Moderators and Participants to view up to 25 simultaneous video feeds. Moderators will see up to 25 simultaneous video feeds beginning April 8, and Participants will get access to this functionality later in the month. Note that we still recommend not having all videos active all the time during a session to conserve bandwidth especially for students with poor connections.

Read our CETL notice to learn more about what’s coming to Collaborate in the future.

eLearning workshops for Spring Schedule Development

Are you a faculty at Camosun College planning for your Scheduled Development for Spring?  Here is a list of  eLearning online learning opportunities coming in May/June 2021.

Note that we have not yet finalized a schedule, and more workshops may be added, but this will give you an idea of what you could plan for during your SD.  For planning purposes, faculty can assume that most of these eLearning workshops will be 1 to 1.5 hours, with the exception of the 5 week and 2 week  FLO courses.

Questions?  Email Emily Schudel at schudele@camosun.ca.

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

D2L
Getting Started with D2L Setting Up Your Gradebook Working with Master Courses
Content Management in D2L Quizzes in D2L Advanced Quizzing
Managing Assignments Using Rubrics to Streamline Your Assessment Process
Creating Discussions Designing for Engagement: Moving Beyond Text and Images (HTML Templates)
Spring Cleaning

Accessibility
Text-to-Speech Support for Students: An Orientation to the ReadSpeaker tools in Your D2L Course Introduction to the ALLY tool in D2L: Designing for Accessibility &  Inclusion Using the Accessibility Reports in D2L: What should I do first? (And how do I do it?!)
Take the First Steps in Creating Accessible Content for your Online Classroom

Collaborate
Introduction to BBCU

 

 Increasing Your Proficiency in BBCU Engaging with Students and Using Breakout Rooms in Collaborate
Supported Practice Sessions

Kaltura
Enhancing Your Courses with Video (Kaltura Intro) Going Deeper with Videos and Kaltura Creating Great Kaltura Capture Videos

Open Education/OER
Intro to Open Education and Open Educational Resources (OER) H5P Workshop
Intro to Creative Commons Integrating Creative Commons Material into your Course(s)

Pedagogy
Online Assessments FLO Synchronous (2 weeks) Ethical Dimensions of Educational Technology
FLO Asynchronous (5 weeks)
Flipping the Classroom (blended – asynchronous for  week culminating in a synchronous workshop)

 

Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning Bulletin for January 2021

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2021!

In this bulletin from the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning please find articles, links, and learning opportunities that may be of interest to you. For general information please contact CETL . For information specifically about online teaching, contact eLearning.

Note that registration is restricted to Camosun College employees.
 “Teaching occurs only when learning takes place.”
― from What the best college teachers do by Ken Bain

 eLearning workshops (Registration required)

Welcome to the eLearning Team’s offerings to support the start-up of winter term, providing training related to Camosun’s core educational technologies. Get descriptions and register here.

Workshop dates Times Topics
Monday, January 4 1:00pm- 2:00pm D2L Overview
Tuesday, January 5 10:00am-11:00am Introduction to Blackboard Collaborate Ultra
Tuesday, January 5 1:00pm – 2:00pm D2L Course Set-up
Thursday, January 7 10:00am-11:00am Setting Up Your Gradebook in D2L
Friday, January 8 10:00am-11:00am Increasing Your Proficiency in Blackboard Collaborate

eLearning resources

·         Online learning tips for students Share this with your students at the beginning of term!

·         Privacy considerations for online teaching

·         Guidance for remote instruction

D2L Change Notice

As part of Colleague Renewal, there will be a new integration between D2L and Colleague. The most immediate change will impact some of the communication tools. The roll out will happen in phases, starting in January, then March, then summer. Find out more

Other CETL learning opportunites

 Planning ahead for spring SD 

 Stay tuned for the following online learning opportunities coming in spring 2021:

 Camosun Communities of Practice

 Check out our MS Teams Communities of Practice site. This is a peer-based virtual space for synchronous and asynchronous conversation, connection, resource sharing and more, including channels for: