Category: Faculty Stories

Christian made our history class topical. His assignments on movie analysis opened up a different level of understanding for me. I’ve become more critical of the media I would have watched passively before, picking up the tropes and dissecting the scenes to help me make sense of our current reality. It’s also made me much more likely to consult primary sources so I can “connect the dots”. I may not be a lot of fun to watch movies with anymore, but the tools his class gave me to express my analysis will protect and inspire me far into the future.

Christian, a recipient of a Teacher Recognition Award in 2025, has been a faculty member in the history department at Camosun since 2016. Christian told me that while the department had more faculty members when he started, now there are only two, and “my colleague and I have to cover everything in world history meaning that in most years I teach eight different courses – anything from ancient world civilizations to modern history, European, American, Canadian, you name it.” But Christian enjoys the variety. “I’ve developed a few courses for Camosun, for example, a World War Two history class as well as Greek and Roman history and Medieval history.” The Humanities Department has also offered a topical course on History through Film for many years, though we had to pause that during Covid, since the movies were not yet available through streaming.

Christian began his education journey in Germany. “I studied at Gerhard-Mercator-Universität in Duisburg working on a Magister Artium degree with History as my major, and Political Science and Geography as minors. Then I went to the United States, originally to improve my English but ended up completing a master’s degree in American History at the University of Maine. I returned to Germany to finish my Magister degree and then came to Victoria to work on my PhD in Canadian History at the University of Victoria (UVic). I taught at UVic for over a decade until 2017 and at Vancouver Island University for a year in 2014, before transitioning to teaching at Camosun in early 2016, starting with South Island Partnership (SIP) courses, and eventually moving into a full-time position by January 2017.”

I asked Christian what he enjoys most about teaching. “I didn’t start out enjoying teaching. In Germany, you have two streams in education: the diploma stream, which is a high school teaching stream, and the academic stream which is the one I pursued. I consciously chose the non-teaching stream because I couldn’t imagine myself in the classroom.” But while Christian feels it’s strange that he ended up in the classroom, he does enjoy it now. “What I really enjoy are the interactions with the students and the engagement in the classroom around what is oftentimes, quite complex information that is open to interpretation. History is multi-layered, so it needs to be disentangled to understand the past, but of course, we are not just looking at the past, but in many respects are also reflecting on issues we are dealing with today. And that is what I emphasize to students: that while history doesn’t repeat itself in detail, there are patterns that constantly re-emerge, and how important it is to understand the outcomes of people’s actions in the past before we make the same mistakes in the present and the future.” That is particularly important in our age where democracy is challenged by radical populism and the ascendancy of authoritarian rulers that reflect echoes of the 1930s political trends with all their devastating consequences.

I wondered what a typical Christian classroom might look like. “Generally speaking, the first two contact hours in the week are lectures and the second two hours are seminars. Students read either primary sources or an academic journal article for these seminars and, after a brief introduction to the topic, are let loose to discuss amongst themselves what they took from the readings. Then we bring everything together to ensure there’s a full understanding of the authors’ arguments and that are contextualized properly. I lecture freely in my classes using Powerpoint slides for visualization (maps and images) and important information, such as names and dates. However, students can ask questions at any point, and we will sometimes go off on tangents if a topic is relevant to the course material. What I like to see is an interactive class where students can jump in and ask questions – where, if they’re interested, and if there is time, I can expand on some topics that are not necessarily part of the regular streamlined lecture material. If there is no time, I invite students to see me outside of class to discuss other topics of interest to them.” Most importantly, I would like to make sure that students get the most out of their course experiences.

I was curious how Christian adapted during COVID and what he might have taken away from that time to enhance the learning experience for students. “It was challenging, partly because I wasn’t familiar with recording in Kaltura or how exactly to put that material on D2L – that was definitely a steep learning curve. And it was a lot of work because, as I said, I usually teach eight different courses per year, which meant all of them had to move completely online and I had to record the full lecture cycles of material (i.e. eight times 26 hours of lecture content).” But what was really challenging for Christian was making the online courses engaging. “I was talking to my computer and receiving no feedback whatsoever, although I tried to recall common student questions, and would throw those questions in to break up the lecture flow to make it more interesting. So, getting immediate feedback like students asking questions, all that engagement was gone with the online classes. I also had to change the assignment structures because I had students all over the world not all of whom had access to university libraries, so I had to avoid research papers. Instead, we moved to analyzing articles with the readings posted on D2L. And because there was no independent research component in there anymore, that also reduced self-interest that students might bring to the classroom, because they could not research topics they personally might be interested in exploring. On the upside. I have kept some of the online components. I’m doing all my assignments online now, and I give students five to seven days to complete their midterms and final exams (though that will have to change again, moving forward, given the challenges of AI to the integrity of that approach…). While it lasted, this worked much better because in the past many students had struggled with time limitations and remembering complex content. The online exams were open book exams, but because students had to critically analyze the information from our classroom materials, I originally knew if they used AI to come up with answers. In addition, this format had taken away a lot of exam anxiety. Returning to examinations in the classroom will unfortunately bring some of those older problems back but with the fast-paced development of generative AI, that seems to be a necessary step. I have also continued to post lecture recordings on D2L even for in-person courses, so if students miss a class for one reason or another or want to revisit the material, they can go back and review those recordings.”

I asked if Christian has any memories from his past ten years of teaching at Camosun to share. “There are so many, partly because quite a number of students have taken anywhere from seven to ten courses with me. So, I had the privilege of seeing those students grow over time, from their first experiences in the post-secondary classroom, writing their first research papers, to their final work after they have integrated all the feedback that they’ve received on their previous assignments. Then they go off, usually to UVic, for the next phase of their academic development, and it’s so nice when those students come back to visit, or send me an email with updates, or contact me for a reference letter for a job application or for graduate school. That is what makes my teaching experiences at Camosun so different from those at UVic because there the classes are bigger and you don’t get to know the students to the same degree whereas at Camosun you do, especially when students take more than one course.”

As we came to the end of our time together, I asked Christian what advice he might have for anyone starting to teach at the college. “One of the biggest pieces of advice I have is to be flexible. You might go into the classroom with a certain idea of what you really want to accomplish and what material to cover, but you should make sure to give students the opportunity to learn what they want to learn and that might mean that some of the content you had planned for one week needs to move into the following week. So, flexibility is probably the best advice I would say.” And one other piece of advice Christian had was to invite other instructors in to speak on different topics. “I asked Nicole Kilburn if she could talk about anthropology themes that fit into Greek and Roman history. I invited Frank Jankunis to give a lecture on ancient Greek philosophy. The idea is not only to show students how different disciplines interrelate – after all, Plato’s political philosophy in “The Republic,” for example, or the views on the matter by Aristotle were shaped by their experiences and perceptions of the defeat of democratic Athens in the Peloponnesian War – but also to let them know that if they want to learn more about philosophy or anthropology, here are the people that you might want to connect with.” Christian is thinking of other opportunities for cross-discipline sharing, for example geography, sociology, and criminal justice. What a wonderful way to break apart those boundaries that we so often see in post-secondary institutions.

Leah has been a mentor for me as a colleague. I appreciate her kind and innovative suggestions when problem solving, her dedication, openness, and work ethic. Leah lives her values daily. A student said: “Knowing that I was timid at performing new skills, I was extremely thankful to have such a supportive and thoughtful teacher that didn’t make me feel ‘less than’ for asking for help. I thank her for being positive, encouraging, and helping me to have confidence to succeed in my practice.”

Leah is a faculty member in the Baccalaureate of Science, Nursing (BSN) program at Camosun, and a recipient of a Teacher Recognition Award in 2025. Leah has been at the college for 20 years, and before that was a preceptor at B.C. Children’s Hospital. After she moved to Victoria, she taught at the University of Victoria while working at Victoria General Hospital in pediatrics and at Ledger House in Pediatric Mental Health (Leah’s background is in pediatrics, family care and child development.)

Leah has taught many of the courses in the BSN program and started by teaching clinical practice on the pediatric unit. “After 15 years on that unit, recently, I moved to Acute Adult care on an acute medical unit.” This move has been equally rewarding. In addition to clinical practice, Leah currently teaches psychomotor skills. Leah says “what I love the most about teaching is meeting the students where they’re at. It’s fun to be able to use my knowledge and expertise to bring the content to life, present material at an appropriate level for each year of development and be organic and creative in my efforts. I enjoy the constant flexing of my abilities to work with the students in order to create things that will work for their learning.”

Leah is “very interested in how students learn, master, and execute skills. A colleague and I worked on a project just before COVID on how to better integrate deliberate practice and skills mastery into our curriculum. We then presented a model of deliberate practice that the faculty accepted, and which is now integrated into our lab modules.” Leah explained that “deliberate practice is intentional learning, meaning that students deliberately learn a skill. In a perfect situation, students watch the skill in real time, draw in background knowledge from readings and coursework, then watch instructors complete the skill and ask questions. At this point students practice the skill on their own with a rubric, going through everything intentionally, and receiving expert feedback from an instructor. In this way, from start to finish, they know what they’re doing is correct. Students work in pairs, going through the skill and correcting each other and asking questions. Finally, they complete a skills demo or test where they critique themselves, self reflect, and improve to the point they can move into clinical practice.”

Leah says, however, that all this is challenging to do in a lab class because there is not enough time to watch every student from start to finish, and instructors have found some creative solutions, especially during COVID when we shifted the format attempting to actualize the Deliberate Practice Model while splitting class in half and using half the time.  “We now provide students with videos of the skills, which I created with my students in our simulation lab, as well as with a rubric for each skill. The rubric integrates the most current policies and procedures from both the course readings and from VIHA, which has reduced confusion and helps student focus on best-practice concepts rather than on changes in policies. Students can watch the videos over and over as they’re practicing, and the rubric acts as their guide. Then by the time they go into the practice labs they should understand what’s expected and what’s safe for the patient.” Leah also emphasizes that the labs themselves “need to be safe spaces where students can ask any question. The outcomes of our assessments and decisions in real life are serious. In lab, students are asked to pull out the critical thinking and put it into action.”

The skills tests moved into the world of video during COVID, when, “instead of completing skills tests in person, students worked in pairs to video-record each other completing the skills and submitted those videos in D2L.” As a faculty, we are currently working on how to best integrate the video taping and self-reflection into our course work.

I wondered about BSN students, and what changes Leah has seen in them over the past 20 years. “COVID had a big impact on our students, especially those coming to us right out of high school. They seem to bring a new set of worries and hesitancies around interacting with patients, with teachers, and with each other. So, we have had to provide more support and role modeling around what professional behavior looks like, sounds like, and feels like. For example, we work in role plays to practice those skills, and by the time the first years become third years, they have caught up. I have had some of my strongest and deepest connections with those post-COVID cohorts, because of engaging in that relational work to help students figure out how to enact their values in their nursing practice. I’m very proud of them.”

I asked Leah where BSN students come from. “They often come from other programs, most often health sciences programs, and some are coming back after taking time off from school. Many are looking for career opportunities, but don’t always know how intense the program is. Students with more life experience bring so much richness into the class for those students who are younger or shy or unsure – the peer-to-peer support and collaboration is important. Sometimes, though, it can be challenging to create a safe environment to learn in and make mistakes in, so I try to be vulnerable myself and as transparent and open as possible.”

Leah said she has so many amazing memories of her time teaching, telling me what a privilege it is for her to be here with students. “They want to help, and I am honoured to be the one chosen to teach them nursing. It’s hard work sometimes, but extremely fulfilling.” But one memory stood out in particular for her. “In my first or second year of teaching, we had a group of students who did a presentation on residential schools. The students presented to us as though we were children in a school by first having us remove any personal items and move away from our friends. Then they created a video from a child’s perspective of lying in a hospital bed at night and having somebody come in to check on them, because that’s what we do in nursing – we check to make sure they’re breathing, check their IV, while masked and gowned from head to toe. So, we’re this looming masked form coming in to check in on these children with this bright light. My stomach sank because I realized I’d been doing that for my whole career in hospitals – creeping in quietly so as not to disturb anyone. Imagine the fear that would create in the child or in the caregiver, especially if they had been in the residential school system. The realization was profound for me, and I still think about it. Knowing that all it would take is to ask the parents ‘is it okay with you if I come in overnight to check on your baby’ but I didn’t, and was unaware of the unintended consequences. This presentation has had an impact on my nursing and teaching practice. To check out my assumptions as much as possible.”

As our time together drew to a close, I asked Leah what advice she had for new instructors at the college. “Number one is to make sure you connect with your teammates to get excited about teaching and brainstorm together because that’s where the magic happens, and as more people are working remotely, you will have to seek out your teammates more intentionally. So, create that space to get together, not just online, but in person too. You will get a lot done in a short period of time because you’ll be energized and you’ll be inspired because there are a high percentage of dedicated and enthusiastic Nurse Educators in our faculty. Stay connected. Create community for support and ideas.

Finally, Leah says, be student centered. “I’m student centered because I’m also patient centered. When a nurse is patient centered. They collaborate with the person regarding care. For me, this is the same approach I use when teaching, asking similar questions to: How can I best help you today? What are you concerned about in this situation? How can you best experience the situation? Then by offering suggestions and checking in a trusting environment is created.  This type of approach models to students how to be patient centered, and how to become empowered in their own education and subsequently in the health care system.

Doug makes learning anatomy and physiology a little less overwhelming. He weaves storytelling into his teaching to keep the student engaged and help them remember the concepts, setting them up for success. Doug is a natural storyteller, and he has a way of making extremely complex concepts more tangible for the average student. I enjoy learning from Doug and am so grateful that he is here to lay the foundations for my career.

Doug has been a faculty member in the biology department at Camosun for over 20 years, and in 2025 received a Teacher Recognition Award. “My Camosun story begins with my great aunt Isabel, who received her teaching degree here, when Camosun College was the Normal School. When I graduated high school, because I had worked for my electrician father for several years, I came to Camosun to study electrical, but after one semester, I decided I didn’t want to be an electrician and returned home. At that time, I was also an athlete playing every kind of sport and at 19 I began coaching the high school grade eight boys’ basketball team. Then, while I wasn’t a teacher, I was invited to teach kindergarten through grade seven physical education at a private school because the regular physical education teacher became ill and they didn’t have a replacement. And I fell in love with the whole idea of teaching. Shortly after, I went to the University of Victoria (UVic) to pursue what was called a physical education specialist degree, which required both a physical education degree and an exercise physiology degree.” When he finished, Doug taught for two years at a junior high and two years at a senior high, but that kind of teaching didn’t work for him. “Because I’d had coaching teaching experience, the high school teaching experience felt more like class management to me.” So, Doug left teaching and became a personal trainer. “I did personal training for a while, and then decided to start up a rehabilitation clinic, to apply personal training ideas to giving someone the right exercises to improve shoulder mobility or help them to walk upstairs in their house for the first time in five years.” Doug ran his clinic for 10 years, and while helping people was satisfying, the sales part of the business was not. Then a job opened up at the Canadian Acupuncture Institute, looking for someone to teach human anatomy and human physiology (A&P) courses. “I jumped at it because this was post secondary teaching which was more like coaching.” Then Doug heard about a job at Camosun College teaching physical education for what used to be the Center for Sport and Exercise Education (CSEE). “I stayed there two years until a job came up in the biology department teaching A&P. I took that job and I’ve been there ever since.”

I asked if Doug could talk a little about the courses he teaches. “For most of my time here I’ve taught anatomy and physiology separately, not combined, and primarily for CSEE because my undergraduate and graduate degrees involved how to apply anatomy and physiology to sport. However, I have also taught nurses and dental hygienists.” Doug also enjoys teaching smaller classes than classes he encountered at larger institutions like UVic. “Students will tell me how nice it is to be able to talk to instructors. I’ve been at big universities and to sit down and talk to the prof is virtually impossible. That’s really one of the biggest reasons I didn’t go for a PhD, besides getting the job here: I didn’t want to spend ten years of my life getting my degree and then doing research. Here I am near the end of my career here, and I’m filled with joy. I’m filled with memories of my teaching at Camosun.”

This led nicely into my next question for Doug about what he enjoys most about teaching. “I would say it’s the relationships you build with the students. Both those who are looking for me every day, and who are hiding away in a corner trying to find themselves – and most exciting is finding that student who needs you. In a book I studied for a course in physical education classroom management, the author said it’s imperative when teaching physical education to give a student four positive statements for every single corrective statement and never use a negative statement. So, I try to give students at least one positive statement, then a corrective statement, and I try never to use a negative statement. I’m also a very energetic instructor. I’m animated, I’m vocal, and I put on a show. When I worked with a biology teacher at Oak Bay High School, I asked him how he managed to be in control all the time, and he told me that at any moment in a class where the energy in from the class is greater than energy out from you, you’re out of control. But if students can see the energy you’re putting in, if they see how engaged and how focused on the task you are, they’ll respond to that, and they themselves will rise and try to meet that. So, I always try to bring high energy to the class.”

I wondered what a typical Doug class looks like. “I’m a storyteller. My grandpa Henry loved to tell a story, as did my father, so I think storytelling comes naturally to me. I am constantly talking and moving in my classes, I’m telling stories, and I’m acting things out. For example, I might act the part of a white blood cell, and then play the role of the antigen. I try to come up with stories that can explain complexity in a way that relates to students’ everyday lives.” But at the same time, Doug’s classes are not easy. “When students walk in my door, it’s because they want to be health professionals. I’ll be nice and I’ll be kind, but I will push them hard and expect a lot of them.” As for keeping it fresh in the classroom after all these years, Doug says “first, unless someone retakes a class, I see 100 new faces every term. I don’t know what it is. I can have a terrible morning, but when I arrive in front of that class it’s like magic. It’s something about being there in front of that group of people, and suddenly I’m happy. I get 18 hours of contact hours during the week which gives me an enormous amount of time to spend doing lots of exciting things with students, working with them and tutoring them, and how that looks every year is so different.”

Of course, Doug has many amazing memories of past students to share. “I had a student this year from China. He’s a professional basketball player here to do research at a Canadian University on how Canadians develop high-level athletes and keep them at high levels for very long periods of time. He came to me outside of class to get some advice not only on how to approach the A&P course, but also about his project. And at the same time, I was learning more about China and how their athletic system works.”

Then Doug told me about another student from five or six years ago. “This student was originally from Mexico, and was one of my most memorable students. She had moved from Mexico to the United States, but eventually, her mother and father moved to Victoria, but she stayed in the U.S. went to high school there, but fell with a bad crowd and things weren’t going very well for her. So, her parents talked her into moving here and encouraged her to take courses. She talked to me on the first day of class, and we kept talking over the term. After a few weeks, she said she wanted to get on the student council, so I encouraged her to take advantage of all the things she could. She won, and then joined some other student bodies. She began to perform well in the course quizzes, got an A on the midterm, and then I saw her starting to help other students. She went on to get an A plus in anatomy as well as in physiology, while continuing to tutor other students in labs and maintaining her positions on three student bodies the whole time. At the end of the year, she decided that maybe she wanted to go into nursing. But because she was an American citizen, she applied to a very good nursing university in Pittsburgh and got in. Within two years, she became the university student spokesperson and maintained that until she graduated a full scholarship. She’s kept in touch with me and told me that if it was not for me, none of this would have happened. But I told here that’s not true. She did it and all I did was encourage her and show her a path. But she walked every step of that path and is now she’s a nurse in United States and her life is fantastic.”

Then Doug told me about another student, one who came from a small village in the Yukon. “He was the first person from that village to go into post secondary education. He failed anatomy twice and passed on the third time. Then failed physiology twice and passed on the third time. But in the end, he received a degree and is now working for the Nunavut government. And since then, six more people from his village have gone on to post-secondary.” It may have taken this student three times to pass each course, but he stuck to it with patience and ease, and “by the end, he had developed all the skills he needed to be a productive professional. He just needed more time. I learned a lot from him.”

Doug’s final story of a student was quite different from the first two. “This student was in his 50s and had been working in a museum for the 31 years as an Indigenous language interpreter. Unfortunately, the class could not meet his educational needs.” The class is built around lecture, lab, quizzes, etc., and “what he needed was a different environment, one that included more storytelling and personal connection, but with almost 100 students, I could not accommodate that. So, after a few months, he dropped the course and to this day, I still get a little angry that it was impossible for me to meet his needs.” Doug reflected on his days tutoring Indigenous students in nursing, and how being able to work with individual students really built their confidence. “I wish we could identify those people who could benefit from more of a tutoring style, and meet them where they are at. But our system doesn’t allow for that. In the tutoring sessions I ran, I just listened to students, let them express themselves, and heard their stories about their learning experiences and how they felt they were fitting in. I would like to teach in that kind of tutoring environment. That would be a great way to finish my teaching career.”

My final question to Doug was around what advice he might have for new faculty coming to teach at Camosun. “Spend time with the students. Listen to what they have to say and don’t be afraid to sit down and address difficult issues. What I have found over the years is that the more I do for the students, the easier my job is, even though it’s counterintuitive to think that putting in more hours makes teaching less difficult. As instructors, we deal with a lot of issues that have nothing to do with education because students are adult human beings with complicated lives. Being rigid or avoiding students and their needs is not going to make this job easy, but if you address their needs and go the extra mile for them in the moment, in the long run the job will be less stressful.” And of course, Doug believes that if you can excite and inspire students, they will learn. “I read a recent study that said that good teaching is about what works for you. I tell my stories, I put on my show. I’m very focused, and that’s me. I seem to inspire students, and they get excited to learn. But you have to be yourself. Not everyone is comfortable being loud and potentially making a fool of themselves.” So, find your own way and be yourself.

Benj has been by far the best instructor I have had at Camosun. He takes the time to explain each concept thoroughly, is enthusiastic about students asking questions, and encourages us to reach out to him outside of class if there is anything in particular we’re struggling with. He’s also liberal with teaching us the methods of solving problems that will be most useful once we’ve graduated and are working in the industry. On top of all of this, he’s a very personable and approachable instructor for which I have nothing but good things to say.

Benj is a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering department, and a recipient of a 2025 Teacher Recognition Award. Benj’s main field is robotics, but he didn’t begin there. “I started off doing math and physics because that’s what I liked in high school. But after three years I realized that the topics we were studying were becoming extremely theoretical, whereas I preferred the hands-on practical side of things. The courses I was taking, rocket science, nuclear physics, particle physics, were all interesting, but not applicable to everyday life.” Benj told me that instead, he wanted to learn more about robotics and exoskeletons. “I studied kinesiology for four months to learn about the body, then decided I needed to understand the mechanical side more so transferred into mechanical engineering.” Benj also completed his Co-op in engineering. “For my Co-op, I did research in haptics – force feedback for virtual environments. Then in my last years, I designed the mechanical side of a hand rehabilitation tabletop device. I got to do almost everything myself, and ended up turning that into a master’s degree, spending my time building this device and testing it with people, which was simultaneously the scariest and most fun thing I’d ever done.” After he finished his graduate work, Benj began working at CanAssist at UVic. “I worked on assistive and medical technologies but also worked with robotics on the side.”

Through the years during his education and at CanAssist, Benj had been hearing about Camosun College. “I would keep seeing Camosun Bridge students show up in classes, and was always impressed with their hands-on skill level and wondered where they were coming from. And many of the places I was applying to for jobs, including CanAssist, were wanting to hire Bridge students. So, I came over to Camosun to find out more.” Benj had taught volleyball, tennis, and other sports, but never combined teaching and engineering, but began to think it was time. He applied at Camosun, and waited. Then one day, 12 years ago, the call came that there was an opening to teach a course, and he jumped at the chance. “It was a robotics class, which is my field making it the perfect first course for me to teach. After that, I pretty much taught full time until I was regularized. The timing was lucky, and over the years I have taught many of the courses in our program.”

I wondered if Benj could tell me a bit more about the Bridge program at Camosun. “Our program is a two-year technologist diploma, meaning while students study both theory and technical, there is more emphasis on practical, hands-on work than they would get in the first two years of a typical engineering degree program, for example 3D printing, hand tools, CNC machining, etc. The Bridge itself is an extra eight months that adds back in the theory (math, calculus, etc.) to move students into the third year of university.” The program then culminates in a capstone project. “The capstone is a client-based project, where students use all their skills in a real-life consulting environment, something in a regular four- or five-year degree program they would not do until their final semester.”

I asked Benj what he enjoys most about teaching. “I love both the feeling of personally improving at something, which is why I love sports, and helping somebody else find that same feeling. Teaching is a lot like coaching sports. When you coach a basketball player, you watch how they work on a shot for three weeks and then suddenly they are making that shot.” And when Benj began to teach, he found he could apply that same coaching strategy to teaching. “It’s the same thrill when you see someone struggling with a concept, then a week or two later it clicks and makes sense to them. And that thrill keeps me going.”

I wondered what a typical Benj class looks like. “Typically, I teach the technical, math-heavy material, like statics, coding, physics, etc. So, I will present the new topic, then I teach through examples. Students need to see the problem and begin the process of solving it as soon as possible. For example, I’ll present exactly how the math works. Then then I may present exceptions or problems to watch out for and how to handle them. Contextual examples are meant to lead them through talking points as opposed to just providing information. As a student myself, I struggled with memorizing information – I needed context to support my learning, and I think that’s the same for many students.”

When the pandemic hit and his courses moved online, like many instructors, Benj struggled with engagement. “Because of my teaching style, I really need to see faces and reactions to know if what I’m saying is clicking and I found that incredibly difficult online.” But during that time, Benj also began video recording assignment solutions, videos he is still providing for students today. “I post both assignments and my handwritten solutions, but now I also post video solutions of about fifteen minutes per question, walking them through each solution, and treating them like mini lectures.” Not every student views the videos, but those who do benefit from the review they provide.

I was curious where the students in the program come from. “Most are straight out of high school or maybe took a year off after high school. Then we have older students in their 40s, 50s, or 60s coming from some of the more manual trades who want to transition to engineering and design work.” I was also curious how many women enter the program. “The number of women in the program varies from year to year, but in general it’s a small percentage of our students – for example, in my last class of 40 students, there were six female students.” We chatted about this for awhile, and Benj noted that he recalled from his university days, there were more women in his math classes than men, about equal in physics, but in engineering? Predominantly men. Now that there is a Women’s in Technology Pathways program at the college perhaps these numbers will change over time.

I wondered how Benj keeps it fresh in his teaching over time. “While the math in my courses doesn’t change, content in other courses I teach, the coding courses, the robotics courses, changes constantly which keeps it interesting. But in those math and statistics courses, keeping it fresh comes down to having a brand new group of students, with different questions and concerns and struggles, every year. Because we have smaller class sizes, I can work more with examples and hopefully tailor the class to support whatever they’re struggling with, which also keeps the material fresh because it’s more about getting them over their hurdles than it is the material itself.”

I asked if Benj could talk about some of the examples he brings to class, that keep the content relevant to students’ experiences. “In statics I try to keep examples related to something they have seen before. For example, most students have driven a car around a corner and may know that roads are banked but not know how it keeps cars from sliding out. So, we might mock up a physics calculation diagram of what forces go where and talk about why you shouldn’t brake on a corner in order to tie the math into something they know – that’s what’s exciting. Another example relates to the friction of moving. When I first taught that course, I was moving houses and moving heavy boxes. To push a heavy box, you need to get down low and push the box, so it starts to slide and speeds up. But if you slow down and stop it takes more effort to get it moving again than it does just to keep moving. That is the entire concept of static versus kinetic friction presented in an example that most students will be familiar with: moving houses.”

Many of the memories Benj had to share from his teaching centered around those times when students finally “get it.” “A few times a year, a student will come running into the class to tell me ‘It worked. It made sense! I went home; it didn’t make any sense. But this morning I got up and suddenly it all makes sense.’ This happens especially in my statics course. One of the hardest parts of teaching is seeing someone putting in the effort but not getting the results they’re clearly working for and it’s such a great feeling to see students finally make the connection.”

Finally, I asked Benj what kid of advice he might have for new faculty coming to teach at Camosun. “If you teach with your students’ best interests at heart, you can’t often go wrong. Instructors should also find the style of teaching that works for them. I have colleagues whose strength is telling stories and tying those stories into the concepts they are teaching. But I work with math and create the story from the problem point of view. And finally, bring some of your energy and enthusiasm for your subjects to the classroom. My favorite teachers were the ones who made the class exciting.”

David is an exceptional educator. His ability to explain complex material in a clear and engaging manner has made a significant impact on my learning. Whenever I needed help, he was always available—whether through office hours, emails, or extra study sessions. His dedication is evident in the way he encourages questions, provides constructive feedback, and fosters an environment where everyone feels comfortable participating. He genuinely cares about our success and motivates us to do our best, by offering additional resources, recommending study strategies, and adapting his teaching to meet individual needs. I am incredibly grateful for his guidance.

David has been teaching in the Chemistry and Geoscience department at Camosun for 11 years and was a recipient of a Teacher Recognition Award in 2025. “I was originally a student in the Applied Chemistry and Biotechnology program and had just completed my graduate work at the University of Victoria when a teaching opportunity came up at Camosun. I have really enjoyed my experience teaching here, along with the sense of collegiality and community.” David teaches a variety of courses at the college. “I tend to teach more of the biochemistry-related courses in the chemistry department and was originally brought in to teach the molecular biotechnology course. For the past few years I have mainly taught biochemistry, a sports nutrition course for the kinesiology and athletic therapy programs, and some of the introductory chemistry courses.”

I wondered how David came to teaching, and if it was as meandering a route as other faculty members have had. His path to teach was no different. “I had some ambitions to be a research scientist while in graduate school, but even as an undergrad, I always seemed to end up in tutoring roles. I initially came to university as a mature student, starting out in the humanities and philosophy, and by the time I finally got into chemistry and biochemistry, I was nearly 30 years old. And while that path probably had more to do with my own curiosity than with wanting a career in teaching, in retrospect it’s obvious that for most of my life I’ve enjoyed sharing information with other people. I feel very lucky that I found a way to be employed doing it.”

Knowing now that teaching has been a life-long interest for David, I asked what he enjoyed most about it. “I can’t boil it down to a single thing, but a big part of it is like unraveling a puzzle, trying to find ways to convey concepts that are comprehensible and memorable for everyone in the class. Students can be very expressive in the moment and you can tell whether or not something is clicking for them. I often use the analogy of how evolving your teaching methods is a little bit like how standup comedians workshop their delivery in small clubs, trying out different phrasings and timings, until they finally get to the perfect form of a joke. To this day I can still be surprised, having tried conveying an idea ten different ways, and suddenly it’s the 11^th version that just clicks. Although I have prepared lecture notes, they’re usually just outlines, and I always leave some room for myself to discover new ways of delivery.” David enjoys it when he can deliver content that might not always be immediately interesting to students in a way that makes it meaningful and creative. “There’s something magical that happens when you’re really connecting with students. You can feel it. There’s something extraordinary and human about it that is motivating and enjoyable for me.”

I was curious what a typical class might look like for David. “I try to create a relatively informal atmosphere. I like students to feel relaxed and to look forward to class time. Let’s be honest – it’s chemistry, which is not what everybody would consider the most enjoyable material – particularly for a three hour night lecture.” But there are some strategies David uses to make things more engaging. “Humour is a big part of my classroom, even silly dad jokes to keep things light. Peppering humour through the class makes a big difference when you’re teaching dry material. Another thing that I do intentionally is to try to incorporate narrative, anthropomorphism, and analogy where I can. Organizing the information into a story with familiar elements from daily living can make the information both coherent and sticky.  Sometimes this is limited to using stories to illustrate bite-sized concepts, but I aspire to make each lecture or lecture topic, and eventually the whole course, an overarching story. When I’m thinking about how to present the learning outcome topics, instead of just conveying information in unrelated abstract chunks, I’ll consider how to sequence them into a logical flow from one topic into another so that when the student is studying for the final exam, they could tell someone else a coherent story of what they learned in that course and why it mattered. Because if they can tell that story, it’s not just a bunch of random ideas they will forget as soon as they’ve written the final exam. Within a narrative architecture, that information can stay with them for the rest of their life, because it has a context of wider meaning.” While some content can be difficult to tie together in this way, David described a positive feedback loop in which the more he can invest time to create these narratives, the more enjoyable it seems to be for students, and the more enjoyable it becomes for him to teach. And the more connected the stories are to each other, the more the course content will stick for students.

I wondered if David could share an example of how he uses analogy and storytelling in his courses. “In the fitness nutrition course I teach, because nutrition is relevant to all human beings, illustrative and relatable stories are easy to come by, like the benefits and side effects for an athlete taking a given supplement. It gets trickier in the pure chemistry courses, which are much more abstract. Let’s say we’re looking at the structure of the periodic table. I can introduce small bits of history to show how its organization evolved the way it did, why some things were discovered early or much later, where elements get their names and symbols, etc. Those little colourful details anchor the abstractions into something concrete and relatable. Another technique I have found particularly effective is to scaffold into more abstract concepts, say the roles of different forces in the structure of the atom, by getting students to imagine what it would feel like to be the atom or electron.  That creates a multisensory, embodied way for them to connect with the abstract theoretical concept. The more senses you can incorporate, the more memorable and understandable the concept will be. Once we have that point of reference, we can kick the scaffolding away and can start to discuss the concept using the correct technical terms. You have to be careful, though – there is such a thing as too memorable an analogy, which can oversimplify the actual idea in an unhelpful way, but that doesn’t happen that often.”

I asked David if he could also share any memories from his many years of teaching. “One of the more impactful experiences I had was with a neurodivergent student who was struggling in the course, with one particular topic not connecting for them at all.  After one of the lectures, the student shared with me the approach they would take to solving this assigned problem, which was nothing like the strategy I had shared. I had been teaching for seven or eight years at this point, but what they explained to me was so novel and brilliant – I had never encountered it anywhere. It was an epiphany for me about neurodiversity and what a unique or distinct perspective can bring. I learned so much from that interaction about what students can offer you as an instructor if you’re willing to be open and listen, that can make you reconsider how you think and communicate.” Also meaningful for David are when students let him know about the impact the course had on them. “Every once in a while a student will tell me they started off really disliking the discipline, and now they’re switching to make it their major. That’s pretty special. I had a few instructors like that, too, who altered my trajectory in a meaningful way. Of course not everyone will connect with a course to that degree, but I still want to put enough into my teaching for students to feel like their success matters to me. I remember how supported I felt whenever an instructor did that for me.”

Finally, I asked Dave if he had any advice to offer new instructors coming to teach at the college. “I would say to appreciate the extraordinary degree of support that is available to them from the entire Camosun network and to plug into that within their department, within CETL, within the CCFA, and even in other departments. That support network helps us, as instructors, to in turn support our students and allows us to become our best much more quickly. What I love about Camosun is the organic human connection which I see here probably more than in any other organization I’ve been a part of. Camosun understands the significance of heart and the connection with the students, which makes all the difference.”

Susie is the best math teacher I’ve ever had. She uses a course pack that saves time during class, so we’re not spending half of class time copying the question down. The course pack covers everything we need to know and answers our questions as to why we do things a certain way. As engineers, we are always wondering “Why?”. She’s very thorough and explains every step. Her teaching appeals to every type of learner. She’s so compassionate to everyone and is always enthusiastic, which results in a positive learning experience even if we dislike the math we’re doing.

Susie has been a full-time faculty member in the Math and Statistics department since 2012, primarily teaching first year calculus courses for civil, mechanical and electrical engineering students, and was a recipient of a Teacher Recognition Award in 2025. “I attended the University of Victoria for grad studies, and as I was finishing up my PhD, I was thinking about employment. Through one of the math faculty at Camosun I met the chair of the department, who asked me if I would be interested in term teaching. So I started there until I became full-time.”

I wondered what Susie enjoys most about teaching. “I think it’s a good fit for my personality. As an extrovert, I feel energized being with people. In math, you have two options: you teach, or you do research. I feel like the research pathway is more for introverts because a lot of that work can be quite lonely. But I like the interaction with the students. Many students tell me that they enjoy college math a lot more than high school math because they are learning from someone who really likes the subject. And I love showing students that math can be fun, or at least not so terrifying.”

I asked Susie where students in her courses come from “Half of them are straight out of high school. The other half are older, some of them quite a lot older, people coming back to school because they want a career with a pension. The technology programs I teach for are short, which is appealing for people returning to school. I always have a lot of international students as well, although that’s changing right now. More recently we’ve had a lot of international students from South America, some of whom have completed engineering programs, so they come in strong.” Overall, Susie says only about one third of her students have taken some form of calculus before “so it can be a challenge trying to make the course interesting enough for the folks who understand the content, but also introductory enough for the students who don’t.” But because Susie’s students come from cohort programs, and see each other in all their courses, they get to know each other well which creates some good peer to peer support moments in her classes. “I see that happening often, especially in the second term, where weaker students work with strong students.”

I asked Susie what a typical class looks like for her. “The classroom setup is traditional, but I teach using a tablet instead of a whiteboard. I also use prepared course packs, which are skeleton lecture notes with the questions already typed out, so students can work either with a physical copy or a digital copy on their own device. For each topic, I start with foundational principles so that they have the background they need. Then we build the difficulty. I post the lecture notes on D2L, so if students choose not to take notes, they can find the notes online later.”  Susie started using D2L shortly before the pandemic hit. “I’ve been moving away from using textbooks.  I wanted to use textbook problem sets for extra practice, but I didn’t want students to have to pay for that extra practice. Since under Fair Dealing we can include up to 10% of a textbook in D2L, I scanned the problem sets and put them on D2L. I also wanted a place to put my lecture notes that would be easy for students to access, but not public.” And since D2L is the tool the college supports, it seemed like a natural move for Susie.

I was curious what Susie does to keep things fresh in her courses. “I feel like I haven’t been teaching all that long. Even though I’ve taught each of my courses multiple times, it doesn’t feel repetitive yet although I imagine it may at some point. Every time I teach a course, I take notes about how I could do something better or clarify something else and I try to keep an eye on what topics seem confusing to students so I can work to make them more accessible.”

I wondered as well if there were memories from her years of teaching Susie could share. “My courses are mostly about calculus, which engineering students usually enjoy, but they end with statistics, which those same students tend to resist. When I first started teaching statistics, students were getting bad marks, and the classes were not enjoyable because everyone was grumpy about the topic. So, over the years, I’ve worked on making statistics more accessible and making the questions more interesting and relatable for students, which has made it a more enjoyable experience for the students and for myself. Because it happened as a result of feedback from students, that was quite memorable for me.”

My final question for Susie was around what advice she might have for new faculty coming to teach at Camosun. “First, I would say try to start off with resources from your peers. I had lots of good material handed to me when I started. But as you gain more experience, make that material your own because when you teach from your own materials and your own ideas, it will feel more natural and creative as you find your voice as an instructor.”

“Professor Larry Lee is patient, charismatic, and creates great engagement in his class. He’s very polite, respectful, and forgiving when it comes to mistakes. He does a good job of explaining things in a way which is easily digestible. His interactive classes ensure learning is never boring. He has a natural ability to connect with students, making it easy to ask questions without hesitation. His humor and enthusiasm create a motivating learning environment. He’s well-organized, attentive, and deeply committed to his students’ success. His passion is undeniable, and his ability to inspire students is palpable. Professor Lee ignites a love for learning. He is very well liked by the students for this and a multitude of other reasons.”

Larry, a Teacher Recognition award recipient in 2025, has been a faculty member in the Chemistry and Geoscience department at Camosun since 2006. “I started teaching in 1999 at the University of Victoria (UVic) as a sessional instructor. From the time I was a graduate student, I knew that teaching was one of my passions because I enjoyed teaching labs and interacting with the students. At UVic, I started with the third year course Transitional Chemistry, then they offered me the opportunity to teach first year general chemistry and also a second year organic chemistry class. It was a first year general and the second year organic class. After a few terms at UVic, I taught at Selkirk College for one year then moved to Douglas College to teach two summer classes. Then I returned to UVic to be their co-op coordinator. Finally, when an opportunity came up at Camosun in 2006, I jumped at the chance to teach smaller classes so I could interact more with students.” And now, at Camosun, Larry teaches general chemistry, the college preparatory chemistry, first year transferable chemistry, and second year organic chemistry. Larry doesn’t just enjoy interacting with students when it comes to teaching, and he told me “I love everything about teaching. I love it when I’m making a difference in helping students succeed. And getting together with students and talking about chemistry and seeing that they’re interested in it is a huge delight.”

I wondered what a typical Larry class might look like. “While the classroom is traditional lecturing style, I’m trying to move towards integrating more student engagement. It’s challenging with our curriculum because it has to be university transferable, and because we have so many concepts to teach, the teaching tends to be more instructor writing on the board and students writing down what the instructor writes which is unfortunate. But that’s why I’m learning learn more about how to use tools in Adobe Creative Cloud to animate molecules and show how molecules interact to give students a better perspective on what I’m talking about. Then instead of writing things on the board, I can play an animation of what I’m talking about. So I’m trying to make classes more interesting and less passive.”

I wondered how Larry makes chemistry relevant for students. “There are so many real-life applications for chemistry. Everyone wants to know what different chemicals do, so in the lab we have hands on learning instead of simply memorizing concepts. In lab, they have to pay attention to detail and scientifically observe what’s happening. I think students enjoy gaining a clearer perspective of why we do what we do and relating that hands-on to the lecture material. And of course, we also talk about the real life applications of chemistry, for example, how atoms exchanging electrons (electrochemistry) applies to making batteries.”

Larry had mentioned using Adobe Creative Cloud tools to create interactive learning objects, and I was wondering if the pivot to online during COVID might have played a part in that move. “I was already preparing myself to create videos and online lectures before COVID because sometimes students miss a class and need to catch up but are afraid to ask other people for notes. During the pandemic I began to use Adobe Creative Cloud, since it’s supported by ITS, so I could present animations online and discuss them with students. I could have used animations and videos on YouTube, but I like to create my own instead of relying on someone else’s material and I want to continue with that because it’s more engaging, and students really enjoy it.”

Another initiative Larry has been engaged with is using Open Textbooks. “We learned from our associate dean what students could do if they did not have to buy textbooks. Even online versions of textbooks, which are cheaper than print textbooks, could represent a week of meals for a student. So, I explored OpenStax textbooks.” Larry found textbooks he could us on OpenStax but learned that it would work best if he moved the textbook information into D2L pages. “If you look at my D2L pages, I’ve been adding not just the information from the textbook, but also my own animations and drawings from Creative Commons to clarify points. When I ask students what they think of these notes, they say they are really helpful, so I want to continue building them (I’ve already created notes for three courses) although it is a lot of work.”

In addition to being able to contextualize open material into your D2L courses, one advantage to using open textbooks is the ability to edit them. “It’s easy to embed pictures, videos, even PhET simulations which are interactive science simulations (chemistry, biology, physics) into the open textbook content. So, everything is there in one place for the students.” Of course, there is one disadvantage to having everything in D2L as Larry notes. “As I built these pages out, I found that more students are missing the in person lectures. To encourage attendance, I tell students that class time will be used to discuss the material further and to go through more examples.” But for students who are sick and have to miss class, having the online notes available is a huge advantage.

Creating animations and integrating open textbooks have been keeping things fresh in Larry’s classes, and I was wondering what else Larry did to engage students. “We can always find ways to be more engaging and to find ways of supporting students to learn better and succeed. One thing I ask my students to do, for bonus points, is to let him know if they find mistakes in his D2L pages, for example grammar errors or points of confusion. It’s perfect because they become my second set of eyes and are developing transferable skills, like paying attention to details, which will be useful as they move forward into their careers.”

I wondered if Larry had some memories from his many years of teaching to share. “The best thing about teaching is learning from the students. Recently a student in class pointed out an easier way to solve a problem that I hadn’t considered. So, when I put the solution on D2L, I credited the student for mentioning this in class. When students shout out something I hadn’t thought about, that’s awesome. I also really like when students contact me at the end of the course to let me know I made a difference to them and when students worry about passing the class but end up with an A+.”

My final question for Larry was about what advice he might have for a new faculty member. “One thing I’m still working at getting to know other faculty members because there are so many smart people out there. You learn so much from interacting with others, learning from their experiences and expertise, sharing back with them, and I wish I could have coffee with everybody.”

Romeo demonstrates excellent teamwork, a strong work ethic, and commitment to continuous education. Romeo supports and empowers students by providing guidance, flexibility, opportunities to learn from each other, and setting goals tailored to each student’s needs. Romeo is approachable, well-prepared, and teaches with enthusiasm, making learning enjoyable. They have shown grace and adaptability in accommodating students during unexpected situations. Romeo arranges for guest lectures or tours of specialized units, providing students with broader learning opportunities, and maintains a strong rapport with fellow nursing instructors. Their willingness to step in whenever needed, highlights both their leadership and dedication to excellence, making them a valuable asset to the Camosun Nursing department.

Romeo, a recipient of a 2025 Teacher Recognition Award, is a fairly new faculty member at Camosun, who has been teaching in the Baccalaureate Science in Nursing (BSN) program since spring of 2023. “I’ve been a nurse since 2012 and am still practicing. I received my diploma in Ontario then completed my undergrad in nursing after that. I’ve worked in emergency departments across British Columbia and was a travel nurse for about two years during COVID. And in 2021, I moved to Victoria where I worked in the emergency department at the Royal Jubilee before becoming a post anesthetic recovery nurse. Then in 2023, I became an instructor at Camosun College starting as term then moving to continuing in August 2024. Pivoting into an educator role has been fulfilling and is helping me grow. I feel it’s time for me to share my experiences and the knowledge I’ve acquired over the years in nursing to the future generation of healthcare providers.”

I wondered what Romeo teaches at Camosun and got a surprise. “I’m actually in Whitehorse right now leading the Consolidated Practice Experience field school. It’s purely clinical five week program, and I have eight students with me. We are practicing clinical in medical surgical units in Whitehorse General Hospital. This is my first time doing the field school in Whitehorse in a different environment, different clinical setting, different staff, all of which are tricky to navigate. But the staff here have been amazing, and the students have been engaged in rich clinical experiences here and are gaining confidence. It’s been life changing.” Romeo was a travel nurse for two years, and I wondered if this experience in Whitehorse reminded him of those days. “I miss that part of my life. Working in a different place challenges your adaptability and flexibility. Whitehorse is new territory for me, and it’s been amazing.” And when Romeo is not in Whitehorse, he teaches clinical and lab courses, mostly in second year.

I asked Romeo what he enjoys most about the teaching experience. “I love the human connection and supporting students in their learning journey. I enjoy working through challenges to help students become more resilient, sharing knowledge, meeting students where they’re at, pushing them to enhance their nursing practice and develop their clinical judgment, helping them to become confident with the skills I teach them. I’m so happy I get to be part of that journey.”

I was curious what a typical Romeo classroom looks like. “Constructivism is the teaching philosophy that I strive for in my courses, meaning that students are in the driver’s seat of their learning, and I’m here to guide them, supervise them, facilitate learning, and help them to locate resources, especially in the clinical setting where it might be tricky because it’s not as controlled as a classroom setting. I love active learning strategies and integrate them into all my classes. I’ll demonstrate skills for them while they ask questions throughout the step by step process, giving them space to learn and to practice the skills. I also use interactive tools such as Mentimeter which is great for students who may not be comfortable speaking up. I integrate games, for example for reviews I run a jeopardy game. And I facilitate discussions, giving them space assess what they already know before I start the lesson.” Romeo’s lectures are very interactive as well. “For example, I’ll lecture for 10 minutes then pose a question either for discussion or reflection. I take time to get to know the students and how they prefer to learn as well as their accommodations to make sure they are supported and feel psychologically safe in the classroom.”

I asked if Romeo could talk a little about accommodations in his classes. “It’s a bit trickier in clinical because we’re dealing patients and there is not a lot of flexibility regarding deadlines. But for assignments, like their critical reflections, I let them discuss topics they want to delve into so it’s more meaningful for them. And I try to accommodate extensions as much as I can as long as they let me know.” Romeo also works hard when it comes to giving feedback to students. “As a new instructor, I’m still learning how to give students clear, specific feedback. And while I find students have great insight on what they did well and what they can improve on I know I need to be there to guide them and ensure safety to build their confidence. I tell them, I’m not expecting perfection, I’m expecting progress.” I asked Romeo if he has had mentors to help him in his own journey as an educator. “When I began as a new instructor, I had a mentor (her name is Sue) who was so supportive. Our department shares resources and we go through challenges with students together. The nursing department is such a supportive, empowering department.”

I wondered if, from his short time teaching, Romeo had some memories to share. “It’s watching students progress and seeing them gain confidence over time. I am so proud when they consolidate their learning from the two years they’ve been with Camosun, when they can look at a patient as a whole person and pull together what they have learned through theory classes and lab to build their clinical judgment as a nurse.” Romeo was certainly seeing that confidence in the students he was leading in Whitehorse. “To be a part of the Consolidated Practice Experience field school, students need to apply and have references from instructors in order to be selected. They need to be flexible and adaptable because they have to work with new staff in a new environment, with a new electronic health record system, a new demographic of patients, different diagnoses they may not have encountered.” And with the support of the doctors, nurses, and staff in Whitehorse, these students have been up for the challenge.

Finally, I asked Romeo what advice he had to give to anybody coming to teach at Camosun. “A lot of what we do as nurses in the education sector are similar to how we work as nurses in the health care sector, we just have to conceptualize it differently. For example, as a nurse we engage in patient education all the time. We are counselors and we support patients through difficult times. We wear those same hats as educators.” Romeo told me he wrote a paper for his master’s program about professional identity as nurses and educators. “There are six nursing roles we can reconceptualize into nurse-educator roles, using the framework of Hildegard Peplau’s Interpersonal Theory. First is the stranger role, meaning we are strangers to patients and need to create a psychologically safe environment for them. As educators we are strangers to students at the beginning of a class, so we must create and maintain a psychological safe environment in the classroom. One way we do this is to integrate trauma-informed pedagogy, meaning we take into account the experiences and past traumas of students. Second, we are a resource person. As a nurse, we provide resources to patients, so they are discharged safely. As educators, we help students locate resources to guide them in their learning. Third, we have a teaching role. We educate patients as nurses, and students as educators. We have a counsellor role, supporting patients and/or students through active listening and counseling. And we have a surrogate role, acting as parents or family when patients or students are away from their own families. Finally, we have a leadership role. We lead as nurses, and as instructors, we lead students.” Mostly, Romeo advises new instructors to not be afraid to become an educator because “many things we do as nurses translate well into the education role. And as a nurse educator, you’re helping more people on a larger scale because you are a part of the learning journey for students who will one day themselves make a difference.”

Megan embodies the qualities of an exceptional nurse educator. We are encouraged to think critically, ask deeper questions, and challenge ourselves to reach our full potential. Her patience, unwavering support, and belief in our abilities have been instrumental in building our confidence. She is approachable, compassionate, and understanding, yet maintains the level of rigor and professionalism necessary to prepare us for the demands of the nursing profession. She holds us accountable while creating a learning space where we feel supported and empowered. Her passion for teaching and genuine investment in our success make her everything one could hope for in a nursing instructor.

Megan is a faculty member in the Baccalaureate of Science, Nursing (BSN) program at the college, and a recipient of a Teacher Recognition Award in 2025. “I’m a registered nurse and worked for a while in the lung transplant program in Vancouver. When my partner and I moved to Victoria, I worked on some surgical units while trying to figure out what I wanted to do next and ended teaching for a semester at Camosun to see if it fit. I really enjoyed it, but I had this amazing student who asked me questions I couldn’t answer, so I realized I needed to develop my skills more.” At that point Megan completed an ICU program work began working at the Jubilee Hospital in December 2019. She worked there through summer, 2022 (through the COVID pandemic). One day, while working with a friend on a course project, “I thought back to the semester I taught at Camosun, about how much fun I had and how much I enjoyed working with students and I decided to go back to teaching.”

Now, Megan teaches primarily in the BSN program. “I’ve taught a little bit of everything for second year. I especially enjoy teaching the lab and I teach a clinical practice course on a surgical unit at Jubilee where I worked before – it’s been fun going back to that team again and bring students in. A lot of my students have ended up working on that unit, so I have seen them grow and develop.” And in Fall 2025, Megan became the program lead for the third year of the program.

I asked Megan what she likes most about teaching students. “I come from a long line of teachers and often try to do whatever my mom did because she’s an incredible teacher. I love finding ways to make something make sense to people and to work through something a student doesn’t understand to make it click. I really love the look students get when they do something they didn’t know that they could or handle something that terrifies them. That is what I love about teaching – just that moment where the student gets it. And you can see the whole world shift for them.”

I wondered what a typical Megan classroom looks like. “I’ve been fortunate to have had many great teachers, some of whom are now colleagues. I’ve borrowed a lot from watching them interact and how build relationships with students. I learned from my mom who used to say that teaching is 50% content delivery and 50% stand-up. I include a lot of problem solving and case studies in my teaching, giving students opportunities to work through them in different ways. So, very applied with a lot of small group work because when students work together, they learn from different perspectives. In my lab classes, we’ll talk through a skill, I’ll demo it, then it’s a lot of time practicing, getting hands dirty, working with students individually, in small groups, and tweaking the finer points of the skill as they go along.”

I was also curious about what kinds of assessments Megan has students working on in her courses. “The theory courses are meant to bring student to their licensure exams, meaning we do testing using the formats common in those license exams: multiple choice, matching, select all that apply, etc. We have also added case study type exams. This last year, in our health and healing course, they completed multiple case studies for practice. Then on their final exam, they had a nice long case study to work through.” Of course, Megan also teaches practical, hands-on courses. “In those courses we do skill testing. Sometimes they video record themselves engaging in the skill, then self-critique – I think it’s great for them think about their own practice – then we critique them as well. Other times they complete a skill pulled out of a hat in the moment, emulating clinical practice where you don’t know what to expect until you walk into the room.” I remembered when the BSN group moved to the video assignments during COVID and wondered how the students found them. “Some students really dig into it. They watch themselves, carefully critique, and make huge changes. They’ll say they didn’t realize what they were doing until they watched the video. Other students find watching themselves on video challenging. But the being able to see what you’ve done in the moment is more valuable than the embarrassment of watching yourself on camera.”

One thing Megan mentioned to me during our conversation was her excitement about the program going through a curriculum change due to her master’s in nurse education. “The problem-solving part of my brain loves curriculum development. It’s satisfying to figure out how course content will flow through 14 weeks. The other day Shannon Keyser (who I worked in the PN Bridge program as part of my practicum) and I sat in a room with a whiteboard and concept-mapped a new nursing research course. It was so much fun to sit and puzzle it out together.”

I asked Megan if she could share any memories from her teaching. “I had a student last fall, a good student, but not super confident prior, who walked into her patient’s room, a patient who was very sick, very upset, and trying to die. She and I worked through what was going on, why it was happening, what we were going to do about it, and how we were going to manage it. And she entered the room so calm and so collected in a way I hadn’t seen from a student in a long time. For me, being able to go in with the student and support her while watching her ability to calm the whole situation, it was beautiful. The patient ended up being fine because my student caught their issue early. She was on top of it. She was confident, communicated effectively, and did all the right things, with me being there to support her. Megan also loves simulation. “We do a lot of high fidelity Sim in the nursing program, and I got to co-write a simulation for the Practical Nursing to Nursing Bridge program, then run it with the students. It was so much fun, and I was able to watch that building of confidence in the students.”

My final question for Megan was about what advice she might have for new faculty at Camosun, knowing that she herself is quite new. “Find people to connect with, and someone you can ask dumb questions, but also realize your questions aren’t actually dumb. I have had such incredible mentors in my program and in our leadership, and I don’t think you get in a lot of other workplaces – I don’t think I would be here still teaching if I hadn’t had that mentorship and that support. So, ask for help, then become that support person for somebody else as you learn the answers. I’ve gotten also some incredible support from CETL, as well, working through how to use technology, etc. Everyone here is so generous with their knowledge and so willing to share.”

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.”