Tag: Camosun College

Artemis identifies as a Métis educator. “Camosun is the fourth post-secondary institution I’ve worked for and the one I’ve been at the longest. I started with the Community, Family, and Child Studies (CFCS) department in 2015, teaching a social justice course, which is one of my passions.” Eventually, Artemis became a fulltime continuing faculty member, then a new opportunity opened when Faye Martin, the Indigenous Support Coordinator, for what was then the School of Health and Human Services (HHS), retired. “I was asked to apply for her position, and I first said no because I was so inspired by Faye and was not sure I could offer what she had brought to the role. But I was asked again, by someone I respect, so I asked them to tell me why they thought I could do the job and what they would want me to do. Then a co-worked told me ‘You don’t have to be Faye; you just have to be you.’ I sat with all of those thoughts and prayed on it and then decided to apply.” Looking back, Artemis told me she is grateful she took on that role because it’s been an opportunity to pursue some institutional change. “Part of my role was to identify and reduce systemic barriers for Indigenous students, which, of course, reduces them for all students. That’s not easy work, but I enjoyed being able to do that.” Artemis says that one of the reasons she came to Camosun and has stayed here, is that the college has been a bit farther ahead of other institutions in terms of Indigenization. “The other part that’s great about being at Camosun is that most people who work here share similar values to me as well as the values posted on our website. And that collective passion for education is important to me.”

I asked Artemis what she enjoys most about working with students, both in teaching and in the Indigenous Support Coordinator role. “One thing that’s important to me is being able to support folks experiencing marginalization to feel empowered and to actualize their goals. That’s foundational for community colleges – they’re built on an empowerment model. They’re built on accessibility, inclusion, diversity, which is important to me. Part of the magic for me happens when I work with folks who experience barriers to success in their education, and I walk with them from where they start, to where they finish, whatever success looks like for them. It doesn’t necessarily mean they get a credential, but it might mean they’ve accomplished something that’s been really meaningful for them. I love when a student says to me, I never thought I could pass a college course, but I got an A.” Then there are what Artemis calls ‘popcorn moments.’ “That’s when I’m offering a new concept to a group of students, and they move from not knowing what I’m talking about to the moment where they shift and the lights go on. And when that happens, in my ears, I hear a sound like popcorn popping.” Finally, Artemis also loves that in her Indigeous Support Coordinator role she worked with many people from across the college.

Another aspect of working at the college Artemis enjoys is the opportunity for creativity. “Creativity in terms of how I teach, the materials I use, the kinds of assessments I use. Even the way I think about curriculum development, which is another one of my passions.” Creativity to Artemis also means looking at accessibility for students, for example, options for assessment. “I try to have at least one assignment in each course I teach, where students can either show me their learning in writing, or they can show me their learning through an expressive form of creativity that they choose. I’ve had songs written in my classes, poems, photo essays, paintings.” Artemis believes that this opportunity to be creative has a positive impact on how students bring themselves to class. “They’re also great to mark, and I also need to be creative in how I mark to be fair to the different forms of assessment, but this is one of the ways we can decolonize the colonial education framework that we work in.”

As well, Artemis says, “I think there are moments in assessment where it’s important to check each individual student’s capacity and awareness and learning, but there are also times where we can do group assessment. Students don’t love group projects, but particularly in my program’s field of work, group learning is so important because they need to learn how to work on teams.” Artemis has been exploring some ways to encourage teamwork. “Right before COVID, I gave a quiz, only worth maybe 10% of the grade, where students worked in groups at tables. I placed each student in their groups, being thoughtful about the range of capacities in each group, including capacities for the knowledge and capacities for art.” This particular test used to be multiple choice and short answer, but Artemis converted it into a group art project. “The whole class was assigned the same question, as a summation of what they learned in the course, specifically around supporting communities. I spread art supplies all over the room, and students choose what kind they wanted to use. They could write, if they wanted to use words, but they could also paint, draw, use pipe cleaners. And it was really beautiful to see their work. And what I saw in those groups was what I had hoped for: that the ones who still needed to learn these important concepts learned it through this group assessment activity.” Artemis told me that not only was it the first time an entire class left a test with big smiles on their faces, but she also saw people shine in different ways through their gifts. “They all contributed to the end result, and I could see how each of them shared their gift in the final outcomes. They all did great work and their grades for that assignment ranged from B’s to A’s, but the big wins were bringing creativity into assessment and making sure everyone left the course with what they needed.” Artemis also mentioned that she is herself an artist, and is currently studying expressive arts therapy, “combining my background in social work – human support, supporting people and communities – with art. And in the process of studying with art therapy educators, I’m learning how to bring art to education.”

Hearing this, I was reminded of the story Diane shared about the Self-Care Café, and I asked Artemis about her reflections on that work. “I’ve seen an incredible benefit for students and employees who stop by for the wellness that comes with that connection and the experience of having an opportunity to breathe for a minute. We need that space to recharge. The Café is now shifting to being led by students, who are excited because they’ve experienced it and know how beneficial it is. I also love to see that they do different arts and crafts, and that there are always lots of choices to do a little of this or a little of that or neither or both; offering choices is part of a trauma-informed approach.”

The importance of giving people space to breathe resonated with me and I asked Artemis if she had more thoughts about that. “As instructors, we are aware of the level of mental health challenges young people are experiencing, not surprising given the world that they’ve inherited, and I think the old way of doing education contributes to these challenges. There are so many opportunities for us to do things in a way that supports their wellness, including considering how many assignments we give them. One of the first courses I taught had 18 assignments. We are getting better at assessing learning outcomes more efficiently which contributes to student wellness.” Artemis also has a colleague who brings play into the learning space. “She has a gift to take a really dry subject that’s difficult to comprehend and turn it into play, so the students are laughing and having fun. I love that we can engage in learning with students in new, creative, and effective ways.”

While at of the time of writing this story, the position of Indigenous Support Coordinator in HHS had been eliminated, Artemis is hopeful that the work will continue through the Centre for Indigenous Education & Community Connections. In that role as Indigenous Support Coordinator, Artemis supported Indigenous applicants into HHS programs. “I was often their first contact for information on upgrading, etc., but I also helped them with confirming their Indigenous identity with the college. This is a sensitive area to work in and one we wish we didn’t have to do, because confirming identity can be difficult, because colonization has strategically found ways to disconnect people from who they are, from their families, from their lands, and from their nations.” Artemis also supported Indigenous students in HHS programs, the biggest group being in nursing. “There are 25 seats set aside for Indigenous students in the three nursing programs to increase the number of nurses who could support their own communities, other Indigenous communities, and communities in general.” Artemis emphasized that there is a great need for more Indigenous employees in all health and human services, so there are 12.5% of all seats across all HHS [now Health Sciences and Human Services – HSHS] programs set aside for Indigenous students. And since by fall 2025 HSHS will have 21 programs, there will be over 100 Indigenous students in HSHS. “I offer support for those students once they’re in the programs, and they can come to me with whatever they need. I either connect them with someone who offers that in the college or I support them myself. We will navigate experiences of racism, sometimes in classroom and sometimes that happens in community learning settings. I do my best to support them through the experience and help them respond in the way that they can feel heard.” Artemis also looks at the bigger picture. “If this is happening in the classroom, is there a way we can make changes to prevent that from happening in the future? That might be through employee education, classroom guidelines that students agree to, etc.” Another part of the work involves helping with curriculum development, exploring Indigenizing and decolonizing ways of teaching in the classroom, as well as examining how student supports can sometimes unintentionally do harm. “We’ve been looking at forms and processes and approaches, sometimes creating new ones, and sometimes talking through things as a team. It’s a big learning curve for some people, and our job as educators is to listen and take responsibility for engaging in learning outside of those conversations. Sometimes people think that students should be the one to explain what they need in terms of Indigenizing or decolonizing, but that’s not their job – we need to do that for each other.” And as a result of the realization that we needed to focus more on Indigenization and decolonizing as a college, Natasha Parrish and Artemis started the Anti-Racism and Decolonization Action Committee at the college. “That’s been really a great experience, not only because it brings like-minded folks together to support each other, to learn from each other, to inspire each other, but also because we’ve engaged in projects that have made some difference in the college.”

Finally, as the Indigenous Support Coordinator, Artemis offered learning circles focused on the program area of the class she was visiting. “Learning circles are Indigenous pedagogy, or Indigegogy. They are opportunities for everybody, me, the instructor, and all the students to sit together, learn with each other, and share with each other. We usually start by introducing ourselves in a cultural way, which includes one’s family’s cultural or ethnic identity. Everyone takes turns speaking and everyone listens so that instead of sharing from our minds, we’re invited to share from our hearts. After introductions, we’ll have some sharing about a topic as it relates to the students’ field of study, for example colonization, the Indian Act, trauma-informed approaches to working with people, diversity, and Indigenous identities. And because I work in health sciences and human services, we often talk about healing and wellness and medicines as well.” Artemis is hoping she can still engage in learning circles in HSHS even as she moves back to a teaching role.

I asked Artemis what memories she could share from her years at Camosun. “There are so many like the Pit cooks and the Orange Shirt Day ceremonies. Every year in September, there’s a new student welcome for Indigenous students that includes an uplifting ceremony. The Indigenous student awards is also an uplifting and amazing experience. Also, anytime I get to sit in a classroom with an Old One (Elder) and all the experiences we have on the land with the knowledge keepers and the old ones – those are really good moments.”

As our conversation came to an end, I asked Artemis what advice she might have for new faculty coming to Camosun. “Know that there’s more room for creativity and doing things differently than you might imagine. And if you can find a mentor, that really helps, especially with unraveling the mystery of Scheduled Development. Having boundaries is critically important, and it’s okay to say no to some things, even though that can be hard when you’re on probation. Find ways to connect and build relationships with people even outside of your department and school. And remember that the Indigenous student centers of Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen are open spaces, and people are always welcome to come and connect with Indigenous students and employees at the college.”

Artemis had some final thoughts for us all to consider. “First, we’ve done some really good work around Indigenization and decolonization at the college, but we need to go beyond course content. I would like to see us working to Indigenize and decolonize our policies and procedures, departments, leadership, governance, all of it. And finally, if you have passion for something and you see a need for it, there’s so much opportunity for anyone at the college to shine in their own leadership – to start something, create something, connect with like-minded people, to just do it. We often think there are far more limitations on what we can do than there actually are, and in fact, the sky’s the limit.”

Katie, a recipient of an Open Education/ZTC Recognition award,  a Teacher Recognition award, and the Arts and Science Award for Teaching (2023,) has been teaching Anthropology at Camosun for almost 10 years, She is also chair of the Social Sciences Department which consists of the following programs: Anthropology, Geography, Gender Sexuality and Women’s Studies, Political Science, Sociology, and Social Work. When she told me she is a forensic anthropologist by training, I was intrigued. “I think forensic anthropology is about discovering people’s stories and returning them home to their loved ones. Specifically, my PhD research examined the effects of fire on bones and explored how we can tell a person’s story from burned skeletal material.” Katie said that she (like many of us) had read forensic anthropology mystery books like those of Kathy Reichs prior to entering the field, but she says her focus today is different from where she started. “I used to think it was cool to look at a bone and figure out what happened to the person. But now I think about who that person was – about their social identity, their humanity, their personhood. I recently developed a class called The Science of Identity where we talk about biological identity (our DNA, our fingerprints, our skeleton) and our social identity. When we’re trying to do an identification, we’re collecting a lot of data on the biological identity, but the point is to find out who that person is as a human, and who they’re connected to. Biological data can tell us what a person ate when they were four, but it doesn’t tell us who that person is.”

Katie, like many faculty members I have talked to, stumbled into teaching. “During my PhD studies, I thought I should teach a bit. But when I started teaching, I hated it. While teaching was terrifying, I knew that if I kept teaching, I would get better at it and would enjoy it.” Over time and with practice, Katie gained confidence in her teaching and is currently working on the Provincial Instructor Diploma Program (PIDP). “In the PIPD, I am collaborating with colleagues who don’t have as much teaching experience as I do and I wonder, when did that happen?”

I wondered what Katie likes most about teaching. “Every semester I meet a new group of students with a new set of needs, a new set of challenges, and a new way of doing things, and I feel like I know nothing again. But from my ten years of experience, I know that you’re always going to feel like you don’t know what you’re doing.” But the students are only part of the fun. “I have the joyful, amazing privilege of working with two of the best people in the college in terms of their personhood, their culture, their community, their support: Nicole and Tara in Anthropology. They are the best primates (or, as we three together are sometimes known, trimates) for creating a team where we can lean on each other strengths, push each other, and share ideas and resources with each other.”

Katie and her Anthropology colleagues support each other to teach both in-person and online courses. With regards to teaching asynchronous, Katie feels she has grown a lot as an online instructor but is always trying to improve that skill set. “Right now, I’m rewriting most of my online class because while it worked last year, this year it’s not working as well with a different group of students who have different expectations.” And she will share what she learns with her colleagues, just as they share with her what they are doing in their classes. “Nicole does more applied stuff in her class, so I can piggyback on her ideas when I need to do applied stuff, and when she takes on the online class for me while I’m chair, she will take what I’ve been doing and build that into her own material. Nicole can turn something into an applied in class activity by blinking at it, while Tara can explain those complex cultural connections and nuances in ways I hadn’t thought of. But once I learn how she does it, then I can too.”

Speaking of being the chair, I wondered how Katie envisioned that role for herself and her colleagues. “For me, it’s about trying to create a community – a space of openness and sharing – which cannot be done by one person but needs to be set up and established as a culture of connection and engagement. I can try to model that behavior as an individual, but unless it’s mirrored by others in the group, it’s not going anywhere. It’s difficult because each program in the Social Sciences department has its own culture, expectations, personalities, routines, and ways of doing things, and it’s very difficult to break out of those. I can only lead and be a chair in the way that I naturally am.” But part of the job of a chair leading such a diverse group is to “learn how each of their disciplines work, as well as how they make decisions, coordinate, and work, and ask what they need from me to support them. And finally, to create space for them to come together, especially for my colleagues who are a discipline of one.”

Turning back to her teaching, I recalled that during a recent Teaching and Learning Community of Practice session, Katie brought up the challenges of creating a culture of academic integrity particularly in online classrooms, and I was curious about her thoughts on this. “In my PIDP courses I explored this idea, but I don’t know what that answer is. One suggestion I came across was to address an incident of academic integrity with the whole class, not just with an individual, especially in an asynchronous online space, so you can address it as a group. But the biggest challenge with online is building relationships and community where you can have conversations like this.” Katie understands this challenge, not just as an online instructor, but also as an online student in the PIDP program. “The PIDP class I’m taking right now is about cooperation and collaboration in a college classroom and about building relationships: student to student, peer to peer relationships, student to instructor which I think is the biggest challenge with online. Many of the conversations we have in this class revolve around building long-term relationships and investments in working together. But what if building those relationships and collaborations becomes a hoop people have to jump through? For example, my current PIDP class partner works, has kids, and is taking this class because it’s the last one they need to take before their capstone. Life is busy, and even when one is committed to their learning, it’s still difficult to do collaborative work.”

Considering options of bringing the best of online and in-person together, I asked Katie if her department, Social Sciences, was exploring offering blended courses. “We are increasing the number of blended offerings in social science. At first, it was only geography courses, but then I ran a blended course myself last year and we have more instructors interesting in trying blended. We do have to figure out how to communicate to students, though, to ensure they know they’re signing up for a blended course. I’m excited for blended because it provides a good mix of giving students less scheduled time in class, while focusing on relationship building and the working with each other during that class time. In my blended class, the students talked to each other way more than I’ve ever seen before, starting the labs talking about the readings and asking each other questions, and engaging in peer-to peer-teaching in the online space – but they needed the physical scheduled in-person space to make that happen.”

We then moved the conversation to some of the ways Katie has been supporting students, namely the use of H5P and running Zero Textbook Cost courses. “I just created my 100th H5P object to support student engagement in my asynchronous classes. I know from a pedagogical perspective, it’s good to include something active for students to do, even if not everyone completes them. H5P activities also provide different ways to access and apply information. In my in-person classes we do a lot of think-pair-share and other activities, and H5P turns those activities into interactives for students in the online space.” In addition to creating H5P objects, Katie has worked to move her courses to Zero Textbook Cost (as have her Anthropology colleagues.) “There are a number of different reasons we’ve done this work. One is that, especially in biological anthropology, the content changes all the time as new discoveries are made, so textbooks become out of date very quickly. Also, I have a lot of students in my 200-level class who are not going to carry on in biological anthropology – it’s an elective that looks interesting to them. And I don’t want to burden them with additional cost for a textbook that won’t be a part of their continued education.” Luckily for Katie there was an open textbook that worked for her course. “The nice thing about an open textbook is that I can pick and choose the parts I want to cover and the students can pick and choose how they interact with it, because you can listen to it, you can move it on the screen, or you can download the PDF.” And in the Anth 104 course, they have gotten rid of the textbook entirely “partly because we weren’t consistently requiring students to read it and partly because it’s hard to learn from a textbook because it can be dull and bland and does not represent the voices of the instructors of the course. So, instead, Tara and Nicole have started building content in D2L web pages, adapting material from the online course, and adding a glossary and key terms.”

I wondered if Katie had any memories from her years of teaching to share. “Honestly, the richest learning for me is where I am learning with them, we’re collaborating, and we’re figuring something out together. One example is in the labs where you’re problem-solving alongside students, figuring out the answers based on the facts we know.” Another memory Katie had involved community engagement with middle school students. “A few years ago, my evolution of diversity students built evolution activities for students from Lansdowne Middle School who came up to the college to engage in the activities and ask our students questions. It was so awesome to see the Camosun students’ confidence grow in the role of experts.” And the most recent example Katie discussed was working on the Camosun Bear with Nicole where “Nicole and I shared our experience, asking questions of each other, learning alongside the students.”

Once Katie had mentioned The Camosun Bear, I had to hear more. “It’s really Nicole’s bear and Nicole’s story, and I had the wonderful opportunity to jump in. Nicole was gifted a bear carcass, by an Indigenous colleague in 2021. Nicole worked with Facilities to dig a hole on campus and bury the remains. Then we forgot about it until one year, students did an archaeological survey to try to find where it had been buried. Then last year, using archaeological principles, Nicole’s archaeology students went through the process of excavating the bear skeleton. During the excavation, the Camosun preschoolers came to visit the bear as did Indigenous Studies (IST) cohort students. Sandee Mitchell sang the bear awakening song and the IST students taught us many of the protocols for how we should care for the bear during the excavation process. And then my forensic students cleaned and labeled the skeleton. And now the Camosun bear is part of our teaching collection.” And in addition, Nicole made a video of this whole community-engaged learning experience which is available at Unearthing the Camosun College bear, along with a more extensive story about the project.

My final question for Katie, after so many fascinating and exciting insights into her time as a faculty member at Camosun, was around advice she has for new colleagues. “You’ve got to teach your way. Your colleagues may inspire you, but nothing is more effective than you teaching with your authentic voice. You can steal ideas – I’m great at stealing ideas from other people – but trust your gut. The best teaching in your classroom will always be your own.”

“Tom exhibited excellence in his approach from the very first day of class, where he explained that his most important value is kindness. He followed through with his promise of kindness each time we saw him, providing relevant examples of effective communication, and encouraging us to care about clear communication. He selected diverse material, for a very mixed-demographic class. Tom was extremely clear in his delivery, varying lessons to meet the needs of both ESL students and students who spoke native English, without resulting in one group or the other being “left out”. He created many opportunities for practice of during class and was entirely non-judgemental with feedback. I’ve spoken to many students who’ve taken Tom’s class, and each one has recounted similar opinions.”

Tom, a 2025 recipient of a Teacher Recognition award, has been a faculty member in the English department for seven years. He taught English at Lambton College in Ontario before moving to Victoria to complete his master’s degree in contemporary American literature, after which he came to Camosun, first as a tutor in the English Help Centre. Then he says, “an opportunity came up to fill-in for a sick colleague, after which I slowly ingrained myself into the department. I’ve now been full-time for about three years teaching mostly English 151 classes,” adding that while he teaches mostly composition classes, he also enjoys teaching technical writing.

I wondered what Tom enjoyed most about teaching. “I was raised in a family of teachers and never wanted to become one myself. But then, I started working for the Learning Disabilities Program at York University, teaching people how to use technology, and realized that I had become a teacher. What I like best about teaching are the interactions and getting to know the students. Connection with students is central to my teaching philosophy. Obviously, we’re here to deliver knowledge and help people build skills, but I also try to build kindness into the classroom. I want these people who are with me for 14 weeks to look back fondly on the experience, and I want them to be able to take a deep breath and relax when they come into the classroom.” Tom says those interactions are what keeps him coming back even when he is tired. But he also recognizes that the communication skills he teaches go beyond the classroom or a student’s program and are “skills that will make their lives better overall.”

Knowing that English 151 brings in a wide diversity of students I asked Tom who those students are. “It depends on the course, but for the most part, I have a mix of students. Some are just about to turn 18 or experiencing their first time away from home. Some are mature students coming back for a specific program. I teach engineering students, business students, criminology students – it’s all over the map, which is one of the invigorating challenges we have at Camosun.” But, while diversity in the classroom can be challenging, it also brings opportunity, especially in courses that teach communication skills. “Students learn that while other people don’t think the same way, we need to find ways to communicate with each other. One thing we talk about in my classes is how we need to rethink ‘argument.’ Argument is not just combative but can be a sharing of different ideas with the purpose of coming together to change how we think. And even if we experience complex emotions when someone thinks differently from us, we can learn to stop, think, and then engage productively with that argument, which is a skill that’s particularly important as we try to navigate everything happening in the world today.”

While Tom does not integrate formal debates in the classroom, he does have students engage with other perspectives, usually in a light way. “For example, early on, I have them debate whether a hot dog is a sandwich, because people have very specific views on this silly little thing. Other times, a topic will arise and I think it would be fruitful to discuss, or we have a reading that lends itself to class conversation. And part of my job is to be there in the room to make sure everyone’s feeling safe.”

I asked Tom if he teaches in-person or online. “I prefer being in person because I like being in the classroom with the students. In my opinion, there’s no substitute for that in-person interactive, iterative learning process.” At the same time, Tom is curious about blended (a blend of in-person and online) teaching. “I have no experience with it, but it seems like an intriguing way to maximize the benefit of both modes. Especially for English, where there are times when you have to sit with a new idea for awhile before you really understand it.”

Tom recently was also a recipient of a 2025 Open Education/ZTC Recognition award, so I turned our conversation to the open textbook Tom created for his English 151 course. “During my Scheduled Development (SD) time, I developed a supplementary grammar text for use in all of my courses, although so far, I’ve only used it in English 151. I can only discuss a certain amount of grammar in class, and I wanted a resource students could use to fill in gaps without it costing $130.” Tom set up an account on the BCcampus Pressbooks site, so he had a place to build his textbook. “I found the process of creating a Pressbook easier than I thought it would be – there are a couple of guides I found useful, but the interface is pretty intuitive. What I’ve done is create an online grammar textbook divided into 13 chapters containing a combination of my own write-ups, and I’ve used H5P to create different types of grammar questions – multiple choice, matching, clickable graphics, etc. This way, I can keep the explanations short and encourage students to engage in the material. And it’s free for them.” Tom is hoping to carve out more SD time to expand on his textbook. “I’d like to add a module on rhetoric and to find a way to integrate the social annotation tool, Hypothes.is, because rhetoric is a concept that I find some people understand quickly, where others need a more support.”

In addition to creating an open textbook, Tom also runs Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses. “All of my course readings are either available publicly online (set up as a link in D2L) or are fair use documents I distribute in class. I don’t have a course pack anymore. I do, however, have to be careful to ensure that none of the online documents are behind paywalls. And I’m constantly finding new sources to work with.”

I wondered what students think about not having to purchase course materials in Tom’s classes. “When I let them know that there are no textbook costs, they like it. Students were never happy having to buy a giant textbook. I still use excerpts from traditional textbooks, but now there’s no pressure on me to make sure I use every single part of the textbook, even in places where it doesn’t make sense. In addition, if I am on the fence about a reading, I can change it and students haven’t sunk a whole bunch of cost into something that doesn’t work, so it’s a win-win.”

In addition to the cost benefits for students, Tom feels that creating his own textbook holds huge advantages for him. “Using Pressbooks allows me to tinker, and I’m an absolute tinkerer. I feel like I have a bit more professional agency because I am fully in control of the material. I can link chapters into D2L, I can hide chapters students don’t need to read, I can move things around. It gives me a lot of flexibility and I don’t see any downside, aside from the labour set it up initially. And now I don’t have to worry about creating course packs and meeting those deadlines. And finally, I can write in the level of language that you think will work best for students or for how I will be exploring the topics.”

Moving back to teaching, I asked if Tom could share any memories from all the classroom experiences he has had over the years. “The things that stand out to me are the trajectories of students. I was in an airport looking at a stranger who gave me this guarded look, and I thought, that’s the look I get on the first day of class from new students. But over time you discover all these things about them and by the end of the term, I find myself genuinely feeling sad that I’m saying goodbye to these people I’ve known for 14 weeks. In the end, I think I think they learn better, and I teach better, when we have a connection.” And getting to know new students every term keeps Tom’s teaching interesting. “Every term I meet new people with different stories to share. We’re working on the same skills every term, but we’re doing it in different ways which is invigorating.”

As our time together was nearing an end, I asked Tom what advice he had for new faculty members coming to teach at Camosun. “Reach out to the people on your team – being bashful doesn’t help anyone. I actually didn’t have to do a lot of reaching out because people reached out to me. I’ve got great colleagues. Also, go slow in the classroom and take your time. It can all seem very fast paced and high stress the first time you teach something, and you probably won’t do as good a job on your first time through a course as your tenth. Give yourself a break and remember that you’re there for a reason.” And as for more practical advice, similar to the advice Tom gives students preparing for oral presentations, is to rehearse. “A week or a few days before the start of the term, I go into all of my classrooms to get a sense of the space. I’ll stand up at the front and imagine what it would be like to speak to the people here so that the first day of class I already know that the computer’s at an awkward desk, that I have to pull the mouse cord out, so I’m not having to fiddle in front of the class. For a first day’s piece of advice, that’s definitely it.”

Matt began teaching at Camosun in 2014 after completing a master’s degree in economics and working for a start-up company doing data analysis for mobile advertising. These days he teaches primarily statistics and economics courses in the Economics, Quantitative Methods and University Transfer Business department.

After over 10 years of being here, I wondered what Matt enjoyed most about the teaching experience. He told me that one reason teaching appealed to him was that it is not a nine-to-five, isolated at your desk job, but he says “[e]ven when was young, I enjoyed teaching my younger brother how to write the alphabet, testing him, and then grading his work. And looking back at my life, I can see all these small moments that have contributed to why I’m here and why I enjoy being here. I also think it’s the joy of interacting with different kinds of people I wouldn’t normally interact with. In this job, I get to learn about students’ experiences in their own lives which is something I look forward to every semester. Even though the content I teach rarely changes, the students make it fresh and unique every single semester.”

Because I had heard accolades from other faculty members about how he supports his students, I asked Matt what that support looks like in his classrooms. “I don’t think I do anything differently from other instructors.” But Matt notes that it has not been that long ago since he was a student, so he wonders if its “the similarity in our ages that brings a sense of trust, where they feel supported right away. I tell them I am not trying to trick them, and if they follow along with the process, they should do just fine – but I’m always there to support them.”

Because many of the students Matt teaches are taking his courses as transfer electives, I wondered how he worked with those students who may have a fear of mathematics and numbers. “I often hear from students who have pushed one of my courses to the end of their program because of their fear of numbers. I like to think I support students over that barrier by using examples that relate to their day-to-day lives, for example, examples related to Tik Tok, Instagram, Spotify, etc. If they find something they can relate to, I think that often helps a lot of the students get over their fear of numbers.” In addition, Matt has heard that his teaching approach, to “go through things slowly and intentionally, and address particular exercises several times to ensure every single student in the class has that same foundation before moving into more involved complicated material, works very, very well, especially in that introductory course.”

I asked Matt if he could provide a specific example he has used in class. “One previous exam question was related to Taylor Swift and ticket prices, asking students to discuss what percentage of people will pay X dollars compared to Y dollars, for example. A lot of students understand expensive Taylor Swift concert tickets, so when I ask them to link that concept to statistical concepts, it becomes less theoretical.” Matt says he provides examples like this in most of the exercises in his statistics course. “And in my sports economics course, most of my exercises are relevant to North American sports, for example, basketball, football, hockey, baseball, soccer, because most of the students taking that course are aware of teams like the Los Angeles Lakers or the Vancouver Canucks when I bring them into the discussion. I think that can get them over those initial barriers, by finding ways to relate economics back to sports. That’s how I try to make things as relevant as possible.”

Many other instructors have noted that their experiences during COVID taught them lessons about how to be more flexible in their teaching, and I wondered if the same held true for Matt. “I think I am now more accommodating and flexible with examinations and how I grade, trying to recognize that there is more to the student than being successful in my class. I understand that many of them take other courses, work part-time or full-time jobs, so I give them a lot of time to complete specific tasks in the course. For example, instead of quizzing students at the end of each week, topic by topic, I often give them several weeks, maybe even a month, to complete several of these quizzes, giving them an opportunity to complete them at their own pace. Many students work through them when they have extra time, but they don’t feel pressured to submit something they may not have put their best effort into because it’s due at the end of the week.” Since COVID Matt has also been providing all his students, including those in his in-person courses, with course materials in D2L. “Essentially, many students can now choose how they complete my course. Even if they sign up for the face-to-face version, I still make available to them recorded lectures that are near identical to the experience they would get in class. Some students do rely solely on these recorded lectures, but the majority find that the face-to-face experience is still superior to the recorded version of it. I try to provide them with as much content as possible, and it’s up to them how and when they reference it.”

Matt told me a bit about the students he has had over the years. “When I started teaching, many of the courses were an even a mix of domestic and international students. But for few years after COVID, almost all of the students in my courses were international students. But now I am seeing more domestic students again.” But, given that he teaches primarily service courses that lead into courses required by various programs, Matt doesn’t see many of his students again. “After they take my class, I may see them strolling around in the hallway, getting to their other classes. But there’s handful of students I run into downtown, or who connect with me through LinkedIn to tell me that they’ve found a new job or something like that. That’s kind nice that they keep in touch.”

I asked Matt how, after 10 years, he keeps his teaching fresh. “I always change up the examples I present in class to make them as relevant as possible. Last semester, Moo Deng the hippo was popular, so I used her in one of my examples. In my economics of sports course, I always have to update the material if there are changes in team venues, team names, coaches, etc.” In the course he teaches to sport management students, he has them research their favourite teams for their term project which gives the students agency but also means variety for Matt as well. “A lot of the students have found that project to be interesting, because they take the theory they’ve been taught and apply it to a team they are interested in. Most of the time, students choose teams like the Vancouver Canucks, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Dallas Cowboys. But I also see students (often international students) choosing European soccer teams like Barcelona, and Real Madrid, which they find more relevant to their interests, and some other students explore golf, cricket, volleyball, or even Formula 1 Racing.”

Finally, I asked Matt what advice he might have for new instructors starting out at Camosun. “I would say be flexible, be accommodating, and don’t assume that how you’re delivering the material is the best for all for all your students. Every single semester, every single year, I look back and reflect to see what I can do better – there are always ways to improve.”