Tag: teaching and learning

Dan is an instructor with passion. He teaches with enthusiasm and in return his students learn with eagerness. I am in all 3 of his classes this semester and all 3 are my favourites. He turns mundane topics into something enjoyable for every single person in the class and he has inspired me to harbour my inner “nerd”. He is dedicated to knowing what he teaches and makes sure every student understands his lessons. He heavily encourages building a community in his classroom and I’ve never felt more comfortable to voice my opinion. On top of that I made a lot of friends through his class! I love Dan and he deserves the highest recognition possible. Thank you for being an inspiration to me Dan!

Dan, a recipient of multiple Camosun Teacher Recognition awards, has been a faculty member in Social Sciences at Camosun, teaching all the Political Science courses (as the only Political Science instructor at the college right now) since 2012. Well, he told me he was first here in 2007 for two years before moving to Okanagan College for three years and then coming back in 2012.

Prior to coming to Camosun, Dan finished his master’s degree in political science, in a multidisciplinary program. But he says, “I had no intention of becoming a college instructor. I’d been very active politically when I was in university, even ran as a candidate in a provincial election when I was in my mid 20s, and ended up working in government in Victoria at the legislature.” Eventually he received a “real” job offer at the legislature which eventually led to a ministerial assistant job until he was let go after an election. “I then got my MA after which I followed another passion of mine: snowboard instructing.” Eventually Dan became the director of the snowboard school, a position he held for three years. “It was through snowboard instruction I came to realize that I love teaching. I really cared about the pedagogy and the learning, and there was lots of great pedagogy and learning to do. Then, as a supervisor, I trained instructors how to teach better, how to connect with students, how to organize your classes, how to deal with challenges, etc. It became clear to me that while I enjoyed academics, it wasn’t my passion. That my passion instead lay with teaching.”

Eventually Dan and his partner moved to Victoria, and they saw an ad for a teaching job at Camosun. “I had been building a college resume: I had the academic credentials, I had practical work in my field, working thousands of hours on various campaigns, and I had a passion for teaching and pedagogy. Then when I got to Camosun, I couldn’t believe I was here. I met lots of great people and sponged off them, starting with Tara and Nicole (Anthropology faculty members) who were across the hall from me and were my first real mentors. I couldn’t have asked for better exemplars of what it is to be a great college teacher.” So, Dan dug into his new career, teaching “introduction to political science, Canadian governance, Canadian government, Canadian politics, as well as a variety of second year courses that include international conflict, municipal governments, political ideas for change, and digopolitics.”

I asked Dan what he enjoys most about teaching. “I like seeing people get it – the joy of seeing someone discover something new about themselves and building confidence doing something they didn’t think they could do. Helping students through that transformative discovery, to see them grow as human beings is, for me, the most gratifying experience of teaching.” In addition, Dan enjoys the process of learning to become a better teacher. “I learned from Tara and Nicole, then worked with all the folks at CETL, and I enjoy the process of becoming skilled in my craft.” And Dan continues to learn and keep up with new ways to keep things fresh in the classroom. “In some ways it’s frustrating to try and keep up, but I don’t want to ever come into a class without a little tingle of excitement and something to keep me fired up.”

On that note, I asked Dan what he does to keep things fresh in his classes. “I get my students involved in their classroom. I have done class constitutions for years, although how I do it is a little different now. I don’t want it to be me pouring ideas into their heads but want them to feel like they are a part of their learning.” Dan has also tried a variety of strategies, including technology, to support teaching and learning in his classes. “For example, I’ve explored the potential of 3D viewing and virtual reality. My assessments have evolved, as have my expectations of what it means to be a teacher. Initially, I thought my job was to teach the entire textbook, which is pretty common for newer instructors. But I now understand that my first job is to start a fire for students to join. And that fire is curiosity. Curiosity about learning, about the world, about how we ask good questions.” Dan notes that some students don’t enjoy the process of learning but says “I want to let them know that learning can be amazing, although it’s up to them to find their fire. I can provide the spark, and I can bring them to the fire, but they have to be the ones to carry it away. And I hope that my enthusiasm and curiosity will draw them in. When a class is really humming, I barely have to do anything and it’s the students who are building the fire.”

After building a fire, Dan says his next job is to build a community. “When I started, building community felt important, but wasn’t something I was ready to manifest. Now it’s front and centre from the first day of classes, right from how I set up the classroom – as a horseshoe, so people are sitting together. I used to think that part of my job was for students to get to know me. Now, I want them to learn about each other.” Dan says he is famous for using name tags in his classes, for the whole term. “I want them to know each other’s names, and I want them to build friendships. For me, the most important space at the college is the classroom where we can create community.”

Finally, Dan says his third job is to support student to build skills outside of the subject he is teaching. “From self awareness, problem solving, essay writing, critical thinking, getting your apostrophes correct – there’s a range of skills that I’m teaching through the vehicle of political science” which is what he calls his fourth job because “these foundational skills are much more important than one discipline.”

During this discussion, Dan mentioned the impact developing these skills can have on students, and I wondered out of all the strategies he has employed, what has made the most impact. “It’s hard to say because I feel like sometimes the impact won’t be felt for a while. When I think of the very best classes I took as a first year student, I don’t necessarily remember what they offered academically. What I remember is my philosophy teacher dragging me into the cave of Socrates and being engaged by the way he constructed that story. So, I think it goes back to curiosity, community, self worth, sense of growth, transformation – those are what I hope students get in time.” In addition, Dan sees challenges as also impactful. “One of the aspects of community is that they see they are not alone in their struggles. Of course, struggle is part of what they signed up for. I build my courses to bring students to the fire, but also to ensure they do the work to meet the minimum standards to pass. This is tough for me because I want to bring the best out in all my students, but there has to be rigor. So, I sometimes struggle sometimes with finding the right balance.” Dan adds that in this age of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), finding that balance has become even more challenging. “Someday we’ll be able to learn from using GenAI, but right now I feel like I’m throwing rocks at it. But that’s one of the goals as well as one of the challenges, and I know I’m not alone in that challenge.”

I was curious now, what a Dan Reeve class might look like. “I set up early then, before class starts, I try to get a banter going. I don’t like to walk into a silent classroom, so I try to light the fire right away. In some classes we play a game where we wager how many students are coming to class. Each student takes a guess, and then we wait and see how many students show up.” At the beginning of the term, Dan lets students know they are welcome even if they are late. “It doesn’t matter if they are 2 minutes late, 10 minutes late, half an hour late, I want them in class. And I always welcome them in, whenever they arrive.” Each one of Dan’s classes has its own culture. “There could be inside jokes we build together. In second-year classes, which are smaller, we do a regular check-in. In larger classes I pose anonymous questions halfway through, like, what’s working for them? What is one thing they would improve for this class. What is one thing they’re proud they’ve accomplished? What is one thing they can improve upon?” The idea, Dan says, is always to build the “us” in the class.

Things in Dan’s class have changed from his early teaching days. “When I first started, I would try to cover 50 slides a week. Now I try to make my slides minimalist, with essential words only and lots of visuals. I’ve decided it’s better to teach as I ask them to do – say more about less. I also use reading quizzes as an overview at the start of each week. So, hypothetically, students come to class having read or scanned the material, then instead of covering 25 things over the course of two lectures, I cover a few things in greater depth. What I want to us to do, especially in my first year courses, is instead of asking “what is it?” asking “how does it work?” and “why does it matter?” so we can connect the pieces to a larger story.” So, in a first-year class, Dan will first ask students to recall what they discussed in the previous class. “Then I’ll ask, how does it work, give them some space to ponder, then ask why does it matter?” Overall, Dan’s approach is “a mix of lecture, conversation, discussion, and lots of pair/shares, then over time guiding them to a point where he will put up a slide, and have them explain the ‘what, how, and why’.” Which Dan says is the same approach he took when he taught snowboarding.

Over the years, Dan has developed many innovative assessments strategies for his courses, but since GenAI came on the scene has experienced challenges similar to those faced by many instructors. “Seven or eight years ago, I finally got rid of all of my quizzes, except for the weekly reading quizzes, and moved to essays and group work. I was so happy. And for a five-year window, it was great. Then, ChatGPT appeared and I had to adapt. So, all my take home essays/finals became in-class essays and in some of my first year classes, I had to reinstate quizzes because some students were using ChatGPT to write their essays. They would do enough to pass, but they wouldn’t have done any meaningful learning in the course. I was saddened by this, but I don’t know what else to do.” Dan also wondered if he should keep giving his reading quizzes. “I ask my students every term if I should keep them, and many students comment that they help them stay on top of things. I also know that some students are using ChatGPT to complete them, but I’ve decided to keep them for those students who tell me they are valuable.” As for group work, “I found group projects, since COVID, were not working very well, so I moved away from them. Although this last semester, I had three classes where group work would have worked very well.” Guess you never know what is going to work until you try…

I turned our conversation around a bit, asking Dan if he had some memories from his years of teaching to share. “I remember going to my first ETUG [Educational Technology User Group] conference at UBC. Unlike some of my other conference experiences, ETUG made me excited to learn about different approaches and I finally felt reassured that some of my instincts were correct. I came home with a long list of items, that I shortened to ten actionables to start implementing in my classes, but how to make them real was the most fun. Then I became interested in active learning in the classroom and went to a great conference up north. Those experiences were pivotal in reorienting my focus in teaching.” This was about the time that Dan also started to develop rubrics. “I realized in my marking, I was writing the same thing over and over and over again and knew that there had to be a better way. So, I began to explore rubrics, but so many of them were poorly constructed.” With support from CETL, Dan workshopped some better language for his rubrics and started clarifying assessment weights, as well as the depth for the categories of knowledge he wanted to assess. “I feel that this work is part of my legacy at the college, and many instructors have taken my rubrics as a foundation for their own.” Finally, Dan recognizes “lots of great colleagues, starting with Nicole and Tara, so many colleagues down the hallway from me, across the school, so many great teachers, all the folks at CETL, and the librarians I work with, shout out to Patsy here, It’s been great to be part of this community and also be a contributor to it.”

My final question for Dan was about what advice he had for new instructors coming to teach at Camosun. “First off, if you’re a term instructor, act like you belong here. Throw yourself into everything. Second, there are so many great people to learn from, so many different approaches to be inspired by. So, be a sponge, steal good ideas, give credit where credit is due. Then eventually you will figure out what it is that makes you YOU as a teacher. We don’t all have to have the same approaches and it’s that diversity of approaches that make this institution great. Third, be flexible for your students. You don’t have to be everything for every student but have a variety of approaches at the ready. Finally, have a clean, well organized D2L site because not only will it save you a lot of unnecessary grunt work in terms of answering emails, but it will give you the freedom to move and explore within that space. In other words, it makes it both easy to be organized and clear, and allows for being expressive, expansive, to dive deep.”

Dan closed our conversation with a one more thought to consider. “I want to share a metaphor about my teaching that took me a long time to formulate. I teach political science, and what is the most important thing I teach? The concept of power which is like my sun. Then ideas are the planets that rotate around this sun, power, which is always at the center no matter what I’m teaching. And each week we explore one of those planets. Occasionally, there are moons or asteroid fields we need to talk about because they’re all part of the solar system. We could spend years on one planet or even one moon of one planet, but this isn’t a graduate course. This is an introductory course. But I have a clear idea of what my solar system looks like, and it doesn’t have 10,000 pieces in it. It has a finite number of planets, each of which is complicated. This is how I understand my discipline, to give me clarity on my assessments, on my course organization, and on how I’m going to teach each class, bringing everything together.”

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.”

A long-time Human Resources (HR) professional, Allison has been teaching in the Management & Human Resources Leadership (MHRL) program at Camosun for over eight years. “I started teaching at MacEwan University in their HR program when I got a little bored with my day job. But when we moved to Victoria, after talking to a Camosun instructor at a Christmas party, I sent the only cold email I’ve ever sent in my life to the MHRL department chair who asked me to send in my resume. then that summer, the chair called to see if I was still interested in teaching, and they loaded me up with two courses that fall. I taught as a term instructor for three semesters before becoming continuing, and eight years later, here we are.” And so, Allison moved from a full-time HR professional teaching part-time, to a full-time instructor continuing as an HR professional on the side.

Allison told me she loves teaching HR Management Foundations. “I had a section of Sport Management students last semester and they’re a hoot. I also teach Training and Development, Current Trends in HR Management, and Strategic Compensation.” And I wondered what she enjoyed most about teaching. “Oh, you should have been in class with me on Tuesday night, with my Current Trends in HR Management class. In this course, we don’t use a textbook – we build the curriculum together through research, guest speakers, etc. and the course culminates teams delivering a symposium on what they are interested in. The work of the three teams this semester was exceptional and in the room that night there was joy, there was magic, and there was learning. And the students do it all. I just hold the space for them, supporting them, answering their questions, and giving them ideas if they get stuck.”

I asked Allison more about how she mentors students in her courses. “I took my 400-level class to an event called DisruptHR where a number of speakers have 5 minutes each to talk about something they think is highly disruptive in human resources. We went as a class, which was a wonderful bonding experience, then debriefed during the next class. But the side benefit for me was running into 40 or 50 people I had crossed paths with at various stages of their learning. To see them now at this exciting HR event, making connections and succeeding in their HR careers, is about as good as it gets as a teacher. But I was also introducing my current students to these grads, who could ask them question about where they were working, and what they were doing. So, it was a both a good networking opportunity for my students and a glimpse into their futures.”

Allison also has past students come into the classroom to talk to her current students. “We’ve had graduates come to the Open House at the beginning of November, and three past students participated on a panel for my 400-level class. One works for an HR consulting firm helping various organizations, one started as s co-op students in government and is now leading strategic communication for an area in the provincial government, and the third one works for a small Victoria company as the sole HR person. The fact they have a full-time HR professional is amazing, and to hear what it’s like for her to be the only one driving all the HR work at her organization, was a big eye opener for students. Many students in the course wrote their panel reflections on the HR grad panel (the other panel was workplace leaders), because what was relevant for them in that moment was hearing from those graduates.”

Allison was recognized for her work with accessibility in 2024 and I asked about how she got here. “My father is a retired educational psychologist who worked in post secondary institutions. I remember dinner conversations about challenges students faced in those institutions, international students, new immigrants, Indigenous students, and at that time, we were also just starting to understand learning disabilities and my dad had to provide support for those students. So, I grew up understanding that you had to always consider what was going on for other people, and that the way you learned didn’t necessarily work for somebody else.” And her experience working in HR over the years has affirmed that everyone’s story is indeed a bit different, and you need to keep opening your mind so you can support them.

One example Allison shared was from her training and development course. “We teach students how to write training objectives.  For the mid-term, I chose what I thought was a simple topic for them to create training objectives for: making a bed. Most students talked about folding hospital corners and making sure pillows were fluffed, but one student said that you have to follow the instructions and bang the nails in until things are secure. And I realized, oh, make a bed. I share that story with the training & development students, because you can think you’re giving them crystal-clear instructions, and someone will tell you about going to Home Depot to get the lumber to make the bed.” In the end, Allison says, “I have 35 unique individuals in my class, and all of them learn in different ways. My job is to support them as much as I’m able and I have a professional obligation to keep learning about people and adapting. As soon as I stop doing that as an instructor, I will have passed my best-before date.” I asked Allison how she supports that diversity in the classroom. “It can’t just be once a year during SD. It has to be every day. When a student is struggling, you need to pause and really listen to why are they struggling – don’t assume. You’ve got to pay attention. If something doesn’t seem to be connecting, check in with the student and respect what they tell you and ask yourself what’s within your sphere of control to change.”

I also wondered how trying to support the diverse needs of students shows up in Allison’s assessments. “The assessments change all the time, sometimes just a tweak, but recently we made a massive change. About a third of our students were struggling with the assessments in HR Foundations, so we revised the structure and eliminated ambiguity where we could. We provide them with a template to complete, and every step of the template has a link to an example. While some people wonder if we are spoon-feeding, I don’t see it that way because we’ve seen students who were struggling succeed; students who might have failed before are now passing. The format of the assessments is rigid in some respects, but that rigidity helps them build good habits, and if we start them off with the best possible habits, then they have a solid foundation to lean on as they move forward.”

Allison has been doing a few new things with her teaching recently. Last fall, she piloted a new asynchronous online class. First, she told me that this particular course is her favourite to teach. “We coach students working in teams, and every semester without fail, seven of the nine teams hit it out of the ballpark. The eighth team does ok, but the ninth struggles. In the 2 two fully online pilot sections, there were seven slightly larger teams in each. Five did really well, one trundled along not too badly, and one struggled. I didn’t assume this pattern would be the same, but somehow that is how it turned out.” But overall, Allison said the asynchronous course went well. “While some content for this class works better in person than other content, if we can offer an asynchronous section of it once a year for students, I think that’s important, and it’s something that we can be proud of as our builds up our roster of high-quality asynchronous courses.”

Last year in one section of the new online course Allison piloted Bongo, a video assignments tool which integrates into D2L (note that we do not currently have a licence for this tool but are only investigating it with the support of a few faculty.) “Kristina Andrew knew that I had been considering a video final exam, and after participating in a Bongo demo, I wanted to try it in the pilot online training and development course for both the final exam and the team Training Project – to try to make the Training Project more engaging like it is in the in-person class classroom. I knew it would not be the same, but I wanted students to have the same sense of collaboration and learning from each other, in the online classroom, and Bongo seemed like a great solution.” Allison ended up with two sections of the online course, but because the Bongo pilot only allowed for one, Kristina introduced her to H5P as an alternate solution for the second section. “While Bongo is a video creation tool. H5P objects can create slides into which you can insert video. What I found fascinating is that the assignment in the H5P section has, in many ways, been more creative than in the Bongo section.”

But Allison also set up the final exam for the Bongo-pilot course using Bongo as well. “Students read a case incident, have two hours to practice, and their final submission is a three-minute video explaining their solution to the case incident.” Allison told me that if the final exam worked well (our interview was before the final exam), she would consider switching the final exam in all sections, online and in-person, to a video final exam.

For some additional context, Allison did give students a heads-up email about being a part of the Bongo and H5P pilots. “I told them about the pilot and warned them that no matter how well I’ve planned it, things are going to go wrong because it’s new technology. In addition, coordinating a team project in person is hard, and even more challenging in an asynchronous course with a heavy reliance on creating video. And I said, if this is not for you, the course will be in-person in the next term.” She also built in practice with the tools for both the team assignment and the final exam. A full final exam practice using the identical process to the actual final exam was included in both sections. And Allison’s impression of the pilot?  “I will be cautiously optimistic and say that the pilot has gone pretty well.”

Finally, I asked Allison what advice she might have for new faculty coming to teach at Camosun. “I would tell them to breathe – it will be okay. You will feel completely overwhelmed for at least a few weeks, and that’s normal. We are here for you, to get you through. I’m proud to say that in our department our goal is to give each new instructor as much support as we can: syllabi, Master D2L courses, to-do lists built right into D2L. And then we connect with them when their first assignments come in, when their first quizzes are completed, etc. If you’re overwhelmed and disoriented, that is normal, and it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you! There’s so much to learn when you start so let us help you. We’re here to support students, but we’re also here to support each other.”