Teaching & Learning Conference

Jun 5, 2023 to Jun 7, 2023, 9am - 3pm
Dates:
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Location
Online

Transformative Learning: Inclusive Technology, Tools & Strategies

Welcome to the second annual Selkirk College Teaching and Learning Centre conference. The conference is free for Selkirk College employees. Everyone else is welcome to register using the conference fee option. Please use this page for the agenda and workshop descriptions.

Agenda

Monday, June 5

9 am: Conference opening and land acknowledgement: Dr. Maggie Matear and Taya Whitehead

9:15 am: A Meandering Journey: The Heartwork of Reconciliation and Decolonization in Post-Secondary Education with Melissa Dorey, Robert Watt and Audrey Ehman. Workshop Host: Theresa Southam

A Meandering Journey: The Heartwork of Reconciliation and Decolonization in Post-Secondary Education

Join Sn̓ʕ̓ay̓ckstx Knowledge Keeper Robert Watt along with Selkirk College instructors Audrey Ehman and Melissa Dorey in the sharing of their collaborative Indigenization journey within the School of Environment & Geomatics.

The trio will unpack their ongoing process to support and incorporate Indigenous knowledge and ways of being by using a 2-Eyed Seeing approach and will share personal reflections and experiences gained along the way.

Hopes and visions of healing, building foundations toward positive change, evolving the nature of authentic strength-based learning, and nurturing unity among communities is at the heart of “where do we go from here?” 

Time will be designated for meaningful dialogue and questions. 

10 am: Break

10:15 am: Four Types and Four Goals of Online Teaching Videos with Dr. Mike Wesch. Workshop Host: Chantal Lortie

Four Types and Four Goals of Online Teaching Videos

Video is a great way to increase presence, connection and engagement in your online class.  In this session, I will give tips for creating four different types of videos, each serving one of four different goals:

  1.  "Super simple" videos to build connection and presence.
  2. "Hype" videos to increase engagement and excitement.
  3. "Explainer" videos to inform and explain.
  4. "Adventure" videos to inspire students and express the most important lessons of your class by modeling your practice and discipline for your students.

11 am: Fast Five: Tips to Make Your Courses More Accessible with Lindsay Foster and Lindsey Morris. Workshop Host: Pablo Pastor

Fast Five: Tips to Make Your Courses More Accessible

Do you know all of the faces and abilities on the other side of your screen? Who wears glasses? Who reads closed captions? Who uses a screen reader?

This session will offer five quick and easy tips and suggestions that you can implement in your courses immediately to offer a more inclusive, accessible experience for all users. 

Noon: Lunch

1 pm: Empowering Educators in the Era of AI with Aras Balali Moghaddam. Workshop Host: Aanyta Fahrenbruch

Empowering Educators in the Era of AI

Join us for an engaging workshop that delves into the current advancements in AI technology, particularly within the education sector. This interactive session will explore powerful AI tools, such as large language models and generative AI, and discuss their potential impact on the student learning experience. We will also examine the strategies educators can employ to adapt to these new tools, while guiding students effectively on their educational journey.

Additionally, we will address the shortcomings and ethical concerns surrounding the use of AI in education and discuss ways to raise awareness about the dangers and limitations of AI tools. This workshop provides an excellent opportunity to have fun, spark creativity and explore innovative ideas to harness the potential of AI tools in enhancing student support.

2 pm: Curriculum Mapping with Allison Lutz and Aanyta Fahrenbruch. Workshop Host: Tammie Clarke

Curriculum Mapping

This workshop aims to introduce a new open-source software mapping tool that supports the alignment of program outcomes with course outcomes and assessments. It is particularly useful for those undergoing a Level 3 QAPA review process, or those wishing to renew their program.

The creation of a curriculum map is a collaborative process that is aimed to ensure a scaffolded curriculum design to support student success within a program. By mapping program outcomes to course outcomes and assessments, students receive the necessary knowledge and skills for their chosen field. The presenters will provide their own experiences and finished program maps as examples.   

3 pm: Close

Tuesday, June 6

9 am: Conference updates and land acknowledgment: Dr. Theresa Southam and Laura Boehm 

9:15 am: Teaching Writing in the World of AI/ChatGPT with Emily Jo Schwaller, University of Arizona. Workshop Host: Tyler Ballam

Teaching Writing In the World of AI/ChatGPT

Although it might appear at first glance that AI/ChatGPT is changing how we think about writing, these conversations are allowing us to highlight what we already know about designing meaningful writing assignments. Come join us to learn more about Writing Across the Curriculum's response to AI/ChatGPT and how to strategically plan assessments that empower your students, whether they use these tools or not. Participants will receive an overview of the topic and actionable tips and tricks to apply to their own contexts.

10 am: Break

10:15 am: Student Partnership and Assessment with Rob Lowney, Dublin City University, Workshop Host: Tyler Ballam 

Student Partnership and Assessment

Student partnership is “a collaborative, reciprocal process” (Cook-Sather, Bovill, & Felten, 2014, pp. 6–7) in which students contribute as best they can to educational processes. Assessment is a growing student partnership area in Dublin City University, Ireland. A framework for practising student partnership in assessment was developed. It places assessment partnership possibilities along a continuum, from simple to complex. Possibilities include student choice in assessment, self/peer assessment, directive feedback and co-creation of grading criteria.

Several approaches have been piloted in DCU modules and the student/staff experiences captured through evaluations. Emerging findings show positive impacts on both parties. Students felt they understood assessment better and performed better as a result of the partnership approach. Staff similarly felt students were more engaged and intend to continue practising such approaches in future.

This presentation will share the background to DCU's assessment partnership work, the pilots conducted, the role of technology, including Moodle, to support it, and next steps. Find out more information at Dublin City University

11 am: Enabling Collaborative Learning with the Moodle Board Plugin with Gavin Hendrick, Brickfield Education Labs. Workshop Host: Chantal Lortie

Enabling Collaborative Learning with the Moodle Board Plugin

This session will introduce attendees to Moodle Board and highlight some of the use cases that have been delivered in online courses. The Board module for Moodle is a plugin that enables a post-it board activity for students.

This is a collaborative activity where the teachers set out a number of named columns (such as for a SWOT analysis) and then students add contributions to a column. Students do not see who has posted what.

Noon: Lunch

1 pm: The Art and Design of Feedback with Heather Fitzgerald, Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Workshop Host: Theresa Southam

The Art and Design of Feedback

Critique is an unquestioned and often unquestionable aspect of art and design education. Whether it takes the form of instructors offering public feedback on student work or students offering feedback on their peers’ work, the critique is often a—if not the—primary mode of feedback in art, media and design classes. But it is also a source of tremendous stress for students: in one recent article, students compared the experience of the critique to standing in front of a firing squad. [1]  

For the past several years, I have been researching feedback practices both within and beyond art and design education to determine the factors that make feedback an effective tool for learning. In this presentation/workshop, I will share some of the findings from that research, including information about the emotional demands and effects of feedback, and present some possible strategies and structures that instructors can use in their own feedback practices. Participants can expect to leave with an expanded repertoire of approaches to feedback, including the critique, and a better understanding of the most common barriers that get in the way of learning from feedback. 

Heather Fitzgerald is a writing instructor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and a faculty advisor in the Teaching and Learning Centre. She also coordinates a peer tutoring program through the university’s Writing Centre. 

1. Day, P. (2012) ‘The art group crit: How do you make a firing squad less scary?,’ brightONLINE Student Literary Journal, 18. 

2 pm: Application of the Enowkinwixw Methodology: Ethics and Protocols in the Transference of Traditional Knowledge with Speaker Marlowe Sam. Workshop Host: Theresa Southam 

Application of the Enowkinwixw Methodology: Ethics and Protocols in the Transference of Traditional Knowledge

The adaptation of an ancient decision-making process into higher learning institutions while maintaining both Indigenous cultural values and morals while meeting learning standards and expectations within the academy. Examples of successes in the delivery of Indigenous Studies curriculum and the revitalization of the Nsyilxcen language.

Learning outcomes within the academy is central and defined by the strict cultural frameworks of the Enowkin Centre as defined by the Enokinwixw methodology. 

3 pm: Close

Wednesday, June 7

9 am: Conference updates and land acknowledgement: Kate Tait and Jen Preston

9:15 am: CAPER BC—Accessible Course Materials: Reducing Barriers in the Classroom with Jennifer Welson. Workshop Host: Pablo Pastor

Accessible Course Materials: Reducing Barriers in the Classroom

Learn about how the Centre for Accessible Post-Secondary Education Resources (CAPER BC) can help you reduce barriers in your classroom by providing alternate formats to your power points, Word documents, PDFs and online course environments free of charge.

These alternatives to conventional print resources complement universal design for learning practices and promote a more inclusive environment for your students.

10 am: Break

10:15 am: Smooth(er) Sailing: Easing the Transition from Moodle 3.x to Moodle 4.x with Jill Anderson. Workshop Hosts: Aanyta Fahrenbruch and Chris Hillary

Smooth(er) Sailing: Easing the Transition from Moodle 3.x to Moodle 4.x

North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina made the transition from Moodle 3.9 to Moodle 4.0 in the spring of 2022. Through creating resources and offering extra support to faculty whose courses migrated over, the transition was relatively smooth.

Jill will share what was done that made the transition easier and will share as many support resources as possible to help ease the transition for others. The presenter will leave a generous amount of time, after sharing resources and experiences, for participant questions. 

 11 am: Making Courses Accessible with the Moodle Accessibility Toolkit with Gavin Henrick. Workshop Host: Pablo Pastor

Making Courses Accessible with the Moodle Accessibility Toolkit

Imagine a world where learning is accessible to all. Accessible, usable course materials make for a more effective and inclusive teaching and learning environment. In this session, we will chat about the importance of accessibility for Moodle content, discuss what to focus on and share tips on how to improve the accessibility of your course content using the Brickfield Accessibility Toolkit for Moodle.

This session will be useful to you whether you have already started your journey to improve accessibility of your courses or if you are just starting out. Brickfield provides an integrated platform for your Moodle LMS to enable a more accessible and inclusive learning delivery by helping institutions manage content accessibility and usability of their course materials.

Brickfield Education Labs partners with Moodle on accessibility, and Brickfields Moodle Accessibility Toolkit is a Certified integration for Moodle.

Noon: Lunch

1 pm: Taking a Collaborative, Scaffolded Approach to the Research and Writing Process with Ken Laing and Kristen Murrell. Workshop Host: Theresa Southam

Taking a Collaborative, Scaffolded Approach to the Research and Writing Process

Building upon a description of scaffolding provided by Aljaafreh and Lantolf (1994): “the idea is to offer just enough assistance to encourage and guide the learner to participate in the activity and to assume increased responsibility for arriving at the appropriate performance” (p.469), our session will demonstrate that a collaborative, scaffolded approach to teaching students how to formulate a research question, conduct research and then answer their question through a written assignment and in-person presentation is beneficial for both students and instructors.

Students are led step by step through the research process through in-class lectures and group activities, which lead to stronger performance in assignments and presentations. Students have less inclination to not do their own personal work as students are more intrinsically motivated working with topics they are interested in. Instructors benefit through less questioning whether work is a student’s own, which ultimately leads to a greater ease in marking. 

2 pm: Close: Theresa Southam

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Selkirk College Faculty Association, British Columbia Government Employees’ Union and the Strategic Enhancement Fund.