I attended the World Conference for Online Learning 2017 in Toronto this past October. This conference is organized by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) and runs biennially in an international location. Since the conference landed in Canada this
Indigenous Learning Circles (2015-2017)
I participated in the Indigenous Learning Circles program offered over two-years at VIU. The program invited faculty members to engage with Indigenous perspectives and critically reflect on our teaching and learning practices with a goal to supporting a classroom free of marginalization for
Reflections from the Global Open Education Graduate (GO-GN) Network
Early in March I had the pleasure to join the Global Open Education Graduate Network (GO-GN) for their annual meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. The meeting was held in advance of the Open Education Global Conference also being held
Preparing for the Open Education Global Conference 2017
I am so fortunate to be able to attend the Open Education Global Conference 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa next month. Thanks to a generous grant by the Global OER Graduate Network I am able to not only attend the
Engaging New Faculty with Educational Technologies
Our teaching and learning centre offers both a Spring and Fall faculty orientation to teaching which is pitched at faculty new to Vancouver Island University (VIU). The purpose of this event is to introduce faculty to teaching and learning resources
Visualizing Academic Writing: Beyond the Bibliography
After writing a significant piece of work, I have in the past tried to create visualizations of the citation patterns within the writing. This may be done by drawing upon the citations in the literature and their linkages to sections of
Reflections on PhD Candidacy Examinations
I initiated my candidacy examinations this month and on November 2nd received two writing prompts which I had to respond to, each via a 20 page paper. One of the prompts focuses on the literature while the other asks the
Engaging students with Open Education at VIULearns 2016
Last week during the VIULearns event on the Nanaimo campus I had a chance to engage students directly with the idea of open education. I positioned our booth to draw students in around all aspects of open education; including open
Team Based Learning Institute
Team based learning (TBL) is a comprehensive instructional method, invented by organizational behavior professor Larry K. Michaelsen, which puts students into roles of greater autonomy and responsibility for acquiring and using information. A central strategy of TBL is to shift the use
Engagement through Experiential Learning (2016-2017)
A working group I co-lead with faculty interested in redesigning their classes to incorporate experiential learning practices. Working together, we unpacked the challenges and benefits of using experiential learning to create conditions for student responsibility and engagement in our courses. The working