The Festival of Learning 2016 has ended, it took place June 6–9, 2016. This post-secondary education event hosted more than 400 delegates, offering a variety of session formats, learning experiences, unique spaces, as well as social and networking events. Don’t miss the next Festival of Learning 2018 happening May 28-30, 2018.
In autumn of 2015, 16 senior administrators from China with responsibility for vocational education visited BCIT to learn more about the teaching of applied skills in Canada. Three BCIT Instructional Development Consultants (Loretta Teng, Youdan Zhang and Mary Wilson) designed and co-facilitated a four-day Applied Teaching Workshop for them. As experienced Instructional Skills Workshop facilitators, we designed a single-mini-lesson version of the ISW, with an expanded focus on the principles of learner-centred instruction and educational philosophy.
We think this Applied Teaching Workshop format could be effective for administrators (deans, directors, etc.) in post-secondary education and for Human Resources personnel who provide feedback to staff or trainees. We would like to engage those attending our session in a round-table discussion exploring ideas for adapting the ISW for educational administrators (from Canada or elsewhere) and for other educational/learning situations.
Wikipedia is the world’s biggest open education resource, and one that we all rely on. The best way to teach your students to use it wisely is to have them help contribute to articles related to subject matters explored in your courses. In doing so they’ll learn to evaluate evidence, to write without bias,to credit their sources, all while completing work that they’ll be proud to show their friends. The Wiki Education Foundation provides a wealth of resources for all educators (those wanting to try something small to those ready to revamp the whole course).
This panel will introduce you to these and to other instructors who have incorporated Wikipedia work into their courses. Bring your laptop, because we’ll also be editing some Wikipedia pages on (what else?) open education.
Mary-Anne Neal is working closely with the Sahtu Dene communities of Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake to reimagine the education system in an effort to improve learning outcomes, raise academic standards, build leadership capacity and promote lifelong learning.
Her recent visit to the Northwest Territories marks the first step in a long-term initiative that will engage learners of all ages in personal and community improvement projects.
Barriers to success faced by Canada’s aboriginal population are already well documented. In this presentation, Mary-Anne will share the ways by which incorporating the principles of 21st Century Learning will support achievement of the goals set by the Dene people.
If a faculty member says: "I'd like to make an Open Textbook, what do I do?" ... how do we answer? Right now, it's not clear there is a solid answer. There are resources, tools, and some programs out there, but the distance between "I'd like to make an Open Textbook" and "publishing an Open Textbook" is far. What, even, does "Publishing an Open Textbook" mean exactly? Making a PDF available on the web for download? Or something more? With a new initiative, Reb.us, we're trying to build out a sensible answer to the question, and make it easy for any educational institution to support Open Textbook creation (without reinventing the wheel), and easy for any faculty member wishing to create an Open Textbook to do so.
Established in 2014 at Vancouver Island University, the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI) is the engine behind the (Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve) MABR’s research and educational programs. MABRRI’s mission is to advance a program of inquiry that involves regional stakeholders in meaningful explorations of issues of local relevance.
By harnessing the knowledge of the MABR community and the interdisciplinary strengths of students and faculty at Vancouver Island University, MABRRI is a centre for collaborative research, innovation, and knowledge sharing that elevates the relationship between people and nature in the biosphere region. The focus is on practical, applied research that benefits local communities and provides students with an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in research and dissemination.
MABRRI's research coordinator, VIU students, and faculty associates work with community partners to create and conduct research projects that advance our understanding of people and nature--and the interaction between these--within the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region.
This session will highlight our current research program and activities, including our first-ever BioBlitz, Digital Storytelling Project, Interpretive Signage and Sense of Place Directed Study, Community Build-outs, the installation of a weather station and snow pillow on Mount Arrowsmith, and our lake and eelgrass monitoring program. The session will also invite participants to identify opportunities at their own institutions, encouraging sharing on best practices and lessons learned.
Sarah Lumley, BA Research Coordinator at the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI) and soon to be attending graduate school at Queens University.
Join us on for a panel discussion highlighting open education working groups, projects and initiatives from a variety of campuses across BC.
Lighting Talks: Each speaker will present for 5 minutes each and respond to questions for 2 minutes. This will be followed by a broad panel discussion about strategies to foster the engagement of faculty and staff with open education resources and practices and a snapshot of current activities and startups of open education working groups.
Adapting or modifying educational resources is what gives open the competitive advantage over its commercial counterparts, and means that an instructor can change content to best suit the learning outcomes of their course. This presentation will walk you through the steps of how to use Pressbooks to achieve this goal. Participants will be shown how to use this publishing platform to perform some very simple modifications to an open textbook as part of an adaptation.
Open Session Limited to 60 Participants (First-Come, First-In)
We all know hands-on learning is a great way to teach, but where do we start making smart use of emerging technology? We’re going to show you how to get students thinking about concepts in more complicated ways than a five-paragraph essay allows and encourage you to reflect on how you teach and how students learn.
Desktop fabrication and participatory web culture offer different models for exploring and understanding how we teach. Thinking about the methodologies of design thinking-- iteration, prototyping, modeling--this session will explore how classrooms can be re- envisioned as a space for both creative and intellectual application.
Exploring several venues for creating innovative classroom learning modules, from websites, to fabrication, to fast prototyping, we’ll look at how we might expand our approach to teaching critical thinking skills (in the humanities). For instance, we’ll explore how objects can enliven discussions about themes and theoretical concepts such as narrative, frustration, and access. At the same time, we’ll look at how making objects using the emerging fabrication technologies encourages a reflective practice that enlightens our understanding of both teaching and the experience of our students.
Some of the “why didn’t I think of that?!” ideas we’ll cover in this session include:
Four unique perspectives of delivering WordPress course elements will be revealed by our presenters:
Workshop Overview: Scholarly inquiry into student learning involves a systematic set of inquiry processes into student learning. Normally conducted within one’s own class, it is evidence-based, peer reviewed and publicly shared. Through structured facilitation and peer discussion, you will learn about finding appropriate literature, writing a researchable question, strategies for data collection and analysis, ethical requirements, and ways to disseminate your inquiry results.
This full day workshop is geared to help you design a scholarly inquiry/resarch project into teaching and learning. The workshop is hands-on and will assist you in transforming an idea for a project into a study that you can conduct at your institution. A systems overview of the elements of a scholarly inquiry project will begin the workshop. We will then identify where the common challenges are in progressing through the phases of conducting a scholarly inquiry project.
Prior research experience is not a prerequisite, nor is any experience with educational or pedagogical investigation. This workshop is designed to help faculty build new expertise, making use of their own background and experience brought from the classroom.
Presenters
Gary Hunt, Co-ordinator Teaching and Learning, Centre for Student Engagement and Learning Innovation, Thompson Rivers University
Ido Roll, Senior Manager, Research and Evaluation, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of British Columbia
Peter Arthur, Senior Instructor, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia Okanagan
Open Session Limited to 60 Participants (First-Come, First-In)
Strathcona Elementary, a school on the downtown eastside of Vancouver Canada, and Iyoli Primary, a remote village school in Tanzania, are schools committed to learning about each other using art, story and technology.
Please see: https://www.facebook.com/The-Iyoli-Water-Project-767771733336984/
Watch our first video in a series of six where kids from an inner city school in Canada and a remote village school in Tanzania share how they make friends, one of the many questions they asked each other. The videos will be released as part of our #H2Ope campaign to help Iyoli school build a well. It's a pioneering approach to fostering global citizenship through eduction.
Strathcona students worked on four different projects for 6 months: a book of stories, a video, a song and a virtual reality tour of their school. In March 2016 Lara Kroeker, director of the Iyoli Water Project, went to Iyoli Village Primary School with a few google cardboards, a projector and generator to show kids in the Iyoli storytelling club the Strathcona creations. Iyoli responded by creating their own stories, photos, videos and virtual reality water walk. Kids get excited using new technologies. We provided the Canadian and the Tanzanian kids the opportunity to tell their stories in a variety of media: virtual reality (using the theta and Bubl camera), book software (to make a beautiful hardcover book), photography and video (using high end Canon cameras and lens). Our goal was to get kids excited about sharing stories using technology that was exciting and as a result created compassion and awareness about global water issues.
Presenter
Lara Kroeker
Open Session Limited to 50 Participants (First-Come, First-In). This session takes place in a large ballroom environment, with one other session happening concurrently at the opposite end of the room. (Area 3B)
The Facilitating Access to Skilled Trades in BC pilot project is a collaborative partnership between the Immigrant Employment Council of BC and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.
The goal is to provide an innovative and on-line approach to pre-arrival credential evaluation, competency-based assessment, gap/bridging training, workplace culture and essential skills training, e-mentoring and job matching support for qualified immigrants to Canada in three areas:
Open Session Limited to 50 Participants (First-Come, First-In). This session takes place in a large ballroom environment, with one other session happening concurrently at the opposite end of the room. (Area 3A)
An overview of current trends and how the transformed curriculum in K-12 in BC is supporting the driving of technology integration into practice.
My role is to help teachers embed educational technology into their core practice, with the principles of the SAMR model as a guiding framework.
Our goal is a seamless integration of tools in the learning environment, including strong support for BYOD, private cloud services and a suite of mobile and desktop devices to meet the demands of our learners.
I have two over-arching mottos: "Content creation over App Mastery", and "If Pedagogy is the driver, then Technology is the accelerator".
Presenter
Lisa Read, District Instructional Technology Coordinator, SD79 - Cowichan Valley School District
Open Session Limited to 60 Participants (First-Come, First-In).
Studios, Sprints, Hubs, cMOOCs: these are just a few of the evolving approaches to engaging and supporting faculty, using learning technology.
How are we adapting our professional development as the technology ecosystem and the institutional landscape shifts?
This shifting context in teaching and learning at the can best be considered along a continuum of change.
At one end of the UBC continuum, we have a time-bound environment encompassing institutionally driven approaches, including content-based, and tool specific approaches and practices.
At the other end is an unbounded approach that is agile, needs driven, flexible, and open.
This hands- on workshop explores our collective shifting professional development approaches and will engage participants in reflecting on and sharing changing practices to professional development through interactive activities.
* Mapping Activity using a Padlet. (Creation of a group map showing professional development along a continuum.)
Presenters
Emily Renoe, Educational Consultant; Learning Technologies, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of British Columbia
Cindy Underhill, Strategist, Learning Resources Design, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, University of British Columbia
Lucas Wright, Educational Consultant: Learning Technologies, University of British Columbia
Open Session Limited to 60 Participants (First-Come, First-In)
Dean Crawford and Denise Goudy will review the process for piloting and on- boarding education technology through BCcampus and BCNET.
This session will be interactive and provide a venue for participants to get answers to their questions about the roles of BCcampus and BCNET when it comes to educational technology. We will walk through the process and get feedback on pain points, opportunities and what is next.
This is your chance to dig deeper into the pathways that reach both BCNET and BCcampus!
Presenters
Denise Goudy, Director, Education Projects, BCcampus
Dean Crawford, Manager, Shared Systems and Technology, BCNET
Open Session Limited to 50 Participants (First-Come, First-In). This session takes place in a large ballroom environment, with one other session happening concurrently at the opposite end of the room. (Area 3A)
Having students visualize spaces and places outside of the classroom has always been a central part of education. Traditionally, this has been done using stories, images, videos and field trips. However, these are limited either in how immersive they are, or in the logistical and budgetary constraints of bringing students out of the classroom.
An exciting alternative is to leverage recent technological advances in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to let students virtual explore different places or experiences. For example, imagine the benefit to medical students to be able to virtually sit in on a surgery, or to bringing architecture students on a virtual tour of Paris. There are more abstract applications as well, such as having students visualize a graph or piece of art in 3D.
Like most tools however, there are best practices for use in education that are only now being developed. Coupled with this are the rapidly changing technologies that can produce a steep learning curve for educators. In this studio session, the presenters will share their own experiences and uses for the technology, and help guide participants through the hands-on process of designing, developing and testing their own VR product.
Participants will leave with an appreciation for the different possible applications of VR technology in their own field, while gaining practical skills in making the first steps toward building their own. 360-degree cameras and sample 360-degree footage will be available for participants to experiment with.
Presenters
Arthur 'Gill' Green, Teaching and Learning Fellow (Flexible Learning), University of British Columbia
Loch Brown, Instructor, University of British Columbia
Derek Turner, Teaching and Learning Fellow (Flexible Learning), University of British Columbia
Miriam Katz, Student, University of British Columbia
Yuqing "Kimi" Shen, Student, University of British Columbia
Open Session Limited to 60 Participants (First-Come, First-In)
While video has been used in education for decades, technological developments that make it easier than ever to create and distribute video has changed the way it is used.
In this session, members of the Kaltura Shared Service will talk about how video is being used as a teaching & learning tool within their own institutions.
We will also demonstrate some of the new features of the latest Kaltura release (called Kajam) that are focused on the creation and effective use of video in teaching and learning, including the new interactive video quizzing tool and deep integration with learning management systems.
Presenters
Clint Lalonde, Manager, Educational Technology, BCcampus
Julian Prior, Educational Technology Advisor (Multimedia Specialist) Langara College
Heidi Mede, Instructional Assistant, Educational Technology, Lanaga College
Gina Bennett, Chair, Academic Innovation and Applied Research, College of the Rockies
Gordon Jang, Educational Technologist, University of Fraser Valley
Natasha Boskic, Senior Manager, Learning Design, University of British Columbia
LOCATION CHANGE!!!! Open Session Limited to 25 participants. First-come, First-Seated.
Royal Roads University is in the midst of TeamsWork, a year-long initiative exploring the role of team-based learning as part of our teaching and learning model.
To support a deeper understanding of the role technology can play in team-based learning, a dozen Teaching with Technology Grants were awarded to research teams made up of faculty and instructional designers.
This presentation will outline the context and goals of this research program as well as the individual projects underway.
Presenter
Keith Webster, Instructional Designer, Centre for Teaching and Educational Technologies, Royal Roads University
Starting with an outline of the BSN-PB blended nursing program at KPU, we discuss our journey in engaged and dynamic learning in a program that draws from both online and f2f learning activities. We will share our experiences as students and faculty in the process of piloting weekly synchronous virtual praxis seminars, drawing from stories of strengths and challenges of this learning approach. We invite you to share your experiences as we discuss best practice in blended learning.
The BSN PB program is an alternative to the traditional four-year entry level nursing program. It serves a distinct group of mature, successful learners and recognizes their prior learning. Students who qualify for this program have already completed an undergraduate baccalaureate degree and then finish the nursing portion of their education in 27 months. Students will complete their nursing education and be in the nursing workforce 18 months earlier than graduates from the traditional BSN program. The BSN PB program is designed to provide highly effective, efficient, and meaningful learning experiences for students. Program learning experiences satisfy the requirements of academic rigour, meet divergent learner needs, capitalize on the skills and abilities of this specific group of learners, and promote nursing practice relevance. Program courses are offered in a hybrid format through two residencies at Kwantlen, practice within health care agencies and communities, combined with online learning formats. The majority of theory and praxis courses are taught online, providing learning experiences that reflect inventive ways to engage learners in web-based learning.
Whether you are a seasoned open education advocate or a newcomer to the movement, planning successful a campus-wide initiative to expand OER adoption can be challenging.
This session will provide a crash course on advocacy campaign planning to develop and strengthen campus-based OER initiatives, drawing on the experience of successful case studies and the expertise of a veteran grassroots organizer leading the session.
Topics will include stakeholder engagement, strategy development, messaging and communication, and awareness raising, with emphasis on the important role that students play in leading the charge. During the session, participants will start working on their own action plans, and walk away with a template to bring back to campus.
Presenter
Nicole Allen, Director of Open Education, SPARC, Washington, DC
Open Session Limited to 20 Participants (First-Come, First-In)
No matter what you call them, they make up a HUGE proportion of the teaching community of many of our universities and colleges - the "sometimes-faculty" community.
Some teach several courses each year; some teach for more than one institution. Others may teach an occasional course every couple of years. Sometimes they teach just once.
During the last few years there has been public press and conversations about the increasing numbers of contract faculty. Some analysts estimate they teach approximately 50% of courses in Canadian universities. You’ve read about their poor pay and lack of benefits. What have you read about support for improving their teaching and course design?
How do we support these "sometimes-faculty" who teach so many of our students?
Royal Roads University has struggled with this question over the years and we have just launched a new resource for orienting new associate faculty.
In this session, we will share challenges, the ways RRU is addressing the challenges, and our hopes for the future. We’ll share our recently launched Orientation to Teaching and Course Design resource, inviting comment and feedback.
This session will engage session participants in discussions and activities to facilitate information and resource exchange related to this topic.
Whether it is through policy and new curriculum in K-12 (BC Plan), or by revisiting the role and purpose of higher education at the post-secondary level (NMC Horizon Report, 2015), the current K-20 education environment in British Columbia is moving towards personalization, flexibility and mobility at a rapid rate.
The need for access to courses and programs that reflect the competencies valued the digital age and model inquiry based, experiential and authentic learning is central to the Royal Roads University Learning and Teaching model (Royal Roads University, 2013).
As with other programs at Royal Roads University, in each of the courses in the MA Learning and Technology program, students are working in teams on a variety of authentic activities. Program assessment tasks are focused on process rather than content and active student engagement in these teams is essential to the learning process.
Taking a mixed-method approach, we explored the experiences of Masters-level students in a community building/onboarding module. Using the student experience as a foundation for the discussion, this interactive presentation will highlight preliminary findings of the role of online collaborative tools in fostering engagement in team activities and showcase the analysis of collaborative tools used in this research.
After taking part in this session, it expected that the audience will be better able to: understand the experiences of students who have taken part in online teamwork; appreciate how to select appropriate tools for students working in virtual teams; reflect more fully on the impact of online tools in team-based environments.
Presenters
Jo Axe, Director, School of Education & Technology, Royal Roads University
Elizabeth Childs, Associate Professor and Program Head, MALAT, School of Education and Technology, Royal Roads University
Darrell Pettyjohn, Manager, Learning Technologies, Centre for teaching and Educational Technologies, Royal Roads University
Open Session Limited to 30 Participants (First-Come, First-In)
As we move through the next five years, the shift to digital learning resources will only continue to accelerate due the increased proliferation of digital textbooks (e-textbooks) and cloud-based resources, the push towards adaptive learning resources, and the increasing costs of course materials for students. To find a viable solution for BC, a collaborative approach between institutions and stakeholders has been proposed: specifically, a project that seeks ways to embrace the benefits of this new digital reality, to create institutional synergies and efficiencies, to maximize choice available to faculty in the selection of learning resources, to make required learning resources more affordable, and ultimately, to provide opportunities for increased student success.
Furthermore, this proposed initiative will provide an integrated approach that allows choice from open, publisher, and other digital learning resources that may exist on campuses. The initial DLRN proposal to develop a business case was accepted by the Public Post-Secondary Administrative Service Delivery Transformation (ASDT) Initiative this spring and we are now inviting all BC post-secondary institutions to join this initiative and collaborate on the development of the business case. Attend this session to learn more about the project, discuss future directions and your institution's role in this sector-wide collaboration.
Current representatives (alphabetical): ASDT, BCcampus, BCIT, Douglas College, KPU, SFU, UBC, VCC
Facilitators
Mark McLaughlin, Executive Director, Ancillary Services, Simon Fraser University
David Porter, Associate Vice-President, Education Support and Innovation, British Columbia Institute of Technology
Stephanie Chu, Director, Teaching and Learning Centre, Simon Fraser University
Lynne Masse-Danes
Debbie Schachter
Shirley Lew, Dean, Library, Teaching and Learning Services, Vancouver Community College
Michelle Lamberson, University of British Columbia
Mary Burgess, Executive Director, BCcampus
Sal Ferraras, Provost and Vice-President Academic, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
The presenter is currently working with a research team with Amy Zidulka and BJ Eib to explore such courses at Royal Roads University.
It’s no secret that institutions are taking a look at alternatives to the traditional education model in attempt to better meet the needs of today’s students. Competency-based education (CBE) is one such alternative that is getting a lot of attention. In CBE, students are evaluated and awarded credit based on their ability to demonstrate specific skills and competencies, offering many a faster path to degree completion. However, a question that we hear from educators time and time again is, “where do we start?” In this session, we will explore why more and more colleges are launching competency-based programs, the strategies they are adopting, the challenges they face, and the role technology can play in the process.
Presenter
Research shows that active, social, engaging and student-owned learning experiences promote higher level critical thinking skills and leads to meaningful learning. This is challenging in large classes of fifty or more students. They are used to a system where they have little input in experientially building their critical scholarship skills. They expect to be assessed through lengthy hourly exams consisting of multiple choice questions, fill-in the blanks and short paragraph essays.
In a move to integrate assessment practices with students’ engagement in critical thinking and course content, the instructor, together with an educational consultant from SFU’s Teaching Learning Centre planned an assignment that was team-based with interactive verbal analytical skills and ‘thinking on the spot’.
The research questions are:
• What are the ways students can be individually assessed in a team-based activity, taking into account the expectations of an especially diverse student population?
• How do we ensure that these assessments are multidimensional, capturing inventive thinking while minimizing students’ self conscious efforts?
Our presentation approach is exploratory. Participants are invited to partake in a sample exercise.
Presenters
Nur Intan Murtadza, Sessional Instructor and Research Assistant for the Teaching and Learning Centre, Simon Fraser University
Sarah Louise Turner, Educational Consultant, Learning and Teaching Centre, Simon Fraser University
Turning Technologies powerful learning tools are designed to achieve superior levels of student engagement with compelling instruction that leaves a lasting impression in and outside of class. Purpose-driven student response technology supports learning theories and is proven to enhance key indicators of student success including retention, motivation and attendance.
Campus-wide solutions reach all levels of university life with options that range from quick polling or committee voting to standardized exams or institutional evaluations. Prepare your students for real-world experiences with tools that engage, monitor and measure the learning process in a simple, versatile and meaningful way.
