Kaleidoscope 2012 Sessions
On Thursday, December 6th, from 8:30 - 12:30, the following sessions will be offered at our annual Teaching Showcase. Take a moment to review and start planning your morning. Coming soon to this site...Kaleidoscope 2012 Schedule.
Technology and Teaching about Religious & Cultural Diversity
As social scientists engaged in research on religious diversity in Canada with an international multi-collaborative project and who have taught undergraduate courses for years, we are developing innovative uses of visual technologies in the classroom. We believe that the tremendous potential of the internet can be harnessed in efforts to move university students beyond tolerance of ethno-religious and cultural particularities to attitudes of deeper respect and the celebration of difference. This presentation will highlight how we have employed a variety of technologies such as websites, blogs, videos, and webinars to enhance interactive teaching and learning environments. ~Cathy Holtmann and Nancy Nason-Clark, Sociology Department
Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) benefits all students, particularly at risk Science students
Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a system of academic support that integrates course content with the acquisition and practice of new study skills. In an informal setting, working with peer leaders, and on a voluntary basis, students have the opportunity to engage more deeply with course content, thereby enhancing student learning, success and retention. UNB’s version of SI is the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program, which began in 2009 to accompany Biology 1001, a mega-course (ca. 500+ students) with a historically high DFW rate. Since that time, the PAL program has expanded to accompany first-year courses in Biology, Chemistry and Physics, thus providing academic support to students from a number of Faculties at UNB. This presentation will (1) summarize the results of the first three years of a four-year pilot project to offer PAL at UNB, and will (2) examine how attending a combination of mandatory and voluntary PAL sessions has helped to increase the retention rate from less than 50% to greater than 85% for students enrolled in the Science Entrance program. ~Lisa Sharp, Assistant Dean of Science, PAL Program Coordinator
Peer Assisted Learning (PAL): Insights from undergraduate student leaders
The Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program is UNB’s version of Supplemental Instruction. The PAL program is structured to have PAL leaders (upper-level undergraduate students) attend courses, coordinate with course instructors, and offer a series of highly engaging learning sessions to help students from across campus succeed in first-year Science courses. In this presentation, PAL leaders will solicit audience participation to reenact a typical PAL session. The PAL leaders will (1) facilitate a discussion regarding the unique benefits of PAL, as compared to a regular tutorial system, and will (2) propose a variety of interesting student engagement strategies, including some that work well in Science and related disciplines. The PAL leaders will end by outlining the importance of closing the session, and will provide a few examples of how to do so effectively. ~Lisa Sharp, Assistant Dean of Science, PAL Program Coordinator, Gabrielle Maillet, PAL Leader + Year 4 Medicinal Chemistry student, Eric Manuel, PAL Leader + Year 4 Biology-Chemistry student & Elias Oussedik, PAL Leader + Year 4 Medicinal Chemistry student
Helpful Desire2Learn Features
See demonstrated some Desire2Learn features that can benefit you and your students, such as embedding videos in group discussions; self-enrolment groups and group workspace; discussion forums; practice test banks; grading rubrics; and online assignment submission, feedback, and grading; and customized look, layount and design. We’re interested in hearing your ideas, too. ~Bev Bramble & Emily Clark, Centre for Enhanced Teaching & Learning
Wikis for English Language Learning, Peer Editing, and Community Contact
For ESL students, wikis provide an advantageous platform for cultivating clear writing expression, developing peer editing skills, and promoting community contact. ELP’s Language Adventures in the Capital course leverages wiki simplicity to deliver an on-campus course with an online component that is academically and socially enriching, user-friendly, and highly interactive. ~ Jack Watson, UNB English Language Programme
UNBF Test Anxiety Research Results
The findings of a year-long research project involving 1,100 undergraduate students and 50 professors at UNBF will be presented. The research focused on student and professor perceptions of the nature and level of test anxiety, and awareness of UNB services and policies that address the issue. Students also took a Test Anxiety Inventory to measure the actual incidence rate of test anxiety. Possible implications for UNB policies and services will also be discussed. ~Jeff Landine, Education and Travis Gerwing, PhD Student (Biology)
Cautiously Cultivating Teaching-Learning Numeracy
The challenges of quantitative literacy include the ability to use numeracy skills to respond to the practical demands of everyday life (and professional practice), to translate descriptive information into numerical terms, and to interpret numerical information presented in numerical terms. The purpose of this presentation is to reflect on the challenges of enhancing understanding of numeracy for nursing students within Parse’s (2004, 2011) teaching-learning model.
This initiative brought together nursing and education faculty and students within the UNB community to address perceived mathematical concerns and challenges of nursing students (UNB Teaching-Learning Priority Fund 2011). Feedback from sessions with nursing students and faculty indicate that students want to develop deeper number sense and to connect numeracy to clinical practice. The lenses of the humanbecoming theory (Parse, 1998) and human dignity (Parse, 2010) provide guidance in our continued work of weaving numeracy throughout the Nursing Program and into specific nursing contexts.
The Faculty of Nursing has established a Curriculum sub-committee, and set forth a mandate to develop a plan spanning the nursing curriculum. This plan will be designed to meet the everchanging needs of teachers-learners in cautiously cultivating teaching-learning numeracy within the Nursing Program. ~Karen Ursel, Cathy Barter, & Catherine Aquino-Russell, Nursing, & John Grant McLoughlin, Mathematics/Education
References
Parse, R.R. (1998). The human becoming school of thought: A perspective for nurses and other health care professionals. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Parse, R. R. (2004). A human becoming teaching-learning model. Nursing Science Quarterly, 17(1), 33- 35.
Parse, R. R. (2010). A humanbecoming ethical phenomenon. Nursing Science Quarterly 23(3), 257-262.
Parse, R. R. (2011). A human becoming teaching-learning model. Handout from the Humanbecoming Institute: Pittsburgh, PA.
Synthesis of Theory-Research-Practice and Ways of Knowing in a Capstone Nursing Course
“A capstone course is usually taken in the final year of a program and is meant to showcase a student's comprehensive knowledge of the subject they have studied in various courses over their academic career. This is usually done through a big project …, which represents the culmination of all of the students’ learning” (http://www.ehow.com/about_6510791_meaning-capstone_.html#page=4) . It “is an opportunity for students to demonstrate that they have achieved the goals for learning established by their …[program]. The course should be designed to assess cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning and to do so in a student-centered and student-directed manner which requires the command, analysis and synthesis of knowledge and skills” (Moore, date unknown)
The capstone course is entitled: Integrated Nursing Care. This presentation will demonstrate the synthesis of theory-research-practice and Carper’s (1978) ways of knowing: aesthetic, empirical, personal, ethical, and aesthetic in a major assignment for students in the fourth year of our nursing program. Examples of students’ work (with permission) will be shared to showcase the teaching-learning process (Parse, 2004) that has occurred in this course. ~Dr. Catherine Aquino-Russell, Nursing (Moncton).
References
Author Unknown. (date unknown). ” the meaning of Capstone Course. Retrieved from : http://www.ehow.com/about_6510791_meaning-capstone_.html#page=4
Carper, B. A. (1978). Fundamental Patterns of Knowing in Nursing. Advances in Nursing Science, 1(1), 13–24.
Moore, R. (date unknown). Retrieved from: http://www.ehow.com/about_6510791_meaning-capstone_.html#page=4
Parse, R. R. (2004). A human becoming teaching-learning model. Nursing Science Quarterly, 17(1), 33- 35.
How Students Learn Part 1
Biljana Stevanovski of UNBF’s Department of Psychology will present current cognitive psychology theory and research findings on how students learn. This represents the evidentiary foundation upon which instructional methods for university instruction are based. The part 2 session that follows will focus on how this research impacts instructional practice. ~Biljana Stevanovski, Psychology
How Students Learn Part 2
Ellen Rose of UNBF’s Faculty of Education will present the implications of the cognitive psychology research from part 1 for instructional practice in university education. Also included is recent research on multitasking pertaining to students’ use of mobile devices in class and the implications for instruction. ~Ellen Rose, Education
Learning takes Many Forms: Here is Another…
Placements and/or practicums are commonplace in professional programs. This fall semester provided a twist to a hospital clinical placement for two nursing students who concurrently participated in and facilitated portions of an educational support group. Specifically, the support group met Tuesday evenings for six weeks in an established educational program, Strengthening Families Together.
The students, Ashley Trevors and Mitchell Goodine, were doing a community health placement in mental health nursing during this time period. Stephen VanSlyke arranged this atypical hybrid model for learning, and John Grant McLoughlin was a participant in the course. This unusual set of circumstances provided differing perspectives on another form of teaching and learning that merits sharing with others. As UNB moves to promote experiential learning it seems that the model and insights gained here have something to contribute to that discussion. All four individuals will be present to participate in opening and fostering discussion.
Faculty from many disciplines may be interested in the discussion. Some instructors may be involved in practicums while others may wish to build in service learning or volunteer activities related to a theory course. Partnerships with community groups have boundless potentials for students, instructors and the organizations. Collaborative learning experiences can be means to enhance student engagement, create context and application for classroom theory, meanwhile developing capacities for students and contributing to capacity building in our communities. ~Stephen VanSlyke, Mitchell Goodine, and Ashley Trevors, Faculty of Nursing, John Grant McLoughlin, Faculty of Education
Conversations: The Processes and Habits of Discourse
I view critical discussion within the classroom as an opportunity: (1) to support my students in bridging between school and their emerging responsibilities as the committee and board members, which, as engaged citizens, they will become; and (2) to stimulate and provoke students into examining their and others’ knowledge to establish an atmosphere for critical inquiry.
Nevertheless, group discussion is sometimes fraught with anxieties and not enough understanding of one’s role in the process. To be able to animate one’s chair responsibly accompanies the responsibilities associated with participation. The following questions need to be addressed: how do we convey the importance of participating? How do we counter students’ mistrust of contributing? How do we ensure introverts are included? And, how do we reduce the fear of “looking stupid”?
Relative to this, I am sensitive to the societal dominance offered to extroverts at the expense of introverted individuals. To help ensure that no student is left out of the classroom dialogue, and to ensure that all students feel that their voices are heard and respected, I have incorporated many devices into my classes. One of my favourites is called conversational moves.
In the proposed session, I will introduce conversational moves, a tool that aids students in the development of questioning, listening, and responding skills, and is built on the premise that critical discussion is a collaborative process.
Conversational moves derives from a model of student interaction developed by two educators whose primary research areas are adult and leadership education. I will speak to what I have adjusted and demonstrate how it can be used in the classroom. Although I apply this framework within the Renaissance College context, it is applicable in other faculties. ~Roxanne Reeves, Renaissance College
Learning Communities
Unlike traditional methods, which favour a top-down, authoritative approach to teaching and learning, learning communities view the cultivation of shared experiences, the connectedness among participants, and the interaction of ideas and individuals as fundamental to the learning process. In higher education, learning communities have two primary forms: an interdisciplinary course that is taught by two or more instructors or a series of separate courses that are linked by a common interdisciplinary theme, and often enroll a common cohort of students, such as the Aquinas program and Renaissance College.
Topics to be discussed include what is a learning community, pedagogical underpinnings of learning communities, history and consequences of the separation of knowledge into disciplines, and the ways in which that separation undermines critical thinking. We will also probe the social interactive practices that can be used in learning communities and how those practices are meant to deepen the knowledge learned. ~Dr. Rita Pougailes, Evergreen College
Theme Teaching
The idea of incorporating a common theme into each course taught in Civil Engineering was explored last year. It was thought that having a unifying topic to address in each course would increase student engagement, and would help to show how the sub-disciplines of Civil Engineering work together. The theme “Engineering and Social Responsibility” was chosen for the initial trial. This presentation will discuss some lessons learned, and future implementation and expansion possibilities. ~Katy Haralampides, Civil Engineering
Course bookends: Some practical ideas for starting and ending a course
In this fast-moving presentation, two ideas for starting a course off on the right foot will be bookended with two activities that can help to bring the learning together at the end. These will include:
1) Beginning: ice breaking intros
2) Beginning: negotiating the course code of conduct.
3) Ending: Drawing ties between content: Student drawn concept maps
4) Ending: Competitive and non-competitive Jeopardy
~James Whitehead, St. Thomas University
Academic Advising: Forward Thinking
~Sara Rothman, Student Affairs & Services
