UFV Teaching and Learning Blog

Classes are filling up and wait-list are growing, we can expect a full house in almost every class. No, this is not the conundrum – this is due to exceptional teaching skills found at UFV*. The conundrum is how we can personalize the learning experience for each of our students? One instructor posts personal responses … Read more

Room: TBA Facilitator:  Michelle Johnson and Ken Harmel Workshop dates: held on 4 consecutive Fridays – Feb. 16, 23, Mar. 2 & 9 (9:00am – 3:00pm) The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) is offered to a group of five or six colleagues and is designed to enhance the teaching effectiveness of both new and experienced educators. During the … Read more

A second year UFV student works on his final 2000-word assignment. He’s worked hard on it and feels he has a solid first draft. He opens up Turnitin and submit it only to get a 20% similarity in his report. He’s a little surprised. He comes to you asking what he should do about it. … Read more

I think we all have a good idea of what the flipped classroom looks like. The flipping involves a lot of collaboration and, hopefully, engagement, on the students’ part. There are many tools available to do this both online and in-class. Many have tried different tools, but discussion forums tends to be by far the … Read more

While teaching in Japan, I told stories about perseverance using Wayne Gretzky, endurance using Terry Fox, and politeness using the pervasive Canadian “sorry”. The stories fell flat because my Japanese audience couldn’t connect. What did they know about these topics? Nothing. My point never hit its target so I started using Japanese examples. At the … Read more

We know the benefits of active learning with some instructors trying classroom flipping to engage students. However, some have said that students just don’t prepare in advance and their class outline goes out the window. What successes have you had with classroom flipping and what fallbacks could you recommend if some students don’t prepare?

Digital analytics are useful in measuring student performance (2017). Blackboard, for example, offers over 30 reports giving you granular student data to an overview of class progress. Choosing the best report to get the information you need is a question ETS often receives.  What educational analytic do you use, or would like to see, that … Read more

When doing group work, I expect that there will be at least one group member who doesn’t pull their weight. As a student, I remember having to pick up the slack to get group assignments done. Instructors know this is common in group work and have tried various methods to assess performance. One such method … Read more

A camera is considered a digital tool to enhance learning, so too are audio recorders, DVDs and smartboards to name just a few. When thinking “digital pedagogy” we often focus solely on the Internet (e.g. YouTube, Google & Kahoots). Let’s expand our short list above. What one digital tool do you find most effective in … Read more