If you’re interested in using technology tools to enhance your teaching, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the mountain of information out there. To make matters worse, much of it is either highly technical or simply not very practical for the college classroom. Teaching with Technology: Tools and Strategies to Improve Student Learning approaches teaching technologies from your perspective — discussing what works, what doesn’t, and how to implement the best ideas in the best ways.
These articles were written by John Orlando, PhD, program director at Norwich University, as part of the Teaching with Technology column on Faculty Focus. You’ll find the articles are loaded with practical information as well as links to valuable resources. Articles in the report include:
• Using VoiceThread to Build Student Engagement
• Wikipedia in the Classroom: Tips for Effective Use
• Blogging to Improve Student Learning: Tips and Tools for Getting Started
• Prezi: A Better Way of Doing Presentations
• Using Polling and Smartphones to Keep Students Engaged
Whether the courses you teach are face-to-face, online, blended, or all of the above, this report explains effective ways to incorporate technology into your courses to create a rich learning experience for students, and a rewarding teaching experience for you.
At Dalhousie we must accept responsibility for creating the conditions for everyone to flourish and to belong.
A culture of belonging requires ongoing commitment to greater inclusivity with focus on creating a welcoming home for Dalhousie’s diverse faculty, staff, students, and alumni alongside the broader community.
Every developed country is racing to keep up with profound and fundamental changes in the 21st century The new knowledge economy is creating unprecedented demands for higher levels of expertise and skills, while, at the same time, changing demographics will significantly reduce the numbers of qualified people available in the economy The cumulative impact presents great opportunities and great challenges to Ontario The province has an opportunity to implement meaningful and transformational changes that exploit the potential for growth in the new economy and drive Ontario’s prosperity to
unprecedented levels
But the threats to Ontario’s future are just as great Failing to move forward now with significant
measures could leave Ontario unprepared for the challenges ahead, and strand thousands of
people as permanently unemployable
MCMASTER UNIVERSITY’S VISION/MANDATE
Vision Statement
To achieve international distinction for creativity, innovation, and excellence.
Mission
“At McMaster, our purpose is the discovery, communication, and preservation of knowledge. In our teaching, research, and scholarship, we are committed to creativity, innovation, and excellence. We value integrity, quality, inclusiveness, and teamwork in everything we do. We inspire critical thinking, personal growth, and a passion for lifelong learning. We serve the social, cultural, and economic needs of our community and our society.”
Background: In the last decade, the effects of teachers on student performance (typically manifested as state-wide standardized
tests) have been re-examined using statistical models that are known as value-added models. These statistical models aim to compute the unique contribution of the teachers in promoting student achievement gains from grade to grade, net of student
background and prior ability. Value-added models are widely used nowadays and they are used by some states to rank teachers. These models are used to measure teacher performance or effectiveness (via student achievement gains), with the ultimate objective of rewarding or penalizing teachers. Such practices have resulted in a large amount of controversy in the education community about the role of value-added models in the process of making important decisions about teachers such as salary increases, promotion, or termination of employment.
Under the broad research question, “Can multiple electronic learning resources improve students’ academic performance in a large first-year General Chemistry course?”, this study examines how students used a wide range of online resources during the Fall 2011 and Winter 2012 academic terms and correlates this information with their academic success, measured by their grades on two midterms, a final exam and their final course grade.
Since 1996, Professor Robert Burk has taught Carleton University’s large first-year chemistry course, CHEM 1000. The course was a full credit course and spanned the fall and winter terms. In 2010, the Department of Chemistry adjusted the curriculum and the course has since then been offered as two half-credit courses – CHEM 1001, which runs in the fall term, and CHEM 1002, which runs in the winter term. Only students who achieve a passing mark in the fall term are eligible to enroll in the winter section of the course. Course enrollment has increased from 350 in 1996 to 700 in 2011.
Effective Practices to Enhance the Educational Quality of Structured Work Experiences Offered through Colleges and Universities
THIS GUIDE IS INTENDED TO SERVE AS A RESOURCE TO ENHANCE STUDENT LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION THROUGH THE STRUCTURED WORK EXPERIENCE
March 6, 2014, Toronto350, the University of Toronto chapter of the larger 350.org movement, presented the Office of the President with a petition requesting that the Uni- versity of Toronto fully divest from direct investments1 in fossil fuels companies within the next five years and to stop investing new money in the industry [the “Petition”].2 In response to this petition, President Gertler struck an ad hoc Advisory Committee on Divestment from Fossil Fuels [the “Committee”] under the terms of the University’s Policy on Social and Political Issues With Respect to University Divestment [the “Policy”]. The Committee’s mandate was to review the Petition and accompanying brief, and consider the University’s response to the call
for divestment. The Committee was also invited to reflect more generally on the University’s role in responding to the challenges posed by climate change.
Analyses of the 49th annual administration of the CIRP Freshman Survey find substantive variation across levels of institutional selectivity and control in students’ intentions to transfer. Students also increasingly place greater importance on early admissions programs in the college search process, perhaps signaling a new strategy for those attempting to enroll in the most selective institutions. As the Obama administration finalizes its plans to measure performance outcomes for colleges and universities, more freshmen appear to be aspiring to graduate degrees.
In 2011 Ontario joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) feasibility study. The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) led the project on behalf of the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and in cooperation with the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC).
Initiated in 2006, AHELO was a feasibility study to determine if standard generic and discipline-specific tests could be used in different countries to measure what university students know and are able to do. Intending to contribute to the international conversation on establishing better indications of learning quality, the study aimed to develop common learning outcomes and assess student performance at the end of a bachelor’s degree (first cycle) in a variety of educational cultures, languages and institutions through standard tests. The feasibility study developed three assessments: one for generic skills and two for discipline-specific skills in economics and civil engineering.
Canada’s colleges, institutes and polytechnics stimulate innovation, enhance curriculum and produce highly skilled, innovative graduates through applied research partnerships with firms and community organizations. Closely linked with regional public and private enterprises, colleges play a central role in advancing innovation.
In its 2012 economic survey of Canada, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recognized that Canadian “colleges are becoming proactive in directly meeting the needs of small businesses in areas of problem solving, process innovation and technical skills.” In 2011-12, more than 24,000 college students and 1,700 faculty and staff collaborated with 4,586 companies across 524 research areas.
Background/Context: Very little empirical research has been conducted on the issue of educator sexual misconduct (ESM) in secondary settings. The few reports available typically treat a larger social issue, such as sexual harassment or child abuse; therefore, data on ESM specifically must be extrapolated. When such data are obtained, the focus has been on rates of incidence rather than the nature of the problem. Feminist scholars have theorized embodiment in education and debated whether and to what extent an eroticized pedagogy is desirable, but scant attention has been paid to how and why erotic pedagogy can go awry.
This chapter presents an overview of Aboriginal education in Canada that focuses on linking the transgenerational effects of colonialism with current issues. Educational models, partnerships, and programs already exist that make an enormous
impact on outcomes for children and youth in and from Aboriginal communities.
Examples of six successful programs that were developed in partnership with Aboriginal communities and range from elementary school through post-secondary school are highlighted.
Millennials have gotten a bad rap for their habit of moving in with their parents after post-secondary school. There's even a disparaging term for the phenomenon — "failure to launch syndrome."
This report outlines a series of recommendations for the post-secondary sector arising from a research study carried out by researchers from Queen’s University and St. Lawrence College. Funding for this 30-month project, which began in January 2013, was provided by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities under the Mental Health Innovation Fund. In the fall of 2012, each post-secondary institution in Ontario was invited to submit proposals for funding and this project was one of ten successful applications.
The nature of the American academic workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past several decades. Whereas fulltime
tenured and tenure-track faculty were once the norm, the professoriate is now comprised of mostly non-tenure-track
faculty. In 1969, tenured and tenure-track positions made up approximately 78.3 percent of the faculty and non-tenuretrack
positions comprised about 21.7 percent (Schuster & Finkelstein, 2006). Forty years later, in 2009, these proportions
had nearly flipped: tenured and tenure-track faculty had declined to 33.5 percent and 66.5 percent of faculty were ineligible
for tenure (AFT Higher Education Data Center, 2009). Of the non-tenure-track positions, 18.8 percent were full-time and
47.7percent were part-time.
Faculty and staff are the heart of an institution. Colleges and universities have hundreds and sometimes thousands of employees who each day deliver on the institution’s brand promise to students and others. But have we truly invested in understanding and articulating our institution’s employer brand, with prospective and current employees in mind?
During my dissertation research on higher education multi-campus brand coherence, I studied a peer institution of my university. The qualitative data collection included one-on-one interviews with more than 20 senior administrators (starting with the president), whose areas of responsibility were closely connected to the university’s brand. Participants often asked who
else I was meeting with and responded with surprise when I mentioned the vice president for human resources. “Oh, that’s interesting. Why would you want to meet with HR?”
How S y s t e m s I m p r o v e : A C o n s t e l l a t i o n o f F o r c e s
The Association of Registrars of the Universities and Colleges of Canada (ARUCC) and the Pan-Canadian Consortium on Admissions and Transfer (PCCAT) have collaborated to lead an extensive study to understand current transcript and transfer credit nomenclature practices in Canada. These findings will ultimately inform a comprehensive update and expansion of the 2003 ARUCC National Transcript Guide and potentially result in a searchable database of transcript practices and Canadian transfer credit nomenclature. The ultimate goal is to enhance the clarity, consistency and transparency of the academic transcript and transfer credit resources that support student mobility. The specific deliverable for this phase was to identify and summarize Canadian transcript and transfer credit nomenclature practices, review four international jurisdictions as a means to highlight promising practices related to these two areas and, finally, to provide both an overview of systems and an initial examination of emergent perspectives and themes. The report purposefully avoids suggesting prescriptive solutions or outcomes; however, the findings from this study will provide a solid foundation from which to move forward the standards and terminology discourse in Canada. This report collates the findings from the supporting research conducted from January through to April 2014.
Between 2002–03 and 2012–13, the postsecondary education system in Ontario expanded substantially, with full-time enrolment
growing by over 160,000, more than in any decade in the province’s history. Ontario has been supporting enrolment growth
across the college and university sectors through increases in operating grants, enhancements to student financial aid, and
capital investments.
Ontario’s postsecondary institutions have been committed partners in their efforts to accommodate these unprecedented levels of enrolment growth, and have thus contributed to expanding opportunities for students to pursue higher education in many
communities across Ontario.