learningmatters.viu.ca

In late Fall, 2013 this project was initiated by Liesel Knaack (Director of Centre of Innovation and Excellence in Learning) and Tina McComb (Director of Enrolment Management) after a debriefing session at the CRANK It Up student conference.

At that time, support areas on campus were discussing creating new websites or enhancing existing ones. It was suggested that efforts be pooled into one core website for students. Many staff felt that this would be a good idea to obtain a greater emphasis and use of the resources students needed for success – and weren’t getting or finding on VIU’s current set of webpages.

Tina and Liesel created a committee and began investigating the viability of building a digital learning commons for students by Fall 2014. Through consultations, student

A Publication from The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning

TEACHING & LEARNING MATTERS NOVEMBER 2014

NEW LEARNING MATTERS

WEBSITE FOR STUDENTS

focus groups and working with many stakeholders at VIU, the learning commons (called Learning Matters) was launched in September.

Point your students towards this great website where they’ll find valuable resources to enrich their learning experience at VIU,

learningmatters.viu.ca.

Did you know the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning has an extensive library of teaching and learning resource books available for signing out to faculty and staff?

We have over 900 books, covering topics from learning design to professional learning.

A new addition to the collection is Getting Started With Team-Based Learning, co-authored by our very own Bill Roberson. This book is written for anyone who has been inspired by the idea of Team-Based Learning (TBL) through his or her reading, a workshop, or a

THE CENTRE FOR INNOVATION AND EXCELLENCE IN

LEARNING LENDING LIB RARY FOR FACULTY

colleague's enthusiasm, and then asks the inevitable question: how do I start?

TBL is a uniquely powerful form of small group learning. It harnesses the power of teams and social learning with accountability structures and instructional sequences. You will find what you need to plan, build, implement, and use TBL effectively.

Come to the Nanaimo Campus Library B305 to Room 512 to see what is available or call 740.6167.

Link to listing of books: www2.viu.ca/ciel/pp/Library/index.asp

Teaching Tip from the Trenches:

What Gifts do you Bring? Here is a tip for helping to create a positive learning environment.

1. Have each student and the instructor(s)

anonymously write one gift they bring to class such as humour, authenticity, openness to learning, a personable posi-tive attribute) on a small piece of paper.

2. Place these ‘gifts’ in an envelope (I use a

coloured one in the size of a greeting card) and keep this envelope with your class materials.

3. Randomly and usually at the end of a

class as a technique to bring closure to the class – read one or two of the ‘gifts’ out loud to the class.

4. It is a quick, easy, and small thing to do

with BIG results.

Teaching Tip Submitted by: Heather Sanrud, Faculty/Academic Advisor, Child and Youth Care Programs, Van-couver Island University

The top five reasons I love VIULearn are…

The environmental impact can be substantial. My courses require little or no paper because students submit written assignments through the Dropbox. In one online course, 29 students submitted 465 “pages” of written work in two midterm exams and four short assignments. Because I don’t use textbooks, students were dissuaded from consuming 10,615 sheets of glossy paper (based on a 350 page textbook).

Superior editing options. The Dropbox “submit-edit-return” feature allows instructors to evaluate student’s writing in a seamless workflow. I use Microsoft Word’s “Review | Track Changes” feature for identifying writing errors and commenting in the margins. Once I’ve finished marking the paper, I use a rubric to allocate a grade (more on rubrics below). To reduce typing fatigue, I use voice recognition software for making substantive comments, answering email, and contributing to discussion groups.

Effective and fair marking with rubrics. Each student’s submission to D2L can be assessed with a rubric, including their individual posts to Discussion Topics. Students can see the rubric before they start an assignment or project and know what is required to meet a competency standard. These wonderful heuristic

devices reduce the repetitive work of identifying common errors in students’ submissions (e.g., instructions were not followed, external sources not cited correctly, quality of writing, etc.) or signifying good, very good or outstanding work.

FIVE REASONS TO EMBRACE VIULEARN (D2L)

BY JOHN ANDERSON , RE TIRED PROFESSOR, CRIMINOLOGY

Instructors know if and when students have read their feedback. When students access their returned assignment, D2L tells me that my feedback has been “read”. If students have not read the feedback which I’ve left on their assignments, I ask them to do so before they submit another one to

the Dropbox. This is just one of the many ways in which D2L “encourages” learning.

The instructor is the editor and no textbook is required. Depending upon the course, an instructor can develop a curriculum of readings from academic online articles, agency reports and data from government websites. My “Commentary” is the editorial voice which appears at the start of each weekly module. I provide an overview of current instructional topics, an integration to past issues, and

may forecast learning areas in the curriculum. The Commentary is the basis for the initial lecture, some in-class discussions and is carried on in Discussion Groups in which I participate with my students.

Check out the calendar at http://inviu.viu.ca for a variety of learning sessions for new and returning faculty being offered in December.

The Centre will be offering sessions on creating quizzes and rubrics in VIULearn (D2L), getting the most of your online discussions, making screencasts and our suite of learning technologies.

You can learn how to create and run a quiz in your VIULearn course, create self-marking questions and many more tips and tricks.

TEACHING , LEARNING + TECHNOLOGY SESSIONS:

PROFESS IONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR FACULTY Ever wondered how people show you so clearly what is happening on their computer? Sign up for the screencasting session and learn how to create screencasts and some of the tools available to you (some for free!)

Need a refresher on what to do with your online course components for the beginning of the new term? Want to have multiple sections of one course combined into one course? Register for the VIULearn Semester Start-up session.

We will also be holding a new Faculty Orientation, January 9, to introduce new faculty to teaching and learning resources for designing learning experiences for your students and to provide you with an opportunity to work with colleagues who are on a path similar to yours.

See the calendar on the facing page for dates and times, then log on to inVIU and register for the session you would like. Or call 740.6167 for more information.

TECH TIP – LIMIT ING QUIZ QUESTIONS PER

PAGE IN VIULEARN (D2 L)

Our Team Liesel Knaack Director Local 6395 | B305-R514 Liesel.Knaack@viu.ca Carl Butterworth Manager, Learning Technologies Local 6513 | B305-R511 Carl.Butterworth@viu.ca Charity Gillett Administrative Assistant Local 6179 | B305-R512a Charity.Gillett@viu.ca Stephanie Didsbury Administrative Assistant Local 6167 | B305-R511 Stephanie.Didsbury@viu.ca Kathleen Bortolin Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist Local 2026 | B305-R512d Kathleen.Bortolin@viu.ca Tine Reimers Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist Local | B305-R512b Tine.Reimers@viu.ca Bill Roberson Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist Local 2295 | B305-R512e Bill.Roberson@viu.ca Stephanie Boychuk Learning Technologies Support Specialist Local 2063 | B305-R511 Stephanie.Boychuk@viu.ca Melissa Robertson Learning Technologies Support Specialist Local 2668 | B305-R511 Melissa.Roberston@viu.ca Tamara Cameron Learning Technologies Support Specialist Local 2918| B305-R511 Tamara.Cameron@viu.ca Michael Paskevicius Learning Technologies Application Developer Local 2029 | B305-R511 Michael.Paskevicius@viu.ca

Here are just a few:

It forces the students to ‘save’ at the end of each page. This is a big win for you and your students. It prevents the students from moving too far forward in a quiz without saving. This could come in handy if the Internet fails.

It is less overwhelming for students when fewer questions are on a page.

The student can more easily navigate within the quiz.

When you are setting up a quiz in VIULearn it can be easy to leave all of your questions on one page.

Limiting the amount of questions available at one time is less overwhelming for students than placing an entire quiz on one page.

We recommend that you have no more than 5 questions per page in a quiz. There are many reasons for making this quick tweak for your students.

Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference: Vancouver in June! Seeking dynamic opportunities for dialogue with other passionate educators, and leaders? The 34th Annual STLHE (Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education) Conference will be co-hosted by Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia. The program will focus on creating strategies, developing ideas, and celebrating teaching excellence in higher education. The conference will be held June 16—19, 2015 at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in downtown Vancouver. Consider submitting a proposal. For more information see:

http://stlhe2015sapes.ca/