Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Recent and Current SoTL Projects by Kwantlen Colleagues
The following projects are some of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) that Kwantlen colleagues have recently completed or are currently participating in or are planning for. Please send any other information for dissemination on your project(s) to Alice Macpherson for inclusion.
Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) Conference
June 23-26, Ryerson University, Toronto
The annual STLHE Conference is the home of the 3M National Teaching Fellowships and the Alan Blizzard Awards both honouring the best teachers in Higher Education in Canada.
Several Kwantlen faculty members presented at this conference. Their proposals went through the double-blind peer review process before acceptance.
Stephen Dooley presented: Let the Music Move You: A Creative Team Approach to Service Learning Assessment.
Can an out of tune instructor engage students in an evaluation of a service learning course through music? This session provides a screening and thematic discussion of a song/video called "Life in the Circle", a creative expression of students to celebrate the experience of a fourth year service learning course in Sociology. The students volunteered for different community based agencies for 10 hours per week, while also meeting as a group once a week to share their collective experiences and provide opportunities for mutual support. Lead by one of the students with a guitar and musical inclination, the class developed the song as a response to the following: what will you remember most about this course? A number of important service learning values including humility in learning, stepping out of comfort zones and honouring multiple knowledge sources were reflected in the songs development. The process also demonstrated the pedagogical value of service learning in the provision of contextual opportunities for student learning about "self", the "other" and the intersection between the two. For the instructor, the organically inspired emergence of the song was a powerful metaphor for the non-traditional role of teacher in the service learning dynamic.
Check back soon to see the DVD "Life in the Circle"
Exploring and Shahping Opinions through Engaging Online Forums presented by James Matteoni, Betty Cunin, and Alice Macpherson
Is there a way to bump up the energy in course online forums so that learners fully engage in the enterprise of critical thinking? We think so and want to share what we have found! Come and find out about strategies that have students so engaged that they demanded that the forums stay live into the next semester and are being integrated across courses to provide both online and face-to-face learners with a virtual place to express, consider, debate, and analyze. The first year Botany course in the School of Horticulture at Kwantlen Polytechnic University was content heavy with some difficult concepts that require more deep learning (learning with understanding) rather than surface memorization. Using the theory of Deep Learning (Weigel 2002, Tagg 2003) and concepts that develop critical thinking (Halpern 1999, Paul & Elder 2000) we developed and implemented a plan with amazing results. Reflective, Integrative, and Higher-order learning were all goals for this course and with these tenets in mind, the challenge was to keep the fire stoked to draw students into the debate. We will share the strategies that encouraged students to share opinions, challenge their colleagues, and to be engaged through participation from faculty and students inside and outside the classroom.
This event continues with the online forums at: http://onlinelearning.kwantlen.ca
Here you can log into the BCCampus site, choose the course "Bumping up the Energy" and join in the discussion that started during the initial presentation. There are a number of resources available to help you engage your students more deeply in your content.
