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General Education Initiative with Ralph Hoffman and Kevin Dougherty

Justice Murray Sinclair issued the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action in 2015. These Calls to Action include recommendations for post-secondary institutions – particularly in the fields of law, medicine, and journalism – to educate learners about First Nation, Metis, and Inuit histories and persistent social issues. In response to this call, academic Schools are participating in an innovative initiative that involves general education.

Watch the video below to learn more about this general education initiative that Ralph Hoffman, Executive Dean in the School of Health and Community Services, has started and which has been implemented in collaboration with Kevin Dougherty, Associate Dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies.

To jump to specific topics within the video, use the menu below:

February Faculty Spotlight – Stephen Forbes

For our faculty spotlight this month, the CTL had the pleasure of chatting with Stephen Forbes, a professor and program coordinator in the school of BITM, about his approach to teaching and learning. Take some time to listen to Stephen’s unique perspective.

Use this menu to navigate to a specific point in the interview:

January Faculty Spotlight – Amy Watt

Innovate and reimagine education: this is the approach that Amy Watt has taken toward teaching throughout the pandemic, and she has been met with remarkable success.

Amy Watt, a professor in the Police Foundations program within the School of Justice and Emergency Services, approaches teaching through project-based learning. Her aim is to encourage critical thinking and collaboration so that learners practice these skills to prepare for a career in law enforcement.

Through case studies and experiential learning opportunities, Amy has found a unique method for teaching both communication and intercultural awareness. She has taken the opportunities afforded by the pandemic to connect Durham College learners with the larger world community.

Each week, students in Amy’s class work collaboratively to deliver conversational English lesson to Nepali students between the ages of 9 and 12. DC students must plan, create, and present a 45-minute conversational English lesson on any topic of their choosing. Though they worked collaboratively to plan and create the lesson, each student is responsible for their own presentation portion. In this way, Amy has emulated the workplace within her classes, where performance is individually assessed but collaboratively contextualized.

Through this experience, Amy has provided learners who might not perform as effectively in traditional assessments a forum to shine. They engage critical thinking skills and learn to tailor communication to a specific audience and build empathy in cultural awareness. This approach fosters creative, out-of-the-box thinking which a mindset is to cultivate in future law enforcement.

“This approach to learning fosters creative, out-of-the-box thinking, which a mindset is to cultivate in future law enforcement.”

This experience is bolstered by Amy’s philosophy that building a community to support learning involves recognizing that the world is our community. DC students and Nepali students are excited to connect and communicate. Their learning transcends curriculum as relationships are forged, and empathy built.

This would not have been possible without the disruption in education that has characterized much of the pandemic. As UNICEF states, the pandemic has highlighted that “digital learning should become an essential service” and that location should not determine whether a child receives an effective education.

Technology has been the backbone of this educational reimagining; it has allowed a dynamic world classroom to emerge which isn’t bounded by walls. In this space creativity can flourish, community and inclusion can be built.

Amy’s advice for faculty as we continue to reimagine education: “be creative and encourage your students to be creative.”

December Faculty Spotlight – Don Fishley

Don Fishley, the program coordinator of Sustainable Construction in START, had a unique start to his teaching career.

He began his own construction business in 1976 and his mother always worried about the physical strain that might result from construction. Unbeknownst to him, Don’s mother applied, on his behalf, for a position at Durham College. To appease his mother and believing that he would not be qualified, Don attended the interview.

As Don recounts, “Esther (his hiring manager) and I went to the old carpentry shop, looked at all the equipment, of which I had several of in my own shop. Esther asked if I was familiar with the equipment, asked me to demonstrate a couple pieces of equipment, which I was able to do, and we left the shop. As I was leaving her office she said, ‘oh, the paper made an error it’s not a construction job, it's cabinet making, they're almost the same, aren't they?’”

Construction and cabinet making are by no means the same. Having already signed the papers, Don went about brushing up his cabinetry making skills: “I drove out to my folks’ place and told my dad I needed some refreshers on cabinet making. His best friend, Bob, was a master cabinet maker, so dad called him, told him the dilemma I had gotten myself into, and Bob said to get over to his shop. Friday night from 6 to midnight, Saturday from 8am to 8 pm, and Sunday from 8am to 6pm, I learned all I could about cabinet making."

“He establishes a consistent and open presence within his classes, making himself available to students. He emphasizes experiential learning and that “the shop is the best place to learn by mistakes, so they don’t make them on their first job site”

Part of building student engagement within the classroom or shop is by getting to know each student. This allows Don to work with their strengths and weaknesses.

Don uses group work as a means of building community; he creates mini-groups and purposefully re-arranges group structures each week after noting the students who have stronger skills and those whose skills need development. This builds a sense of confidence in students. Don also connects with his students through his industry experiences; he shares stories about what they might encounter on the job site including challenges and successes.

Throughout Don’s experiences in both industry and in teaching, he has come to some very poignant conclusions: “Be creative in your teaching format. Forget what you think you know in your trade; teaching is so different. It is a learning experience for all faculty, just as it is for students, and remember no two people are alike. Above all, have fun, and let students see how much passion you have about teaching. If you show how much you enjoy teaching it will rub off on the students and they will enjoy learning equally as much.”

November Faculty Spotlight – Christine Baily

Christine BailyChristine Baily is a program coordinator and faculty in the School of Hospitality and Horticultural Science. Christine describes her approach to teaching as centered around storytelling. She focuses on connecting with students by sharing her industry experiences. This approach ensures that students remain engaged even when learning remotely.

Take a moment to watch the video below as Christine shares her passion for her industry and teaching with the CTL!

Go to specific questions using this menu:

Fall Academic PD Day / Highlights

Richard BoothDr. Richard Booth, our morning keynote speaker, kicked off the fall Academic PD Day on October 27, 2021. His talk focused on how rapid digital transformations impact many “knowledge-intensive social processes including higher education”. The digital innovations that we’ve all come to normalize raise questions about how higher education can continue to serve the needs of our digitally native students and the rapidly changing world of work, and elevate the importance of durable skills.

The day was organized into four learning tracks – there was something for everyone! Sessions included a flexible delivery faculty panel; copyright and open access information; a MAD START to Podcasting; Using Student, Graduate, and Employer Feedback; Advanced Library Skills, and so much more.

Steve JoordensDr. Steve Joordens, psychology professor and the director of the Advanced Learning Technologies Lab at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, offered our afternoon keynote. Like Dr. Booth, Dr. Joordens stressed the importance of ensuring that higher education focuses on building durable skills like critical thinking. He provided several
strategies that could be adopted in a variety of disciplines that leverages educational technology tools, including peerScholar.

The afternoon comprised of a broad range of sessions including: Indigenous World Views in Education; course-based research; a Kahoot and Miro faculty panel; Anti-racist pedagogy in postsecondary ECE programs, and so much more.

Overall, there were 166 registrants with 15 faculty presenters / panelists from six Schools, and collaborators from the Centre for Professional and Part-time Learning (PPL); Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE); Library; International; and SALS.

The CTL would like to thank all participants – and give a special shout-out to the faculty members who presented. You contributed to enriching the collaborative academic culture at DC, and without you, this day would not have been possible!

Let us know how we did

Please take a moment to complete the Academic PD Day feedback survey. Your opinion matters and we want to hear from you so we can continue to develop Academic PD Days that are relevant and meaningful to the Durham College academic community.

Session Recordings

If you missed out on Fall Academic PD day this year, you can watch secured session recordings available now via Microsoft Stream. Registered participants currently have access, however, DC faculty and staff can request access to the recordings by emailing ctl@durhamcollege.ca.

October Faculty Spotlight – Michael Williams-Bell

Michael Williams-BellThe CTL’s first faculty spotlight of the 2021/22 academic year is Michael Williams-Bell. Michael is a faculty member in the Fitness and Health Promotion (FHP) program in the School of Health and Community Services. Michael describes his approach to teaching and shares some great strategies that he and his colleagues in the FHP program have used to engage students while teaching remotely.

Take a moment to watch the video below as Michael chats with the CTL!

Go to specific questions using this menu:

Educational Technology Updates (Zoom, Teams, Stream)

Zoom

The 2021-2022 academic year is shaping up to be an exciting year in terms of educational technology. Zoom has been added to Durham College’s digital tools landscape. While the DC Connect integration is not yet ready to launch, faculty now can use Zoom through the DC Zoom portal.

Zoom will allow you to enhance your technology-enabled teaching and learning with features such as advanced polls, multi-user annotations, personalized waiting room, annotations, and breakout rooms. The student experience will be simple – add your meeting link to your DC Connect calendar/course and students can access your classroom through a single click of a button.

The CTL has curated Zoom resources to support your teaching and learning. We are offering two Zoom professional development workshops: “How to Use Zoom – The Basics 100” and “Zoom: Level up and Q&A 300”. If you cannot attend the CTL’s live sessions, you can also access Zoom’s extensive training supports. There are live training sessions on various Zoom topics.

Throughout the year, the CTL will continue to work with you to refine the Zoom experience. We are always happy to hear your thoughts and ideas – please share them in the CTL Suggestion Box located at the end of this newsletter.

Recording in Teams / The New Stream Experience

Currently, all Teams recordings are stored in either OneDrive or SharePoint (rather than Stream). Any one-on-one Teams recordings (recordings not conducted within a specific team) will be saved to a file titled Recordings in the host’s OneDrive. Any Teams channel recordings will be stored in a “Recordings” folder located in the file tab of the channel.

Teams Start Transcription

This new storage system will allow for a simple and smooth sharing experience. Much like any other OneDrive file, you can access a shareable link for the recording to post in DC Connect for your students.

Two important points to remember:

  • In a non-channel meeting (ones scheduled through outlook), to ensure that closed captions are available during playback for recordings, you must select “start transcription” (located beneath the “start recording” in the more menu) at the time of recording (see screenshot). Closed captions for recordings cannot be added after the recording is completed, as they were in Stream (Classic)
  • If you are in a Teams channel meeting and you do NOT see start transcription, you will be able to record your session and then upload it to Stream (classic) to ensure that captioning is generated. From there you can share your video with your students. See these instructions for further details

The changes to Microsoft Stream will be evolving throughout this year. Please visit the CTL website on captioning for updates.

App Retirement / Bongo Virtual Classroom and Video Assignment

Both Bongo Virtual Classroom and Bongo Video Assignment will be retired after this fall semester. These tools will no longer be available for the Durham College community as of January 2022.

App Pilots / Educational Technology Sandbox

eCampusOntario is providing all Ontario post-secondary institutions with an Educational Technology Sandbox, as part of the province’s Virtual Learning Strategy (VLS). Durham College has chosen to take part in this EdTech Sandbox initiative; they have provided funding and support in acquiring select educational technology tools to explore and test throughout the fall and winter terms. We will be piloting four educational technology tools: Kahoot, Miro, Pivot Interactives, and peerScholar.

Kahoot! Pilot

Kahoot is an educational technology tool designed to increase engagement in the classroom. Through its game-based platform, it allows educators to quickly administer quizzes, discussions, surveys, and more.

During the fall and winter semesters, we will be supporting faculty who have chosen to participate in this pilot through a virtual Community of Practice which will provide a repository of resources in how to use Kahoot and a space for asynchronous discussion designed for peer-to-peer learning. In addition, we will be offering a synchronous session each month to discuss the features of Kahoot, examine its impact on engagement in the classroom, and assess its contribution to learning.

Our participation with the eCampusOntario Sandbox EdTech Pilots has provided us with a limited number of licenses to be distributed to faculty on a first come, first-served basis.

If you are interested in being part of this pilot, please accurately complete this MS Form by September 10th.

Miro Pilot

Miro is an online collaborative whiteboarding platform that can support student engagement and collaboration. It provides numerous templates from brainstorming charts to SWOT analysis tables for educators to use in supporting students learning.

If you are interested in enhancing your digital delivery with Miro for the fall and/or winter semesters, consider taking part in this pilot. We will be providing a virtual space for colleagues to discuss how they are using Miro to support engagement in virtual learning. In addition, we will be offering a monthly synchronous session focused on using Miro and integrating it into your teaching pedagogy.

If you are interested in being part of this pilot, please accurately complete this MS Form by September 10th.

Pivot Interactives Pilot

To keep up with the ever-changing technology landscape and to support the increasing importance of STEM education, CTL is committed to exploring
opportunities to pilot educational technologies that might promote active learning and increase learners’ engagement.

Pivot Interactive has the potential to do this by offering a simple way to use active learning for science. Through interactive video, hands-on learning with sensors, and interactive simulations, pivot interactives is a digital tool that an boost engagement in the classroom and support student learning.

Through eCampusOntario EdTech Sandbox opportunity, we are conducting a pilot of Pivot Interactives to explore this tool within our teaching and learning. For more information on this tool please visit their website. If you are interested in joining the pilot, please email visal.chea@durhamcollege.ca by September 10th.

peerScholar Pilot

PeerSchoar supports the development of students’ critical and creative thinking skills. Through creation, evaluation, and reflection stages, students assess their own strengths and challenges as well as provide constructive feedback to peers based on set parameters. These experiences support students’ thinking and analysis skills.

This tool has been made available in DC Connect as an LTI integration. PeerScholar will be providing support, such as webinars and documentation, to support your use of this tool during the pilot.

If you would like to be part of this pilot during the fall and winter, please complete this MS Form by September 10th. Your name will be added to a mail list used to communicate resources and supports.

Flexible Delivery Planning

Many different programs and courses have chosen the flexible delivery mode for the fall semester. The CTL has created a Faculty Tool Kit to build capacity in our faculty.

If you are teaching a flexible delivery course this year, consider using the tools we have created to support your teaching and learning.

  • DC Connect “Flexible Course Delivery – Durham College Toolkit”: This resource reviews both the pedagogical and technological aspects of flexible delivery. It
    covers: the principles of flexible delivery, benefits and considerations, simulcast technology specific to Durham College, the role of DC Connect in flexible delivery, setting course expectations for a flexibly delivered course, delivery considerations, and digital tools for technology-enabled teaching and learning.
  • Virtual space for a Flexible Delivery - Community of Practice: This space allows faculty to learn from and with each other. Here, we will be posting asynchronous discussion prompts, resources, and tips and tricks. This is a spare for faculty to share their experiences with flexible delivery. If you are interested in being part of this CoP, the join code for the MS Team is 99s1q34
  • Synchronous sessions: At the end of each month, we will host sessions focused on specific topics to reflect on our practices with flexible delivery.

Through these collaborative efforts we are looking to deepen our collective understanding of flexible delivery which can then be used to build additional supports for the ‘next generation’ of flexible faculty.

If you are teaching a flexible delivery course and would like to have access to the DC Connect Toolkit, please complete this MS Form by September 17th.