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Taskforce Identifies Gwenna Moss Centre Programs as “Candidate for Phase Out”
[social_share/] [social-bio] The University of Saskatchewan is currently engaged in a program prioritization process, known as TransformUS. Two task forces were struck in April 2013 – one looking at academic programs and one looking at support services. The programs of the Gwenna Moss Centre were analysed along with nearly 400 other support services representing every aspect of the university – from groundskeeping to human resources, from financial management to library services. The support services task force consisted of 6 tenured faculty members, 10 professional staff members and 2 students. The task force grouped programs into “quintiles” with descriptors: Candidate for enhanced resourcing Maintain with current resourcing Retain with reduced resourcing…
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An Update on Open Courseware at the U of S
[social_share/] [social-bio] Last year we ran a blog post about the Open Courseware (OCW) initiative which is a joint venture of ICT, SESD and the ULC at the U of S. This portal offers a gateway to every course offered at the UofS and provides a space where instructors may choose to open up course information or learning resources to the world. There has been a lot of talk around the university lately about syllabi being open through OCW, which is now in accordance with the Academic Courses Policy. I thought that these conversations make it an appropriate time to write another post on this initiative. Instructors have the option to…
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GMCTE YouTube Channel Filled With Open Resources
[social_share/] [social-bio] The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness, as a unit, is a proponent of “open” resources in education. We’ve created a number of digital and print resources that we’ve added Creative Commons licenses, we opened all of the content from our Introduction to Teaching Online course (another course will be open starting in the January 2014, but that will be discussed in a future blog post) and we help to educate the campus community about open access resources. In 2012, the GMCTE launched our YouTube channel where we have videos on a wide variety of topics including course design, experiential learning, flipped teaching, curriculum renewal, learning technologies, teaching…
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Dean Stoicheff Speaks on the Value of an Arts and Science Degree
[social_share/] [social-bio] The College of Arts and Science at the University of Saskatchewan is unique in Canada, bringing under a single college governance structure, 21 disciplinary departments ranging from fine arts and humanities to social and natural sciences. The extreme diversity in disciplinary areas, along with the rich potential for interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary programs within the College offersunique opportunities for students. At our recent campus-wide Celebration of Teaching and Learning, Peter Stoicheff, Dean of the College of Arts and Science was invited to speak about the curriculum renewal process in the College. The video clips below include his full 20-minute presentation as well as a shorter 6 minute excerpt. Peter…
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GMCTE Welcomes New Program Director
[social_share/] The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness is pleased to welcome our new Program Director, Nancy Turner. Her role, which she assumed on November 1 involves strategic leadership of the Centre and leading and contributing to institutional initiatives to enhance learning and teaching. Nancy has returned to Saskatchewan after a decade working in London England, most recently as Associate Dean of Learning, Teaching and Enhancement at the University of the Arts London where her work focused on initial and continuing professional development of faculty, technology enhanced learning, reward and recognition for teaching, student engagement and open education. Her main areas of research are professional development and change in Higher…
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Using Google Forms for Student Feedback
[social_share/] [social-bio] My colleague here at the GMCTE, Kim West introduced me to integrating formative feedback into my classes. Through this I get some valuable feedback from students about my teaching and the course in general, and it goes a long way in helping to build rapport between me and the students. Following Kim’s lead I would print out sheets of paper that had four instances of a feedback form asking questions like, “What’s one thing you learned today?” or “What questions do you have after this week’s classes?”. I would cut them into four and take them to class. They were voluntary, but students completed them in high numbers. Students…
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Curriculum Change in a Time of Transformation
[social-bio] This piece was previously published in the GMCTE publication Bridges. As the University of Saskatchewan wrestles with program prioritization and all academic programs are thoroughly scrutinized, analysed, and criticized, there is a temptation to hunker down, do nothing, and wait for better times. Academic units have just completed a major self-assessment of their core programs and naturally have put forward a strong case for continued support (and perhaps worked hard to justify the status quo). It is risky to openly contemplate curricular change in an environment where admitting the need for change may risk resource loss or even program elimination. Yet if the self-examination of academic programs has revealed…
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The Importance of Technology Integration Across a Program
[social-bio] At the recent EdMedia conference in Victoria, BC, I noted a recurring theme around the integration of learning technologies. Many people were talking about the ongoing issue of these technologies being used in a course here and there as opposed to being integrated across programs. There are a number of problems with this approach to learning technologies. Blogs and ePortfolios can both be useful tools for students to assemble evidence of their learning, reflect and show their growth. When these are only used in a course or two throughout a students program, the blogs and ePortfolios are often incomplete, interrupted (if used in two courses at different points in…
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Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI) and Reflective Teaching
[social-bio] One of the activities we do in GMCTE’s Introductory Instructional Skills course is the Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI) to help participants define what “good teaching” looks like to them. Five different perspectives related to teaching are reflected in the TPI. Most people hold one (maybe two) dominant teaching perspectives; many also have a “back-up” perspective. The five perspectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but represent very different and sometimes opposing beliefs about teaching. The five perspectives in the TPI are: Transmission – Content is king (or queen) in this perspective. Teachers are responsible for presenting the subject matter correctly, systematically, memorably and efficiently. Apprenticeship – This perspective reflects a…
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Formative Feedback For Improving the Teaching and Learning Experience
[social-bio] In January of 2012 I taught my first university level course in the College of Education. It went “OK”, but not great. I had a good rapport with many of the 24 students, but no overall sense of connections with the class as a whole. Some of the comments on the SEEQ at the end of the term really surprised me and made me question myself as an educator. Teaching students is not a required part of my job, but rather an opportunity, and I was left wondering whether I wanted to let the opportunity slip away. Instead, I looked over the SEEQ results for recurring themes and looked back on…