Experiential Learning
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Inbox Assignment
Summary: Transform your teaching with Inbox Assignments! Engage students and boost learning outcomes through real-world email scenarios. Explore this innovative approach now. Date of publishing: August 16, 2023 How’s your email inbox looking today? This can be a stressful question! We each have different ways of addressing projects but the reality is that email often plays a huge role in how we manage our to-do list. How do we prepare students for this career reality? Simulating a project via an inbox is a way to make a case study more authentic. Case-based learning helps students address a complex problem. Students often work in small teams each with a different role…
- Curriculum Development, Educational Theory, Experiential Learning, Instructional / Course Design, Instructional Strategies, Uncategorized, Wellness
From Stuck to Supercharged: The What and Why of Brain Plasticity
Your Brain on Teaching and Learning: Series One What is Brain Plasticity? Brain plasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize and restructure itself throughout a person’s lifetime. It is a result of the brain’s ability to form new neural connections and strengthen existing ones based on the activities we engage in and the information we process. Factors such as learning, exercise, diet, and environmental stimuli can all influence brain plasticity. Recent research has shown that educators who understand the basics of brain plasticity can design courses that promote and accelerate learning and retention. Why is Brain Plasticity Important? Brain plasticity offers several benefits in the field of education, including: Improving…
- Curriculum Development, Educational Theory, Experiential Learning, General, Instructional / Course Design, Instructional Strategies, Wellness
Your Brain on Experiential Learning
“Is disengaged.” “Is easily distracted.” “Shows no interest.” “Never shows up.” No professor wants to use these phrases to describe their students, but disengagement is a persistent problem — making descriptions such as these all too common today. Experiential Learning can help. Experiential learning is a powerful educational approach that helps students remain focused as it promotes active learning, fosters creativity and innovation, and prepares students for the real world. Let me explain: Experiential learning engages multiple parts of the brain simultaneously When learners participate and apply their learning in authentic contexts, it activates different areas of the brain responsible for sensory processing, motor skills, and cognitive functions, such as…
- Assessment and Evaluation, Curriculum Development, Experiential Learning, Instructional / Course Design, Uncategorized
Time for a Jump Start? Teaching and Learning Fund at the GMCTL
Feeling stuck? Even though good ideas for change are exciting and energizing, sometimes they sit still or do not progress. Common reasons include: Working at it sporadically or “off the side of your desk” Attending to more urgent or pressing issues Being at (or beyond) your limit in terms of projects and things to do Uncertainty about next steps, or seeing the next steps as daunting Questioning if this is really what you’re supposed to be doing, anyway If the time has come for an infusion of help and your project is about one or more of the following Program-level curriculum change (see the 4-step process for successful change) Assessment improvement across…
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Defining Authentic Assessment
Summary: Authentic assessment emphasizes real-world application of skills and knowledge. Learn how it enhances student engagement and aligns with meaningful learning outcomes. Date of publishing: January 13, 2023 The term “authentic assessment” is often misleading as it is not just about assessing a student submission ‘authentically’; rather, it focuses on the context and relevance of learning beyond academia. The following definition considers the interconnectedness of learning tasks, activities, and feedback in designing authentic assessments. Authentic assessments are evaluations of student learning that use real-world tasks or performance-based assessments in authentic contexts. Authentic assessments rely on continuous feedback for improvement in their design. The goal of authentic assessment is to assess…
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Experiential Learning Resources – 5 Top Picks
Summary: If you’re wondering how to enhance your experiential learning practices and make meaningful connections with learners’ knowledge and experiences, here are five valuable resources to support experiential learning. Discover rubrics, learning modules, reflection models, and prompting questions. Date of publishing: October 11, 2022 When exploring the USask Experiential Learning framework, you might want information about reflection frameworks, providing efficient feedback, and grading reflection. While we have built some resources around reflection and feedback, other higher education institutions have some gems to support Experiential Learning. Brock University – Reflection in Your Course and a Critical Reflection Rubric Lays out why and when students should reflect, what reflection could look like, and…
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How do you know when you need Experiential Learning?
Summary: Identify when your teaching can benefit from experiential learning to boost student engagement with practical, real-world applications. Date of Publishing: September 22, 2022 Experiential learning (EL) is not a new approach to teaching, but in recent years has become increasingly common in higher education. It is an engaging approach to teaching and learning that can be extremely beneficial for students, especially as they start their careers. Due to practical limitations, EL can’t always be used, which leads to the question: when should you use EL? Situation 1: When students are learning a skill that is important in the real world Some skills taught in university courses are critical for…
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Efficient Feedback
Struggling to learn something? Trying something complex or hard? There is nothing like feedback to help you learn well. For many of us teaching in higher education, however, providing feedback is an aspiration. We know it is important, but we struggle to provide it early or sometimes at all, particularly in large classes. Even when we have specifically designed an activity where students have an experience in an authentic context, we struggle to give timely feedback that students can use to improve their learning. Most of our feedback comes at the end when learning is done (e.g., final paper). It’s laborious, and we question if students are even using it. …
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Grading reflection
Giulia Forsythe, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Summary: Reflect on grading practices to enhance student learning and equity. Discover how thoughtful assessment can drive better educational outcomes. How can you determine if someone’s reflection is good enough, and how can you signal that to students so they reflect well and understand the feedback and grades they receive? Date of publishing: September 2, 2022 We want students to reflect as a part of the learning process, because it helps them to consolidate what they have learned, think about why it is important to them, and be able to apply what they have learned later. But when we get ready to grade that…
