General
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Challenging Conversations – The Stories We Tell
This is the first in a short series on having challenging conversations either in your classes or individually with students. The topics covered in these posts come from the GMCTL short-course Challenging Conversations. The ideas and concepts shared in the course and these posts were contributed in large part by Dr. Rose Roberts, Roberta Campbell-Chudoba, Dr. Wendy James, and myself, Heather Ross. One of the first concepts we talk about in the Challenging Conversations short-course is the stories we tell. While later in the course we talk about the importance of storytelling in many cultures and the role it can play in your own courses, this initial discussion is about…
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Using Your Syllabus to Set the Tone for Class
The syllabus is often the first window that students get into a course. An instructor may post it to Canvas, email it, or even still hand out printed copies. While the university sees it as a contract, and instructors and students see it as a description of expectations for course work, the syllabus can do a lot to set the tone for a class. Syllabi are often long, and honestly, dry. Is it any wonder that many students never read them, preferring to ask the instructor or peers questions when they already have the answers at their fingertips? While there are activities that can be done to encourage students to read the syllabus (scavenger hunts for…
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How Do I Subscribe to This Blog, and Other Sites
There have been some recent inquiries about how to subscribe to this blog, which is great. We love to hear that readers are finding this site helpful. This post will explain how to use RSS (Real Simple Syndication) to subscribe to Educatus and other sites. What Is RSS and What’s It Good For? RSS allows you to subscribe to any website that includes an RSS feed, which many do. Think of a magazine subscription. If you subscribe, the magazine will come to your home, or if a digital edition, to you email inbox. If you don’t subscribe, you either need to go to a store or website to see if there’s…
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Students in Grief: What can you do?
By Lisa Greig, Student Support and Outreach Coordinator It has been a difficult nine months for many as we have all been braving the waves of grief, collectively, in this pandemic. Understanding grief Jack Jordan provides a great definition of grief: it is “the whole person response to the actual or threatened loss of anything which we are psychologically attached”. This is important because grief is not just tied to a death loss, it is a response to any loss. And, where loss lives, grief will follow (Carrington, 2020). A few things to note about grief: It is Normal There is no timeline Grief is the universal response to loss…
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Elevate Your Course Projects using Riipen
USask faculty members have been taking advantage of our new partnership with the Riipen project-based learning platform. Riipen provides an all-in-one platform for connecting, communicating, sharing documents, and managing deadlines between stakeholders (instructors, students, and community/industry partners). This post highlights the experiences within two USask courses. Course within College of Agriculture and Bioresources Within the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, faculty member Dr. Sabine Liebenehm, wanted her upper-year Agricultural Economics students to be able to complete a business analysis on a real company and provide a report and an executive presentation. She worked with Riipen to onboard two local companies and connect them to the groups of students within the…
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Using Authentic Assessment to Integrate Current Events Into Courses
Authentic assessments are activities, whether for marks or not, that involve students addressing “real-world” problems in a way that reflects activities they might engage in as professionals in the discipline. Authentic assessments can provide several benefits to both students and instructors, including: Enabling students to engage with current issues to increase engagement in learning actively Allowing students to see the role the discipline may play in addressing issues Broadening the audience, which may lead to increased effort and quality Sharing potential solutions outside of the institution is “what the world needs.” Reducing issues around academic integrity When creating such activities for your students, there are a number of things that…
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13 tips for talking to students about academic integrity
Do you wonder how best to speak with students about academic integrity?Here is a great resource from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, developed by Dr. Kristie Durkewich (thanks again for creating this, Kristie, and for the CC-BY license). Watch this eight minute video for 13 tips of “pure academic integrity gold”, as one of our USask Educational Development Specialists put it. Kristie makes a particular point about the ways we “signal” to students our commitment to fostering and developing students’ academic integrity. This is an overview of Kristie’s 13 tips, with some USask resources added. Have a dialogue about the importance of academic integrity and review the policy. (here is the USask…
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7 Tips for Using Group Work
Group work can be highly effective in the remote and in-person teaching context. It is important to use strategies that require interaction among students. In groups, they can check their understanding with peers and develop a sense of belonging that helps engage and motivate. Tip 1: Be clear on purpose and process. Make it crystal clear to everyone what the learning goals or outcomes are for group work. Provide students with clear descriptions and criteria that will be used to determine grades. Tip 2: Set up the groups for students. You may need to survey students or ask them to submit information by email or discussion boards to allow for…
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Academic Integrity ‘Talking Points’ for Instructors
In addition to pointing students to the USask academic misconduct policy (a minimum requirement as part of your syllabus), it’s important to talk about academic integrity and academic misconduct with students. Students need to know that: You know about academic misconduct and the temptations students face; You respond to the suspected academic misconduct; You prevent academic misconduct in multiple ways; and You care about students’ learning and a fair environment for assessment. Core ideas What you can say to your students I know sites that facilitate or deliver academic misconduct exist unpermitted collaboration occurs I am aware of sites that make it possible for students to cheat on…
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Online Homework Systems: How to Protect Student Privacy and Keep Materials Costs Down
Online homework systems (OHS) are online tools that can grade questions asked to students as homework, track formative practice, or assess examinations. Students can receive immediate feedback on the activities they complete using an OHS, providing students with a clear picture of how they are progressing and where they may need to do some additional work. OHS are used extensively through the STEM disciplines, but are also used in other fields including Psychology and business. While they have benefits for both instructors and students, there are concerns that both should be aware of. Concerns The Cost of OHS for Students In about half of the courses using OHS purchased through…
