Teaching and Learning Winter Festival 2018

Join us for WinterFest 2018, where we’ll take on the problematic of introductory/foundational courses. Foundational courses are intended to initiate the uninitiated into our discipline. Students face the difficult task of learning difficult interrelated concepts and reshaping their mental habits into disciplinary ways of thinking.

Professors are tasked with promoting this ‘deep learning’ while also facing large class sizes and a wide range of student motivation and performance abilities. In this context, deep learning—the process of making sense of and organizing knowledge within the discipline—often gives way to surface learning—the seeming rote memorization of disjointed facts—even in motivated students.

WinterFest 2018 brings together professors, instructional designers, educational researchers and others to explore the challenges and the unique opportunities presented by foundational courses.

Friday, January 26

Re-Envisioning Your Assessments: Go Active

Active learning allows students to take on additional responsibilities, build on existing knowledge and share in the construction of new knowledge. It stimulates questioning techniques, dialogue, choices and involves a variety of strategies designed to promote greater overall student engagement. But what happens to student engagement when it comes to assessment? A central component and a real challenge faculty face when implementing active learning is how to make learner assessments equally active so that students experience continuity. In this workshop we will look at practical strategies that can help faculty develop assessments that promote deeper learning with a particular emphasis on collaborative exams (two-stage exams). A portion of the workshop will be spent working collaboratively on the planning and design of assessments for active learning. Participants are encouraged to bring along an existing assessment to work on as part of the re-envisioning process.

Date: Friday, January 26, 2018
Place: SGW FB 620
Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am
Facilitator(s): John Bentley and Carol Hawthorne, Centre for Teaching and Learning

February 2, 2018

The Role of Alternative Assessments

This presentation will help faculty explore the potential value of using alternative assessment activities in their courses. The format is a panel presentation to showcase different practices and methodologies professors are currently using for formal assessment - including Authentic Assessment, Peer Assessment, and Portfolio Assessment. The presentation is open to all, particularly those teaching in large classes. As a follow-up to this Winterfest Presentation, the CTL will offer consultations/workshops to support any teaching faculty who would like to adopt one of these assessment practices or design and pilot their own alternative assessment in their classroom.

Date: Friday, February 02, 2018
Place: SGW FB 620
Time: 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
Facilitator(s): Calvin Kalman, Eva Lagou, Luis Rodrigues, Catharine Marsden, Kate Bligh, Nishan Joomun

February 5, 2018

Improving Writing: Three models of Peer-Assessment in Introductory and Upper Level Undergraduate Courses

David Creelman, 3M Fellow, English, University of New Brunswick

The road to becoming a better writer is long. Students often stall or stumble on that journey. Using a peer-assessment process in class can help them move toward the goal of becoming effective writers. Peer- assessment can help students become more self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses as writers, and revising assignments can help students change the way they express themselves in language. This workshop will review three models of peer-assessment that can be employed in any undergraduate class that has a writing/essay component. We will explore an easily employed peer-to-peer assessment model, a peer-to-peer- to-professor model, and a finally look at a scholarly report assessment model that echoes the processes used by academic journals. Lots of practical samples of rubrics, assignments, and outcomes will be shared.

Date: Monday, February 05, 2018
Place: SGW FB 620
Time: 9:30 am - 11:00 am
Facilitator(s): Dr. David Creelman, 3M Fellow, English, Univ. of New Brunswick

February 9, 2018

The Role of Active Learning Strategies Part I

Teaching a large class can be a daunting experience for even the most seasoned instructor. Large lecture-based classes are often associated with student disengagement, surface learning, and high failure rate to name just a few. Some of these instructional challenges may seem inherent and insurmountable, but this does not have to be the case. The February 9th and 16th Winterfest workshop series led by six active learning champions will demonstrate how research-based active learning strategies can help deal with typical challenges of lecture-based teaching. From strategies to engage students in course readings before class to techniques used in class to promote cognitive engagement and conceptual learning, such as Peer Instruction, experiential learning activities, use of scaffolding tools and polling technology, etc., these interactive, participatory sessions will get every participant involved in visioning a shift from the traditional lecture format to a more learner-centred approach that addresses diverse learning styles and promote deep approaches to learning. Come join us! You will walk away with applicable ideas to implement in your own classes, small or large.

9:00-9:45 am: Design your Class to Enhance Your Students' Overall Experience - Dr. Michèle Paulin and Prof. Phillippe Colas

10:00-10:45 am: Engaged Learners = Deep Learners - Dr. Steven Henle

11:00-11:45 am: Promoting Discussion and Conceptual Learning in Large Classes: Peer Instruction - Dr. Robert Cassidy

Date: Friday, February 09, 2018
Place: SGW FB 620
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Facilitator(s): Michèle Paulin, Philippe Colas, Steven Henle, Robert Cassidy

February 16, 2018

The Role of Active Learning Strategies Part II

Michelle Johnstone, Continuing Education

Date: Friday, February 16, 2018
Place: SGW FB 620
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Facilitator(s): Michelle Johnstone, Dr. Laurence Chen, Dr. Kenneth Ragan

March 2, 2018

Active Learning Techniques: WinterFest Follow-Up

Did you attend Concordia’s Winterfest 2018 Active Learning Techniques workshop series? Do you feel that lingering taste in your mouth making you crave more? Good news! Dr. Michèle Paulin and Professor Philippe Colas, speakers of “Design your Class to Enhance Your Students' Overall Experience”, have generously offered to lead a one-hour follow-up session to take the conversation to the next level. This session will be oriented towards a deeper exploration of the why behind choosing certain learning activities and the how behind making proper instructional choices relative to your specific context (eg: disciplinary content, course objectives, class size, student characteristics, instructional style, etc.).

Registration is free and open to all Winterfest attendees as well as any faculty who couldn’t attend but are interested in experimenting with active learning strategies in the classroom. Please note, space is limited and on a first come, first serve basis. A light lunch will be served.

Date: Friday, March 02, 2018
Place: SGW-LB 619
Time: 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Facilitator(s): Dr. Michèle Paulin and Prof. Philippe Colas

Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL)