Connecting Education & The Real World

Ken King

This presentation is designed to talk about how learning in post-secondary education can be much more connected to outcomes in the real world by building more creativity and innovation into our assessments. In about 15 minutes, the goal is to compel and create thought processes that changes how we approach training students in a way that sets MRU apart.

Electronics and computer programming in unexpected places: Curricular integration in the Maker Studio*

Audrey Burch, Liam Eisenburg, Kerry Harmer, Mariangel Ramirez, Tim Taylor

Join the faculty and students who have used the Maker Studio in the past year to learn how electronics and computer programming are being incorporated into curricula. Maker Studio staff will explain how they have assisted students online in Environmental Science and Computer Information Systems in creating a variety of innovative projects as part of coursework. You will be able to see the projects created and learn how you can get involved in a curricula collaboration with the Maker Studio.

Designing and Developing Virtual Reality Learning Spaces

Anthony Chaston

In the Fall 2021 semester I will begin teaching a new course, PSYC4408 – The Digital Frontier: Perception, Virtual Reality and AI in Psychology. This course will be delivered entirely in virtual reality, in a Virtual Learning Space that I have developed specifically for this course. When students log in, class will include presentations at our virtual outdoor amphitheatre, discussions, guest speakers and breakout groupwork. Each area in the learning space will be customized to support the lessons and activities that are scheduled for that day’s class. During this presentation I will discuss the process of developing Virtual Learning Spaces from both software & instructions design perspectives. I will also discuss the current state of teaching in Virtual Reality and some aspects of people and space management that are unique to teaching in VR.

They Were Loved: Telling the stories of those we’ve lost to COVID-19

Angela Lackey, Kate Mackenzie, Archie McLean

Since May, journalism students have been a part of a national partnership between MacLean’s magazine, Carleton University’s future of journalism project and the Mindset Social Innovation Foundation to tell the stories of people who have died from COVID-19.

Working entirely online, students have found family members of people who have died, conducted difficult interviews and wrote and edited the stories for publication. The experience has been overwhelmingly positive for students, though profoundly difficult at times.

In this session we will discuss the project and its impact on those involved.

Kids Mental Help: Course Based Community Outreach*

Carrie Scherzer, Lindsey Scott

In this presentation, we will be sharing our experiences as both professor and student creating a website to disseminate information about children’s mental health disorders. The information comes, in part, from the Atypical Child Development (PSYC 4451) class at MRU. Students in that class create educational brochures about different disorders, and through the support of a Teaching and Learning Enhancement Grant in 2019-2020, a Psychology student has been working alongside the course instructor to create a website to have these brochures reach the intended public audiences. The student will speak to her experiences, both as a student in the course and working on the website. Further information about how this assignment came to be and came to life will also be explored.

Teaching with Learning Technology: the good, the bad, and the future

AnneMarie Dorland, Donna Dumont

Over the last several years the Principles of Marketing course (Mktg 2150) has grown to almost 1500 students in the class on an annual basis. It is both a required course and a General Education option. Several years ago we moved to a simulation as a learning and assessment tool for students to apply and learn how the key course concepts interact with each other.  We also adopted the textbook adaptive learning technology where students read and complete an online quiz prior to covering the topic in class. The pandemic provided us the opportunity to scaffold on additional learning technologies and to explore the impact of using simulation and asynchronous quizzes in a learning environment.

Pandemic Makerspace: Programming and feedback data from an online year in the Maker Studio

Kerry Harmer, Erin Wainwright, Stephen Hodder (MacEwan University)

What does an academic library makerspace look like in a pandemic? Join the presenters to learn what online programming has been created and delivered, what new open access resources are now available, what courses we worked with during each semester and how faculty and students have responded to working with the Maker Studio in an online setting. We will share what lessons we have learned and how the lessons learned will inform future practices in the Maker Studio.

The Relationship Between Logic and Science Education in First Year General Education

Mandy Sobhanzadeh, Nick Strzalkowski

Since 2008, MRU has been committed to providing students with capacities for quantitative reasoning and the kind of literacy we have come to associate with the interpretation and assessment of scientific ideas shaping public discourse. After ten years, it was decided to revise the curriculum primarily responsible for supporting this mandate. A notable revision was the addition of a unit on logic in the course “GNED1101 – Scientific and Mathematical Literacy for the Modern World”, MRU’s foundational course on quantitative reasoning. Logic was added to improve students’ critical reasoning and ability to assess arguments, especially those made by practicing scientists. Interviews with students who have completed class activities and discussions about the modified curriculum show a positive impact of studying logic on their learning skills such as problem solving, writing and understanding scientific texts along with everyday life events.

Capstone Experiences Cultivate Collective Learning*

Dr. Susan Garrow-Oliver, Emma Murphy, Taylor Syrja

In this capstone project students researched, planned and developed an organizational online learning module for employees of a large non profit community agency. Adult learning theories, course development, collaborative writing and application of theories learned in the Bachelor of Child Studies informed the final project outcome. We will share our experiences and learning of this full year capstone project. Together the students and faculty will explore their personal and professional growth through the capstone process along with the benefits to the community agency partner.

An interdisciplinary experience - advocating for art based curriculum in the early years*

Carolyn Byartveit, Michaela Chronik, Sophia Hamrell, Sujood Kharfan, Christina Tortorelli

A panel of 3 students from Child Studies and Social Work will share their experiences of building a high functioning practicum team during
COVID-19. 

Supported by two faculty members who acted as "agency" supervisors the students have developed leadership skills that have far reaching impacts.

Completing a literature review to understand the topics, developing arts-based curriculum, facilitating art with a group of 5 year-olds - students' interactions with the children were filmed by the ADC Media Team.

The result is material for the classroom and the child development lab, training of staff in the childcare centre, and education of the community interwoven with an on-line children's art sale in support of the centre:

AND - a paper to publish with a strong advocacy message for the inclusion of arts-based curriculum as part of quality childcare.

An interdisciplinary experience - advocating for art based curriculum in the early years

Pop-Quiz with a Twist: Reflections of Using Two-Stage Pop Quizzes in a Business Course

Dr. Uthpala Senarathne Tennakoon

Pop quizzes are commonly used as a mechanism to keep students connected to the class and the content. The presentation introduces “pop-quiz with a twist” (PQT), an enhanced version of pop quizzes with two-stage assessment. Two-stage assessments are utilized as a way to introduce collaborative learning and formative assessment in exams, where students complete the same assessment individually, and as part of a team. The approach is known to improve performance and motivation, reduce test anxiety, and positively viewed by students. Compared to a traditional two-stage model, the PQT approach is enhanced with self-grading with immediate feedback by the instructor. This presentation will examine the  instructor’s reflections and student perceptions of implementing the PQT approach in content-heavy undergraduate business courses. There is strong suggestions indicating that the PQT approach leads to high student engagement, better learning outcomes, and higher content retention. Challenges to implementing approach and future direction are also discussed.

What Access and Inclusion Students Taught Me during
Covid-19

Janne Holmgren, Ann Wade

Dr. Janne Holmgren (Faculty; Justice Studies) and Ann Wade (Access Advisor; Access and Inclusion Services) collaborate to discuss the diversity of Access and Inclusion students and how understanding the barriers they face can inform teaching style and increase student participation, engagement and empowerment. Ann will speak to the diverse needs of students served through Access and Inclusion Services. Janne will provide insight into how teaching in the virtual context helped her see the true needs of her students, and how this deeper understanding led her to re-assess and adjust her teaching style to better accommodate their needs. 

Theory into Practice: Implementation of Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education

Rahim Pira

Technology in the Classroom course for educational assistants provides a theoretical and a practical exposure on the benefits and challenges of integrating emerging technologies in the classroom for teaching and learning. One of the major topics that is covered in this course is how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can be integrated in the classroom through various educational technologies. As an instructor for this course for three consecutive years, I have had opportunities to teach the theoretical foundations of UDL and implement this research-based, educational framework in the course. Aligned with UDL’s three principles – multiple means of representation, engagement, and action and expression – the implementation of UDL in this course created a rich learning environment through provision of multiple learning opportunities. These opportunities were created in multiple forms: representing the course content using different modalities, engaging students with the course content through small group and classroom wide collaborations, and allowing students to express their learning experiences via prior experiences and opinions about educational technologies in the classroom. 

The Integration of a Community Service Learning Water Project in a  Post-Secondary Chemistry Lab

Karen Ho

Community Service Learning (CSL) is an experiential learning approach that integrates community service into student projects and provides diverse learning opportunities to reduce interdisciplinary barriers. A semester-long chemistry curriculum with an integrated CSL intervention was implemented in Analytical Chemistry II to analyze the potential for engagement and positive attitudes toward chemistry as a meaningful undertaking for 22 MRU students in the laboratory as well as for 400 K-12 student partners in the community. Traditionally, introductory science experiments typically involve repeating a cookbook recipe from a lab book, but this CSL project allowed the university and K-12 students to work collaboratively to determine the physical properties, chemical properties, and total dissolved solids in the water from the fountains at the K-12 students' schools.

Surviving/Thriving Disruption: Services in Support of Remote Teaching and Learning

Tiffany Doherty, Kristin Fulton, Anna Nuhn, Andrea Phillipson, Sarah Stephens, Amanda Veinotte, Katharine Barrette (moderator)

This moderated panel discussion will celebrate the creative service delivery opportunities that were generated as a result of the rapid shift to remote delivery in spring 2020. Panel members will include colleagues from three service areas within the Riddell Library and Learning Centre: the Academic Development Centre, Student Learning Services, and the University Library. Panel members will be asked to respond to the following questions: 1) What is the greatest shift that your area was required to make? 2) How were you able to meet the needs of your clients/audience? 3) Where were there challenges or gaps? 4) What (if anything) do you hope will be part of the new normal, for your area, going forward? This presentation will include 15 minutes for the panelist discussion and 15 minutes for audience questions.

Spark Talks

Get ready to be fired up as colleagues spark your curiosity and imagination with short 5-min, talks. No slides, no questions, just 5 minutes to share one impactful and  important thing about teaching and learning! These talks will be hosted by Meg Wilcox and include:

• Ken King - “Data-Based Recommendations for Student Success”

• Joseph Plant - “How to Get the Most Out of Your MRU Education: the Importance of the Relationship Between Professor and Student"

• Monica Pauls - “Navigating a Pandemic: Adjusting the Sails of Fieldwork in Child and Youth Care"

• Samanti Kulatilake - “Google Sites for Course E-materials"

• Nadine Van Wyk, Julie Booke - “The Ongoing Debate: Group v.s. Individual Projects"

• Sally Haney - “Alumni Spotlights!"

Undergraduate Research as a Fulcrum for Leveraging Change

Barb Davies, Cordelia Snowdon 

The Catamount Fellowship is a cohort-based learning experience for MRU students committed to building a more just and sustainable future for all. The Fellowship combines community-partnered research with transformational learning, challenging students to dive into social innovation frameworks, experiential learning, and deep listening with community.  Students explore the root causes of complex ecological, social, economic, and cultural issues affecting communities in Calgary and area, defined by community-partnered organizations. Students build meaningful connections with a broader community of changemakers while exploring their own voice, agency and identity as an emerging changemaker. 

The challenge for each student, and for the team delivering the program, is to balance and intertwine undergraduate scholarly research within the context of the community's needs while developing a changemaker mindset. The tensions that emerge are many such as, the leadership growth of the student and the practical real-time needs of the community, or between the research discipline imposed by faculty mentors and the need to cultivate a systems lens in approaching complex issues.  These tensions stretch students, and can be life changing.  But how do we provide a supportive learning environment to stretch students, but not to the breaking point?