By Lindsay Richardson, Educational Technology Supervisor (TLS), Adjunct Professor of Psychology

As both an instructor and the Educational Technology Manager at 杏吧原创鈥檚 Teaching and Learning Services (TLS), I have the unique privilege of seeing course design from two angles: the day-to-day realities of the classroom, and the broader institutional strategies that support sustainable teaching. This dual perspective allows me to pilot tools and approaches in my own courses while also working alongside a team of specialists to support educators across campus.

In both roles, I find myself returning to the same core questions鈥攓uestions I know many instructors are also grappling with:

• How do we create authentic assessments that genuinely engage students without becoming overwhelmed?
• How can we develop course materials stay current without the need to re-create lessons each and every semester?
• How do we foster meaningful connections when we鈥檙e teaching at scale?

At TLS, we work closely with instructors to explore practical, sustainable solutions to these questions鈥攐ften through the lens of entangled pedagogy (Fawns, 2022), which emphasizes the complex relationship between teaching methods and educational technologies. We see educational technology not as a shortcut, but as a catalyst for thoughtful and sustainable design. This approach helps courses remain resilient and adaptable, even as budgets tighten, and technology continues to evolve.

Rethinking Sustainability in Course Design

When we talk about sustainability in education, we don鈥檛 necessarily mean environmental or financial efficiency. Instead, it鈥檚 about designing courses that reduce workload over time and can adapt as class sizes grow or instructional modes shift. With the post-pandemic epoch, budget constraints, and the rise of generative AI, designing sustainable and scalable learning environments has never been more essential.

One of the most effective strategies I鈥檝e applied in my own teaching is rethinking how content is delivered. In my asynchronous courses, I began using H5P to create modular, interactive lessons. When a particular segment becomes outdated, I can update just that section without having to re-record the entire lesson. This has made my course more flexible and sustainable鈥攂oth for me and my students. All the content is available online, which means class time is reserved for skill development, meaningful interactions, student support, and working on evaluations.

I鈥檝e found implementing H5P in courses can help free up time to focus on meaningful student interaction rather than course overhauls and mass content re-recording.

Balancing Technology and Human Connection

While educational technology can help streamline aspects of teaching, it鈥檚 not a cure-all. It’s important to maintain the human side of teaching as we continue to innovate. Reflective, student-driven learning has always been important to me, and I don鈥檛 believe it needs to be restricted to upper-year courses.

Inspired by my colleagues, I鈥檝e used cuPortfolio to empower students to document and reflect on their learning journeys. These self-assessed assignments not only foster deeper student engagement, but they also lighten the grading load while preserving academic rigour. In my use of cuPortfolio, it鈥檚 a content-agnostic project that allows students to define success, plan for it, and reflect on it, ultimately documenting their metacognitive journey throughout the course.

One of the biggest challenges I faced in large-enrolment courses was finding ways to assess critical thinking without relying solely on multiple-choice exams. In one of my large courses, I used 鈥攁 grading workflow tool鈥攖o support a collaborative written exam. The setup took some front-end planning, but it helped me better support students鈥� critical thinking without relying solely on multiple-choice formats. And excitingly. Assign2 is now available to Faculty of Science and Engineering and Design instructors, offering a way to manage feedback and grading more efficiently at scale.

Navigating GenAI in Education

Generative AI tools like Microsoft and custom GPTs are becoming increasingly accessible in higher education. While the possibilities are exciting, the implications are complex.

In my courses, I鈥檝e developed a custom GPT to help students navigate course logistics and frequently asked questions. While these tools can reduce administrative friction, I emphasize their use as a complement鈥攏ot a replacement鈥攆or the critical thinking and human connection that define transformative teaching. To quote our colleague Dave Cormier, 鈥溾��.

Grounded in Pedagogy, Not Gadgets

Whether it鈥檚 H5P, cuPortfolio, Assign2, or GenAI, the most effective uses of technology in my experience are those that emerge from a dynamic, interdependent relationship between pedagogy, technology, context, and values; that is, a perspective aligned with entangled pedagogy. It鈥檚 not about starting with pedagogy or tools in isolation, but about seeing them as mutually shaping and evolving together. In my own work, and in conversations with instructors across disciplines, the most enduring strategies are rooted in a clear understanding of what helps students learn and then finding the right tools to support that.

A Call for Collaboration and Continuous Learning

In my dual roles as an Instructor and the Educational Technology Manager at TLS, I know there鈥檚 no one-size-fits-all model. That鈥檚 why we continue to learn alongside instructors and students as needs evolve. If anything that I鈥檝e shared here resonates with your own experiences, we鈥檇 welcome the chance to talk further. Whether it鈥檚 a quick chat, a workshop, or simply comparing notes, these moments of connection help shape what teaching and learning can look like, especially in times of change.

In a time of limited resources and growing complexity, small, thoughtful changes鈥攚hen shared and supported鈥攃an lead to more sustainable, human-centred teaching. That鈥檚 the direction we鈥檙e committed to exploring together.

References

Fawns, T. (2022). An Entangled Pedagogy: Looking Beyond the Pedagogy鈥擳echnology Dichotomy. Postdigit Sci Educ, 4(2022), 711鈥�728.

The post Blog: How Educational Technology Empowers Educators to Design Sustainable Courses in a Time of Austerity appeared first on Teaching and Learning Services.

The winter term marked the Experiential Learning Hub鈥檚 (ELH) first full semester operating since its launch in October of 2023. We asked four instructors who innovatively incorporated virtual reality (VR) into their courses this past term to share their reflections on their experience working with the ELH.

Peggy Hartwick Assistant Professor, School of Linguistics and Language Studies

• Explored a VR platform designed for language learners and teachers with two MA students. Their goal was to untangle the limitations of the traditional classroom environment by experiencing learning in an immersive space.

Brian Greenspan, Associate Professor in the Department of English

• Used an Indigenous Futurist VR experience in his grad seminar (10 students). The course focused on the pre-history and theory of VR and compared science-fictional representations of Virtual Reality with existing VR experiences.

Laura Pickell, Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Health Sciences

• Incorporated a VR experience into a third-year course (35 students) called Diseases of Aging, where students experienced different types of age-related vision loss, just as older adults with these pathologies would experience.

Prashant Waghmare, Associate Professor; Associate Dean, MEng Program

• Developed a laboratory experiment in VR on fluid dynamics for his grad course. Students visited the ELH to try out the experience multiple times across the term.

What worked well?

Peggy: We appreciated the hands-on nature of the project and the support from the ELH team. Without this support, the experiences would have been compromised as the learning curve 鈥� initially 鈥� is steep.

Brian: It all worked really well, with just a few glitches, which is to be expected with any early adoption. The VR experiences were memorable for the students and clearly had a strong impact on them.

Laura: I had never tried VR before and came to them with only a vague idea of what I wanted to try. The ELH made it happen, providing technical, logistical, and even pedagogical support. They worked with me to bring my vision to fruition.

Prashant: The distribution/management system to get the files to all headsets was easy and efficient. We appreciated the locked-down version of the software that the students got access to as it avoided any significant issues for the first time and newer VR users getting lost in the system. The designated areas that each student had to perform the experience worked well and the optional seated or standing setup was used often.

What was your students鈥� response?

Peggy: My students were very grateful for this opportunity to experience something that otherwise is not possible in the regular course offerings. They explored a non-traditional learning space.

Laura: The engagement from the students in the experience was beyond my expectations. They came back from the experience talking about it and unanimously wrote that they enjoyed the experience as a different and engaging way of learning. In their reflections, some students also indicated that they had a better understanding of the pathologies causing age-related vision loss compared to only reading about it or seeing pictures, and that they had greater empathy for those living with vision loss.

Prashant: In general students found it to be a unique experience that added a fun factor to otherwise normal laboratory experiments. Overall, we received a lot of valuable feedback that will be implemented into all VR experiences going forward.

What words of advice would you give to someone who鈥檚 never taught in the ELH or is a newbie to teaching with XR?

Peggy: Allow for time, some motion sickness, be open minded, ask questions, don鈥檛 try to do too much.

Laura: Just try it! I had never tried VR before and only had a vague idea of what I wanted to try in my classroom, but our ELH made it happen. Also, start small. There is no need to re-vamp your entire course, rather, start with a short activity students could try and build from there!

Brian: Don鈥檛 assume that students are all new media experts:  they aren鈥檛, and many are quite trepidatious about new technologies. Nor will they necessarily have the metalanguage to discuss these media, so come prepared to contextualize and theorize. Even with TLS support, a VR workshop isn鈥檛 an easy teaching day.

Also, have a backup plan. Assign readings to go along with VR so that students will have some way of contextualizing their experiences, and something to talk about in-between VR sessions, or should the tech fail.

Prashant: As always with a newer use of technology, the development process will have significant struggles with bugs and errors all the way through. Although this technology is being used to educate on specific course material you should also use it as an opportunity to educate yourself and your students about XR technology and enjoy the freedom that XR brings to learning.

If you are interested in integrating virtual reality into your course, join us for the next Experiential Learning Hub Orientation happening July 16^th or reach out via the to book a visit or consultation.

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By Lindsay Richardson, Educational Technology Supervisor (TLS), Adjunct Professor of Psychology

I was listening to Lex Fridman鈥檚 (2024) podcast when psycholinguist Edward Gibson said, 鈥渨e don鈥檛 think in language.鈥� That鈥檚 when it hit me: language is simply the vehicle we use to express our thoughts. Now鈥攐n the precipice of a revolution鈥攚e have a new vehicle: Large Language Models (LLMs). This revolutionary way of expressing ourselves holds the promise of increasing rigor and academic integrity while breaking down barriers to effective and durable learning.

Why do teenagers create new language? Because they are desperate for ways to express themselves. Have you ever felt frustrated that your thoughts are not landing? This typically lies in our inability to communicate effectively. Now, we have a new tool that can unlock that potential. But this is only true if we use it right and promote student engagement with the tool.

A New Era of Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an educational framework that aims to accommodate the diverse needs of all learners by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression. The goal is to create a more inclusive learning environment where every student can succeed, including neurodivergent learners. Traditionally, UDL has required significant effort from educators to adapt their teaching materials and methods to proactively accommodate diverse learners.

With the advent of wide access to LLMs, we now have an opportunity to revolutionize how UDL is implemented in education. These artificial intelligence (AI) tools empower students to demonstrate their learning in ways that best suit their individual strengths and preferences. By leveraging LLMs, we can create a more dynamic and responsive educational experience that proactively accommodates individual student needs and empowers learners to articulate their unique ideas and perspectives. This means increasing academic rigor and integrity because we can finally task students with accessing their higher-order cognitive skills. As educators, we can finally promote and facilitate deep learning in truly learner-centered environments, allowing students to offload lower-order, menial tasks to machine learning.

Becoming a 鈥淢aster Prompter鈥�

In a recent Spotlight on AI session held by Teaching and Learning Services at 杏吧原创 University, the term 鈥淢aster Prompter鈥� was introduced to describe the expertise required in crafting effective prompts for LLMs (Danielle Manley, personal communication, May 14, 2024). To fully harness the power of LLMs in education, it is crucial to master the art of prompting. While some argue that prompt engineering will soon become obsolete due to the rapid evolution of LLMs (e.g., Genkina, 2024; Willison, 2023), understanding and adapting our prompts will always be essential. Fundamentally, educators and students alike must recognize that prompting LLMs is not the same as performing keyword searches in search engines (Abrahams, 2024).

The effectiveness of LLMs relies heavily on the quality of the prompts they receive, as well-crafted prompts enable AI to generate meaningful and relevant responses. This concept aligns with the principles of the Turing Test, which traditionally measures a machine’s ability to exhibit human-like intelligence through the quality of interaction. Rather than just producing human-like output, the Turing Test emphasizes the importance of meaningful and contextually appropriate interactions. Similarly, effective prompting ensures that AI responses are accurate, insightful, and relevant to the context. Therefore, mastering the art of prompting is essential for educators to leverage LLMs effectively, fostering deeper and more personalized learning experiences.

To achieve this, it鈥檚 important to incorporate key ingredients into prompts:

• Task: Clear instructions are mandatory. The task is the core component of any prompt. It defines what you want the AI to do. Clear and specific instructions are crucial because they ensure that the AI understands exactly what is being asked. Just like when communicating with humans, vague or ambiguous tasks can lead to misunderstandings. With LLMs, these misunderstandings are represented as irrelevant or incomplete responses. For example, instead of saying, “Tell me about the Cognitive Revolution,” a clearer task would be, “Provide a brief history of the paradigm shifts throughout psychology, focusing on the Cognitive Revolution.”
• Context and Exemplars: Providing background and examples is crucial. Context sets the stage for the task by giving the AI additional information that might be necessary to generate a meaningful response. Exemplars (i.e., examples) help by showing the AI what a good response looks like, thus guiding it towards the expected format and content. For example, if you want the AI to write a research proposal, providing context about the research and an exemplar of a well-written proposal can help the AI produce a better response.
• Persona, Format, and Tone: These elements are crucial for shaping the interaction and enhancing the quality of the AI’s output. Customizing the AI’s responses to match the desired style and audience involves setting a specific persona, determining the appropriate format, and adjusting the tone. The persona refers to the role the AI should take (e.g., a molecular biologist, an educator). The format dictates the structure of the response (e.g., a list, an essay, an executive summary), and the tone adjusts the language style (e.g., formal, casual). For example, 鈥淎s a molecular biologist, describe how our mitochondria are negatively affected by a sedentary lifestyle. Provide the information in a list format and use a friendly and engaging tone.

By incorporating these elements, you ensure that the AI’s responses are not only relevant but also tailored to meet specific needs and expectations. This approach enhances the overall interaction, making the outputs more useful and appropriate for the intended context.

Prompt Frameworks for Effective AI Interaction

Shelly Palmer (2023) has curated a helpful list of prompt frameworks specifically geared toward interacting with the LLM ChatGPT. Many of these frameworks can be applied to various other forms of generative AI. Here are a few choice frameworks from that list, each providing a structured approach to crafting effective prompts:

• Task, Action, Goal (TAG): This framework focuses on setting a clear task, describing the action to be taken, and clarifying the end goal. It鈥檚 particularly effective for ensuring that the AI’s responses are aligned with specific objectives and outcomes. For example, 鈥淚鈥檇 like to improve team productivity. With the goal of streamlining workflow to reduce project completion time, plan the implementation of a new project management software.鈥�
• Context, Action, Result, Example (CARE): This framework emphasizes providing context, describing the action, stating the desired result, and offering an example. It鈥檚 especially useful for instructional and explanatory prompts, ensuring that the AI understands the background and can deliver a well-rounded response. Including these components helps the AI provide more comprehensive and contextually appropriate suggestions.
• Role, Input, Steps, Expectation (RISE): This framework involves specifying the role for the AI, describing the input information, detailing the steps to be taken, and clarifying the expected outcome. It鈥檚 beneficial for process-oriented tasks where a clear sequence of actions is necessary. Using this framework ensures that the AI鈥檚 output is structured and follows a logical progression, making it easier to implement the suggested actions.

What all these frameworks鈥擳AG, CARE, and RISE鈥攈ave in common is their emphasis on clarity, context, and structure. Each framework ensures that prompts are detailed and specific, providing the AI with a clear understanding of the task at hand. By incorporating context, examples, and defined roles, these frameworks guide the AI to generate responses that are not only relevant but also tailored to the specific needs of the 鈥淢aster Prompter鈥�.

For students, mastering the art of prompting enhances their learning experience by promoting higher-order thinking and deeper engagement with the material. It enables them to interact more effectively with AI, leading to more meaningful and insightful responses that support their educational goals. For example, a student might use the RISE framework to collaborate on a project by specifying the role of the AI as a research assistant, providing input about the topic, detailing the steps for conducting research, and setting expectations for the outcome. This approach encourages the student to think critically about the research process and engage more deeply with the content.

Ultimately, effective prompting empowers students to take control of their learning, making it more personalized, interactive, and impactful. The takeaway message is that effective prompting is an art that requires thoughtful preparation and precision. Mastering this art is essential for educators and students alike to fully harness the potential of LLMs, fostering deeper engagement and personalized learning experiences.

As we consider the broader implications of these skills, it becomes evident that AI has the potential to revolutionize our educational approaches.

Adaptive Andragogy: A New Approach to Teaching and Learning

Yes, we are on the brink of an AI Revolution in education. This revolution presents an opportunity to rethink and reshape our teaching methods to focus on durable learning. Adaptive Andragogy鈥攖hinking about the way adults learn and adapting our teaching methods to optimize that learning鈥攊s the way forward. By embracing AI and integrating it thoughtfully into our teaching practices, we can create a more inclusive, engaging, and effective learning environment for our students.

Adaptive Andragogy emphasizes the need to tailor educational methods to not only the way humans learn best, but also the societal landscape, in which we find ourselves. By incorporating AI-driven tools and effective prompting strategies, we can enhance UDL and create more inclusive, engaging, and effective educational environments.

LLMs facilitate UDL by providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression. They cater to diverse learning preferences, enabling students to interact with content in ways that suit them best. For educators, this means less time spent on one-size-fits-all teaching methods and more time supporting individual student needs. For instance, a student with dyslexia might use an LLM to listen to written content, while another student might use it to generate study questions tailored to their learning style.

The potential of LLMs to revolutionize education lies not only in their ability to generate content but in their capacity to facilitate higher-order thinking, creativity, and personalized learning experiences. This aligns perfectly with our goal of fostering student success through durable learning strategies. By integrating AI and focusing on adaptive, student-centered methodologies, we can break down traditional barriers and usher in a new era of educational excellence.

The journey towards becoming a “Master Prompter” is a step towards realizing the full potential of AI in education. It reinforces our commitment to innovation and excellence, ensuring that our educational practices evolve to meet the needs of all learners in a rapidly changing world.

Critics may argue that relying on AI diminishes critical thinking and creativity. However, LLMs are not a replacement for human thought but a tool to enhance it. By offloading routine tasks, students can focus more on higher-order thinking and creativity. Additionally, concerns about academic integrity can be mitigated by teaching students how to use AI ethically and transparently. Encouraging students to include disclaimer statements in their coursework not only promotes ethical and transparent use of AI but also helps educators provide more accurate and relevant feedback.

Call to Action

The AI Revolution is not just about new technology; it鈥檚 about a new way of thinking. It鈥檚 about harnessing the power of AI to break down the barriers of traditional teaching methods and promote student success through durable learning. By embracing this change, we can work together to build a critical mass around the idea of Adaptive Andragogy. I encourage you to explore how LLMs can enhance your teaching practices and join the discussion on how we can collectively revolutionize education.

AI Etiquette Disclaimer

This blog post was written in collaboration with ChatGPT Model 4.0 (May, 2024), which was utilized as an AI-powered writing assistant to enhance and refine my blog post in the following ways:

• Provided valuable feedback on the structure, clarity, and coherence of my initial draft.
• Helped to smooth transitions between sections.
• Streamlined content for better readability.
• Incorporated practical suggestions.
• Addressed potential criticisms constructively.
• Ensured that my blog effectively communicated the transformative potential of AI in education.
• Maintained a professional and engaging tone.

This collaboration helped me present my ideas more clearly and compellingly.

References

• Abrahams, M. (Host). (2024, March 19). How to Chat with Bots: The Secrets to Getting the Information You Need from AI [Audio podcast episode]. In Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques Podcast. Stanford GSB.
• Fridman, L. (Host). (2024, April 17). Edward Gibson on language and thought [Audio podcast episode]. In Lex Fridman Podcast. Lex Fridman.
• Genkina, D. (2024, March 6). AI prompt engineering is dead. IEEE Spectrum. https://spectrum.ieee.org/prompt-engineering-is-dead
• Palmer, S. (2023, November 26). ChatGPT Prompt Frameworks. Retrieved from: .
• Willison, S. (2023, February 21). In defense of prompt engineering. Simon Willison鈥檚 Weblog.

The post Blog: Language Matters: Revolutionizing Education by Re-thinking LLMs as an Approach to UDL appeared first on Teaching and Learning Services.

By Anthony Scavarelli, scavara@algonquincollege.com

Dr. Anthony Scavarelli holds a Ph.D. In Information Technology and a MASc in Human-Computer Interaction from 杏吧原创 University, exploring the development of an inclusive virtual reality framework for learning and social, collaborative human-computer interactions using reality-based interfaces. He is also a full-time professor at Algonquin College, teaching 3D animation, sensor-based interaction, and virtual reality design studios in a joint college-university interactive multimedia and design degree program between 杏吧原创 University and Algonquin College.

As a social technology artist and socio-experiential UX researcher, he explores how to make virtual reality more inclusive and transformative in learning. His research methods include theorizing how technology use should consider the socio-cultural context, exploring the usability and performance of inclusive virtual reality tools and methods, and observing how people create and use virtual reality tools within social learning spaces such as classrooms and museums. Dr. Scavarelli’s interactive work, research, and publications can be found at https://www.anthony-scavarelli.com.

In the last few years, we have seen changes in how we teach and engage with learners, primarily seeded by a sudden shift to online learning and teaching, resulting in many challenging adaptations necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, an essential discussion area around learner engagement includes better connecting with and welcoming traditionally excluded communities in fields such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), where we still struggle to close . Tools such as virtual reality (VR) appear as potential candidates for increasing learner engagement, as many studies suggest that increased engagement is one of its strongest learning affordances [1]. Unfortunately, immersive head-mounted display (HMD) VR can also be non-inclusive, introducing accessibility challenges such as cybersickness, a motion-sickness-related nausea that many experience when using immersive technologies such as VR [2, 3], gender bias, the inability to use physical controls or space, and social anxiety [1, 4].

In this article, as an overview and extension of a recent 杏吧原创 University Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) presentation, I will describe my observations and lessons learned teaching a third-year design studio for the . BIT-IMD is a joint program between 杏吧原创 University and Algonquin College, where we teach design, user experience, and programming. It is a generalist technology degree where many graduates are hired across various fields, showcasing the adaptability of our students across several industries. For example, Fortunately, the program welcomes a diverse student body, but keeping all students engaged with traditionally less inclusive STEM material can be challenging.

杏吧原创 the Class

Teaching students in the BIT-IMD program can be rewarding as we train to be “transdisciplinary” technologists, and many appreciate the broad overview of how everything works. They graduate from the program with many skill sets relevant to understanding and creating technology, allowing them to work more fluidly within interdisciplinary teams. Students are taught everything from . However, teaching in the BIT-IMD program can also be challenging as many students are less engaged with our more technical courses. Classes involving programming can be problematic as we often attract students who are more interested in the design aspects of the program.

is a third-year design studio taught at Algonquin College to introduce students to multi-user and multi-device interaction design, but we also talk about how technology intrinsically shapes society and culture as “we become what we behold. We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us” [5]. The tool of choice in this class is currently for practical assignments and a large group term project. Using a tool like A-Frame allows us to experiment with immersive media in a more accessible, experimental, and creative way. A-Frame is not unlike and , which helps make teaching programming to students and designers more accessible and creative. IMD3901 also challenges the students to work with emerging technology (e.g., VR) and, hopefully, inspires learners to continue to shape what it becomes after the class.

In this class, I wrestle constantly with the following question from an engagement and inclusion perspective:

How do I engage students both creatively and technically?

Engagement and Inclusion in Teaching

Below, I will go over five principles I have found helpful to consider when building a classroom strategy that is more engaging and inclusive where we accept the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) definition of inclusion as “using proactive measures to create an environment where people feel welcomed, respected and valued, and to foster a sense of belonging and engagement” [6]. Note that inclusion and engagement are interconnected. Fellow BIT-IMD professors and collaborators and and I have been working towards a more formal framework for tying together engagement and inclusion when using immersive tools such as VR in Social Learning Spaces. Social Learning Spaces are where users learn together and alone across continually shifting physical and virtual realities, using physical and digital tools/artefacts to re-create more authentic, engaging, and transformational learning experiences [1] (see Figure 1). With the consideration of ambiguous boundaries between physical and virtual learning spaces in mind, I have worked to summarize my approach to more inclusive and engaging teaching in IMD3901 below.

• Convince: As a teacher, I constantly try to convince students that what we learn is essential, e.g., I need to be a cheerleader for challenging material.
  • Examples:
    • Frame what we are learning within a contemporary professional context that has relevant connections to their past and future courses in the semester’s first class.
    • Work to be passionate and to make what we learn interesting and exciting for new learners.
    • Use diverse professional work and research examples to try to reach all students.
    • Challenge students to be the change they want to see in technology and culture.
• Community: I work towards being less of an instructor and more of a director. I work to build a learning community, physically in class and virtually online, in which they all help support themselves and each other towards their academic and professional goals.
  • Examples:
    • Set expectations at the beginning of the class about class difficulty and show examples of past student work.
    • Create a forum using tools they are familiar with and use (e.g., Discord).
    • Encourage students to teach the class something they have uniquely learned to promote learner empowerment and knowledge-sharing.
    • Create group projects and group discussions.
• Collaboration: We encourage group projects, project management, and client partners to emulate professional activity.
  • Examples:
    • Collaborate with industry clients to provide real-world feedback and use cases.
    • Support each other in group projects and with anonymous positive and constructive peer feedback.
• Communication: We encourage varied forms of communication as the key to success.
  • Examples:
    • Use Brightspace and Discord.
    • Have weekly in-person meetings to check the progress of group projects and check in with students’ current engagement.
    • Use various tools to engage with students, e.g., slides, lectures, class discussions, team-building activities, Kahoots, Videos, etc.
• Flexibility: In this class, we allow some flexibility in assessing deliverables and deadlines with timely and professional communication.
  • Examples:
    • Creativity is a significant dimension of any assessment rubric, as this allows our students to find and impose the value of the assignment themselves.
    • As we have a large term project, this allows students flexibility on what skill to focus on (how to build their portfolios for work after graduation!).
    • Flexibility on deadlines, within reason, if they can communicate challenges ahead of time (as they would professionally).
    • Students can use 1 “forgiveness clause” for up to 5 days for late submission without explanation or penalty (Thanks to Dr. Chris Joslin for the idea :).

Throughout this class, we use the above principles as guides for creating a more engaging and inclusive classroom where students feel respected and connected. However, as our primary instruction tool in the last few years has been VR, we must also consider how to make using and creating with VR more engaging and inclusive.

Engagement and Inclusion in Using Virtual Reality

Within social learning spaces, such as post-secondary education (PSE) classrooms and museums, where we learn together and alone across physical and virtual dimensions, the social aspect of education is vital, requiring communication and collaboration over diversified groups. Unfortunately, physical learning spaces can be impractical (e.g., costly field trips) or impossible (e.g., visiting the storms of Jupiter). However, researchers note VR facilitates experiential learning, promoting active participation, problem-solving, and critical thinking [1]. Additionally, studies into using VR to enhance perspective-taking, whereby individuals learn to better empathize with others [7], suggest the VR medium is a good candidate for transformative learning [8].

Contemporary VR education often focuses on highly immersive head-mounted displays (HMD). Yet, HMD-based VR suffers from various limitations preventing effective use in social learning spaces, such as cybersickness, infrastructure and training constraints, social anxiety, and various ability and gender biases [1, 4]. A VR framework that provides reasonably similar experiences across multiple platforms (HMD, desktop, and mobile) could significantly increase the inclusion and efficacy of VR in social learning spaces.

IM3901 uses a VR framework I have been developing throughout my . This open-source theoretical and practical framework is called . We built Circles to address inclusion and engagement from a socio-cultural perspective that considers the individual and the social contexts in which we use emerging immersive technologies. It is an experimental foundation unto which we can continue building more accessible and inclusive features while running user studies to capture their effectiveness [4, 9].

• Platform Scalability: Supporting multiple VR platforms (desktop, mobile, and HMD).
  • Examples:
    • By default, Circles supports multiple VR platforms (Desktop, Mobile, and HMD).
    • See Figure 3.
• Social Scalability: Supporting a variable number of users together and alone, encouraging multi-user interactions.
  • Features:
    • Learners can see each other as avatars within Circles’ worlds/VLEs, even if they are not currently in the same VLE. They can even pass artefacts found in one world to another learner in another world (Figure 2).
    • Circles’ includes a system to make networked objects, interactions, and messages within Circles’ worlds.
    • Several roles within Circles, e.g., student, teacher, researcher, and participant, allow certain users different abilities or permissions.
• Reality Scalability: Encouraging the design process to consider physical and virtual realities and their interconnectivity.
  • Features:
    • By supporting selection-based interactions, we can limit the physical space required to interact and move within virtual learning environments.
• Interaction Scalability: Interactions are low physical effort selection-focused scaling to advanced controls for experienced VR users.
  • Features:
    • Circles default interactions follow a low physical effort model whereby selections symmetrical in use across all VR platforms are used for object interaction and travel.
    • We also support more advanced interaction techniques for advanced VR users.
• Informational Scalability: Encouraging the use of multiple sensory modalities and considering how we communicate information to others.
  • Features:
    • Knowledge transfer focuses on virtual learning artefacts that are manipulated to access textual, audio, and visual information about the learning subject.
    • We encourage redundant multi-sensory design patterns where information is available as both text and audio.

Summary

Teaching programming can be complex, even more so if the students are not coming to your class with a singular focus on programming (e.g., as would be expected in a strict computer science degree) or feel the content excludes them. To increase engagement and inclusion in IMD3901, we work to convince students that what we are teaching is relevant to their other courses and professional aspirations, build a community of learning where we can all support each other through collaboration with their peers and industry,  being in constant communication with each other about challenges and process, and remaining flexible around assessment deliverables and assessments.

We must also consider how to increase engagement and inclusion with the tools we use for learning. In IMD3901, we use a framework called Circles to make creating and using VR more inclusive and engaging through multi-platform support, supporting social and collaborative interactions across a varying number of users, designing to consider both physical and virtual reality, focusing on simple low-effort interaction, and creating virtual learning artefacts that disseminate information across multiple senses.

Though we note that not all courses and learning methods and materials may be able to follow a design studio model, as IMD3901 does, we hope that the guiding principles and observations noted in this article around how to create more inclusive and engaging classrooms and virtual reality may provoke some thought and discussion around how these principles may relate to other types classrooms. Please feel free to share your thoughts and discuss!

References

6. NSERC (2023) NSERC guide on integrating equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in research. . Accessed 7 Jul 2023

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By Maristela Laforest Petrovic-Dzerdz, Educational Development Facilitator, TLS

Current events affecting the present and future of education are causing seismic shifts of a magnitude we have never experienced in the span of our educational careers. In the past twelve years, which is the time I have been working in higher education, we faced potentially 鈥渢ransformative鈥� events such as the proliferation of MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses), digital textbooks, complete migration to online teaching and learning during the recent pandemic lockdowns, to name a few. Each of the events was catapulted and made possible by the advances in technology, making us contemplate, once more, what the purpose of higher education and our changing role in it is. However, the development of generative AI is bringing changes that are exponentially larger and more impactful, reshaping not only education but the way we live and work. The recent debates about AI which include Chat GPT, the tool that reached a million users in  (it took Netflix 3.5 years and Twitter 2 years to reach that number) can likely be summarized with related titles, from to , that include variations of the question 鈥淎I: Friend or Foe?鈥�. It will likely be both, and everything in between. The ground is shifting beneath us as we walk.

At the same time, the  in Ontario, Canada, is that cursive writing will be reintroduced as a mandatory part of the curriculum starting in September 2023. This reminded me of the blog post 鈥淐onnecting the dots鈥� I wrote back in 2015, after attending yet another event focusing on digital learning and how it will require 鈥渞einventing鈥� education. Eight years later we are, concurrently, attempting to contemplate the future impacts of just developing powerful digital technologies and finding reaserch-informed evidence of the effects that the approaches used for centuries, such as long-hand note-taking, have on student learning (check Wong, S. S. H., & Lim, S. W. H. (2023). . Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 29(1), 124鈥�135).

In the 2015 blog post I wrote about Steve Jobs who said that taking a calligraphy course at college was probably one of the most important things he has done in his life. In his 2005 , he passionately talked about this and other things he learned but didn鈥檛 know would have any practical application in his life, though they eventually did. He applied the ancient art and skills of calligraphy in the design of products that hundreds of millions of people around the world admire, while changing the way we see and appreciate technology in everyday life. In terms of handwriting only, there is ample  that shows the importance of handwriting in the development and functioning of human brains.

In the same speech, Steve Jobs also talked about connecting the dots. We are doing something new but we do not know what the impact will be. While we hope for the best, we need to make sure not to discard what has been good and effective in education so far, as we are 鈥渞eimagining鈥� it. Not to drop any precious dots. Not to nurture generations that will find themselves without any skills when the power goes off. As we are doing this we have to use our best judgment and focus on evidence-informed strategies because education impacts the future and the stakes are high. And we have to be aware that we might not yet be able to begin connecting those dots because, as Steve Jobs put it: 鈥漎ou can鈥檛 connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.鈥�

Hence, I would like to pose a question to a wider educational community:

Are the topics of AI and cursive writing so distinct that they do not belong in the same discussion, or must we connect the dots by considering the effects of both on the still-molding brains of young humans who are immersed in a daily process of intensive learning?

More than ever, I urge us to carefully listen to and consider all voices coming from every game player in education and in particular voices of those who are on the front lines of the seismic shifts: teachers and students, to attempt to approximate how the dots might connect (or not) in the future, and be ready to adjust the sails as we go, while we help navigate new generations of youth towards an unknown future.

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By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS

As indicated in the TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help recognize this milestone, we thought we’d share stories of teaching and learning from our past.

This is our fourth story in the series. Catch up on our previous story, A Lesson Learned, here. Also, don’t forget to save the date for the 30^th Anniversary Teaching Panel on May 10, 2023.

Fooled

“The Scantron multiple-choice marking machine has become sentient! The university is returning to WebCT! Data projector bulbs are in short supply, and class projectors must be rationed!  Slate prices are going through the roof 鈥� so no more chalkboards at 杏吧原创! Overhead projectors are the way of the future!”

If you were around 杏吧原创 in 2014 and 2015, you might recall some of the above news items published in the TLS April Fools newsletter. The idea to write and distribute these foolish stories was our attempt to replicate what other organizations and companies did on April Fools’ Day: Google announcing its Scratch and Sniff feature for online books, Youtube’s homepage videos all linking to Rick Astley’s song “” or Westjet’s that it was mixing helium into cabin air systems to reduce the weight of its planes (and lower ticket prices).

I liked this tradition and having fallen for pranks pulled on me by my family and friends on April 1 (my daughter replacing my coffee with coke was a good one), I thought it would be fun to adopt the tradition at 杏吧原创 with the TLS newsletter.

Here’s a sample from the 2015 newsletter:

“For reasons not yet determined or understood, the Scantron machine incorrectly scored questions where the correct response is ‘c.’ This means that in any exam where students correctly responded by filling in the ‘c’ bubble on their Scantron answer sheets, the exam was scored incorrectly, and the Scantron machine counted every ‘c’ response as incorrect.

Error reports from our Scantron machine suggest that it disagrees with answer ‘c’ and would prefer that instructors with multiple choice exams pick other letters for correct answers.”

I thought the stories would be humorous and the community would be bemused. But, shortly after sending the newsletters, we started receiving several emails looking to reserve classroom data projector time and requests to rescore Scantron exams. Others wrote asking if this was an April Fools’ joke (and saying nice try鈥�). But we also received at least one complaint that made it up to the Dean’s, Provost’s, and Associate Vice-President, Teaching and Learning’s offices.

I wrote an apology to the community which generated another flurry of emails from instructors but this time, wondering why there had to be an apology for what they thought was funny.

But, TLS hasn’t published an April Fools’ newsletter since. As I learned, what I thought was humorous, others receive as a waste of time, misleading, or just not funny. That being said, in reviewing these two old newsletters to write this story, one item seems to have foreseen the future. It relates to Artificial Intelligence and grading from April 1, 2015:

“Automarker+

After extensive testing, the AutoMarker+ plugin for cuLearn, developed in collaboration with the School of Computer Science, will be available to all instructors beginning May 4 (the start of the summer term).

AutoMarker+ helps instructors mark student papers and assignments by comparing them to an extensive database of student work from across North America and students’ work within the class submitting the assignment. This system uses the power of heuristic analysis and artificial intelligence to score students’ work and establishes a preliminary grade for the assignment. Instructors can review the preliminary grades for each student’s assignment or set the plugin to automatic mode. In automatic mode, AutoMarker+ requires no instructor intervention. It will finalize all grades, enter them into cuLearn’s Gradebook, and notify students of their grades by text, email, or tweet. Note: We do not recommend using Twitter to release student grade information due to FIPPA concerns.”

Believe it or not 鈥� As part of the Innovation Fellowship, TLS and Doug Howe (Computer Science) are currently piloting Gradescope, a grading workflow product that integrates into Brightspace that uses Artificial Intelligence to help mark student computer programming assignments! And鈥� that’s no joke!

So, while I might not have a career as a comedian, I could explore crystal ball gazing as an alternative鈥�

We hope to see you at TLS 30^th Anniversary Teaching Panel on May 10 to be held in the Future Learning Lab.

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By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS

As indicated in the November 2022 TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help recognize this milestone, we thought we’d share stories of teaching and learning from our past. This story is the third in the series. Catch up on the previous one, Student Technology Assistants, here.

A Lesson Learned

Workshops have always been one of the ways that TLS has helped support the teaching and learning community’s development. It’s a service offering that continues with a substantial set of sessions across various topic areas.

In the early days of the Educational Development Centre (a precursor to Teaching and Learning Services), workshops included pedagogical and technological topics. These included assessment, fostering discussion, Photoshop, and PowerPoint for Teaching.

The technology workshops were popular with instructors 鈥� regularly filling the EDC’s computer training room with 10 to 15 faculty members. The PowerPoint for Teaching workshop was particularly popular as many instructors were adopting the tool as more and more classrooms at 杏吧原创 incorporated data projectors. This workshop mixed the mechanics of using PowerPoint and techniques to use it effectively for teaching.

The session would start with an example of a brutally awful presentation: mixing fonts, terrible contrast, too small text, too much text, slide transitions, and cheesy animations. We would read the slides, face the screen, and power through a 20-slide presentation in 3 minutes or less. I would demonstrate some of the worst things about using PowerPoint to teach.

After this deliberately terrible demonstration, there would be a debrief with the group. Then we’d navigate some of the potential issues with teaching with PowerPoint 鈥� touching on simplicity, not rushing through slides. Invariably, we’d get a question around “how much time should I dedicate per slide? Or how many slides should I plan for a class?”. Usually, we would answer “it depends” 鈥� on why, what, and how you use PowerPoint. Then we’d talk about different ways PowerPoint could be used: as a framework for a lecture, a way to collaborate and share ideas, to organize information and ideas, to show visuals, etc.

In one workshop session, I went off script. It seemed instructors just wanted a number. “Just tell me how many slides I should have for an hour of the lecture?” I stated something to the effect, “No more than 15 slides. An instructor should spend 3 to 5 minutes on each slide in an hour-long class.”

Immediately a comment came from the back of the room. “That’s ridiculous. Where did you get that number?”

I replied, “Well 鈥� it takes time for students to process and read what’s on the slide, and the slides should only be there to support what you are doing in class 鈥� they shouldn’t be the focal point of your lecture.”

The instructor: “Not in my class. The slides are the message, the focal point, and the reason I want to use PowerPoint.”

The instructor caught me off guard. I was about to interrupt and challenge them on why they thought the slides were the most important of their teaching, but the instructor continued (thankfully!) and stated:

“I teach journalism and photojournalism. The photo is about emotion, and it needs to convey an impact. I need to demonstrate and show impact in a few seconds and 鈥� ideally 鈥� create a lasting impression. I plan to use PowerPoint to show examples of photos and will flip through maybe a hundred pictures to teach students about impression and emotion. Are you telling me that I shouldn’t do this?”

“Uh鈥� no鈥�. you are exactly right. The teaching case that you’ve described makes perfect sense.” (At this point, I seem to recall my face turning red from embarrassment.)

“Let’s back up and learn more from each and why you chose to participate in the workshop…”

That was my introduction to Professor Joe Scanlon. Professor Scanlon was a remarkable, dedicated, renowned journalist, researcher, and teacher at 杏吧原创. While my interaction with Professor Scanlon was brief 鈥� an hour or so workshop on PowerPoint 鈥� I was reminded not to make na茂ve assumptions, to check my ego, and learn from these experiences. Professor Scanlon taught thousands of journalism students in his career at 杏吧原创 鈥� his impact and legacy are significant. He also taught me some much-needed humility.

While we no longer offer PowerPoint for Teaching, TLS continues to provide extensive professional development opportunities for the teaching community. Check these out here.

The post Blog: A lesson learned – A Story from TLS’ Past appeared first on Teaching and Learning Services.

by Troy Joseph, Instructor, Department of Economics, 杏吧原创 University

As instructors, we often feel challenged to teach high-enrolment classes, resigned to accept that the helpful things we do for students in small settings 鈥� like giving customized feedback and guidance 鈥� can鈥檛 be scaled up for our larger classes. But with targeted planning and leveraging LMS tools, mass enrolment need not bring an impersonal experience. Indeed, it can ensure your feedback finds large numbers of students for whom your insights feel personal.

The twin challenges: high enrolment and multiple choice questions go together; and students want their grades to reflect what they learn from a class and how much work they put into it.

Instructors of intro courses generally have access to banks of questions, whether developed on their own, licensed from publishers, or drawn from past exams. When our university adopted a new LMS a year ago, I devoted efforts to importing a large bank of questions into our new system, a multi-stage procedure of pre-unencoding, importing, then recoding, and adding images 鈥� Hercules himself would have begged for mercy. The payoff: a strategically parcelled set of 鈥榙aily practice tests鈥� released each day in the 10-day countdown to each course exam, a pace balancing the ambitions of students to do well, while not overwhelming the students who may feel exacerbated.

With the release of this tool, I waited for performance to escalate to echelons never seen before.  What were the results? On the encouraging side, the practice tests were met with high take-up rates starting on day one. Mid-to-strong-performing students completed tests each day recognizing the potential to enhance their performance. Indeed, my inbox had a daily stream of questions about how to find the solutions to the more challenging questions.

Meanwhile, the weaker performers undertook some of these practice tests, but their zeal faded after the first few, sometimes submitting random answers to get the correct answers to appear 鈥� perhaps hoping to memorize correct responses in case the questions reappeared on tests.

The solution became apparent: each question needed feedback on how to arrive at solutions. Strong students might only consult the feedback occasionally, while the lower performers would likely benefit from more frequent consultations.

I realized the key to supercharging the value of the tool for class members would be to redouble efforts by adding solutions to each question. After completing the task for one-third of questions during some downtime in the summer, I realized I wouldn鈥檛 have the time to continue as courses got underway in the new academic year.

The solution: Who better to see the benefits of the practice test tool through the eyes of an aspiring learner than a former student who was an active and effective user of the tool?

Continued by Pedro Lemos, 2nd-year Undergraduate Student, Bachelor of Economics

When Professor Joseph approached me to discuss working on practice tests, my reaction was positive, since participating in this project would allow me to review basic, but fundamental subjects related to Economics. And by doing it, I was able to increase the robustness of my learning. Without a doubt, this 鈥渞eview鈥� process will be very useful for me in the future.

The dynamics of the project were very interesting because as a student, the skills that are necessary to answer a question are slightly different from explaining to someone why a certain answer is correct. This opportunity to face exercises from the teaching perspective enriched my learning.

Also, moving from the 鈥渟tudent place鈥� to a 鈥渃ollaborator鈥� in designing the course, revealed new challenges that went beyond the academic topics. As an example, students have different forms of studying, so I needed to understand the challenges a typical first-year Economics student faces while studying for a test. How could I make my explanation the most efficient in order to meet all students’ needs?

While in this process of improving my explanations in order to make them understandable for the common student, I reviewed every course topic to get a full understanding of the most difficult parts in order to explain them in the most simple way. As a result, I discovered some flaws in my knowledge of some topics and I was able to clarify whatever questions I had.

I鈥檓 grateful to the Students as Partners Program (SaPP) and Professor Joseph for the opportunity. It provided an in-depth review of the basic topics of Macroeconomics which will facilitate my comprehension as more complex concepts arise in my later studies. Also, during the project, I learned different perspectives on the topics and the learning process that, if it weren鈥檛 for the SaPP program, I would not have been motivated to consider.

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As indicated in the TLS newsletter, TLS is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help recognize this milestone, we thought we’d share stories of teaching and learning from our past.

This is our second story in the series. Catch up on the previous story, Early Innovation, here.

The opening of the Future Learning Lab on the 4th floor of the MacOdrum Library marks the return of 杏吧原创’s teaching and learning centre to the Library. In 1992 the Teaching and Learning Resource Centre (TLRC) opened on the 5th floor of the Library in two small spaces, a couple of offices, and a computer lab. This story relates to the Student Technology Assistant (STA) program which was led out of the 5th-floor TLRC offices. The STA program was designed to build partnerships between instructors and students, centred on supporting technology and teaching. The student staff members would handle the technical aspects of early teaching technologies, allowing instructors to focus on their teaching with the tool.

The program launched in 1999 with a cohort of seven students (Lisa Carnahan, Limor Zimor, Chris Duguid, Laurie Gaines, Susan Ampleford, Jodi McMurray, and Dao Luu), and was supervised by Nestor Querido.

Incidentally, Nestor is still with TLS, and after a turn as the supervisor 杏吧原创 University Online student and instructor services group, he is now the supervisor of the Future Learning Lab (and so back in the Library)!

The STA program under Nestor’s guidance was responsible for some of 杏吧原创’s first course websites, scanned photos and 35 mm slides, taught instructors how to use Powerpoint and Hypercard, and even built a virtual microscope for first-year biology labs. The STA program became something more than just a team 鈥� it became a community for students who were part of the program. International students found friends, and the STAs built substantial friendships and networks with 杏吧原创’s academic community 鈥� with several STA students completing graduate work because of their interactions with an instructor.

The STA program was also an early incubator of future teaching and learning talent 鈥� Ryan Kuhne, the university’s Learning Environment System Administrator, and Matthew Di Giuseppe, TLS Web Application Developer both got their starts as STAs.

The STA program evolved over the years as technologies and the services of the TLRC (and later its replacement the Educational Development Center (EDC)) changed and grew. From building course websites in HTML, STAs supported the use of WebCT, 杏吧原创’s first learning management system, helped instructors with digital photo editing and formatting, developed documentation on a host of teaching technologies and resources like the use of media in classroom or early classroom response systems (‘clickers’) and trained instructors through technology workshops. In time, the STA program ended 鈥� in part due to funding cuts, but also because educational technologies matured and instructors became more self-reliant and comfortable with these tools.

Yet 鈥� like many initiatives in education, good ideas and programs find a way of resurfacing and being re-imagined. Almost 30 years later, TLS’ Students as Partners Program (SaPP) launched in 2019/20 and shares some similarities and roots with the TLRC/EDC STA program. While the SaPP initiative is designed to bring the learner’s voice to teaching problems and to foster collaboration between an instructor and student, it also shares the idea of connecting students with instructors to support teaching and learning and creating a sense of community, much in the same way the STA program did.

If you鈥檙e interested in working with a student on a teaching project or activity, check out the SaPP program 鈥� applications for Spring/Summer will open in February 2023!

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By Patrick Lyons, Director, Teaching and Learning, TLS

Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) is celebrating its 30th anniversary. To help recognize this milestone, we鈥檙e sharing stories of teaching and learning from our past. This is the first story in our series.

One of the earliest collaborators with 杏吧原创鈥檚 first teaching and learning centre, the Teaching and Learning Resource Centre (TLRC), was Prof. Tim Patterson, a paleontologist in the Department of Earth Sciences. Tim was an early adopter of using technology in the classroom 鈥� using a primitive data projector (which consisted of an LCD screen that sat on top of an overhead projector) and authoring learning aids in hypercard in the early 1990s. In the TLRC鈥檚 early days, he helped advise and guide the department on the use of technology in teaching.

By 1996, Tim had integrated a website assignment into his teaching. Rather than produce a paper, students in the third-year evolutionary paleoecology class were given the option to produce a website on a theme related to paleoecology 鈥� fossilization, mass extinctions, specific extinct organisms, such as a dinosaurs, or even local Ottawa area paleontology sites.

It may be helpful to recall that in 1996, the world wide web was still a very new concept. Images had just begun to be viewable on a website. In 1996, the fastest home dial up connection was 33.6 kbit/s (for a sense of perspective a modern smart phone sends and receives data 1,500 times faster).

For students to undertake this assignment 鈥� it was 鈥� a commitment. Not only did they have to conduct research into their topic area to produce academic quality work, but they then had to format and create webpages by writing HTML in a text editor, source images (by scanning them or finding digital images), and then navigate copyright and permissions of these images. Finally, the individual webpages needed to be put together into a cohesive, navigable public website 鈥� where each student鈥檚 website was available to be seen and critiqued. Tim then took the initiative one step further and assembled each student website into one larger website which became the Hooper Virtual Paleontological Museum (the museum is still ).

In subsequent years, Tim chose to eliminate the term paper 鈥� students needed to complete the website assignment. I vividly recall hearing student opinions on the assignment and it was not positive (they used much more expressive and colourful language). Students dreaded this assignment, and I entered Tim鈥檚 course wishing along with my classmates that he would be on sabbatical鈥�

I could not understand the point of it, nor conceive of how much time that I would need to put to it. Except, as I started the project 鈥� and learned how to author HTML, thought about website navigation, dove into the literature around the topic, found images (and optimized them), visited the Museum of Nature鈥檚 research facility and library  鈥� I discovered a passion for my topic area (Pterosaurs), and became fascinated with building the website and learning all these skills, which I initially thought that I鈥檇 loath.

I came into Tim鈥檚 class thinking that it would be one of the worst experiences that I would ever have and instead it turned into one of my most important formative learning experiences.

This story isn鈥檛 about me 鈥� but rather about Prof. Tim Patterson and his approach to teaching. He challenged his students and pushed them outside of their comfort zone. In many ways Tim was a pioneer for many teaching and learning approaches that we know are important to student engagement and success:

• A shift to authenticate assessments
• Encouraging and incorporating skill development into course work
• Showcasing student work 鈥� and not wasting it
• Challenging learners (and being supportive)
• Having high expectations 鈥� but creating pathways so that students can attain these

Tim, along with colleagues like Prof. Diane Dubrule (Department of Philosophy), Tim Pychyl (Department of Psychology) and Dean Karlen (Department of Physics) were among many early innovators and collaborators with Teaching and Learning Services 鈥� and in many ways helped build some of the foundations of our services, programs and activities that continue today.

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