Teaching strategies and tools

Blog posts

• Little Slights Can Cause Great Harm: How to Take Positive Action — Allison Brill
• Teaching the Art of the Difficult Classroom Conversation — Vimal Patel

For more resources, visit UFV's Race and Antiracism Network (RAN). 

Learn how to apply universal design and accessibility principles to improve students' learning experience.

Building Strengths online module

Created in partnership with Nicola Valley Institute of Technology and UFV, the online module, Building Strengths looks at the whole student and provides you with strategies and tips for being more inclusive in your instructional practices and to make the classroom experience more accessible to students.

Although it focuses on trades and technology fields, the knowledge gained from this course is applicable to any subject. As part of the module, you learn about universal design for learning, adapting practical spaces, cultural implications of disability, and inviting success. 

Once you have completed the module, you will receive a letter of completion from Teaching and Learning which can be used in teaching dossiers.

Complete the online module

Also available for faculty and staff: ‌an accessibility tool kit to complement the Building Strengths module. This document is filled with resources and information to assist the learning for students with disabilities.

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Create accessible and inclusive content for the classroom

This playlist of four short videos offers instructions on how to:

• create accessible documents in Microsoft Word;
• create accessible Microsoft PowerPoint presentations;
• plan accessible events;
• build strength among students at UFV.

Accessibility Toolkit for open textbooks

The Accessibility Toolkit is a collaboration between BCcampus, Camosun College, and CAPER-BC. The goal of this toolkit is to provide resources for each content creator, instructional designer, educational technologist, librarian, administrator, and teaching assistant to create a truly open textbook — one that is free and accessible for all students.

Blog posts

• Creating Color-Blind Accessible Figures — Natalie Houston
• Wheelchair Ramps and Extra Time for Learning — Maryellen Weimer

Committees

• UFV Accessibility Advisory Committee

Guides

• Getting into the accessibility mindset: A Guide to Making Educational Video Accessible — Kaltura
• Universal Design for Learning in High Education — University of Calgary

The Greenwood Dictionary of Education (John W. Collins, Nancy P. O'Brien, 2003) defines active learning as the "process of having students engage in some activity that forces them to reflect upon ideas and how they are using those ideas. Requiring students to regularly assess their own degree of understanding and skill at handling concepts or problems in a particular discipline. The attainment of knowledge by participating or contributing. The process of keeping students mentally, and often physically, active in their learning through activities that involve them in gathering information, thinking and problem-solving."

Active learning methods get students engaged in their own learning. Collaborative learning groups, problem-based learning, and flipped classrooms are just a few examples of active learning. Active learning demands both good facilitation and teaching skills as the instructor guides the students through the learning process.

The following resources provide information and examples for incorporating active learning in your teaching:

Videos by Mary Gene Saudelli, PhD

• Mini active learning strategies
• Sticky note clustering

Articles

• Active Learning Strategies in Face-to-Face Courses — Barbara J. Millis
• Strategies to Support Active and Collaborative Learning — E.F. Barkley, K.P. Cross, C.H. Major‌
• Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom — Charles C. Bonwell, Ph.D.
• Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics — S. Freeman, S. Eddy, M. McDonough, M. Smith, N. Okoroafor, H. Jordt, M. Wenderoth
• Ring Their Bells: A New Way to Deliver Bell Work — Dr. Lori Desautles

Core values

A student’s education is a holistic journey that encompasses in-class and out-of-class experiences. A great curriculum acknowledges and fosters these connections as we prepare students to meet their goals.

Curriculum at UFV is:

• reflective of our identity and strategic priorities as expressed in UFV’s Strategic Plan, Education Plan, Strategic Enrollment Management Plan‌, Institutional Learning Outcomes, and commitment to Indigenizing the Academy;
• intentional, in that it is designed with care to meet the criteria listed below; and
• continually improving and adapting to changing contexts.

Principles of a quality curriculum

1. Outcome-driven, aligned, and intentionally designed to achieve its purpose.
2. Rigorous, meeting credential-level standards recognized by the Ministry, by professions, industry, and by academic communities, and striving for excellence.
3. Current, relevant, and forward-looking.
4. Connected to civic and personal obligations and growth as central to learning.
5. Flexible — It provides varied modes of delivery, recognition of prior and alternative learning experiences, and multiple program pathways.
6. Inclusive — It respects and honours people’s differing backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and identities as a foundation and support for each student’s success. It is in compliance with human rights legislation and reflects UFV’s commitment to internationalization, Indigenization, and access.

Developing learning outcomes: A guide for the University of the Fraser Valley

• Developing learning outcomes: A guide for the University of the Fraser Valley (Fillable booklet, full version)

Separate fillable versions

• Checking program outcomes for curriculum quality‌ (Table 4)
• Mapping course outcomes to program outcomes (Tables 13 and 14)

Learning Outcomes Assessment: A Practitioner's Handbook

• The Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario has produced the Learning Outcomes Assessment: A Practioner's Handbook as a step-by-step guide to help faculty, staff, academic leaders, and educational developers design, review, and assess program-level learning outcomes.

Flipping the maths classroom by UFV's Judy Larsen M.Sc.

Articles

• A Guide to the Flipped Classroom — The Chronicle of Higher Education
• Blended and Flipped: Exploring New Models for Effective Teaching & Learning — Faculty Focus
• The Flipped Classroom Unplugged: Three Tech-Free Strategies for Engaging Students — Barbi Honeycutt.
  
• Bridging the Gap Between Pre-Work and In-Class Sessions in the Flipped Classroom — Sarah Maclean

An alternative to lecturing in large class settings.

Handouts by Jim Sibley

• Classroom Logistics for Readiness Assessment Tests
• Creating Effective TBL Assignments - Summary

Blog posts

• Best practices for teaching a course as a team — Shoshanah Jacobs
• 50 Alternatives To Lecturing — TeachTought

Books

• Brookfield, Stephen D., and Stephen Preskill. (2012). Discussion as a Way of Teaching Tools and Techniques for Democratic Classrooms. Hoboken: Wiley.
• Michaelsen, Larry K., Arletta Bauman. Knight, and L. Dee Fink. (2004). Team-Based Learning: a Transformative Use of Small Groups. Stylus Publishing.
• Stanfield, Brian. (2005). The Art of Focused Conversation: 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in the Workplace. Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers.

Websites

• Team-Based Learning Collaborative 
• The Team-Based Learning Collaborative (TBLC) is a non-profit, volunteer supported organization which encourages the use of Team-Based Learning (TBL). Their website provides videos, papers and support materials for implementing TBL.

If you are interested in reading any of these articles, they are located in G159. To get a copy sent to you, please email Ruby Ord.

• Alcoff, L. (1994). The Problem of Speaking for Others. Feminist nightmares, women at odds: Feminism and the problem of sisterhood (285-309). New York University and Press.

• Australian Flexible Learning Framework. (2003). Annotated bibliography (R013B): access and equity in online learning.

• Box, D., & Tvete, H. (2005). Memorandum: UCFV Office of Institutional Research and Planning.

• Campbell, K. (2004). From text to e-text – message design, in e-ffective writing for e-Learning environments. Adult Learners and Hypermedia Environments, Multimodal Learning. Information Science Publishing.

• Campbell, N., & Hawksworth, L. (n. d.). The Nuts and Bolts of Learning with the Internet in Indigenous Contexts. School of Education, University of Waikato, New Zealand.

• Canadian Federation of Students. (2000). Online Learning: Compromising Quality.

• CanLit Guides — Free, open educational resource, created and maintained by the journal Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review. This project features teaching and learning resources produced and peer-reviewed by experts in the field ready to be adopted for use in the classroom.

• Cavanaugh, C., Barbour, M., Clark, T. (2009). Research and practice in k-12 online learning: A review of open access literature. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(1), 1- 22.

• Collins, M. (n. d.) I know my instructional technologies: It’s these learners that perplex me! DEONEWS, 8(9).

• DVV International. (2010). Adult Education and Development. Confintea VI.

• Golden, J. (2005). Ethical bearings in an inter-generational auto/biography: writing in my mother’s voice. Life Writing, 2(1), 97-107.

• Groen, J., Willment, J., Baynton, M., & Slater, L., Transitional Journey: Faculty Experiences in Adapting to On-line Adult Teaching and Learning. Faculties of Education & Continuing Education, University of Calgary. 1-9.

• Jiusto, S., & Dibasio, D., (n. d.). ASEE Prism. The Habit of Learning, 17(3).

• Johnson, J. (2003). The evolution of distance learning in higher education, in distance education: The Complete Guide to Design, Delivery, and Improvement (chapter 1). Teachers College Press.

• Judah, M. (2002). Action Research as a Means to Return to our Differences.

• Keesing-Styles, L. (2003). Radical Pedagogy. The relationship between critical pedagogy and assessment in teacher education.

• Kember, D., Jones, A., Loke, A., Mckay, J., Sinclair, K., Tse, H., Webb, C., Wong, F., Wong, M., & Yeung, E. (1999). International Journal of Lifelong Education 18 (1). Determining the level of reflective thinking from students’ written journals using a coding scheme based on the work of Mezirow, 18-30.

• Kling, R., Courtright, C. (2003). Group Behaviour and Learning in Electronic Forums: A Socio-technical Approach to appear in: Barab, S., Kling, R., and Gray, J., (Eds.). Building Online Communities in the Service of Learning. Cambridge University Press. Bloomington, IN.

• Klopfenstein, B.C. (1998). Klopfenstein’s diffusion of innovations on the web.

• Langley, L. (2008). Publication and Presentation Venues for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Brief Review, 1-13. Douglas College.

• Lee, S. (2007). Counting and recounting: Assessment and the quest for accountability. Change, January-February 2007.

• Mamchur, C. & Rossner, V. (n. d.). Comparing Place-Based and Online Teaching in a University Level Writing Course: An Instructor’s Perspective. Simon Fraser University.

• Martindale, K. (1992). Theorizing autobiography and materialist feminist pedagogy. Canadian Journal of Education, 17(3), 321-340.

• Mcalpine, L. Active Learning in Higher Education. Designing Learning as Well as Teaching: A Research-Based Model for Instruction that Emphasizes Learner Practice, 119-134. Doi: 10.1177/1469787404043809

• McConaghy, C. Indigenous Student Learning Online: An Empowerment Tool? 1-9. Centre for Research in Aboriginal and Multicultural Studies University of New England.

• Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2009). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. U.S. Department of Education.

• Monroe, B. Fostering Critical Engagement in Online Discussions: The Washington State University Study. Pedagogies for Student Engagement. Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education, 31-33.

• Morgan, R. (1995) Three unspeakable things: Looking through English’s family album. The Journal of Educational Thoughts 29(1), 3-29.

• Noble, D. (1997). Digital Diploma Mills.

• Norman, Marie. (2017). Extending the Shelf-Life of Your Instructional Videos: Six Common Pitfalls to Avoid. Faculty Focus.

• North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL). (2007). National Standards of Quality for Online Courses.

• Page, J., & Miller, A. Open learning and Macquarie University. Old landscapes, new horizons.
  

• Palloff, M., & Pratt, K. Gender, culture, lifestyle, and geography. The virtual student: A profile and guide to working with online learners. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

• Poole, G. (n. d.) Teaching from the starship enterprise: Why we venture into advanced educational technology.

• Projecting 2005/06 enrolment by department. A simple review of historical trends 2000/01. Office of Institutional Research and Planning. 1-3, 5.

• Ross, Valery. (2012) From Transformative Outcome Based Education to Blended Learning. Futures, vol. 44, no. 2, Mar. 2012, pp. 148–157.

• Savicki, V., & Kelley, M. (2000). Computer-mediated communication: Gender and group composition. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 3(5), 817-826.

• Skidmore, D., Marston, J., & Olson, G. Frontiers. An infusion approach to internationalization: Drake University as a case study. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 187-204.

• Swain, H. University Challenge, Dawn of the cyberstudent. Collaborative learning, wikis, virtual classrooms: web 2.0 is transforming higher education, and students are driving the changes. Can UK institutions keep up? 1-4.

• The Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness. (2009). Boyers Paradigm.

• Tisdell, E. (1998). Poststructural feminist pedagogies: The possibilities and limitations of feminist emancipator. Adult Learning Theory and Practice. Adult Education Quarterly, 48(3), 139-156.

• UMUC-Bell Atlantic Virtual Resource Site – Module 2: Systems approach steps 1-4.

• University College of the Fraser Valley. (2005) Summer Semester Faculty Survey.

• Utell, Janine. (2011). How to Study Your Own Teaching (And Why You Might Want To). The Chronicle of Higher Education, Prof. Hacker.

• Weimer, Maryellen. (2016). Becoming a Better Teacher: Articles for New and Not-So-New Faculty. The Teaching Professor.

• Welton, M. (2005). Cunning pedagogics: The encounter between the Jesuit Missionaries and Amerindians in 17^th-Century New France. Adult Education Quarterly, 55(2), 101-115. doi: 10.1177/0741713604271853

• White, K. (2004). Communicating in the online classroom in, the student guide to successful online learning; A handbook of tips, strategies, and techniques. The Write Way to Communicate Online. Pearson Education, Inc.

• Wingard, R. (2004). Classroom teaching changes in web-enhanced courses: A multi-institutional study. Educause Quarterly, No. 1, 26-35.

• BCcampus
• Educause: Advancing higher education through the use of IT
• TeachThought
• The Canadian Education Association
• What Works Clearinghouse — Institute of Education Science

• Professional Development portal for BC post-secondary educators
• The Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT)
• National Great Teachers Seminar
• The Annual Conference of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE)
• Digital Pedagogy Lab

• Center for Teaching and Learning Resources — Indiana University