We ((And by we, I mean my co-instructor Dr. Erin Aspenlieder and I.)) made a significant change in the way we “taught” critical reflection in UNIV*6800: University Teaching, Theory and Practice in the fall of 2013. To measure the success of our change, we asked students rate their confidence in their ability to reflect critically on […]
Author: Gavan
My stylus of choice: hand-written notes and the iPad
In April of this year, I will have been taking hand-written notes on my iPad for two years; I started doing this as a way to further my push myself towards embracing a paperless, fully searchable utopia. Now twenty-two months into this experience and with others often asking me what it’s like to go down […]
Greet, Get, Give, Gauge & Go: a Framework for Student Consultations
As an instructor, it might be tempting to measure the success of student visits by how quickly you can provide a correct answer—but excelling at this particular metric might come at the cost of a student building their own ability to answer similar questions in the future. The 5G framework ((The 5G framework draws its […]
Thinking about York University’s religious accommodation case from the perspective of course design and delivery
New this semester, alumni of UNIV*6800, University Teaching, Theory and Practice are reconvening to form a community of practice (CoP). It is exciting to see former students again while also having the opportunity to discuss issues related to teaching and learning in higher education.
“Teaching” Critical Reflection
Thinking about critical reflection has been “front of mind” over the past few days, primarily because Natasha and I are presenting a workshop at this year’s Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) annual conference focused on just that. More specifically, the workshop focuses on a “disorienting dilemma” we’ve faced as course instructors for UNIV*6800, […]
Five things a TA should do in their first lab, seminar, tutorial or class
1. Whatever approach you’re going to take in your classroom, model it. If you plan to use discussions, case studies or experimental work, model some component of it on your first day. You want students to understand that these approaches are important to their success in the course while also letting them know that they’ll […]
Courtyard White Pine
Courtyard White Pine, originally uploaded by Gavatron. Via Flickr: There are parts of Governors Island that make you think that its a bit of land that time forgot. The Coast Guard "left" the island in 1996 with all structures pretty much as-is. That means this White Pine has had 16 years to grow as it […]
“Grade” expectations
cc image source With apologies to Dickens, in preparation for the upcoming Graduate Student University Teaching Conference, I’ve been editing the TA survival guide that we provide all conference participants. One specific section that I’ve updated is based on the most recent data collected from 2011 incoming undergraduate students.
Respectfully, you’re doing it wrong
cc-licensed photo source Twitter—more than just broadcasting—is about engagement. If you agree with this premise, then take a moment to visit the University of Guelph’s Twitter account. Notice anything? A stream of tweets linking to the University’s communications and public affairs news releases and At Guelph articles. No conversations, no re-tweets. How many people are […]
Putting @OntarioWarnings and IFTTT to work
CC-image source I discovered a new account on Twitter that struck me, at first glance, kind of funny. A sample tweet from @OntarioWarnings: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ISSUED FOR EPANOLA – KILLARNEY. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. — PreparedON (@PreparedON) June 19, 2012 It’s not that needing to take cover due to a severe thunderstorm is humorous (far from […]