Concurrent Sessions 2

From Vision to Voice: Stories of Innovative Practice in Teaching

2-01. MUDD Mapping
Kay Barrington, Centre for Nursing Studies
Room ED2031

When was the last time you interrupted your routine of 'transmissal teaching' and focused the lens of teaching and learning onto the learners? When was the last time you put down the chalk and invited the learners to take up the chalk? When was the last time you stopped doing all the talking and encouraged to your learners to 'talk out loud' - express their perceptions/understandings?

This presentation is based on experiential success with an interactive teaching-learning activity called MUDD Mapping. The emphasis is on 'sculpting through dialogue'. Learners are invited to take the mud of their courses (usually the course objectives) and sculpt them into something that makes sense to them, something that they can understand. MUDD Mapping relies on a commitment by the learner to complete required readings, to take new knowledge from these readings, and to test the relationship/relevancy to a main, or central concept. The teacher is present during a MUDD Mapping activity, but acts chiefly as the facilitator for the process, with 'intervention' status only when the learner is experiencing difficulty.

2-02. Process-based Learning: A Model of Collaboration
Pam Seville and Jane Connell, Cape Breton University
Room ED4011

Cape Breton University's Community Studies Department works collaboratively to design, implement, and evaluate the core courses of the Bachelor of Arts Community Studies (BACS) degree program. Unlike other departments, the Community Studies department is not formed around disciplinary lines. The faculty includes backgrounds from adult education, women's studies, philosophy, sociology, kinesiology, folklore, and social work. This mixture of backgrounds along with the ability to work collaboratively has been a source of strength for the department.

The role of the faculty is to facilitate the learning objectives for the students rather than lecturing on specific topics. Consultation, collaboration, and the sharing of materials and ideas are paramount to their teaching in a non-traditional environment. Reviewing teaching methods, course outlines, and objectives as well as graduate outcomes are ongoing practices. As students are asked to reflect on their learning, so too do the faculty ask this of themselves.

The senior Community Intervention course highlights faculty collaboration, student collaboration, experiential learning, and theory. Students in this course are expected to conduct intervention projects that will have a positive impact on the local community. This presentation will highlight the faculty and student collaboration that takes place in this action research course.

2-03. Facilitating Dialogue Across the Disciplines: The Thematic Learning Community at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Jennifer Buckle and Matthew Janes, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Room ED4015

The reputation of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College is a narrative of pedagogical excellence in which undergraduate student teaching is at the heart of the institution's mandate. Central to this narrative is the premise that a lower student/faculty ratio enhances the learning environment as it increases the potential for interaction between the two. However, a growing awareness in post-secondary education is the necessity of students interacting with each other as an important element in facilitating intellectual growth and constructing a sense of belonging within the academy. At Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, a psychology and a French professor are piloting a Thematic Learning Communities project bringing together 24 students registered in introductory French and psychology courses. These students attend both classes together and meet once a week for an additional 50-minute session. The premise of the additional session, as well as the project itself, is to enable students to appreciate the overarching themes connecting two seemingly unrelated disciplines and to understand better the interconnectedness of their first-year undergraduate experience, both intellectually and personally. The presentation will outline the methodology and content of the project and will provide an example of an activity offered to participating students.

Shifting Stories: The Impact of Internationalization

2-04. The Perspectives of Internationalization at the University of New Brunswick
Nathan Alberts, University of New Brunswick
Room ED3030

In the last 15 years a growing number of articles, studies, and surveys have focused on the internationalization of higher education. The University of New Brunswick is the largest university in the province and is in the process of developing a more comprehensive internationalization strategy. Using the findings from my Masters thesis, I discuss the perspectives of internationalization at UNB and the initiatives it is currently undertaking. This discussion is expanded by addressing the issues surrounding internationalization, its benefits, and its challenges. Through incorporating my experience as a student, teacher, and administrator within the field of internationalization, I hope to deliver unique insight into this fascinating process.

Fact vs. Fiction: Who are our Learners?

2-05. Millennial, Y Gens - Who are They and What do They Expect From Us?
Donna Hardy Cox and Charlotte Courage, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Room ED3023

The growing interest in Canada on the student and surveying student opinions about their post-secondary education has become the latest focus in public print media in 2006. As members of post-secondary institutions what do we really know about students, what they expect, and what we can deliver? This interactive session will explore these questions beginning with profiles of Millennial and Y Gen students. Participants will be given the opportunity to discuss student expectations from both the student and teacher perspectives. Co-facilitated by a student class president and a faculty member this session will overview a newly developed dual mode curriculum designed in a professional program to meet a new generation of learners. Participants will also be invited to share their innovations and experiences in the classroom of the new century.

Anthology

2-06. Showcasing an Innovative Approach to Shared Teaching and Learning Roles through a Problem-based Perspective
Lorraine Devereaux, Gerry White, Ronald Collins, Kirk Farrell, and Jeffrey Piercey, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Room ED1003

Three graduate students from the Education 6300, Teaching and Learning Intersession, 2006 class have joined with their instructor and her colleague in a collaborative effort to demonstrate the top quality educational work that is reflective of the graduate students and Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Through a problem-based constructivist pedagogical format, these students were assigned the task of revamping the Bachelor of Education Degree at the fictional University of New Lantosia. In response to this challenge, they developed a technologically astute interactive presentation that utilizes power-point slides, web-site development, and a promotional advertisement. In addition to being exposed to these visual and auditory teaching components, participants in this conference session will be invited to step through the doors to the University of New Lantosia and take on the role of administrator, instructor, or potential student. Through role-play and discussion, participants will be challenged to explore solutions to some illstructured problems from a variety of perspectives. This session is sure to further blur the line between teaching and learning.

2-07. Serious Humour: The Use of Humour in Teaching
Wendy Duckett, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island
Room ED4009

How funny are you? Attendees will find out their own humour score by filling out a humour assessment instrument which assesses their inclination toward using humour in communication. This session will take a brief look at the physiology and psychology of humour and how it might be beneficial to university students and instructors. The session will also look at the anatomy of humour, presentation strategies, and guidelines for the successful use of humour in the classroom.

Merging Authorship: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

2-08. Ah! I see!: Metaphorical Thinking and the Pleasure of Re-cognition
Clare Goulet, Mount Saint Vincent Unviersity
Room ED5021

This session looks at metaphor as a way of thinking, drawing on recent ideas in philosophy, poetics, and cognitive psychology; on student work (in arts & science) over nine years; and using three exercises so that session participants themselves experience the clear, visceral pleasure of re-cognition.

Essential to human evolution, and to many (some argue all) significant leaps in human thought, metaphoric thinking is limited, often deliberately so, in our current university environment. In this session, we'll discuss kinds of metaphor (in language, image, sound, gesture), see how metaphor works, consider what may be happening in the brain when we 'get it', and discuss how to teach this style of thinking as a serious style of thinking in the classroom.

If 'getting it' - that is, genuine understanding - is what we're after at university, if our minds are indeed (as some are claiming) made for metaphor, if we speak in metaphorical phrases as we impart ideas that others have discovered via metaphor (Kekule's snake-image for the structure of benzene) - why is it that we rarely teach university students how to think clearly and with precision in metaphor themselves? Practical approaches for assignments, exams, and classes increase student exposure to irrational thinking, which in turn increases their ability to 'get it.'

Teaching Technologies: From Science Fiction to Reality

2-09. The Best of Both Worlds: The Convergence of Technologies and Methodologies in On-campus and Distance Delivery of Courses
Albert Johnson, Trudi Johnson, Brent Snook, and Brian Cahill, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Room ED2018A

Early implementation of web-based distance technologies in the delivery of credit courses in higher education was informed, predominately, by the desire to, as closely as possible, mimic the face-to-face experience. The asynchronous environment, however, presented challenges to this concept, and other answers had to be found to provide the necessary levels of instructor-student and student-student interaction. After several years of designing web-based learning environments, and teaching in this new paradigm, instructional designers and instructors are bringing many of these web-based methodologies back to the face-to-face classroom. Designers and instructors are now in a "best of both worlds" state of mind as they develop courses for distance and on-campus offerings. This session will examine two Memorial University courses that are taught both on-campus and at a distance. Education 4005, Effective Teaching, is a compulsory course in the Intermediate/Secondary program that makes use of both synchronous and asynchronous technologies in the two delivery modes. The session will highlight how technology has enhanced interaction for both modes of delivery. Psychology 2150, Introduction to Forensic Psychology, makes extensive use of multimedia. This session will also explore how media is used to enhance both on-campus and distance versions of the course.

2-10. Student Response Systems ("clickers") Pilot
Bev Bramble, University of New Brunswick
Room ED2030B

Engaging students in large class settings is always an instructional challenge. Student Response Systems, nicknamed "clickers," offer low risk ways for all students to participate in class, if used in pedagogically effective and inventive ways. Students use hand-held devices individually to select answers and then view aggregate results in a pictogram at the front of the room. Instructors can see whether students "get it" and refine their teaching presentation accordingly, as well as use the questions to initiate small and large group discussion. Students can see, without embarrassment or penalty, how well they understand key concepts, rather than finding out too late from test results.

UNB is piloting three different types of clickers in this fall term in order to test their potential and to select the clicker type best suited to UNB's needs. In this session you will use clickers in different ways to judge their possibilities for yourself.

The clickers pilot plan will be presented for discussion and critique. Our plan involves three classes from three different faculties and 50 clickers from each of three different vendors. Halfway through the fall term, classes will switch clicker vendors for comparison. Follow-up surveys will collect information according to pre-set criteria.