Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching
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The Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching offers an opportunity for academic staff, students, academic librarians and staff at the University of Calgary and the wider academic community to share, critically examine and build on our collective knowledge of teaching and learning.
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Browsing Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching by Department "Chemistry"
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Item Open Access Active learning techniques for improving note-taking skills(2015-05-13) Sandblom, NicoleA recent study by Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) sparked my interest into more carefully considering student note-taking. Perhaps every instructor and student has strong opinions about “notes”. What should be the instructor role in note-taking? What should be the student role? What previous experience do our students bring about note-taking and what are their expectations about our role? One of the seven research-based principles outlined by Ambrose et al. (2010) emphasizes our key role in developing self-directed learners. In this context, how can we enhance note-taking in the classroom? Bonner and Halliday (2006) recommended addressing note-taking strategies deliberately and explicitly throughout a course. This session will involve a brief presentation about my attempts to assist first-semester first-year students with note-taking in a large class lecture-based setting. An additional concern involves how students make meaning of learning activities that are not lecture-based; sometimes getting students to take notes during these settings can be even more challenging. Participants will be engaged in discussions about our own current practices surrounding notes, distinctions between our presenter notes and/or slides versus student-developed study notes, and concerns around technological issues about note-taking. Each participant will: 1. Learn about strategies for developing note-taking skills within the classroom, 2. Discuss current practices, 3. Discuss current challenges and consider strategies to identify and overcome them.Item Open Access Fostering Deep Learning, Engagement, and Critical Thinking(2015-05-13) Benoit, Wendy; Mah, Megan; Kurz, Ebba; Kemp, Taylor; Finn, Patrick; de Groot, AntonThree student-faculty teams will share their perspectives and experiences that address the components of the conference theme: fostering deep learning, engagement, and critical thinking. The Faculty of Science team will explore reflective practice for deep learning. Reflective practices lead us to recognize our own deep learning experiences. We can then foster such experiences in our students by examining what we find to be most meaningful, and then using ongoing communication to know how students view and use these ideas. The team will discuss strategies for fostering deep learning in a second-year organic chemistry course: scaffolding class content around student work, and using worksheets to frame a cycle of practice and feedback. The Faculty of Medicine team will investigate six “high-impact” practices have been defined and positively linked with student learning, retention and engagement. These include learning within a community of learners, engaging in research with faculty mentors, international experiences and culminating capstone experiences. The team will discuss how these ‘high-impact’ practices have been integrated within and facilitated by the Bachelor of Health Sciences program and share their impact from the student perspective. The team will also suggest ways in which these approaches can be incorporated across a diverse array of disciplines. The School of Creative and Performing Arts team will explore the critical thinking aspect of designing for learning. What exactly is critical thinking? Universities uniformly promote the idea that they must turn students into “critical thinkers.” What does that mean? Are we currently experiencing a shortage of critical thinkers that we must address? Are governments, not for-profits and businesses clamoring for more critical thinkers? Do parents dream of raising critical thinkers? The team will explore the value of critical thinking and ask how best to address its position in academic pedagogy.Item Open Access Generating questions: A key skill for the development of critical thinking(2015-05-13) Mozol, Vivian; Lefebvre, JulieStudents who are thinking critically in a science, engage in a four step process that begins with them collecting data and/or observations, evaluating the data/observations, using their evaluation to generate a hypothesis, which in turn must then be evaluated (Keller, 2008). This process is assumed to be cyclical until a hypothesis leads to a conclusion. A key skill identified for three of the four steps is the ability to question. Questioning is also a hallmark of self-directed, reflective learners (Chin et.al., 2002). The literature has shown, however, that students have limited opportunities in class to raise (and learn from) their own questions and that students’ questions are usually infrequent, and tend to probe for basic information rather than a deeper understanding (Chin et. al., 2002, Dillon, 1988, Middlecamp et. al., 2005). The presenters are interested in creating activities that probe, hone and evaluate students’ questioning skills (Middlecamp et. al., 2000, Offerdahl et. al., 2014). The participants attending this presentation will be asked to experience a first day of class activity designed to probe the initial questioning skills of freshman chemistry students. It will be followed by how these students’ questioning skills were also assessed at the end of term. It is hoped an interactive discussion will be sparked regarding how to best use activities, like those presented, to strategically address the development of students questioning skills.Item Open Access Thinking Inside the Box: Using Student Generated Puzzles as a Form of Assessment(2019-05-01) Schechtel, Shauna; Mozol, Dr. Vivian; Clapson, Marissa; Tran, Judy; Gilbert, Brian; White, StephanItem Open Access Using Formative Assessments to Inform Course Goals(Taylor Institute Teaching Community, 2014-05-13) Benoit, Wendy L.