FACILITATOR: Dylan Cooke, Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology

BPK 423, Neuroplasticity, is a discussion-based seminar course that emphasizes the process of reading and communicating about the scientific literature. In this presentation, Dylan will describe how the course has been designed to train students to:

• think about and articulate their most important gaps in understanding a paper
• extract and concisely summarize a paper's most important findings
• and decipher and explain complex graphical data.

Dylan will also share what he's learned about how to get to students to actually read the papers and (hopefully) enjoy the process.

FACILITATOR: Natalia Kouzniak, Department of Mathematics

In this session, Natalia will share her experience with applying the modified flipped class model to tutorials in a MATH-310 course. This model was initially used in a few free additional classes before and proved to be successful and popular among the students who have commented on improved quality of learning. 

FACILITATOR: Diana Bedoya, Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology

In this discussion, Diana will present findings from her 2017 Teaching and Learning Development Grant research into the use of competitive Googling, triple entry journals and worksheets to help students evaluate online nutrition sources more critically, both on their own and in groups.

FACILITATORS: Sheri Fabian, Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines, and Janet Pivnick, Teaching and Learning Centre

Sheri and Janet invite you into a conversation about the many meanings of decolonization and indigenization as it relates to curriculum and pedagogical practice. They will consider the goals of reconciliation within post-secondary education, provide frameworks for Indigenous pedagogy, offer case studies from SFU courses, and engage in discussion about participant goals and questions.

FACILITATORS: Petra Menz, Department of Mathematics, and Kevin Lam, Department of Biological Sciences

Instead of just seeing “students” that are taught and tested, Petra and Kevin are striving to see “whole” people in order to support them in their learning and well-being.

In this presentation, Kevin will first give an overview of some simple activities that allow the compassionate instructor to help students alleviate stress, isolation, and burnout. As well, Petra will share strategies that she has collected over the years to support students’ well-being in learning. 

Students will then speak about their experiences encountering an instructor that goes beyond the curriculum to support their well-being. Finally, Petra will open up discussions by offering critical considerations for the instructor’s well-being in such a journey.

FACILITATORS: Diana Cukierman, School of Computing Science, and Donna McGee Thompson, Library

SFU's Academic Enhancement Program (AEP), is a collaborative program between the School of Computing Science (CS) and the Student Learning Commons (SLC). Its goal is to help students succeed in their studies by incorporating workshops on ‘learning about learning,’ within their core first-year CS courses.

Workshops and self-reflection activities are tailored to the courses where they take place, and students receive points for their participation, thus making the program an integral part of the course. The AEP has run since 2006 with the support of the School of CS and the SLC. AEP workshops have also been delivered in the School of Engineering.

The AEP model is adaptable to other disciplines, encouraging both, that students have opportunities to reflect about general learning and well being principles and more specific learning strategies associated to the discipline, to improve the whole academic experience.

In this Teaching Matters seminar, Donna and Diana will present key characteristics of the AEP and will lead participants through some of the activities that they include in their workshops.

FACILITATORS: Atiya Mahmood and Sarah Canham, Department of Gerontology

In this presentation, Atiya and Sarah will share how they integrated an experiential activity, the persona project, to allow students in their introductory Gerontology course to understand abstract course concepts and complex information in new, more meaningful ways. 

For more information about the persona project, please see this article. 

Spring 2019

Mon, March 25, 2019 | 3:30–4:30
Room K9509 (Mathematics & Statistics Seminar Room)

   No deadline
   jamsden@sfu.ca

PANELISTS: Malgorzata Dubiel, Department of Mathematics, Sarah Johnson, Department of Physics, Nicky Didicher, Department of English and Atousa Hajshirmohammadi, School of Engineering Science, with Cindy Xin, Faculty of Education

In this panel, Malgorzata, Sarah, Nicky and Atousa—four university lecturers—will talk about their experiences with the university lecturer promotion process. They will share advice for others interested in pursuing this process, as well as answer questions.

Spring 2019

Mon, April 1, 2019 | 3:30–4:30
Room K9509 (Mathematics & Statistics Seminar Room)

   No deadline
   jamsden@sfu.ca