The title of this blog post presents a framework for reflective teaching practice that I would like to play around with in this blog post. What? I have just participated in the three day Course Design Intensive workshop offered through the Centre for Teaching and Learning at UBC. My role was both as a participant [...]
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about, “How Scientists Think?” I’m excited to be working on an innovative curricula project here at UBC centered around science as a way of knowing. …more about this later… To this end, I just read this article, “How Scientists Think in the Real World: Implications for Science Education” by [...]
I just finished writing a TLEF grant to support the UBC MIX project. I’m pretty excited about the potential of this project. UBC MIX is a project that creates new learning experiences for UBC students by developing cross-discipline and cross-faculty partnerships between courses already taught at UBC. UBC MIX brings together faculty members interested in [...]
This summer I traveled to the University of Ibadan in Nigeria to participate in the West African Biotechnology Workshops as an invited instructor. Here is an update that I wrote during my stay. Being a scientist in Nigeria means being very resourceful in finding solutions to barriers… the power goes out 2-4x per day or [...]
Here’s an interesting idea, let’s design what we teach around the question, “What do Scientists Do?” I was originally exposed to this simple, but amazingly “outside-the-box” idea, by Ellen Aho, a professor at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. I met Ellen at the ASMCUE 2008 conference where she presented, “The student-led conference style symposia as [...]
One of the easiest things to do to improve as an educator is to watch others and take what you can to use in your own classrooms. Recently, we hosted a professional development conference for BC high school teachers called, “It’s Your Experiment!” The workshop was part of our two day conference and aimed to [...]
I recently attended this talk by Robert Gateman. Many of us know Robert Gateman as the flamboyant, somewhat bizarre, yet somehow appealing ECON 101 prof we had, or wish we had, in first-year. But how much do we really know about the most talked about UBC instructor on ratemyprofessors.com? Click here for the full Ubyssey [...]
In response to my last post about the digital disconnect, I would like to point to these resources from the Educause Learning Initiative. Each of these “7 Things You Should Know About…” articles points out the main features of the emerging technology and gives an example scenario about how you can use these tools that [...]
You’ve got your popcorn. You’ve found a seat. The rustling of cell phones coming out of pockets begins. If you miss this opportunity, you’ll be faced with burning glares. “Turn off your cell phone or die!” It’s become part of our culture to “power down” at the movies. But even that norm is shifting. Most [...]
The SPIRE postdoctoral fellowship program is “an innovative approach to advance science careers by balancing research, teaching and service.” SPIRE’s Mission: To provide multi-dimensional professional development for science researchers and educators to succeed in academic careers, to bring engaging teaching methods into the classroom, and to increase diversity in science professions. It sounds like a [...]