Literature suggests post-secondary students feel disengaged and socially isolated while learning virtually, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we explored whether a sense of belonging is differentially achieved in an inquiry-based course between two different delivery formats: virtual and blended (combination of virtual and in-person).…

Large introductory classes, with their expansive curriculum, demand assessment strategies that blend efficiency with reliability, prompting the consideration of multiple-choice (MC) tests as a viable option. Crafting a high-quality MC test, however, necessitates a meticulous process involving reflection on assessment format appropriateness, test…

Experiencing failure is an important part of the learning process, but undergraduate students often hold a negative perception of failure that may contribute to fear of failure and risk avoidance. We investigated the influence of instructor feedback, discussions of failure in the classroom, and course-level and institutional structures on…

While the notion of an anti-racist curriculum is not new, many higher education instructors have not made the transition from a decolonized curriculum to an equally decolonized pedagogy. From a conceptual standpoint, the transition is understood but the actualization of this cyclical process is, at times, not as smoothly executed. Deconstructing…

This report describes two integrated projects initiated by the 2020 3M National Teaching Fellowship Award (NTF) cohort on the concepts of educational leadership in Canadian universities and the role of authenticity among exemplary teachers. A thematic analysis of 3M NTF award-winning dossiers identified six prevalent traits characteristic of…

Teaching culture is the product of a dynamic interplay among the embedded patterns, behaviours, values, beliefs and ideologies about teaching and learning within and across the many microcultures that make up a university. Educational researchers from across Canada developed a set of Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Surveys (ITCPS) to…

Learning in teams offers unique benefits to understand and address contemporary, global, and local challenges through effective and thoughtful learning journeys. However, learning in teams is not always thoroughly planned or effectively delivered. In trying to better understand what processes support or hinder effective and innovative learning in…

This paper describes the development of a three-phase approach our team of educational developers finds useful in curriculum projects in our Teaching and Learning Centre. Informed by the literature on the importance of flexibility and iteration (Knight, 2001; Wolf, 2007) and an orientation towards Appreciative Inquiry (Srivastra & Cooperrider,…

This article describes the Context Based Learning (CBL) redesign of Nursing courses addressing life transitions, including by implementing group discussion, written concept analysis, group presentations, reflections on thinking and simulation performance, group skills analysis and a final paper. The purpose of the study was to determine how these…

The definition of experiential education (EE) has both pedagogical and practical implications for higher education institutions. While there is increasing pressure to justify and quantify these experiences, we remain faced with the challenge of ensuring that a demonstration of breadth does not distract from the importance of meaningful depth both…

The increased prevalence and severity of academic-related distress is of significant concern on college campuses. Of particular relevance to instructors is the anxiety relating to classroom teaching and evaluation practices. Sources of evaluation anxiety include student uncertainty about the nature of the expected demands as well as their ability…

We often assume that students will simply understand specific ethical requirements as they progress, but in reality this does not happen. Students need instruction in ethics. With adherence to the TriCouncil's ethics policy now mandatory for university research with human participants, understanding of ethics is a necessity. We need students to be…

Research skills are a valued commodity by industry and university administrators. Despite the importance placed on these skills students typically dislike taking research method courses where these skills are learned. However, training in research skills does not necessarily have to be confined to these courses. In this study participants at a…

This practice-sharing piece outlines two main approaches to flexible summative assessment schemes, including for each approach one example from my practice and another from a published study. The bento approach offers the same assessments to all students but a variety of grade weighting schemes, allowing students to change weighting during the…

In recognition that student academic misconduct is a complex issue that requires a holistic and institutional approach, this case study explores the impact of an intervention strategy adopted by the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences (comprised of approximately 80 faculty and an average of 3,240 undergraduate students) at Brock University, St.…