Written by: Lisa Gedak It was the sound of joy. It began quietly, and then rose, through the trees, carried by the wind to my ears. Through the brush, I walked curiously, filled with excitement, and emerged into the clearing. Gathered in a circle were students, dancing, laughing, and banging on buckets with a rhythmic…
As the advancement of technology in education marches along at a rapid pace, many educators are adopting non-traditional teaching methods to engage and motivate students, create community, enhance communication skills, improve participation, and promote creativity and self-directed learning (Safapour, Kermanshachi & Taneja, 2019; Voss & Kumar, 2013). Our students are living in digital spaces, and…
This blog post was originally posted by Dr. Gordon Cobb on his blog found here: https://dev.wordpress.kpu.ca/drcobb/ At KPU I am always looking to positively enhance the student experience by incorporating new and emerging technologies, innovative pedagogies, and experiential learning methods into my curricula and daily classroom activities. In many of my past video-enhanced curricula, I…
Over the holidays I spent a lot of time reading and watching movies. My mind craved novelty and weirdness which led me down a wonderful rabbit hole of Spanish language films (yes, they were subtitled). I also read a book more aligned with my non-weird interests called The End of Average: How we Succeed in…
Becoming an Appreciative Inquiry (AI) Facilitator has been the most impactful professional development training I have ever done, well; I thought it was about professional development but really it has impacted me in all aspects of my life. As a doctoral student it caused me to reconsider the problem based approach to research and to…
Written by: Lisa Gedak Don Mathewson values family. This fact is evident when you look at the smiling pictures adorning the walls of his Richmond campus office, and when he speaks about those closest to him. This deep-rooted appreciation for familial values permeates into his practice at KPU where he teaches physics, “I love being…
There are a number of tools that curriculum designers can use to help them design a program. These days curriculum design is really coalescing around an outcomes-based approach to curriculum. Also referred to as backwards design, the process starts with envisioning the program outcomes first: What do you want graduates of the program to be…
In the marketplace we call our society, where you can buy 37 different types of yogurt, toothbrushes for anyone from infants to budgies, where scanning and shopping and choosing can actually overwhelm us, and where we consistently feel the pressure to stand out from the crowd, any suggestion of providing options can feel that same…
The Guide to Interactive App Selection (GIAS) is a resource created at the Teaching and Learning Commons to support faculty in making decisions about choosing applications that are privacy compliant and minimize the risk of information sharing for students, staff and faculty. GIAS has been created to help you make these decisions and recognize areas…
Interacting successfully in diverse groups is recognized as a key competency for students globally in the 21st century (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2005). Our globally diverse campus seems to be an ideal learning environment for the development of intercultural skills, as students with a wide range of international experiences study in our…