Faculty Spotlight: Jon Howe

Written by: Lisa Gedak Disney’s animated feature The Lion King propelled the phrase Hakuna Matata – loosely translated as “no worries” into becoming a household slogan and a catchy sing-along song that millions of people are familiar with.  Jon Howe from KPU’s brewing and brewery operations program is not just familiar with this motto but…

Making Assumptions

This week’s blog post is dedicated to the assumptions we make when we are planning our courses and designing our activities. A pivotal feature of Universal Design for Learning is ANTICIPATING VARIABILITY. We try to anticipate variability so that we can design for the margins (the folks who would otherwise struggle to access learning opportunities)….

Scaffolding

Scaffolding

This week’s blog post is about scaffolding, one of my favourite topics, favourite ways to support instruction, favourite puzzles, and favourite way to work some magic. And now that I am a UDLer at KPU, I get to talk about scaffolding from a course design perspective, which frankly, is where this discussion belongs. When people…

Moving Through the Continuum of Technology Based Learning Environments

Moving Through the Continuum of Technology Based Learning Environments

In a recent chat with a colleague and friend, he asked “what is the difference between the different labels for online learning, for example the difference between hybrid and blended and when does it meet criteria for fully online.” His question reminded me that for some this confusion about terminology alone is intimidating and a…

Exploring a Digital Literacy Model

I still find myself wondering what digital literacy really means in higher education. Despite presenting a concise explanation of what digital literacy means in my last post, I am still pondering its true meaning! Although unsure, I think the reason for my continued inquiry is associated with the continuing transformation of technology.  As technology evolves…

Informing as A Starter Step in UDL: Lessons From Singapore

How was my summer? My summer was great because I got to travel to and through Singapore. Since I travelled to see and stay with a very best best friend (my heart, walking around outside my body) I got treated to special and secret places. We scooted down fragrant paths in Tiong Bahru, walked over…

Why have students answer questions when they can write them?

This blog post was originally posted by Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani on his website blog found here: http://thatpsychprof.com/why-have-students-answer-questions-when-they-can-write-them/ Many thanks to Rajiv for allowing us to share his words! I recently trialled a new assignment in my Social Psychology class: During each of the 10 weeks when there was no scheduled exam I asked my students to write multiple-choice…