Nishan Perera is a regular faculty member of the KPU Marketing department, the Educational Consultant for Course Design and Assessment with the Teaching and Learning Common, and the former Chair of Marketing. For this edition of our Faculty Spotlight, Nishan shares his story with us. Also known as “the Pearl of the Indian Ocean,” Sri…
As I near the end of my time in the Teaching and Learning Commons, I am reflecting on the last two years. I have reconceptualized my role as an educator several times since April 2020, integrating new tools, enacting greater pedagogical care, and problem solving in different ways. I’ve been introduced to new methodologies and…
Amanda Bickell is the Program Chair of the Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Entrepreneurial Leadership program at KPU. For this edition of our Faculty Spotlight, Amanda joins us in a conversation about her entrepreneurial spirit, her role as a learning coach in the classroom, and creating spaces for failure. “The one thing I show…
You can listen to this blog! Audio version of Open Pedagogy and the Inclusion of Marginalized Students Introduction In 1976, for my high school capstone project, my teacher supported my chosen topic: the dispute over Indigenous rights and the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline through the Yukon and Northwest Territories. I heard Dr. Thomas Berger…
I first stepped into the world of trauma-informed teaching unknowingly. Living and working in Cambodia from 2006-2009, I had read of the population-wide trauma of the Khmer Rouge genocide and saw its clear effects in the older generation. After moving to Preah Vihear City, a rural provincial capital in the north of the country, I…
Yes, you read the title of this post correctly; the word readgretis not a typo, rather a satiric misspelling in a cheeky Barnes and Noble blog post where it was defined as being: furious at yourself for putting off reading a certain book until now, when you feel like you should have read it years…
As we gradually return to the classroom after almost two years of online teaching, you may be thinking about your teaching practice, perhaps creative ways to combine both in-person and online learning. If you are interested to develop a course in a blended format, and not very sure where to start, I hope to pique…
Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a pedagogical approach with philosophical roots in constructivism—the idea that learners actively build their knowledge, rather than passively receiving it from a teacher. Problem-based learning, project-based learning, and case-based teaching are all forms of IBL (Aditomo, 2013). Although IBL varies from discipline to discipline, four key features are common to all:…
ePortfolios are experiencing a quiet renaissance at KPU and, with this post, I hope to turn up the volume by highlighting some key milestones and a few of the many great ePortfolio initiatives that I have had the privilege to support in my role as Educational Consultant for ePortfolio Advancement in the Teaching and Learning…
Catherine Chow is a Chemistry Instructor with the Faculty of Science and Horticulture at KPU. She completed her graduate studies at The University of British Columbia (UBC) in organometallic chemistry, and following a post-graduate internship at a chemical research lab in Germany, Catherine returned to Vancouver and joined us at KPU in 2013. In 2021,…