How Dr. J is not like the others  

2011 Created an on-line journal, “TIPs: Teaching Innovation Projects Journal”. http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/tips/ Included capstone project into the Advanced Teaching Program focused on creating a workshop description that involves a teaching innovation based on best practices. When viewing the resulting submissions, I saw the need for these projects to be available to other educators and thus formed an on-line journal to meet this need.

2010-11 Facilitator: Discovery Cafe for first year undergraduate science students. Provided an opportunity for first year science students to talk about anything they were interested in.

Ongoing For each course I teach, I endeavor to add active learning techniques into the classroom in an effort to engage students in the learning process.

Examples:

1. NROB60 and BGYB10: created interactive tutorial sessions focused on key aspects of the course that were most difficult for students as indicated by implementing the “one minute paper” technique that allowed students to indicate the areas they were least clear about or had the most difficulty with. These interactive sessions included a series of 5 “game” stations that combined the excitement of competitive teams with kinesthetic learning tools as outlined in the literature.

2. BIO270 & 271: Use of clickers in these large classroom settings (600+ students in a very large room). Incorporated multiple choice questions throughout each lecture to which students used their clicker to answer in order to assist students in keeping track of the main concepts and allowing me to see if the concepts were understood before moving on in the lecture.

3. BGYB32: With multiple Teaching Assistants in this laboratory based course, I saw a need for consistent instruction and marking. Thus I initiated regular team meetings, a marking rubric for each assignment and examination, consistent laboratory demonstration notes and procedures, plus opportunities for Teaching Assistants to check in with me on a regular basis to discuss issues, make suggestions, and deal with issues before they emerged.

4. NROD67: In this fourth year class of only 20 students, I implemented developmental theory based assignments (started with a less complex assignment and then each assignment after that built on the previous level) plus a presentation format that involved learning how to synthesize multiple opinions and receiving constructive feedback and a discussion format that required stating an opinion and backing this up with facts and literature citations in an attempt to move the students up to a Contextual Relativist level (according to Perry’s Scale of Intellectual Development).

5. All Courses: After receiving professional development regarding positive pedagogy in the intensive Instructional Skills Workshop, I restructured my lectures into 10-15 minute “bites” that each focused on one main concept with relevant details, followed by a “post test” of the concept using an active learning technique to see if the concept was understood before moving onto the next concept. Feedback indicated students retained more information and understood at a deeper level with this approach to lectures. I also used competitive game playing during review sessions to include modified computer versions of Jeopardy, Are You Smarter than a TA (instead of a 5th grader), and Family Feud.

1992-98 When developing the Basic and Advanced Massage Therapy Training Programs, I endeavored to tailor the programs to match the preferred experiential learning style of most potential students. Having analyzed the demographics of the potential students, I became aware of their unique entry point into these intensive programs. The students tended to be second or third career seekers who had not been in a formal training program for a number of years. Knowing the starting point of these students, I focused on synthesizing the academic and practical requirements in a “whole person” approach to the human body (and the person within). The result was successful, empowered graduates with the skills, confidence, and empathy to pursue vibrant, long-lasting careers as Registered Massage Therapists.