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Author: Elan Paulson

Elan Paulson, PhD, has been an educator in Ontario's higher education system since 2004. Before joining Conestoga as a Teaching and Learning Consultant, Elan was on the executive team at eCampusOntario. She previously served as Program Director and as an instructor in professional education programs at Western University's Faculty of Education. With a Master's in Educational Technology, Elan specializes in technology-enabled and collaborative learning to support diverse learners. She has also conducted research on faculty participation in communities of practice for professional learning and self-care.
December 20, 2022

Assessment Types

Reading Time: 6 minutesConestoga provides students with a wide range of assessment types. This tip describes the goals for choosing evaluation types, explains how discrete assessments fall within category and component descriptions, and provides a comprehensive list of types of assessments. Assessment Goals A number of goals for teaching and learning are achieved when faculty understand the type of assessments they are using...
Categories Assessment Design & Development/Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning/Quality Assessment
December 5, 2022

Excellent Fully Online Teaching

Reading Time: < 1 minuteView this video introduction to the learning path on understanding your role and responsibilities as a faculty member delivering a fully online asynchronous course. What’s Next There are a number of different Hub posts that can increase your familiarity with fully online teaching and learning. Review these posts as needed. More on What is Fully Online Teaching What is Effective Fully...
Categories Effective Teaching/New Faculty/Online Asynchronous/Teaching for Learning
October 25, 2022

Getting Students to Participate in Breakout Rooms

Reading Time: 7 minutes“[B]reakout rooms do not always magically create engagement and higher levels of learning.” (Saltz & Heckman, 2020, para. 16) Breakout groups are used as a discussion technique to increase participation and group-based learning. However, pair and group activities can be cumbersome in online synchronous meetings, especially when, as professor, you cannot see all groups and monitor student conversations at the same time...
Categories Effective Teaching/Online Synchronous/Student Engagement & Communication/Teaching for Learning
September 8, 2022

Adult Learning Principles for College Teaching

Reading Time: 5 minutesHow can we be sure our practices reflect the fact that all of our students are adult learners? Conestoga’s youngest students are 17 year-olds who finished high school in Ontario. However, the average student age is about 22 years old, with an increasing number of adult learners who are older and who have years of work experience, additional post-high school...
Categories Effective Teaching/Teaching for Learning
July 18, 2022

What To Do in the First Weeks of Class

Reading Time: 9 minutesThis post considers what you can do in the first classes (any mode of delivery) to share important information, clarify your expectations, and create an atmosphere that supports learning. For a more concise checklist, see the Quick Checklist for Setting Up the First Class. Build a Positive Learning Environment A positive setting for learning is one that gives students a...
Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning
May 25, 2022

Asking Effective Questions

Reading Time: 6 minutesYou may want to ask questions of your class during lessons in order to: This post provides some ideas and examples for how to form and deliver questions to achieve each of these goals.  1. Encourage Participation and Recall Students are less likely to answer your questions if they find them confusing, vague, or unrelatable. Students are more likely to speak...
Categories Assessment Design & Development/Effective Teaching/Quality Assessment/Student Engagement & Communication/Teaching for Learning
May 25, 2022

Oral Presentation No-Shows

Reading Time: 3 minutesBy Elan Paulson and Kathryn Brillinger This tip provides some information about how to plan for and manage absences during in-class individual and group oral presentations. Every semester you are likely to have situations where students have (hopefully) done presentation pre-work but miss the requirement to present at a certain time. Some of the reasons for this might be Setting...
Categories Effective Teaching/Student Engagement & Communication