Category: Teaching for Learning

Explore evidence-informed approaches to support student learning and success.

Leveraging Your Slide Deck, Part 2: Engaging Students in the Classroom 

Reading Time: 5 minutesA slide deck can be the focus point of a lesson, presenting key information related to the week’s learning outcomes. A slide deck, however, is not simply an overview of content to be presented to students: it is also a treasure trove of opportunities for  In this Hub post, part 2 of 2, we’ll look at strategies to integrate active...

Exploring the Complex Ideas of Teachers and Teaching in South Asian Academic Culture  

Reading Time: 4 minutesBy Dr. Nasreen Sultana, Consultant, Teaching and Learning South Asia has a collectivist society, which is a fascinating tapestry of interconnectedness where individual threads weave together to form a cohesive whole. The concepts of education and life are layered and complex. For example, faculty members in a Canadian classroom are always mesmerized by how polite and respectful South Asian students...

Encouraging International Students to Take Notes in the Classroom

Reading Time: 3 minutesDr. Nasreen Sultana, Consultant, Teaching & Learning Notetaking has been one of the traditional and effective ways for post-secondary students to learn. However, as technology becomes more prevalent, students’ approaches to notetaking may have evolved. Nevertheless, Witherby and Tauber’s (2019) study with current and former post-secondary students found that the reason why students take notes has not changed much except...

Active Learning Ideas 

Reading Time: 13 minutesThe ideas here are in alphabetical order. This is not an exhaustive list of active learning ideas and many of these ideas may be adapted to different modes of delivery. For help in adapting any of these ideas, reach out to Teaching and Learning. Activity Profile Ask different people about their daily activities/work experiences related to the topic. Where, when...

Want to Improve Learning? It’s Easy as Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

Reading Time: 6 minutesWe all want our students to remember what we teach them.  This is a reasonable expectation considering all that time you spent preparing lessons, activities and assessments.  But sometimes you might find that your efforts did not align with your expectations from those assessments.  Remember the results from that test you gave? Maybe the results left you feeling frustrated and...

Promote Student Self-Monitoring in an Asynchronous Online Course

Reading Time: 3 minutesYou begin teaching an asynchronous online course, and you have taken the initiative to welcome your students with an announcement and welcome video. Now, as you eagerly await their participation, consider additional strategies to not only kickstart their journey but also ensure their successful completion of the course. Explore ways to promote student self-monitoring and cultivate self-directed learning skills, encouraging...

Using Exemplars to Support Student Success with Assessments

Reading Time: 3 minutesExemplars are “carefully chosen samples of student work which are used to illustrate dimensions of quality and to clarify assessment expectations” (Carless & Chan, 2017, p. 1). Exemplars can help students increase their understanding of the skills, content, or knowledge and internalize established criteria or standards (Sadler, 2010). Particularly, through exemplars, your students can get a clear idea of the...

Connecting Active Learning Activities and Assessments to Sustainability

Reading Time: 3 minutesLaura Matheson, an educator since 2008, joined Conestoga College in 2013 to develop and teach in the Sustainable Business Management post-graduate program. Passionate about education, Laura fosters diverse learning experiences for students and the community, influencing thoughts and actions throughout her 15-year career. In 2020, she co-founded the School of Business PRME initiative, fostering collaboration among faculty and enriching student...

Strategies and Scripts to Address Common Classroom Management Challenges

Reading Time: < 1 minuteAt one point or another in your teaching career, you’re likely to encounter classroom management challenges. Some of the most common include: Our team has created this video role-play for you, where you can see (fictional) faculty member Wanda Tyler-Burns, consulting with Teaching and Learning Consultant Dr. Lauren Spring about some of these common challenges. We hope you find the...

Instructional Strategies

Reading Time: 8 minutesWhat are instructional strategies and why are they important? Whether you recognize it or not, almost everything you do in the classroom is an instructional strategy. For example, when you’re standing at the front of the room sharing new content with learners and helping clarify what’s written on class slides, you’re engaging with a “direct” instructional strategy. If you then...