November 30, 2023

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...

Categories Educational Development Opportunities/Effective Teaching/Faculty Stories/Lesson & Course Planning/Teaching for Learning Comments: 0

November 20, 2023

Pacing

Reading Time: 7 minutesHave you ever struggled to fit all of the weekly content you need to cover into your one or two-hour class meeting and noticed yourself rushing through the material? Or facilitated an in-class activity you thought would last 15 minutes but saw that students seemed to lose focus or get distracted after only 5? Perhaps you yourself have sat through...

Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning/Teaching for Learning Comment: 1

July 27, 2023

Considerations for Course Planning

Reading Time: 5 minutesThese considerations for course planning can help guide faculty who are planning a new course or revising an existing course.

Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning

June 20, 2023

The First Two Weeks: Basic Classroom Expectations

Reading Time: 9 minutesAt its best a classroom is a dynamic setting where teacher and learners support each other on the journey toward a common learning goal in keeping with the course learning outcomes. As you set the tone for your class this semester it is important to reflect on appropriate classroom expectations for facilitating learning. This teaching tip suggests basic expectations for...

Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning

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. Goals A number of goals for teaching and learning are achieved when faculty understand the type of assessments they are using in...

Categories Assessment Design & Development/Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning/Quality Assessment

November 22, 2022

Creating a Harmonized Assessment Tool for Capstone Projects

Reading Time: 4 minutesCapstone projects showcase students’ comprehensive learning. Conestoga’s Computer Science programs host a capstone project at the end of each semester – an opportunity for students to share the mobile apps, websites and automated project management systems they have produced for local businesses. Read on to review their process and feel free to share your own capstone experiences in the faculty...

Categories Effective Teaching/Faculty Stories/Lesson & Course Planning/Reflective Practice

August 11, 2022

Teaching in a Wide Classroom

Reading Time: 4 minutesThis tip will provide suggestions for making the best use of wide classrooms with two projectors on side-by-side whiteboards, particularly if the first set of rows is close to the front wall so that students at each end of the first row will likely only be able to fully see one whiteboard. 

Categories Effective Teaching/In-Person/Lesson & Course Planning

July 22, 2022

Countdown Checklist for Fully Online Asynchronous Teaching

Reading Time: 5 minutesA checklist of “to-dos” before your asynchronous course goes live and during the semester start.

Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning/Online Asynchronous

July 18, 2022

What To Do in the First Weeks of Class

Reading Time: 9 minutesThis teaching tip provides a checklist of what you can do in the first week or two of class to share important information and create an atmosphere that supports learning. This tip shares ideas for Creating a positive learning environment Explaining key course information Setting expectations for behaviour Encouraging a focus on learning Sharing expectations for technology use Use these...

Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning

May 4, 2022

A Quick Checklist for Setting Up the First Class

Reading Time: 2 minutesThis is a collaborative post brought to you by the Teaching and Learning Consultants. If you are new to teaching and to Conestoga College, you may want to use this quick checklist to prepare yourself for the first class. Please explore Conestoga’s Course Delivery Procedure before your first class.

Categories Effective Teaching/Hybrid/In-Person/Lesson & Course Planning/Online Synchronous

April 21, 2022

Modes of Delivery

Reading Time: 4 minutesLearn about what are the modes of course delivery at Conestoga.

Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning/New Faculty

April 12, 2022

Content Chunking in Your Lessons

Reading Time: 5 minutesLearn about chunking your lesson into smaller bits for students learning and completing the chunk with practice and feedback

Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning

December 21, 2021

GIRAFES: Charting a Learning Pathway for Hybrid and Fully Online Courses

Reading Time: 7 minutesThis tip provides an overview to develop a lesson plan and learning pathway for units of learning with a hybrid, remote, and/or asynchronous course. Please share feedback on this model with Elan Paulson. Planning for Lessons and Courses   Lesson plans are documents help to prepare you for your classes by providing a purposeful structure and flow for teaching, learning, and assessment activities within a...

Categories Effective Teaching/Hybrid/Lesson & Course Planning

September 3, 2021

Tips for Getting Started with an Asynchronous Course

Reading Time: 7 minutesMichele Feeser shares tips for preparing for asynchronous teaching.

Categories Effective Teaching/Faculty Stories/Lesson & Course Planning/Online Asynchronous/Reflective Practice

July 16, 2021

Review and Reflection and How to Assess Them: Part 2

Reading Time: 3 minutesPart 2 of a two-part teaching tip on assessing review and reflection as skills includes suggestions to help students build their ability to reflect both as learners and as practitioners in their field.

Categories Assessment Design & Development/Effective Teaching/Grading & Grading Tools/Lesson & Course Planning/Quality Assessment