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Category: Student Engagement & Communication

Promote interactions with and between students to make learning more meaningful and memorable.

July 10, 2025

Teaching Critical Thinking   

Reading Time: 8 minutesCritical thinking has long been a foundational skill in post-secondary education, but in the 21st century—particularly in the age of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI)—it has been getting even more press than usual. Some have mused that our human ability to think critically is a key feature that distinguishes us from Large Language Models, and that GenAI use can undermine our reflexive capabilities and...
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June 18, 2025

Lights, Camera, Learn! Best Practices For Sharing Videos During Class  

Reading Time: 6 minutesLet’s be honest—lecturing for 60 or 90 minutes straight is tough on students and faculty alike. Research shows that student attention begins to drop after about 20 minutes of passive listening (Bradbury, 2016). That’s why integrating active learning strategies is so important—and one of the most effective tools in your teaching toolkit is video.  Whether it’s a short documentary clip,...
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June 11, 2025

Craig Stephenson Reimagines Police Education With Student Recognition and Open Dialogue

Reading Time: 4 minutesCraig Stephenson, a recovering lawyer, brings a unique blend of academic training in the social sciences and law, combined with extensive teaching and curriculum development experience at the college and university levels to his role as a professor in and Coordinator for the Police Foundations program at Conestoga College. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science with a...
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April 9, 2025

Fatih Yegul Activates Student Learning with Case Studies and Practical Simulations

Reading Time: 4 minutesFatih Yegul is a professor at Conestoga College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, where he has been a full-time faculty member since August 2018. He teaches a variety of courses in the International Business Management degree program, including Operations Management, Supply Chain Logistics, and Quality Planning & Analysis. Fatih has actively been involved in academic committees, such as the AACSB...
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March 19, 2025

Establishing Credibility in Managing the Classroom

Reading Time: 3 minutesCreating a strong classroom presence is essential for new faculty to establish credibility and effectively manage their classrooms. Students enter the educational environment with specific expectations. When they perceive their teachers as competent, caring, and honest, their emotional engagement and motivation to participate in academic activities significantly increase (Lv, 2024). Faculty should begin fostering a positive perception among students from...
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January 13, 2025

Validating Student Responses During Class

Reading Time: 6 minutesWe’ve all been there… It’s the start of class, let’s say week 5, and you’re engaging students in a pre-assessment activity–asking them to recall what was shared in class last week before moving on to new content. Let’s imagine you’re teaching a class about the digestive system in the Practical Nursing program, and you pose a question to the class...
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November 26, 2024

From Anonymous to Acknowledged: The Benefits of Using Student Names in Teaching

Reading Time: 4 minutesEarly in my teaching career, a student told me that I was the only professor who had so far remembered her request to call her by her second name rather than her first. At the time, I was curious: What had prevented other educators from remembering her preferred name?  With experience, I have gained more perspective on the obstacles to...
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October 28, 2024

Making a Comeback: How to Get Back on Track After a Rocky Start to the Semester

Reading Time: 5 minutesDid you get off to a rocky start to the semester? Finding it challenging to connect with your students to foster a productive learning environment and experiencing classroom management challenges? A rocky start can happen for a variety of reasons some that are in our control and some that are not, however, know that you’re not alone and that there...
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October 8, 2024

Mental Health: The Bigger Picture

Reading Time: 6 minutesThe United Nations has declared Oct 10th World Mental Health Day. Throughout the month of October each year, the UN encourages industries and organizations across the globe to: “spotlight mental health around the world, raise awareness of mental health issues and encourage efforts to support those experiencing mental health issues” (“World, N.D.) Mental Health has become somewhat of a buzz-term...
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August 20, 2024

Where is the Wonder?

Reading Time: 6 minutesThink back to your educational experience when you attended elementary and high school, especially around the questions you were given for your learning. Likely, these questions came from either one of two sources: a teacher or textbook.  If your formal education is anything like mine, you rarely, if ever, had a direct invitation to create your own curiosity-driven questions then...
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July 10, 2024

How to Be Compassionate Without Being a “Yes” Person

Reading Time: 3 minutesBy Dr. Nasreen Sultana, Teaching and Learning Consultant Erica teaches a course where students come from diverse backgrounds. She has both domestic and international students in her classroom. She wants to be compassionate in her teaching. As a novice teacher, she is confused about whether she needs to keep giving extensions to the students to come across as a compassionate...
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June 13, 2024

“So, What Do You Think?” Using Think-Pair-Share to Engage All Students

Reading Time: 4 minutesOne of the simplest ways to engage your students is the tried-and-tested teaching strategy called ‘Think-Pair-Share’.  If you are newer to teaching, then this should be one of the first tools you develop and use as part of your teacher ‘toolbox’. It is easy to use yet very effective in improving collaboration and communication as well as improving learning outcomes. What...
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May 28, 2024

Heart Emoji, Crying Face Emoji: A Reflection on the Emotional Facets of Teaching

Reading Time: 5 minutesIn collaboration with Sara Kafashan  This past winter semester, I experienced a familiar feeling: I found myself getting frustrated with students repeatedly emailing me for assistance, but not following the instructions I had provided in multiple different contexts (in class, in video recordings of assignment instructions, in writing, in individual meetings etc.). Some of the emails bordered on rude. I...
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