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Category: Effective Teaching

May 20, 2021

Icebreakers for Your Online Synchronous Classroom

Reading Time: 4 minutesIn the era of synchronous online learning, it is important to create a community of learning. Using icebreakers can foster communities, promote positive teacher and student relationships, and lay the groundwork for classroom interaction (Serembus & Kemery, 2020). Studies in pedagogy encourage teachers to use icebreakers in their classes. The following icebreakers are quick and easy to run both in...
Categories Inclusive EdTech Use/Online Synchronous/Teaching for Learning/Teaching with Teams/Tech-Enhanced Teaching
May 5, 2021

Read & Write Gold

Reading Time: 2 minutesRead&Write is a literacy toolbar that helps students enhance their reading, writing, studying, and research skills. Commonly presumed as a type of assistive tech, Read & Write is unique in that it is available to all students at Conestoga. This app can support a variety of learning, studying, and research habits. By using Read&Write, students can proactively develop their literacy...
Categories Accessible Teaching/Effective Teaching/Inclusive EdTech Use/Tech-Enhanced Teaching
April 30, 2021

Reacting and Responding to Student Emails, Especially During End-of-Semester Stress

Reading Time: 5 minutesBy Sara Kafashan and Kathryn Brillinger Please email teachingandlearning@conestogac.on.ca with additional scenarios to add. The end of semester can be a particularly stressful and busy time for anyone in a post-secondary institution. With final exams and assignments for students, as well as marking and course wrap-up responsibilities for faculty, it’s common to feel (Zoom) fatigued and low on time, energy, and resources. One pertinent issue that tends...
Categories Effective Teaching/Inclusive Teaching/Student Engagement & Communication
April 20, 2021

Teaching Software, Hardware, and Cybersecurity

Reading Time: 2 minutesApply these tips in your teaching to engage students and to monitor their progress during lessons.  1. Show students the Big Picture Always start with the big picture for a new unit of learning. Bridge-in with a case, a metaphor, a job advertisement – something to help the students see the why of the learning.  2. Clarify outcomes Be clear with the outcome and the benefit of the learning, and if...
Categories Effective Teaching/Lesson & Course Planning/Teaching with EdTech/Tech-Enhanced Teaching
March 12, 2021

10 (+1) Tips for Supporting International Students (and Everyone Else) While Teaching Online

Reading Time: 5 minutesKathryn Brillinger, Nasreen Sultana, and Laura Stoutenburg of Teaching and Learning, and Thomas Campbell and Kavya Adapala from Student Engagement.  Keep the Welcome Going Work on a big, warm welcome each class. Students will either be remote and trying to manage bandwidth and scheduling and new systems or in Ontario settling in or seeking housing, grocery stores, etc. Start your class right on time but expect some students to sometimes be late...
Categories Effective Teaching/Inclusive Teaching/Online Synchronous/Student Engagement & Communication/Teaching for Learning
March 8, 2021

Encouraging Online Group Work Management with Microsoft Planner

Reading Time: < 1 minuteOnline Group Work Students’ ability to organize tasks and manage time can affect their online group work experiences. In online team situations, Hurst and Thomas (2008) explain that group members “must engage in self-monitoring, team process monitoring, and proactive commitment to the work of learning” (p. 460). To enact these methods and foster positive group work experiences, Teach Me Tech...
Categories Effective Teaching/Student Engagement & Communication/Teaching with EdTech/Tech-Enhanced Teaching
February 19, 2021

Breaks in the In-Person and Synchronous Online Classroom

Reading Time: 4 minutes“For each class, faculty will […] [e]nsure breaks occur during the lesson time to support student needs.” – Course Delivery Procedure (January 2021)  Breaks are time-bound periods in which students stop doing class work to rest and re-focus. Breaks should be given for students into all in-person and hybrid courses at least by the 1-hour mark of class, or more depending...
Categories Effective Teaching/Hybrid/In-Person/Inclusive Teaching/Online Synchronous
January 29, 2021

How Our Online Synchronous Workshops Benefit a Trades Faculty’s Students

Reading Time: 2 minutesSheri Copplestone teaches Computer Applications in Conestoga’s School of Trades and Apprenticeship, and facilitates the Entrepreneurial Program for Newcomers. She is also involved in the School of Workforce Development’s Academic Upgrading program. In March 2020, when COVID-19 shifted education to an online synchronous and asynchronous format, many faculty sought ongoing assistance from Teaching and Learning. From last Spring to present,...
Categories Effective Teaching/Faculty Stories/Online Synchronous/Reflective Practice
January 7, 2021

Silent In-Class Reading Time

Reading Time: 4 minutesIf one goal of your class meetings is to promote thoughtful, lively discussion among students, then it can be useful to think about ways to help students prepare for discussion. This teaching tip considers the potential benefits of providing students with quiet time in class to prepare for discussion. The focus is on applying synchronous online class meetings, but the...
Categories Accessible Teaching/Effective Teaching/In-Person/Online Synchronous/Teaching for Learning