1999-2000 Teaching Effectiveness Program

Thoughts on teaching, assignments and grading 

Prof. Magda Havas, Environmental & Resources Studies Program 

February 10, 2000; 3 hrs 

Magda Havas of Environmental & Resource Studies, will present some of her ideas about assignments for, and the evaluation of, students. She hopes to encourage sharing of such information among the participants and will give a short presentation to initiate discussion. 

Showcase of the Leo Africanus Project

Profs. Ivana and Martin Elbl, Department of History & students from history, modern languages and computer studies discussing their participation in the project.

February 29, 2000; 2 hrs 

This project seeks to represent, in a multi-media English edition, the description of Africa by a 16th Century Moroccan scholar, Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Zayyati, written during his Christian captivity at the request of the Papacy. 

This project explores the frontier of current technological possibilities in the CD-ROM publication of  scholarly works showing multi-media potential.  It serves as a testing ground for establishing suitable and rewarding modes of cooperation among the students and faculty drawn from science, languages and humanities sectors of the academic community. 

It combines text with such features as digital interactive maps generated in 3D using the latest imaging technology, digital interactive panoramas, 3D models of localities in the Maghrib (North-west Africa) as they would have appeared in the authors' times (using input from historical and Islamic studies research and archaelogical data), and user-controlled displays of photographs, ground plans, and other visual elements. 

This presentation will include a multi-media show by Martin Elbl, representing Maproom44 Ltd.,brief presentations by the students and faculty involved in the project, and discussion. Refreshments will follow. 

WebCT and web-based instruction

March 2, 2000; 2 hrs 

Mary-Jane Pilgrim, Trent's Web Computing Advisor, will provide an introductory look at WebCT as a tool to facilitate online learning as well as the presentation of a personal viewpoint on the pros and cons of learning in this mode. 

Prof. Aline Germain-Rutherford, Modern Languages, will describe two models of instructional uses that she recently explored in two different FSL courses: The Course Supplement Model (a traditional French classroom-based environment with Web activities), and The Virtual Classroom Model (an online distant course based entirely on videoconferencing and Web activities). 

Maureen Wideman, Trent's Web Communications Co-ordinator, will talk about the online student  --  who are they, how do they learn, what are their expectations, and why they are taking courses online?  Maureen will then talk about her personal experience as an online student. 

Tom Phillips, Trent & Fleming College, will concentrate on the experiences of a user of two different platforms - WebCT and Caucus - and how using both gives a broader perspective on how the web can be used as a learning tool.  Tom will also discuss the crucial role of design and design teams.  He will also address how WebCT can enhance the Trent tutorial system, and provide some perspective on responding to the educational Luddites. 

Panel on instructional technologies and institutions of higher learning
March 7, 2000; 3 hrs 

This panel, made up of a number of specialists from five Ontario institutes of higher learning, will examine various pedagogical and technological issues presently facing universities and colleges. 

How, and to what extent, are learning technologies employed on our campuses?  What kinds of support exist for faculty and students making transition into technologically enhanced learning environments? How should campuses prepare for the teaching and learning changes that are likely to occur in the years to come? these are just some of the questions that will be explored in a lively and participatory discussion.  The panel members are: 

• Chris Knapper (Director, Instructional Development Centre, Queen's University) 
• Tim Pychyl (Associate Dean of Students Carleton University Carleton University; member of the Council of Ontario Universities' Task Force on Learning Technologies) 
• Susan Markanen (Sir Sandford Fleming College) 
• Tom Carey (Director, Centre for Learning & Teaching Through Technology, University of Waterloo; TeleLearning Network of Centres of Excellence) 
• Peter Lapp (Academic Skills Centre & Special Advisor on Distance Education, Trent University) 
• Richard Pinet (Co-ordinator (2000), Instructional Development Centre, Trent University)  moderator 

Portfolios for faculty professional development

Prof. Christopher Knapper, Director of Instructional Development at Queen's University & Prof. Deborah Berrill, Education, Trent University 

March 8, 2000; 2 hrs

The teaching dossier is a way of documenting teaching accomplishments using multiple sources of evidence, instead of relying entirely on results of student evaluations.  Since the concept was first introduced by the Canadian Association of University Teachers in 1980 teaching dossiers or portfolios has been used in thousands of higher education institutions all over the world. 

This workshop will explain the rationale underlying dossiers as a way of demonstrating teaching effectiveness, describe the steps involved in preparing a plausible dossier, and offer guidance on interpreting dossiers when used for important career decisions.

Trent Community-Based Education Centre & the Peterborough Arts Umbrella's Kawartha Millennium Art Project

March 15, 2000; 2 hrs

The Peterborough Arts Umbrella is trying to identify the most significant artists, arts events and arts organizations in the history of Peterborough and the surrounding area. The scope of the project includes aboriginal history dating back as far as we can manage. Thus, the project's name: A2K - Art at Two Thousand in the Kawarthas. There are two aims of the project. One is to compile a permanent and publicly accessible database containing the information being gathered in the initial research phase, currently underway. The second aim will be to mount a series of public exhibitions and performances recognizing some of  the significant artists and art work to come out of the area. 

It should be noted that due to the resources at hand, the current project is addressing itself to visual arts, performing arts and media arts, but not writing in any form.

The panel members are: 

• John Wadland (Frost Centre for Canadian Studies)
• Bill Kimball (Project co-ordinator, Kawartha Millennium Art Project)
• Peter Tasse (student)
• Hillary Wear (student)
• Astrid Manske (student)

The Virtual Centre for Excellence in Learning Disability Integration 
March 21, 2000; 3 hrs 

Trent University has entered into a partnership with Loyalist College (Belleville), Canadore College and Nipissing University (North Bay) to set up a "Virtual Centre of Excellence " in the integration of students with learning disabilities at the post-secondary level of study.  This "Virtual Centre" is in its second year of operation.  Then member institutions of the project have been developing new tools and new instructional units to assist them in delivering their academic support program to these pilot students. 

Throughout this pilot project, there is an emphasis on how some of the new technologies and instructional methods can be utilized to assist students with learning disabilities at the post-secondary level of study.

This session will present an overview of the project as a whole and will highlight some of the tools that have been and are being developed under this partnership. 

The panel members are: 

• Robert Silvestri (Special Needs)
• Eunice Lund-Lucas (Special Needs)
• Martin Boyne (Academic Skills Centre)
• Todd Cunningham (student) 

INNOVATIVE WEB-BASED INITIATIVES @ TRENT 
April 11, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm 
Jointly sponsored by the IDC and Trent Academic Technology Innovation Centre

• Peter Northrop (Educational Computing Advisor & TAcTIC) 
  In a "dot-com" world data changes very quickly. In this presentation I will demonstrate two new web-based applications that have been developed through the Trent Academic Technological Innovation Centre [TAcTIC] this year which employ state-of-the-art web and database technology to provide up-to-date information to end-users [in timely manner] while minimizing work on the parts of the system owners, designers, builders and administrators. 

• John Earnshaw (Physics)
  WEB postings in RealAudio and/or Windows Media of weekly activities in Physics 209 
  During the current year, I have posted weekly WEB pages of the PowerPoint summaries that I used in that week's class. I have deliberately not created new material for two reasons;  first, I haven't the time to do it, and second, the students are already familiar with its appearance and content.  The innovative aspect of these PowerPoint WEB pages is that they include the sound of my voice giving a short, reflective commentary. I will do three things in my presentation.  First, I will demonstrate a typical page.  Second, I will comment on the pedagogical significance of what I have done.  Lastly, I will give a short demonstration of the creation of the pages. (In passing, I will also mention my experiments using sound in Word-submitted student assignments.) 

• Aline Germain-Rutherford (Modern Languages) 
  Through the presentation of three different Web based language courses I have designed and taught this year at Trent, I will demonstrate three teaching/learning utilisations of the Web: 
  1) The Web as an Information tool; 
  2) The Web as a Language Activity tool, and 
  3) The Web as a Creation Tool. 

• Gary Aitken (Modern Languages and Literature)
  Más arriba 
  In my presentation of "Más arriba", an online Spanish workbook, I intend to demonstrate how the program works, with two perspectives in mind: 1) as an oral/visual classroom activity and 2) a student activity. At the same time, I intend to point out the pedagogical advantages and innovations and then, finally, I will indicate my plans for future development of such features as complete sound files and self-scoring for the answer fields. 

POSTERS & POSTER PRESENTATIONS 
April 13, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm 
Of special interest to faculty in the Sciences and Social Sciences

• Magda Havas (Environmental & Resource Studies) 
  The "Interactive Poster" 
  Rather than talk about poster design I thought I would present a new concept, that of "interactive posters."  What I mean by an "interactive poster" is that the information one gets from a poster becomes a function of how a person physically interacts with the poster. Often we tend to put too much information into a poster.  The effect of an interactive poster is that the information is "revealed" by the person viewing the poster since not all of it is visible at once.  For physical learners (students who learn better by using body movement in some way) this is an added benefit. Another benefit is that the poster can cater to different audiences without information overload.  "Interactive posters" used in one of my courses,  Communicating Science (SC 350), will be presented.

• Morgan Tamplin (Anthropology & Computer Studies) 
  Using Poster Sessions in Courses 
  As an alternative to "the final essay" assignment, I have used the poster session for Students to communicate their research results at the end of the course.  Posters and  their accompanying sessions are now an accepted form of communication at professional  meetings, but students must learn their unique requirements and style.  I will demonstrate examples from graduate and undergraduate courses in Paleoecology and European Archaeology.

• Julia Harrison (Anthropology) 
  Ethnographic Posters 
  For several years I had students in an fourth year anthropology course create posters on ethnographies that they had been reading throughout the course of the year.  In my presentation I will discuss what I saw as the strengths and weaknesses of the experience. 
   
• Deborah Berrill (Education) 
  Using Posters as a Culminating Task for Action Research AssignmentsOur final (5th) year teacher candidates all do an action research project as part of their 3-month extended school placement. Although my other colleagues who teach this course have teacher candidates submit their action research reports in written format, for the past three years I have had them present a poster of their research.  For the past two years, Magda Havas has given my class a presentation on how to create effective posters and this has been a great help in dramatically increasing the effectiveness of the posters. Teacher candidate colleagues evaluate the posters and presentations, as do I.  In this session, overheads of posters and evaluation sheets used will be presented. 

• Charlotte McCallum (Geography) 
  Will relate her classroom experience using the poster format used in presenting students' work. A short video clip will also be shown.