Cheers to our L&T comm-YOU-nity! | 2020 in review
A summary of 2020
It has been a very eventful year for the Learning and Teaching community! We would like to thank all those who have taken the time to share their best practice this year, joining our group of 269 contributors to date! This year there was a focus on online teaching, and readers have conducted various searches on the topic, also reinvigorating some posts from previous years. Here is a snapshot of the most popular articles in 2020.
Multidisciplinary teaching: an approach to active learning
The main goal of tertiary education is to develop knowledge about a certain discipline that can engender in students the capacity to analyse information and apply it to real life cases. Dr Saad Odeh (SIBT) introduces contemporary approaches to curriculum integration to highlight their potential impact on students’ learning process.
Activities to add to the beginning, middle and end of your lesson plan
Students are there to do the heavy-lifting during the class: to work through activities, exercises, discussions, peer learning, and practical work. Our job as teachers is to facilitate the learning, which means that our hard work is in constructing the learning activities before the class starts. Bronwyn Mortimer from Curtin College shares learning activities to help keep students engaged over time that you can consider adding to your lesson plan.
Hosting a Zoom session? Here’s your pre-flight check!
So, you’re going to run a Zoom session and you’re expecting a crowd? No worries! Learning & Teaching Services (UPA) gathered the best tips from some regular Zoom facilitators to create this ‘pre-flight check’. Here are our best tips on using Zoom video conferencing to help get your message across without technical hiccups!
A sample of Welcome Videos teachers made for their students
Making a welcome video is a great way to start off on the right foot with students. It’s all about sharing a little of your personality and teaching style to create an early connection with your students. Inspired by a ‘how-to’ post on this website, Bronwyn Mortimer, Ceridwen Clocherty & Sarah Kent from Curtin College share Welcome Videos they made for their students.
We often make a set of assumptions about people based largely on their accent and pronunciation, which is magnified when they are English language learners. Margot Volem (University of Idaho) presents theories in second language acquisition research and strategies to support multi-language learners in the classroom.
Strategies that promote academic integrity
Tales of plagiarism, ghost-writing and contract cheating make great headlines, but can also be a serious issue where students are under pressure, over-stretched and can’t get the support they need to progress in their course. Niva Kaspi from Edith Cowan College shares some key principles and approaches to support academic integrity.
Our latest articles on online teaching were also popular and you can browse the latest posts here. We hope this community continues to offer inspiration and opportunities for reflection and development. If you are thinking about sharing best practice with the Learning and Teaching community next year, contact Learning & Teaching Services here – we look forward to hearing from you! All the very best wishes to you all for the festive season!