About the MicroCourse:
Teaching is often a solitary practice; we rarely invite colleagues into our classrooms or see how our colleagues teach. This is often due to academic structures and because it can feel intimidating. However, discussions and feedback from peers can help us strengthen our teaching skills, including online teaching.
During this Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) MicroCourse, you will learn about research on “paired teaching” and “teaching triangles,” two programs that promote professional development through mutual observation and discussion. Key features of productive mutual observations include:
- Each instructor articulating their own goals for learning from the process,
- Giving space for both the teacher and the observer to learn from observations, and
- Establishing what makes productive (and non-productive) feedback.
This FLO MicroCourse will prepare participants to engage in reciprocal peer observations for professional development, if they choose to do so (optionally after the course). Participants will have the chance to identify where they might like peer feedback on their teaching and examine any potential fears around being observed. They will gain practical experience in observing teaching, giving productive feedback, and learning from these observations. We will discuss equity considerations in observations and giving and receiving feedback. At the end of the course, participants interested in continuing reciprocal observations will be paired with a fellow participant.
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, participants will have the opportunity to:
- Feel excited about learning from reciprocal observations
- Recognize the value of teaching observations for both the observed teacher and the observer
- Reflect on areas of their own teaching where they would like feedback and/or inspiration
- Know features of positive productive feedback, including equity considerations in giving and receiving feedback
- Experience reflecting and giving feedback in a practice observing scenario online
- Reflect on potential fears or challenges of being observed
Participants should anticipate at least one hour per day of asynchronous learning. Two optional synchronous sessions are planned for the week:
- Tuesday, November 19, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
- Friday, November 22, 12:00-1:00 p.m.
While attendance is encouraged, the sessions will be recorded for those who cannot attend.
Register now!
About the Facilitator:
Your FLO facilitator for this FLO MicroCourse is Linda Strubbe.
Linda (she/her), Ph.D., is a Vancouver-based independent educational consultant for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) higher education at Strubbe Educational Consulting. She is passionate about supporting educators’ collaboration, agency, and joy in teaching. Through workshops, communities of practice, and curriculum development, she supports university faculty in North America and beyond in developing skills for effective and equitable teaching. She also supports STEM education projects as an external evaluator.
Linda, along with her collaborator Dr. Bonaventure Okere from Nigeria, recently won the 2024 International Astronomical Union (IAU) Astronomy Education Prize. This prestigious award recognizes individuals and organizations for their outstanding contributions to the field of astronomy education. The duo was recognized for their work on the Pan-African School for Emerging Astronomers (PASEA), a program for African university students that they co-founded in 2013. Linda was acknowledged for her leadership in developing an inquiry-based curriculum, leading professional development for instructors, and evaluating student learning.
Linda’s doctorate is in astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and she has postdoctoral experience in physics and astronomy education research and faculty development in both Canada and the U.S. She was a Science Teaching & Learning Fellow with the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) at the University of British Columbia (2015-18). Linda is also co-director for the PASEA, and has worked with the University of Central Asia, American Physical Society, and American Association of Physics Teachers. She is excited to work with BCcampus to offer this new FLO MicroCourse!
The British Columbia Open Education Community (BCOEC) welcomes members from the post-secondary sector in British Columbia and the Yukon. This community convenes monthly in virtual gatherings, fostering an environment for sharing insights, providing support, and engaging in discussions about the challenges, best practices, and current issues within open education.
Register now!
Recordings and transcripts available from past meetings: B.C. Open Education Community (Playlist)
About the session
Let’s get back to some basics! In discussing the utility of a 5Rs framework for engaging in Indigenous research, it is helpful to remind ourselves what is meant by research, Indigenous research, decolonizing research, and how the 5Rs might help us achieve these goals.
By situating self in relation to spirit, family, community, and nation, Anishinaabe researcher, Jean-Paul Restoule, reminds us that we are known in relation and what can be known is also approached through relationship. In Indigenous research, the process is as important, or more important, than the product or outcome. Therefore, it is important to be conscious of how we come to know.
Based on Verna Kirkness and Ray Barnhardt’s description of the 4Rs needed for Indigenous success in higher education, this research approach prioritizes respect, responsibility, relevance, and reciprocity as ways to ensure our research is responsive to Indigenous communities.
In sharing an approach that includes the 4Rs plus relationship as a critical fifth ‘R’, Restoule will also touch on some other key Rs like reverence, refusal, and responsiveness.
In Anishinaabe approaches, underlying values like wisdom, love, respect, honesty, bravery, humility, and truth are helpful in grounding the researcher. Restoule will touch on the importance of connecting to underpinning local values in conducting Indigenous research as well as implications for Indigenist vs. Indigenous research.
Speaker
Dr. Jean-Paul Restoule (he/him) is professor and chair of the department of Indigenous education at University of Victoria. He is Anishinabe from Dokis First Nation in Ontario, and his research includes Indigenizing and decolonizing teacher education and investigating the use of Indigenous knowledge in online learning environments. Restoule is also co-editor of Indigenous Research: Theories, Practices, and Relationships (Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2018), a ground-breaking collection for students and scholars interested in learning how Indigenous research is carried out in practice.
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This session will be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca. By participating in this session, you acknowledge you are aware your participation will be recorded and the recording will be openly available.
About the series
The Research Speaker Series offers participants and presenters an opportunity to learn and share knowledge on research methods, approaches, and pedagogies around accessibility, access, Indigenous engagement, and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in teaching and learning.
These livestream webinars take place every month from September to December and will allow you to learn about new research directly from the researchers.
Sessions
- September 10, 2024 – Arts-based research as paradigm, manifesto and mission for volatile times, Geo Takach, Royal Roads University
- October 29, 2024 – Centring digital accessibility in research praxis, Kim Ashbourne, University of Victoria
- November 26, 2024 – Using the 5Rs as an Indigenous research framework, Dr. Jean-Paul Restoule, University of Victoria
- December 10, 2024 – Creating communities of care for academic spaces: a critical, collective, and pragmatic approach, Petra Boynton
Learning outcomes
By the end of this series, participants will be able to:
- Broaden their knowledge and research skills in the B.C. post-secondary context.
- Learn about Indigenization, EDI, decolonization, and accessibility in research.
- Be inspired to participate in research communities of practice or explore themes in their work.
- Connect with academics and community members who share similar interests.
About the Lab:
This three-hour Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) Lab is designed to engage post-secondary social science educators and aims to explore the concept of digital scholarship through the lens of digital humanities. 
The workshop’s objective is to enhance participants’ understanding of digital literacy as outlined in British Columbia’s Digital Literacy Framework, with a focus on the critical use of digital resources in scholarship, teaching, and learning.
A key component of the lab is the exploration of digital humanities tools, including text analysis, mapping, and data visualization. Through hands-on engagement with these tools, participants will discuss their application in social science research and teaching. This aligns with the Digital Literacy Framework’s emphasis on the practical application of digital tools and resources.
Participants will also conceptualize a digital scholarship project relevant to their research or teaching interests. This activity encourages participants to apply their learning from the lab to their own work, fostering innovation and creativity in digital scholarship. While parts of this session might be recorded, participants are encouraged to attend all three hours to get the most out of the lab.
Learning Outcomes:
- Understand the concept of digital scholarship: participants will gain a clear understanding of what constitutes digital scholarship and its significance in the social sciences.
- Explore digital humanities tools: participants will learn about various digital humanities tools and resources that can be integrated into social science research and teaching.
- Develop digital scholarship projects: participants will conceptualize a digital scholarship project relevant to their research or teaching interests.
Register now!
This session may be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca. By participating in this session, you acknowledge you are aware your participation may be recorded and the recording will be openly available.
About the Facilitator:
Your FLO Facilitator for this session is Dr. Siobhán Rachel Wittig McPhee.
Siobhán (she/her) is an associate professor of teaching at the University of British Columbia. In her role, Siobhán sees herself as an academic and an educator, dedicated to encouraging students and equipping them with the tools they need to succeed academically and in life. With an interdisciplinary background, Siobhán has the capability to explore and deliver alternative and engaging approaches to learning.
Siobhán’s focus on teaching and learning centres around the development of online tools, activities, and experiential learning techniques. Her educational research includes location-aware technologies, augmented reality, and alternative methods of knowledge mobilization, especially with application of digital literacy and digital scholarship. Her research explores interactive, place-based digital storytelling to generate empathy and engagement in social justice issues. It is this research that Siobhán is drawing on in facilitating the FLO Lab.
Session Description
This short drop-in session will help you understand the importance of designing an inclusive and accessible classroom, whether your classroom is face-to-face, online, or a combination. You will gain helpful tips for delivering content in person and for creating accessible videos and audio files.
By the end of the session, you will:
- Express the importance of inclusive and accessible classrooms and materials
- Describe how to include and edit captions in Kaltura and YouTube videos
- Describe how to create transcripts from Kaltura, YouTube, and Microsoft Word (Office 365)
Register Now!
This session will be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca. By participating in this session, you acknowledge you are aware your participation may be recorded and the recording will be openly available.
About the Facilitator
Your facilitator for this session will be Jamie Drozda.
Jamie (she/her) is a coordinator, educational technologies at Thompson Rivers University. She enjoys researching and analyzing the effectiveness of current learning technologies and assessing the challenges in adapting new technologies. Jamie strives to address accessibility, interaction, and assessment issues along with integrating technology with classroom pedagogy.
Accessibility Bites Series
Accessibility Bites: Plain Language, September 26, 2024
Accessibility Bites: Supporting Students who are Blind or with Low Vision, October 31, 2024
Accessibility Bites: Supporting Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, November 28, 2024
Accessibility Bites: PDF Documents, January 30, 2025
Accessibility Bites: Video Accessibility, February 27, 2025
To access resources and watch past Accessibility Bites webinars, visit media.bccampus.ca.
Event Description
Given the ongoing and anticipated shortage of tradespeople in B.C., it is crucial that trades education is delivered by instructors with strong digital knowledge and skills to ensure graduates are prepared for both the current and future workplace. In this session, Jessica Gemella will share her research on digital literacy and the resilience of educators in higher education, specifically in trades training. This session will explore the question: “How can professional development prepare trades educators to succeed in changing times?”
Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussion on teaching and learning, with a special invitation extended to trades faculty, researchers, and those involved in faculty development.
Learn more: Digital Literacy and Resilience: How Can Professional Development Prepare Instructors to Succeed in Changing Times? [blogpost]
Register Now!
This session will be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca. By participating in this session, you acknowledge you are aware your participation may be recorded and the recording will be openly available.
About the Facilitator:
Jessica Gemella (she/her) is a faculty member at Vancouver Island University (VIU) in the trades and applied technology department. She has served as an instructor and chair in the horticulture program and has also worked in a pedagogy-support role focused on trades. Currently on secondment to VIU’s centre for innovation and excellence in learning, she is serving as a curriculum, teaching and learning specialist supporting teaching and learning initiatives across VIU. Jessica is completing her master of arts in learning and technology at Royal Roads University, with research interests in faculty development, digital literacy, and resilience.
About the Session
In this one-hour FLO Friday workshop, participants will be introduced to the GenAI in Teaching and Learning Toolkit, designed to support educators in understanding and integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools within their teaching practice. The session will begin with an introduction to GenAI literacy skills required for teaching and learning, addressing both pedagogical opportunities and ethical considerations in educational contexts. Through guided practice, participants will then engage with a selected toolkit activity, gaining hands-on experience with GenAI integration strategies while exploring practical implementation steps.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify key GenAI literacy skills essential for effective teaching and learning
- Apply one GenAI integration strategy activity through hands-on toolkit exploration
- Discuss first steps of integrating GenAI toolkit resources into their practice
Register Now!
This session may be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca. By participating in this session, you acknowledge you are aware your participation may be recorded and the recording will be openly available.
About the Facilitator
Your FLO Facilitator for this session is Dr. Gwen Nguyen.
Gwen (she/her) is an advisor for the learning and teaching team at BCcampus. Gwen is also the author of the AI Toolkit. Prior to joining BCcampus, Gwen worked as a learning experience designer at the University of Victoria, where she provided support to educators in developing and delivering courses across various modalities including face-to-face, hybrid, and online formats.
Her professional background also includes experience as a university lecturer and researcher at both the University of Victoria and the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in Japan. Gwen holds a PhD in education studies from the University of Victoria and a master of arts in applied linguistics from Saint Michael’s College.
Her research interests include poetry inquiry as a reflection practice in education, digital pedagogies in higher education, and participatory action research. Recently, Gwen has developed a keen interest in exploring pedagogical strategies that ethically and creatively integrate AI into teaching and learning environments. Gwen also brings valuable experience in navigating positionality as both an instructor and researcher.
About the session
Although understandings about mental health are ancient and varied, over the past three decades, conversations about wellbeing have grown. These stem from charities, healthcare, therapy, social/media, and more recently, from wellness and influencer cultures.
Simultaneously, while awareness of (some) mental illnesses has increased, barriers to accessing diagnoses and care have also grown. In many settings, including academia, mental health and wellbeing support is not always available, affordable, accessible, or appropriate.
The reasons for this shift are numerous and far bigger than the university where, over the past five years, the burgeoning discourse of “academic mental health” now includes awareness days, research of varying quality, vague and confused definitions, unclear boundaries around duties of care, a specific genre of self-help books, multiple interventions with varying theories and approaches, and the inevitable wellbeing webinar.
The backdrop to this is, of course, the systemic problems within academia that may cause, or worsen, danger or distress. Factors like climate change, pollution, the impact and legacy of the pandemic, political unrest, war, conflict and displacement, poverty, historical abuses, inequalities, and access barriers compound the problem.
For some these issues are acute, while for others the impact is minimal, with minoritized students and staff disproportionately affected. However, many approaches to addressing academic mental health adopt a ‘one size fits all’ model that consistently fails to meet the needs of diverse students, staff, or wider communities and is detached from wider systems of teaching, learning, research, or performing other labour within academic institutions.
Our session will review existing evidence, policies, protocols, manifestos, and concordats. Then, using pre-submitted participant questions, it will reflect on who is brought in, and left out, by existing discussions around academic mental health. This will be used to produce pragmatic, supportive, sensitive, and inclusive ideas allowing us to consider how we might integrate a community of care across our campuses, research, teaching, and pastoral provision.
This session aims to leave everyone feeling comforted, validated, and aware of different approaches to caring for oneself, others, and the wider environment.
Speaker
Petra Boynton is a social psychologist who supports universities, charities, research organizations and government departments to undertake and use research in pragmatic, inclusive, accessible, ethical, and safe ways. She specializes in teaching the often neglected or forgotten ‘how tos’ of research. Petra’s key focus is on mental health, rights, and wellbeing, described in her PEEPS Model for prioritizing safety and wellbeing in teaching, research, and pastoral care.
Petra’s background is in international health services research, and she has applied this through working as an Agony Aunt (advice columnist) for print, broadcast, and online publications. Using that experience to create self-help resources for researchers including The Research Companion: A practical guide for the social sciences, health and development (2nd ed., 2016); Coping with Pregnancy Loss (2018); and Being Well In Academia: Ways to feel stronger, safer and more connected (2020).
Register Now!
This session will be recorded, archived, and made available publicly on BCcampus.ca. By participating in this session, you acknowledge you are aware your participation will be recorded and the recording will be openly available.
About the series
The Research Speaker Series offers participants and presenters an opportunity to learn and share knowledge on research methods, approaches, and pedagogies around accessibility, access, Indigenous engagement, and equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in teaching and learning.
These livestream webinars take place every month from September to December and will allow you to learn about new research directly from the researchers.
Sessions
- September 10, 2024 – Arts-based research as paradigm, manifesto and mission for volatile times, Geo Takach, Royal Roads University
- October 29, 2024 – Centring digital accessibility in research praxis, Kim Ashbourne, University of Victoria
- November 26, 2024 – Using the 5Rs as an Indigenous research framework, Dr. Jean-Paul Restoule, University of Victoria
- December 10, 2024 – Creating communities of care for academic spaces: a critical, collective, and pragmatic approach, Petra Boynton
Learning outcomes
By the end of this series, participants will be able to:
- Broaden their knowledge and research skills in the B.C. post-secondary context.
- Learn about Indigenization, EDI, decolonization, and accessibility in research.
- Be inspired to participate in research communities of practice or explore themes in their work.
- Connect with academics and community members who share similar interests.
The British Columbia Open Education Community (BCOEC) welcomes members from the post-secondary sector in British Columbia and the Yukon. This community convenes monthly in virtual gatherings, fostering an environment for sharing insights, providing support, and engaging in discussions about the challenges, best practices, and current issues within open education.
Register now!
Recordings and transcripts available from past meetings: B.C. Open Education Community (Playlist)