Description

What happens when an early adopter of ed tech steps back from its use in favour of pre-digital technologies? Erin Macleod, PhD, an English teacher at Vanier College, shares her mindful approach to tech use in the classroom. Drawing on 25 years of experience as a teacher, as well as her background in Communications, Erin describes her reasons for this shift: the distractions engendered by social media and smartphones and the need for alternative, embodied learning in an AI age. She discusses some of the creative activities and assessments she has designed to engage students, promote communal learning, and sharpen their critical thinking about course content, technology, and the role it plays in students’ lives. 

About our Guest

Erin MacLeod is a Montreal-based journalist, educator, cultural critic and international development professional whose writing and work spans music, identity, and postcolonial perspectives. Her journalism has appeared in major outlets including the New York Times, the Guardian, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and the Globe and Mail. She is also the Jury Foreperson for the Polaris Music Prize. 

MacLeod's writing is distinguished by its depth and cultural insight. She has explored the socio-political dimensions of music, such as discussing soundsystem culture and inheritance for the New York Review of Books, discussing lyrical changes in the Canadian national anthem for NPR, and considering the television program Alone as a means of considering loneliness and social distancing. Her coverage includes live performances, like reviews of the Osheaga festival and Molchat Doma in Montreal for Northern Transmissions, and profiles of artists such as Hill Kourkoutis, the first woman nominated for a Juno Award in recording engineering, for CBC Music. ​MacLeod's work reflects a commitment to exploring the intersections of music, culture, and identity, offering readers nuanced perspectives on contemporary issues. 

Beyond journalism, MacLeod is an academic with a PhD in Communications from McGill University and a Master's in English Literature from the University of Toronto. She teaches literature and liberal arts at Vanier College in Montreal. Her book, Visions of Zion: Ethiopians and Rastafari in the Search for the Promised Land (NYU Press, 2014), examines the intersections of race, migration, and cultural identity.​ She also is an international development consultant, working on monitoring, evaluation and learning practices with organizations such as Cuso International, Oxfam, the Equality Fund, Care International and WUSC. 

Join us for the final episode of this semester in which we discover how two college teachers successfully integrated foundational theory with authentic, hands-on experience. Dayna Morrow and April Hayward share how authentic learning activities are helping them increase student engagement, understanding, empathy, and critical thinking.

Driven by the need to capture student attention and prepare them for the job market, they interwove practical activities such as virtual reality experiences that simulate visual impairments, physical role-playing, and community visits into their curriculum.

We discuss the value of authentic learning activities in a digital age, and their value in developing essential skills like empathy, communication, and critical thinking. Plus, we discuss how these innovative strategies can be incorporated into any discipline.

About our Guests

April Hayward has been teaching at Vanier College since2016, teaches in the Special Education Techniques (SET) program. A proud Vaniergraduate from the same program (formerly Special Care Counselling), Aprilstarted her career as a specialized educator, working primarily with olderadults in day programs, long term care homes, and in-home respite programs. Shewent on to earn a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Psychology and WorldReligions), followed by a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) at McGill University. In2009, inspired by her work with older adults and their families and caregivers,along with her leadership and advocacy roles in community organizations, shewent back to school to complete her Master’s degree in Social Work. Her thesisfocused on end-of-life care conditions in long-term care homes. Her desire toteach comes from her passion for improving conditions and outcomes forvulnerable populations. She is inspired every day by creative and dedicatedstudents who, through the SET program, are making a difference in theircommunities. Outside of her work, April is a proud mom, amateur runner, foodenthusiast, and can usually be found immersed in a community project and talkingabout her dog. 

Dayna Morrow is the Department Coordinator for Special Education Techniques (SET) and has been teaching at Vanier for 17 years. She’s worked as the SET internship coordinator and spent two years as a member of the Vanier Student Success Working Group while also volunteering on several college committees. Prior to, and throughout her time at Vanier, Dayna worked in health and social services in private, public and nonprofit organizations with older adults, families and youth. Dayna has degrees in Applied Human Sciences(Therapeutic Recreation) from Concordia University, and Education Counselling Psychology (Family Life Education) from McGill University. She is also a graduate from Special Education Techniques (formerly SCC) being a proud Vanier alumnus. Outside of Vanier, Dayna enjoys time spent with family, volunteering at the Board of a local community organization, taking long walks & paddleboarding at her cottage in the great outdoors.

In this episode we are joined by Marika Hadzipetros, a Humanities teacher. Marika shares about herinitial enthusiasm for teaching, how after many years she experienced burnout,and how she re-envisioned her teaching practices while on leave. She returnedto the classroom when ChatGPT had just been launched. Her new, engaging,approach to teaching and learning allowed her not only to avoid a secondburnout, but to gain a new-found love and joy for teaching. It has also helpedminimize unpermitted AI use. Marika shares some of her strategies, as well assome joyful teaching experiences.About our Guest

Marika Hadzipetros is from Montreal. She has been teaching Humanities at Vanier since 2008. Her focus is on ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, especially conceptions of how to live a happy life. Helping students think about who they are and who they want to be is one of the great joys of her life. She holds a BA (honours) in Philosophy from Concordia and an MA in philosophy from Western University. In her spare time she enjoys making art, especially pottery. She is grateful to have the opportunity to spend so much of her time doing things that make her happy.  

In this episode, Humanities teacher Joliane Allaire explores how play can foster deeper student connection, boost engagement, and enhance learning. She shares some of the games she uses in her classes to encourage experiential learning, explains how she integrates them with course content, and offers practical advice for educators, regardless of their discipline, who may feel hesitant about bringing play into the college classroom.

About our Guest

Joliane holds a B.S.W. from McGill and an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Concordia, where she focused on critical pedagogy, performance art, and community organizations. Since 2011, she has taught in the HumanitiesDepartment at Vanier, emphasizing personal growth, environmental sustainability, and empowerment for disadvantaged communities. Joliane employs experiential learning strategies inspired by the Theatre of the Oppressed and Playback Theatre to foster creativity, enhance communication, and promote shared knowledge among students. She is also committed to incorporating the holistic values and guiding principles of culturally relevant pedagogy into her academic courses in both critical theory and praxis.

In Part 2 of our series on transversal competencies, Avery and Dayna share details about the many resources the Student Success Working Group (SSWG) has developed to support the development of transversal competencies and how Vanier teachers can access them. They offer practical ways that the resources can be used in-class, and share about a program that has implemented a transversal competency mentorship initiative. They also suggest manageable, incremental ways that teachers can use these resources to sprinkle in opportunities to develop transversal skills throughout a course. 
 
****Note: we had some technical issues during the recording or these two episodes (Part 1 and 2). The sound quality during sections of the interviews is less than ideal. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please know that the issue has since been resolved, so future episodes will have good, consistent sound quality.**** 

Our Guests

Avery Rueb is the Dean of Academic Development andResearch at Vanier College, where he has been leading since 2024 after 12 yearsof teaching French. He launched the Skills4Life program at Vanierin Multimedia and Electrical Engineering Technology, as well as at Edu2 schoolin Montreal, to help students strengthen essential transversal competenciessuch as collaboration, time management, and networking. These initiatives,supported through agencies like Entente Canada-Québec and NovaScience,are designed to give students the durable skills they need to succeedacademically, personally, and professionally.

Dayna Morrow is the Department Coordinator for Special EducationTechniques (SET) and has been teaching at Vanier for 17 years. She’s worked as theSET internship coordinator and spent two years as a member of the VanierStudent Success Working Group while also volunteering on several collegecommittees. Prior to, and throughout her time at Vanier, Dayna worked in healthand social services in private, public and nonprofit organizations with olderadults, families and youth. Dayna has degrees in Applied Human Sciences(Therapeutic Recreation) from Concordia University, and Education CounsellingPsychology (Family Life Education) from McGill University. She is also agraduate from Special Education Techniques (formerly SCC) being a proud Vanieralumnus. Outside of Vanier, Dayna enjoys time spent withfamily, volunteering at the Board of a local community organization, takinglong walks & paddleboarding at her cottage in the great outdoors.

In Part I of this two-part series on transversal competencies, Avery Rueb and Dayna Morrow share with us about the work the Vanier’s Student Success Working Group (SSWG) did to support the development of these durable skills. They define what transversal competencies are, and explain why it is important to help our students attain them, not just to prepare them for the job market and university, but to help them become better college students and good citizens. They share the research done by the SSWG on transversal competencies and discuss how we can weave them into our CEGEP programs. 

Part II is also available as of the publishing of this episode.

****Note: we had some technical issues during the recording or Part 1 and 2. The sound quality during parts of both interviews is not ideal. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please know that the issue has since been resolved, so future episodes will have good, consistent sound quality.**** 

Our Guests

Avery Rueb is the Dean of Academic Development andResearch at Vanier College, where he has been leading since 2024 after 12 yearsof teaching French. He launched the Skills4Life program at Vanierin Multimedia and Electrical Engineering Technology, as well as at Edu2 schoolin Montreal, to help students strengthen essential transversal competenciessuch as collaboration, time management, and networking. These initiatives,supported through agencies like Entente Canada-Québec and NovaScience,are designed to give students the durable skills they need to succeedacademically, personally, and professionally.

Dayna Morrow is the Department Coordinator for Special EducationTechniques (SET) and has been teaching at Vanier for 17 years. She’s worked as theSET internship coordinator and spent two years as a member of the VanierStudent Success Working Group while also volunteering on several collegecommittees. Prior to, and throughout her time at Vanier, Dayna worked in healthand social services in private, public and nonprofit organizations with olderadults, families and youth. Dayna has degrees in Applied Human Sciences(Therapeutic Recreation) from Concordia University, and Education CounsellingPsychology (Family Life Education) from McGill University. She is also agraduate from Special Education Techniques (formerly SCC) being a proud Vanieralumnus. Outside of Vanier, Dayna enjoys time spent withfamily, volunteering at the Board of a local community organization, takinglong walks & paddleboarding at her cottage in the great outdoors.

Episode Description

In this episode of Marianne and Max, the coordinators of the Engaged Community of Teachers (formerly Early Career Teachers), share about the community, how it got started, what support it offers teachers, and what resources it makes available. ECT is no longer merely a Vanier initiative, but as Marianne and Max explain, has grown to include teachers from John Abbott, Dawson, Champlain, and Heritage. While ECT used to focus on early career teachers, it has since expanded and now supports educators of all different levels of experience. Indeed, it is that variety that adds to ECT's richness.

About our Guests
Marianne Lynch has degrees in mathematics, literature, education and humanities, a decade of experience teaching high school math and science, and has been a teacher in Vanier’s English department since 2005. Her experiences with team-teaching, peer observation, mentorship, and accompaniment have led her to develop projects that encourage both students and teachers to exchange with and learn from one another. She is a SALTISE fellow and works closely with the pedagogical office (PSI) in support of new and early-career teachers (ECT), recently rebranded as the Engaged Community of Teachers. In her free time, you will find Marianne at the pool, on the soccer field, or writing the occasional sonnet.

Max Salonine is a pedagogical counselor in PSI with an M.Ed. in Educational Psychology from McGill University. He has an extensive background in CEGEP education, having taught a variety of Social Science and Humanities courses for 10 years at Centennial College, particularly to students with learning difficulties. He has also taught Psychology in Vanier's Social Science program. As member of the PSI team, Max supports pedagogical animation initiatives including the ECT (Engaged Community of Teachers) group and local and Intercollegiate Ped Days (IPD). He also assists faculty in academic program support and development.

Episode Description
In this episode of Vanier Ed Talks, psychologist and Vanier Psychology teacher Karen White challenges the common belief that stress is always harmful. She explains that moderate stress can enhance focus and performance, especially when students understand and manage it well. Karen encourages us to reframe stress as a sign of engagement, share personal experiences to normalize it, and teach strategies like spaced practice to help students build resilience. She also discusses how we can recognize when students' stress is excessive, especially for those suffering from anxiety disorders, and stresses the need for recovery periods to maintain well-being. By learning to work with stress rather than against it, students can build confidence, sharpen their skills, and take greater ownership of their learning.
About our Guest
Karen White did her undergraduate studies at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, then her graduate studies at the University of Manitoba. She has been teaching at Vanier for over 20 years and is a practicing clinical psychologist as well. She is particularly interested in understanding the counter-intuitive and counter-productive ways people behave.