You Got This!

Brenna is looking for a laugh this week, and is joined by the Dean of Students to make a point about making learning meaningful (and share love for supplemental instruction).

Show Notes

Brenna has been enjoying this Twitter thread of memes about the US constitution and presidential politics, like, way too much. Thanks to Liz for sharing it.

Got an idea for a meme or gif assignment for your students? Why, we have resources for that! This is the persistent resource for the TRU session, and this is the one for the SFU version.

Christine Adam is the Dean of Students. You can find out more about her and her office from their web presence.

The book Chris mentioned was Stretch by Scott Sonenshein.

Chris and Brenna talked a little about Universal Design for Learning (UDL). If you’d like to learn more about UDL, Brenna really likes this introduction.

If you’re interested in the urgent issue of students with disabilities in a Covid-19 context, there is some emergent research to review; this article is a good place to start.

Transcripts

Available for download as a .docx file here.

Available for download as a .pdf file here.

Brenna is looking past her gingerbread latte and towards Winter term, and she's joined by two TRU professors to talk about a different kind of approach to online learning.

Brenna is looking past her gingerbread latte and towards Winter term, and she’s joined by two TRU professors to talk about a different kind of approach to online learning.

Show Notes

If you’re a TRU student and the Student Survey hasn’t crossed your desk yet, you can find it here. Please share it with your TRU classmates. Staff and students are encouraged to share it with their student communities, too.

Brenna talked about workload management. TRU folks can check out our sessions on Managing Your Marking Load and Managing Workload.

If you want to understand interteaching, this article is a really great place to start, as is this thoughtful review.

The conversation today turned to the impact of Covid-19 on parenting and caregiving within the TRU community. This StatsCan report is a good place to start to understand the breadth of the issues.

Mattermost gets a heck of a shoutout in this episode! If you need more convincing, check out the UBC Mattermost Pilot with its focus on student and faculty experience. If you want to try it out in your class, a quick email to [email protected] will get you started.

Once upon a time, Brenna used to do GIF course evaluations, and a few have survived on the internet. Here’s one. Here’s another.

Brenna wants you to know that she does know this was episode 11, she just didn’t know that when she was recording. She would edit it out, but instead is modelling fallibility and grace. And bone-idle laziness.

Transcripts

Available for download as a .docx file here.

Available for download as a .pdf file here.

Brenna is taking a two-week break from the pod. She'll see you on November 16.

Episode transcript follows:

Hello, and welcome to You Got This!, a podcast about teaching, and learning, and pivoting to digital for the whole TRU community. I’m your host, Brenna Clarke Gray, Coordinator of Educational Technologies. And, this podcast is a project of your friends over at Learning Technology and Innovation. We’re housed within Open Learning, but we support the whole campus community. I record this podcast in Tk’emlups te Secwepemc within the unceded traditional lands of Secwepemcúl’ecw, where I hope to learn and grow in community with all of you.

And this week’s episode is not really an episode at all. It’s just a quick note to let you know that You Got This! is going to take a two-week hiatus. I was off a few days this week and I’m just trying to catch up and trying to take my own advice about acknowledging when we need rest and when we need to be clear about our priorities. So as I reorganize my workload and try to attend to some tasks that need my focus and attention, and as I work on rest, I’m going to take a couple of weeks off.

So no podcast this week and no podcast next week. But the next episode will drop in time for Monday, November 16th. So in lots of time for us to have good conversations about final exams, marking, workload, process, and rest. I’ll be back. Thanks so much for your patience with me taking some time off. And in the meantime, if you want to let me know if there are any particular topics that you would find really useful or helpful or anybody you’d like to hear me talk with in the lead up to finals, please feel free to let me know. You can always reach me at [email protected], that’s Gray with an A. And it’s also Gray with an A over on Twitter @brennacgray. So don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’ve got feedback or questions or things you’d like us to cover. As I say, in the lead up to finals.

In the meantime, I’m going to leave you with a tiny workflow tip, maybe this week instead of a tiny teaching tip, and just recommend that you take a look at what’s on your plate and see if there’s something that you can take a respectful and thoughtful rest from for a few days. Because it’s definitely something that I needed this week. And I’m really learning that we need to prioritize taking care of ourselves, if we want to make it through. I just got my notes back or my APAR and my very thoughtful department chairs and director reminded me that this whole thing, this is a marathon, not a sprint. So take what you need and I hope you’ll still be here when I’m back in two weeks.

I’ll see you on November 16th. Until then, take care of yourselves and of each other. Bye bye.

In the ninth episode, Brenna goes looking for inspiration lost and chats with a colleague in faculty development about why a book club might be just the ticket.

In the ninth episode, Brenna goes looking for inspiration lost and chats with a colleague in faculty development about why a book club might be just the ticket.

Show Notes

Brenna mentioned her own favourite inspirational book, An Urgency of Teachers. It’s available open access, but supporting the work of Hybrid Pedagogy is a great thing to do with your PD funds, for those who have them.

The last CELT book club read was Small Teaching Online by Flower Darby. Logged-in TRU folks can access it from the library by clicking here.

The current CELT book club read is Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto by Kevin Gannon. Logged-in TRU folks can access it from the library by clicking here.

It’s not too late to sign up for the book club by using the LibCal registration system.

The next book club will be Critical Digital Pedagogy: A Collection, which like An Urgency of Teachers can be accessed as a pay-what-you-can open access book.

Check out the CELT website to book a consultation and find other resources, or email them directly at [email protected]

Transcripts

Available for download as a .docx file here.

Available for download as a .pdf file here.

In the eighth episode, Brenna's on her own (or so she thinks) to talk about making do and about the late-Fall programming plan for Learning Technology and Innovations. Listen for the cameo at the end of the show.

In the eighth episode, Brenna’s on her own (or so she thinks) to talk about making do and about the late-Fall programming plan for Learning Technology and Innovations. Listen for the cameo at the end of the show.

Show Notes

“Groot” is what Brenna calls her son on the internet.

Credit to the brilliant Nap Ministry for contributing to Brenna’s ongoing learning and unlearning about rest.

Here are descriptions of and links to all the programming Brenna talks about in this week’s episode:

Our Lessons Learned Series invites you to share your expertise and draw on the experiences of others as we reflect on the most frequent needs raised by the community in the last semester. Join us for sessions each Tuesday at lunchtime for the last half of the semester.

What Should Be in Your Moodle Shell (Oct. 20, 12:30 – 2:00): The start of term was rocky for many of us. What can we do with those empty Moodle shells for Winter term to make sure the space sets us, and our students, up for success? To register: https://tru.libcal.com/calendar/7574/moodleshell 

Creative Quizzing (Oct 27, 12:30 – 2:00): How can you best use the quizzing tool to meaningfully assess learning and have fun? Join Jamie for this informative session that will get you rethinking the quiz. To register: https://tru.libcal.com/calendar/7574/creativequizzing

If I Knew Then What I Know Now (Nov 3, 12:30 – 2:00): We’ve all learned a lot this semester. Join us for this session to reflect on the true lessons learned this term, and pool our advice for the semester to come. To register: https://tru.libcal.com/calendar/7574/ifiknew

Effective Video Work in Moodle (Nov 10, 12:30 – 2:00): We’re all relying on video a lot more than we used to! Join Jon to talk about what worked, what didn’t, and how to knock it out of the park for January. To register: https://tru.libcal.com/calendar/7574/effectivevideo 

Faculty Showcase (Nov 17, 12:30 – 2:00): We’re celebrating the folks who jumped in with both feet and made something marvellous this semester! Join Brian to see what your colleagues were up to in Fall, and get some great ideas for Winter. To register: https://tru.libcal.com/calendar/7574/showcase 

Have the Best Week 1 Ever!… Next Term (Nov 24, 12:30 – 2:00): With all we now know about building community and setting tone, let’s plan the best first week for the Winter term so we can enjoy the holiday feeling ready to go for January. To register: https://tru.libcal.com/calendar/7574/week1 

Additional workshop offerings for Fall 2020:

Gradebook Studio: Join Jamie for small-group Gradebook support. Whether you want to master the tool or just need someone to fix it before finals, our Gradebook Studio series gives you the opportunity to get to know the fine points of Gradebook — just in the nick of time! Use the Scheduler in Moodle to book your slot: https://moodle.tru.ca/mod/scheduler/view.php?id=1181851

Learning Without Walls Tour (Oct. 29, 12:30 – 2:00): Do you ever wonder what the student Moodle experience is like? Come and join Matthew and Marie for an in-depth tour of our Moodle support shell for students, and learn how you can make use of its resources in your own teaching. To register: https://tru.libcal.com/calendar/7574/lww

Alternative Assessments in Alternate Delivery (Nov. 6, 10:00 – 11:30): Looking for ways to assess students fairly and accurately at the end of your course? Join Brenna Clarke Gray from LTI and Carolyn Ives from CELT to explore the range of alternative assessments — just in time for finals! We’ll look at practical tweaks and aspirational redesigns to make your final assessments better — for you, and for your students. To register: https://tru.libcal.com/event/3585613

Teams/O365 Help (Nov. 9, 12:30 – 2:00): Have you dabbled with Teams this term, but would like to get more out of it? Join Matthew and his guest Leanne Mihalicz (Instructor, ESTR) to learn

In the seventh episode, Brenna's thinking about taking a reset if things aren't working, and two instructional designers pop by to share resources for doing just that.