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by Alex Venis, the Teaching & Learning Centre
in the December 2020 issue
On October 27 and 28, 2020, 25 faculty members spent part of their study week at the Teaching & Learning Centre’s Micro-Teaching Sessions. This two-day course saw faculty create two different 15-minute lessons over the two days and attend multiple workshops aimed to improve their teaching skills and increase student participation in online environments.
The focus was formative assessment: gauging student learning while they are in the middle of the learning process. It seeks to answer questions such as, “Are students understanding the material? How can I know? How can they demonstrate that they know?”
On Day 1, the faculty were given some time to create a short lesson to present in small groups. The audience filled out feedback forms aimed to help the presenter identify their own strengths and weaknesses. Feedback covered topics such as student interaction, lesson structure, and whether formative assessment was used.
In the afternoon, participants attended a series of workshops led by the Teaching & Learning Centre Team. They could choose which workshops to attend, giving them the freedom to explore different aspects of teaching such as accessibility, embedding material into Learn@Seneca, formative assessment, and tools for online collaboration.
Returning on Day 2, everyone attended a morning session led by Linda Facchini and Karen Spiers from the Teaching & Learning Centre. The focus in this presentation was formative assessment and how to incorporate the online tool Mentimeter to gauge student understanding. Participants walked away with a concrete understanding of the “what, when, where, how and why” of formative assessment.
For the remainder of the day, the faculty were given time to prepare another lesson to present to the same groups. The task was to build on their received feedback and apply some of the things they learned during the workshops.
Overall, it was great to see faculty members challenge themselves to see what they are capable of, to be exposed to a new idea and then quickly implement it into their own practice. The faculty showcased a wide variety of skills and tools: Google Docs, Mentimeter, Microsoft Forms, and Padlet were among those used.
Participants were also eligible to apply for the Micro-teaching / Formative Assessment micro-credential.
Micro-Teaching Sessions is taught every semester, and we hope to see you at the next one!
View the December 2020 issue of the Academic Newsletter.
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