Online Learning in a Nutshell | Academic Newsletter | Seneca Polytechnic

by Arushi Manners, the Teaching & Learning Centre

in the June 2020 issue

As you were busy planning your courses for online delivery, the Teaching & Learning Centre has been thinking about ways to make this transition a smooth and successful one. One way to facilitate the move to online learning is by exploring our Teaching Online series of Nutshells which offer quick professional learning on a variety of topics related to online teaching and learning.

What is a Nutshell?

A Nutshell is a short introductory module on a selected topic. We focus on practical strategies that you can apply in your virtual classroom alongside activities for you to engage with. The aim is to offer a taster of the selected topic in the hope that it acts as a springboard to further exploration.

We designed the Nutshells with three key ingredients in mind:

Where do I access a Nutshell?

You can find the Teaching Online Series of Nutshells – Part 1, along with the Teaching & Learning Centre Nutshells, on the The Teaching & Learning Centre website under Faculty PD. A new Nutshell is released weekly and takes less than thirty minutes to complete.

Nutshells will be added to this page and remain there for you to refer to as often as you would like.

Please do provide feedback at the end; this helps us to refine our content.

How do I learn more about a topic?

To get the most out of a Nutshell, we encourage you to engage fully with the activities and resources. As you click on the various links provided, keep the following framework in mind:

Explore: Spend time browsing through the resources provided and other related links that they might take you to. Avoid rabbit holes if you can!

Edit: From your exploration, adapt and use what you need, remembering to give credit where it is due.

Evaluate: As you try new strategies in your virtual classroom, find a system to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. Include student voice as a way to gather feedback. What can you do differently next time?

If you do go down the rabbit hole and come up with other topics that you would like to know more about, let us know! You can request a Nutshell topic in the feedback forms that appear at the end of each Nutshell.

Most importantly, we hope you enjoy the Nutshells.

View the June 2020 issue of the Academic Newsletter.