TEACHING ACHIEVEMENTS
Throughout my teaching career at NSCC, I have consistently sought to enhance student learning and foster an inclusive and supportive classroom environment. The following summary highlights key achievements and innovative strategies I have implemented to support diverse learners, improve engagement, and contribute to both student and faculty success.​ ​Please scroll down to review samples of my teaching practices which demonstrate my knowledge, skills and
abilities according to seven educational strategies covered in the NSCC Adult Education Foundations (AEF) coursework.
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​Supporting Diverse Learning Needs
When I noticed a student who was not engaging with reading materials, I adapted my approach to support his learning preferences. I allowed him to use alternative resources such as videos and podcasts. This culturally responsive pedagogy and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach enabled the student to successfully complete the program, which he credited to the tailored support he received.
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Course Structure Adaptation:
Recognizing a need to improve student engagement and attendance, I restructured a business communications course to include smaller, more frequent assignments that could be started and often completed in class. This change reduced the homework burden, increased classroom attendance, and allowed for real-time feedback. Students responded positively, noting the value of completing work during class time with immediate access to guidance and support.
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Interdisciplinary Collaboration for Experiential Learning:
To enhance hands-on learning opportunities, I collaborated with three colleagues to integrate a provincial competition, Challenge Nova Scotia, and a group project, Mini Ventures, into our respective courses. We designed assessments that allowed students to receive credit for their participation in these events, creating an engaging and practical learning experience. Feedback showed that students found these activities both enjoyable and valuable for their professional growth.
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Innovative Use of Technology
To enhance student learning and engagement, I integrated technology tools such as TikTok and LinkedIn for teaching cover letter and resume writing best practices. This approach held students' attention and encouraged them to adopt more effective job application techniques, leading to successful job placements. Additionally, I utilized tools like Mentimeter and Padlet for interactive class discussions, which helped create a supportive environment and alleviated students' anxiety about public speaking.
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​​Mentorship and Coaching Impact
I provided personalized mentorship to students facing challenges in their academic or career paths. For instance, I coached a Vietnamese student who struggled to secure employment in Halifax despite her banking background. By helping her refine her cover letters and resumes and encouraging her to aim for higher-level positions, she successfully obtained a managerial role. Additionally, I reignited a student's interest in business through personal coaching, leading to their successful participation in a business simulation and continuation in the field post-graduation.
​Supporting Colleagues through Professional Development
I have actively supported colleagues by providing one-on-one training in Brightspace, NSCC's learning management system. I also shared my course materials, particularly for social media and digital marketing, with colleagues to help them deliver high-quality content when they did not have time to design a course from scratch. My Brightspace course shells for communications have been shared by the Centre for Teaching and Learning with many other faculty members.
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Leading an Initiative on AI and Academic Integrity
In response to challenges with academic misconduct related to AI use, I developed guidelines for students on how to properly reference AI-generated content using APA formatting. I also collaborated with our librarian and trained both students and faculty on these guidelines, promoting academic integrity and responsible use of technology in academic work.
1. Create an Inclusive Environment
The importance of creating an inclusive environment was impressed upon me throughout my AEF courses. It is also addressed in many NSCC Policies. This practice fosters a community of respect and ideally encourages students to welcome and share multiple perspectives and experiences. I have seen first hand many times how this support and awareness is the foundation for learning.
In September 2019 new students were coming to my classroom for the first time, and due to COVID, masks were mandatory. I wanted to help them acclimatize to "school, help them get to know their classmates, and address the "first week jitters". With their permission we went across the street to Allan Park and sat under the trees in a circle (safely distanced) so we could take off our masks. In pairs the students played a conversational card game I brought so they could learn about each other. Over the two hours, the pairs shared with the group, we asked questions, visited and laughed together. The next day when they came in, they were much more relaxed and chatty. The difference it made was amazing to witness.
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Other examples of creating a more inclusive learning environment include: reviewing NSCC policies related to respect and community with the class, facilitating the students as they created their Class Charter (they worked together and learned what their classmates value), and sharing my pronouns on the first day and asking learners to do the same by writing it on a poster that will be displayed all term for our reference (during break, or on their own time).
Image Credit: Lisa Lawrence May 2022
2. Use Program Curriculum
As a new teacher I received wonderful support from experienced teachers, as they were generous and willing in sharing their course material with me. Over the last three years, as I learned more and more about Outcomes Based Education, Backwards Design and Blooms Taxonomy, I designed more and more material myself. I began with the end in mind by reviewing the NSCC curriculum documents, then I designed courses (using the workplans template) with evaluations that aligned well with those outcomes in those documents.
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The attached workplan is an example of a workplan I created for an online asynchronous course. My goal with this plan was to create a course with the learners in mind that would be very clear and easy for them to understand by doing the following:
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Attaching the Learning Outcomes/Course Outline to the workplan so they are easy to refer to.
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Ensuring the two textbooks were utilized well
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Making due dates and grading structure easy to recall and predictable
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Structuring grading in a simple format (items worth 10% were marked out of 10 points)
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Evenly distributing the workload and time frame between the four outcomes.
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Highlighting the outcome achieved by each module/ evaluation
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Designing the evaluations so they align learning with the outcomes .
Other examples of using program curriculum in this course include:
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Integrating UDL principals in the course assignments in Module 3 by encouraging students to do consulting work (real life application) in lieu of the tasks in the Assignments, and which demonstrated all the skills they had gained in the program (this course is in the last term of the program).
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Noting the learning outcome in the assessments, assignment instructions and in the introduction to each module in Brightspace.
3. Plan for Instruction
In TELE1010 Planning for Teaching and Learning, I revised a lesson plan for a course I teach both online and face to face. I have learned to design BOPPPS lesson plans and adjust them so they can be taught asynchronously or synchronously.
The BOPPPS framework allows me to prepare pre and post assessments and participatory aspects so that the material is engaging. Without this planning process the material would not be as dynamic. Ideally my planning also fosters learning and immediate feedback. I also strive to provide flexibility in how the lesson is presented and in the way students demonstrate their knowledge or skills.
This is important to reducing barriers and for supporting all interests and skills.
4. Implement Inclusive Instructional Strategies
One of the main reasons I wanted to teach at NSCC was its commitment to diversity and inclusion, but it wasn't until my AEF courses on UDL and CRP that I gained the instructional strategies to support learning for all students. Specifically, The Blueberry Story and the Culturally Responsive Teaching Competencies . This training enhanced my ability to recognize learner variability, and understand how learners growth and development vary individually. This email from an online student is an example of me implementing inclusive instructional strategies (open communication and flexibility with deadlines) and it explains how that impacted the student's success.
Other examples of my inclusive instructional strategies Include: Circulating an anonymous MS Forms survey to student as we moved from online back to the classroom so I could learn more about their learning preferences, reminding students that they could use verbal interviews in their APA research report (as I had and Indigenous learner who wanted to interview Elders about starting a beadwork business), allowing a student to move through coursework weeks (sometimes a month) ahead of the class out of respect for her independent learning style, and by posting instructional videos of myself explaining assignments in addition to written instructions to provide multiple means of engagement to learners.
5. Implement multiple means of assessment and evaluation
When I took TELE1050 Assessing and Evaluating Learning, I gained a better understanding of Adult Learning Theory and Outcomes Based Education. My main take away though was the ability to develop and deliver multiple means of assessments (50 Classroom Assessment Techniques -CATs). My learning in that course also led to a greater commitment on my part to clearly state expectations and identify progress. Since then I have provided more assessment opportunities so learners (and I) can measure their progress before evaluations.
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Other examples of my implementation of multiple means of assessment and evaluation include: creating a PowerPoint Jeopardy game so students could practice days before a multiple choice quiz, offering pre-assessment feedback for some evaluations to students who submit their work early, and providing multiple ways for students to demonstrate that they achieved a learning outcome (for example when learning to type, some students typed in software, some from books and some from live or recorded speech).
6. Integrate technology in teaching and learning
When I took TELE1020 (Integrating Technology in Teaching and Learning), I changed my mindset from using technology to teach, to integrating technology to deliver and enhance learning. During this course I learned many new (and fun) tools, but I also learned to evaluate, and select educational technologies for teaching and learning that align with NSCC's policies and practices.
One way I use educational technologies is in a business communication lesson on cover letter and resume writing. I embed quick, fun and engaging TikTok videos with excellent tips (lessons). Then I asked them to complete an MS Form (also embedded in a Brightspace Module) to assess their learning.
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Another tool I use often is Screencast -O-Matic to record myself and my screen as I introduce course material, teach lessons and explain assignments. The feedback I have received from both online and in class learners is that these videos are very helpful. Some students reported watching them several times while completing their work.
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Other educational technologies I integrate in my course planning and delivery include: Padlet, Menti, Poll Everywhere, BrightSpace Checklists, Teams (for blended delivery), and Survey Monkey.
7. Advise and support students
When I began teaching three years ago the Manager of Student services made sure to tell me that some NSCC students have very hard lives. That became apparent with each class I met. While studying SSUP Introduction to Student Advising, I learned about the many NSCC support services, how the collaborative student advising model works, about OARS and motivational interviewing, assisting with decision making, and perhaps most importantly, my role (what is not my role) and my responsibilities.
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The email above is from a student I advised during a difficult job search. Some of the my support was covered in the coursework, some was during private coaching sessions with the student. This sample demonstrates my support for students at each stage of the student life cycle (specifically the last stage). "You can do hard things " (Glennen Doyle) was something I shared often while advising.
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Other examples of my competencies when advising and supporting learners includes: my practice of liaising with Student Services, keeping case management notes, inviting the campus counsellor to provide workshops on Understanding Mental Health and Wellness, and Resilience Skills, inviting the Student Services Advisor to talk to students about Diversity and Inclusion, and conducting mid- term anonymous check-ins (Stop-Start and Continue) via MS Forms to invite them to share how they are doing so far and to discover their learning preferences and communication styles.