Like many faculty members, I know that the research suggests a blended or flipped approach to learning (where students do some work outside of class time e.g. by watching videos or doing readings, and spend the in-class time working on problems and actively engaging with material) is better by far than only using classes for lectures where students absorb information passively. The thing that always held me back from applying this approach was the enormous amount of time and effort it would take to create that out-of-class content.
Online learning has driven more traffic than ever to discussion boards such as Piazza. I’ve had a lot of success with mine – one of my favourite things from this term is how kind and helpful my students are to each other. I know not everyone has the same experience so I wanted to share how I create the conditions for meaningful and productive interaction. Hopefully these tips can help you get the most out of your online discussion forum of choice.
For context, this is a large (~500 students) required introductory course in probability with fully asynchronous delivery.
In Winter 2020, my large introductory undergrad course went online abruptly for the last three weeks. Luckily as a core course there was already online course material available, and we were able to pivot fairly painlessly. In Spring 2020 I taught two small grad courses, and we did them completely synchronously so not much needed to change. But for the Fall 2020 term, when I was scheduled to teach a mid-size upper-year undergrad course, I needed to think very intentionally about how I was going to design it.
The Math faculty expressed a strong preference for asynchronous...
There is no one right way to create lecture material for an online course. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. I’m going to describe what I do, not because I think it’s “best” but just for interest. The adage "if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter" comes to mind, in that it does take more time to make a succinct video, but I think it is worth it.
One thing that was extremely important to me was preserving my own personal style in the videos. In class I always use the chalkboard (never slides) because there is a huge benefit to seeing problems worked...
I've given several presentations this term (and watched several dozen more!) about academic integrity in online teaching. This post is some of the thoughts which became my recent presentation on the subject at the Actuarial Research Conference. You can find the video of the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IL2a7L1WEw and slides attached to this post.
First of all, cheating is not necessarily higher in online courses just because they are online. Cheating has many causes, including students being...
I was invited by READI to give a presentation on teaching in an online environment. I focused on creating connections, reducing cheating, and designing effective assessments. Below are some follow-up resources I said I would provide for the attendees, but anyone is welcome to use them!
It has been several months since the READI course on Interactive Teaching in Actuarial Science, and it feels a little bit like a dream, it was such a whirlwind experience. In this post I’ll try to collect some of my thoughts about how it went and what I learned.
On the first morning, I met my students for the first time at breakfast, and then we headed to the seminar room. The room had a projector, a small whiteboard, and a pair of flip charts, which worked well for what I had planned. I organized the students into groups of 5-8 people each to facilitate the discussion phases...
The opportunity came up for me to teach a workshop on Interactive Teaching in Actuarial Science to university Lecturers in Indonesia through the READI project. (READI stands for Risk management, Economic sustainability, and Actuarial science Development in Indonesia and is a joint venture with the Indonesian and Canadian governments to build needed actuarial expertise and capacity.)
As a Faculty member, it’s easy to forget what it’s like to be a student. I’m not talking about late night assignments, last minute study sessions, and cramped living spaces; I’m talking about forming communities of common interest, developing lifelong friendships, and exploring your passions.
In my 12 years as a faculty member, I have been involved in FASS (the Faculty, Alumni, Staff, and Students theatre company...
In August 2018 I had the immense pleasure of attending my first live action role-playing game at Bothwell School of Witchcraft. Everyone was given a character to play, and the action unfolded over 3 days based on the group’s collective improvisation skills as well as the groundwork laid by the organizers. I thought I was merely vacationing while indulging in my fascination with a certain fictional British magical boarding school, but it turns out even in a real castle in East Sussex there is pedagogical inspiration to be...
