If you’re interested in contributing to our TA blog, please email: TASupport@cunet.carleton.ca Wednesday, June 8, 2022TA Blog: Inclusive Online LearningBy Romeo Penheiro, Teaching Assistant, Department of Cognitive Science The scholarship of teaching and learning requires a good understanding of inclusive online learning practices to accommodate students from marginalized backgrounds. Instructors and teaching assistants can improve their teaching skills and practices by creating equal opportunity... MoreThursday, March 10, 2022TA Blog: Fostering Trust and Community in Online Learning SpacesBy Rebecca Korn, Teaching Assistant for the School for Studies in Art and Culture My very first teaching assistant position took place during lockdowns, social isolation and online learning. When I began brainstorming activities for online tutorials, the very concept of fostering communication within online learning spaces seemed daunting.... MoreThursday, March 10, 2022TA Blog: Pandemic Persistence, Online Learning and Social Isolation: The Importance of Connecting Students to Extracurricular ActivitiesBy Andrew Crosby, Teaching Assistant for the Department of Sociology and Anthropology The COVID-19 pandemic is painstakingly persistent and has created cycles of disruption for in-person learning on Ontario’s university campuses (and beyond). Now in the fourth wave with a prolific omicron variant, the prior confidence levels of university... MoreWednesday, June 23, 2021Virtual University: A Chance to Level the Participation FieldBy: Rezda Rezal, B.A. Honours Law (concentration in Business Law and minor in Business), Faculty of Public Affairs The onset of the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented shift for Canadian universities to move their courses online. Throughout the year, it has been observed that this virtual learning environment has impacted... MoreThursday, June 17, 2021Discord and Google and Slack – Oh my! How Multiple Online Platforms are Contributing to Student Burnout and What Teaching Assistants Can Do to HelpBy: Sarah Enouy, Master's Student (Mental Health & Addictions Lab; Dept. of Psychology) After the switch to online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers were quick to name, and study, the phenomenon of “Zoom fatigue” (e.g., Fosslien et al.,; Wiederhold, 2020). However, while it is clear that video meetings lead to... MoreFriday, June 11, 2021More Than A Student Number: How Caring and Thoughtful Pedagogies Foster a Sense of Belonging in Online Higher Education during Times of CrisisBy: Parker Nicholls, Master’s Student (Music & Culture) Students and teachers in higher education have been required to transition from face-to-face learning to online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic and active quarantine measures. With little time to prepare and properly transition their pedagogies and learning outcomes to the... MoreTuesday, April 7, 2020On Student Success: Making Opportunities to Teach into Opportunities to Dismantle Your BiasesBy: Lindsay Dorder, Master's student (Health Sciences) Introduction: “Knowing thyself” Students are all uniquely receiving and interpreting information (1,2). A word or phrase could ultimately have different meaning and emotional attachments for a student (1,2). Therefore, it is of utmost importance that those delivering some form of a lesson... MoreTuesday, April 7, 2020Creating Accessible Laboratory Spaces for Students with Physical DisabilitiesBy: Eliza Ali, PhD Student (Neuroscience) Science education is becoming more inclusive, however there is still much work that needs to be done when considering students with physical disabilities. The under representation of students with physical disabilities is a systemic issue that starts before enrolling in college or university. In secondary... MoreWednesday, February 5, 2020Utilizing Technologies to Improve Accessibility in the ClassroomBy Abdihakim Mao, Masters student (Information Technology) Nowadays, it goes without saying that technology plays an integral part in the everyday lives of students, teaching assistants, and instructors. According to a recent statistic published by EduCause, at least 91% of students own a laptop and a smartphone [1]. Technologies such as... MoreWednesday, February 5, 2020Addressing Traumatic Brain Injury in the Classroom: A Teaching Assistant’s PerspectiveBy Adam Stone, Phd Student (SLaLS) While Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can be a source of significant impairment toward learning in the classroom, there are several measures put in place at Carleton University that help accommodate those who face obstacles to their academic success. In practice however, there are several challenges to effectively... MoreWednesday, February 5, 2020Improving Educational Accessibility Using the Universal Design for LearningBy: Nathan Murtha, Phd Student (Physics) Although it is my job to teach as a teaching assistant in the physics department at Carleton University, I have learned a great deal from the time that I’ve spent in front of a classroom and with students. I have had students who excel by working through the... MoreTuesday, November 26, 2019Experiential Learning in the ClassroomBy: Edna Tehranzadeh, Health: Science, Technology and Policy, Faculty of Science Traditionally, learning in the classroom has taken a passive approach. If one were to picture a classroom setting, an image of an instructor standing at the front of the room would come to mind. The professor delivers the course content while students... MoreTuesday, November 26, 2019The Case for a Universal Design for Learning at Carleton UniversityBy: Margaret Janse Van Rensburg, School of Social Work The Canadian Human Rights Act (R.S.C. 1985) legislates that all people should have equitable opportunities regardless of ability. It institutes that plans should be made to adapt services, facilities, premises, equipment or operations to meet the needs of persons arising from a... MoreTuesday, February 27, 2018Blog: Get Ahead of the Game – Effective Implementation of Game-Based Learning to Boost Motivation in the French Department’s Support ServicesBy: Nicolas Corbeil, Department of French As a TA in the French department's support services, my colleagues and I have a unique role in students' language learning. We offer written and oral support to students that comprises part of their grades. We have the opportunity to interact with students in a classroom setting only... MoreTuesday, February 27, 2018Blog: Perspectives on Student Success – At the Student, Along the Path, At the EducatorBy: Sarah Walton, Department of Biology Educators must work with their students to highlight how they will motivate and engage each other to achieve academic success. Students want to apply expertise to a career of choice, whereas educators must promote a socially and intellectually stimulating environment so their students can apply and connect... MoreWednesday, February 7, 2018Blog: TAs and Student Motivation & EngagementBy: Emma McLarens, Institute of Cognitive Science In a time when five years of secondary education (Grade 13) no longer exists and it seems like an undergraduate degree is the minimum education requirement to apply for any job, adolescents are entering university without always knowing what they want or are interested in studying. This... MoreTuesday, February 6, 2018Blog: Engaging Students Through Group Work — Making the Boring Stuff, Not so BoringBy: Jesse Lewis, Norman Paterson School of Public Policy and Administration By the time they reach university, students have long since identified their interests and how to integrate those interests into their work. When given the option of choosing a topic for an academic paper, or a research assignment, or a thesis, students understand... MoreFriday, February 2, 2018Blog: Facilitating Intrinsic Motivation for Disengaged Students — Knowing Our Audience and Challenging Our StudentsBy: Michelle MacQueen, Department of Music There are strong links between motivation, autonomy, and competence (Ryan & Deci 2000a, 2000b). However, a motivated, autonomous, and competent learning experience cannot occur if students do not feel engaged in the learning materials. Motivation for students can be divided into two categories: (1)... MoreWednesday, April 26, 2017Blog: Supporting Students with ADHD and Performance AnxietyBy: Lucas Jerusalimiec As teaching assistants (TAs), many of us have experience in assisting students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These students are often highly engaged in tutorials and demonstrate intelligence during class discussions. Those who are in the upper years of their undergraduate degrees are most likely aware... MoreMonday, March 6, 2017Blog: “Hey, you guys!”: Avoiding non-inclusive, gendered language in the classroomBy: Anita Grace As I wrapped up a TA workshop on participatory classroom activities, I was feeling positive about the energy in the classroom and the engagement from all the participants. Everything seemed to have gone so well. But when I reviewed the index cards that I had used to gather feedback, two responses... MoreFriday, February 10, 2017Blog: Learning at Play: Integrating Live Action Role-Playing into the ClassroomBy: Noah Schwartz Children learn through play. As we grow into adulthood and are socialized through the school system, however, play becomes a smaller and smaller part of our educational training regime. In recent years, scholarship has continued to demonstrate that traditional styles of teaching, which emphasize lecturing and see students as... MoreWednesday, January 18, 2017Blog: The Choice is Theirs: Offering Students Choice as an Inclusive Teaching PracticeBy: Jeff Carette Inclusive education refers to a method of teaching that advocates equal opportunity learning for all students, regardless of background or learning disabilities. Through the application of inclusive practices, we can avoid the kind of “ability labeling” that has been shown to stifle a learner’s capacity to achieve... MoreFriday, December 23, 2016Winter 2017 TA Training OfferingsThe EDC's TA Training offerings for the Winter 2017 term are now fully viewable and open for registration! Our new Events page provides a complete overview of all our workshops and sessions, but you can view the list of regular workshops here (all in 422 DT) and the full program for our TA Training Day... MoreWednesday, November 2, 2016Blog: Reassessing AssessmentBy: Melissa Pullara After years of being students ourselves, many Teaching Assistants (TAs) have likely become well-acquainted with the fact that not all students learn the same way. Many of us, too, have likely been subject to various forms of categorization: my grade ten Careers class, for instance, required us to take an aptitude... MoreWednesday, May 11, 2016Blog: Metacognition in the Classroom: Engaging the Mind, Engaging the StudentBy: Naba Ahsan It’s common to see instructors at the front of the lecture hall, repeatedly asking students to limit laptop usage to note taking (instead of Facebook) or disallowing cell phone usage—I’ve even come across a syllabus or two explicitly asking students to reserve sleeping for outside the classroom. Apparently, the word... MoreTuesday, March 29, 2016Blog: Teaching Narratives of the Sea in the Classroom: Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy and the ShipwreckBy: Michelle K. Barron Preparing lessons on shipwreck excavations and underwater cultural heritage discoveries can be a daunting task, primarily because of the numerous intersections of disciplines. Each area of study—be it maritime archaeology, oceanic anthropology, diasporic and migration literature, international law of the sea, or heritage... MoreWednesday, March 23, 2016Blog: Learning to Read Before You Can Discuss: Critical Reading in First-Year and Peer-Led TutorialsBy: Victoria Bisnauth Critical reading and thinking are skills that students applying to university, especially to programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and public affairs, are often told they will develop over the course of their post-secondary education and that are easily transferable and highly regarded in the job market. While... MoreMonday, March 21, 2016Blog: Using Google Hangout and Skype to Promote Online LearningBy: Robyn Pepin More and more students are obtaining post-secondary education using different online platforms (Harish, 2013). In addition to Moodle and Big Blue Button platforms already used on some university campuses, learning can also be facilitated by instructors and teaching assistants through platforms such as Google Hangout and Skype.... MoreMonday, March 21, 2016Blog: Improving Oral CommunicationBy: Claire Reynolds Oral communication is an essential part of our daily lives. It is a skill many university programs draw attention to and assess because it is an integral part of the workplace and interview process. For example, George Evans, the former chief financial officer of R&P Coal, asks interviewees about the English... MoreThursday, March 17, 2016Blog: Engaging Students through Daily Progress TrackingBy: Tamer Beitelmal While it advances quickly, technologies can and should be used by educators to improve the learning process, especially as new generations of students are using internet, social-media, computers, and smartphones in their daily lives. In this article, I explain how the practice of daily progress tracking can be a powerful tool... MoreWednesday, March 9, 2016Blog: Online Discussion Boards: The Case for Their Integration into Science Courses as a Review ToolBy: Marissa Davies Science courses, especially at the introductory level, cover a wide variety of topics within a term and have students enrolled from different majors. To help students consolidate the information they have learned and guide their studying so they do not feel overwhelmed, classroom-based review sessions before exams are typically... MoreFriday, February 26, 2016Blog: Peer Teaching as an Innovative Tool to Foster Student Learning and EngagementBy: Amy Silver Despite being a straight A student, my understanding of calculus did not reach a deeper level until I became a peer mentor for first-year science students – despite the fact that calculus was a course I had received an A+ in with relative ease the year before. By explaining the concepts... MoreTuesday, February 16, 2016Blog: Implementing Critical Pedagogy through Aesthetic PraxisBy: Sasha Hanson Pastran Traditional, explanative teaching models are often criticized for suppressing learners’ natural intellectual curiosity and their potential for co-creating knowledge (Lewis, 2012, p.28). This article will examine the challenges and possibilities of implementing a critical pedagogy that breaks away from the traditional... MoreMonday, February 1, 2016Blog: Flipped Learning: Utilising Flipped Assessment as a Teaching AssistantBy: Becky Grace The inverted classroom model has become one of the most commonly discussed teaching methods in higher education. The inverted, or flipped, classroom can be defined as a pedagogical model that reverses the internal and the external structure of the classroom (Bart, 2014). More specifically, the flipped classroom reverses the... MoreFriday, January 29, 2016Blog: Instructional Strategies to Build a Community in the ClassroomBy: Julie Dobbin Creating a sense of community and building relationships in the classroom is essential to fostering learning (Karakas, 2011: 205). For optimal learning to occur, instructors and/or TAs should get to know their students on a personal level as well as provide them the chance to get to know fellow classmates. Community... MorePage 1 Page 2 Next » Share: Twitter, Facebook Short URL: https://carleton.ca/tls/?p=44614