Welcome back to Innovatus!
We’ve put together an interesting issue of Innovatus for you this month. It offers a different take on teaching and learning, and I know it will brighten this gloomy winter we are experiencing.
Featured in the February 2018 issue of Innovatus
The highly anticipated Teaching in Focus (TIF) Conference, which celebrates excellence in teaching at York University, returns for another year. The conference will take place May 17 and 18. If you are interested in presenting at TIF 2018, the call for proposals is now open and we’ve included it in this issue.
Open Education is the subject of the next story that we present to you. This article explores the history of Open Education and offers some important thoughts on the benefits of Open Education in postsecondary education.
The next story presented in this issue of Innovatus focuses on students enrolled in HLST 4900, a capstone course offered by the Faculty of Health. Students work in project teams to develop a solution for a real-world client. They create a project charter and milestones, and then develop and present a solution to the client. It’s an intriguing experiential learning exercise with real benefits for both the students and the clients.
My thanks to Professor William Woolrich, a part-time professor of Social Work in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, for writing an interesting article that details the five lessons he learned about teaching an online course. The resulting article is well worth your time.
And finally, with the help of an Academic Innovation Fund grant, the Knowledge Mobilization Unit forged a partnership with the Faculty of Graduate Studies to provide 30 students with their own partnership opportunities with community organizations. The students put their learning into action. They designed programs, developed improvements to public policy, professional practices and/or social programs. The result shows the power and potential of knowledge mobilization and experiential learning.
I hope you enjoy this issue of Innovatus, which is produced by the Office of the Associate Vice-President Teaching & Learning in partnership with Communications & Public Affairs.
I extend a personal invitation to you to share your experiences in teaching, learning and the student experience through the Innovatus story form, which is available at http://tl.apps01.yorku.ca/machform/view.php?id=16573/.
Sincerely,
Will Gage
Associate Vice-President Teaching & Learning