WALS Featured at King’s Conference on High-Impact Learning
On Thursday October 30, Dr. Wendy Crocker and Dr. Stephanie Oliver (Western’s Teaching Support Centre) gave a presentation on WALS at the 2014 Technologies and Pedagogies (TaPs) at King’s conference on “High-Impact Learning.”
In keeping with the conference theme, the presentation focused on WALS as a high-impact learning space. Entitled “Do you have your PaSsPorT?: Rethinking teaching spaces for student-centred learning,” the presentation explored how WALS facilitates Chickering and Gamson’s “Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education” (1987). It also demonstrated how WALS embodies Reushle’s “PaSsPorT” model (2009), which emphasizes the need to consider People, Spaces, Pedagogy, and Technology when creating active learning classrooms.
Crocker and Oliver also spoke to the TSC’s iterative model of instructor support for WALS, which includes introductory workshops for new instructors, one-on-one course consults with TSC staff, and “Sandbox” time for instructors to drop in and experiment in WALS. Crocker and Oliver also previewed the OWL Support Site, which will be going live soon and will feature additional ideas and teaching tools.
The conference presentation provided the opportunity to share knowledge and build new networks with staff, faculty, and students across the university and its affiliate colleges. Plans are already in the works for the next TaPs conference in 2015!
