One of Durham College Faculty Skills and Abilities Competencies involves engaging and motivating learners in active and collaborative learning. This involves both developing innovative learning activities, engaging learners in team work consistent with principles of active learning and cooperative learning, and seeking opportunities to embed applied research activities into advanced course curriculum. Over the past year I have made great strides in developing this competency. There are two initiatives that I am particularly proud of and excited about.
The first involves a collaborative project developed with Amy Bjerknes from the School of Justice in Spring of 2017 and rolled out in Winter of 2018 with Mark Armstrong. The project was a "Mock Interview" activity whereby my Human Resources Graduate Management Certificate students would interview Police Foundation Students. The purpose of the activity is to:
The activity took place for the first time on April 2nd, 2018 where HR students interviewed over 120 PF students. By all accounts the activity was a huge success. At the conclusion of the activity my students completed a self-reflection regarding their experience and I received permission from Kaitlyn Chappelle to share her thoughts:
The first involves a collaborative project developed with Amy Bjerknes from the School of Justice in Spring of 2017 and rolled out in Winter of 2018 with Mark Armstrong. The project was a "Mock Interview" activity whereby my Human Resources Graduate Management Certificate students would interview Police Foundation Students. The purpose of the activity is to:
- Help reduce the stress and anxiety about interviewing and boost confidence for police foundations (PF) students.
- Provide Human Resources Management (HRM) students with authentic experience interviewing candidates and making assessments.
- Provide students with the opportunity to receive/provide constructive feedback in a reduced-stress environment.
- Implement experiential learning.
- Promote cross collaboration between the School of Justice and School of Business, IT & Management.
The activity took place for the first time on April 2nd, 2018 where HR students interviewed over 120 PF students. By all accounts the activity was a huge success. At the conclusion of the activity my students completed a self-reflection regarding their experience and I received permission from Kaitlyn Chappelle to share her thoughts:
“The mock interview activity was such a great learning experience, and I am so glad we were given the opportunity to participate….this activity made me feel even more excited about the future. Prior to beginning this program in HRM, I knew I was leaning towards specializing (hopefully) in Recruitment and Selection, and this activity further reinforced that notion. It was wonderful to get a little taste of what I will be doing in my future career.”
Here are some photos of the event:
The second initiative concerns a research proposal I developed for the last course in the College Teaching Certificate Program - Professional and Scholarly Practice. For my research topic I wanted to focus on group work - something that I believe in, is a frequent component of my courses, but struggle to implement/design effectively. Educational literature attests to the fact that collaborative learning in the form of group work is a widely used instructional method with significant learning potential, however, as an instructional method it is often ill developed. Please access the below link to learn more about my proposed study.
draft_research_plan_assignment.pdf | |
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