The Monday Morning Mentor is a virtual PD session delivered each Monday to your email inbox throughout the Academic Year 2019-2020. While you do not need to register for this series as you will receive an automatic email each Monday, at the end of the academic year you will be requested to provide feedback. In addition to the virtual session, you will receive:

1. PowerPoint handouts
2. Facilitator’s guide
3. Transcript
4. Supplemental materials

Course Design Boot Camp is a two-part workshop that targets teaching staff on the St Augustine Campus who are developing new courses or revising existing courses. It introduces you to principles of course design, and offers guidance on writing course outlines. The workshop focuses on three major elements, namely i) student analysis, ii) development of learning outcomes/objectives, and iii) linking learning outcomes to student assessments and teaching strategies. Part 1 takes you through student analysis and the development of learning outcomes. Part 2 provides guidance for linking learning outcomes to assessments and teaching strategies.

Globally, the education sector is faced with many challenges and opportunities. In the current social, economic and political climate, higher education institutions are constantly faced with increasing evidence of the impact of stress on staff and students. The mental health of staff and students has been described as at ‘crisis point’ by some who point to evidence of higher suicide rates among students, higher rates of depression and stress-related illnesses. As educators and administrators involved in education, we need to understand what can be done to cope with mental health issues to make a difference in education. What bold approaches can we adopt?

Video games are a staple in the daily lives of the Millennials and Gen Zs who continue to grow and live in digital gaming environments. In this workshop, we address how play, video games, and interactive digital environments affect learning, reflection and creativity. According to the Pew Research Center, 72% of millennials play video games, some on a daily basis. Furthermore, 57% of these millennials play with others online (Pew Research Center, http://www.pewinternet.org). These figures indicate that we need to be looking at gaming as a tool for individual and collaborative online learning. According to research by Olson (2010), gaming increases attention, retention, accuracy, multitasking, and scores on creativity tests. With the emergence of online or mobile games such as Candy Crush, Angry Birds, Who Am I?, Farm Heroes, Bejewelled and Pet Rescue, which have transcended from to mobile and social media platforms, we can no longer ignore the proliferation of games and digital media on the lives of the persons we teach. This workshop will pique your interest in game-based learning by introducing you to online gaming tools such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and Jeopardy, allowing you the opportunity to customize the games to your course contexts. In so doing, these technology tools allow for game-based learning, maximizing the 21st century teaching and learning experience.

With technology use increasing and attention spans decreasing, interactive video lessons make it easier than ever to get and keep your students’ attention, and increase engagement (Benkada & Moccozet, 2017). Interactive video lessons provide an avenue through which you and your students can engage in more hands-on/active learning, project-based learning, reflective learning, collaborative, and/or self-paced learning, without increasing cognitive load on students (Mayer, 1996; Schwan & Riempp, 2004). With an emphasis on Ted Ed, this workshop will provide you with a hands-on experience in creating interactive video lessons and orient you to the ways in which they can be used to improve student engagement and retention in 21st century teaching and learning.

According to the Glossary of Education Reform, student engagement refers to the degree of attention, curiosity, interest, optimism, and passion that students show when they are learning or being taught, which extends to the level of motivation they have to learn and progress in their education. Blogs are online didactic platforms that allow teaching and student engagement to occur beyond the four walls of the physical classroom. It provides an avenue through which the physical boarders of teaching and learning can be removed. This workshop will orient participants to Blogger, and the many ways it can be used for teaching and engagement beyond the physical classroom.

Link to the virtual workshop will be provided upon registration.