Down the Hall

E-Learning is more than just online learning at a distance. It can also involve the varied uses of educational technologies to enhance face-to-face courses as well. UBC’s Faculty of Education is making great strides toward enhancing all aspects of e-learning. In this week’s episode, Jenny talks to Norman Daoust, Director, Academic & Information Technologies here in the Faculty of Education. They discuss the future of e-learning in education at UBC and how the faculty plans to be a leader in that area, both at UBC and across Canada. Norm gives his insights into the importance of producing teachers who are skilled in the uses of technology and how the faculty can meet the technological  needs of all students and professors to create a rich learning environment. They also discuss the faculty’s strategic plan for implementing these technologies, including the new Ponderosa Commons facility that will house great opportunities for these initiatives. Prior to that, there’s

There are unique challenges involved in educating students in rural areas. This is something that the Faculty of Education at UBC is working hard to address, to help teachers in rural communities enhance their curriculum choices by using local resources and landscapes to broaden their students’ experiences. This week, Jenny talks to Dr. Linda Farr Darling about the opportunities her position as Eleanor Rix Professor of Rural Teacher Education has offered  her in supporting rural teachers as they face these challenges. The Faculty has a number of initiatives in Rural Education currently ongoing, and Linda gives us some good examples of these projects (more information on these projects can be found on the Rural Teachers site). She also talks about her philosophy regarding the importance of rural education and informing  more urban communities about what’s happening. Finally, Linda talks about the Restorative Justice summer institute taking place at the Mir Ce

This week we are in an art frame of mind, as well as taking a trip to the museum. Ok, we don’t take an actual trip (though perhaps we could do a remote podcast from one soon?), but we do discuss the importance of art and museums  and how they can play a vital role not only in a child’s education, but also in our lives in general. Dave interviews Dr. Kit Grauer and she talks about just how much museums have become a part of the educational process, as opposed to just holding the relics for us to look at. In addition, she addresses the importance of art in all of our lives as we live in such a visual culture in modern society. Finally, we talk about the 10th Museum/Gallery Teachers Summer Institute taking place at UBC’s Museum of Anthropology and Emily Carr University. Before that, your hosts discuss their favourite school topics that you may not have heard us talk about before (so Dave doesn’t get to spend ten minutes going on about History), more newly found lo

This week, we hope to broaden minds with discussions of both history and intellectual property as it pertains to educational technology and learning. We open the episode, however, by discussing our top three Physical Education experiences from our childhood, which may come as a surprise to our PE teachers. We all have experiences that shape us as children, and many of them happened in our PE classes. We’d love to hear about your own experiences that you might remember and take with you even to this day. After that, Dave talks with Dr. John Willinsky, one of the organizers of the “Recurring Questions in Technology: A Brief History of Consciousness & Learning” summer institute being offered here on the UBC campus. John is teaching on the first day of this five-day institute, running this Summer from July 9-13. His topic is intellectual property and how it pertains to learning and technology, and he discusses how it can become an issue as more and more teachers and students collaborat

This week's episode has a little something for everyone.  Are you interested in Indigenous cultures and education? How about drama? Cool movies? We've got them all. We open the episode with five of our favourite educational films, giving you an overview of them and just why we love them so much. We can guarantee that you wouldn't have guessed them when we teased you last episode. If you did, then we're suitably impressed, and we wish we had a prize to give you. After that, Dave talks to Dr. George Belliveau about the use of Drama in Education, as well as EPLT's summer institute, "Drama, Literacy, and Diverse Learning."  George discusses how using drama as a teaching technique can help engage students in their learning on many subjects, as well as making it more fun for them in the process. It's not just for teachers in a classroom, but anybody who is involved in some sort of educational practice.  Drama can also be good as a research tool for pedagogies and teaching techniques too. George has w

This week’s episode is a reflective one, where we talk about the importance of teacher inquiry and the examination of teaching practices. In fact, it’s not a bad thing in any profession to reflect on the way you do things, see how others do them, and seek to improve your own practices. Dave talks to Dr. Tony Clarke, a professor in the Curriculum & Pedagogy department here in the Faculty of Education. Dave and Tony touch on self-inquiry among educators as the central principle of Investigating Our Practices(IOP), a conference held here each May. Tony demystifies the academic conference experience, discussing how IOP makes newcomers feel comfortable, how it’s more collaborative than traditional conferences, and what makes it fun. Listeners can also gain some insight into developing their presentation proposals (accepted until Feb. 24, 2012, despite Dave saying February 20 in the episode itself). In addition to that, we give you a heads-up on some new off-campus Master of Education coh

This week’s episode is an online learning extravaganza! This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Master of Educational Technology (MET) program, so we have to mark the special occasion. Jenny’s back, Dave gives some 10-year statistics for the MET program (did you know that basically everybody on the planet has at least asked about taking the program at some point? Is that too much hyperbole?), and Jenny gives some great information about the Faculty of Education Walkabout fitness challenge that starts at the end of the month. In addition to all of that, we have two great interviews for you. First, Dave speaks with Yael Tagerud (Linnaeus University in Sweden) and Leah Macfadyen (UBC Faculty of Arts),  who are designing an elective course called “Culture and Communication in Virtual Learning Environments” for the MET program. Leah and Yael each express their own experiences in multicultural settings through their personal and educational backgrounds. Leah prov

Welcome to 2012! It’s the first episode of the new year, and Dave’s flying solo because Jenny’s unavoidably absent. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a great show for you, though. Dr. Blye Frank, Dean of the Faculty of Education, has some great and inspiring thoughts on what role the Faculty will play in the UBC Strategic Plan, Place & Promise. In an extended interview recorded back in October (so the upcoming travel he mentions has actually now occurred), Dr. Frank shares with us his views on where the Faculty is going and what priorities the Faculty is pursuing in implementing the plan. We cover everything from diversity in the Faculty to indigenous education, global outreach, youth at risk, and much more. We really enjoyed sitting down and chatting with him; his passion for Education really came through. Before you listen, we did want to apologize for some of the audio issues during the interview. One of the headsets that have worked so well for us suddenly stopped working r

It’s the holidays, and this is the final episode of Down the Hall for 2011. We hope you join us for more great stuff in 2012, but first, listen to this episode! We have lots of great stuff. First, Dave talks to Denise Lauritano, Co-Chair of the UBC Community United Way campaign. Denise tells us all about how the United Way gets the entire UBC community involved in helping fund and promote programs that benefit the entire Lower Mainland, including many educational programs. Even better, she tells us how you can get involved. After that, your intrepid hosts discuss the future of course materials in post-secondary education, and ask that necessary question: are e-textbooks the answer? All of this, and plenty of fun tangents too. There is much laughter in this episode, which is pretty good for a holiday episode. We’d love your feedback on anything brought up on the episode, or just the podcast in general. Who knows? Maybe it will even get read on the air. Email us at podcast.eplt@ubc.ca Just a no

Down the Hall is one year old today! And what a year it’s been. It’s been a year of turnover (though thankfully that turnover happened right at the beginning), but we think we’ve really hit our stride and will continue to share with you interesting guests and engaging topics in Education. So how are we celebrating? First, we have a gift for both you, the listener, as well as ourselves. Dave interviews Dr. Carl Leggo, a professor in the Language & Literacy Education department here at UBC. He’s also a noted poet, writer, researcher, and all-around fascinating guy. We think that all comes out in the interview as we talk about the importance of creativity and play in the Education field. This is a topic we’ve covered before on Down the Hall, but perhaps not quite to the extent that Carl does. This was a real treat for Dave, and we think it will be for you too. After the interview, we discuss the podcast itself, taking you behind the scenes a bit. We also bring back former co-ho