Elizabeth Wallace

Participants in Susan's workshop had little difficulty coming up with what creates barriers to learning in a "traditional" classroom. They ranged from layout of the seating to expectations of the students.  What are the boundaries that you experience that may be constraining in you in your efforts to be an effective teacher?

Here is the latest update from the Instructional Support Group here at SFU, issued March 15th:

WEBCT UPGRADE: The WebCT upgrade is now available for instructor use
in preparation for Summer 2006 courses and later. All new course
containers will be created in WebCT CE 6. Until the end of the Spring
semester, new course containers will be located at http://webctnew.sfu.ca

NEW LOOK AND FEEL:  At a minimum WebCT users should view this flash
introduction to the new WebCT CE6 interface (requires log-in to view)
http://www.sfu.ca/webct/ce6/SFU_resources/upgrade_tutorials/interface.htm
For more resources, start at http://wiki.sfu.ca/webct

WORKSHOPS AND OTHER SUPPORT: If you wish to attend any upcoming
workshops or information sessions, please check the
<https://webserver.lidc.sfu.ca/tep/spring-06/calendar.php>LIDC
calendar of events.
(https://webserver.lidc.sfu.ca/tep/spring-06/calendar.php ).


Regards,
WebCT Instructional Support
____________________________

REQUEST A COURSE CONTAINER: You can follow the normal procedure to
request a new course container by going
to  http://webct.sfu.ca/webct/sfu/courserequest.pl

WEBCT PILOT USERS: You will be contacted separately by email about
moving over content to webctnew.sfu.ca

WHERE'S WEBCT?: Courses being delivered in WebCT for the Spring
semester will continue to be available at http://webct.sfu.ca, and
after the Summer semester starts, this will be your entry point to
WebCT, as usual. Older WebCT CE 4.1 course containers will be housed
at http://webctold.sfu.ca for one full year.

SURVEY: How do you use WebCT? What types of WebCT support are most in
demand? Access the survey here: http://websurvey.sfu.ca/survey/511943


Instructional Support at Simon Fraser University: instructional_support@sfu.ca

Request a WebCT course: http://www.sfu.ca/webct/webctrequest.html

WebCT CE6 resources:
At a minimum people should view this flash introduction to the
interface (requires log-in to view)
http://www.sfu.ca/webct/ce6/SFU_resources/upgrade_tutorials/interface.htm

http://www.sfu.ca/webct/ce6

Calendar of some of the upcoming information sessions and WebCT 6 training:
https://webserver.lidc.sfu.ca/tep/spring-06/calendar.php

Thank you to everyone who participated in this discussion. We have come at the issues from various perspectives, which seems to reinforce the fact that the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is a new field for many of us, and we have not yet found common ground. As always, everyone's contribution has provided food for thought.

Even though this discussion has "timed out", we can continue to exchange ideas elsewhere in SCoPE. A forum has been set up within the Simon Fraser Special Interest Group, since issues are emerging at SFU, and we welcome input from those who are involved on campus, as well as from the international community. Please join us at:

http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/view.php?id=243

Looking forward to keeping in touch,

Liz

This is the question that inspired me to start this discussion forum.  I became aware of SoTL, something I've called a movement in another thread (although that's open for debate), a short time ago.

One of my ideas was that those of us who are interested might be able to contribute to the development of SoTL by engaging in discussion in this community site.  It seems to me that the contributors to this forum have certainly generated a lot of interest and ideas about SoTL. But I'm wondering why there has been limited engagement from the SCoPE community at large, or from  the attendees at the conference in Victoria.

One theory is that online communities are still innovative, and a fledgling movement is less able to engage in innovative practices than more established groups or organizations.  I'm convinced that this kind of forum could contribute to SoTL, even if it's just as a communication vehicle. But I think that a lot more promotion, a lot more buy-in, and full engagement from interested educators are needed before the true potential will be achieved. Any other thoughts on this? 

The Educational Developers' Caucus is taking place right now, and the focus of discussion for two days will be the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. So that we can share the news, issues, discussions and discoveries with other in the international community, attendees are invited to post here. Let us know what ideas you picked up in presentations, who stimulated your thinking, what made you laugh!