Author: Kim Pfeifer

Artificial Intelligence & the 2 Sigma Problem

As arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) ramps up and we set­tle into a new norm of hav­ing a per­son­al assis­tant for every­thing our lives will slow­ly change.  What knowl­edge is impor­tant and valu­able? What knowl­edge can we let die with this gen­er­a­tion? These dis­cus­sions may become com­mon­place as the exper­tise required to accom­plish dif­fer­ent tasks is slow­ly…

Studying vs. Learning. Not the same thing!

How many times have your stu­dents self-pro­fessed their mas­tery of learn­ing while bran­dish­ing an over­sized high­lighter and show­cas­ing flu­o­res­cent, yel­low-coat­ed pages of text? When we hear this, our minds respond with thoughts such as “you stud­ied but what did you learn?” Accord­ing to the online Bri­tan­ni­ca dic­tio­nary (2024), “when you study some­thing, you have not…

Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning

Dead Ideas in Teach­ing and Learn­ing is a pod­cast host­ed by Colum­bia Uni­ver­si­ty’s CTL Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Aman­da Irvin. Check out the URL to see all sea­sons list­ed, sum­maries, tran­scripts and top­ics! Dead ideas are per­sis­tent myths about teach­ing and learn­ing that instruc­tors believe and use! Check this great pod­cast series out. See more rec­om­mend­ed pod­casts…

2024 Faculty Academic Integrity Matters (AIM) Tutorial + GenAI

CTLI wants to encour­age all fac­ul­ty to com­plete the 2024 Fac­ul­ty Aca­d­e­m­ic Integri­ty Mat­ters Tuto­r­i­al. This is an instruc­tor learn­ing resource designed to address the chang­ing land­scape of eth­i­cal behav­iour in post-sec­ondary edu­ca­tion includ­ing sug­ges­tions for using Gen AI. As stu­dents increas­ing­ly explore and exper­i­ment with arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence and assis­tive tech­nol­o­gy, edu­ca­tors should con­tin­ue to…

Learning from Video: NIC’s Kaltura Platform

Video can be a very effec­tive learn­ing tool. Many research stud­ies have shown its val­ue in enhanc­ing stu­dent learn­ing in a vari­ety of dis­ci­plines and deliv­ery for­mats. Video cre­at­ed or curat­ed by instruc­tors can often allow stu­dents a more thor­ough under­stand­ing of con­tent and con­cepts and engage them in more mean­ing­ful ways while learn­ing. Stu­dents…

Troublesome Knowledge

By Rose­mary Vogt, Teach­ing and Learn­ing Spe­cial­ist, CTLI Trou­ble­some knowl­edge refers to infor­ma­tion or con­cepts that chal­lenge exist­ing beliefs, norms, or par­a­digms, caus­ing dis­com­fort, uncer­tain­ty, or cog­ni­tive dis­so­nance. This con­cept is often dis­cussed in the con­text of learn­ing, where stu­dents may encounter ideas that con­tra­dict their pre­vi­ous under­stand­ing or cul­tur­al upbring­ing. Here are a few…

Learning on Repeat – Retrieval Practice and Interleaving

by Rachel Goodliffe, Teach­ing and Learn­ing Fac­ul­ty Devel­op­er, CTLI and Prac­ti­cal Nurse Instruc­tor, Prac­ti­cal Nurs­ing Pro­gram Mem­o­ry is a key fac­tor to suc­cess­ful learn­ing. When infor­ma­tion in long term mem­o­ry is repeat­ed­ly accessed, it sup­ports eas­i­er recall and con­sol­i­da­tion (Oak­ley, ND, Zakra­jsek, 2022). Repeat­ed recall of infor­ma­tion from long term mem­o­ry strength­ens the path­ways to…

Threshold Concepts: Special Keys to the Learning Maze

by Rose­mary Vogt, Teach­ing and Learn­ing Spe­cial­ist, CTLI Learn­ing a new sub­ject is like explor­ing a maze where stu­dents encounter var­i­ous obsta­cles and chal­lenges that can make their jour­ney both excit­ing or daunt­ing. Now with­in the maze, there are spe­cial keys hid­den along the way. These keys are called thresh­old con­cepts. They are not just…

Course Feedback Survey Service Resumes in Fall 2024 with Updated Platform

To: All NIC instruc­tors (except those in Con­tin­u­ing Edu­ca­tion) Re: NIC Course Feed­back Sur­vey Ser­vice Resumes in Fall 2024 with Updat­ed Plat­form The NIC Course Feed­back Sur­vey Ser­vice was launched for most aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams in Fall 2023 and was expand­ed in Win­ter 2024 to include all the Trades and Tech­ni­cal pro­grams. The ser­vice allows instruc­tors…

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)

Writ­ten by: Rose­mary Vogt, Teach­ing and Learn­ing Spe­cial­ist The Schol­ar­ship of Teach­ing and Learn­ing (SoTL) is like peek­ing behind the cur­tain to see what makes teach­ing effec­tive. Learn more via Teach Any­where resource under Qual­i­ty Learn­ing. It is a fan­cy way of say­ing that teach­ers are also researchers. Just like sci­en­tists con­duct research to under­stand…