Keynote

Why is it that stellar students sometimes fail in the workplace while dropouts succeed? One reason is that most, if not all, of our current assessment practices are inauthentic. Just as the lecture focuses on the delivery of information to students, so does assessment often focus on having students regurgitate that same information back to the instructor. Consequently, assessment fails to focus on the skills that are relevant in life in the 21st century. Assessment has been called the "hidden curriculum" as it is an important driver of students' study habits. Unless we rethink our approach to... Read more about Assessment for (not of) Learning

I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has significantly improved my students' performance.

Traditionally education has been constrained by the walls of the physical classroom, requiring education to be synchronous and at a pace that is typically set by the instructor. The pandemic opened the door to learning without physical classroom, hinting at a future where students are engaged across time and space in a blended environment.

The pandemic catapulted schools and universities into remote teaching, forcing instructors and students to scramble to adapt to a new reality. By the end of 2020, public opinion on the remote teaching and learning “experiment” had soured. The verdict in the media was crystal clear: remote teaching is a disaster. Is it really that bad? Join me in analyzing how I transitioned my team- and project-based course to remote teaching and discovered how promoting ownership of learning and self-directed learning can yield surprising results. And learn why I might not go back.