Thanks for your enthusiasm!

Thanks to everyone who came out to BC Bio this week. Your enthusiasm and willingness to try out this online format made it a wonderful success! We really hope to keep the sense of community going as we move forward, and are working at ways to do that. If you registered, you will received an email with further material from the event.

Peter Newbury’s talk on Building Community in an Online Course

Joan Sharp’s talk on Learning from our Students (and Colleagues): My 40 years in Biology Education

Stay safe everyone! Can’t wait to see you all again soon!

BC Bio 2020 Schedule

BC Bio is in less than a week! Here’s the plan for the 2-hour session (May 13th, 2-4pm):

We will open the zoom environment up between 15 and 30 minutes early, to allow everyone time to check their connections, and test audio/ video. Please feel free to join us and say hello!

  • 2:00-2:10: Arrivals, welcome, land acknowledgement, ground rules
  • 2:10-2:25: “Building Community in Online Classes” Short talk by Peter Newbury, Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning, UBCO
  • 2:25-3:05: “Learning from our Students: My 40 years in Biology Education” Plenary talk by Joan Sharp, Teaching Professor SFU
  • 3:05-3:10: Transition to Breakout Sessions, Round A
  • 3:10-3:25: Breakout Sessions, Round A (15 min)
  • 3:25-3:30: Return from breakout sessions, and transition to Round B
  • 3:30-3:45: Breakout Sessions Round B (15 min)
  • 3:45-4:00 (and beyond, if folks wish to stay): Report on breakout rooms, chat, socialize, discuss.

If you haven’t registered yet, there’s still time! Click here to register (link removed)!

About the Breakout Rooms:

We will have two round of breakout rooms (we have named them Rounds A & B). During the first 30 minutes of the event, you will be asked to navigate to a Google Doc and sign up for one session in Round A, and one session in Round B. At 2:30pm, we will take this information and build the breakout groups. We will only have space for a specific number of members in each breakout room, so we please ask you to choose another room if all of the spots are full.

Here is a draft list of the breakout rooms we are considering (subject to change).

Round A:

  • Online Course Design
  • Continuing the conversation with Peter Newbury: Developing course community
  • Continuing the conversation Joan Sharp: Connecting with students and pedagogy
  • Hands-on lab activities at home
  • Active learning in an online environment
  • Course planning: asynchronous vs synchronous components
  • Instructor workload and burnout
  • Best practices in asynchronous environments
  • Supporting TAs
  • No specific topic, I just want to chat!

Round B:

  • Effective videos and lecture-capture
  • Inclusivity & Accessibility
  • Academic integrity and assessment
  • Structuring labs
  • Large classes
  • Semester-long group projects
  • Student approaches to learning
  • Increasing engagement in asynchronous environments
  • Exams and assessments
  • No specific topic, I just want to chat!

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