Ryerson faculty and staff champion collaborative course innovation

Ryerson’s Blended Learning Lab (BLL) represents the future of education. Created to facilitate innovative course development that improves access to education, the lab combines online resources with in-person instruction to create a more personalized learning environment for students.

In 2019, its inaugural year, the BLL supported nine projects across the university that are slated to launch this fall. Faculty members who submitted successful proposals received BLL grants to hire researchers or content development assistants and to access course design and production support.

Here, four professors share their thoughts about the shift from traditional classroom instruction to blended learning.

Lydia Chen

General Chemistry – Department of Chemistry and Biology

There are 1,200 students enrolled in professor Chen’s first-year core course, which is rooted in problem solving. To engage her students, Chen uses short, five-minute videos for each lesson topic and the videos conclude with self-testing questions to reinforce the most significant points. It’s an approach meant to complement the course textbook and it allows Chen to tailor her lectures based on students’ results.

“I’m a fan of blended learning because it gives students early access to foundational materials, like terminology or conceptual content, which frees up class time for more in-depth learning,” said Chen. “In addition to being great practice, the self-tests give me the opportunity to drill down on the areas that are essential for a particular group of students and to provide targeted feedback.”

She remarks, however, that students are responsible for more work at home – one of many adjustments as they navigate university life – but it eases the learning process in the long run. It also gives Chen more control over the online resources her students seek, so she vets for accuracy and relevance to her lessons.

Finally, while teachers traditionally think of course preparation in three parts (before class, during class and after class), this approach breaks the learning process into a progression. Chen has to think like a student and she welcomes their input to ensure ongoing improvements to the course.

Ian Young

Data Management – School of Occupational and Public Health

Professor Ian Young’s first-year course covers applied mathematics and data management skills for occupational and public health students. He leveraged LinkedIn Learning (external link)  videos for tutorials about Excel and coupled them with his own practice questions. He also turned to Ryerson Pressbooks to develop a customized textbook that students could access from the University Library for free.

This student-focused learning model requires a certain level of motivation from those enrolled, as students have the freedom to control their learning environment. Young keeps the course as relevant as possible by using real data from Toronto Public Health for a term assignment.

“I’ve found the BLL to be very collaborative throughout the planning process and the advanced setup helps to make the course more structured,” said Young. “Though there’s less hand holding with this model, I can take a variety of approaches to teaching and assignment development that lets me assess students in different ways.”

The support also allows Young to spend more time thinking about the learning outcomes of his lessons. Feedback from the course launch in fall 2019 was very positive, with students appreciative of the enhanced flexibility and learning opportunities provided through the blended course approach.

Rachel Dodds

Marketing Principles – Hospitality and Tourism Management, TRSM

Professor Dodds’ second-year core course currently offers both in-person and online lectures with corresponding online tutorials. Rather than solely using traditional PowerPoint slides, she tries to integrate animation, videos and Q&A into her online lectures to capture and hold the attention of her students.

“In my experience, 2D learning is harder to retain; 3D tends to make it stick,” said Dodds. “With animation, students can follow a story and type their responses to relevant questions along the way. It’s short, to the point and effective, and audio files and transcripts are available to everyone. I’d ultimately like to make online and class time a 50-50 split.”

Dodds observes that students rarely take notes in class anymore and many don’t buy textbooks. Furthermore, it’s not uncommon for students to have a part-time job or to commute from beyond the downtown core. For those with different needs, blended learning is a much more accommodating model.

Time is invested up front to design the material, but Dodds notes that her content is easily reused once developed, and students can watch examples and tutorials as often as needed. She has also found higher participation rates in those who may be quiet in class due to language barriers, stress or feelings of self-consciousness. While having access to more sophisticated technology would help to elevate her efforts, blended learning pushes Dodds’ creativity, and affords her more time to conduct vital research and attend industry-leading conferences.

Tae Hart

Psychology of Death, Dying and Bereavement – Department of Psychology

Though professor Hart is not a member of the BLL, her elective course is a combination of face-to-face learning and three online modules – a format she has been using for more than three years. She posts short video lectures on D2L Brightspace, and enlivens her content with quizzes, mini assignments, timely news stories, video clips and personal anecdotes. All resources from her lectures, including video transcripts, are available to students.

Hart notes that this format requires taking a different pedagogical lens, and the eLearning team and the Digital Media Projects (DMP) office were instrumental in helping her prepare, think and teach differently.

“There‘s a heavy reliance on technology, so people might find the process and new approach to teaching intimidating,” said Hart. “That said, this change can be invigorating and we should push blended learning further within the university.”

She notes that while course preparation can be time consuming – writing video scripts, recording presentation audio, getting the necessary approvals and updating examples as data is refreshed – the active learning experience it offers for students is well worth it. Blended learning also allows for more ways to engage and is particularly useful when teaching sensitive content. For Hart’s lecture on suicide, she finds it beneficial to allow students to process the material in their own time and space.

Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

The BLL is located in Ryerson’s Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, a new collaborative teaching environment that aims to inspire creativity, integrity and a sense of inclusiveness as it gives faculty the tools they need to evolve with the student community.

Located on the seventh floor of the Daphne Cockwell Health Sciences Complex, the centre brings together six different units to promote, guide and celebrate educational excellence through:

1. Teaching development and consultation;
2. Curriculum enhancement, and;
3. Creative approaches to learning and teaching.

All members of Ryerson’s teaching community who would like to join the BLL are encouraged to visit the centre. Additional support with developing and testing creative approaches to learning and teaching are also readily available.