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Ryan Mann, Faculty Development Facilitator at SAIT’s Centre for Academic Development and Innovation, and Eric Mitchell, an Automotive Services Instructor at Lethbridge Polytechnic, are actively responding to teaching and learning gaps in the Trades through innovative—and technically scholarly—work.
Despite the improvements they're making, Ryan and Eric don't really consider their work as scholarly—but framing it differently could amplify the impact.
Ryan and Eric are joined by the polytechnic's Jaddon Park (Academic Services Manager) and Craig McCarthy (Learning Experience Designer). The four discuss the value of reframing work as scholarly, the power of integrating student feedback, and the joy in discovering creative ways to pass along knowledge.
During the show, guests and host (Donna) mention:
- SAIT: Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
- Lethbridge Polytechnic
- CTLI: Centre for Teaching, Learning, And Innovation
- ICP: Instructor Certification Program
- NIOP: New Instructor Orientation Program
- SoTL: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- LC Extension
- Community of Practice
- OER: Open Educational Resources
- Automotive Services Technician Apprenticeship
- Automotive Systems certificate
- Introduction to the Trades
- Electrician Apprenticeship
- UDL: Universal Design for Learning
- EAL: English as an Additional Language
- ChatGPT
- Alberta Minister of Advanced Education
- AIT: Apprenticeship and Industry Training
- STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics
- The Fast and the Furious
- Gone in 60 Seconds
- Calgary Corrections Centre
- Integration of Trades-Based STEM Education in Canadian K-12 Schools by Josh Hill
- Kahoot
- Bright Space (learning management system)
- LITL-Pod episodes:
- E69: How to make online learning feel like in-person community – A creative course revision at Lethbridge Polytechnic
- E66: 👍 Researcher’s Guide to the Galaxy – How to practically (and painlessly) share your research project, create meaningful impact, and find your community as a Networked Scholar
- E55: Environmental Psychology and Conservation – An instructor's creative course-build through the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
- E47: Updates in STEM – Sparking real-world connections between K-12 and the Trades to foster early career passions
- E29: How to Develop, Validate, and Disseminate Your Teaching and Learning Research Project through The Scholarship for Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
Download Ryan's AI guidebook here: A Guide to Generative AI for Educators
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I'm right there with you, Ryan. Like I never would have called myself a researcher
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on things, just somebody who wants things to be the best that they can be.
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So yeah, putting a label on it, I'm a very informal kind of individual.
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I don't like the accolades of, "Oh, you did the research on this.
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Congratulations." No, I just, I'm just doing things because I want to see them improve.
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So putting a label on it is still challenging for me, but you're absolutely
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right. That is what we're doing every day.
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Yep, we are researchers.
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Music.
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This is Learning Innovation, the Teaching and Learning podcast,
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also known as LITL-Pod.
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We are created by Lethbridge Polytechnic's Centre for Teaching,
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Learning and Innovation, located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada on the traditional
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lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy.
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In the spirit of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Niitsitapi’ksimpstaan
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(Real Thinking), we play host to a spectrum of guests from the teaching and learning community.
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As we highlight and explore innovation in education, we hope to kindle warm
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conversations, expand perspectives and foster lasting partnerships today, tomorrow, and beyond.
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The future of learning starts now.
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Oki, and welcome. I am your host, Donna McLaughlin, and I am a learning experience
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designer at Lethbridge Polytechnic.
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When Ryan Mann, faculty development facilitator at SAIT's Centre for Academic
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Development and Innovation,
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created a guidebook for educators on how to use AI in teaching and learning,
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he didn't consider it scholarly research.
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And when Eric Mitchell, an automotive services instructor at Lethbridge Polytechnic,
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developed an after-hours micro-
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credential to help students develop basic vehicle maintenance skills,
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he didn't label it as scholarly work.
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Ryan and Eric don't see themselves as scholars, but it doesn't change the fact
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that they are still engaged in scholarly teaching and learning.
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While Ryan and Eric think they're just doing their jobs,
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Jaddon Park, academic services manager at Lethbridge Polytechnic,
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believes it may be beneficial to call it scholarly work like it is,
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not just for the title, but because it expands the impact of the amazing work happening.
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Also joining our discussion today is Craig McCarthy, a learning experience designer
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at Lethbridge Polytechnic.
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I'm Eric. Most everyone knows me here, but Ryan, nice to meet you.
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I've been here at the polytechnic for, this is my fourth year here,
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coming from industry. I am an automotive mechanic, Red Seal mechanic.
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Let's see, a little about me. I like to look for ways to improve things,
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to change things, to improve things.
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Sometimes it fails, sometimes it's good. I used to work at a custom camper van
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building place, and so I got to really experiment and try new things.
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It wasn't a traditional customer needs brakes, customer needs wheel alignment.
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It was building, it was creating, and that really fueled my creative side, I guess.
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Never really classified myself as the artistic style of person,
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but getting to create, I would say that to me is my art.
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So I've been a carpentry instructor for 11 years before starting the last year
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and a half as a faculty development facilitator at the, what are we called now?
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The Teaching and Learning Commons. We've gone through a few name changes as
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we're re-forming everything.
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And so a lot of my, you know, I can piggyback almost exactly what you kind of
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said, Eric, about, you know, always wanting to sort of tweak things,
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improve things, try things.
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And so I think people get kind of annoyed with me sometimes because I'm always
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like, hey, have you tried this before? Have you thought about this?
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Maybe I could implement this. Oh my gosh.
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So, you know, with that often comes this idea of a pilot — trying something to
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see if you can get a little bit of understanding if it's going to work,
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create a use case or something like that so that you can kind of get the data you need to do it.
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And I never even thought of anything that I did as scholarly activities,
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SoTL, whatever, maybe a little bit of scholarly teaching.
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But at the same time, it was just all about improvement. And so new terms,
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you know, in the last year and a half for me, but this is a good thing.
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Good morning, everyone.
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Ryan, really nice to meet you. My name is Jaddon Park.
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I am the academic services manager with the Centre for Teaching,
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Learning, and Innovation at Lethbridge Polytechnic.
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Over the past year and a bit now, I've been kind of collaborating and working
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with Donna to try to support growth,
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interest, and engagement in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and scholarly
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teaching and action research across the polytechnic.
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I'm Craig McCarthy. I'm also a learning experience designer here at Lethbridge Polytechnic, and I'm
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I am just kind of hanging out today. I did meet Ryan briefly at the Trades conference
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at SAIT a year or two ago or so.
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So we've kind of connected over AI a little bit. So I've been meaning to get
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back to you about AI, Ryan, by the way, but I haven't gotten around to it.
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So someday soon, but yeah, related to what you were saying about like being
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the guy who kept like nudging people or whatever.
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I was like, when I was teaching, I was in the staff room one time and was going on about something.
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And then I like left, but I could still hear the conversation when the guy's
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like, that guy's always on about something. He's always got like something he's
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fired up about or whatever.
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I think I exhaust people sometimes that way. All right.
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Well, it's wonderful to meet everyone and so thankful to have you join me today
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for this great conversation.
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So I'm curious to know how each of you define scholarly teaching and learning
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and maybe also SoTL, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.
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So yeah, feel free to jump in whoever would like to go first.
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I'll go because when you asked me, I'm like, okay, I remember hearing about
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this in ICPs, but I did so many of them so quick.
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So anyways, I went back and looked at some, actually one of your old podcasts that you did.
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And I'm like, oh, right. So without stealing anybody else's description of it,
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I formulated my description of it.
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To me, it is looking for a need, whether it's in the classroom, institute, or
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larger, and looking for a need, looking for seeing and recognizing those gaps
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because they're there. There's gaps.
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For example, I think it was my first year here, we were missing a dual overhead
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camshaft engine, right?
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It's in the modules. It's what we teach about.
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It's what's in modern vehicles. We did not have a decent cutaway of that.
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So I had a little bit of time on my hands. So I went to work,
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you know, cutting it apart so that it would work.
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So I saw a need, I tried something and every single cut that I made on that engine was...
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An educated wish that it would work.
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So, yeah, to me, that's how I would define it.
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Seeing, recognizing those gaps and then following your curiosity and seeing
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how it will benefit the students.
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Great. Thanks, Eric. Great example that you used as well. Thank you.
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Ryan, would you like to add to that?
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Absolutely. So I think just
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kind of adding to that piece is
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the scholarly teaching is it it's about
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getting better and you do that by trying
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stuff, you get that by reading and looking at what's out there and
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what other people are doing in your community as well and that there
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to me before I started sort of figuring out what scholarly teaching and learning
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and and SoTL and scholarly activity was it was just about being better.
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And I didn't really have words for it, but now I do.
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And, you know, and then there's the SoTL part, which is specific to, you know,
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research and publication, but really where I kind of see all the work that I've
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been doing in the last couple of years is it's just sort of generically scholarly activity, I think.
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Great. Thank you so much, Ryan. As an educator and a kind of supporter of teacher
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development, I would kind of look at scholarly teaching as sort of that...
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You know, it's embedded in the idea of critical reflection. So you're constantly
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reflecting on your own practice. How can I teach better?
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How can I support my students to be more successful learners?
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With the scholarly teaching, we're obviously kind of reaching out,
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looking for new ideas, reading more, teaching ourself about new strategies and
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innovations that we can then try out in our classroom.
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So it really is about kind of a systematic and strategic implementation of new
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ideas, trying it out, see if it works.
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Talking to Eric this morning about trying out things like an exit slip.
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Doesn't work at the end of the day, I'm going to try it at the start of the day as an entrance slip.
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Kind of iterative process of trying out innovations to see what connects and
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works with students to ultimately support student success.
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Yeah, I can tell you that conversation we were having earlier with the exit
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slips, right? It's the end of the day.
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My students are ready to go. They got other things on their mind.
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They're kind of checked out. They're going to go home. They're going to reset.
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They're going to come back to their books. They're going to study for a couple hours.
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And then when they come in in the morning, they're fresh. They're vibrant.
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They're ready to go. At that point, I was like, okay, take 10 minutes,
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write down a question on a piece of paper, and it will be anonymous questions.
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I've had a last two years of students haven't wanted to ask,
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have not wanted to ask questions.
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So with the entrance slips, they were awake, they wrote down something about
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what they read the night before, and then we could have a real, genuine conversation.
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And actually some of the best, best learning and discussion I would say came
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out of those very organic questions — and nobody felt like they were being judged.
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So I saw something, tried it,
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I wouldn't say I failed, but I definitely had to readjust.
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And then the readjustment was actually great. That's a great example. Thank you, Eric.
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For me, I think my perspective on scholarly teaching and learning has been rather informal.
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I think I've always been focused more on the reflective practice than on the
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formal sharing of knowledge.
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And so that's something I'm getting to do more in my role now as a learning
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experience designer, where I'm getting to go present at, you know,
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at the conference or just share at some of our local...
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Teaching and learning conferences or presentations and things like that.
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So I think my focus has always been more on the experiential and kind of like
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lowercase 'r' research and not on like the more formal research process.
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And I just, I find so much value in, in hearing the experiences of instructors.
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And often I feel like I get more value out of having those experiential conversations
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than out of a formal research paper.
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But I think that there's a place for both. But my focus has always kind of been
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on the more informal side.
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So Ryan and Eric, I'm curious, I hinted at your projects in the intro,
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but I'd really love to hear the details.
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Ryan, can you start us off and tell us more about your AI teaching and learning
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guidebook for educators? Absolutely.
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Basically, what ended up happening was SAIT, every year for the last couple
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of years, has done a teaching innovators program.
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And it's a whole big application process and all that kind of stuff.
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But I actually didn't intend on being part of it until my dean at the time said,
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"It's the day that everything's due and I haven't seen your application yet,
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so I would like to see that soon."
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I was like, okay, sounds good. So I basically just wanted to answer a few questions at the time.
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And it was about moving into authentic assessment within, you know,
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our non-lab Trades classes. I wanted to talk about how we can figure out how
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we could address some of our neurodivergent students and our EAL students.
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And also, I wanted to find out how my life could be made easier with some sort
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of like, how do we accomplish the tasks that are in front of us?
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Because there's a mountain and it feels like we're just basically taking out
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little pinecones at a time.
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So I kind of started diving
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into ChatGPT at the time and really found it to be this incredible resource
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that was so empowering and so enabling to all of the questions that I had, plus a whole bunch more.
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And so I started figuring, I started tackling a bunch of my own stuff and I
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was like, I really should spread the word in a sense and get that out.
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And so I, I started working on this publication, which is a guide to generative AI for educators.
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And...
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You know, I kind of finished it up last summer and, you know,
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sent it out to a few people to get feedback on it.
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And it kind of actually blew up, which was really weird.
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It's kind of all over Western Canada at all levels of education right now.
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And it's kind of bizarre. It feels weird.
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Wow, that's really exciting. That's really exciting to hear.
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Were there any challenges in creating this?
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I mean, anytime you're creating something off the side of your desk,
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absolutely. There's time challenges. There's all that.
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It became just about prioritizing time. So instead of doing one thing,
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I worked on this during certain points just to try and get it finished.
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And, you know, that's just the way that all of our time ends up being, right?
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Like everything, almost everything we do that isn't, you know,
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related directly to our job is off the side of our desks.
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And what have been some of the outcomes? I mean, you mentioned that this has
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really spread. People have really taken it on. What sort of things are you hearing back?
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A whole bunch of people saying that they just have seen, like,
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their Bright Space shells are improved.
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The resources for their students, the way that they teach has changed as they
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kind of get different ways to deliver material rather than just talking in front of a class, which,
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you know, we all kind of probably know is not always the best way to do everything. You know...
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The fact that we have AI sort of enabled new instructors in the Trades at SAIT
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right now after running an AI, well,
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part of an AI program with them, and them sort of not floundering at the beginning
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of their careers as instructors at SAIT has been such a cool thing to see.
00:15:51.786 --> 00:15:58.986
And, you know, they're building faster than I've seen anybody else build anything in their careers so far.
00:15:59.326 --> 00:16:04.146
Oh, that's really fantastic. Can you walk us through an example from the guidebook?
00:16:04.966 --> 00:16:09.486
Yes. So the guidebook is very practical in the sense that it gives ideas of
00:16:09.486 --> 00:16:15.446
how you can use it, but it's also not going into how to prompt,
00:16:15.606 --> 00:16:18.006
how to do all these kinds of things for each task.
00:16:18.166 --> 00:16:23.006
So, you know, if an instructor is actually going back to that idea of not standing
00:16:23.006 --> 00:16:26.766
in front of a classroom and chatting for an hour and a half or two or whatever,
00:16:27.466 --> 00:16:36.026
then, you know, go into ChatGPT and say, hey, I'm doing a lesson on whatever it is, wall framing.
00:16:36.926 --> 00:16:39.006
Here's some of the topics that we're going to be discussing.
00:16:39.886 --> 00:16:46.446
And how could I do some participatory learning in that class and give me 10
00:16:46.446 --> 00:16:49.726
examples so that then you can pick what works,
00:16:49.906 --> 00:16:52.606
adapt it to your own, because of course, you always have to
00:16:52.606 --> 00:16:55.926
have the human element and and deliver
00:16:55.926 --> 00:16:58.906
your class differently you know and try it out if it
00:16:58.906 --> 00:17:02.186
works great if it doesn't try something
00:17:02.186 --> 00:17:06.526
else. Ryan I just wanted to uh to comment on what you're doing there because
00:17:06.526 --> 00:17:10.806
as you're talking about this what you're doing with the AI you know I thought
00:17:10.806 --> 00:17:17.726
okay well my you know Trades are often well they're hands-on right? And in
00:17:17.726 --> 00:17:19.966
the classroom, yeah, how do you get them going?
00:17:19.986 --> 00:17:24.766
So as you're talking about using AI, I'm like, well, I've done that.
00:17:25.427 --> 00:17:29.967
I've done that too, but I guess I never really considered that scholarly, right?
00:17:30.107 --> 00:17:33.927
Like that was just, I heard about it and then started playing with it.
00:17:34.547 --> 00:17:40.287
I, you know, that human aspect that you mentioned is super important because
00:17:40.287 --> 00:17:44.387
at the end of the day, we are the professionals in our trade.
00:17:44.507 --> 00:17:47.047
We are the professionals to know what, what is being talked,
00:17:47.247 --> 00:17:48.427
what we need to talk about.
00:17:48.627 --> 00:17:51.687
You know, if I ask, if I ask a student to define insulation,
00:17:52.227 --> 00:17:56.387
they'll hop on Google and they'll Google it. And next thing I know,
00:17:56.627 --> 00:17:59.307
they're talking about insulation in a wall or something like that.
00:17:59.507 --> 00:18:05.067
Well, I'm a mechanic and we don't have insulation in the walls of vehicles.
00:18:05.767 --> 00:18:12.667
We're talking about electrical. So using AI is a little smarter than Googling,
00:18:12.887 --> 00:18:19.487
I found, but yet there are still a few little things that need to be tweaked and touched up on that.
00:18:19.667 --> 00:18:22.727
So I'm very, very interested in what you're doing. And actually,
00:18:23.207 --> 00:18:26.347
we have an instructor's conference coming up, a transportation instructors conference
00:18:26.347 --> 00:18:31.007
coming at the end of the month, first that week, end of April, beginning of May.
00:18:31.167 --> 00:18:36.847
And Craig is actually going to be presenting a session on AI. So glad you're here.
00:18:37.598 --> 00:18:44.198
Awesome. Yeah. And Craig, when he came and talked at the Alberta Dean's Association
00:18:44.198 --> 00:18:50.518
of Trades conference here at SAIT, it was really, really cool to see what he was doing as well.
00:18:50.618 --> 00:18:54.198
But I do want to just go back to what you're saying about context,
00:18:54.198 --> 00:19:01.478
because I think there's such a big piece to understanding that when we interact
00:19:01.478 --> 00:19:04.778
with AI, we need to give that context.
00:19:05.018 --> 00:19:10.998
And also, it's not just about going and asking the first question and believing
00:19:10.998 --> 00:19:14.178
that. It's about working towards the correct answer.
00:19:14.358 --> 00:19:19.538
So if you say something like, tell me about insulation, and it says,
00:19:19.698 --> 00:19:23.218
well, we have blah, blah, blah in walls, versus, oh, no, actually,
00:19:23.258 --> 00:19:26.398
I was talking about electrical insulation in here, and then you get the right answer.
00:19:26.538 --> 00:19:30.838
And the number of people that I talk to that say, well, I tried ChatGPT,
00:19:30.918 --> 00:19:35.118
and it gave me the wrong answer. And that was it.
00:19:35.838 --> 00:19:39.118
That's not how we're supposed to interact with it. Yep. So I
00:19:39.118 --> 00:19:42.818
think that was a very good point Eric. The way that
00:19:42.818 --> 00:19:45.478
you need to interact with AI I guess like or I guess a rule
00:19:45.478 --> 00:19:48.358
of thumb that we've kind of come up with is that it's really difficult
00:19:48.358 --> 00:19:51.678
to get AI to do something that you don't know how to do yourself and so
00:19:51.678 --> 00:19:54.618
like you can use it for learning and like there's really positive ways
00:19:54.618 --> 00:19:57.878
you can use it for learning but if you're trying to like do a task like come up
00:19:57.878 --> 00:20:00.738
with or you know like some a project
00:20:00.738 --> 00:20:03.518
for for teaching or like those kind of tasks... if you
00:20:03.518 --> 00:20:06.358
don't have an idea of what that lesson
00:20:06.358 --> 00:20:09.178
actually looks like like I could try to do that same thing that you you talked
00:20:09.178 --> 00:20:13.098
about Ryan — like give me 10 ideas for participatory learning in this for this
00:20:13.098 --> 00:20:16.318
outcome but because I don't know anything about mechanics I wouldn't be able
00:20:16.318 --> 00:20:18.958
to look at that list and then be like oh this is a good idea this isn't a good
00:20:18.958 --> 00:20:24.858
idea and so... even though like it can generate all this information we could ask
00:20:24.858 --> 00:20:28.858
the exact same questions but if the user doesn't have that expertise it's hard to make it,
00:20:29.397 --> 00:20:33.277
useful — or you might get lucky and get something that works but often AI is being
00:20:33.277 --> 00:20:36.057
used kind of like irresponsibly where someone will try to do something they
00:20:36.057 --> 00:20:39.037
don't know how to do they'll get this list of things and they'll pick one and
00:20:39.037 --> 00:20:40.657
it doesn't actually make sense for the context and so,
00:20:41.357 --> 00:20:44.977
that's a similar trap for students like you're describing of like you can use
00:20:44.977 --> 00:20:47.657
AI and you can think that you're getting the right answer, but when you really
00:20:47.657 --> 00:20:51.657
don't know you can be led astray and so that's where we really just emphasize
00:20:51.657 --> 00:20:54.437
that instructor experience or like an expertise that...
00:20:55.357 --> 00:21:00.237
It's most valuable for you when you're doing something that you are kind of an expert in
00:21:00.477 --> 00:21:04.557
that kind of way it can really it can reduce your workload but it's it's it
00:21:04.557 --> 00:21:08.217
doesn't replace you you're still the person like you said Ryan is like the person
00:21:08.217 --> 00:21:11.997
is so necessary for that process. Well it's it's it's a tool right? You know I
00:21:11.997 --> 00:21:13.897
think about my toolbox and I have...
00:21:14.457 --> 00:21:17.597
Many many tools that are made out of metal, you know?
00:21:17.597 --> 00:21:20.597
I have a torque wrench made out of metal, it's
00:21:20.597 --> 00:21:23.357
quite heavy. I'm not going to use that torque wrench
00:21:23.357 --> 00:21:26.477
to drive out a ball joint, right? I
00:21:26.477 --> 00:21:31.357
I would use a hammer for that — so you have to be aware of the tools that are
00:21:31.357 --> 00:21:35.397
in your toolbox and how to properly use that tool and that's where that expertise
00:21:35.397 --> 00:21:41.257
comes in. I actually, I took a picture on ChatGPT of a vehicle engine bay — I didn't
00:21:41.257 --> 00:21:44.937
say anything about what the vehicle was or anything, I just took a picture of it,
00:21:45.097 --> 00:21:47.977
said, this vehicle is overheating, what should I do?
00:21:48.177 --> 00:21:53.357
And it wrote out quite a long list of things to do and check and things like that.
00:21:53.397 --> 00:21:57.457
But if you don't know where you're looking and how to, you know,
00:21:57.537 --> 00:22:00.977
change that thermostat because it's overheating, you'll get an idea,
00:22:01.097 --> 00:22:02.897
but you won't be able to accomplish the job.
00:22:03.357 --> 00:22:07.397
And I just want to try to kind of tie a little bit of a bow around some of these
00:22:07.397 --> 00:22:12.757
conversations where we're taking AI as the example and the guidebook that Ryan's developed.
00:22:12.997 --> 00:22:18.517
What I get really excited about is hearing that there's lots of people using that guidebook.
00:22:18.677 --> 00:22:23.577
And to me, there's a great example of kind of promoting scholarly teaching across
00:22:23.577 --> 00:22:29.617
your field and your discipline, where it's all about a resource, a tool,
00:22:30.017 --> 00:22:36.917
some ideas that are kind of being integrated with your pedagogical expertise
00:22:36.917 --> 00:22:42.677
and your knowledge of your discipline to improve your teaching practice and
00:22:42.677 --> 00:22:43.757
the student experience.
00:22:44.297 --> 00:22:49.197
So scholarly teaching is happening in many different dimensions within kind
00:22:49.197 --> 00:22:53.817
of the AI guidebook and that torque wrench you're talking about, Eric.
00:22:54.379 --> 00:22:58.939
We're covering a lot of ground here, and it's great to hear the looking at it
00:22:58.939 --> 00:23:04.619
through the scholarly teaching lens as well, from AI to torque wrenches. That's fantastic.
00:23:05.659 --> 00:23:10.419
Eric, I'm curious to know now about the project that you've been working on.
00:23:10.539 --> 00:23:14.899
Can you tell us about the auto maintenance micro-credential that you've developed?
00:23:15.159 --> 00:23:20.119
Yeah, so that it's, I will clarify, it's not fully developed. It's in works.
00:23:20.619 --> 00:23:23.659
Actually I have a meeting a little bit later today with the
00:23:23.659 --> 00:23:28.559
Extensions program on this, but last I think it was the beginning of the year
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.699
someone from our marketing came up and they're like oh it'd be great if you guys
00:23:31.699 --> 00:23:35.559
offered this I'm like that would be great that would be great and kind of put
00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:40.679
it on the back shelf and thought about it and what that would look like and I've given other...
00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:47.339
Small lessons to you know youth groups and things like that — the Boy Scouts and things like that but,
00:23:47.879 --> 00:23:50.899
it was a couple months later I was down in CTLI
00:23:50.899 --> 00:23:53.999
there and Trevor pops his head out and he's like "Hey do you know what'd be great?
00:23:53.999 --> 00:23:58.339
I want to do... learn more about my vehicle." Okay
00:23:58.339 --> 00:24:01.379
there's two people that have talked to me about this in the last you
00:24:01.379 --> 00:24:06.019
know four or five months. So Trevor and I, we sat down threw out some ideas what
00:24:06.019 --> 00:24:11.179
you'd like to see. I reflected on it some more now here at the polytechnic we
00:24:11.179 --> 00:24:16.019
offer the apprenticeship through AIT we have all four years offered here. But
00:24:16.019 --> 00:24:21.339
we also offer a certificate program for students that are wanting to get into the trade,
00:24:21.339 --> 00:24:26.679
but are not able to land that first-year apprenticeship, which is always the hardest for them to get.
00:24:26.879 --> 00:24:30.539
So they can come in for the eight months, for the two semesters.
00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:34.859
That basically gets them the first two years of schooling. And then employees
00:24:34.859 --> 00:24:39.099
are always more willing to hire those students because they do have a little bit of experience.
00:24:39.659 --> 00:24:43.019
But that's a time commitment. That's a financial commitment.
00:24:43.659 --> 00:24:48.099
We also have a lot of other programs here with our STEM project and our youth
00:24:48.099 --> 00:24:52.999
initiatives where they're bringing up high school students into getting intro
00:24:52.999 --> 00:24:57.679
to the Trades, all of that programming that we have going on here.
00:24:57.819 --> 00:25:03.719
But that's more tailored to younger students, grade 10, 11, 12, and as they come up.
00:25:03.859 --> 00:25:07.979
So I kind of viewed it as we have our apprenticeship. That's the goal.
00:25:08.179 --> 00:25:11.139
To get there, if you can't land a job, there's the...
00:25:11.861 --> 00:25:14.721
Certificate program. To get into that to get some learning there
00:25:14.721 --> 00:25:18.101
is the you know the Intro to the Trades and all
00:25:18.101 --> 00:25:21.041
the other programs what about the individual who's maybe
00:25:21.041 --> 00:25:24.241
a little further on in their career they they really enjoy
00:25:24.241 --> 00:25:29.801
the hobbies of working on their vehicle, maybe they'd like to make a career change
00:25:29.801 --> 00:25:34.461
but I don't know if I really want to right? I don't know if I want to take the
00:25:34.461 --> 00:25:38.101
two-semester commitment, I don't know if I want to take the financial commitment.
00:25:38.101 --> 00:25:42.821
So, what about if we offer this micro-credential in the evenings?
00:25:43.001 --> 00:25:46.841
So that way people that are working all day long, they can come for a couple
00:25:46.841 --> 00:25:51.161
hours a night for a number of weeks and they can dabble in it.
00:25:51.161 --> 00:25:53.341
They say, you know what, I actually really enjoy this.
00:25:54.201 --> 00:25:57.941
I will, you know, take the commitment to make a career change.
00:25:58.081 --> 00:26:02.761
We saw a gap there, saw that something could be added in there.
00:26:03.301 --> 00:26:07.741
Now, we have quite a few students that have watched Fast and the Furious and,
00:26:07.921 --> 00:26:10.361
you know, all these car shows, right?
00:26:10.541 --> 00:26:15.841
And they're working there in the cars on the scene. And it's not exactly quite like that, right?
00:26:16.001 --> 00:26:22.061
It's all nice-looking on the TV screen, but down in the nitty gritty of it...
00:26:22.301 --> 00:26:26.661
So we have students that, you know, partway through the first semester,
00:26:26.741 --> 00:26:30.181
they're like, this is not like The Fast and the Furious or Gone in 60 seconds.
00:26:30.461 --> 00:26:32.801
And then they're gone in 60 seconds, right?
00:26:33.021 --> 00:26:38.841
So if we can introduce the micro-credential, people can play with it.
00:26:39.081 --> 00:26:43.221
They can come in and say, I really like this. I want to make a career change.
00:26:43.361 --> 00:26:47.721
We had a student, my first year here was a welder, licensed welder,
00:26:47.881 --> 00:26:50.621
made good money out in the Trades, but it's not what he wanted to do.
00:26:50.821 --> 00:26:55.841
So he was in a financial position where he could make that change and he came
00:26:55.841 --> 00:26:57.761
in, but not everyone's in that position.
00:26:58.241 --> 00:27:02.221
So that's kind of where we're at with the micro-credential and where that came about.
00:27:02.461 --> 00:27:07.601
Oh, that's really neat. Yeah, you found a gap and then found a way to address
00:27:07.601 --> 00:27:09.901
that gap. It sounds almost like a sample.
00:27:10.161 --> 00:27:13.541
Yes, yeah, a little hors d'oeuvre platter for them to try out.
00:27:14.904 --> 00:27:21.364
How has that work with that or some of the other work you've done improved your
00:27:21.364 --> 00:27:26.604
teaching and learning? Well, it's definitely given me the opportunity to interact
00:27:26.604 --> 00:27:29.624
with different departments, which has helped me.
00:27:30.164 --> 00:27:34.584
Just talking the other day with another person in CTLI there,
00:27:34.604 --> 00:27:36.704
we were talking about classroom management and stuff like that.
00:27:36.924 --> 00:27:40.444
How am I going to deliver this, the classroom management aspect of it?
00:27:40.544 --> 00:27:45.324
It's gotten me out there and pushed me beyond my comfort zone to ask questions
00:27:45.324 --> 00:27:48.744
of other people and rely on other people's expertise as well, right?
00:27:49.804 --> 00:27:55.064
This process here has shown me that there are actually a lot of people that
00:27:55.064 --> 00:28:00.364
are very happy to support you and give assistance so, if people are so
00:28:00.364 --> 00:28:04.844
willing to help me I can be willing to help others. And that's what I need to
00:28:04.844 --> 00:28:08.284
be that's what I am doing I love to see people succeed.
00:28:08.764 --> 00:28:14.404
Their success is my success. Oh that's wonderful. Ryan, I'm curious — you've had
00:28:14.404 --> 00:28:18.724
kind of a journey into the teaching and learning area at SAIT.
00:28:19.064 --> 00:28:22.384
Is yours, your experience similar to Eric's?
00:28:23.004 --> 00:28:26.684
So, you know, very, very similar in a lot of ways, you know,
00:28:26.844 --> 00:28:32.484
like it's about that continual improvement piece as you're kind of going through your career.
00:28:32.624 --> 00:28:38.604
And my career has been, you know, I was teaching for 11 years in a bunch of
00:28:38.604 --> 00:28:42.164
different programs, like carpentry-related programs at SAIT.
00:28:42.564 --> 00:28:46.964
And each time you learn new pieces. So, you know, I started off teaching apprenticeship
00:28:46.964 --> 00:28:49.084
and I moved to teaching dual credits.
00:28:49.544 --> 00:28:55.264
I went into teaching carpentry for SAIT at the Calgary Correctional Centre.
00:28:56.024 --> 00:29:02.044
Very, very cool. And truthfully, I ended up creating a bunch of small sort of
00:29:02.044 --> 00:29:06.204
certificates that the offenders there could walk away with that were from SAIT.
00:29:06.964 --> 00:29:12.104
Then came back sort of during COVID, you know, a whole new teaching and learning
00:29:12.104 --> 00:29:13.584
environment there for sure.
00:29:13.584 --> 00:29:23.704
And, you know, my new role as a faculty development facilitator in our TLC is,
00:29:24.004 --> 00:29:31.404
has just, it's almost been like a natural sort of movement into there where you gain all of these,
00:29:31.684 --> 00:29:34.744
you know, insights throughout a career, whether it's, you know,
00:29:34.804 --> 00:29:37.524
working with artificial intelligence, whether it's working with,
00:29:37.704 --> 00:29:40.664
you know, creating little certificates or micro-credentials,
00:29:41.424 --> 00:29:44.304
or just how you learn how to teach better.
00:29:44.564 --> 00:29:51.344
And I've had the opportunity to really move into supporting faculty.
00:29:51.584 --> 00:29:57.924
And I support trade-specific faculty at SAIT, and it's been a very, very cool space.
00:29:58.284 --> 00:30:06.084
I think what's interesting hearing Ryan kind of talk about his journey—as a journeyman—
00:30:07.100 --> 00:30:12.500
There's, it's kind of building on the sort of the technical and extensive trade
00:30:12.500 --> 00:30:18.280
experience, but then kind of blending that over time with the teaching experience
00:30:18.280 --> 00:30:21.260
and sort of obviously reflecting, learning,
00:30:22.040 --> 00:30:24.680
adapting to different student populations.
00:30:24.680 --> 00:30:29.560
But all the time, kind of that practice and knowledge around teaching and learning
00:30:29.560 --> 00:30:33.900
has evolved to the point where SAIT sees value,
00:30:34.180 --> 00:30:41.160
recognizes the value you can bring pedagogically to then share out with other instructors.
00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:46.080
So there's like that scholarly teaching at its best and at its finest.
00:30:46.320 --> 00:30:52.620
And there's so many elements, kind of parts of that SoTL process there,
00:30:52.780 --> 00:30:55.400
that dissemination and sharing of experience.
00:30:55.400 --> 00:31:01.760
It may not be through kind of the publications, but you're facilitating workshops,
00:31:01.760 --> 00:31:07.040
you're developing resources for the benefit of your colleagues at SAIT.
00:31:07.040 --> 00:31:11.700
So lots of really amazing examples of kind of SoTL and scholarly teaching happening.
00:31:12.120 --> 00:31:16.840
Well, I think you can build on everything, right? Like I'm hearing this is scaffolding, right?
00:31:16.960 --> 00:31:20.220
Like everything just builds on and builds on.
00:31:20.300 --> 00:31:24.340
I can tell you that four years ago when I started here, I wouldn't have thought
00:31:24.340 --> 00:31:28.440
that I would be where I'm at and participating in the projects that I'm participating in.
00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:33.800
And it has been wonderful. I can actually look back through my life all the
00:31:33.800 --> 00:31:38.180
way back to when I was a teenager starting to play with motors and stuff like that.
00:31:38.320 --> 00:31:42.640
My little brother used to stand behind my left shoulder there and it would drive
00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:44.800
me crazy. But mom said to be nice.
00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.400
So, okay, here we go. So try and teach him and show him what I'm doing.
00:31:50.340 --> 00:31:55.940
That has now developed into where I am today. So, and hopefully I can continue
00:31:55.940 --> 00:32:03.200
on this path with this growing and developing and having a contribution to other individuals.
00:32:03.600 --> 00:32:07.800
Yeah, bridging that experience and the pedagogy, scholarly teaching. Great.
00:32:08.576 --> 00:32:14.976
I want to jump a little bit from the scholarly teaching into the research side of things.
00:32:15.216 --> 00:32:21.656
And so for both Eric and for Ryan, have you done any formal research before?
00:32:21.876 --> 00:32:24.076
And how do you view formal research?
00:32:24.676 --> 00:32:29.556
This past year I've been working on a formal research, had to go through the
00:32:29.556 --> 00:32:35.756
whole research ethics board stuff and I will say that was one of the most painful processes of my life.
00:32:36.676 --> 00:32:42.376
Did not enjoy it. You know I I kind of actually shake my head a little bit I
00:32:42.376 --> 00:32:47.736
understand if you're if you're you know taking human samples and this and that
00:32:47.736 --> 00:32:49.856
and you know like actually dangerous as things,
00:32:49.976 --> 00:32:55.456
but I just wanted to ask some questions and get some answers and be able to share those answers.
00:32:55.636 --> 00:33:00.016
And so I felt like the process was a little tedious for what I was trying to
00:33:00.016 --> 00:33:03.596
accomplish. But the idea is, is I have a podcast as well.
00:33:03.716 --> 00:33:06.756
It's specific to the fourth-year carpentry curriculum.
00:33:08.576 --> 00:33:15.456
And the whole point of the research project is to test the validity or the effectiveness
00:33:15.456 --> 00:33:22.796
of podcast resources for students as a supplemental resource for their learning.
00:33:23.016 --> 00:33:28.836
And so, you know, it's been fun. I say that very tongue-in-cheek.
00:33:28.896 --> 00:33:32.096
It's very fun interacting with the students. It's very fun collecting data.
00:33:33.036 --> 00:33:38.496
But the step by step and the, you know, the real sort of how you have to introduce,
00:33:38.676 --> 00:33:43.256
how you have to get consent, how you have to, you know, store and delete and
00:33:43.256 --> 00:33:47.856
all the pieces with the data is very, very, very tedious.
00:33:48.016 --> 00:33:54.316
But I do understand that you do have to protect information that relates to people. So I get it.
00:33:54.936 --> 00:34:00.636
Ryan, that sounds absolutely amazing as a podcast host and just a general fan of podcasts.
00:34:01.316 --> 00:34:04.516
Will we be able to provide a link to your podcast in our show notes?
00:34:05.016 --> 00:34:07.756
I would say not right now. It is
00:34:07.756 --> 00:34:11.416
the Under Construction podcast and it is currently under construction so...
00:34:11.416 --> 00:34:14.656
Yeah no it's um
00:34:14.656 --> 00:34:17.416
I have a backlog of video editing to do so that's
00:34:17.416 --> 00:34:20.216
where I'm at. Okay well you'll have to keep us up to date on
00:34:20.216 --> 00:34:25.276
that because I won't speak for everyone here — but I suspect I may speak for
00:34:25.276 --> 00:34:29.096
everyone here — that we'd be very interested to to hear it and to learn about
00:34:29.096 --> 00:34:35.016
how your research progresses with that. Yeah, absolutely. I haven't had a chance
00:34:35.016 --> 00:34:38.376
to do any like formal research or anything like that.
00:34:38.576 --> 00:34:41.356
Colleague and friend of mine here at the polytechnic, Josh Hill,
00:34:41.516 --> 00:34:47.156
he has with the STEM project and he and I are quite close with each other.
00:34:47.336 --> 00:34:48.996
We discuss this stuff all the time.
00:34:49.356 --> 00:34:54.596
So he's shared with me some of his research as far as how STEM and...
00:34:55.478 --> 00:34:58.158
Trades-minded individuals learn, and the way
00:34:58.158 --> 00:35:01.338
that they they develop their skills and stuff like that. And he
00:35:01.338 --> 00:35:04.178
actually he's got his paper
00:35:04.178 --> 00:35:07.738
getting published here he said it's in the Canadian Journal
00:35:07.738 --> 00:35:10.518
of Educational and Society Studies and that'll be coming out
00:35:10.518 --> 00:35:13.378
in May. So even though it's not
00:35:13.378 --> 00:35:17.118
me personally doing the formal research having having
00:35:17.118 --> 00:35:20.118
discussed with him about it, it's very exciting.
00:35:20.118 --> 00:35:22.998
Yeah I really really enjoy what he's done
00:35:22.998 --> 00:35:26.718
with that study and can't wait to actually read it so. Does that,
00:35:26.718 --> 00:35:29.538
does that spark an interest in trying it out
00:35:29.538 --> 00:35:32.418
yourself? Yeah it does. And honestly, even preparing for
00:35:32.418 --> 00:35:35.238
this podcast and stuff like this after that first conversation that
00:35:35.238 --> 00:35:37.998
we had it has given me the opportunity to to do
00:35:37.998 --> 00:35:42.538
more research kind of okay I got 10 minutes here so instead of you know going
00:35:42.538 --> 00:35:46.758
through stuff that I already know about or you know the dreaded social media
00:35:46.758 --> 00:35:53.318
hole, let's let's do some research you know about things that I could do to improve
00:35:53.318 --> 00:35:56.318
of the class or, you know, new technologies and things like that.
00:35:56.558 --> 00:36:01.658
So yeah, it has definitely inspired me and got me excited for it.
00:36:02.098 --> 00:36:05.458
Oh, well, it'd be interesting to see what you end up diving into.
00:36:06.398 --> 00:36:08.638
I would, I just like to add to that, that.
00:36:09.468 --> 00:36:17.688
That's where I see real opportunity for people who have to be involved in actual
00:36:17.688 --> 00:36:21.868
SoTL research, you know, people who are involved in degree programs and stuff like that.
00:36:22.088 --> 00:36:26.348
You know, there's a lot of research that goes on and into, for example,
00:36:26.488 --> 00:36:28.548
applied learning, which is what the Trades do.
00:36:28.868 --> 00:36:33.808
And so little of the research that's done is actually applied in our space.
00:36:34.148 --> 00:36:38.068
So it would be really cool to have more of that collaboration so we can grow
00:36:38.068 --> 00:36:40.848
the body of research within the Trades.
00:36:41.208 --> 00:36:46.668
Yeah, Josh has been a actually a really good liaison between Trades and research
00:36:46.668 --> 00:36:50.948
and stuff like that, because he is a licensed electrician.
00:36:51.048 --> 00:36:55.508
When I started here, he was teaching the electrician — can't remember what year it was,
00:36:55.668 --> 00:36:56.948
but he was teaching in the apprenticeship.
00:36:57.188 --> 00:37:00.488
And then he was working on his master's degree in psychology.
00:37:00.828 --> 00:37:05.888
So part of his master's, you know, he he's had to do research and then he's
00:37:05.888 --> 00:37:09.728
also done this research for so for the STEM so he is quite,
00:37:10.208 --> 00:37:13.048
He's quite good at it. Yeah I also want to just comment on
00:37:13.048 --> 00:37:15.948
like the the the value of what you're describing before like
00:37:15.948 --> 00:37:19.408
I really appreciated your your kind of initial definition of of SoTL
00:37:19.408 --> 00:37:22.228
or of like just seeing something
00:37:22.228 --> 00:37:25.548
like a need and trying to to do that thing and I think just that
00:37:25.548 --> 00:37:28.568
more informal approach is so valuable and
00:37:28.568 --> 00:37:31.308
it's often like a much more rapid process where you're saying okay I
00:37:31.308 --> 00:37:34.048
want to get students to reflect on what they're learning and so you tried
00:37:34.048 --> 00:37:36.628
okay well we'll try doing at the end of class okay that's not working I'll try doing at the
00:37:36.628 --> 00:37:39.868
start of class we'll try doing it this way and that can
00:37:39.868 --> 00:37:42.728
be just a really effective way of figuring out what works
00:37:42.728 --> 00:37:45.788
in your context that can be more you know in certain cases can be more effective
00:37:45.788 --> 00:37:50.508
than reading a paper about this is what people say about this but in your specific
00:37:50.508 --> 00:37:53.608
context like you're saying there's not as much research about how does Trades
00:37:53.608 --> 00:37:56.528
specifically... how does this work in a Trades classroom because it's so different
00:37:56.528 --> 00:38:00.688
from a from like a formal academic classroom and stuff like that so just doing
00:38:00.688 --> 00:38:02.488
that type of stuff and being able to find like this is
00:38:02.868 --> 00:38:06.128
what I found worked for my class and sharing at these, you know,
00:38:06.228 --> 00:38:09.248
like kind of local conferences and stuff like that, not necessarily like a published research.
00:38:09.388 --> 00:38:13.828
There's so much value in that more informal scholarship as well.
00:38:14.636 --> 00:38:17.636
Like you were saying about walking out of the lunchroom and people going,
00:38:17.756 --> 00:38:19.516
"Oh, my goodness, does that guy ever stop?"
00:38:21.116 --> 00:38:25.076
Sometimes I ask that about myself. I'm like, oh, jeepers, why don't I just slow down for a second?
00:38:25.216 --> 00:38:29.316
But, you know, if you want to find out more, you're going to want to find out more.
00:38:30.196 --> 00:38:35.096
I think what's interesting, too, is the Trades are constantly evolving.
00:38:35.456 --> 00:38:41.796
New technologies, new engines, new techniques for insulation and new materials.
00:38:41.796 --> 00:38:48.776
It's just a part of your responsibilities as an instructor to stay up to date
00:38:48.776 --> 00:38:55.116
on current requirements, codes, innovations, safety standards.
00:38:55.396 --> 00:38:59.696
And again, scholarly teaching, I think really supports that because it's promoting
00:38:59.696 --> 00:39:05.596
and encouraging that continual learning and kind of improvements that reflective
00:39:05.596 --> 00:39:08.476
practice, try something new, How is this going to work?
00:39:09.076 --> 00:39:13.256
And that's just kind of, to me, the two kind of are embedded.
00:39:13.736 --> 00:39:20.296
And it just seems like a really great discipline in which scholarly teaching can thrive.
00:39:21.276 --> 00:39:27.296
Jaddon, can you speak to where action research might sit in what you've heard
00:39:27.296 --> 00:39:30.736
in the discussion? I think the action research piece, you know,
00:39:30.736 --> 00:39:33.656
it's very much kind of an individual focus.
00:39:34.056 --> 00:39:39.076
So Eric's given a couple examples of trying out what works for him,
00:39:39.276 --> 00:39:41.296
for his class and his students.
00:39:41.296 --> 00:39:48.096
So it's that sort of small-scale iterative process of trying out a new innovation
00:39:48.096 --> 00:39:52.856
in teaching or a new tool in the classroom, assessing how that works,
00:39:53.076 --> 00:39:56.256
making some adjustments, and then trying it again.
00:39:56.256 --> 00:40:00.116
So it's that cyclical process, continual improvement throughout.
00:40:00.396 --> 00:40:05.056
With action research as well, though, it's like, okay, this tool worked really well.
00:40:05.256 --> 00:40:09.156
There's going to be some sharing or disseminating of that knowledge and experience
00:40:09.156 --> 00:40:13.896
with colleagues, but maybe not on such a large scale as I'm going to publish
00:40:13.896 --> 00:40:16.196
this in a journal or present at a conference.
00:40:16.196 --> 00:40:21.536
But certainly with colleagues, within in-house workshops, that's where action
00:40:21.536 --> 00:40:27.316
research can kind of uh disseminate that new knowledge. So that's where you're
00:40:27.316 --> 00:40:30.396
sitting around the lunchroom or coffee break and discussing — "Hey, I tried
00:40:30.396 --> 00:40:31.956
this and it actually worked really good." And
00:40:32.576 --> 00:40:37.096
just sharing that casually around the water cooler. Yeah and I think a lot of
00:40:37.096 --> 00:40:43.116
CTLIs across post-secondaries recognize the value of that type of reflective,
00:40:43.116 --> 00:40:47.056
kind of professional development and they're there to support you,
00:40:47.416 --> 00:40:51.116
support faculty who may be new to research and be like, "Ethics?
00:40:51.336 --> 00:40:53.436
Eek, do I need this or not?"
00:40:53.576 --> 00:40:57.496
But kind of dipping a toe into some classroom research.
00:40:58.540 --> 00:41:01.640
Yeah, I think there's also the value from action research of having people who
00:41:01.640 --> 00:41:02.420
are on the ground, right?
00:41:02.720 --> 00:41:06.140
Either you are the person that's on the ground or you're partnering with someone
00:41:06.140 --> 00:41:10.680
who's on the ground to be trying these things in a real context and not like
00:41:10.680 --> 00:41:11.800
in a laboratory-type setting.
00:41:11.800 --> 00:41:14.680
Because you know like you're saying you can you could try one thing that's
00:41:14.680 --> 00:41:17.660
like oh you know it's good to do reflections but then it just did not
00:41:17.660 --> 00:41:21.440
work in your context and so yeah the like the importance of actually having
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:26.900
someone who's who's in the the in the action, right? That's that's right there
00:41:26.900 --> 00:41:29.840
they can kind of test when something is like oh you know what that did not work
00:41:29.840 --> 00:41:34.880
at all for these very real practical reasons. And I think like I look at — I used
00:41:34.880 --> 00:41:36.940
Kahoot a lot, I still use Kahoot quite a bit.
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:41.740
That worked really well last year and the year before. This year,
00:41:41.880 --> 00:41:45.720
not as well. So am I going to throw that out?
00:41:46.100 --> 00:41:51.880
Absolutely not. I'm going to try it again next year. If it works, great.
00:41:52.080 --> 00:41:58.520
If it doesn't, then I will adapt then. So don't get too discouraged if something
00:41:58.520 --> 00:42:01.380
that was working doesn't work quite as well.
00:42:01.900 --> 00:42:09.520
Try it again, readjust, move on. What are your thoughts on calling yourself
00:42:09.520 --> 00:42:14.480
a researcher or doing sort of research work or scholarly activity?
00:42:14.900 --> 00:42:19.700
Do you think of yourself that way? Is it important to label it as that?
00:42:19.700 --> 00:42:23.640
The action research that everybody's been talking about, that sort of iterative
00:42:23.640 --> 00:42:30.080
process of improvements and trying things and maybe failing and sharing it with your colleagues.
00:42:31.420 --> 00:42:36.660
If that's... that's what's happening in all of our classrooms.
00:42:36.900 --> 00:42:41.420
And so that technically makes us all researchers, but we probably don't call ourselves that.
00:42:41.500 --> 00:42:47.140
In fact, I would never have called myself a researcher until I actually got
00:42:47.140 --> 00:42:49.220
involved in formal research. And
00:42:49.220 --> 00:42:53.900
then I do now only because I had to go through all the steps and hoops.
00:42:54.900 --> 00:42:59.800
But yeah, I see that happening everywhere that I look.
00:43:00.060 --> 00:43:03.480
And none of us are calling ourselves researchers necessarily.
00:43:04.780 --> 00:43:09.060
I'm right there with you, Ryan. I never would have called myself a researcher on things.
00:43:09.380 --> 00:43:14.080
Just somebody who wants things to be the best that they can be.
00:43:14.700 --> 00:43:18.780
So yeah, putting a label on it, I'm a very informal kind of individual.
00:43:19.400 --> 00:43:22.120
I don't like the the accolades of, "Oh you
00:43:22.120 --> 00:43:25.220
did the research on this — congratulations!" No I just, I'm just
00:43:25.220 --> 00:43:28.620
doing things because I want to see them improve. So putting
00:43:28.620 --> 00:43:31.460
a label on it is still challenging for
00:43:31.460 --> 00:43:36.420
me, but you're absolutely right. That is what we're doing every day. Yep we are
00:43:36.420 --> 00:43:40.700
researchers. Yeah I guess to me it's more of like a I guess maybe I see it more
00:43:40.700 --> 00:43:44.900
as like a mindset of yeah I wouldn't have called myself a researcher as a teacher
00:43:44.900 --> 00:43:48.680
but at the same time I was in that same mindset of like, I want to make this
00:43:48.680 --> 00:43:50.240
better. I want to try new things. I want to do this.
00:43:50.900 --> 00:43:52.940
And so just by...
00:43:53.517 --> 00:43:56.117
Doing that constantly, I guess, you know, we would have to do these professional
00:43:56.117 --> 00:43:58.277
growth plans of like, what are you going to be doing to try and improve?
00:43:58.397 --> 00:44:01.177
And I just felt like, well, everything I'm doing is a professional growth plan,
00:44:01.177 --> 00:44:03.697
you know? Like every, when you're, when you kind of have that mindset,
00:44:03.697 --> 00:44:05.277
if I want to learn, I want to try new things.
00:44:06.237 --> 00:44:08.517
You're, you're kind of participating in that process constantly,
00:44:08.517 --> 00:44:12.277
but you can also be just because you're a teacher doesn't mean you're being reflective.
00:44:12.317 --> 00:44:14.717
It doesn't mean you're trying new things, but there's so much value,
00:44:14.737 --> 00:44:19.297
I think in, in the experience of teachers who are actively reflecting,
00:44:19.417 --> 00:44:22.977
trying these different things that can be really hard to capture in like a more
00:44:22.977 --> 00:44:26.917
formal, rigorous academic kind of study.
00:44:27.177 --> 00:44:33.957
I just wanted to add in terms of as educators, we reflect on our practice to continually improve.
00:44:35.037 --> 00:44:40.737
One piece that I feel we've kind of not spoken too much about is we have talked
00:44:40.737 --> 00:44:43.877
a lot about kind of the student experience at the polytechnic.
00:44:44.037 --> 00:44:48.097
One of our imperatives is providing an exceptional student experience.
00:44:48.717 --> 00:44:54.237
And I think it's important to recognize that your students really are partners
00:44:54.237 --> 00:44:56.517
in that kind of research journey with you.
00:44:56.737 --> 00:45:02.537
So whether it's a Kahoot or the exit slips, they're engaged,
00:45:02.677 --> 00:45:06.717
they're participating in that sort of that research little study,
00:45:06.897 --> 00:45:09.037
informal study that you're doing with your students.
00:45:09.177 --> 00:45:15.217
The feedback they're giving you is letting you know whether this is working or not.
00:45:15.377 --> 00:45:18.837
So they are players and they are partners in that research process
00:45:18.837 --> 00:45:21.977
and I think you can look at different levels of engagement
00:45:21.977 --> 00:45:24.797
in which you want students to be a part of that but it's
00:45:24.797 --> 00:45:30.677
I think it's a really important learning opportunity for your students as well
00:45:30.677 --> 00:45:36.477
and it can empower them as part of that kind of learning journey in your class.
00:45:36.477 --> 00:45:40.757
How can we make this lesson better? Getting feedback, getting input from them
00:45:40.757 --> 00:45:43.177
as well is a really, a real key piece of that...
00:45:43.849 --> 00:45:45.209
that improvement that we're all
00:45:45.209 --> 00:45:49.829
seeking in the classroom. I think there's something really powerful there,
00:45:49.849 --> 00:45:55.109
because if we are, if we are getting feedback from our students and we are demonstrating
00:45:55.109 --> 00:45:59.689
that we are using that feedback from our students, we're creating that culture
00:45:59.689 --> 00:46:04.549
that that feedback actually matters and, and their voice does have...
00:46:05.449 --> 00:46:06.749
Power to change things.
00:46:06.749 --> 00:46:10.489
And if you're able to constantly demonstrate that it, it causes,
00:46:10.489 --> 00:46:15.749
it causes more feedback to come and better feedback to come and it will shape
00:46:15.749 --> 00:46:16.949
your teaching practice for sure.
00:46:17.509 --> 00:46:21.709
Yeah, I agree with that 100%. If the student feels, you know,
00:46:22.009 --> 00:46:27.009
validated in their opinion, I never really thought about this until just you were saying this.
00:46:27.349 --> 00:46:31.729
I've asked students, I'm like, hey, can you, you know, as you're wiring up this
00:46:31.729 --> 00:46:34.769
window motor to demonstrate how it works outside of the vehicle,
00:46:34.929 --> 00:46:39.009
I said, if you do a good job, I'll include that in my classroom.
00:46:39.349 --> 00:46:42.649
And so that got them excited to know that a part of them and
00:46:42.649 --> 00:46:45.669
a part of their experience here is going to live on here
00:46:45.669 --> 00:46:49.449
in other people's learning. So if I
00:46:49.449 --> 00:46:52.329
were to you know make a conscious effort to let the
00:46:52.329 --> 00:46:56.169
students know at the beginning of the year you guys are going to help me grow
00:46:56.169 --> 00:47:02.629
this program to make others better in the future that will probably I would
00:47:02.629 --> 00:47:06.869
like to hypothesize that that's going to make them better. And right now there's
00:47:06.869 --> 00:47:10.909
there's a research aspect right? So I can go into the fall semester...
00:47:11.449 --> 00:47:17.929
Okay, I'm going to watch to see how these students receive the invitation to
00:47:17.929 --> 00:47:21.889
grow and to be part of my research and then see where we go at the end of the year.
00:47:22.669 --> 00:47:24.629
There's a SoTL study. There you go!
00:47:25.809 --> 00:47:31.729
So on that note, Jaddon, if someone wants to do as Ryan has done and kind of
00:47:31.729 --> 00:47:36.369
take that next step from scholarly teaching, but to move into kind of research,
00:47:36.369 --> 00:47:39.509
Are there some suggestions to make it
00:47:40.302 --> 00:47:44.622
a little less painful? To go through those processes, especially for the first time?
00:47:44.902 --> 00:47:48.702
I would start by reaching out to your Centre for Teaching and Learning.
00:47:48.902 --> 00:47:56.082
They have a team there with experience that can support faculty with the research journey,
00:47:56.262 --> 00:48:02.002
whether they want to dive into a full SoTL-type study or just kind of follow
00:48:02.002 --> 00:48:05.682
more of a systematic action research process.
00:48:05.862 --> 00:48:10.222
Either way, there's folks there that can support. And then, you know,
00:48:10.482 --> 00:48:17.582
there's a plethora of other resources online that can kind of give faculty some
00:48:17.582 --> 00:48:20.142
basic information about SoTL.
00:48:20.562 --> 00:48:25.982
There are some, you know, a SoTL study has certain kind of requirements you're going to be doing.
00:48:26.202 --> 00:48:29.542
One, it has to be grounded in kind of student learning.
00:48:29.722 --> 00:48:33.562
There needs to be, it needs to be done in partnership with students.
00:48:33.702 --> 00:48:37.662
So what Eric was just talking about, there's the partnership element.
00:48:37.662 --> 00:48:41.262
It does need to be methodologically sound.
00:48:41.582 --> 00:48:48.082
There needs to be a research method and some ethics approvals,
00:48:48.082 --> 00:48:50.942
and you would have to go through your ethics research board.
00:48:50.942 --> 00:48:56.562
So there are the wonderful steps that Ryan was talking about and having such
00:48:56.562 --> 00:48:58.762
a positive experience going through.
00:48:59.082 --> 00:49:03.882
And there's also an expectation that they're going to share that resource and
00:49:03.882 --> 00:49:09.542
that research and that new knowledge publicly, be it as an open education resource
00:49:09.542 --> 00:49:13.682
presenting at a conference or some type of a publication.
00:49:14.702 --> 00:49:16.802
And Ryan, do you have advice for
00:49:16.802 --> 00:49:19.662
others who would want to follow in your footsteps in doing that research?
00:49:19.742 --> 00:49:23.882
Or what has helped you? Find somebody who has done it before.
00:49:24.322 --> 00:49:31.042
So I, I leaned heavily on somebody I knew had been involved in research,
00:49:31.042 --> 00:49:35.802
has a good knowledge of what the research ethics board is looking for,
00:49:35.802 --> 00:49:44.162
and was able to sort of shape my initial application such that it wouldn't be
00:49:44.162 --> 00:49:48.422
a huge sort of rework when it came back to me with changes.
00:49:48.662 --> 00:49:54.822
And so really the best thing that I think is get that person, find that person.
00:49:55.082 --> 00:49:59.722
And, you know, SAIT has people who do that. I'm sure Lethbridge Poly does too.
00:50:00.162 --> 00:50:05.342
Great. Thank you. That's wonderful advice. I'm curious to know what is next
00:50:05.342 --> 00:50:10.222
for both Eric and Ryan. You're both really busy innovators.
00:50:10.402 --> 00:50:13.822
So I'm curious what projects you have coming up on the horizon?
00:50:15.082 --> 00:50:20.842
Well, just yesterday I was approached about doing a motorcycle maintenance course. So...
00:50:21.370 --> 00:50:23.710
We'll see where that goes. I got a meeting at two o'clock on that one.
00:50:23.930 --> 00:50:30.170
So, but no, with the curriculum changes in the Alberta apprenticeship for first
00:50:30.170 --> 00:50:34.010
and second year in the automotive trade, we have new modules coming out.
00:50:34.170 --> 00:50:40.090
We have introduced air conditioning, identification, recovery into first year
00:50:40.090 --> 00:50:41.430
where it used to be in fourth year.
00:50:41.610 --> 00:50:46.710
But in our certificate program here, we're actually doing all of air conditioning.
00:50:46.710 --> 00:50:54.370
So I need to develop and get some labs going and get some lesson plans going and things like that.
00:50:54.630 --> 00:50:57.350
Luckily, I have, like you're saying, with the research part of it,
00:50:57.430 --> 00:51:01.430
I do have people to lean on and ask questions and give me a hand.
00:51:01.590 --> 00:51:06.290
But you can bet that I'm probably going to be putting a thing or two into ChatGPT
00:51:06.290 --> 00:51:09.630
and see what kind of ideas they can give me.
00:51:10.490 --> 00:51:17.690
Sounds exciting. I love that. So it's interesting how doing these things and,
00:51:17.690 --> 00:51:21.190
you know, like micro-credentials in your case, Eric,
00:51:21.390 --> 00:51:27.850
or creating a guide or doing, you know, research on podcasting and the podcast itself.
00:51:27.990 --> 00:51:33.330
It's amazing how stuff like that, activities like that, end up sort of putting
00:51:33.330 --> 00:51:36.750
you in places that you might not have necessarily been in.
00:51:37.270 --> 00:51:42.050
So, you know, right now I'm working at sort of updating my guide a little bit with a few things.
00:51:42.630 --> 00:51:45.850
But also, I have about a year of research to do ahead of me.
00:51:46.310 --> 00:51:50.790
And on top of that, you know, like I was kind of hinting at,
00:51:50.950 --> 00:51:58.330
the AI guide has set me onto a path that has allowed me to sort of work and continue to work.
00:51:58.450 --> 00:52:03.690
And we're trying to figure out how to shape AI-use at SAIT right now.
00:52:03.810 --> 00:52:08.210
And so that's going to be the big sort of push over the next little bit for me, I think.
00:52:08.850 --> 00:52:15.130
Ryan, is there, you know, any way to access that? How do I personally get my hands on that guide?
00:52:16.096 --> 00:52:20.236
Craig has it. Oh, well, perfect. Is it posted on your website, Ryan?
00:52:20.556 --> 00:52:26.856
It's posted on our, I don't, I can't really guide you to a website that doesn't exist anymore, really.
00:52:27.276 --> 00:52:32.716
The old, so we used to be CADI, which is the Centre for Academic Development and Innovation.
00:52:35.096 --> 00:52:37.416
But realistically, I can probably
00:52:37.416 --> 00:52:41.376
get it to a few key people at Lethbridge Poly that get it out to you.
00:52:41.696 --> 00:52:45.176
That would be great. Yeah, because I know myself and my team teacher,
00:52:45.316 --> 00:52:49.676
both of us have, you know, looked at it, dabbled with it, but it'd be great to have a guide.
00:52:50.296 --> 00:52:54.696
Absolutely. Thanks. We're always interested in hearing firsthand stories,
00:52:54.696 --> 00:52:59.796
so are there any stories that you can share of, you know, sort of firsthand
00:52:59.796 --> 00:53:05.056
impact, some of the impact that what you've done has had on a learner or learners?
00:53:06.016 --> 00:53:11.896
Yeah. So one of the things that we saw coming up about a year ago,
00:53:12.136 --> 00:53:15.896
we were going to have some serious growth in the Trades.
00:53:16.196 --> 00:53:24.776
So we had 52, I think, new faculty starts this year in our Trades programs.
00:53:25.476 --> 00:53:31.256
And myself and one of my colleagues created a new instructor coaching program.
00:53:31.256 --> 00:53:37.156
So the idea is everything that we wanted, we wish we would have known when we
00:53:37.156 --> 00:53:42.236
started teaching, we wanted to provide that to them in sort of small chunks
00:53:42.236 --> 00:53:44.216
over the course of about six months,
00:53:44.556 --> 00:53:46.316
12 sessions, two hours a piece.
00:53:47.136 --> 00:53:51.976
And in a real sort of coaching format where we're guiding a discussion,
00:53:51.976 --> 00:53:57.176
we're not standing in front of anybody talking, but we wanted them to sort of
00:53:57.176 --> 00:54:01.396
talk about AI. We wanted them to talk about Bright Space, which is our learning management system.
00:54:01.616 --> 00:54:06.316
We wanted them to explore other educational technologies.
00:54:07.076 --> 00:54:11.216
We wanted them to explore classroom management and neurodivergent students and
00:54:11.216 --> 00:54:12.356
the whole kitten caboodle.
00:54:13.236 --> 00:54:18.756
And so, you know, a couple of those faculty that have started and,
00:54:18.816 --> 00:54:24.756
you know, I kind of hinted at the faculty member that was new and using AI.
00:54:24.756 --> 00:54:30.596
And I just I'm I'm incredibly optimistic for the group who started because they're
00:54:30.596 --> 00:54:34.816
really starting off on the right foot with, you know, getting help from AI.
00:54:35.136 --> 00:54:38.856
They know how to use our learning management system. We've talked about and
00:54:38.856 --> 00:54:45.076
we've constantly talked about classroom management and and UDL and neurodivergent
00:54:45.076 --> 00:54:49.436
students and EAL students and how we can make our classrooms better for them.
00:54:49.436 --> 00:54:54.176
And so, you know, seeing a few of those people just really blossom at a very,
00:54:54.356 --> 00:54:57.056
very early point in their career has been extremely rewarding.
00:54:57.911 --> 00:55:01.951
Yeah, that's very exciting. And that's a big group of faculty. That's fantastic.
00:55:02.351 --> 00:55:05.811
And we're doing them in small groups. So it's a lot of small groups,
00:55:06.071 --> 00:55:13.091
but it's, you know, five to seven people at a time having a very sort of intimate,
00:55:13.091 --> 00:55:16.651
it's not really the best word, but that's the word I'm going to use, sort of setting.
00:55:17.171 --> 00:55:20.971
Yeah, it sounds like you would have very rich discussion. I might take mine
00:55:20.971 --> 00:55:23.371
a little bit different instead of the instructor side of it,
00:55:23.491 --> 00:55:27.271
the learner side of it, Just trying to think of, you know, what have I seen
00:55:27.271 --> 00:55:31.791
in the last four years as far as, you know, including students.
00:55:32.071 --> 00:55:36.331
And now I'm realizing that having the students be part of my,
00:55:36.491 --> 00:55:39.371
you know, my research, I'd mentioned the window wiper motor.
00:55:40.551 --> 00:55:44.631
That student that I had do that, actually, the year before the student came
00:55:44.631 --> 00:55:46.871
in, she wanted to do the student for the day.
00:55:47.271 --> 00:55:50.871
Women in the Trades is a little, you know, it's, we're getting more and more
00:55:50.871 --> 00:55:54.591
in. And she was a very petite individual, was nervous that she wasn't going
00:55:54.591 --> 00:55:56.071
to have the physical stature to do it.
00:55:56.171 --> 00:56:01.111
So came in for the student for the day program, signed up, really loved it,
00:56:01.371 --> 00:56:03.491
signed up, came in, did the whole program.
00:56:03.991 --> 00:56:09.191
With that student there, I was able to, you know, engage her to say,
00:56:09.311 --> 00:56:13.571
OK, you're building this window wiper motor, make it nice.
00:56:13.851 --> 00:56:15.691
And I'll include that in the classroom.
00:56:16.311 --> 00:56:19.451
She really enjoyed electrical really grasped it
00:56:19.451 --> 00:56:22.151
really really well which is always exciting for me because that's one
00:56:22.151 --> 00:56:25.131
of my favorite topics. The lab book
00:56:25.131 --> 00:56:30.831
that I had there it was an iteration of other instructors lab books that I've
00:56:30.831 --> 00:56:34.871
changed and tweaked and and afterwards she came to me she's like, "You know it'd
00:56:34.871 --> 00:56:39.371
be great if instead of just going straight into the calculations portion of
00:56:39.371 --> 00:56:42.311
circuits if we could have practice pages."
00:56:43.112 --> 00:56:45.792
Well, that's perfect. You know, there's, there's the suggestion there.
00:56:46.192 --> 00:56:49.232
So I've, I implemented that into this year's lab book.
00:56:49.312 --> 00:56:51.972
So now they go through, they learn about the circuit series,
00:56:52.132 --> 00:56:56.852
then they do calculations for the series, and then they go in and they do the one that's for marks.
00:56:57.232 --> 00:57:01.292
So with that student's suggestions, I was able to ask any other,
00:57:01.532 --> 00:57:04.492
you know, what do you suggest? What would you like to see?
00:57:04.632 --> 00:57:07.832
And then honestly taking that in and not just being, you know what,
00:57:07.852 --> 00:57:09.132
I'm the instructor, I'm smarter than you.
00:57:09.332 --> 00:57:13.232
No, because they're trying to work through and read through.
00:57:13.332 --> 00:57:16.932
I know what they want, but sometimes maybe my language isn't clear in that lab book.
00:57:17.372 --> 00:57:20.932
And so to rely on my students to get a little bit more clarification.
00:57:21.532 --> 00:57:27.752
This student is now sitting part of the Alberta Youth Apprenticeship Initiative.
00:57:27.752 --> 00:57:29.532
I can't remember the exact title to it.
00:57:29.792 --> 00:57:37.792
So it's been great to see a student go from, I don't know if I can physically do this career path —
00:57:37.932 --> 00:57:43.752
I really like this — to now I'm working with the minister of advanced education.
00:57:44.172 --> 00:57:49.172
You know, she's met her a few times and worked with her. So I would say that's a bit of a success story.
00:57:49.312 --> 00:57:52.952
I know she'd mentioned something about meeting somebody from Toronto as well
00:57:52.952 --> 00:57:54.832
on the federal side of things. Amazing.
00:57:55.092 --> 00:57:58.312
So I'm curious to see where that goes because that to
00:57:58.312 --> 00:58:01.772
me I would say that's one of those impactful stories
00:58:01.772 --> 00:58:05.272
and it helped me develop my
00:58:05.272 --> 00:58:08.672
course better by having student input. Oh what
00:58:08.672 --> 00:58:14.292
an amazing journey. Yeah, yeah. I just wanted to jump in Ryan's comment about or
00:58:14.292 --> 00:58:18.412
the story about how they have the new instructor orientation program that's
00:58:18.412 --> 00:58:23.872
over six months to me what kind of jumped out was... that's a great example
00:58:23.872 --> 00:58:25.292
of scholarly teaching again,
00:58:25.532 --> 00:58:29.632
but sort of like a Community of Practice where you have new instructors that
00:58:29.632 --> 00:58:31.192
are coming together regularly,
00:58:31.472 --> 00:58:35.952
talking about the challenges they're facing, talking about what's working, what's not,
00:58:36.352 --> 00:58:40.772
and likely sharing best practices, sharing new ideas.
00:58:41.032 --> 00:58:45.672
So that sort of cross-fertilization of knowledge and experience.
00:58:46.677 --> 00:58:53.837
Great example, again. Is there a unique perspective that you bring to your teaching
00:58:53.837 --> 00:58:56.937
coming from the Trades background?
00:58:57.777 --> 00:59:05.057
I alluded to sort of my unique experience in being a mechanic for a private
00:59:05.057 --> 00:59:07.517
business in town, in Lethbridge, here.
00:59:07.637 --> 00:59:13.677
And then that developed into the customized camper van building, right?
00:59:13.677 --> 00:59:16.617
So I didn't have any lab book or sorry any
00:59:16.617 --> 00:59:19.277
(I'm stuck on lab books) I didn't have any workshop manuals or
00:59:19.277 --> 00:59:22.197
things like that we were doing four-wheel drive
00:59:22.197 --> 00:59:25.237
conversions on you know passenger vans we
00:59:25.237 --> 00:59:28.477
were building interiors wiring all of
00:59:28.477 --> 00:59:31.177
that stuff I was figuring it out myself so it really gave me
00:59:31.177 --> 00:59:34.997
the opportunity like I said to be creative. To discover.
00:59:34.997 --> 00:59:37.817
Well that didn't work and let's try something else
00:59:37.817 --> 00:59:41.017
here. And so my personal background on
00:59:41.017 --> 00:59:44.137
this of is one of discovery because I
00:59:44.137 --> 00:59:47.317
worked at a location where I got to explore
00:59:47.317 --> 00:59:51.357
and I got to experiment. So that
00:59:51.357 --> 00:59:54.997
would be I would say it would be my personal background on that. Okay, that's
00:59:54.997 --> 00:59:59.737
amazing yeah so you've brought that to your teaching (Yeah.) pedagogy. Yep, yep. I
00:59:59.737 --> 01:00:06.837
would say that first the way that Trades people are taught and the way that
01:00:06.837 --> 01:00:09.757
we tend to learn is very relational.
01:00:10.277 --> 01:00:15.117
And so, you know, you're learning from a journey person or you're learning from,
01:00:15.337 --> 01:00:16.697
you know, an instructor.
01:00:17.077 --> 01:00:22.317
And so there's this idea of sharing knowledge and experience that exists within
01:00:22.317 --> 01:00:24.517
the Trades that I think is very, very cool.
01:00:24.937 --> 01:00:33.897
The other part that I sort of see a lot of is that Trades people are big problem solvers.
01:00:33.897 --> 01:00:40.337
We go in and fix stuff or we go in to create something new to solve a problem.
01:00:40.637 --> 01:00:44.557
And so, you know, when you think about, you know, we talked about action research,
01:00:44.557 --> 01:00:48.657
that's about sort of constantly problem solving, seeing something,
01:00:49.137 --> 01:00:54.717
trying something, changing it, moving on, sharing that, the relational side.
01:00:54.717 --> 01:01:00.577
And that I think is what I see the most of in our Trades instructors here at
01:01:00.577 --> 01:01:05.977
SAIT and what we all sort of as Trades people bring to education.
01:01:06.397 --> 01:01:10.457
Thank you, Ryan. Yeah, that's really a fascinating perspective.
01:01:10.917 --> 01:01:13.097
I think what's exciting again is,
01:01:14.071 --> 01:01:17.831
It's happening. It's happening every day. It's just kind of organically happening
01:01:17.831 --> 01:01:19.851
in your classrooms and Trades.
01:01:20.031 --> 01:01:23.331
And I just think as someone working in a CTLI...
01:01:24.431 --> 01:01:31.691
I'd like to help promote that or help people recognize what it is they're doing
01:01:31.691 --> 01:01:36.851
and kind of celebrate the value of kind of engaging in scholarly research.
01:01:37.231 --> 01:01:41.591
Action research, and so on and recognize, "Hey, we do this a lot.
01:01:41.731 --> 01:01:46.171
We're pretty damn good at it." And as someone who has, you know,
01:01:46.211 --> 01:01:49.511
my four years here, CTLI is my second home.
01:01:49.731 --> 01:01:54.491
Come up there, give you guys a hard time, but you guys have always been so helpful
01:01:54.491 --> 01:01:58.591
helping me, you know, through any questions, any problems that I've had,
01:01:58.731 --> 01:02:00.231
giving me new ideas that work with me.
01:02:00.351 --> 01:02:04.671
So I just want to thank you from myself and, you know, everyone that I work
01:02:04.671 --> 01:02:05.911
with who's utilized you.
01:02:05.911 --> 01:02:10.951
Yeah, I'll just say too that the, I think the, not just the Trade instructor's
01:02:10.951 --> 01:02:14.531
perspective, but also just the way that Trades are taught, I think lends itself
01:02:14.531 --> 01:02:17.691
so well to like really great teaching practices.
01:02:18.031 --> 01:02:21.191
A few weeks ago on the podcast, we were talking about how, you know,
01:02:21.311 --> 01:02:25.411
how much effort we had to put in to make an online course more relational or more
01:02:25.411 --> 01:02:27.451
like personal and that sort of thing.
01:02:27.451 --> 01:02:30.571
And I think, Ryan, like you're saying, Trades, I think, very naturally,
01:02:30.811 --> 01:02:34.311
you're teaching hands-on learning in a small group setting where,
01:02:34.311 --> 01:02:41.031
you know, it lends itself so well to these really wonderful teaching practices
01:02:41.031 --> 01:02:43.171
where you get to know your students very well.
01:02:43.371 --> 01:02:45.651
It's not teaching in a lecture hall with 100 people.
01:02:45.891 --> 01:02:48.911
It's not going through slides for hours and hours.
01:02:49.051 --> 01:02:52.911
You're experiencing the work that you're doing. So I think there's like a lot
01:02:52.911 --> 01:02:57.071
that we can learn from Trades instruction and what is working well there.
01:02:57.071 --> 01:03:00.631
Because I think in a lot of ways, it is the thing that other classrooms are
01:03:00.631 --> 01:03:02.831
trying to aspire to, but it's difficult to get there.
01:03:03.031 --> 01:03:05.731
It's easy to make the connection, the real-world connection in the Trades,
01:03:05.851 --> 01:03:07.471
I find, because everyone's driven a vehicle.
01:03:08.371 --> 01:03:11.211
Everyone's gone into a building. Everyone's flushed a toilet.
01:03:11.531 --> 01:03:13.811
You know, there's three Trades right there.
01:03:14.491 --> 01:03:19.031
And others as well, right? You know, welders welding up beams and things like
01:03:19.031 --> 01:03:21.771
that. So, yeah, there's, it's easy to draw that connection.
01:03:22.131 --> 01:03:27.351
I just wanted to say one more thing. As Eric was talking about kind of the excitement
01:03:27.351 --> 01:03:31.551
of his job where he was creating and just the joy of discovery.
01:03:31.911 --> 01:03:37.811
And I think helping faculty kind of step into that research journey,
01:03:38.211 --> 01:03:45.491
being it just scholarly teaching or SoTL, it really does. It is all about discovery and ways of...
01:03:46.011 --> 01:03:49.951
providing a more enriching student experience. So, yeah.
01:03:50.411 --> 01:03:55.191
Yeah. And the creative part is really a big part of it. For sure. Yeah.
01:03:55.531 --> 01:04:00.271
All right. Well, thank you very much, all of you, for joining me today.
01:04:00.531 --> 01:04:04.931
It's been an absolutely amazing conversation that's gone in many different directions,
01:04:04.931 --> 01:04:10.511
but very, very fascinating and so exciting to hear about the wonderful work that everyone is doing.
01:04:10.771 --> 01:04:15.551
I'll be very interested to hear about the future work that you're doing as well
01:04:15.551 --> 01:04:20.831
and some of the different collaborations, it's very inspiring to hear.
01:04:21.191 --> 01:04:23.191
Thanks, Donna. It's been a pleasure and an honour.
01:04:23.991 --> 01:04:28.031
Thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you. It's been great. This has definitely helped me out.
01:04:28.351 --> 01:04:32.811
Yeah, thanks so much. This is very, very cool to connect with another school
01:04:32.811 --> 01:04:35.611
and our friends at Lethbridge Poly.
01:04:36.111 --> 01:04:40.431
This episode featured Donna McLaughlin as host and Ryan Mann,
01:04:40.811 --> 01:04:44.651
Eric Mitchell, Jaddon Park, and Craig McCarthy as guests.
01:04:45.451 --> 01:04:50.291
Jordana Gagnon was our producer. Ryan Robinson was our sound technician and editor.
01:04:51.031 --> 01:04:56.791
Special thanks to Julie Mooney, educational developer at SAIT's Centre for Teaching
01:04:56.791 --> 01:04:59.291
and Learning for connecting us with Ryan Mann.
01:04:59.791 --> 01:05:04.171
Our podcast is funded by Lethbridge Polytechnic's Centre for Teaching,
01:05:04.451 --> 01:05:09.991
Learning and Innovation and recorded on the traditional lands of the Blackfoot Confederacy.
01:05:10.351 --> 01:05:16.611
For more episodes, head to learninginnovation.ca Thanks for listening and take care.