WestCAST

I have to be honest I was a little hesitant of presenting at WestCAST. I pictured a group of people presenting to a large group of people in the gym and it overwhelmed me! However, after attending and presenting my opinion is completely different. I had such an amazing time and I learned a lot. I cannot image the work you and some of the other professors must have done to make it a success.

One session that I attended was on engagement. The presenter was extremely knowledgeable in her field and successfully taught how to get students engaged. Her ideas included rewording things so that students are excited to learn. Place assignments in envelopes so that gets are curious as to what their assignment is and build up that anticipation, then they can’t wait to rip it open and see what it is. Turn things into a game, so that it seems fun for students and they feel as though they aren’t forced to learn from you (this feeling depends on the grade). Finally teach with enthusiasm and passion, so it transfers into their learning.

Another session that I went to was all about rubrics and evaluation. She emphasized the importance of rubrics for assessment. She believed it was important to make a student friendly rubric and go over it with the class so that they can understand what is expected of them. That way the assignment is set out in advanced and the grades are recorded fairly. Many of us at the session felt that we would have loved the session to be long, because we were learning so much.

My favourite part of the event was presenting. Everyone wants to be there and they are excited to hear your ideas and I found that to be an extremely positive feeling. The sessions that I went to I learned a lot at and know I will incorporate the ideas into my teaching. I feel as though I got a lot out of conference and I know others did as well!