It has been a busy fall within the English as an Additional Language (EAL) Centre and the Writing Centre of the Academic Success Centre. We have been working collaboratively with many programs to support the language and writing skill development of students, expanding our reach of program supports across the college. We have been expanding the self-directed resources available to students and instructors. Additionally, we have been continuing to support students with individual tutoring, for both language and writing skill development. We invite you to learn about the range of supports we have been delivering this term, and to find out more about how to get involved with our team! 

Integrated EAL Supports: 

Our team has continued to demonstrate flexibility and creativity this fall, in our delivery of language development in the online environment. Some examples of our current range of EAL supports integrated across academic programs include: 

• The practice, delivery, and assessment of hosting and serving role-plays for Hospitality and Tourism Management students in the Jane’s dining experience. 
• The development and delivery of professional presentation skills for students in International Business, to address both technology and speaking skill development.  
• Language support to prepare for employment-related language tasks, including developing resume and cover letters, with Civil and Electrical Engineering Technology students, including collaboration with Student Employment Services. 
• The development of speaking skills critical for program and coop success for Early Childhood Education students through small group and individualized online speaking practice. 

For more information about Integrated EAL Supports across programs, visit us online or email EALsupport@rrc.ca. 

Integrated Writing Supports: 

The Writing Centre has continued to work closely with a range of college programs to offer support for students with larger writing assignments in the fall term.   Some examples of current integrated writing support include: 

• Weekly participation in Nursing’s Scholarly Writing-1501 writing communities peer-review sessions, offering ongoing guidance with research techniques and writing process questions and conversations. 
• Planning with Diagnostic Medical Sonography faculty to provide research paper support starting in November. 
• The development of a peer-tutor writing program and the hiring of three peer-tutors to support Creative Communications students to address identified needs. 
• Writing workshops and individual consultations for students in Disability and Community Support, Comm-1174 and DCSP 2190 courses. 

A range of synchronous group supports are also available through the Writing Centre, including workshops on the following topics:  

• Writing for College 
• APA Basics and APA Advanced 
• Research Papers 
• Professional Writing 
• Proposal Writing 
• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing 

If these topics will not address your needs, Writing Centre staff is happy work with faculty to customize workshop content. For more questions about or to book Writing Centre workshops, visit us online or contact Nick Schroeder at writing@rrc.ca. 

“Communication Strategies” Resources: 

With the launch of the newly developed suite of Communication courses, including COMM-1162, COMM-1173, COMM-2174, and COMM-3175, the EAL and Writing Centres have developed a “Communication Strategies Student Resources” landing page with a range of self-directed supports to assist students to develop the communication strategies required for success across these courses, including advocating, clarifying, investigating, making decisions, organizing, participating, planning, questioning, reflecting, repairing, and setting goals. We invite students to explore these resources to continue to strengthen these human skills, which are critical for success in both the college and the workplace. 

We have also developed a parallel “Communication Strategies Faculty Resources” landing page to support instructors with students’ skill development relating to the 11 core strategies within the core Communication courses at Red River College. The resources in this webpage incorporate tools to develop and apply the 11 core strategies in class, at work, and at home for students to communicate and enhance their human skills. 

For more information or questions about these resources, or our collaboration with the Math, Science, and Communication department, please contact us at EALsupport@rrc.ca. 

Self-Directed Learning Resources: 

We have continued to expand the range of self-directed learning resources available to both students and faculty to support language and writing skill development. A small selection of our vast range of resources includes the following: 

• 15 Hybrid LEARNing modules: These offer learning strategies and resources that faculty can share with their students to further develop foundational skills for success in their studies; they can be embedded directly into LEARN courses, or students can self-enroll. 

• Get Red River Ready: This hub helps students to get oriented and ready for their studies, including many recordings and resources on academic skills, communication and language skills for college, Diversity training, International Education, library research, technology skills, and more! 
• Use the following videos as a starting point to learn on your own about three writing skills essential to student success. 
• Student Success Skills.  These resources and website links can help you as you complete your course work. 

Individual and Small Group Tutoring: 

As always, we have individual and small group EAL tutoring and writing tutoring available for free, at students’ request and by instructor referral. Learn more about helping your students connect with us, and connect with us at EALsupport@rrc.ca or writing@rrc.ca with any questions. 

We look forward to collaborating with and supporting you and your students! 

EAL and Writing Centre Team 

Over the summer, ASC staff have been hard at work redeveloping and expanding the Academic Success Centre’s study skills workshops into our brand new suite of Academic Skills Workshops:

• Using Academic Supports
  In this workshop, students will learn how to recognize and anticipate when they need to seek learning support, they will become familiar with the available academic supports at the college and online self-directed resources, and hear about key strategies for student success.
• Applying Technology Literacy
  In this workshop, students will be introduced to College-approved programs and applications that will be part of their daily lives as Red River College students. We will review HUB, Office 365 including Outlook and Teams, Webex, and LEARN, along with tips for student success.
• Adapting to Online Learning
  In this workshop, students will learn helpful strategies for learning in an online environment. This includes adjusting study strategies, creating a dedicated home workspace, and connecting with their learning community.
• Managing Time
  Time management is important for attending class, completing assignments well and on time, and optimizing study sessions. When time management is lacking, students can get overwhelmed and frustrated and fall behind in their studies. In this workshop, students will learn about managing their time, making healthy choices, and prioritizing their tasks so they can succeed in their learning.
• Developing Study Skills
  As a student at Red River College it is important to develop successful online and home study skills. During this workshop students will learn how to make the most of their online classes, study successfully at home by using effective learning strategies, and manage their time by prioritizing their academic] tasks.
• Practicing Teamwork
  Team projects have dual goals: for students to complete a project that would not be achievable alone, in a set timeline and for students to learn and practice the skills required for working with others through a collaborative process. This workshop builds on the traits of effective teams as it offers advice on navigating common team conflict issues.
• Student Orientation (10 minutes)
  In this orientation, students will become familiar with the available academic supports at the college and online self-directed resources, and hear about key strategies for student success.

Each workshop will guide students through the active learning strategies needed for success at college. Our workshops are designed to be student-centered and interactive, and are best delivered when modified to suit the specific needs of RRC programs.

To book: Faculty may now start requesting Academic Skills Workshops for their classes by completing the Academic Skills Workshop Request Form. Faculty should book well in advance to ensure ASC staff have time to modify workshop plans to suit your program’s current needs.

Faculty Guide: For descriptions and learning outcomes for each workshop, please consult the Academic Success Workshops – Faculty Guide.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with you and your students. We trust this suite of workshops not only enhances student success skills, but aids in their course success through intentional learning, class engagement, and general desire to learn! If you have questions or would appreciate further details about any of the workshops, please email tutoring@rrc.ca.

Image: Rafabollas / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Open Access (OA) week 2020 will be hosted internationally October 19 – 25. Open access is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of cost or other access barriers. With open access strictly defined, barriers to copying or reuse are also reduced or removed by applying an open license for copyright. We see the principles of OA in Open Education. [i]

Event:

If you want to learn more about Open Access and the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) be sure to register for the Red River College Open Access Week Event here: Open Educational Resources (OER) adoption and adaptation Session  – Oct. 20, Noon – 1PM  hosted by the Red River College Copyright Officer in partnership with Campus Manitoba.

In the Spirit of OA week let’s ask ourselves some complicated questions:

Why should Open Access Matter to Educators?

Sun Yang associate professor of China University of Political Science and Law stated “It is naturally accepted that teachers should have the authority to determine the specific use of their course materials by third parties, including their students. Without their permission, no one should copy, distribute, delete or modify the copyrighted course content. In an offline environment, copyright is controlled through physical copies which are purchased. This becomes a challenge in online classrooms.”[ii]

While the original goal of the Open Educational Resource (OER) initiatives was to make higher education more accessible by reducing students costs through the use of openly licensed textbooks these resources now serve educators in the wake of a pandemic as valuable and adaptable tools for the online classroom. OER supports Open Access principles by freely allowing modifications, adaptations, and format transitions without the need to seek costly or time consuming copyright permissions for modification to fit online institutional environments, platforms and classrooms.

The restrictive licensing agreements and terms of copyright applied to many digital textbooks and supplementary materials from publishers make it difficult to adapt materials in new ways to engage students in online learning environments. Materials can further have restrictive licensing agreements that make it confusing to establish when the material can be used in conjunction with a Learning Management System (LMS/LEARN). OER’s have become powerful tools in aiding educators in the adaptability they need to function in continually changing teaching environments that can move from the classroom in person, to digital online learning with little notice and their access to the physical resources of their institutional libraries continues to be limited or completely cut off.

Why Should Open Access Matter to Students?

UNESCO stated that, “…as of 17 May 2020, almost 1.21 billion learners were affected (by the global pandemic), accounting for 69.3% of the world’s student population. The global education community continues to face the major challenge of providing interactive and motivating educational experience during school and university closure. In this special situation, Open Educational Resources (OER) have never been so urgently and broadly needed like today.”[iii]

OER’s can involve students directly in the adaption and building of the learning materials they engage with. They allow students to contribute to online education which can be built upon by others around the globe and allow classes and instructors to source global perspectives to incorporate into College programs. These skills as well as the experience of involvement in the creation of resources for teaching and instruction ensure the student experience is intellectually rigorous, experiential and robust. Student involvement in OER development and adaptation can upon graduation stand as a real world example of experience and skills gained by the student in their education. This can be helpful in providing prospective employers meaningful examples of not only the skills they have acquired but “what” they have accomplished during their studies, in contributing to educational resources that can be used by other educational institutions around the globe.

OER’s and Open Access resources also reduce the cost textbooks and supplementary materials to students as these resources are free and openly available alternatives to traditional textbooks and supplementary material.

What is the Role of Open Access in a post pandemic society?

UNESCO (2020) has recently launched a call stating that “the Covid-19 crisis has resulted in a paradigm shift on how learners of all ages, worldwide, can access learning. It is therefore more than ever essential that the global community comes together now to foster universal access to information and knowledge through OER.” [iv] Open Access to information is the free, immediate, online access to the results of scholarly research, and the right to use and re-use those results as you need. Open Access  has the power to transform the way research and scientific inquiry are conducted. It has direct and widespread implications for academia, medicine, science, industry, and for society as a whole.

For more on the importance of OA check out this video from PHD Comics.

Sources:

[i] ‘International Open Access week, about page’ Accessed September 30, 2020 http://www.openaccessweek.org/page/about

[ii] Yang, S. (2020). ‘As teaching shifts online during the epidemic, it faces copyright issues.’ Accessed September 30, 2020 https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-02-20/Copyright-concerns-as-teaching-shifts-online-during-epidemic-OejyJkh3xu/index.html

[iii] & [iv]  UNESCO (2020) ‘Guidance on Open Educational Practices during School Closures: Utilizing OER under COVID-19 Pandemic in line with UNESCO OER Recommendation’ Accessed September 30, 2020 https://iite.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Guidance-on-Open-Educational-Practices-during-School-Closures-English-Version-V1_0.pdf

In this blog post we look at resources for Engaging in the Community. Learning in the community has been part of RRC’s mandate of applied learning for decades, and is now part of the College’s new College-wide learning outcomes. However, up to now, the activities have not have been articulated by a consistent definition and coordinated across programs and schools.

The goal of Community Engagement Service Learning is to provide graduates, with the skills and tools they need to successfully engage in the community, to build positive relationships, broaden learning, enhance their personal and social responsibility for sustainable practices and demonstrate strong intercultural skills.

For more information on Community Engagement Service Learning, look to the AIR Web site.

If you wish to learn more, you may also check out the following eBook resources…

From Command to Community: A New Approach to Leadership Education in Colleges and Universities (eBook)

The essays in this volume address the idea of leadership education through civic engagement. They delineate a new approach to leadership education reflecting important cultural trends driven by technology, globalization, and demographic shifts; look at some of the best leadership education programs nationwide; and offer “next steps” on how to transform higher education more broadly. –Google Books

Community Conversations: Mobilizing the Ideas, Skills, and Passion of Community Organizations, Governments, Businesses, and People (eBook) 

Communities around the world are entering a new era of community building. Whether improving economic conditions and reducing poverty, re-energizing citizens and social programs, reducing crime, or revitalizing a troubled neighborhood, they are engaging people from all sectors as never before to work together as equals to improve their quality of life.

At the heart of this engagement are community conversations, in which common goals are embraced by a diverse array of people with different backgrounds and needs, and influencers are drawn from multiple sectors, including community organizations, the various levels of government, and businesses big and small.

Full of informative and inspiring examples of collaboration, “Community Conversations” captures the essence of creating such conversations and offers ten practical techniques to host conversations in your community.

Community Engagement, Organization, and Development for Public Health Practice (eBook)

In this practical text, public health students and practitioners will learn the fundamentals of applying community engagement, organization, and development principles to create successful community public health campaigns. Emphasizing nontraditional approaches and partnerships, and the need to readjust traditional strategies, it discusses organization and development methods optimal for public health practice, including public health ethics, faith-based initiatives in community health, community assessment and measurement methods, coalition building, frameworks for developing health policy, and more. This textbook addresses work in at-risk and diverse communities, and stresses the impact of urban change on the community engagement, organization, and development process. It also discusses the methodologies and theoretical frameworks underlying successful community organizing and development. The multidisciplinary public health scholars and practitioners contributing to this work identify the skills required to both analyze the health and health care delivery challenges of underserved communities, and to understand the social, cultural, environmental, and economic determinants of health and illness. The book includes a wealth of practical approaches and case studies drawn from the authors’ real-life experiences in developing successful community health campaigns. PowerPoint slides and case study exercises for each chapter accompany the text for instructor’s use Key Features: .; Disseminates the fundamentals of applying community engagement, organization, and development principles to community public health campaigns; Provides real-life examples of methods and strategies used in engaging, organizing, and empowering community residents … –Google books

Understanding Service-learning and Community Engagement : Crossing Boundaries Through Research (eBook)

There is an increasing proliferation of service-learning courses in colleges and universities in the U.S. and internationally, and research in the field has seen significant growth in diverse geographic areas in the past decade. Membership organizations now exist to convene scholars and practitioners across the globe. Chapters in this volume are based on presentations given at the 2010 annual conference of the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement held in Indianapolis, IN. The conference theme “International Perspectives: Crossing Boundaries through Research” was chosen to highlight ways in which research crosses all kinds of boundaries: disciplinary boundaries, cultural boundaries, and national boundaries. Although service-learning is valued as an active learning strategy across the globe, little is known about the ways that service-learning is similar or different in varied contexts. Understanding service-learning and community engagement from cross-cultural and cross disciplinary perspectives will improve both research and practice. Together, these chapters represent the diversity, complexity, and creativity evident by scholars and practitioners in this field of study. –Google Books

Check out the College-Wide Learning Outcomes display outside the Notre Dame Campus Library.

Red River College is in the process of renewing the current College-Wide Learning Outcomes (CWLO), which are designed to be incorporated into RRC courses and programs.

We’re proud to announce that last fall we completed a six-part blog series which highlighted hand-selected resources that would be useful in developing these learning outcomes, which are essential skills for success.  Check out each of the rectangles below for a link to each of our previous blog entries.

In addition we have now placed many of our College-Wide Learning Outcomes resources in the Library Window Display at the Notre Dame Campus.  You may also view a complete list of all books in our display online.  If you see something you like, just come to the Library and inquire at the Circulation Desk.

Check it out!

The College Library has everything to do with College Wide Learning Outcomes.  Providing a broad coverage of current topics, a comprehensive library collection is critical to informing and updating students and faculty with the latest knowledge in their fields.

Libraries are not mere warehouses for books and other materials.  Through the teaching efforts of Library staff students learn information and digital literacy. These skills may not be taught explicitly in classrooms yet are necessary for students to be able to research and write papers, think independently and critically, and in general, be academically successful. Information competencies benefit students in the long run as they continue on with their future education and careers.

Like many other skills, information literacy must be learned and practiced, even in an age where large student populations own electronic devices, if not more so. On a daily basis, students who come into the Library or visit us online are introduced to a plethora of information resources including electronic books and streamed videos.  They learn how to access the electronic databases to do faceted searches, to narrow down or broaden the focus of their search, and evaluate resources.  And they learn to appreciate that even though Google is a powerful tool it is not the only search engine and it does not always give good results.

By solving technical problems in the computer lab and explaining to students the likely causes and steps to take to troubleshoot, our staff members are often lifesavers to students, teaching them to find the answers and solutions for themselves and giving them the confidence to explore and hence grow their own skills.

Authors: Can Li and John Mark Allen  – Red River College Library, Notre Dame Campus