University of Calgary Learning Commons

Marco Satyro, associate professor with the Schulich School of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, has been using the Teaching & Learning Centre’s services and facilities to offer a graduate-level chemical engineering thermodynamics course since September 2006.

Videoconferencing allows Satyro and John Shaw, a professor and NSERC/AERI Industrial Research Chair in Petroleum Thermodynamics at the University of Alberta, to interact in their respective classrooms and Elluminate software lets them share documents, slides and websites during their lectures.

Satyro finds that offering a joint course with a teaching partner who shares his love for the subject offers students a much richer, livelier experience. “The biggest benefit of teaching the course by videoconference is that the students get different perspectives from two professors simultaneously,” says Satyro. “They see our discussions in real time and are exposed to in-depth, many times complementary and a few times controversial, points of view on different areas of thermodynamics. Essentially they get the best from both of us.”

If team teaching doesn’t appeal to you, the TLC also helps instructors share their courses with other institutions through videoconferencing. This works well when enrolments at one institution do not justify running a course, but combined numbers make it viable. The experience is seamless for students and offers another possibility for expanding your reach. And the TLC is there to help you every step of the way.

“I really can not speak highly enough of the Teaching & Learning Centre staff at both U of C and the corresponding U of A facility,” says Satyro. “The technological barriers are low and with the support you get from the Teaching & Learning Centre you are never on your own. We experienced a few snags in the beginning when working out a format we liked, but after a few lectures we simply forgot about the technology. The Teaching & Learning Centre is a great resource at U of C. Period.”

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We can come to you! Our experts can design and deliver programs to meet your faculty or department's specific needs. Make teaching and learning part of your regular meetings by inviting one of our experts as a guest speaker. Or schedule a custom-designed workshop to address teaching issues and themes particular to your area.

Some ideas for custom workshops include:

• Assessment issues
• Integrating active learning into the classroom
• Teaching enhancement program options
• Instructional design - from general curriculum issues to help with elements of a specific course
• Ideas for incorporating media and educational technology into your teaching (e.g. Wikis, Blogs, IPods, Breeze, Elluminate)

We can also work with you to create other programs. Contact us at 220-4949 for more information.

Our video production services are offered on a cost-recovery basis. However, TLC rates are much lower than those of comparable off-campus service providers. Following is an outline of our pricing structure.

For more information, please contact: Fred Fountain
(403) 220-3705
ffountai@ucalgary.ca

• Producer/Director/Writer $55/hr
• Camera Operator $75/hr
• Audio Technician $45/hr
• *NEW* Teleprompter for fault free on-camera deliveries

• Producer $55/hr
• Sr. Editor $75/hr
• Jr. Editor $45/hr

• Digitizing $75/hr

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