Seeking faculty fellows: The UN SDG Open Pedagogy Fellowship

“Wicked problems” is a phrase used to describe complex societal issues that evade easy solutions. Pohl, Truffer, & Hirsch-Hadorn (2017) assert that interdisciplinary collaborations are neccessary if we are to find solutions to pressing global problems, such as poverty, inequality, and climate change.

Since 2021, snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ – Langara College has participated in an award-winning interdisciplinary teaching fellowship built upon the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Open Langara, the College’s open education committee, is currently seeking fellows for the 2024 cohort.

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Update for Online Library Tutorials – Retention Policy

In accordance with best practices for data retention and student privacy, the Library Instruction team is instituting a new retention policy for student marks.

If you assign students our Online Library Tutorials, you will know that we keep marks on file for students so that they don’t have to complete the same content again. There has been no policy about how long to keep these marks.

Starting in Summer 2024, student marks will only be kept for a three-year period. Students who have completed tutorials more than three years ago will have to re-take the tutorial. The marks will be deleted from our archives entirely for data privacy and better maintenance.

Any further questions about the tutorials may be addressed in our guide here:

Please contact the Library Instruction Team if there are concerns or questions.

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The robots are here and our best defense is personal connection: An Open Education Week event recap

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has been on every educator’s mind since ChatGPT arrived on scene in November 2022. Many of us are experiencing ‘AI fatigue’ (can we talk about something – anything! – else, please?) and yet we can’t walk away because the ground continues to shift and the stakes feel too high.

Autumm Caines, lead instructional designer at the University of Michigan – Dearborn and an instructor with College Unbound, ruffled feathers with a series of blog posts that urge educators to pump the brakes and first consider the ethical implications of these new technologies.

“It takes people to develop meaningful curricula around technology use, imagine harms and try to avoid them, and that takes time,” writes Autumm in a post entitled In defense of banning ChatGPT. “I’m all for slowing this bus down.”

On March 4, 2024, snəw̓eyəɬ leləm̓ – Langara College co-hosted a conversation between Autumm and critical educational technologist Brenna Clarke Gray (Thompson Rivers University) entitled “Planes, trains, and generative AI: Recentering open education values in new technology adoption.”

If I had to distill the hour-long conversation (which is now available in Langara MediaSpace) down to one takeaway, it would be this: Higher education’s best ‘defenses’ to GenAI are interpersonal connection and good pedagogy.

AI is eroding trust between students and instructors (and even within scholarly communities). Research shows that academic integrity infractions are greatly reduced when students feel a sense of belonging. The same is true of good pedagogy –when students are invested in their learning, they want to do the work.

I encourage you to listen to Autumm and Brenna’s thought-provoking conversation from start to finish. [Spoiler alert: It includes a great analogy between old timey cars in the Henry Ford Museum, located in Autumm’s hometown of Dearborn, MI, and the onward march of technology.]

This event celebrated Open Education Week (March 4-8, 2024), an annual global celebration of the open education movement. Langara is one of the top adopters of open educational resources amongst B.C. colleges and universities.

-Lindsay Tripp,
Librarian, Copyright & Open Education

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EVENT – Planes, trains, and generative AI: Recentering open education values in new technology adoption

Many educators have felt pressure to climb aboard the generative AI train since it came barreling down the tracks. But what happens when we leap into new technologies without first pausing to imagine harms, such as surveillance, bias, and discrimination? Join host Brenna Clarke Gray and guest speaker Autumm Caines for a conversation about the pedagogical implications of generative AI. Can recentering the core values of the open education movement—equity, inclusion, transparency, and social justice—in our pedagogy help us move forward in a good way? How do we introduce these considerations to our students and empower them to make informed decisions with new technologies? We’ll consider these questions and more in our hour together.

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New streaming video collection: The Docuseek Canadian Collection

Docuse

Docuseek streams essential independent, social-issue and environmental films, providing exclusive access to over 2,000 films from renowned leaders in documentary film distribution.

Get to know the Docuseek collection!

All Docuseek films are listed in the Library catalogue, so you can also find them in any Library search–just look for the Video icon:

For questions or help with anything Media related, contact Annie Jensen ajensen@langara.ca

 

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Wed Eats with the Academic Success Centre

Join your colleagues working in the Academic Success Centre over appetizers to learn how the ASC helps students achieve their academic goals by offering a variety of free resources and assistance to enhance student learning. We would also like to meet you and invite conversations about how we can be partners in student support.

Attendees can visit stations describing services offered by the ASC, including:

  • Langara Students Success Course (LSSC)
  • Peer Supported Learning (PSL)
  • The Learning Commons (Tutoring and writing help)
  • Langara Return to Learning Course (LRTL)

For more information on the ASC, visit our website [https://langara.ca/academic-success-centre/index.html].

Date: Jan. 24, 2024

Time: 11:30 – 1:30 PM (Drop-in anytime)

Location: T Gallery

Appetizers and drinks will be provided, so come as your schedule allows. To help us plan, please RSVP: https://forms.office.com/r/2nfiXnPUpT?origin=lprLink

We look forward to seeing you at the event!

For more information, contact Joyce Wong joycewong@langara.ca

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New streaming media collection: Can-Core Academic Video

cancore home

There’s an exciting new video collection at the Library! Can-Core Academic Video is a streaming video platform with thousands of videos by Canadian and Indigenous filmmakers. The films in Can-Core have been selected for their strong curriculum fit and come from some of Canada’s best and brightest filmmakers from coast to coast.

Unique Content

Explore Can-Core with a selection of curated lists and selected titles:

Recently Added Indigenous Videos (curated list)

International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women (Nov. 25) (curated list)

Sustainable Agriculture (curated list)

Feature Films and Dramatic Series (curated list)

Monkey Beach (feature film)

Putin: the New Tsar (documentary feature)

Something in the Water- Are Canadians Drinking Asbestos?: W5 (documentary short)

A Cedar is Life (documentary feature)

Searching

search features

You can search Can-Core by keyword, browse by subject area, and narrow your results to Indigenous Content Only. Can-Core videos are included in Library catalogue searches, so you can equally find these videos when searching our main collections.

Get Help

If you’d like a tailored introduction to Can-Core for yourself or your department, contact Media Librarian Annie Jensen (ajensen@langara.ca).

 

 

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Reading lists: A new way to share resources with your students

A growing number of instructors are moving away from traditional textbooks and instead using “à la carte” resources (websites, journal articles, book chapters, videos, and more) to support learning outcomes.

The Library and EdTech are implementing a new tool called Reading Lists to help instructors seamlessly integrate these diverse resources (or “readings”) into their Brightspace courses.

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New: New York Times online!

The Library has subscribed to the New York Times online! This joins our other newspaper resources in providing current and historical news content, going back to 1851.

To access the NYT online, visit this site: https://nytimesineducation.com/access-nyt/ You will need to register for an account using your Langara email address. Search for Langara in their Find School search box.

Screenshot of the New York Times website saying "Activate your complimentary access to NYTimes.com, provided by your school, college, or university. There is a search box with "Find School" above it.

On the next page, there are two options depending on if you’re on or off campus. On campus, click the “here” link. Off campus, click “Go” to log in to the Library’s authentication system.

NYT login screen showing steps to take if you are on or off campus

On the next page you’ll be able to create a personal account with your Langara email address. Once you’ve created your account, you can login at NYTimes.com or on the NYT mobile app.

Faculty and staff have access for 1456 days from registration. After that point, you will need to renew your account using the steps above. Students will have access until December 31 of their graduation year.

The NYT archive is called TimesMachine. It is a searchable interface of digitized pages of New York Times issues published between 1851 and 2002. Articles published between 1851 and 1980 are available to download as PDF files. You can access it at the link above or from the NYT homepage by navigating to the left menu in the top left corner of the screen, selecting More, and clicking on TimesMachine. Make sure you’re logged in to the NYT site before you access TimesMachine.

Screenshot of the NYT TimesMachine website showing two newspaper pages from April 19, 1906

We also have access to New York Times in Education as part of our subscription. This is a new resource to help educators make the most of the NYT’s digital 24/7 content. New content and teaching resources are added to this site on a weekly basis by Faculty Contributors from a variety of institutions. You’ll need to create an account with your Langara email address. This is separate from your NYT account.

If you have any questions about accessing the NYT, or any other resources, please contact the library and we can help you out. Happy reading!

 

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Lights, camera, time to check your library videos!

Does your teaching include videos? Now is the perfect time to review and refresh the streaming videos and DVDs you use in your classes.

The Library’s media team is happy to double check that we’ll have an active streaming license in place for videos you plan to use. If you’d like the media team to check titles for you, please send the following to Media Collections Librarian Annie Jensen (ajensen@langara.ca):

  • Video title or URL
  • Date needed

Currently using DVD but wish you had streaming options? Let us know–we can often find a streaming version of DVDs in our collection (or find a great replacement option).

Doing curriculum development? Incorporating UDL principles in your classes? We can also make custom video lists of films currently in our collection, as well as options we can purchase, based on your class topics and/or syllabus. We have media money, help us spend it!

Fun fact: Did you know that streaming videos have the strongest usage stats of any Library material? This is thanks in large part to the role instructors play in helping develop our media collection. Your requests and feedback drives our selection process–with fantastic results!

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