Episode 3: Make Teaching and Learning Fun

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Teresa Lee  00:04

Welcome to the UDL conversation cafe. Universal Design for Learning podcast where we hear from people who are designing and implementing strategies with the diverse needs of learners in life. I'm your host TriCity. As we discussed in the previous episode, UDL is all about providing options and flexibility to reach and teach all learners. More importantly, it's about making teaching and learning both engaging and fun. In this episode, we'll meet Bob yo sushi tea and Eric to explore the importance of building relationships with learners and providing options to motivate them to engage and learn.

Fabio Lini  00:50

Hi, this is Fabio Lini. From see TAs, I teach electrical engineering.

Srishti Rawat  00:55

Hi, my name is Srishti and I am a math professor from the seaters department as well. We need to bring

Fabio Lini  01:03

fun back to learning the old fashioned way I teach and your lesson one way interaction. No other way. I've brought a friend and student of mine to this interview. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Eric Charbonneau  01:24

Yes. Hello, my name is Eric Charbonneau. So I'm a student of the electrical engineering program. I've been a student to Fabio's quite a few times throughout my, my program here and I'm really, really glad to be here. chatting about this topic with him today.

Fabio Lini  01:41

Okay, good. That's good that you're you're excited. I'm excited. I'm excited. Okay. All right. Tell me in the time that you've been here at Centennial College, some of the better experience the fun experience, stuff that made it fun for you to learn stuff that you say, Oh, yeah, I remember that. Something you'll maybe pick away when you finally leave Nintendo? What are some of the examples you tell me?

Eric Charbonneau  02:11

Um, think about this. Um, I mean, I think fun starts with the teacher. To be honest with you there, I really, I really like this topic, because I think that this word fun should be at the forefront of learning all the time. Fortunately, it's not always the case. But we're here to discuss that. So for me, I've had quite a few teachers, actually, I have to give you props. Because most of your courses have always been full of fun. Family spending, thank you, especially for, like I remember, like even just, you know, test preparation for examples, you would use this Kahoot app, you know, quiz us and challenge us to think about certain electrical terms. And it was fun, because, you know, the winner always got a bonus mark. And, you know, the whole class was really, really engaged, and everyone wanted to win. And it was just a lot of fun, right? And good preparation, I think it also calm our nerves a little bit, because you kind of showcased in these. And these times, like little, you know, gave us a sense of what kind of questions we could anticipate on the test. So, you know, I think that was really, really helpful to Kahoot I remember it was really, really great.

Fabio Lini  03:32

What about anything else? Anything else that might have made it fun? I mean, nothing other than Kahoot? I guess there's other Socrative. And there's a few other ones that are out there. But yeah,

Eric Charbonneau  03:43

I think like, all I remember also in your classes about a team based approach to so even like, instead, outside of Kahoot, maybe you would have these questions, you always had these questions prepared, and you separated the class into two. And then one member from each team would go to the board, and the first one who got the answer would win a point for their team. So I think that was some more test preparation. But I mean, I remember also in our math class, our teacher lovely shristi. She, when I talk about teachers, and being fun, she's also pleasant, and, you know, she brought a lot of energy in interacting with us, when we were learning more complex math problems, you know, challenging us to maybe go to the board and to, you know, kind of guide us and, but it wasn't just like a dry challenge, like because she was always engaged with us and, you know, very interactive, so it was always a lot of fun as well.

Fabio Lini  04:46

What are your challenges? How do you engage? How do you go about this? I mean, you guys are math, Tommy. In

Srishti Rawat  04:55

my perspective, I find UDL just as a different approach. Which is different from our traditional way of teaching. So my ideology is make making sure that the students are comfortable when they come to my class. Now in the past, what I have done is I have decided to go with introducing myself, and then ask the class to introduce themselves. Sometimes they like to introduce themselves, sometimes they like to introduce the person beside them, I think it established a very comfortable relationship for the student, which in the later run actually helps to build that nice relationship. Now, I do find that knowing the students named is quite helpful for me. I know it is, it's difficult, and sometimes everybody's not so good at it. But I think over the period of time, I like to know my students, I like to associate a name with the face. And that kind of also makes it easier for me, for them to approach me as well as for me to approach them. Now for math, it's a little bit tough because doing a UDL in math, the tips and pointers and external help is always needed and welcome. But previously, what I used to do is if I explain them a concept, I used to take up a similar question in class and let those students discuss them. Sometimes if the students are comfortable coming to the board and doing the the question on the board, it is well appreciated. And I encourage that practice, because sometimes it's nice to see a question being done from a different perspective

Fabio Lini  06:37

or different issues, say with the shy ones,

Srishti Rawat  06:42

the shy ones will take a little bit longer to come to the board, especially if you are running a lecture review session in which everybody has decided to volunteer, then the shy ones do too, but it takes them a little bit longer to open up. And that's why I find that if you introduce yourself at the beginning of the class, and I think you have done a fabulous job in doing a small video of yourself. And also know their and also know their names, it kind of encourages them to open up and once they find others doing the same. It makes a very healthy classroom engaging environment. Now I did try Kahoot prior to COVID. And I find Kahoot has a very interactive software. But I have also find that after COVID cold has put in a lot of effort into the other tools or interactive programs, you may say. So we have Padlet that I've introduced after I have introduced h5 P and I am eager to try a new report. So I find no because I cannot do the introductions in class, I find Padlet a great way of students introducing themselves. It also lets them know who the other student is. And sometimes when you have students who are all over the world, it kind of forms a nice interconnection between the students. I have also tried palettes to create groups. And I think it's a great platform. I haven't I would like to explore it further. But I guess it is for future. h5 P is also another interesting nice interactive tool. I have embedded it in the course, once you are done with the topic, you have some questions as soon as can try the questions and check for themselves if it's correct or not. And I am trying it as a test review this time. So I have posted the question ahead of time. And

Fabio Lini  08:39

hopefully by the end, you can tell us how it goes. See if that actually works.

Srishti Rawat  08:43

Sure. That would be great. And one more thing I would like to add Actually, I picked it up from a student. And I really liked it is I did a couple of video recordings because I had to do constructions. So the recordings were done by me and uploaded on e santaniello. And the assignment that followed was just asking the students to submit a hardcopy scan the hardcopy and submitted for the assignment. But I really appreciated that one of the students actually did a video recording of his own work and uploaded it as an assignment. So that's another way the students can express compared to the traditional way of just doing the the diagram or construction on paper is just recorded just like I did. So I'm hoping that kind of encourages our there might be other ways we can look into this matter. Especially from a math perspective.

Fabio Lini  09:48

So what would you What would you say are are are keywords that we could probably take away from this. But what would you Oh, what would you think would be one of those keywords I

Srishti Rawat  09:59

Think that keywords are to make sure that you have a healthy interaction going on in the class, and every student feels engaged. So every students feel that they're part of the group.

Fabio Lini  10:09

So the interaction is what could make it fun. I guess so. Yeah. Oh, that's good. That's good. Um, so I mean, you're gonna leave this place one day, yes. Or maybe, if we kick you out, I guess. Hopefully, you will remember some of these fun interactions. Like I said, we got to take away or get rid of the old fashioned way of doing it, I suppose. No, one way anymore. Actually, believe it or not, Eric, it makes it fun for me as well. I enjoyed it as well. I know, I know. We got in trouble with a few. We did a few things. I think we did a debate. We had fun with it. The solar debates this solar debate. I think I got in trouble with the classroom next door to us. Oh, think we were a little too loud. But I mean, they were jealous. They were jealous. Yes. They were having so much fun that day. Yeah. And you know what, like, for me, too, it's enjoyable, rather than just sitting and marking and that? I think so yeah,

Eric Charbonneau  11:19

it's important. I think like, even when I think about even when I think about when we just met you, I remember you came into the class, and you showed us this video about, you know, who's this person that we're going to be interacting with. And the video was so fun and pleasant. And it just brought us closer or more trusting of you anyway, you kind of like, made yourself a person and not the professor. Right. So you Thanks. I really like opened up that energy for your whole class. I think you do that probably for a while. Yeah, you do. Because the following class, you did that you had done the same thing. I just remember how. I mean, if you ask any students about Fabio leaney. I mean, believe me, they remember all of your your funding director program. So yeah, super, we really appreciate it.

Fabio Lini  12:13

Thank you very, very much. I'm hoping to keep the funds still in there. And hopefully we can get some other professors to jump in

Eric Charbonneau  12:22

as well. I think that would be a great idea. Hopefully you can spread the joy. All right.

Fabio Lini  12:28

Thank you very much, Eric. And we'll see you at graduation.

Eric Charbonneau  12:32

Yes. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Yeah.

Teresa Lee  12:37

Thank you for joining our UDL conversation cafe. We hope this episode has inspired you to reflect on on different ways in which you build rapport and engage with your learners in the classroom. Are you a Centennial faculty or staff. If you would like to join the host of our podcast episodes and other colleagues for a deeper live conversation on UDL, join us at UDL conversation cafe monthly circle. You can find more information and the poll calendar for the upcoming poll Compendium in your email. In the next few episodes, we'll meet another faculty member for a deeper dive into the principles of UDL as an inclusive teaching framework. We invite you to listen and subscribe to the Centennial College podcast on SoundCloud, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts and Spotify.

• kahoot.
• H5P For Centennial Faculty, learn how to access your Centennial H5P account (You will need eCentennial login to access the document).
• Padlet For Centennial Faculty, learn how to access your Centennial Padlet account (You will need eCentennial login to access the document).
• Additional workshops listed on UDL at Centennial College webpage.