Teaching Matters Academic Communities

NOVEMBER 30, 2016

Recently I’ve been enjoying interviewing some of our experienced academics about how they have developed as teachers across their careers. I spoke with colleagues from all three Colleges about what it has been like to grow as a teacher before the recent upsurge in formal continuing professional development for teaching in higher education. All of these academics were passionate about teaching and put lots of time and energy into creating great learning experiences for our students.

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Electronics Professional Development Engineering Higher Education 52

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 30, 2016

The annual Christmas Tree Lighting is one of my favorite Hope traditions. Everyone circles around a giant pine tree decorated with ornaments covered in our names. We count down from ten and, like magic, Christmas spirit skyrockets as the tree lights up the clearing. We sing Christmas carols and light candles, quietly laughing as we try to protect the flames from the winter wind.

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Food IT 52

Teaching Matters Experiential Learning

NOVEMBER 11, 2016

Lego bricks are a constant presence in my life. I’ve nurtured a love for Lego bricks in my kids and I live with the consequences! Lego bricks and creations litter my home; Christmases and Birthdays involve hours of constructing models; rainy weekends hours are spent building. And in the last year I’ve also started using Lego in some of my teaching… My teaching with Lego started with a panicked email to the Institute for Academic Development (IAD).

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Higher Education Student Engagement Industry Research 52

Teaching Matters Academic Support

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

“This is the first time a member in my family is pursuing a master’s degree. For me, it means responsibility towards my community, family, my country and the world. I need to make good use of the opportunity to transform and impact lives and be a good representative of Ghana.” Dorcas Mensah, MasterCard Foundation Scholar, MSc in Africa & International Development This September, we welcomed 12 bright and inspiring Africans to Edinburgh University through a new partnership with The MasterCard

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Consulting Management Education Student Engagement 52

Terminalfour

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

Some of our picks for great CTA's on HE websites in the US and the UK

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Higher Education Education 40

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Fondas, or Fiestas Patrias, is the most popular holiday in Chile because it celebrates the “birthday” of Chile. Yes, you probably imagine July 4th, but not exactly. Fondas or the celebrations last for whole two weeks, not only a day. Most, but not all, fondas take place at parks. It costs 5.000 Chilean Peso ($8 USD) to enter. The parks are truly huge, so just to imagine, it takes about 30 minutes to walk from the North to South.

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IT Study Abroad 52

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

My next couple posts will be about our trip to Patagonia. Patagonia is very westernized and commercial term. When we spoke to the locals, they do not really recognize Patagonia, but here is the clarification from multiple points. What is Patagonia? When people, usually in Western World, talk or say they are going to Patagonia, they mean the region around Punta Arenas.

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IT Study Abroad 52

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Castro is the capital of the Chiloé Province in the Los Lagos Region and the largest city in Island. The city is about 165.1 sq. miles and it has population of 41,667 based on 2012 census. It was established in 1567 and is the third oldest city in whole Chile. The city is interesting because of those few sights: The Regional Museum of Castro, Plaza de Armas with Gamboa (church) or Nuestra Senora de Gracia, which is a churched built in 1886 and is protected by UNESCO.

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Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Besides visiting Chiloé’s biggest attractions like city Castro, Museums, UNESCO churches or National Park, we did a volunteer work as well. We were painting classrooms in local elementary school. The day started very early in the morning because we had drove to the school. When we arrived to school, we lined up and introduced ourselves and the states we are from.

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Teaching Matters Academic Communities

NOVEMBER 9, 2016

As academics, we all know the feeling when we’re asked to take on something else that will compete for our time. We also know how easy it is for things to fall towards, or even off, the bottom of our to-do lists. So, why did I choose to take part in the Edinburgh Teaching Award (EdTA), and was it worth it? (Spoiler: Yes.) Before we start with the whys and wherefores, I should probably explain what the EdTA is ( or you could look for yourself ).

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Mining Professional Development Higher Education Research 52

Teaching Matters Academic Support

NOVEMBER 8, 2016

In summer 2016, the History Subject Area embarked on the largest overhaul of its curriculum in a generation. Driven by a variety of factors, including growing student numbers, changing student expectations, the renewed emphasis on teaching excellence throughout the sector, our Teaching Programme Review and external examiners’ comments, we wanted to provide a curriculum that is sustainable and speaks to the challenges of the 21st century.

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Career Services Consulting Research IT 52

Teaching Matters Academic Communities

NOVEMBER 3, 2016

I love being one of the 50 or so mentors on the Edinburgh Teaching Award : it’s a favourite part of my job. We’re all Fellows of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) , so we know what it’s like to take a good hard look at our own teaching and our students’ learning, to challenge ourselves to improve and to go public on our successes and disappointments and what we’ve learned from them.

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Professional Development Higher Education Recruitment Administration 52

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

The first class that I signed up for was International Business. I had this class on Tuesday and Thursday from 11:20 to 12:50 and we had “lab” on Wednesday from 9:40 to 11:20. The “lab” is very different than Biological or Chemistry lab. Usually, we had few speakers and the Teacher Assistants (TA) were explaining projects and cases. Most of the times the “lab” functioned as a class to go over technical things.

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Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

This class was the most interesting I ever had. I had the class on Tuesday and Friday from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. and the whole idea was to improve local business. In the beginning we created groups of four students. My fellow group members were from United States, Czech Republic, Germany, and Belgium. We picked local restaurants for our company study.

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Food IT Study Abroad 40

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

The grading system in Chile is very different than we are used to in the United States. The system ranges from 0-7, while 7 is the best and 0 is the worst. There are couple interesting facts about it: 7 is the best as you can get and it is very rare if someone gets. It is like getting A+ in United States. To get 6 is still relatively hard. 6 equals A- grade in United States. 5 is much more common grade than 6.

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IT Study Abroad 40

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

I have not included many pictures to any previous post about Chiloé, because I wanted to put the all in one post. A small island with penguins on it. (It is hard to see, but they are there). A great example of typical wooden church in Chiloé. Church protected by UNESCO. This is just of small sample of 400 different types of potatoes that people at Chiloé are able to grow.

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IT Study Abroad 52

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Chiloé Island is in the northern part of Patagonia, but it is a birth place of potatoes. Experts say that from Chiloé, the small island very south of rest of the world, potatoes were spread around the globe. There is about 400 different types of potatoes in Chiloé. I had the chance to taste only 4 or 5, but the taste was extraordinary and completely different than the potatoes we are used to in United States or Europe.

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Food IT Study Abroad 40

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Castro is the biggest city in Chiloé and on the last day, the sun finally came out, after three days of fog and rain. Because the nature is many times hard to capture just by picture, here are two videos of our walk on the beach on the morning before breakfast: [link] [link] The post Capturing the Nature of Patagonia at Chiloé With a Video Post appeared first on Life at Hope College.

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Study Abroad 40

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Accordion is a huge part of culture and life in Chiloe. People play accordions in pubs, on the streets or at home. Big majority of traditional songs are perfect for accordions. It is very folk type of music, which perfectly fits in the overall folk and mystery culture in Chiloe. As part of the excursion, we went to a museum of accordions. Believe or not, they had accordions from 1920s from countries like Italy, Germany, France or Czechoslovakia.

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Study Abroad IT 40

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 2, 2016

Everyday I get a little more excited about my adventure next semester – studying abroad in Rome, Italy, through IES Abroad. Last week was the Study Abroad Orientation here at Hope where, in addition to a lot of helpful information, I got to hear where across the globe my peers are headed this spring. Everyone has aspects that make them nervous and excited as we look forward to stepping into a new unknown.

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Study Abroad Food IT 40

Terminalfour

NOVEMBER 29, 2016

Virtual experiences have moved on and prospects are expecting more

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Terminalfour

NOVEMBER 15, 2016

Calls to Action on higher education websites. Things to consider.

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Higher Education Education 40

Terminalfour

NOVEMBER 3, 2016

A photographic tour of one man's visit to the exclusion zone

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Terminalfour

NOVEMBER 30, 2016

Do you know your VR from your AR from MR?

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Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

I have been talking only about Chile, Santiago, and all the culture related topics, but I have never mentioned the school or any of my classes or school. Last Tuesday, I have officially ended my semester in University of Chile in Faculdad de Economia y Negocios. University of Chile in Spanish Universidad de Chile was on November 19, 1842. It is the largest university in Chile.

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Alumni Faculty IT Study Abroad 52

Hope College Network

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

International Marketing was on Tuesdays and Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. It was not the most convenient class, since I was living 25 minutes by bus from the school, so I had to wake up at 6:30 to get ready, eat a breakfast, shower, and walk to the bus station. I have to plan with an extra time because Santiago is such a big city, which makes it unpredictable, so sometimes the ride took 20 minutes, but many times even 40 minutes.

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