Enabling Student Engagement On-campus and Online

Ken Maly’s fellowship project aimed to develop tools for instructors to engage students with a focus on active learning approaches and develop tools to ensure student success in chemistry courses.

In 2016, Maly led an initiative to build the first active learning classroom in the Faculty of Science. The project finished in time for the start of the fall 2017 semester and the feedback from students and faculty has demonstrated the importance of having flexible, technologically-enhanced learning spaces on campus.

“Active learning allows students to go beyond the acquisition and integration of knowledge and encourages them to analyze and critically evaluate new concepts,” says Maly.

In addition to his active-learning focus, Maly chose to explore new ways to engage with students outside of the classroom using virtual office hours. Adobe Connect, the online tool Maly uses to facilitate these online appointments, allows him to annotate documents and materials live and respond to students’ questions or concerns using instant messaging. Maly holds weekly online appointments in the evenings, reaching student groups who may not be able to attend on-campus office hours.

“Overall, my approach to teaching involves trying to inspire students to become independent learners and to provide them with the structure and framework to enable them,” says Maly.