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The first in a series of "best of" Down the Hall episodes, this week we bring laughter and play into your life. We revisit the concept of comedy and creativity in the classroom with some excellent excerpts from previous episodes. We all love to laugh (as regular listeners of Down the Hall already know), and laughter can actually be a great way to engage students in learning. Allowing students to be creative can also help them learn. We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca.

The holiday season is a joyous time of year, filled with laughter and love and also great stories! In this week's episode, Fiona talks to Kathryn Shoemaker, noted children's book illustrator and author, about the evolution of picture books in Education, trends in the industry, and her love of teaching. Of course, there are certainly more topics covered than that, but you'll have to listen to find out. Your hosts also indulge in a bit of holiday cheer, with a Christmas story mash-up that has to be heard to be believed! We think you'll like it. Change is coming to Down the Hall in the new year, so keep an eye out for some new stuff. Renewal is always a good thing, and change can be invigorating. Thank you to all of our listeners who have been with us over the last three years, and we hope you enjoy the new things happening in 2014.

Back on Episode 24, Happy Anniversary, Dave asked Carl Leggo about the importance of creativity in Education. This time around, Carl elaborates on his commitment to creativity and shares his thoughts about teaching creatively and teaching creativity. Carl recommends a selection of books to inspire creative approaches in the classroom for varying curricular disciplines, including music and theatre, but also physics, science, and social studies! See below for links.  We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca.  Just a note that the views expressed in the podcast are those of the hosts and guests, and not necessarily the views of either PDCE or the Faculty of Education at UBC. To access all links mentioned on this episode, please see our blog post. Episode 70 (46:44) Time Stamps

It's Halloween! This week, your hosts examine what is sometimes a creepy subject, especially when it involves possible zombies. They explore the science of ethnobotany and how it's been portrayed in popular culture. Complete with Sean Connery impersonation! The interview this week is with Dr. Marina Milner-Bolotin, who talks about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) Education, how it's risen to prominence over the last few years, and the upcoming STEM conference being held here at UBC next Summer. The Call for Proposals deadline is December 9 for those of you who would like to take part! We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca.

In the western world, we sometimes take education for granted. That isn't the case in less-developed areas of the world. How can education in these areas be improved and teachers trained so that kids growing up without easy access to education can still succeed? In this week's episode, Dave talks to Noble Kelly about just this subject. Noble is the founder of Education Beyond Borders, an organization that is designed to "devoted to closing the global education divide through teacher professional development and community education." Noble talks about the work of the organization in South Africa as well as other initiatives they are taking on. Most importantly, how they are helping to meet one of the United Nations Millenium Development Goals to achieve universal primary education around the world. Your hosts are both sick with colds, so they let Noble do most of talking. Though Dave does give a brief update of what he saw at V-Con this year.

Teachers are often seen as the drivers in the classroom. The teachers teach, the students learn. But not every student is identical or learns in the same way, or even at the same pace. On this week's episode, Dave talks to Dr. Deborah Butler about her work in Self-Regulated Learning (SRL). What role does the teacher play in engaging his/her students to help them with their learning practices? Why is this a growing field of research and how is it changing our schools? What is the impact of SRL on students, ranging from childhood through their adult lives? Deb talks about all of this and more and highlights the work being done by her and her colleagues both here at UBC and across Canada. In addition, your hosts discuss social media and college engagement: how are post-secondary institutions using social media to attract students and help them through their college lives? We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca. 

All over the UBC Vancouver campus, festivities ignite to kickoff the new academic year, and within the Faculty of Education, we have an additional reason to celebrate: the Year of Teacher Education. To highlight the good work of educators, Dave interviews Dr. Wendy Carr, the new director of the Teacher Education Office (TEO), to find out what's in store for the 2013-2014 Year of... initiative. In her interview, Wendy discusses how teachers are a powerful influence in our lives and how the Bachelor of Education program offers an exceptional education, helping teachers develop a personalized approach in the classroom and beyond. Guided by the TEO tagline "inspiring educators, inquiring into teacher education, imagining new possibilities," the Year of Teacher Education will feature interactive panels, the Inspiring Educators Series, hashtag photo contest, lip dub video competition, and many more.  Stay tuned on the YTE website for ways that you can join the celebration! We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca. 

If you are interested in taking a professional development program, how do you hear about it? How did that program get its information out to you, the student? This week, Fiona’s away. Instead, PDCE Marketing Manager Heather McGregor joins Dave as they talk about the challenges of marketing educational programs, getting the word out so that the maximum number of people are aware of them. They give some insights into how you can keep up to date with PDCE programs, as well as some ideas for those of you who may be creating and marketing your own programs. We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca.

This week, your hosts talk British royalty (both old and new), and Dr. David Vogt talks about mobile learning and the new course he is developing for the MET program. We welcome Britain's latest prince (inconveniently only named after we recorded) and have more Richard III news. (Note: in the interview, David says in the interview that there will be one section of the new course. There are actually two sections now) We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca.

This week on Down the Hall, Dave goes on vacation, and Fiona and Alpha kick off the episode with a lively discussion about a study featured in the Globe and Mail on how random acts of kindness have affected a group of Canadian children. Dave "returns" in an interview with Dr. Elizabeth Jordan to discuss the spectrum of special education, how it has changed over the last decade, and how the UBC Diploma in Special Education can support a teacher in this field. Just a reminder to our regular listeners that we are taking a summer break and will not be posting a show on July 12th, but we'll be back on July 26th, ready for more Down the Hall! We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on our discussions or interviews and we’re always open to hearing suggestions for the show. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca Find us on iTunes, (or just search for PDCE or Down the Hall in the podcast section of iTunes) And we are also on Stitcher and Blackberry Podcasts t

This week, we have a two-pronged episode for you, something for everyone. Dave interviews Dr. Harry Hubball about the SOTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning) certificate program here at UBC. Your hosts also take on the subject of heart and mind education, as Fiona talks about a truly enriching opportunity she took part in and Dave gets philosophical. Finally, they talk about sharing photographs on the internet. Do you do that? If so, what are your thoughts on how you do it? How careful are you? We want to know, and your hosts tell you their thoughts as well.

In some areas of Africa, there is a shortage of teachers and good quality education. Thankfully, there are many initiatives to help address this shortfall. On this week’s episode, Fiona talks to Dr. Samson Nashon about the Faculty of Education’s work in a joint educational program at Dadaab. They highlight the diploma in Teacher Education that is being offered as part of a collaborative education program with various other institutions and with help from CIDA funding. Samson talks about his work in the project and discusses issues of culture, international development and awareness, and a lot more as well. It’s a fascinating interview. Before that, your hosts talk about mobile devices in the classroom. Are they a force for good or evil? Or both? We&r

Many of us live in a visually-driven world.  We gain so much information through sight that we take it for granted. We see a document, a television program, a work of art, the sun casting a shadow on the pavement.  Have you ever stopped to think what it might be like if you could not see?  How would you do everything you do now without sight? This week we catch up with Dr. Kim Zebehazy, orientation and mobility specialist here at UBC.  Kim talks about considerations for visually impaired people both in a classroom and out in the world and how they are able to participate in some of the things we take for granted.  She even talks about how visually impaired people enjoy art, proving that there is more to art appreciation than meets the eye!

With the end of the term and many people finishing up all of their courses, MOOCs, or other educational opportunities, we thought we’d give you a light-hearted episode this time around. Dave spoke to Marie-France Hetu, a Master of Educational Technology student who is graduating from the program in three weeks. They spoke about her experiences in the program and what drove  her to take the program, but they also spend a lot of time talking about her experiences at the India-Canada Conference at SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai, India. What was it like, both the travel and the conference itself? Before that, your hosts talk about language and animals, especially animals that can mimic or understand human speech. Whales that make human-like sounds, dogs that love Tim Horton’s, and monkeys who keep the entryways to 7-11 stores clear of those who just like to hang out. (That last one may just be a fantasy)

This week’s episode has a cornucopia of indigenous content, with two great interviews as well as a look at what has been going on in the Faculty of Education’s “Year of Indigenous Education.” First, Fiona talks to Dr. Candace Galla about language revitalization, the different means of storytelling, her recent research grant, and her preparation for the Aboriginal Language & Literacy summer institute. At the time of their conversation, Candace was getting ready for the Living Our Indigenous Languages Through Multimedia Technology event that took place on April 13. It’s a fascinating interview that we’re sure you’ll enjoy. After that, Fiona talks to Dr. Jessica Dunkley, a indigenous student who is graduating from UBC in May. They discuss Jessica’s experiences here at UBC as an indigenous student as well as the recently completed Walkabout (which you may have heard your hosts talk about once or twice recently). Walkabout was a virtual tour of over seventy indigenous communities, territories, and organizations in British Columbia.

One area of study that some prospective teachers ignore in their studies is science. Some fear it, and some just aren’t interested in it. Is that still the case? Has the teaching of science improved in recent years? This week’s episode brings you an interview with Dr. Sandra Scott, Faculty Advisor in the Teacher Education program and a strong advocate of science education. She talks about that status of science-teaching in schools, how we can get past the phobias that teachers have about the subject, and how the teaching of science is incorporated into the Teacher Education program here at UBC. In addition to Sandra, your hosts talk about MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course). We are both taking one to see what they’re all about. What are some of the potential problems with MOOCs and how can we get past them? We don’t get into any platform-specific issues, but issues with the MOOC concept in general.

This week we take a bit of a spiritual turn in part two of our interview with Dr. Michael Marker. We continue our discussion of ETEC 521 (Indigeneity, Technology, and Education) and talk about the difficulties in bringing good education to remote indigenous communities. We also address life and death in these communities and the clash of cultures when traditional teachers are brought into native communities. It’s also the last episode before Valentine’s Day, so your hosts have something special for you. Why just have love in your heart when you can have it in your DNA? Shakespeare’s sonnets have been encoded onto DNA strings, bridging the gap between emotion and genetics in his own unique way. Newly discovered English royalty and strange parallels round out the episode. We’d love your feedback on anything. Email us at podcast.pdce@ubc.ca Find us on iTunes, (or just search for PDCE or Down the Hall in the podcast section of iTunes)

It’s the Year of Indigenous Education here at UBC, and we thought we’d add to the celebration by having an in-depth interview with Dr. Michael Marker, in a return engagement (he was interviewed in Episode 37). There was just so much stuff to talk about that we’ve had to split the interview into two parts! In this week’s episode, Michael talks about Indigenous knowledge and engagement (especially in schools), how Education is seen within the Inuit Studies community (and how that affects conferences related to the field), how schools are a springboard for transformation, and the great work that ETEC 521 (Indigeneity, Technology, and Education) students have been doing since the course’s inception in the MET program. Be with us next time as well for part 2 of this fascinating interview.

Welcome to 2013! It’s a time of renewal, but also for reflection, and this episode is chock full of reflection. It’s our fiftieth episode (no gifts, please send cash) and we’re celebrating that fact by looking to the past before we go into the future. Fiona interviews Dr. Marv Westwood, head of the Veterans Transition Program, a wonderful program that helps veterans in their transition back to civilian life. It helps those who have been traumatized by their experiences to get back to a healthy life once they have returned home. It’s a valuable service and has been very helpful to those veterans who have gone through the program. Marv talks about how the program came about, the goals of it, and how it has helped so many veterans as they return. The Royal Canadian Legion has helped fund the project.

The importance of literacy cannot be overstated. While we can learn in many ways, reading can play a fundamental part of that learning. This can be difficult in areas of the world where literacy rates are very low. That’s why many organizations and educational institutions are working to improve conditions in these places. In this week’s episode, Fiona interviews Dr. Marlene Asselin, Associate Professor and Teacher Librarianship Coordinator in the department of Language & Literacy Education here at UBC. Marlene has been deeply involved in efforts by CODE (Canadian Organization for Development through Education) Canada and CODE Ethiopia to train teacher-librarians in Ethiopia. She discusses the challenges involved, the successes they’ve had, and future plans for the program. It’s a wide-ranging interview with lots of great information on the project. In addition to Marlene, it’s the Year of Indigenous Education here in the Faculty of Education, and there are some great ways to celebrate it.  Finally, on a more cosmic scale, just where were you when you