We’ve come to realize that teaching and learning are experiencing a great deal of disruption; with no end in sight to the turmoil, how do we cope? I argue that the way to navigate these choppy seas is to keep our eye on learner engagement.

The integration of AI in university courses raises significant ethical questions. How can we uphold academic integrity while utilizing technologies that seem bound and determined to undermine that integrity?

A lecture for prospective students at the University of Waterloo.

A course of four lectures for the Laurier Association for Lifelong Learning.

German Language Teaching and Learning Workshop

A lecture for the Bluewater Association for Lifelong Learning

A presentation at the Online-Symposium Zwischen Dichtung und Wissenschaft: Ricarda Huch und die Essayistik der Moderne, DLA Marbach – Universität Lothringen (CEGIL), 7.-8. Oktober 2021.

Presentation at McMaster Continuing Education, 2021.09.29.

Workshops held “at” The University of the South Pacific, 2021.07.28. and 2021.08.04.

A lecture on how our idea of what constitutes open educational resources needs to be more, well, open.

A presentation on how we can use the concepts of truth and reconciliation to make sense of Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 novel Der Vorleser (The Reader).

A presentation on Jason Lutes’ graphic novel BERLIN and the television series BABYLON BERLIN.

In recent years, populism has rattled the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, India, and other democracies. What accounts for the appeal of populist rhetoric and ideas in our contemporary era? What the future might hold for populism?

Is it right to admire works created by artists we despise? In this lecture, I explore whether it’s possible to separate art from the artists.

Presentation for the Commonwealth of Learning Digital Assessment Series, 2021.02.18.

Presentation at the OE Global 2020 Conference.

This lecture revisits Germany’s past in order to see if pre-1945 German culture provides any clues about the current political situation. And while one must recognize, to use political scientist Sheri Berman’s words, that “populism is not fascism,” we do well to understand the relationship between the two ideas and how the one can lay the groundwork for the other. We will also look at Germany’s history of leftist populism and how it has affected modern-day politics.

A presentation at TESS 2020.

This lecture identifies and discusses some of the key features of populism: the “us versus them” mentality; populism’s conflict with elitism; how mass dissatisfaction can give rise to mass political movements; the differences between left-wing and right-wing populism; the role of leadership in populism; and the difficulties scholars have defining populism (and the reasons for that).

One of our biggest fears as new online instructors is that students will have more opportunities to cheat. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With thoughtful assessment design, good communication, and other strategies, we can ensure students will engage honestly and diligently with their learning.