Ryan Banow

Background

About Ryan Banow

I work as an educational developer, learning technologies specialist, and university instructor. Some career highlights to date include- Leading and contributing to the professional development team for the campus-wide implementation of the Canvas LMS at the University of Saskatchewan. We were successful in not only training instructors on how to use Canvas, but also on using its features in pedagogically-sound ways to improve teaching and learning. This huge task was further complicated by occurring at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and remote work/teaching period- Consulting at all stages of the development of TrussVR software to enhance learning of truss analysis and how forces act in trusses. After development, I guided the VR software's implementation with hundreds of Engineering students and researched its effectiveness- Winning a 2021 USSU Teaching Excellence Award at the University of Saskatchewan. It was an honour to be nominated by my students, especially during the challenging Fall 2020 term where remote-learning was new to them- Leading the professional development for the campus-wide rollout and ongoing implementation of the Top Hat student response system at the University of Saskatchewan- Supported numerous faculty members in implementing "flipped teaching" in pedagogically-sound ways. I guided them to cut through all of the noise around "flipping" and focus on the aspects that make the difference between success and student revolt! More about me: I have extensive experience preparing and organizing workshops, courses, lesson plans, unit plans, design plans, educational resources (text, web, and video), and collaborating on research projects and articles. I support all aspects of instruction and assessment. My areas of specialization are educational technology (including virtual reality); instructional design; online learning; student response systems; active learning; and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education.