CIEL is dedicated to supporting high quality teaching and student-centered learning. Our team work with VIU instructors to enhance teaching and foster student engagement. From refining assessments to exploring new approaches, our support is tailored to your needs. CIEL also helps instructors and students using VIU learning technologies.
We can support you through one on one consultations or answer questions by phone or email.
Email: LearnSupport@viu.ca
Phone: 250.740.6179
Hours: Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 4:00 pm excluding statutory holidays and university closures.
Location: Building 305, Room 512, Nanaimo Campus
Meet our team
The Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning consists of staff from a wide range of professional backgrounds. We are an interdisciplinary group with a broad range of pedagogical and technical skills. We work together to research and advise on teaching and learning issues.
Technology support
Jacqueline Kirkham
Learning Technologies Application Developer
Jenna Auringer
Learning Technologies Support Specialist
Jenna began her post-secondary career at VIU in 2013 with a goal of being able to use the skills and knowledge that she learned in her post-secondary studies to help members of her community. After some experimentation, Jenna found a passion for media production, web design, and programming which led her to graduating from VIU with a Major in Digital Media Studies.
Since then, Jenna has had a number of different jobs including being a Library Assistant and an Audio Technician before settling down into her current position at VIU as a Learning Technologies Support Specialist.
Jenna has a strong passion for education and learning and hopes to use the technical skills and knowledge that she has gained over the years to help VIU staff and students achieve new heights in their learning.
Meara Kimball
Learning Technologies Support Specialist
Meara began her academic career at VIU with no clear goal beyond a minor in math. She discovered that she greatly enjoyed her requisite computer science courses, and this inspired her transfer to UVIC to pursue a BSc with a combined major in Computer Science and Mathematics.
Career-wise, Meara’s early dream was to work at her childhood summer camp, a dream she was able to realize for 3 glorious summers. Around the same time, she began working in libraries and decided to continue in that field while progressing through university. Moving to Nanaimo, to Victoria, and back to Nanaimo again, she has worked as both a page and a library assistant at Vancouver Island Regional Library, Greater Victoria Public Library, and even VIU’s own academic library.
Between summer camp and library service, it soon became clear that she was too much of a people-person for a strictly tech career and she began looking for a job that called on all of her strengths. As you may have guessed, this search led her the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning, where she is excited to bridge the gap between educators, learners, and learning technologies!
Meara leads the VIULearn Student Orientation Project.
Raul Campos
Learning Technology Support Specialist
Curriculum support
Anwen Burk
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist
Elodie Button
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist
Jessica Gemella
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist
Kathleen Bortolin
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning Specialist
I started my career in education teaching English to school children in a fishing village off the coast of Hiroshima, Japan. It was during that year, living away from my family and culture, without language skills or teaching experience that I fell in love with teaching. Being isolated and a little bit shy, I learned that teaching could be a tool—a tool to connect with others, to learn, and to grow. Since then, I have spent 17 years in education--teaching, learning, and studying. My journey has led me to delve deeply into the field of teaching and learning, focusing mostly on issues of empowerment and transformation, both for students and teachers. For this reason, I am drawn to community-engaged teaching and learning, Indigenous perspectives in higher education, and scholarly inquiry into teaching. Working at the Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning, I work alongside faculty, staff and students to design learning experiences that have the potential to inspire, transform and empower.
