Archive for Annie Prud homme Genereux
Interdisciplinary Programs – Call for a Network!
Absence of links between university interdisciplinary programs is a lost opportunity
One aim of many new and innovative programs across Canadian universities is to encourage and foster interdisciplinary thinking. There are almost as many different proposed ways of achieving it as there are programs. The aims, approaches, and presumably outcomes of each program are slightly different. For example, the Science One program at the University of British Columbia does it by having experts from several disciplines contribute to each lecture (this is the “duet” model). Thus, whenever a topic is introduced, the various experts can weigh in and make the connections between the disciplines.
McMaster is about to launch the iSci program, where interdisciplinary themes and concepts are used to drive the learning and make the connections between the sciences. At Quest, the courses tend to be more traditional disciplines, but students are encouraged to use the methods of enquiry from several fields of study to answer a Question (an individualized major). There are many other models out there (and indeed, I know I am not doing justice to the complexity and richness of each program I have described) – these are but a sampling.
These seem to be a consensus that interdisciplinary thinking is a wise thing to have in the 21st century. The question is why? One pragmatic answer has to do with the fact that most people will follow many different career paths in their lives, and familiarity with as many different fields of studies is crucial to a successful professional life. The more ideologically-inclined might hold that knowing about multiple modes of enquiry is valuable for its own sake, as a form of personal enlightenment.
Another argument I have heard is that while the current specialization that is encouraged in our higher education system is necessary for a society to function, we have neglected to educate the people who can bridge the disciplines, translate between two specialists to link them up. Finally, it must be said that many innovations and important insights come from discovering links between disciplines, finding ways in which areas relate to one another and new ways of thinking about a subject.
Innovative interdisciplinary undergraduate programs are starting up all over the country. Most of these use very different approaches to achieve their goal (indeed, most of them interpret the term “interdisciplinary” in very different ways). It seems to me that most of these programs are operating in virtual isolation from one another. Unless I am mistaken, there is no network or conference in Canada where people who develop and teach in these undergraduate interdisciplinary programs can link-up, learn from one another, and discuss common issues.
This represents a lost opportunity. In my years in the Coordinated Science Program at UBC, and at Quest, there have certainly been many lessons learned. Presumably, how these challenges were resolved could benefit others in similar programs. I similarly relish the thought of learning about the innovations that others have made, and to compare how outcomes are best met by each strategy.
Consequently, I am proposing the formation of a network of faculty developing and teaching interdisciplinary undergraduate programs across Canada. As I mentioned, I do not think such a network exists. If it does, would you be so kind as to mention it in the comments below. Otherwise, I volunteer to start such a network.
If you are interested in joining, please contact me (apg at questu.ca). This would serve as a forum for discussion of the issues that work and do not work in interdisciplinary programs, and to learn about different approaches used to achieve interdisciplinary goals. It may also serve as a forum to start collaborative pedagogical research projects on interdisciplinary education. If this network is successful and helpful in fostering communication between programs, I propose a conference (probably in two years’ time) where we can meet and discuss issues pertinent to people who practice and believe in this approach to education.
Is there interest and/or support for this sort of communication endeavour among the Canadian interdisciplinary undergraduate education community?
Private vs. public education – start the discussion!
Prior to joining Quest, I had a few qualms with private education
Looking at this blog’s history, I note that four out of the five entries were made by Quest University instructors. Since I agreed to contribute to this blog as a chance to start a dialogue between people interested in higher education in Canada, I thought I might try to shake things up by making an entry that’s bound to stir strong opinions. This is my challenge to the other blog writers, as well as to anyone who might be reading these lines – please participate in this discussion – as that’s the way to make this blog useful to all.
Here’s the controversial topic I would like to discuss to start this dialogue:
Is there room for private universities in Canada? Are there benefits? Should it be allowed?
I must confess that prior to joining Quest, I had a few qualms with private education. Like many academics, my ideals lie somewhat left of the middle, so the idea of joining an institution with high tuition fees seemed contrary to my values. However, having been at Quest for 3 years now, and having seen how the system works, my views have changed.
The level of scholarship and financial support offered to students in a private setting is much more developed than at public institutions. Indeed, I would argue that the private setting is more of a social system, where the level of tuition that a student is expected to pay is more in line with the ability to pay. Students from more wealthy backgrounds tend to pay higher tuition, and this money is used to offset the cost of tuition for students coming from more modest circumstances. This tuition adjustment is at the core of a social system. At public institutions, everyone pays a set tuition sum. Historically, this worked well because tuition was low, but tuition fees have been on the rise, and education is increasingly becoming inaccessible to a larger segment of the population.
The other issue often quoted in opposition to a private system is the quality of the programs offered. In B.C. at least, the degree programs offered by private institutions are annually reviewed by the provincial Ministry of Education. This keeps private institutions on their toes and ensures that they are consistently delivering a quality education, one that meets the advertised educational objectives. My understanding is that public institutions do not have to undergo such a rigorous annual review process. This is not to say that public institution programs are bad (clearly many are excellent), but just to point out that in a private setting, there seems to be more outside scrutiny to ensure program quality.
I realize I have written a somewhat one-sided opinion, but remember, my goal was to make this entry provocative so it would make some of the writers’ and readers’ blood boil, and would stimulate discussion on this blog! Please contribute your thoughts – privatization is very much on the Canadian list of most argued topics, and I would be delighted to read all sides of the story!
What should be done about hazing on campus?
- It should be banned outright (43%)
- If students want to join a frat, that's their choice (38%)
- It should be monitored and regulated (19%)
Loading ...The Case for Case Studies
Active learning. That’s all the rage in education circles there days. The idea that a student learns best by being involved in his or her own learning. Don’t get me wrong – I know it’s a not a new concept. Confucius himself is credited with the quote: “I hear and I forget, I see and [...]
Active learning. That’s all the rage in education circles there days. The idea that a student learns best by being involved in his or her own learning. Don’t get me wrong – I know it’s a not a new concept. Confucius himself is credited with the quote:
“I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand”
Clearly this idea has been around for some time. I just can’t recall that being part of my own education – so I’m guessing that at some point in the 90s, someone forgot about it and didn’t include it as part of their classroom pedagogy…
Students working on a case study
… But active learning is making a comeback, despite pushback from some of the “old guard” professors. I once showed up to a job interview where the job ad specifically said “seeking an active education specialist”. Now, when an instructor applies for a job there are typically two components: a sample class and an interview. I prepared a classroom with many learning activities, student interactions, problem solving. It’s always a little unnerving to prepare these because your audience is typically not students but other faculty (so the interactions are *much* different). I was rather proud of myself – at the breadth of active learning activities I had prepared – until I actually sat down for the interview. I was asked, point blank, why I didn’t choose to lecture for my sample class. “Dahhhh – Really? You’re serious? Remember your job ad? It said “active learning”, which by definition means “don’t lecture”!” Ok, so apparently, some people are still only paying lip service to this one without actually knowing what it means.
I wasn’t always a lover of all things active learning. In fact, if you had asked me about 10 years ago, I would have told you that my own education, which included zero active learning, was just fine. It clearly worked as a pedagogical tool – here I was with a degree certifying that I was one of the best graduates in my field. Clearly I had learned…. Something… Didn’t I?
Then, I undertook some studies in adult education… For the first time in my life, I was asked to guide my education, to problem solve, to reflect on the value of what I was learning for my own practice. The instructors who taught this diploma program did not only promote the value of active learning: they practiced it! And I became a convert… Sure, the instructors could have spent all their time telling me how great active learning is – but instead, they asked me to reflect on its value. In the end, that was the critical element that made me see its value. I had to discover it for myself.
I won’t lie to you – active learning activities are difficult to design. Lecturing is so much easier. So much safer. Comforting in it’s acceptance in the academic world. (oh ya, and I admit that I love to lecture, too! ). But if you seek it, it will come. Pretty soon, I was teaching in Problem-Based Learning format. This is the pedagogy pioneered by our own Canadian university McMaster, and it is rapidly taking over medical schools all over North America. In this model, students aren’t told about anatomy, physiology, biochemistry – they are presented with a case study. This is a story of a patient who comes to see them, presenting certain symptoms. At this point, the students are naïve. They don’t have any information to make a diagnostic. However, they do have a brain, and they are about to use it. Working in small groups, they determine what knowledge they would need to know in order to be able to address the patient’s complaints. They go research it, pull their heads together, research more if that’s needed, and then solve the case. You might argue that this is a slow process and that you cannot cover as many medical conditions in this fashion as if you were lecturing, and I would have to agree with you. However, what you do have is a student (and eventually a clinician) who knows how to research a diagnostic. Personally, I would rather have a doctor who thinks through every case rather than one who dispenses answers from his school days 50 years ago. And besides, isn’t it plausible that doctors are sometimes presented with conditions they have never encountered before? Wouldn’t you rather have a doctor who knows how to look up what bizarre and rare ailment is afflicting you (and how to treat it) than one who shrugs and says “sorry – never seen that before… Take two aspirins and call me in the morning”? Active learning encourages life long learning, because there is an emphasis on learning how to learn.
I just finished designing and teaching a molecular biology course, taught entirely on the case discussion method that I learned about at the Case Study in Science Workshop at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY) last summer. It was SCARY to show up to class on the first day with only a few case studies in hand. What if the cases didn’t cover the materials appropriately? What if the students hated it? What if I couldn’t lead a discussion for 3 hrs every day (double yikes)? To my amazement and delight, this turned out to be the best course I have ever taught. Ok, Ok, I’ll give credit to my students, who were amazing. But what really rattled me, on the very first day of class, is that I saw students THINK through a problem. In biology, which is my field of expertise, this is a rather rare event. Biology is typically taught as a collection of facts. However, the cases present students with some problem or some fact and ask: “what’s the next step? What would you do to investigate this? Design an experiment. What do you expect to find at the end?” They devise their answers in small groups and then present their answers to the class. I provide feedback on their thought process.
Isn’t that kind of exercise exactly what biologists do? I mean, here I am with a PhD in biochemistry, and each time I have to do something with the Kreb Cycle (my archnemesis – it taxes my memory), I look it up in a text book. So I don’t really care that students know it by heart – I don’t claim to myself. But what I would like to provide guidance on, which is something they cannot get from reading a book, is the thought process used in solving biological problems and designing experiments. This course was extremely rewarding because at the end of every day, I felt that the students’ minds had grown a bit. I hadn’t stuffed their brain with facts – although some facts are bound to have made their way in there – rather, I helped them develop their thinking skills and look at the world like a biologist.
And that, to me, makes the case for using case studies in the classroom.
Annie
Sometimes the best way to freshen up a course is to cancel class
Why a surprise shut-down of the university can promote community
One day each term, when the students least expect it, all classes are canceled at Quest University Canada. These days are called “Community Days”. We just had a Community Day today.
I would love to claim this was our idea, but it was inspired by a similar event that takes place at the Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific near Victoria BC (an innovative international high school). What’s the goal of this Community Day? It’s threefold.
First, sometimes you just need a break. Quest teaches on the fast-paced block scheduling plan. Students take one course at a time, 3 hrs each day, for 3 1⁄2 weeks. It is an intensive way to learn: students must stay on task and manage their time effectively because assignment due dates come up fast, and before you know it the course is over. You need a breather, a chance to revitalize, interact informally with all students and faculty, not just the ones in your 20-student class.
Community Day at Quest University CanadaSecond, it promotes student interactions. The morning schedule of a typical Community Day consists of team building and leadership exercises, preferably outdoors. Some of the activities today included trust exercises and the raising of a student-made Quest flag (we first had to dig a hole, then carry a tree log up a hill, then raise the log and stabilize it with ropes once it stood reasonably erect). Oh, I know – a lot of you are probably rolling your eyes, covering your mouth and thinking “and they call this a university? What’s the academic merit of doing that?”. I probably would have been right there with you a few years ago. Sure, it’s unorthodox. But having seen its effects in the classroom first hand, I am now a convert.
Do you know what happens when you set up a situation where students must bond, trust one another, exercise leadership abilities and have fun together? Do you know what happens when you then put them together in a 20-student classroom and ask them to contribute to a class discussion?
You cannot shut them up!
They feel comfortable with one another, they trust that their peers (and their teacher) will accept them, and they do not fear being ridiculed. A non-academic activity goes a long way towards improving the academic quality of my classroom. I’ll sacrifice a day of class any day if it means that the questions and insights that are shared and asked in my classroom are more numerous, more honest, more in-depth, and are contributed by a larger percentage of the students.
Third, the afternoons of a Community Day are generally spent asking for the students’ input on building this university. Quest opened its doors to students a mere 13 months ago. A lot of its policies, practices, and even its identity are currently being developed. The philosophy at Quest is that students wouldn’t be told what to do: study this course and that – they would be active participants in their own education. They are guided through the design of their own degree. They also contribute in building this university. Today, the topics under discussion were student admission, student retention, fundraising (since we are a private non-profit institution), energy-conservation on campus, and student life. It’s amazing what different perspectives students can have on an issue than faculty. It was very refreshing to hear their take on what matters. And they also provided tons of ideas for improving this place.
At the end of the day, when the Community Day is over, you get buy-in. You get the sense that Quest belongs to all of us. That we each have a hand in shaping it. That we are not a number but an important member of a community. That this place is special. It re-infuses energy into all students and faculty and into every classroom. And at the end of the day, we are all reminded that there is no other place we would rather be.
So now you decide – wasn’t a day of “fluff” a valuable part of a student’s education?
