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Category: Experiential Learning

HEQCO – Direct connections with community organizations create better experiential education

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Reposted from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario

By blending theory and practice, it is believed that experiential education helps students develop valuable skills that are directly applicable to careers in their field. A new study by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) examines several types of experiential education and finds that programs that connect students directly with community organizations to work on real-life projects result in stronger engagement and better outcomes. However, these types of programs require significantly more work for both students and instructors and need institutional commitment and support.

Project Description
Community Service Learning and Community-Based Learning as Approaches to Enhancing University Service Learning looked at three types of experiential learning. Community service learning (CSL) sends students into the community by either providing a direct service or taking on a project designed by a community organization. Community-based learning (CBL) brings community partners into the classroom to present real problems, projects, questions or research to engage directly with students. Other in-course learning activities (ICLA) such as role playing, skits, guest speakers, case studies and laboratories were grouped together.

The study examined 485 students at York University over a two-year period enrolled in a variety of introductory and upper-level courses across disciplines who engaged in some type of experiential learning. The students were surveyed at the end of their term to measure their engagement, depth of learning, perceptions of the course and educational outcomes. Faculty who permitted their students to participate in the study also took part in focus groups on their experiences.

Findings
Students recognized the benefits of CSL and CBL for their ability to improve engagement with the material and create strong educational outcomes. But they also rated the course experience lower than ICLA programs because of the increased workload and a lack of clarity on the goals and standards of the course. Clearly defining the standards in course outlines and managing expectations on workload may help manage these concerns. Designing CBL and CSL courses for upper-year students may also help students make clear, direct connections between their work in the community and their career path.

Faculty found that all experiential learning courses required more work for the instructor, but offered a deeply rewarding and personally transformative student learning experience. They also said that implementing new community partnerships for experiential education was often “messy” and challenging. The increased faculty workload of these courses could be offset through professional development and operational support for course design and implementation. Providing support and incentives for experiential learning can increase the number of these courses and improve the capacity for instructors to foster and maintain positive community relationships.

Authors of Community Service Learning and Community-Based Learning as Approaches to Enhancing University Service Learning are Rhonda Lenton, Robindra Sidhu, Sidak Kaur, Mark Conrad, Brian Kennedy, Yvette Munro, Richard Smith, York University.

For more information visit http://heqco.ca/en-CA/Research/Research%20Publications/Pages/Summary.aspx?link=153

First Year Seminars-One Year Later

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Laura Eramian, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology

In fall 2013, with five other instructors, I was part of the team that offered new First Year Seminar (FYS) courses in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. This Academic Innovation initiative was aimed primarily at student academic success and building information literacy. Here, I reflect on the process of designing the course and my experiences with the FYS pilot project as I begin teaching one of the seminars again this fall.

The course I teach deals with how personal relationships, like kinship, friendship, or neighbourliness are not merely private, but have a broader political significance in the world. Whenever I design a new course, I consider the same question: given that most of my students will not go on to graduate study, and even fewer will go on to professionalize as anthropologists, what is the value of a brief encounter with my discipline of social anthropology? In light of these objectives and the overall goals of the FYS program, I aim to give first year students a taste of what it’s like to do qualitative research. Throughout the term, each student is involved in a group project on one of our course themes that has them learning how to do interviews and/or public observation. In so doing, I aim to develop their understanding of what it means to collect and use information in ways consistent with university research ethics, and I work to build their understanding of the connections between what we talk about inside the classroom and the world beyond it.

What often strikes me about incoming university students is how disoriented many of them say they feel and how so much of what the university is built on remains mysterious to them as they settle into their roles as students. Conversations with my first year (and sometimes upper year) students reveal that the research side of the university is what they understand the least. What also strikes me is how curious they are about that side of things. Since I began teaching at Dal in 2011, no small number of undergraduate students have asked if I could tell them more about how research works – most of them know it’s something all of their instructors do when we’re not planning and delivering course material, but that’s about all most of them know. Part of what I aimed to do with the first year seminar was to give students some insight into that part of university life that they get to see less of, but that is fundamental for understanding the culture and practices of the university and what kind of place it is.

Conversations with the other four instructors who taught seminars in fall 2013 revealed a lot of useful “lessons learned.” For me, working closely with a small group brought home the importance of meeting students at their level and then building their understanding from there. This is always important in undergraduate teaching, but it’s especially so in a discussion-based first year seminar when they don’t yet have a great deal of background in the subject matter. I had the students bring in weekly discussion questions based on points they thought were particularly interesting, important, or confusing in the readings and that they wanted to discuss further as a group. This not only gave us a starting point for in-class discussions of the material, but also gave me a really useful gauge for what level(s) the students were engaging at. It let me meet them where they were and then bring them along with me to the arguments, concepts, and ideas I wanted them to know by the end of each week.

My experience of the FYS project points to some ongoing challenges and key successes.

Main successes:

  • Many students reported feeling more able to participate in the small group setting, which helped them build their confidence to speak in front of others. It was gratifying to see some of the quieter students open up and join the conversation as the term progressed.
  • Toward the end of the term, I invited a guest panel of my colleagues from the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology to help the students work through the challenges they were coming up against in their group research projects. For example, what does one do to get a quiet interviewee talking? How do you approach strangers to do short, on-site interviews? The guest panel was one of the highlights of the course, because the students were surprised and delighted that many of the challenges they were facing as beginners were the same ones seasoned researchers face. The panelists provided practical suggestions to the students on how to deal with these challenges, and it gave the students the opportunity to meet other Dal faculty members at the same time.
  • Having students generate their own research data gave them the confidence to weigh in on issues that otherwise they might not have felt “authorized” to intervene in. It gave them an opportunity to think, “Hey, I know something about this, and I have something to add based on my own findings.” The students all found useful ways to link their findings back to the literature on their topic. Moreover, doing research got them excited about a part of university life that they usually don’t get to experience until upper year courses or in some cases, graduate level study.

Ongoing Challenges:

  • Working with small groups of new university students does come with its challenges. The basic difficulties one might face in any introductory course become intensified in a small group setting that requires a lot of participation.
  • Students tend to enter university with varying levels of comfort in their student roles, and small seminars that continually demand high levels of energy from both students and instructors tend to make those dynamics all the more apparent.

 

The MOOC Completion Conundrum

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Fred McGinn, Director, School of Health and Human Performance

Response to “The MOOC Completion Conundrum” http://innovationinsights.wired.com/insights/2014/08/mooc-completion-conundrum-can-born-digital-fix-online-education

The following comments are derived from my involvement in the planning and teaching of two separate Dalhousie MOOCs this past year.

To fully comprehend the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) phenomena we must recognize that MOOCs offer education grounded in freedom of use and diversity of learning. The majority of MOOCs are free, unrestricted and accessible to all. To evaluate them based upon traditional university measures (e.g., retention) is to miss the unique value MOOCs offer both the student and the sponsoring university. When compared to a university credit, the value of a MOOC certificate is minimal. University students would not register for courses without the assurance of formal recognition and the rewards their degree provides. MOOCS, on the other hand, attract persons whose primary goal (and reward) is to learn in an individually defined manner.

Gratuitous, universal access opens the MOOC door to more disparate learners than those found in a traditional university course (class or online). This diversity is to be expected when the restriction for participation is virtually removed. Hence, some MOOC learners are “window shopping”, (i.e., freely entering and exiting courses to satisfy curiosity or to find the best fit) while others set a learning pace based solely on their desire to better understand specific content. Unlike a university course, pressure to complete is absent in MOOCs. Therefore, determining their value based on the number of certificates administered is like measuring the success of a drunk-driving campaign utilizing the number of citations issued. The tickets only reflect those drivers caught breaching the law, not those whose behaviour was positively altered by the campaign.

For universities to reap the rewards offered by MOOCs, faculty and administrators must resist the urge to view them in traditional pedagogical light. An early exit does not necessarily negate learning or depreciate the MOOC’s impact on student learning. Furthermore, the enrollment numbers are beyond anything universities have ever experienced. “M” stands for massive. With little advertising, our two MOOCs attracted 2500 students, of which approximately 400 received certificates of completion.

MOOCs provide universities an opportunity to reach well beyond the confines of their gates into a waiting, and in many cases needy, community of learners. Whether driven by altruism or public relations, universities offering MOOCs are playing in entirely new pedagogical sandbox.

 

Taking the lead: Dal offers new Certificate in Science Leadership and Communication

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“A team of professors in Dalhousie’s Faculty of Science is experimenting with a new program to encourage leadership and communication skills in young scientists.

The faculty is adding a Certificate in Science Leadership and Communication to its programs, becoming the ninth certificate offered to BSc students.”

Taken from Dal News; read the article online.

A Sustainability lens for all students

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SGetting a post-secondary degree is about more than just obtaining subject knowledge and the necessary qualifications to acquire a job. University is also about self-discovery and our ability and duty to contribute positively to our world and our environment.

I suggest an addition to curricula at Dalhousie that would benefit the environment, as well as help Dalhousie create more informed, compassionate and socially-responsible citizens. My suggestion is to implement a mandatory sustainability credit requirement for all undergraduate students. An understanding of the earth, and humanity’s relationship to it, should be considered basic knowledge for all university grads.

Sustainability is not a specific idea; rather, it is a lens through which you see the world. We are undeniably living in a time when our exploitation of the earth is having repercussions; fish stocks have been depleted, forests have been clear-cut and the climate is changing. The consequences of unsustainable practices affect every individual, no matter what their discipline. To make progress towards a sustainable future, everyone needs to live with the environment in mind.

 Since the 16th century, there has been a tendency towards specialization in research and in learning. This has undoubtedly led to much advancement, but it also led to some decisions that only made sense when taken out of context. In this century, many disciplines will need to work together to solve the multi-faceted environmental problems that we, as a human race, have created.

 The decision to create a mandatory sustainability credit must be well thought-out so as to not make the sustainability credit yet another hoop to jump through to get a degree. I do not have the answers as to how this would work well. Ultimately, I believe that sustainability should be woven into the very fabric of all courses because of its importance. For now, I will suggest that all departments must have at least one course that is cross-listed with sustainability, and that taking one of those cross-listed courses is mandatory.

Beyond the importance of sustainability to all disciplines, I believe universities have a duty to create aware and socially responsible citizens, not just scholars. Universities are centers of knowledge that foster some of the brightest thinkers out there, and since they are partially funded by public money I believe they have an obligation to serve the common good. Universities also create future leaders and these leaders must be ready to tackle the complicated environmental issues that need to be solved.

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About the author: Anika Roberts-Stahlbrand is a King’s and Dal student pursuing a combined honours in the History of Science and Technology, and Environment, Sustainability and Society.

 

Online with 85,000 Classmates

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MC900439254Online education/learning appears to be going through a rapid change! I first heard about Coursera last fall. It is an educational technology company that offers free online courses on a wide variety of subjects from some of the most well-known universities around the world. Online delivery of courses is not a new approach, but what is new is that Coursera`s courses are open to hundreds (and potentially millions) of online participants who are taking these courses at the same time. That is why they are called MOOCs -Massive Open Online Courses. Although my previous experience with online education had been disappointing, this sounded different and promising so I signed up for a 7 week course that started in early January.

As we approached the start date, there was a personal and encouraging email from the instructor providing a course overview, a request to complete the pre-course survey and a heads up to use the course discussion board for questions and comments because his team could not reply to individual requests.  At this point I learned that I was part of a *very* large class!

Coursera provides the technology and infrastructure for the course. Their system is logical and easy to understand and based around acourse website that includes  links to Videos, Suggested Reading,Quizzes, Peer Assessments, Syllabus and a Discussion Board.

The course content is provided by the university/professor.  Each week we covered a module that included short videos, suggested reading material and then an online, multiple choice quiz.  I found this format to be effective for learning and retaining the material.

About half way through the program, we had a Peer Assessment that involved completing a series of questions that were evaluated by 5 peers and then I evaluated my own work.  I found this to be a very positive learning experience plus I felt a stronger connection with the course and the other students.

The final exam was a longer version of the weekly quizzes.  Quizzes and exams were evaluated immediately and I could resubmit the revised work.   This proved to be a very powerful way to review my mistakes and take immediate action to understand the correct answers.

I spent 6-8 hours per week on this course, completing all the suggested material and felt that it was a very worthwhile experience.

What’s next?  I’ve just started to audit another course that allows me to review the videos and complete the quizzes but because of time constraints I won’t do the Peer Assessment or final exam.  And then there will be a break until the fall when I cruise the rapidly expanding course catalog looking for my next online adventure.

Overall, my experience was very satisfying and it appears their model has a lot of promise. However, there are still many unanswered questions about MOOCs and their efficacy long term for students and society. It will be very interesting to see how it unfolds. For a more in-depth look at this new phenomenon in higher education, check out “Online learning: Campus 2.0” for an overview of MOOCs including courses offered through Coursera.

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About the Author: Tom Rogers is a DalTech ’81 grad. He spent 15 years in Corporate Sales and Marketing followed by another 15 years as an entrepreneur running an internet marketing company that specializes in web design and on-going website management. He is currently a business analyst residing on a rural, Lunenburg County farm with his wife and Jack Russel Terrier.

 

 

 

Creating Pearls from Perils: Tips for Incorporating Technology in the Classroom

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wireless miceCross-fertilization is a key to fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. Building on Dalhousie’s many strengths, we are enhancing our culture of academic innovation at the University by encouraging our faculty, staff and students to share their innovative ideas about teaching and learning. This month, we invited Dr. Tim Fedak, Assistant Professor in the Division of Medical Education and Director of Distributed Education at Dalhousie Medical School to share with us his thoughts and experience with teaching online.

The blog post below is Dr. Fedak’s thoughtful reflection on a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education entitled “Pushing through the Perils of Teaching Online” (by Doug Ward). The article discussed some of the potential pitfalls with using new technology in the classroom and offered some valuable lessons about the appropriate use of technology in the classroom setting including:

  • don’t let technology get in the way
  • think differently about teaching
  • prepare as much as possible
  • temper your ambition
  • establish limits
  • don’t give up

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Blending Lectures and eLabs
I smiled while reading Doug Ward’s article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, as my own (untempered) ambition has recently inflated my expectations while teaching an undergraduate course. Amid the enormous work of preparing the course lectures I also began to modify half of the in-class labs into online self-directed eLabs. My reasons were sound; abundant high-quality online material, importance of digital literacy for students, and space limitations in the lab-room facilities.

I quickly realized that I had over committed myself. I had underestimated the small ‘bugs’ that occur when fifty students complete an eLab. Small problems are unavoidable when students use their own personal technology and when online grading glitches appear. Thankfully I recognized the limitations in my time and changed the course plans before any sign of student revolt; I did however experience the stress of trying to initiate too much change too quickly.

I learned valuable knowledge from this initial trial that will be of value next year when I will try again to expand the offering of eLabs (Don’t Give Up). Two online eLabs were implemented before I changed the course plan and reverted to in-class labs with a TA. I am glad my students did not revolt (although they may have if I had kept with the original plan), and the students were overwhelmingly excited and pleased to try the new eLab methods.

Encouraging faculty to take risks and invest extra effort into exploring how technology can enhance education delivery is necessary if higher education is going to remain relevant in our new digital reality. As faculty, we have many roles and demands on our time and there will be challenges, but we must not give up. Ward provides some excellent pearls of advice based on the perils he experienced, and he concludes with saying “Take your hits, learn, and move forward. When you move online for the first time, you’re as much student as teacher, even when you think you have things figured out.”

Changing Perils into Pearls

As faculty we must continue to experiment, analyze, and share results of new educational methods if higher education is to remain vibrant and relevant. Adopting new methods involves some measure of risk, and eventual challenges must be embraced as a necessary aspect of eventual success and growth in higher education. To achieve innovations in digital education students must also be empowered and encouraged to shoulder some of the burden of the inevitable perils. Only together can we change the perils into pearls.

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About the Author: Dr. Tim J Fedak (tim.fedak@dal.ca) is Assistant Professor in the Division of Medical Education and Director of Distributed Education at Dalhousie Medical School.  Dr. Fedak is also an Assistant Professor in Earth Science, teaching Introduction to Paleontology.  Other academic interests include providing students with Observation Drawing skills training in order to enhance observation, visualization, and problem solving skills (http://figs.ca/observation-drawing).

 

Learning in Indigenous communities

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by Heather Castleden, Faculty of Management

Here in the Faculty of Management, our Dean has IDEAS! Dean Cunningham is talking about Integrity, Diversity, Experiential Education, Action, and Sustainability and I am passionate about what she is talking about.

Having come to Dalhousie with knowledge and research experience about Indigenous environment and health in Canada, as well as knowledge about teaching in higher education, I have created a course called “Indigenous Perspectives on Resource and Environmental Management”. This isn’t your standard three-hour lecture, and I think it captures the Dean’s IDEAS!

The class draws (mostly white) students out of the classroom and into Indigenous communities, often for the first time in their lives, to sit with people – Elders, Chiefs, traditional knowledge-keepers, and resource users – and talk about the issues that most Canadians know very little about: historic and modern Treaties, Aboriginal rights, Title, Four Directions, Sacred Teachings, Indigenous world views, and environmental racism.

When students come back from their week of visiting, living, eating, and sleeping in Mi’kmaq communities, they are given the opportunity to reflect deeply on their experience and then create a digital story (which is a weaving together of personal narrative, images, motion, and music, creating a multi-dimensional story). They use these stories to share with each other and to communicate back to the community-based teachers about what they learned. When students finish this class, they ask: Why isn’t everyone at Dal required to take it? It’s a good question…

Continuous assessment for innovation at Agricultural Campus

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by Lauranne Sanderson, Business and Social Sciences, Agricultural Campus

Curriculum development and revision at the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus must be timely, innovative and constant to meet the job demands of several evolving industries that are central to Nova Scotia’s economy.

The majority of students at the campus, formerly the Nova Scotia Agricultural College, are in degree programs. In addition, the Agricultural Campus continues to provide technical training for the agriculture and food industries, training which began in 1905. Technology diploma programs are career-focused and market-driven.  Tailored to train future business owners/managers, veterinary nurses, and sales and service representatives working in the agricultural, horticultural or pet industries, these programs must be focused on educating students on the latest technology and skills.

After extensive interviews with key employers in the agricultural and horticultural industries, discussions with students, analysis of market and career trends, and development of detailed learning outcomes, we created the Diploma in Business Management with options to specialize in the dairy, equine, pet or greenhouse industries in 2006.  The diploma prepares students to enter the workforce at the operational manager level. For example, students in the equine option are responsible for managing Baron’s Pride stable (under the supervision of staff).

This unique diploma provides students with a blend of classroom and hands on learning. In addition to diploma credit classes in management and the technological specialty, workplace readiness modules include training in Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, public speaking, internships, and skills training in laboratory and the work environment.

We believe our design approach, involving frequent updating and extensive consultation with graduates and target industries, is the right one. We are confident that the technology diploma programs at the Dalhousie Agricultural Campus will continue to evolve and innovate to meet the needs of our stakeholders in the horticulture, agriculture and food industries including, most importantly, the students who graduate from them.

Mixing it up across programs to aid learning

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by Ed Ng, School of Business Administration

In my BUSI 6315/COMM 4315 course on International and Intercultural Management, students get first-hand experience in people management skills.  I work with instructors in the Corporate Residency MBA program in order to foster learning for both groups of students in an interactive, experiential environment.

The graduate students are charged with leading a diverse, multicultural, and cross-functional team of undergraduate students in completing a country case study project.  MBAs apply their leadership and coaching skills to motivate their teams to successful completion of a project which culminates in a “trade mission” presentation at the end of the semester.  As team leaders, the MBA students experience everyday management challenges such as motivating teams on task, resolving dysfunctional behaviours, and facilitating problem-solving using their knowledge from organizational behaviour theories.  They also develop coaching and mentoring skills such as providing their team with guidance and directions, leading by example, providing timely feedback, developing subordinates, and creating an environment of trust in a multicultural setting.

Meanwhile, the undergraduate students also learn to work as a team, resolve work issues, maintain healthy group dynamics, manage workflow and support each other and their team leaders.  Teams must complete their project on time, meet all project objectives and guidelines, and deliver their presentations to the client in a boardroom setting.

At the conclusion of the project, both MBA and undergraduate students learn to conduct performance appraisals by participating in a 360/multisource performance evaluation with each other as peers, supervisors and subordinates.

A very beneficial outcome is that students gain self-awareness in their strengths and weaknesses as people managers and team members.  This academic experience also helps them to develop their leadership and coaching skills, and functional competencies in communication, project management and performance assessment.