Learning in Indigenous communities

September 24, 2012 daysoft1 Leave a Comment

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

September 18, 2012 daysoft1 Leave a Comment

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

September 7, 2012 admin Leave a Comment

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.

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