By: Kian Yousefi Kousha
As one word finds itself next to another, the ideas in our mind begin to fill pages. These words have the ability to further our imagination and change our lives. Whether conveyed through the dystopian world created by George Orwell or the sentimental spirits of L. M. Montgomery’s characters, words are powerful and writing freely is an indispensable tool.
The concept of free writing has found its way to McMaster University through a new mandatory writing course; Voice and Vision: Words to Change the World, or Humanities 1VV3. The course is offered in the fall and taught by professor Jeffery Donaldson.
The main purpose of the course is to refine students’ thinking, problem-solving skills and most importantly, improve their writing by providing students with writing opportunities they may not have had before.
While the course addresses the expectations for writing in the faculty of humanities and prepares first year students for their undergraduate education, Donaldson hopes that the course will also address the misgivings students’ may have about their own writing.
“One of my main focuses in the course was to find a way of helping students not to think of writing as an onerous activity that they don’t enjoy [or a] writing style that is not natural to them ... I wanted to find a way of organizing a course that would actually be a celebration of the creative energy that is a part of every student’s identity. At that age, they are full of ideas and verbal energy,” explained Donaldson.
The course is taking another approach to writing at the university level by simultaneously celebrating students’ own creativity and preparing them for formal writing in the humanities program. In fact, the core of the course is a free writing assignment where students are asked to write 30 pages of prose on their own topic of choice, without any specifications.
“Our expectation is that [writing 30 pages] is more writing than any of them has ever done. They are getting used to generating prose without any sense that they have to write in any particular way and our goal was to show them that the more writing you do, the more natural your writing becomes,” explained Donaldson.
Throughout the semester, Donaldson saw improvements in the students’ writing. The final 10 pages of the free writing assignment was a major indication of students’ overall growth over time. Donaldson also approached the course by representing writing as a thinking tool for students.
Nader Nagy, one of the students who was enrolled in Humanities 1VV3 this past fall semester, witnessed improvements in his writing. This improvement was attributed to Donaldson’s teaching and approach towards writing through the course’s exercises.
“I want [students] to think of writing as something that is always going on in your mind and you release that and then gradually, as you learn to work with your writing, you adapt it to these [formal writing] constraints,” said Donaldson.
For example, students are encouraged to use first person pronouns as they make their own arguments, which is an opportunity that is considered counterintuitive for formal writing in other courses.
John Stultz believes that the mandatory course taught him and other students how to properly convey themselves by focusing first on learning how to organize and communicate ideas coherently.
Sarah Woodburn considers her experience with the course as a method to ease the path of first year students into essay writing, without enduring the pressure of formal writing.
“It is definitely a new way and a fresh way of looking at English as well as essay writing in a different light that allows students a little more freedom in terms of their writing,” said Woodburn.
Donaldson is looking forward to tracking students’ progress in their four years of undergraduate studies in humanities. He hopes to observe changes in their quality of writing as an aftereffect of taking Humanities 1VV3.
While it will be interesting to observe the long term effects on students’ writing, for now the accounts of individuals involved in the course speak to its unique position within the faculty of humanities. The course focuses on reinventing students’ experiences with writing and giving power back to the students’ voices and visions through words.
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Following the advocacy efforts made by the McMaster Students Union, the fall 2018 term introduced McMaster University students to a new option for course enrolment: the personal interest course. The PIC option allows students to take an elective course without affecting their cumulative grade point average by making the course assessed on a credit or no-credit grading scale.
There's still time to register for a Personal Interest Course. Read more about PIC here: https://t.co/yoAi4Icjaz and learn how you can register for both Fall and Winter terms. #McSU #mcmasteru pic.twitter.com/HKXYCY7Ia8
— McMaster Students Union (MSU) (@MSU_McMaster) August 7, 2018
In order to receive a final grade of credit, students must earn a final mark of at least 50 per cent. Students who do not earn 50 per cent receive a final grade of no-credit, which is not considered as a failure and is not included in GPA calculations or averages.
According to the office of the registrar, “McMaster University encourages interdisciplinary study and believes undergraduate studies provides an excellent opportunity to explore topics which are new and unfamiliar.”
Thus, by removing the risk of negatively affecting students’ GPA, the PIC option can encourage students to explore new interests through choosing electives outside of their program. The units earned from successfully completing a PIC can even be used to satisfy a students’ elective or minor requirements.
Any undergraduate student with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 and who are registered in a participating program above level one may take advantage of the PIC option. Such students may take three units of PIC per term, with a maximum of twelve units per four- or five-level degrees or a maximum of nine units per three-level degrees.
Once enrolled in a course, selecting a PIC option simply requires changing the grading basis for the course on Mosaic from graded to PIC. For the 2019 winter term, students have until the end of the drop-and-add period on Jan. 15 to declare a PIC. If necessary, students can still opt to withdraw from the course as per the normal procedures and deadlines.
Surveying friends who took a PIC during the fall 2018 term, the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. Whether it is the student in the natural sciences trying a music course or a humanities student gaining valuable business knowledge, the PIC option allows for students to develop new skills and realize new interests.
One of the best features of the PIC is that if students feel they are doing well in the course and would like to keep the numeric grade, they have the option to indicate the course is no longer a PIC on Mosaic by the last day for withdrawing from courses without failure by default, which is Mar. 15 for the winter 2019 term. This truly creates a no-risk scenario for students interested in taking new classes.
Before PIC was introduced, the only other way for undergraduate students to take a class without affecting their cumulative GPA was to audit the class. However, since completion of assignments and writing the final examination is not required, students cannot earn units for audited courses like they do with PIC.
I strongly encourage all students to at least consider taking a PIC. Who knows—you might discover a new passion or career interest!
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Hundreds of students in McMaster’s introductory finance course commerce 2FA3 received a failing grade on their first midterm, with the class average sitting at 50.6 per cent, barely scraping past the passing threshold.
“The main issue began with many students complaining that prof. Trevor Chamberlain, who was teaching all four cores at the time, was not a very good instructor,” said Sara*, a second-year McMaster student in the course.
Chamberlain, the course professor, allegedly told students that the low class average was a reflection of students’ poor work ethic. These comments and the perceived incompetence of the professor emboldened a few commerce students to organize a petition in late October in hopes of improving their experience in the course.
Two hundred students signed the petition. Some of their demands included “fair assessments,” or test questions that are more consistent with the types of questions exposed to students in class, and tutorials, which were not initially provided by the course. The petition also called for the professor to use Avenue to Learn, the university’s course management platform, and disseminate course notes.
After garnering support from their peers, the organizers submitted the petition to Sue McCracken, the associate dean of the commerce program, in the first week of November.
Unbeknownst to McCracken, during the same week, Chamberlain asked a teaching assistant to temporarily take over the course for a few days.
“The TA stated that the professor had left a lot of class content for her so go through, so she was going through it in a fast pace, making it difficult to take notes,” said Sara. “When asked to slow down, she stated she rather get through 100 per cent of the material with students having some understanding than 30 per cent of the material with a good understanding for students.”
On Nov. 9 and 12, McCracken and Greg Rombough, the manager of undergraduate and specialized graduate programs (Academic), visited all the students in the course and affirmed that the DeGroote School of Business will take the concerns articulated by students seriously.
In the turbulent month before exams, Chamberlain was removed from the course and two new instructors stepped in to teach commerce 2FA3.
Nevertheless, this change was implemented with only a few weeks of the course left to spare. Having only completed one assessment thus far into the term, commerce students are left uncertain and concerned about where they stand academically.
“This course is also a prerequisite for commerce 3FA3, which second year students are supposed to take in the winter 2018 term, but now will have to be pushed back if a student decides to drop this course,” said Sara.
In the light of the petition, the DeGroote School of Business revised the assessment weighting scheme and added additional tutorial sessions to help students prepare for their next evaluation. The second midterm is scheduled for Nov. 16.
UPDATE: November 19, 2018
Prof. Leonard Waverman, Dean of the DeGroote School of Business, has noted that Dr. Chamberlain became ill with pneumonia and needed to take time away from teaching. Prof. Waverman also added that the petition demanding fair assessments, tutorials (which were not initially provided by the course), the professor to use Avenue to Learn and to disseminate course notes was signed by 145 students rather than 200.
Since this article was published on Nov. 15, 2018, hundreds have students have commented that they have faced similar experiences within this course throughout the years.
We will continue to update this story with new information.
[spacer height="20px"]*name changed to protect identity
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By Elliot Fung
This year, the faculty of engineering and the DeGroote School of Business partnered up to introduce a newly-minted innovation minor for McMaster students from all faculties. The minor offers a diversity of courses for students interested in innovation and entrepreneurship, with syllabus titles like “From Founder to CEO” and “Persuasion, Pitching Skills and Marketing.”
With enrollment far exceeding expectation, the brand-new innovation minor has started out on the right foot at the beginning of its inaugural year.
“The innovation minor is a nexus where academics meet startup culture,” says Monika Yazdanian, director of The Forge, a Hamilton-based startup incubator.
The Forge helps local startups to grow from an idea to a company. The Forge worked closely with the school of business and faculty of engineering to develop a unique curriculum and program structure.
The uniqueness and strength of the program can be attributed to the way the courses are taught. Classes are informed directly by successful local startups. In addition, chief executive officers and founders, such as Morgan Wyatt of Greenlid Envirosciences, are brought in to guest lecture about their experiences building companies from the ground up. Networking sessions allow students to talk directly with speakers and ask questions about startups.
The program becomes increasingly hands-on and experiential in the third and fourth year. For instance, students who pursue the minor have the opportunity to work directly with The Forge to develop and create their own startup.
Program enrollment far exceeded expectations, with the seventy five spots allocated for the first year course “The World of Entrepreneurship 1X03” filling within 48 hours of the open enrollment date. In light of the minor’s soaring demand, 1X03 will open up spots to 130 students in the winter term.
Nevertheless, as of yet, the program has not solidified any further plans to expand. Cameron Churchill, one of the directors of the minor and assistant professor of civil engineering, brings up the concern that larger classes might stymie intimate class conversation.
Although still early in the year, students seem to be engaging well with the courses. Students can be seen staying back after class to have conversations with instructors.
“Enthusiasm of students is high. They are insatiable for tips and love to chat,” said Churchill.
[spacer height="20px"]Third-year commerce student Darren Zhang, who is taking the first year 1X03 course, has been satisfied with the class so far as it provides him with the opportunity to learn about startups, something lacking from commerce and McMaster in general.
Although there have not been any major issues as of yet, Darren Zhang says that assignments and presentations could be a bit clearer. Another 1X03 student wishes there was a wider variety of startup case studies in more industries. The student also expected more hands-on experience in innovating products, delivering pitches and learning about tools to start businesses.
Because the innovation minor is new, it is reasonable to expect some confusion from students as to what is taught in these courses and how they are evaluated. Courses will be refined with future iterations of the curriculum. Nevertheless, as of now, Churchill says the focus is on promoting the innovation minor to first and second year students before looking at any curriculum change.
The minor is open to all undergraduate students and includes specific innovation courses such as Innovate 1X03 and Innovate 2X03. Five second, third and fourth-year courses are going to be available within the next two years.
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University of Toronto offers an option for students that McMaster should start looking into. The credit/no credit option allows students to designate certain courses to show up on their transcript as either a credit or no credit as opposed to the GPA being shown.
Students may select up to two credits out of the 20 needed to graduate at University of Toronto.
This applies to degree students at all University of Toronto campuses, including University of Toronto, Mississauga.
The equivalent to this at McMaster would be being able to use the option for either four one-term courses, two full-year courses or a combination of both.
This mode of assessment can be applied as long as it is no later than the last day to drop the course.
In order to achieve a status of Credit (CR), students must have a final mark of at least 50 per cent.
Marks that are below this requirement would be assess as No Credit (NCR). Courses with a final status of CR will count still qualify as degree credits and will have no effect on student’s GPAs.
The only possible downfall is that though the courses will not affect students’ GPA, they would count as Distribution Requirements and degree credits, but can not be used to satisfy program requirements.
Courses with a final status of NCR do no count as degree credits, but will not count as failures or factor into GPA calculations.
This is an effective option for students that McMaster should consider making available to students.
Not only would it take away the stress of receiving a poor grade in a course, but it would also prevent students from having to worry about explaining why they have a “W” for withdrawal on their transcripts if they need to drop a course.
Given that the usual course load for students is 15 credits in one semester, the stress of a full course workload would be diminished and students would be able to invest in the course content more thoroughly instead of having to worry about merely getting a grade that would satisfy a required GPA.
In addition, it would allow students to experiment in different academic areas that they may not be familiar with or consider taking courses out of interest without worrying about excelling in it or the grade that might appear on their academic record or transcript.
Courses with a final status of CR will count still qualify as degree credits and will have no effect on student’s GPAs.
It would also allow students to take a course without worrying about severing their reputation with the professor, as the professor would not know which students are taking the course for CR/NCR and which are taking it for the grade.
If, for whatever reason, you have declared NCR in the course and you end up deciding that you want the grade instead, you would also have the option to undo the designation up until the last date to drop the course.
As emergencies and life often get in the way of work when we least expect it, this would be an effective option. It would allow students to maintain their GPAs and still manage to swerve what life throws at us.
Although McMaster does offer the option to submit a McMaster Student Absence Form, this option addresses concerns that an MSAF does not cover.
For full-term courses that are more difficult to escape, the Credit/No Credit option would allow students to not have to commit to a course they may not enjoy and drag on for two semesters.
This mode of assessment addresses areas the McMaster University has yet to. As exam season nears, I can’t help but think how this option could have saved me for some of my courses and I’m sure that many other students feel the same way.
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By: Moleen Makumborenga
The first thing I notice in lower year courses is an utter disdain of the diversity on campus. I do not know if my experiences were exclusive to my proximity to lower-year students or if they are an objective characteristic of the McMaster environment. I am convinced that it is the latter.
Earlier this term in a tutorial for an introductory course, our teaching assistant mentioned that the professor was kindly asking that students minimize moving and speaking during lectures. A Caucasian male in the class retorted, “Well, to our defence, she’s quiet and she’s foreign.” I was confused because I was unsure how he made the connection between the students being distractive and the professor being foreign.
How did this guy even know the professor was foreign? Was it her skin colour? And if so, are all Canadians White? Perhaps it was her accent, which again does not allow you to make the conclusion that she is foreign since it is entirely plausible can speak two languages. I also wondered why he thought the professor did not deserve common courtesy because she was “foreign”. His reasoning was null and void so I ignored the statement in its entirety.
In another incident, several Caucasian students took pictures of students of colour during a lecture and proceeded to make racial caricatures of the images. The professor in the class handled the incident in an outstanding manner, and at the time I was able to compartmentalize the incident as an outlier.
Later on, in December, someone put a post on Facebook page Spotted at Mac about a conversation she had overheard amongst fellow students saying how uncomfortable they are, “… with all the [people of different] colours on campus.” We can discredit the post because for all we know it could have been a troll in Siberia, but we cannot discredit the comments that ensued. A friend of mine and I had a conversation about the post and she said that she had spoken to a fellow Caucasian student who concurred that he was not entirely sure if “… the diversity thing works.”
I do not think any of the individuals, male, female, orange or gay, are racist except for the ones who did the caricatures. This is not what this piece is about. I still think that people at McMaster are inherently good and I think we all try hard to accommodate each other. But these incidences are a symptom that our diversity programs do not bother to adjust for. Members of the communities targeted attend plenty of diversity events, but are they the only ones who need to know about these things?
I do not know if my experiences were exclusive to my proximity to lower year students or if they are an objective characteristic of the McMaster environment. I am convinced that it is the latter.
Diversity programs at McMaster are successful at providing safe spaces for minority groups, but are failing to reach the masses about privilege.
I can never forget about being Black, but the privilege of being White allows you to take certain social interactions for granted. As a Black person, when I hear someone say they are freaked out by people of different races, they are effectively saying that I am taking up space that I should not be allowed in.
McMaster needs to take a page from the University of Manitoba, which has made it mandatory for every student to take at least one class on Aboriginal studies as a requirement for graduation. That university knows that if you never teach people with privilege about their privilege, it is less likely they will know how to extend courtesy to minority groups.
I think a little bit of that is about racial prejudice, but it is also about people not knowing how to politely navigate social circles with minorities. Even though people from minority groups are not obligated to make people of privilege feel comfortable about their presence, adjusting one’s privilege is not common sense. I have had to teach my White friends what is appropriate and what is not, and I think we need to come up with resources where the school can effectively do that on a large scale.
By: Saad Ejaz
McMaster University’s new health sciences-engineering program, while offering a unique education comes with an unexpected fee.
Launching in the Fall 2017 term, the new Integrated Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences program is the first of its kind in Canada. It will offer students an interdisciplinary education that will build on a strong foundation in both the engineering and health sciences.
The application process consists of two components that will be used to assess students for the program. This includes a competitive admission average and a supplementary application component that will consist of three unique questions – two video responses and one written response. Students will be given only one chance to answer all three questions in a closed time period.
The supplementary application will be administered by an external third party company called Kira Talent, who will be evaluating and scoring each applicant’s answers.
The supplementary application to the new IBEHS program will cost the high school or transfer student an additional $40 on top of the Ontario University Application Centre fees to apply. This would entail $150 plus $40 if the program choice is a part of the students top three preferred university programs, or $50 plus an additional $40 if the program is an additional preference after the top three.
The additional fee for the program has generated mixed reviews from students and has raised questions on why the program is set up to include a supplementary application with a $40 price tag.
Prof. Hubert de Bruin explained that grades alone are no longer a reliable tool to assess students, and the supplementary application will help find students that are more than just the average student with competitive grades. This includes competence in areas such as leadership and professional dialogue. He mentions that while the cost could be an added burden to students from low-income households, the worth is incomparable.
“$40 is pretty small potatoes when you consider the cost of even going into an education endeavour,” he said.
Applying to the new IBEHS program would cost an applicant nearly double compared to other university programs without supplementary application fees. Taaha Muhammad, a fourth-year health sciences student mentions how the additional fee conveys the notion of prestige and legitimacy to the program, while creating a spectacle of deterrence to students who may be considering the program.
“...The downside is that if students are unsure about which programs to apply to – especially if they are considering a program like this, it may kind of dissuade them – the fact that you have to pay double just for this program,” he said.
The program will be accepting applicants from across Canada, and the university expects thousands of applicants to the new IBEHS program for a total of 140 estimated seats. Although the program may be among one of the most competitive undergraduate programs across the country, Delsworth Harnish the associate dean from the faculty of health sciences mentions it is likely there are many applicants that would thrive in the program that are unable to make it.
The notion poses the question of whether the supplementary application process is effective in achieving its intended purpose, as the rejected students are likely just as qualified as the accepted ones.
“The Bachelor of Health Sciences has a supplementary application and what we continually tell students after they get here is that it was a bloody lottery - that in truth we could have taken a different 160 students and they would be just as successful,” he said.
Although the program has a limited number of seats, Paul O’ Bryne, the dean and vice president from the faculty of health sciences mentions that over time the program will expand to enroll a greater number of students similar to the expansion of 80 to 240 students in the health sciences program.
The new program is expected to help students prepare for Canada’s newly emerging biomedical engineering industry.
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The recent change to the Honours Life Sciences curriculum tops what has been a year of many changes for the program. The current curriculum draws in students looking for flexibility in course selections. Despite graduating with the same degree, students in the program have taken a variety of courses such as biology, psychology, ecology and more. The reasoning behind the changes in curriculum arose from concerns surrounding whether the flexibility ultimately held students back from developing the necessary skills that they need to progress past graduation.
For Biology professor Kimberly Dej, this is a major concern. “We knew that students appreciated the flexibility but we also worried about what students ended up with when they graduated. Whether you’re in health care, politics and policy – you have to think like a scientist … And what we found is that by fourth-year students were still taking a group of courses that were very broad and they were still experimenting with courses. So there was no progression upward through the years.”
A committee made up of all the contributing departments and two student members was assembled to revise the curriculum. While in the past, required courses were grouped by year level of the course, the new curriculum groups required courses by broader skill sets: research skills, communication skills and an experiential component. Courses that were mandatory before are conserved under this system, but are organized differently.
Under the umbrella category for research skills is the living systems laboratory course that aims to introduce students to novel research techniques. Making statistics a required course was done as a means of ensuring that students in science are able to understand and interpret data presented in research. Past analyses showed that most students take Genetics, so making it a required second year course was not considered to be a big change.
The communication courses ensure that students have the necessary skills to hold their own symposium, hold a debate and develop other skills necessary in the scientific field. Finally, the experiential component features a thesis or project course in third or fourth year, a placement course, community engagement course or peer-mentoring course.
“It’s a real shame if you graduate with a science degree and you’re never in a lab and all you do is fill in multiple choice bubble questions. I think we are letting down the students if they spend four years doing that, so we wanted to think about how they can apply these skills in really meaningful ways,” said Dej.
The number of electives that students are able to take is conserved in the new curriculum, meaning that there is no loss in flexibility to do a minor or to take courses outside of science.
Students currently in their second year of Honours Life Sciences and higher will not be affected by these curriculum changes. Students currently in level one of a gateway program that plan on entering into the Honours Life Sciences stream will take courses as per the new curriculum but will have the same admission requirements as the previous years. The following year will also see changes to the courses requirement for entry into the program, with math, biology, chemistry and physics being required.
“What we found is that by fourth-year students were still taking a group of courses that were very broad and they were still experimenting with courses. So there was no progression upward through the years.”
The next step is to develop subplans, or specific smaller sets of courses within Honours Life Science that allow for a greater variety of interests. Students will be actively involved in the development of these subplans, as they were involved in the development of the curriculum through surveys and a public discussion.
Students with questions or concerns are encouraged to reach out to the administrative department, as well as those who are interested in being involved in the creation of curriculum changes.
Photo Credit: Kareem Baassiri/ Photo Contributor
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Over the past few years, McMaster has steadily worked on efforts to improve its course delivery. By implementing animations, social media and online modules, McMaster is gradually bringing university education into the 21st century.
This new approach to course structure, called blended learning, aims to flip the classroom. Lecture content is made available online so instructors can use actual class time to explore specific elements in more detail. While McMaster is not currently considered a leader in the development of this method of teaching, Zafar Syed explained that this is starting to change. Syed is the Associate Director of Digital Technology at the McMaster Institute for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching & Learning, the institution that has been the main driver of this change.
“For the past three to four years there's been a concentrated effort to increase the digital footprint that McMaster has, whether that means setting up and supporting an institute like ours here to help faculty with technology integration, or funding courses to be redesigned for blended or online delivery,” he said.
The cost of redesigning a course ranges from $12,000 to $75,000. “That's not to say that one course is better than the other. It just depends on how much media production is necessary,” explained Syed. He added that a course that uses social media or Avenue to Learn in a unique way are additional ways courses can be technology-infused.
Instructors have approached blended learning in a variety of ways. As a cohort, the Biology Department decided to revisit two courses: the first year cellular and molecular biology class as well as its second-year continuation with a greater focus on cell biology. The former was launched in the spring of 2014, while the previous fall saw the beginning of the cell biology modules. According to Prof. Rosa da Silva, the department worked together to update the curriculum by creating a type of narrative structure for the course to follow. “We thought how can we make our first year experience better, how can we add more to the classroom without taking away, and we thought going blended would be the best way, so that we could offer core material online, and then really bring in class the opportunity to diversify material,” she explained.
The blended learning approach is being explored in other faculties as well. Prof. Emad Mohammad, who bridges the faculties of Commerce and Engineering, has worked to make his course Commerce 1AA3, an introductory financial accounting class, customizable. He has implemented a strategy where students read the course material on weekends and explore it through animations and videos. They are quizzed on the material and based on the results, Mohammad tailors his in-class lectures to focus on the areas students struggled with.
“Blended learning works best not because you put some content online, but because of what happens during the face-to-face component."
Both da Silva and Mohammad agreed that the blended approach has helped boost marks in their respective courses. While Mohammad admitted that not all students like the blended approach, he has noticed more A+ grades and fewer failing marks. “The results are indisputable,” he said. Da Silva was also enthusiastic about the effect of modules in her biology courses. “We’re seeing that student grades are going up with blended learning, which is great.”
Both professors also mentioned the fact that despite the improvements in grades, not all students are satisfied with the new approach to lecture content. Da Silva explained that frequently, students in her courses who do not enjoy the mix of modules and lectures have a more difficult time focusing. “Students who have a harder time managing time… are the students that are hating it, they’re not scheduling it in as part of their week to week classes that they should be watching,” she explained.
Despite the enthusiasm faculty have for blended learning, they seem to be moving forward without a concrete plan. Syed and da Silva both mentioned long-term studies of the lasting effect of blended learning courses at McMaster, but neither offered specific ways in which the content will continue to develop beyond constantly improving modules. Syed is looking forward to the opening of the LR Wilson building as a way to encourage more active and blended learning in the Humanities and Social Sciences. “Blended learning works best not because you put some content online, but because of what happens during the face-to-face component. That people are able to engage in content in a deeper and more personal way and not just passively sit and listen to lecture, which they can do in their own time,” he explained.
Although there is more room for the assessment of blended learning’s overall impact, it is clear that McMaster is determined to continue implementing learning technologies into a greater variety of courses.
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This past week, the full staff of The Silhouette attended an annual journalism conference hosted by the Canadian University Press. We had a great time; we got nominated for a few awards, met amazing leaders in the industry, got super drunk and danced to Drizzy, the list goes on. We were there for four days, and when we returned, our student staff members were ready to get back into the swing of classes. Everyone was attending their classes like normal, feeling out their course selections, and then, like magic, almost out of nowhere, course add/drop day popped up on our calendars.
In that short, one-week amount of time, students were required to make a decision about how their education for that term would be shaped. Changing a course doesn’t necessarily sound like a huge issue, but consider how one hated course could affect your transcript, or how one selection from a list of suggested courses could lead to you missing a prerequisite for a seminar?
Aside from these hypothetical situations, consider this issue: how can someone properly assess a course when they’ve only had the opportunity to attend one lecture?
I understand that classes need to get started and students need to be learning course materials as soon as possible, but as of right now, there is no way for a student to become acquainted with a course without attending it (unless of course they want to trust outdated information on MacInsiders). Could it be an option for students to add courses to their schedule by a certain, early date, but be able to drop them later on without a charge? Could a solution like this allow students the luxury of trying new courses without being concerned with the financial effects of dropping?
Ours is one of many universities that is currently working to implement more interdisciplinary programs for its students. Programs like Sustainability, Health Sciences and Arts and Science have given students the chance to branch outside their predicted fields and try courses from different programs and faculties. With this in mind, shouldn’t McMaster be working to provide this privilege for the rest of its students? Giving students the chance to try courses for a longer length of time while still being allowed to drop them (without a fee), could encourage students to broaden their horizons and gain the full interdisciplinary experience McMaster is striving for.
Our current course selection structure should strive to make education accessible.
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