Bushra Habib / Silhouette Staff
Experiential learning in the greater Hamilton community doesn’t just benefit students, it also creates the potential for long lasting community legacies. Mac H2OPE clinic, a proposed project by students in the graduate School of Rehabilitation Science, recently received funds from the Forward With Integrity initiative to do just that.
Sarah Wojkowski, Lori Letts, Vanina Dal Bello Haas, Genevieve Hladysh, Lorie Shimmel and Julie Richardson started the Helping Hamiltonians through Occupational and Physiotherapy Engagement (H2OPE) clinic. In partnership with the YMCA and other community organizations, it aims to provide occupational and physiotherapy services to Hamilton residents.
“As many of our clients will have chronic health conditions, our students will work with these individuals to help them manage their condition in the best way possible,” said Sarah Wojkowski, the Director of Clinical Education for the Masters of Physiotherapy program.
The Mac H2OPE clinic will be located at the YMCA downtown on James Street, encouraging a deeper engagement and commitment to residents well outside the McMaster bubble.
“Initially, our project will provide opportunities for graduate MSc (Physiotherapy) and MSc (Occupational Therapy) students,” said Wojkowski. She added that there could possibly be opportunities for undergraduates in the future.
Financial support is a key priority for any project, especially those with far-reaching aspirations such as H2OPE. The group received $5000 from the FWI Fund, but that will not be enough to cover all the costs.
Wojkowski said the funds will go toward “purchasing basic equipment like a height-adjustable assessment bed, which will support assessment and treatment of clients.”
The School of Rehabilitation Science is also supporting the development of Mac H2OPE. The YMCA on James Street has donated space, exercise equipment and access to the pool, allowing the clinic keep start up costs low.
Some obstacles still remain. The biggest is that individuals may not be able to afford physiotherapy or occupational therapy.
“We are still working to develop a plan for how our care will be delivered in a way that will allow as many individuals who cannot currently access services to have the opportunity at Mac H2OPE,” said Wojkowski.
“In general, we would like the McMaster community bring hope to Hamiltonians through providing health care that many would not have been able to receive without the Mac H2OPE clinic,” said Wojkowski.
Bushra Habib
The Silhouette
In Dec. 2013, President Patrick Deane’s “Forward with Integrity” initiative approved funding for 28 out of 54 proposals in the first call for projects, which were designed to improve the academic experience of McMaster students.
Half of the accepted projects were from faculties and areas centered on inquiry into the biological, physical and medical sciences, such as projects in the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Health Sciences, Rehabilitation Sciences and the School of Nursing.
With a total of nine approved projects, whether independent or in collaboration with other faculties, students from the Faculty of Science have their educational interests well represented.
Lisa Barty, the manager of the Science and Career Cooperative Education Office, requested funding to support the salary of a new experiential learning coordinator. “We received $5,000 from the FWI fund, that was generously matched by the Dean of Science. This funding will provide about 20 per cent of the required funds for our project,” said Barty.
The new position will manage current course offerings, such as Science and Life Science 3EP3, 3EX6 and 3RP3, while also facilitating the development of new opportunities. The Faculty’s investment in experiential learning opportunities exemplifies an ongoing commitment to enrich the academic journey of Science students.
“Based on the growing enrollment in these courses, I would say that students are finding applied placements a great way to apply their academic knowledge in the community. They are also a very useful tool in their career planning.”
Amidst continuing global economic turbulence, opportunities to develop career-related skills in a way that helps gain credit towards graduation are incredibly valuable. Not all students may be interested in cooperative education positions, and therefore experiential programs may be a more relevant choice. Barty emphasized that, “Experiential education allows our students not only to explore career options, but to reflect upon their own strengths and goals.”
One concern that students may have is that there may be scarcer co-op opportunities in the face of increasing enrollment. However, the Faculty aims to address these needs as well. “The Faculty of Science is planning to expand our cooperative education programs to meet the growing student demand for work integrated learning,” explained Barty.
“We are also exploring a formalized internship program and looking to build a framework to grow our applied science placements. Our students value the opportunity to gain professional networks, find mentors, and determine if further education is required to meet their career goals.”
Proposals for projects based on collaborative efforts and research pursuits between different areas of study are being accepted in the second round, which closes at the extended deadline of noon on Feb. 28.
Maryssa Barras
The Silhouette Intern
Alumni Association hosts Welcome Wednesdays
Starting on Jan. 23 the McMaster Alumni Association will be hosting Welcome Wednesdays. Once a month students will be welcome to visit the Alumni House for free coffee and bagels from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Members of the Student Relations Committee will be present for information on how to get involved on campus. Registration is required and free at alumni.os.mcmaster.ca.
New mentorship program launched
On Jan. 23, Communication Studies and Multimedia unveiled a new mentorship program where upper-year students are paired with first and second-year students. A meet and greet social was held to introduce and pair up mentors with mentees. This program was the result of a student-led initiative and will have continued socials for mentors and mentees to bond.
City of Hamilton issues cold weather alert
There is a cold weather alert for the City of Hamilton as of Jan. 18. Cold weather alerts mean that temperatures are expected to go to or below -15 C. The cold weather could reach up to 10 degrees lower than average for this time of year, is expected to last all week, and could potentially warm up over the weekend. Students should be advised that the cold-warm trend will continue for the weeks to come.
Humanities launches Experiential Ed. centre
The Faculty of Humanities is launching the Humanities Target Learning & Experiential Education Centre (HTLC). Funded by the Faculty of Humanities and full-time Humanities students, the HTLC was passed by students through the McMaster Humanities Society Referendum with the goal of increasing career exploration an experiential opportunities for Humanities students, and will be hosting events throughout the semester for interested students. The official launch is on Jan. 21 in CIBC Hall at 10:30 a.m. Students, faculty and staff are all welcome.
Study finds 905 residents oppose austerity cuts
A new study by the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA) found that over two thirds of residents in the 905 region of Hamilton do not want the governments deficit-cutting agenda to compromise the quality of university education in the province. 86 percent of residents oppose university funding cuts, and 75 percent oppose shifting the cost of higher education onto students with higher tuition fees.
Part 1 of an ongoing series
How is experiential education framed in Forward with Integrity?
It’s been just over a year since McMaster’s president Patrick Deane issued his visioning letter, “Forward With Integrity,” to the McMaster community.
The letter introduced new strategic priorities for the University. It planted notions of “a student-centred research intensive institution,” “internationalization” and “experiential learning experiences” in the forefront of the campus’ consciousness. FWI stated that McMaster had an obligation to engage with the community and enhance student experience by increasing self-directed and interdisciplinary opportunities.
Following the release of the letter last September, four task forces were formed to examine McMaster’s current environment. The task forces were responsible for making recommendations to improve the institution’s standing in the fields of Community Engagement, Student Experience, Internationalization and Research.
The task forces concluded their work in May 2012 and compiled their findings and recommendations into four separate reports.
Broadening Experiential Opportunities
The Student Experience Task Force report explored how to increase experiential opportunities. The term “experiential education” often implies a co-op or internship type experience that involves “learning outside the classroom.” The report sought to broaden this definition and re-envision how experiential opportunities could be offered to all students, regardless of faculty.
Several faculties already provide experiential opportunities. The Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Life Sciences program provide academic or co-op placements, while opportunities for co-curricular activities exist in Arts and Science, Integrated Science and Health Science.
Smaller programs and faculties such as Arts and Science and Integrated Science have had experiential components embedded in their curriculum since their inception. Both of these programs have also been at the forefront of submitting proposals for new interdisciplinary courses that feature field work and co-curricular experiences.
Carolyn Eyles, director of the iSci Program, spoke about the new ARTSCI/ISCI 3EI1 course, which was developed as a result of the renewed focus on interdisciplinary and unique experiential courses. Students taking the course participate in a field trip to the world’s largest known cave system in Kentucky.
For Eyles, courses like these are about being flexible in providing learning and research opportunities to students not normally available in lecture-based format.
“[It’s about] how to recognize and validate the student experience … and creating linkages between different groups,” she said.
But the Student Experience task force also aimed to fundamentally alter how McMaster understands experiential opportunities. In their findings, they proposed not only new systems to organize these experiences, but also looked to introduce a more reflexive approach to offering experiential education.
Dr. Susan Denburg, Associate Vice-President Academic Health Sciences and Strategic Advisor to the President noted that there are many forms that an experiential program can take on, whether it is inside or outside the classroom.
“We can create an experiential learning environment … by having [students] reflect on their learning goals … if we [make] it a habit of identifying learning goals, if students think about why they’re here and what they hope to achieve in their various courses or extracurricular activities or volunteer work they undertake,” she said.
Creating a “Made-in McMaster” Solution
Denburg stressed the need for a “McMaster-made solution” that incorporates experiential components into the entirety of one’s time at McMaster. She asserted that these opportunities could be delivered within the classroom.
Problem-based learning (PBL), another McMaster-made solution, is one specific method of incorporating experiential opportunities into the classroom. The teaching method, while impossible to define and open to various interpretations, advocates plunging students into issues with limited frameworks and allowing them to present their conclusions.
“In discipline-centered learning, the teacher has filtered the information, presenting a body of information they feel the student should know. In PBL … students wrestle with information themselves,” said Dr. Patangi Rangchari, Professor Emeritus of Medicine.
The PBL model is not discipline-centered, but has typically been associated with smaller programs and class sizes. However, Rangachari reiterated that PBL-type methods can easily be applied to larger environments.
Similarly, Dr. Denburg discussed the importance of engaging students in large classes and how opportunities in the learning portfolio can do this.
“You can change a large group experience into something very personal and very group-oriented with not that much difficulty,” said Denberg. “We’re seriously committing to a lot of faculty professional development … people are going to need help in new ways of teaching. It’s a question of how…we scale up.”
Developing a learning portfolio
A major recommendation to come out of the task force was the creation of “learning portfolios.” Learning portfolios are meant to encompass both the co-curricular and academic experiences that students complete throughout their degree. The portfolios would function as a holistic marker of a student’s “learning journey” through university.
What differentiates the learning portfolio from simply being a tracking mechanism is that learning portfolios would be self-directed and would include self-tracked learning goals.
Although in its infancy, the learning portfolio concept has spurred numerous potential initiatives. One example suggested by the task force was a learning goal journal, where students would track and reflect on their experiences. Other examples included a multi-year course that stretched across the duration of a student’s time at McMaster and implementing a mentorship network to aid in supporting students’ learning goals.
The learning portfolio and the push towards incorporating more experiential opportunities is compatible with what has already been going on for years in the institution, but could also kick-start some new ideas.
The University has put out a call for proposals related to programs that will provide self-directed or experiential learning opportunities. These projects are meant to be academically oriented and focused on advancing the learning portfolio.
Proposals from faculty, staff and students can be submitted to be reviewed by the FWI Advisory Group. The first deadline is Nov. 15 for pilot projects to tentatively be launched in the spring, and there is also a second-round deadline in January.
The prioritization of experiential learning was most recently re-iterated in the Sept. 28 submission of McMaster’s Strategic Mandate Agreement to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. The letter specifically proposed a partnership with the province to establish an Experiential Learning Centre.
Next Week: Exploring more flexibility in the student experience and community engagement
On September 25 and 26 between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. McMaster’s Student Centre will be center stage for a plethora of organizations from across Hamilton. Nearly 75 vendors will take over the Student Centre atrium in hopes of exposing students to the need for volunteers in the Hamilton community.
This year marks the 8th annual Community Engagement and Volunteer Fair with a record-breaking number of young activists expected to turn out. Spread out over two days, the Volunteer Fair will expose students to a multitude of local agencies, from small grassroots to globally recognized organizations all hoping to team up with students to make a difference in the greater community.
The fair promises to be even larger this year, as the Student Success Centre has recently announced its collaboration with the Faculty of Social Sciences and Experiential Education.
This new partnership will give students access to a wider variety and higher volume of agencies across Hamilton. “The [Student Success Centre] has more relationships and partners in the community,” said Angela Fortino, Employer Relations Officer at the Student Success Centre. “This year the fair is full, plus we have organizations on the waiting list.”
More relationships within the community mean more opportunities for students to find the right volunteer position for them.
Students will not only have the opportunity to interact with big brand organizations such as United Way and Red Cross, but also a more diverse set of niche organizations this year.
“We get agencies that meet a particular need in the community that is pretty unique… You’re able to tap into different aspects of the community,” said Adam Kuhn, Student Success Centre Manager.
And with the Student Success Centre on board, a higher volume of students are expected to take notice and be aware of the event.
“The Student Success Centre has more retail access across campus to reach a higher volume of students,” explained Kuhn.
The Volunteer Fair is essentially a mass-networking project with a dual focus. It gives students a means of networking with volunteer organizations, and it allows local agencies a means of recruiting essential volunteers through a single, two-day event.
Volunteering is one means of expanding your professional Rolodex as a student, simply by means of networking. It’s is also a good way of establishing credibility and rapport, which can potentially act as leverage into a full time position. Students can use volunteer positions to build their resumes, linking their volunteer work to their field of academic study, and potential future occupation.
“[Volunteering] can affirm your career goals and passions or it can challenge your assumptions,” noted Kuhn on the benefits of volunteering.
The Volunteer Fair presents an opportunity for students to connect with a diverse range of local agencies in hopes of finding the right niche regardless of passion, career goal, or area of interest.
Assistant News Editor
Creating experiential educational opportunities that allow students of all disciplines to use the knowledge of their field can be difficult to come by. But Nancy Doubleday, McMaster HOPE chair in Peace and Health and professor of Philosophy, has been working to create a new field course that will begin on June 25 and continue until July 2 in Port Mouton Bay, Nova Scotia.
Students will have the opportunity to live and work in the small historical fishing community three hours away from Halifax, in an effort to explore the problems that large fishing companies have imposed on many such communities in Eastern Canada.
The community has faced numerous hardships since the entry of companies that use large nets in which the fish are grown. These companies use hormones and pesticides in the waters surrounding these fish, resulting in a wide spread negative impact on the surrounding aquatic environment.
The water has subsequently turned into a dead zone, meaning that no marine life is capable of growing there. Because of this, fishermen have to go out farther to find lobsters, which they fish for their livelihood
When the company proposed putting in another fishery that would be six hundred times larger than the original, the local farmers and residents fought against it. It was not long ago that this large company was charged with using illegal pesticides, and a court date is pending.
The community is currently looking into revitalizing this dead zone, as well as the entire fishing industry in the area.
When speaking of the experiential education program, Doubleday said that “it works through the threads that the community identified as important to them.”
The question that is at the base of this field course, she said, is: “How do we do engaged work . . . together and with society as a whole?”
The main focus of the course is ecological restoration of the community through a deep and holistic understanding the hopes and dreams of those who make up the past, present and future of the town. “It’s about self-advocacy and the ability to change ourselves,” said Doubleday.