Dina Fanara
Assistant News Editor
While much of the Social Science course content is interesting and engaging, the applicability of this knowledge in the workforce upon completion of the degree is something of concern to many students in the faculty.
On March 15, the Faculty of Social Sciences held a forum, with the theme: “Understanding Our Difference, Building Our Future.” The theme of the forum was influenced by president Patrick Deane’s Forward With Integrity letter. The programme consisted of two halves: an academic panel and an industry panel. At both, professionals from the field were invited to partake in discussion with faculty and students from the Social Sciences faculty.
The speakers present on the academic panel were: James Benn, department chair of Religious Studies at McMaster, Tina Moffat, associate professor of Anthropology, Greg Flynn, CLA of Political Science, and Sandra Preston, director of Experiential Education and assistant director of Social Work.
Those present on the industrial panel were Mark Chamberlain, member of the Board of Governors, David Admes, president and CEO of Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Rebecca Bentham, executive director of the Hamilton Law Association, Paul Johnson, director of the Neighbourhood Development Strategies in Hamilton, and Denise Doyle, CEO of YWCA Hamilton.
The main objectives of the forum were to recognize the strengths, discuss potential strategies for enhancement of the undergraduate experience within the classroom and in the community. Additionally, it aimed to identify the fundamental skills expected of Social Sciences students upon graduation, with a discussion of how Social Science education can prepare students for the workforce while providing a forum for networking within stakeholders in education.
While the academic panel focused on the strengths of the faculty in relation to others, the industrial panel focused on the skills that are required from graduates.
“What you learn at university is a starting point… it’s a lifelong challenge,” said Chamberlain. “You don’t teach creativity, you don’t teach productivity, you learn them.”
The industrial panel discussed how many of the skills listed as requirements for a job position are often learned on the job through experience. According to Doyle, it is the “responsibility of employers and organizations to talk about who they’re looking to hire.”
Bentham explained that “the majority of jobs aren’t given to applicants,” but are given to people who have connections within the company.
Students need to learn how to properly brand themselves to companies to look appealing and earn the career of their dreams.
Farzeen Foda
Senior News Editor
The faculty of Science offers courses that cross a range of learning objectives and styles, as some courses are lecture-based, while others require a lab component. In between, are Science courses that hold potential for more invigorating student experiences.
To tackle the issues facing the Faculty of Science specifically, an open forum was held on March 21, hosted by the McMaster Science Society to give students an opportunity to voice their concerns about Science education at McMaster.
The informal discussion began with an introduction from University president, Patrick Deane who opened with a snapshot of the current status of Canadian universities.
“Governments do recognize that higher education is important,” said Deane, after explaining that even in the difficult economic times currently facing government spending, every effort is going toward preserving higher education.
Not only is McMaster on the verge of transformation but the country as a whole, is in the process of rethinking education, a long-overdue endeavour. The current model of higher education, noted Deane, has not changed since 1967 and Ontario’s per student funding at the post-secondary education is the lowest across the country.
“I am still very proud of the quality of education, but it is not a sustainable way of doing things,” he said, with particular reference to how a degree is structured and how to best incorporate the foundations of a discipline into the curriculum.
It is important to garner those skills vital to developing a career, while building a holistic experience which may come from experiential education and incorporating research into undergraduate education in a feasible way.
Such far-reaching goals would only be a product of additional funding, something that will not be a reality for many years given the current economic situation. What can be done, however, is reconfigure the university’s budget system, “which might make the money go further,” said Deane. The University is currently in the process of implementing a new budget model.
One consideration proposed by an audience member, was the possibility of outsourcing education to companies that could provide the resources that the University is currently struggling to provide. As attractive as this alternative may seem, it may lend itself to numerous legal complications and there is no deficiency in faculty expertise at this University, explained Deane.
Another audience member expressed the promising role of mentorship programs, while another stated the need for students to take charge of their education as well.
The event concluded with a panel discussion, moderated by Alison Sills, associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Panelists spoke about problems faced when trying to implement discussion-based courses. The over-arching problem was that students don’t take charge of self-directed learning and poor test results are reflected in the teaching evaluation of professors.
To be noted as well, is that many students are juggling many different things and prioritization is a natural part of dealing with the copious amounts of work, noted Dr. Kimberly Dej, professor in the department of Biology.
A blended model of discussion and lecture-based approach is one that may be more effective. A financial investment has already been put toward to bringing online courses to McMaster and incorporating a blended model of teaching.
The Faculty of Science is among the faculties that may be used for the pilot project, noted Sills.
Dina Fanara
Assistant News Editor
In preparation for the upcoming Global Citizenship Conference (GCC), taking place at McMaster on March 9 and 10, the GCC’s organization committee and the World University Services of Canada (WUSC) hosted a discussion panel with regards to world issues on March 5.
The main focus of the discussion centered around the concepts of “bottom-up” and “top-down” approaches to peacekeeping and peace-building initiatives.
The panellists consisted of five influential speakers present at the pre-conference event: Robert O’Brien, the chair of Department of Political Science, Leo Johnson, a refugee from Liberia and recent graduate from McMaster University, Shawn Cheung, the founder of raising the Village NGO and a representative for Canada to the UN and Jessica Franklin, a McMaster Political Sciences professor.
According to one of the moderators for the event, an executive representative of WUSC, the purpose of the discussion panel involved “challenging ways in which we encourage development.” She also said that the “idea of bottom-up approaches to development [is] a new fresh take on ways to change the world.”
The first question presented to the panel was, “Is it fair to separate top-down and bottom-up methods to development?” In response to this question, O’Brien discussed the importance of understanding what is meant by top-down and bottom-up.
What is understood to be “top” can be international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund or World Bank. However, this may also include certain dominant thoughts and theories, certain states over others, or large corporations.
Johnson noted that, “what can be the top in one conversation can be the bottom in another conversation.” He continued, “bottom-up usually becomes the reality . . . there has to be a certain structure or access to power.”
The remainder of the discussion blossomed out of the topics brought up after the initial question. Later in the discussion, Franklin brought up an important point: “immediately when I think of top down and bottom up, gender comes to mind . . . when we look at the notion of top down and bottom up approaches, I look at who is situated in [places of power] . . . whether or not these can be seen as gender neutral.”
When asked about what can be done to instill more balance in international development, Cheung acknowledged that “we don’t need another big player, we need somebody who can understand the region.”
This event served as a glimpse into this year’s Global Citizenship Conference, touching upon several of the topics which will be the topic of further discussed this upcoming weekend.
The Global Citizenship Conference has been running annually for five years and is looking forward to seeing the same overwhelming suppport this year.
Farzeen Foda
Senior News Editor
“What haven’t we done that we could do if we were just a bit more creative?” said Susan Denburg, associate vice-president academic for the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Denburg was recently appointed Strategic Advisor for the Forward With Integrity initiative.
In response to the letter written by University President, Patrick Deane, addressed to the McMaster community, a Steering Committee has been installed to lead the transformation of the University with respect to four key areas, outlined in the letter as the student experience, community engagement, excellence in research and internationalization.
To tackle each of the four areas in the most comprehensive and creative way, four task forces have been developed, comprised of faculty members, staff, undergraduate and graduate students.
The Time Limited Task Forces, designated to each of the four areas of concentration, will be meeting regularly until April, after which their ideas, termed “deliverables,” will be examined carefully in an effort to fuel some of the change that has been in scattered discussion across campus.
The Advisory Committee, also comprised of faculty, students and staff across all disciplines, aims to oversee the work of the task forces and consolidate the ideas that sprout from the discussion that will surface over the next three to six months.
Membership in the Task Forces and the Advisory Committee are limited to include individuals who can act as a critical liaison for their respective disciplines, actively engaging their faculties in the Forward With Integrity initiative.
In the coming months, the Task Forces, charged with the goals outlined by President Deane, will adopt a problem-based approach to tackling the issues central to teaching, research and community engagement at McMaster, noted Denburg.
Although in the preliminary phase at this time, the Forward With Integrity initiative is a work in progress. The Task Force members are encouraged to think creatively, without ignoring the limitations and implementation of their ideas.
Concerns have been raised about the inherent obstacle in implementing a personalized educational experience for every student as McMaster’s enrollment continues to climb.
Central to a well-rounded education is “human contact,” Denburg acknowledged, though developing repetitive small-scale systems or having a lot of very small programs is simply not feasible. Considerations on this front have explored the possibility of bridging the gap between undergraduate and graduate students to facilitate mentorship and teaching, with appropriate training.
Ideas pertaining to the student experience may further examine policies in need of revision, scheduling of terms, prerequisites for courses, the granting of academic credit for co-curricular activities or even re-examine what constitutes a degree.
“This is not the first time we’re thinking about what we’re doing,” said Denburg, noting previous strategies aimed at transforming education. Refining Directions was initiated in 2002, under the direction of former McMaster president Peter George.
Under a similar premise, the initiative aimed to bring down the barriers across the University and stimulate cross-disciplinary teaching and research. Among others, Refining Directions sparked the development of the Controversies in Health course, which ran for two years and garnered significant acclaim for its multi-disciplinary approach. It brought students together from every faculty to develop skills in critical thinking through the lens of healthcare. The course was discontinued due to resource limitations, but the concept remains fresh in the minds of those behind Forward With Integrity.
The work of the Task Forces will “tell us what we need to think about,” said Denburg. Following consolidation of the ideas between April and June, forums will be held to discuss the progress, and pilot projects may be established to experiment with the ideas on a small scale prior to university-wide implementation.
“Big classes are not going to disappear overnight,” said Denburg, and much of the current teaching practices adopted at McMaster are based on historical principles about teaching and learning, which may be preserved as necessary, but also call for revision.
The positive feedback around the letter and the project has been tremendous, noted Denburg, leaving hope that this approach to the transformation may be more fruitful than previous attempts.
