Pilot learning project for first-year students
In 2000, Memorial began a three-year pilot project designed to give first-year students a better opportunity for staying in university. Initiated by the faculties of Arts and Science, the Scholarship of Learning project is a collaborative learning to learn project that aims to improve the learning experiences and performance of first-year students and improve the teaching experience of faculty members.
During the first year an academic co-ordinator was hired to design the program by identifying faculty who will participate and determine which students could be considered "at risk" and could therefore benefit from this program. In the coming year, with the help of Memorial's Career Development and Experiential Learning, Academic Advising and Registrar's offices, 100 students will be identified and placed in four groups of 25. Eight faculty members are being recruited.
Students and professors will agree to form a "learning community" that involves pairing two required courses and linking them to a third, a three-credit seminar titled The Scholarship of Learning. The seminar will be facilitated by the academic co-ordinator. Students and faculty will explore how they go about their teaching and learning processes; they will track their own learning and provide feedback and analysis of what is occurring in the classroom.
Students who pass all three courses will act as mentors for the next group of first-year students and will be given a free tuition voucher for one second-year course. Participating faculty will receive a $5,000 honorarium. The project is made possible by a grant from the JW McConnell Family Foundation.
Nursing with cultural sensitivity
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Paul Pike
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Students of the bachelor of nursing (collaborative) program at Western Regional School of Nursing and Sir Wilfred Grenfell College are learning that the provision of culturally-sensitive nursing care requires an understanding of different cultures.
In 2001, Paul Pike of the Mi'kmaq Nation of the Bay of Islands was invited to speak to a professional development class. An alcohol prevention counsellor with the native government in Alaska, he was born in Corner Brook. He writes most of the music performed by Medicine Dream, combining elements of rock with the spirit of the pow-wow.
Mr. Pike explained the process of reclaiming his own culture, including its ceremonies and traditional practices. He addressed the misconceptions and stereotyping his culture has experienced over the years -- for example, the use of the disrespectful term "squaw" to indicate "woman". He also explained the concept of "giving," a highly valued philosophy that is particularly important when working with individuals at the community level. He told the students they should avoid the trap of thinking that the values of the dominant culture are the same as those of the minority culture; for example, in the Mi'kmaq culture tobacco is given as a gift of respect and is used in special ceremonies.
He advised the students to overcome cultural biases, to learn about unique cultures and to develop clear communications skills. He concluded his talk with a short musical performance on flute and drum and singing traditional songs, noting that singing and drumming play major roles in many cultural rituals.
© Copyright 2002 Memorial University of Newfoundland
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Teaching Highlights
The theatre program at Grenfell College welcomed Nancy Beatty, one of Canada's most celebrated actors, as its guest artist/master teacher for fall semester 2000. Ms. Beatty's career spans nearly three decades. A fixture on the Canadian stage, she is a four-time winner of the Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding performances. Ms. Beatty taught master classes to Grenfell's third- and fourth-year students.
Planning for the June 2001 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) conference began in October 2000 with a visit from Dr. Gary Poole, president of STLHE. Local co-ordinators Drs. Eileen Bragg and Michael Collins led the work for the 2001 conference, Rediscovering the Art and Science of Great Teaching and Learning. The conference was designed for university and college teachers, faculty teaching developers, teaching assistants and student affairs professionals and drew approximately 400 delegates from all over Canada, the United States, and as far away as the West Indies. The 2001 conference was the most successful in the conference's 21-year history, with record numbers in both papers presented and people attending.
Memorial has changed the way it delivers it's French immersion program in St.-Pierre, a French Island off the coast of Newfoundland. For 20 years, the university had leased the building known as Institut Frecker. When the lease on that building expired, the Department of French and Spanish, with the approval of the university, decided to change the way the program is offered. Students now attend their semester of classes at Francoforum, a specialized language training centre operated by the local government, taking the same courses that were previously offered. Director Chantal Jordaan of Memorial teaches two of the five courses; the remaining three are taught by Francoforum teaching personnel with specialized training in the teaching of French as a second language. Living arrangements remain unchanged: students board with families in St.-Pierre, and have the full benefit of language immersion.
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