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Winter 2018 Learning Community Course Development

Ten teachers working in five teams are working on eight new Learning Community courses this winter.聽 Under development are three new course pairings, and two new General Education courses with integrated co-curricular activities.聽 Read below for an introduction to each team and their work.

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First Choice Science

Physics: Mechanics & Calculus I – Chris Roderick, Jean-Francois Briere (Physics), Andreea Staniu-Panait, Ben Seamone (Math)

Building on the work of Janet Wyman (Biology) and Yoon-Seo Uh (Chemistry) in developing paired courses for General Biology II and Organic Chemistry I (W17 Learning Community Project), and on the continuing changes to the First Choice Science profile that seek to develop learning opportunities that are more engaging and interconnected, our work is focused on developing paired courses for Mechanics (Physics) and Calculus I (Math). The plan is for the integrated course pairing to be offered to the incoming F2018 First Choice cohort.聽 The future of learning at Dawson is clearly oriented towards enriched educational experiences (see Strategic Plan 2016-21). By engaging students, creating learning communities, and stimulating a more holistic learning experience, the changes being made to the First Choice Science profile seek to develop a curriculum that better reflects Dawson鈥檚 mission statement and its values, and is in line with the ongoing provincial-wide process of re-writing the science program.聽 A large step in this process of change is to encourage cross-disciplinary co-instruction such that the connections, content and language used in the teaching and learning of science are rich and coherent.

The disciplines of physics and mathematics share a deep and intertwined set of roots and the courses of Mechanics (203-NYA) and Calculus I (201-NYA) are a perfect pair for this project. Developed by Isaac Newton, classical mechanics and differential calculus were literally made for each other and so the coordination of their presentation to science students only makes sense. Beginning with notions of motion and rates of change there are many opportunities to both enrich and streamline each course. The idea would be to teach sections of Mechanics and Calculus I back-to-back so that integrating concepts and examples while harmonizing language, the timing of content and even evaluations is made possible.

Social Science General Studies

Western Civilization & Introduction to Psychology – Lisa Steffen (History) and Susan Finch (Psychology)

We are working on the creation of a Learning Community for first-year General Social Science students. As these students must choose two compulsory classes in Term 1, it seems that an ideal pairing is that of 350-101-DW: General Psychology and 330-101-DW: Western Civilization. How wonderful it would be if these non-profiled students were part of a cohort as they adjust to and navigate through their new Dawson community!聽 First semester students experience a myriad of challenges as they transition from high school to CEGEP. While many benefit from participating in a profile, the majority of Social Science students remain unaffiliated. This may lead to a sense of alienation, of frustration or of disengagement. The students may go so far as to drop-out. A loss to them and to us. A learning community seeks to counter this and helps to improve retention, motivation and individual interest. If we can design our paired psychology and history classes to focus on competencies, analytical thinking and problem solving, then we are helping these students build skill sets within the first term that can carry over to success in their other courses.

We want to explore several different modalities that might prove most efficacious to achieving the goals of student retention and student engagement鈥攁nd dare we say student enthusiasm and excitement? One of the things that we both need to explore and understand better is how to cover the content required in each of these introductory courses while at the same time working together to create a cohesive experience. We both are committed to the Peace Certificate, and so perhaps this will be a lens through which to explore connective themes between our disciplines. Our intention is to create a model not just for our exclusive use, but which could serve all Social Science teachers.

General Education / Certificates / Special Areas of Study

Humanities: “Green Business Ethics” integrated with Entrepreneurship/E-Week – Carl Saucier-Bouffard (Humanities)

Given the growing awareness and concern regarding the environmental impact of business activities, a course on Environmental Business Ethics, taught by an ethics teacher, would appeal to a large group of Dawson students. All students (regardless of program) have to complete the general education Ethics course (345-BXH-DW). Moreover, this new course on Environmental Business Ethics would offer a strategic fit with many activities co-organized by 张百乔女友裸照鈥檚 Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education, as well as with a future 鈥淓nvironment & Sustainability Certificate.鈥澛� This newly created course would focus on delivering 鈥済reen business ethics鈥� using a practical approach. During the first part of the course, students would be taught the main concepts of the two most influential theories in normative ethics: Kantian ethics and act utilitarianism. 聽Students would then be exposed to the real-life challenges in running a business that includes corporate environmental responsibility efforts. To illustrate the ethical dilemmas faced by entrepreneurs, the instructor would rely on his own experience as the founder of a small business selling ecologically friendly handbags (i.e. “Les Sacs 脡thic”). In at least one of their assignments, students would have to reflect on a real-life business problem and would have to argue in defence of a solution that meets ethical requirements.

To incorporate experiential and integrative learning approaches, students would have to play an active role in some of the activities organized by 张百乔女友裸照鈥檚 Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Education. Moreover, this course would apply a case-based approach in bringing principles to life. With the rising social environmentalism trend, there are many corporations recognized for their sustainability efforts and these examples would serve to illustrate the need to apply green business practices in today鈥檚 marketplace. Finally, in order to foster learning outside the classroom, field trips would also be organized. For instance, one class would take place on the premises of La Gaillarde, a non-profit boutique in St-Henri that is specialized in eco-fashion.

Complementary: Contemporary Issues “Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies” integrated with Women’s and Gender Certificate – Pat Romano (Humanities)

Along with a team of WGS teachers, I’m working on the development of a foundational course for the women鈥檚/gender studies certificate that will be team-taught by 5 or 6 teachers from different disciplines/programs. The course, constructed as a complementary course, will be led by a main teacher/coordinator and include a variety of themes/topics, each one taught by a different teacher, that introduce students to the interdisciplinary nature of women鈥檚/gender studies, while illustrating the extent to which feminism has reshaped our world.聽 In this course, students will have a chance to get to know fellow students and multiple teachers in the certificate, while being immersed into this rich interdisciplinary area of study. This course will allow us to meet several long-standing needs of the certificate:

• Create the opportunity for interested women鈥檚/gender studies students to follow a course together, helping us build a strong sense of community between students and certificate teachers.
• Encourage students to recognize the extent to which a gendered perspective has transformed knowledge across the disciplines (possible themes that could be addressed include gender representation, women in science, women in political movements, sexuality, masculinities and feminist fiction)
• Support on-going co-curricular women鈥檚/gender studies activities and projects that will be connected to the course (e.g. It Happens Here, International Women鈥檚 Week).
• Support cross-disciplinary collaboration and exchanges between faculty members.

Our goal is for this course to serve as a central hub for women鈥檚/gender studies activities at the college. This is a grassroots initiative supported by faculty members in the certificate, and our hope is that there will be much diversity in both themes and participating teachers across the semesters. We are also considering the possibility of making the course schedule available to all women鈥檚/gender studies faculty to encourage interested faculty to attend a class on a theme that interests them. With an ever increasing enrollment in the certificate, we think the time is right. This course will likely count for 2 credits (out of the required 5 credits needed) for the women鈥檚/gender studies certificate so as to make it of significant value to the certificate students, while still ensuring that the certificate remains as accessible as possible.

Humanities World Views & French Language and Culture “La democratie en question” – Sean Elliott (Humanities) & Carmen-Silva Cristea (French)

Au moment de l鈥檈ffondrement des r茅gimes totalitaires de l鈥橢urope de l鈥橢st, Francis Fukuyama publiait un article intitul茅 聽芦聽The End of History ?聽禄, 聽脿 la fois provocateur et optimiste, qui annon莽ait la victoire universelle de la d茅mocratie lib茅rale.聽聽 Or, les 茅v茅nements politiques qui agitent la sc猫ne internationale depuis quelques ann茅es semblent remettre en question la th猫se optimiste de Fukyama.聽 La d茅mocratie lib茅rale a-t-elle encore un avenir ? Repr茅sente-elle encore un mod猫le universellement applicable ? Ce sont des questions qui聽 reviennent en force hanter la sc猫ne politique actuelle et qui constitueront le noyau de la r茅flexion men茅e dans notre cours.

Ce cours jumel茅 se propose avant tout de sensibiliser les 茅tudiants 脿 des questions qui tourmentent notre soci茅t茅, tout en stimulant leur pens茅e critique et leur capacit茅 d鈥檃nalyse et de compr茅hension des probl茅matiques contemporaines.聽 Nous ambitionnons de rendre nos 茅tudiants plus r茅ceptifs 脿 ces questions de soci茅t茅, et en m锚me temps, de leur inculquer le d茅sir d鈥櫭猼re des citoyens actifs, capables de se positionner par rapport 脿 ces probl猫mes de soci茅t茅 et de proposer des solutions. Les travaux propos茅s dans le cadre du cours permettront 茅galement aux 茅tudiants de d茅velopper des comp茅tences inh茅rentes aux disciplines que nous enseignons聽: comprendre et analyser un texte, expliquer 聽une th茅orie,聽 synth茅tiser et organiser des id茅es, r茅diger un texte en fran莽ais et en anglais.

Nous inciterons les 茅tudiants 脿 r茅fl茅chir sur les questions suivantes聽:

• le rapport individu/ soci茅t茅
• la relation entre la libert茅 individuelle et la responsabilit茅
• l鈥檌nterpr茅tation diff茅rente voire divergente de la notion de libert茅 en fonction du contexte social, historique ou politique
• le r么le et l鈥檌mportance des diff茅rentes institutions de l鈥櫭﹖at d茅mocratique
• la relation entre 茅thique et libert茅
• l鈥櫭﹖at providence versus le n茅olib茅ralisme

Ce cours 鈥� dispens茅 en anglais et en fran莽ais –聽 accordera une place importante aux discussions de groupe, aux d茅bats argument茅s et aux projets d鈥櫭﹒uipe interdisciplinaires et/ou multim茅dias. 聽Nous envisageons 茅galement d鈥檌nviter des conf茅renciers pour partager leur savoir en la mati猫re et t茅moigner de leur exp茅rience civique ou politique.

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Watch for updates later in the spring, when the teams are well advanced in the course design process.聽 At that point, they’ll be sharing their ideas for integrative assignments, and presenting draft versions of their common course schedules.