During this “Year of Teaching and Learning Remotely,” as it might be called, the staff at the YU Experience Hub at York University decided it was time to celebrate the many successes in experiential education (EE).
Kathleen Winningham
The entire York community – faculty, staff, students and community partners – pulled together this year to ensure that students were engaged in learning and had access to experiences that added depth to their lessons, said Kathleen Winningham, director of the YU Experience Hub. Winningham and her team organized two separate events to applaud the efforts of faculty, students and community partners for the extra effort it took to make EE meaningful during the pandemic.
The Jan. 28 EE Symposium offered the virtual version of an annual event that focuses on students, promoting EE and its potential to help them develop broader perspectives and new skills.
With Winningham as the emcee, the program began with remarks by York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton.
“Experiential education, also known as hands-on learning, is such a fundamental component of how we can best prepare our students to really reflect on learnings in the classroom,” Lenton said.
Will Gage
Professor Will Gage, associate vice-president of teaching and learning and a symposium co-sponsor, recounted how his own EE experience had diverted him from being a high school teacher to an entrepreneur to an academic, noting, “EE is going to shape your life if you let it, and that’s a really great thing.”
Joy Kirchner, dean of Libraries and a symposium co-sponsor, also offered a welcome to participants, saying, “It’s always thrilling to hear how EE has made a difference in your studies and future prospects.”
Joy Kirchner
Following the opening remarks, the audience was treated to a panel of both students and faculty offering insights into why and how EE can be so rewarding and such a valuable experience. Lisa Endersby, an educational developer from The Teaching Commons, served as the moderator.
For example, Carolyn Steele, who teaches in the Department of Humanities and is part of the Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom (C4) teaching team, told the audience that thanks to EE, students “get to understand the world is a much broader place … They start learning that there are all sorts of things people do in the world. It’s a process of self-discovery and realization.”
Education student Yasmine Raymond-Wilson offered a participant’s perspective, noting that her EE experience “helped me think about what my role as a teacher is and starting me thinking about how I could start giving back to my community and my field.”
Then came the meat of the program: poster presentations by students who had participated in EE. Eleven students/groups of students showcased their posters, displaying the impact of experiential work of all types, such as determining the insect biodiversity on the Glendon Campus; operating a mediation clinic to resolve small legal claims and volunteering with the Georgian Bay Métis Council.
Hammad Saif, for instance, spoke on behalf of his group of eight students, Trauma Link, who worked with the Yonge Street Mission from September to April to figure out how to help the facility help adults suffering from trauma and get them better help and support. They created an online hub to give professionals working for non-governmental organizations access to the best practices in trauma therapy.
In addition to gaining workplace skills, Saif said, “Having a guiding vision for yourself so you can track your growth and progress is important. EE is about what you learn and what you get out of the experience as an individual.”
Meanwhile, a Feb. 4 celebration – the second annual – focused on faculty and the efforts they have put providing their students with rich, participatory experiences, whether in the classroom, the community or a workplace setting.
The faculty response to participating in the event was so enthusiastic, that some of the participants created asynchronous presentations that were made available in advance on the YU Experience Hub website: Jennifer Bolt from the Department of Dance in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Dance; Gail Fraser and Tarmo Remmel from the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change; and Eva Peisacovich from the School of Nursing, Faculty of Health. Six members of the team that teaches and oversees the Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom (C4), also joined together to showcase the interdisciplinary projects that engage and challenge students.
Remmel, for example, created a humorous video that included him in many of the frames, talking directly to his students. He offered some basic tips to his colleagues for ensuring that students learned the course material:
Create simple illustrations and animations;
Very good diagrams help; make sure they are well-labelled and large enough;
Go beyond the basics and insert yourself into the presentation; and
Keep it real. Allow yourself to be human and imperfect.
The C4 video offered both faculty and student perspectives on the value of hands-on, interdisciplinary efforts to solve real problems in the workplace.
“When you get to work with people who have a different point of view or a different work flow, you learn different things, new things and you improve yourself,” said Abkar Khan, a software engineering student who took part in C4.
Other faculty members appeared live to share their experiences with their colleagues about transitioning EE in the classroom, community and workplace online, given the move to remote course delivery.
For example, Mojgan Jadidi, an assistant professor of geomatics at the Lassonde School of Engineering, described how she created a virtual topographic surveying course with the help of the Lassonde Educational Innovation Studio.
“We had to create an immersive student experience,” she said. “We created a topographical surveying game that simulated the fieldwork normally done in person. This is a crucial component of the course, and the game allowed them to see the impact of their data collection and calculations.”
Each of the presenters was able to offer pointers and lessons learned, allowing their colleagues to revisit their own courses and incorporate helpful hints.
“Both events showcased how students and faculty have been able to pivot during the pandemic to keep experiential education thriving,” said Winningham. “It was a pleasure to celebrate the great work taking place at York.”
By Elaine Smith, special contributing writer
Schulich partnership with City of Toronto wins EDCO Award of Excellence
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A program involving 100 students from York University’s Schulich School of Business has just won an award of excellence from the Economic Developers Council of Ontario (EDCO). The ‘Innovation in Community Resiliency (Urban)’ award was granted to the ShopHERE program, an initiative designed to help small businesses struggling due to the impact of COVID-19.
The award was granted to project partners, the City of Toronto and Digital Main Street (DMS), during the 64th annual Evolve ON Conference & Showcase. As part of the partnership, 100 students from Schulich’s MBA, master’s and undergraduate programs gained paid summer placements and were assigned to help Toronto’s local retailers and artists move their businesses online.
“The role of Schulich’s students in the Digital Main Street ShopHERE initiative was one of the great Schulich success stories during a challenging and unforgettable year,” said Detlev Zwick, Schulich interim dean. “We are proud of what they accomplished. By using their skills and expertise, our students were able to help small local businesses move their business online and stay afloat during the pandemic lockdowns.”
A panel of professionals from the fields of economic development, marketing, advertising and tourism judge the entries by using a scorecard to evaluate:
the objective of the initiative and its success;
target audience being assisted;
initiative’s estimated ROI; and
initiative becoming a model of best practice for the industry.
Funding for ShopHERE was provided by the City of Toronto and Magnet, a social innovation platform with a mission to accelerate inclusive economic growth in Canada. The placement program was supported by a number of community and corporate partners, including the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas, Shopify, Google, Mastercard, Microsoft, Facebook, eBay, Ritual, Trufan, eShipper and Snapchat.
Schulich’s participation in the project was led by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Celebration of experiential education featuring faculty and staff innovators will take place Feb. 4
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The Office of the Associate Vice-President Teaching and Learning invites you to the Experiential Education (EE) Celebration on Thursday, Feb. 4.
The EE Celebration will highlight diverse examples of classroom-, community- and work-focused experiential education (EE) and how faculty members have successfully pivoted their EE activity given our remote context. This event is dedicated primarily for faculty and staff engaged with and interested in experiential education and follows the student-centred EE Symposium that will take place Jan. 28.
This EE Celebration event will take place online. It will offer an opportunity for you to network with faculty members who have developed and facilitated these opportunities for their students. Join your colleagues and share and learn more about the variety of ways experiential education can be integrated into courses through stories of examples, lessons learned and important campus resources available.
Experiential Education (EE) Celebration Date: Thursday, Feb. 4 Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Via Zoom
Featured image for story on Glendon professor and students engaged in backyard biology labs Photo by Tina Nord from Pexels
Glendon Campus biology students need to learn fieldwork techniques, pandemic, or no pandemic, so Laura McKinnon decided to send them out into their backyards to practice.
Usually, McKinnon teaches this mandatory course, “Ecological Monitoring in an Urban Environment,” as a 12-day intensive course as part of the Ontario Universities Program in Field Biology. Students normally band birds, search for killdeer nests and visit a turtle marking program, along with other activities conducted throughout the extensive Toronto ravine system.
“For most, it’s their first introduction to research and they get a taste of what it’s all about,” said McKinnon, an associate professor in the bilingual biology program. “Afterward, many of the students decide to pursue it.”
An example of the bird bioacoustics recorder deployment in one student’s backyard. Photo credit: S. Nichols
Given the pandemic lockdown, McKinnon moved the course to the spring, but soon discovered that it would still need to be conducted remotely. Determined to ensure that the students would be able to acquire the field skills necessary for any biologist, McKinnon quickly pivoted and created an online course where research took place in each individual student’s backyard. (The photos here were first published in the journal, Academic Practice in Ecology and Evolution, along with McKinnon’s paper on this pivot.)
To lend the equipment necessary for fieldwork to each student in the course, McKinnon restricted the course to 10 students, rather than the usual 20; ensured that each student had a safe greenspace to use; and had the students come to collect their field kits, which included binoculars, a field notebook, field guides, a Burlese funnel, a dissecting scope and bioacoustic monitors.
The course took place over two weeks, with a research paper submitted afterward. McKinnon devoted the first week of the course to teaching the students the techniques they would need to conduct research in their own backyards – tasks such a learning to take proper field notes, identifying birds and conducting a point count of birds in the yard. She also held separate sessions on scientific writing, bioacoustics monitoring (for bird calls/songs and bats), and statistics. The second week of the course was devoted to the research itself. In addition to the investigations the students carried out, pairs of students worked on a research project together.
The course kept students busy. They were up at dawn to conduct backyard point counts of their birds seen or heard and did so again at dusk. At 8 a.m., the class met online to share their morning findings and discuss other issues and activities; in fact, they usually were on Zoom together a few times daily.
An example Burlese [insect] funnel set-up in a student’s garage. Photo credit: M. JurjDuring the day, the students also dug pitfall traps for insects and collected a turf sample to use in the Burlese funnels, identifying these insects afterward. In addition, they set up camera traps in an attempt to photograph wildlife wandering the property. They were required to do habitat sampling, describing their individual urban habitat in detail, which required them to measure tree height and estimate and describe ground cover.
“Having mastered sampling techniques in the fields of ornithology, mammalogy, entomology and botany, each student became the principal investigator of their own field site, individually collecting data according to standard ecological protocols, and contributing these data to the larger network of eight field sites across Toronto,” McKinnon said. “That these field sites were the students’ backyards, did not detract from their ability to conduct scientific research projects on fundamental ecological questions in urban ecology.”
The students were also responsible for entering their data into a joint folder so that everyone in the class had access to the overall data to use for their research projects. Each group decided upon a research project and wrote a research proposal, consisting of the introduction and methods section that journal articles require, based on the data they had at their disposal. Once McKinnon provided feedback, each group prepared the outline of a research paper, including a results section. Finally, every individual student was required to submit the actual research paper, incorporating McKinnon’s comments, and adding a discussion section.
“In discussing their results, the students can draw upon the theories they’ve learned about in their ecology courses,” McKinnon said. “Although their findings are on a small scale and can’t actually be published, there were some good ideas to pursue.”
For example, one team of students measured minimum and maximum call frequencies (Hz) of American Robins at sunrise and sunset using bioacoustics recorders deployed in the backyard sites over the 10-day period of data collection. Using the same recorders, they simultaneously measured ambient levels of anthropogenic noise. They then tested whether the birds changed the frequency of their calls to compensate for increased anthropogenic noise in busier urban areas.
McKinnon received positive feedback from her students and is confident they had a well-rounded field experience and acquired the necessary field research skills used by biologists.
“An online field course that incorporates direct experience with the natural environment is possible and should no longer be considered an oxymoron,” said McKinnon.
By Elaine Smith, special contributing writer, Innovatus
Phase 4 of York University’s Academic Innovation Fund now open for submissions
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Great ideas are wanted for the next phase of the Academic Innovation Fund
Do you have a great idea or concept for how to expand and advance York University’s priorities in eLearning, experiential education (EE), student success, internationalization or the scholarship of teaching and learning? Why not consider putting your ideas into action by developing a project submission for consideration as part of Phase Four of York University’s extraordinarily successful Academic Innovation Fund (AIF).
A total of $1.5 million will be available annually over each of the next three years for projects advancing York University’s priorities in eLearning, EE, student success, internationalization and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). A focus for the upcoming year is the embedding of strategies that explicitly advance the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals within curriculum in alignment with AIF priorities.
Details of the call for proposals can be found on the AIF website. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Feb. 5, by 4 p.m.
The 2021-22 call for proposals will prioritize the following areas:
embedding eLearning within undergraduate or graduate degree programs using blended or fully online strategies (see eLearning Common Language document), and/or
embedding experiential education within undergraduate or graduate degree programs through community focused and/or work focused EE strategies with a focus on virtual and remote EE approaches (see EE Common Language document), which might include or focus on entrepreneurialism in the curriculum, and/or
embedding student success and retention strategies within the curriculum in undergraduate degree programs in all years of study, and/or
embedding internationalization within undergraduate or graduate degree programs; internationalization of curriculum implies integrating an intercultural dimension into the learning and teaching process so that students can acquire an appreciation and understanding of international perspectives and competencies.
Some ways to achieve internationalization of the curriculum are:
by integrating intercultural or comparative focus with existing courses and/or degree programs;
designing summer abroad courses, programs, field schools and integrating international internships;
developing and implementing technological tools to support internationalization of the curriculum.
There are three categories of funding: Category I funding supports academic innovation projects; Category II funding supports course development projects; and Category III funding supports the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning projects.
All project submissions will be reviewed, approved and ranked by the Office of the Dean before being submitted to the Office of the Associate Vice-President Teaching and Learning. Faculties are encouraged to set their own application deadlines. The AIF Steering Committee, chaired by Gage, will review all proposals and provide recommendations to the Provost & Vice-President Academic, Lisa Philipps for final approval.
Details on Phase Four of the AIF along with submission development instructions and forms can be found on the AIF website.
More about the Academic Innovation Fund
The AIF was created in 2010 to encourage innovation in teaching, learning and the student experience. The purpose of the AIF is to support the implementation of projects to advance York University’s institutional priorities that are articulated in York University’s Academic Plan for 2020 to 2025, the Strategic Mandate Agreement and the Institutional Integrated Resource Plan. These priorities are eLearning, EE, student success and retention strategies within the curriculum, and internationalization. The AIF is intended to encourage innovation and change at York University by supporting new initiatives or those that extend current initiatives in a significant way.
The success of past AIF initiatives has allowed York University to build pan-institutional strategies and systems supporting the further growth and development of curricular innovation. Many students at York University are benefiting from these innovations. Information about past projects that received funding can be found on the AIF website.
Upcoming symposium will celebrate experiential education at York University
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Vari Hall in the winter
The Experiential Education (EE) Symposium showcases experiential education at York University and celebrates the achievements of students and faculty who have participated in EE.
This multi-disciplinary event will be held on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021, from 1 to 4 p.m., via Zoom.
The event will consist of opening remarks from President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton and York staff, a student/faculty panel presentation, and students presenting their projects in the form of posters.
Members of the University community are invited to register to learn and celebrate experiential education at York University. Register for this exciting event at: https://eesymposium.yorku.ca/.
Professor draws on expertise of the Lassonde Education & Innovation Studio
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When remote course delivery became a reality for the 2020 fall semester, Mojgan Jadidi knew she would need some support in turning her third-year course, ESSE3600 – GIS and Spatial Analysis, into a successful online experience, so the Lassonde assistant professor of geomatics engineering turned to the most likely source of assistance: the Lassonde Education and Innovation Studio (LEIS).
Mojgan Jadidi
LEIS was established in the spring of 2020 as a way of assisting faculty at the Lassonde School of Engineering in bringing innovation into their classrooms. When the pandemic hit and instruction moved online, their work became highly valued. Jadidi is a member of LEIS, as well as a client.
“As an instructor, it’s important to give my students a learning journey, and LEIS sparked ideas about how my students could move smoothly toward applying their skills to something tangible,” said Jadidi. “Their expertise helped me design my course so that I could continue to use the flipped classroom mode once we return to in-class instruction.
“In working with LEIS, I realized that we also need to be very effective in our communications online and that students need a clear roadmap so they know what they are doing each week.”
In the flipped classroom approach, students are responsible for reading/watching the requisite informational material prior to attending class. Class time is used to discuss the concepts and theories or to work through problems that rely on what the students have learned themselves.
Jadidi asks her students to watch a series of short videos prior to attending class. They then solve problems or do exercises together or in break-out groups during a synchronous online class. The lab component of the class operates in similar fashion. Students spend the first portion of their lab time following structured lab instructions on their own. A live, synchronous lab follows, allowing for a discussion of their results and any problems they encountered.
Jadidi has also adopted a different approach to grading the course, focusing largely on competence-based assessment. Sixty per cent of the grade is based on a digital portfolio the students are required to create using COVID-19-related scenarios that also incorporate systems design, problem solving, GIS data science techniques and software, as well as equity, diversity and inclusion. There are three individual projects and a team project.
“We have both engineering and science students in the class, and they have different ways of looking at a problem and designing the solution,” Jadidi said. “They complement each other as they work together to create something new.”
The students tackle one of these digital challenges every three weeks, using the new knowledge they have accumulated during that period. First, Jadidi asks them, in a hypothetical scenario, to decide where to locate new hand sanitizing stations on campus; next, where a new COVID-19 testing centre should be built; and finally, how to make that testing centre accessible. The team project focuses on dealing with the disruptive COVID-19 situation to implement UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
“These projects bring a lot of concepts and skills together and allow the students to apply their knowledge,” Jadidi said. “Although in this case, their ‘client’ is York University in a hypothetical scenario, this problem could exist anywhere, and they can apply what they’ve learned in their future career path.
“By the end of the term, they will have a digital portfolio that they can present to any employer.”
Jadidi says she hopes the class has given students skills that will assist them in their careers.
“They will know how to use data to solve problems, applying spatial data science techniques which should be useful when they seek informed decision making and optimal solutions,” she said.
She is delighted by the way her revamped course is unfolding and credits LEIS for helping her bring it to life online.
“At Lassonde, we’re always trying new educational methods to give practical experiences to the students,” Jadidi said. “We need to be innovative and move from traditional objectives to something new so students can learn.”
By Elaine Smith, special contributing writer
Glendon instructor livestreams field trips to provide experiential education throughout pandemic
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A photo of the GoPro set up Charles-Antoine Rouyer used in his second livestreamed field trip
A course director at York University’s Glendon Campus is not letting COVID-19 restrictions disrupt experiential learning opportunities for his students. For Charles-Antoine Rouyer, who teaches Communication, Health & Environment to 125 students this fall in a remote format, cancelling the course’s field trips was not an option.
Charles-Antoine Rouyer
“We usually do two field trips in the fall in this course, as experiential education is a great addition to achieve some of the learning objectives,” said Rouyer, who has been teaching the fall/winter six-credit course since 2004. “It’s also an opportunity to see and experience what we talk about in the class.”
The field trips, focused on watershed dynamics and urban ecology education, allow students to see science in action and engage with what they are learning, he said.
When the course shifted to a remote format in September, Rouyer considered what alternatives might provide a similar experience to his students. His idea? To do the field trips anyway, and livestream it to his students. But first, he’d have to test it out.
It wasn’t as easy as expected; in fact, Rouyer admits it was “quite a bit of work” to figure out what technology would work best to deliver the experience. He spent a few hours of experimenting, first at home and then on site, and decided to stream via his smart phone with a 1080p camera and feed the video into Zoom. He used his earbuds’ microphone to transmit audio.
The first livestream event took place on Oct. 3 at the City of Toronto Brickworks Park to showcase manufactured nature with ponds to understand how wetlands construction provides natural water filtration and flood protection.
Rouyer surveyed the class to measure interest in participating on site – while ensuring COVID-19 protocols for distancing and social gatherings would be followed – and one student attended in person. Of the other 124 students, 76 logged on to participate.
“It was nice to have one student present for added interactivity and his questions and input benefitted the whole class watching online,” he said.
During the livestream Rouyer ensured students could ask questions and interact in real-time via Zoom. The event was also recorded to allow for viewing by students unable to attend online.
After reviewing the recording, he sought to improve the livestream quality for the next field trip, scheduled for Oct. 24. This time, he would broadcast live from the Glendon Forest along the Don River, to educate students on watersheds and ecological restoration.
A photo of the GoPro setup Charles-Antoine Rouyer used in his second livestreamed field trip (Image: John Marbella)
For this event, Rouyer upgraded to a GoPro camera and connected it to the internet through his phone’s hotspot to provide a livestream. However, due to bandwidth limitations, the phone could not support both the GoPro livestream and Zoom session. To improve the experience, he asked a student participating online to host the Zoom session, and launched the livestream through a GoPro URL. One of the four students attending this field trip in person stayed on Zoom through her cell phone, and relayed information between the class and Rouyer.
Although there were some glitches in both methods – such as some interruptions to video and audio consistency – Rouyer feels both experiments were successful. And, according to a survey distributed to his class, so do his students.
Asma Zahra, a student who attended the Glendon Forest field trip in person, said she appreciated the time Rouyer took to be creative with experiential learning. Acting as Rouyer’s “ears” for the Zoom session while he was livestreaming on GoPro added depth to the content she had learned in class. She also commended him for being creative and innovative in his delivery of experiential learning.
“He is very passionate about the environment and it shows through his lectures and presentations,” she said. “Professors who take the time to be creative, engage their students and try to get the most out of experiential learning are much appreciated through this time.”
She notes that since taking classes in the summer semester, when learning went remote, she’s enjoyed this class the most.
“This is by far the best class I have taken through the online format since the pandemic,” she said. “It is very important to not only ‘adjust’ to our current situation, but to be more creative and innovative with delivery of education. Professor Rouyer … went out of his way to engage students and implement the experiential learning. Though there will always be issues with technology, he still fought through it to make sure students get the most out of this course through these times. I think that’s commendable.”
Rouyer said he tried to offer students a variety of options to experience the sites, including instructions for a self-guided tour, and site maps provided via eClass, so students could follow along during the livestream events. He surveyed all students who participated in one or both sessions and found that most students preferred the technology used in the second field trip. The feedback overall has been very positive, however.
Aameet Ekram, a first-year student studying political science from abroad, said the livestream field trip idea was “interesting,” and although he had reservations, the experience was better than expected.
“It was a format I could learn off of, and I genuinely did,” said Ekram. “I’d advocate for this type of programming being implemented into different programs. I’m sure it would be real useful for courses which would’ve had field trips in non-COVID conditions.”
Despite studying from overseas in a different time zone, Ekram was able to log on and participate, and gain valuable insights from the experience. “It showed a preview of the environments themselves – which is, really, the aim of the course – and allowed me to see the place in a way I would’ve never gotten to any other way (learning in an online environment).”
Though Ekram says it isn’t comparable to in-person field trips, it’s the next best thing. “I’d call the entire idea genius,” he said. “If anything, the livestreamed field trips actually made me want to go to these places in real life. I think I’ll do that once the entire situation is normalized and I can actually come to Toronto.”
Rouyer has presented his livestream field trip experimentations with faculty members who meet weekly to share e-learning strategies, and hopes his experiences will contribute to a University-wide community of practice about remote on-site livestreaming.
York faculty member Linda Carozza, a course instructor in the Department of Philosophy and an e-learning peer mentor in the Teaching Commons, leads the faculty group that shares experiences in e-learning. She said Rouyer’s account of his livestream teaching method offered a glimpse into the intersection of experiential education, digital pedagogy and educational technology.
“The pandemic may have thrown a wrench in a typically face-to-face course with field trips, but it also pushed colleagues like Charles-Antoine to lead the pack with innovative e-learning methodology,” said Carozza.
She says she hopes he documents his experiences and research in livestreaming in the domain of the scholarship of teaching and learning.
By Ashley Goodfellow Craig, deputy editor, YFile
Un enseignant de Glendon diffuse en direct des sorties sur le terrain à des fins d’éducation expérientielle pendant la pandémie
Charles-Antoine Rouyer ne voulait pas que les restrictions dues à la COVID-19 privent ses étudiants et étudiantes de possibilités d’éducation expérientielle cet automne. Ce chargé de cours du campus Glendon de l’Université York donne à distance le cours Communication, santé et environnement à 125 étudiants. Pour lui, il était hors de question d’annuler ses sorties sur le terrain.
Charles-Antoine Rouyer
« Nous faisons habituellement deux sorties sur le terrain dans le cadre de mon cours d’automne-hiver. L’éducation expérientielle est un excellent moyen d’atteindre certains objectifs d’apprentissage, dit Charles-Antoine Rouyer, qui assure ce cours de six crédits depuis 2004. C’est aussi une bonne occasion de découvrir ce dont nous avons parlé en classe. Les sorties sur le terrain, axées sur la dynamique du bassin hydrographique et l’écologie urbaine, permettent aux étudiants de voir la science à l’œuvre et de s’investir dans leur apprentissage. »
Quand son cours est passé à un format à distance en septembre dernier, Charles-Antoine Rouyer s’est demandé quelles options pouvaient offrir une expérience similaire aux sorties sur le terrain à ses étudiants. Sa solution? Les faire quand même, mais les diffuser en direct. Tout d’abord, il devait faire des essais.
Charles-Antoine admet que ce n’était pas aussi facile que prévu et que cela lui a demandé « pas mal d’efforts » pour trouver la technologie la mieux adaptée à l’expérience. Il a consacré quelques heures à faire des essais, d’abord chez lui, puis sur le terrain, avant de décider d’opter pour une diffusion en continu avec à la caméra 1080p de son téléphone intelligent. Pour l’audio, il a utilisé le micro de ses écouteurs-boutons et Zoom pour la diffusion en continu et en direct.
Le premier événement a été diffusé en direct le 3 octobre 2020 au parc Brickworks de la ville de Toronto. Cette sortie sur le terrain visait à présenter un environnement artificiel avec des étangs et comprendre comment la construction de zones humides permet la filtration naturelle de l’eau et protège contre les inondations.
Charles-Antoine Rouyer a sondé sa classe pour mesurer l’intérêt d’une participation en personne, tout en respectant les protocoles de la COVID-19 pour la distanciation et les rencontres sociales. Un seul étudiant s’est présenté à la sortie et 76 y ont participé au moyen de Zoom.
« C’était bien d’avoir un étudiant présent, précise-t-il. Cela ajoutait un côté interactif à la sortie; ses questions et ses commentaires ont profité à ceux qui étaient en ligne. »
Durant la diffusion en direct, Charles-Antoine s’est assuré de donner la chance aux participants de poser des questions et d’interagir en temps réel grâce à Zoom. L’événement a également été enregistré pour ceux qui ne pouvaient pas y assister en direct.
Après avoir visionné l’enregistrement, Charles-Antoine a peaufiné la qualité de la diffusion en continu avant la deuxième sortie sur le terrain qui était prévue le 24 octobre dans la forêt de Glendon, le long de la rivière Don. L’objectif pédagogique était de sensibiliser les élèves aux bassins hydrographiques et à la restauration écologique.
Pour cette sortie, Charles-Antoine s’est équipé d’une caméra GoPro et l’a connectée à Internet en utilisant le point d’accès de son téléphone pour la diffusion en continu. Malheureusement, en raison des limites de bande passante, son téléphone ne pouvait pas appuyer à la fois la diffusion en continu de la caméra GoPro et la session Zoom. L’enseignant a donc confié à un étudiant en ligne la gestion de la session Zoom et a lancé la diffusion en continu avec une adresse URL GoPro. Cette fois, quatre étudiants s’étaient présentés. Parmi eux, une étudiante est restée sur Zoom avec son téléphone pendant toute la sortie et a assuré la liaison entre la classe et l’enseignant.
Malgré quelques problèmes techniques avec les deux méthodes — notamment des interruptions du flux de l’audio et de la vidéo —, Charles-Antoine considère que les deux approches étaient fructueuses. Selon les résultats d’un sondage distribué par la suite, tous les étudiants de la classe étaient du même avis.
Asma Zahra, l’étudiante qui était présente lors de la sortie dans la forêt de Glendon, se dit reconnaissante du temps investi dans cette expérience d’éducation expérientielle. Le fait d’avoir été les « oreilles » de la rencontre Zoom — pendant que l’enseignant était en direct sur GoPro — a ajouté de la substance au contenu de ses cours théoriques. Elle loue également la créativité et le sens de l’innovation déployés dans cette possibilité d’éducation expérientielle.
« M. Rouyer se passionne pour l’environnement et on ressent cela dans ses cours et ses présentations, déclare-t-elle. En ce moment, les professeurs qui font des efforts pour être créatifs, faire participer leurs étudiants et tirer le meilleur parti possible de l’éducation expérientielle sont très appréciés. »
Ce cours est d’ailleurs son préféré depuis le passage à l’apprentissage à distance durant le trimestre d’été. « C’est de loin le meilleur cours que j’ai suivi en ligne depuis le début de la pandémie, ajoute-t-elle. Il est très important non seulement de s’adapter à la situation actuelle, mais aussi d’adopter des approches pédagogiques plus créatives et innovantes. M. Rouyer s’est donné beaucoup de mal pour maintenir l’intérêt chez ses étudiants et leur offrir des possibilités d’éducation expérientielle. Malgré quelques problèmes techniques inévitables, il a fait tout son possible pour que les étudiants et étudiantes tirent le meilleur parti de ce cours durant cette période. Ce sont des efforts vraiment louables. »
Photo de l’installation GoPro utilisée par Charles-Antoine Rouyer lors de la deuxième sortie sur le terrain diffusée en direct en continu (Image : John Marbella)
Charles-Antoine Rouyer dit qu’il a essayé d’offrir à ses étudiants diverses options pour découvrir les sites, notamment des instructions pour une visite autoguidée et des plans de sites sur eClass, afin que les étudiants puissent mieux suivre les événements en direct. Les résultats d’un sondage auprès des étudiants ayant participé aux deux sorties ont indiqué que la majorité d’entre eux préférait la technologie utilisée lors de la deuxième sortie sur le terrain. Dans l’ensemble, la rétroaction a été très positive.
Selon Aameet Ekram, un étudiant de première année qui suit des cours de science politique à distance, la sortie sur le terrain diffusée en continu et en direct était très « intéressante », et malgré ses réserves initiales, l’expérience s’est beaucoup mieux passée que prévu. « Ce format permettait d’apprendre, et franchement, j’ai beaucoup appris, déclare-t-il. Je préconiserais de mettre en place ce type d’expérience dans d’autres programmes. Je suis sûr que ce serait vraiment utile dans des cours qui auraient offert des sorties sur le terrain si la pandémie n’avait pas frappé. »
Bien qu’il étudie à l’étranger avec plusieurs heures de décalage horaire, Ekram a pu se connecter, participer et tirer des enseignements précieux de cette expérience. « Cela m’a permis de découvrir réellement les environnements en question — ce qui est l’objectif du cours — et d’explorer des lieux que je n’aurais jamais eu l’occasion de visiter (dans le cadre d’un apprentissage en ligne). À défaut de visites en personne sur le terrain, c’est ce qu’il y a de mieux. C’est vraiment une idée de génie, ajoute-t-il. En fait, la diffusion des sorties sur le terrain m’a donné envie de visiter ces endroits. Je pense que je le ferai quand tout sera revenu à la normale et que je pourrai venir à Toronto. »
Charles-Antoine Rouyer a présenté ses expériences de diffusion en continu et en direct aux membres du corps enseignant qui se réunissent chaque semaine pour partager des stratégies d’apprentissage en ligne. Il espère que ses expériences contribueront à une communauté de pratique à l’échelle de l’université sur la diffusion en direct à distance.
Linda Carozza, membre du corps professoral de York, chargée de cours du Département de philosophie et mentore partenaire de l’apprentissage en ligne au sein de Teaching Commons, dirige le groupe de professeurs qui partagent leurs expériences sur l’apprentissage en ligne. Selon Mme Carozza, le récit de Charles-Antoine Rouyer sur sa méthode d’enseignement en direct offre un aperçu de l’intersection entre l’éducation expérientielle, la pédagogie numérique et la technologie pédagogique : « La pandémie a certes mis des bâtons dans les roues d’un cours généralement donné en face à face avec des visites sur le terrain, mais elle a également incité des collègues comme Charles-Antoine à être des pionniers de cette méthodologie innovante d’apprentissage en ligne ».
Elle espère vraiment qu’il documente ses expériences et ses recherches sur la diffusion en continu en matière d’enseignement et d’apprentissage.
Assessment up for discussion across the University, Dec. 10
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The pandemic is prompting York University to reconsider how student learning is assessed. This pan-University effort is being led by William Gage, associate vice-president, teaching & learning, with support from the Teaching Commons and its new speaker series, the Assessment Strategy Exchange, launching Dec. 10.
“Although exams have long been the dominant mode of assessment worldwide, with the pandemic, we’re in a position where we simply can’t write exams in a way that works for everyone,” said Gage.
Will Gage
Writing exams online can pose challenges in terms of accessibility, invigilation, privacy and time zone, Gage noted, as well concerns that are related to systemic biases in the online platforms.
“What if we could create a world without exams, but enhance our ability to evaluate learning?” Gage asked. “There have always been questions about whether exams really do evaluate learning, and there are approaches to evaluation that don’t involve exams, and many faculty members are now becoming aware of them and we’re trying to help with that.”
Although reconsidering assessment is a long-term initiative and acknowledging that some fields require more traditional exams because of accreditation requirements, Gage noted that the pandemic offers an ideal opportunity to consider some changes quickly, given the challenges of remote assessment. Until now, there hasn’t necessarily been a strong imperative to attend to it.
Gage says he is finding enthusiasm in all corners of the University for these discussions, and there is an appetite for including students in the conversation. Gage is putting together a pan-University working group to explore the issue and he has had more interest than he can accommodate.
“We’re bringing brilliant people to the table so we can tackle the problem, but we’re so early in the process that I’m not sure what the products will be yet,” he said. “The outcome could be a report with recommendations to the University, but that’s not definite.”
Meanwhile, Teaching Commons is giving the entire community an opportunity to learn more about the issues surrounding assessment through its new speaker series, the Assessment Strategy Exchange.
Geneviève Maheux-Pelletier
“Since we launched our Going Remote earlier this year, the assessment pages are among the top five most visited,” said Geneviève Maheux-Pelletier, director of the Teaching Commons. “You can adapt the classroom experience reasonably well on Zoom and eClass, but assessment is part of the teaching practice that is most challenging online and people are looking for support.”
It has been a long time coming, Maheux-Pelletier says.
“From the perspective of teaching and learning in higher education, we’ve tried to push the practice toward other forms of assessment that connect content with real-life problems, application and synthesis of information. Now, the limitations of online assessment and a long overdue pivot towards authentic forms of assessment are dovetailing.”
The Teaching Commons series is offering support to Gage’s process and inviting a broader conversation about assessment. It will be supplemented by enhancements to the Commons’ Going Remote website that include information about more than 30 alternative strategies for assessing students and by a new TC course, Rebooting Your Final Exam.
The Dec. 10 event features Professor Laura Winer from McGill University, the director of teaching and learning services at McGill, discussing Pivoting Assessment Strategies in Response to COVID-19 and Beyond, and a student panel discussing What Learning Remotely Has Meant for Me this Fall, moderated by Maureen Barnes, York’s director of student accessibility services in the morning. There will be a Lunch & Learn session at noon where faculty will offer pre-recorded short presentations about assessment tasks and strategies, followed by a live Q-and-A session with the presenters and break-out room discussions. Teaching Commons will continue this series in the winter semester with more events featuring faculty and students.
“Professor Gage’s initiative and this series will feed off each other,” Maheux-Pelletier said. “As difficult as this year has been, it’s a time when people are coming together and wanting to share.”
By Elaine Smith, special contributing writer
Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic will use $157,750 court-directed award to provide pro bono advice
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An Osgoode Hall Law School clinic that provides free access to legal services for vulnerable investors has received a cy-près award of $157,750 from a class action settlement approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Poonam Puri
“The Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic fills a critical gap in the retail investment landscape. We’re grateful for this award that allows us to continue our important work in the face of growing demand, while also raising awareness of the potential benefits of directing a cy-près award to our clinic,” says Professor Poonam Puri, the clinic’s academic director. Ontario’s Class Proceedings Act gives the court discretion to grant cy-près (French for “as near as possible”) awards when it’s not cost-efficient or feasible to distribute the awarded funds to members of the class action.
The first of its kind in Canada, the Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic was launched at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in 2016 to provide pro bono legal advice to people who believe their investments were mishandled and who cannot afford a lawyer. Funded by the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, the clinic pairs 12 second- and third-year Osgoode JD students for a year with supervising lawyers from leading business law firms in Ontario. Together, they support clients ranging from seniors who lost their entire retirement savings, to people swindled by trusted members of their community, to investors who had their portfolio mishandled by advisors.
Among many impacts, “the cy-près award will assist with the development of investor education, the recruitment of Osgoode students as summer interns and with the clinic’s research activities,” says Puri. By acting as a “living lab” to collect data, Puri and her team identify trends in investor protection, inform public policy debate and contribute to legal practice and reform.
The Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic was awarded the funds as the result of a decision by Justice Benjamin T. Glustein in a class action case involving global pharmaceutical company Endo International PLC. The representative plaintiff, an Endo investor, alleged that the company had misrepresented and/or omitted important information about its generic pharmaceutical business and certain other risks that, when revealed, caused a significant decline in the price of Endo’s securities.
The court approved the cy-près donation at the request of the plaintiff and with the approval of the defendant “so as to provide an indirect benefit to Class Members on top of the monetary recovery that most of them will be entitled to under the U.S. Settlement,” wrote Glustein in his decision.
This marks the second time in as many years that the Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic has been named in a class action settlement.
“A cy-près award aims to serve the interests of class members, which makes us an ideal match in securities class action cases where it’s impractical to directly compensate class members,” points out Puri.
Osgoode alumni and legal representatives seeking further information on the Osgoode Investor Protection Clinic and court-directed awards are invited to contact Puri at 416-736-5542 or ppuri@osgoode.yorku.ca.
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