Digital Media and the Humanities, Phase II

In the second phase of her Digital Media and Humanities project, Dr. Stites Mor continues to develop digital infrastructure and course programing that will enable students to participate in digital media production across the humanities disciplines and to give them access to technology necessary to create student-centred digital humanities projects.

JESSICA STITES MOR
Assistant Professor, HISTORY

Public Sociology Colloquium

Digital Media and the Humanities

As a cultural historian, Dr. Stites Mor tries to expose her students to a wide variety of audio and visual materials to add experiential depth to their learning. Through the Digital Media and the Humanities Pilot Project, Dr. Stites Mor is developing the infrastructure and course programming that will enable students to integrate digital media production into their humanities education. She has also created a new course entitled "Digital Media and History" that teaches students about the role of digital media in pushing the limits of historical research and communication and gives them a hands-on introduction to the creative practice of documentary filmmaking.

JESSICA STITES MOR
Assistant Professor, HISTORY

Interaction with Legal Professionals

Preparing Students for Realistic Workplace Challenges

Dr. Andis Klegeris’ problem-based learning exercises will enable biochemistry students to study real-life situations and learn how to identify problems, research available information and discover possible solutions. This learning approach prepares students for the realistic workplace challenges they will face on a daily basis after graduating from university.

ANDIS KLEGERIS
Assistant Professor, PHARMACOLOGY

Embedded Devices to Increase Group Communication

Dr. Patricia Lasserre is systematically testing whether student use of an embedded device can reduce the limitations of group communication during team-based learning exercises. She predicts that the student’s ability to view all team members’ input simultaneously and to have equal opportunity to actively engage in problem solving will increase interaction and participation in her first year computer programming course.

PATRICIA LASSERRE
Associate Professor, COMPUTER SCIENCE

Promoting Cross-Cultural Communication 

Dr. Javad Tavakoli’s foundational mathematics course promotes cross-cultural communication between Aboriginal thought and traditional European mathematical training. He is developing course resources to integrate traditional analysis-synthesis learning techniques common to many Aboriginal cultures and to emphasize the relationship between different mathematical concepts and an integrated knowledge of mathematics.

JAVAD TAVAKOLI
Associate Professor, MATHEMATICS

Creating Informed Voters

What is one of the most important responsibilities students will face in the future? Dr. Kavanagh's answer would be to vote and she insists that students may be required to contemplate increasingly complex scientific issues when making electoral decisions. She incorporated problem-based learning techniques into her Introduction to Physical Geography course to provide both arts and science undergraduates with a clear understanding of the process of scientific inquiry.

TRUDY KAVANAGH
Assistant Professor, GEOGRAPHY

Team-based Learning Provides Essential Confidence

First year computer programming courses often have high attrition rates as many students find it a challenge to understand programming concepts and to produce creative solutions to problems. Dr. Lasserre found that a large amount of practice is necessary to develop the problem-solving skills and logical reasoning required to be successful in the course. She integrated team-based learning into the classroom to provide her students with the essential confidence and practice they need.

PATRICIA LASSERRE
Associate Professor, COMPUTER SCIENCE

3D Displays Replace Rote Memorization

Dr. McNeil has developed a new, user-friendly computer program, permitting the interactive visualization and examination of molecular and protein structure. In guided inquiry assignments, students use this program explore such structures for themselves, thereby crafting their own understanding of protein structure/function relationships, rather than memorizing textbook explanations and static images. Students also have the opportunity to create their own custom-built 3D representations for use in presentations and web pages, in which they present and discuss their conclusions with other students.

STEPHEN MCNEIL
Assistant Professor, CHEMISTRY