Posted on Oct. 28: Two McMaster teams first recipients of Learning Innovation Grants

Two outstanding teams of teachers are the inaugural recipients of the Imperial Oil Departmental Learning Innovation grants.

Carolyn Eyles and Susan Vajoczki from the School of Geography & Geology and Margaret Denton, Christopher Justice and Anju Joshi from the Undergraduate Degree Studies in Gerontology Program were awarded the grants for projects that will change the way undergraduate education is delivered in their departments.

The awards are for three years and are worth about $100,000.
Dale Roy, executive director of the Centre for Leadership in Learning,
said the projects that were chosen for the first awards clearly demonstrated how they would change the way students are taught their disciplines in their departments.

“We tend to do course development individually,” said Roy. “This is a different way of approaching courses, how they're designed, delivered, collaborated on within a department.”

One of the goals of the initiative is to “build a culture of collaboration,” Roy added.

Team members from the first successful applications are offering a session on Thursday, Oct. 31 to share their experiences. The workshop, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Thode Library B117A, is called Building a Successful Departmental Learning Innovation Grant.

The School of Geography & Geology project leaders plan to improve student learning by integrating practical learning methodologies and transferable personal skills into all undergraduate programs offered within the school.

“We've conducted several surveys with students and graduates and what we learned was that students needed more skills, not just actual factual content,” said professor Carolyn Eyles. “They need to be familiar with the practical things in environmental and geological science.”

They want to enhance the departmental programs to allow all students to graduate with the necessary theoretical and real world knowledge so they can successfully apply their skills. The team hopes to do this by expanding student opportunities for more field/site visits, hands-on lab and field experimentation, field camps and research, volunteer placements and co-op options.

The gerontology team plans to incorporate several new components into its program that will produce graduates who are life-long learners, creative thinkers and problem solvers and are capable of leadership in an aging society while being advocates for older people.

“We offer an academic program that tries to incorporate practical experience,” said professor Margaret Denton, director of the McMaster Centre for Gerontological Studies. “Many of the things we have targeted we currently do. It's a matter of evaluating and enhancing.”

They plan to introduce inquiry courses into the second and third year of the program and problem-based learning in foundation/practice courses, strengthen the practice component by offering more placements and internships and strengthen links to the community.

For information on the Call for Proposals for the next round of Imperial Oil Departmental Learning Innovation Grants, go to http://www.mcmaster.ca/learning/facact/DLIGrantsCall2003.htm.
Deadline for submissions is Dec. 6.