Seminar puts focus on community-engaged learning

Students, staff, faculty and community members turned out Monday afternoon for the
latest installment of the McMaster Seminar on Higher Education.

The session featured a panel discussion with faculty members Ann Herring, Sheila
Sammon, Patty Soloman and Jean Wilson. All are past winners of the President's Awards
for Teaching and Learning.

The panelists shared their experiences implementing community-engaged learning
projects at McMaster.

Sheila Sammon, who was recognized in 2000 for her role in teaching the then-new,
interdisciplinary Inquiry course, talked about the reciprocal relationship between
universities and communities.

“We can learn something from our community, and we also have much to offer the
community,” she said. “But we need to understand the difference between what we need
to research and what the community really needs.”

The session touched on a number of McMaster initiatives aimed at engaging with the
community, including the Discovery Program and Children's University.

Herring also spoke about her students' annual class project, which involves writing a
complete book about a subject related to the city of Hamilton. She said the work is just
one more way to get students involved in the community.

“There's no single means to connect with the community, so we need to develop as
many ways as possible to make those connections,” she said.

The next McMaster Seminar on Higher Education is scheduled for March 15. David Theo
Goldberg will deliver a lecture on The Afterlife of the Humanities at 7:30 p.m. in CIBC
Hall.