Instructor: Dr. Nicola Simmons, Assistant Professor

Course: EDUC 5P35 – Adult Teaching & Learning

Program: Master of Education

Experiencing being Adult Learners: The Theory-Practice Connection

Creating meaningful supports for students to connect theory and practice can be tricky. Intending to give graduate students in the Adult Teaching and Learning course an experiential opportunity to do this, Dr. Nicola Simmons planned a field trip to Determination Martial Arts in east Hamilton. Dr. Simmons said, “Despite my (unfounded) concerns that students might be reticent about participating in such a venture, there was a lot of excitement both before and after the event!”

Students read two articles in preparation for the field trip – one on emotional responses of adult learners and one on facilitating adult learning. They were invited to write in personal journals about their expectations and experiences of the trip and were also encouraged to observe how the martial arts instructor, Miss Emily, facilitated learning by working with individuals and their strengths and limitations so they could accomplish tasks – including breaking boards!

In a follow up assignment, students were asked to write about their anticipations, experiences, and reflections on the Tae Kwon Do lesson; to connect it to something else they had learned as an adult; and to use literature on adults as learners as a critical lens on the experience for their assignment. They also took these reflections into their final assignment, where they designed a course or workshop for adult learners.

Would Dr. Simmons do it again? “I would love to! Not only were the students able to write about theory from personal experience, they re-applied their learning to their other work. The way they connected theory and practice after the field trip exceeded my expectations. And, the field trip created a very close class community – one that I think allowed us to explore subsequent topics more deeply and richly – something the students commented on frequently.”

Instructor: Dr. Ryan Plummer, Professor

Course: SSAS 5P01 – Foundations of Sustainability Science and Society

Program: Master of Sustainability

EXPERIENCING THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN NATURAL AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS

In SSAS 5P01, experiential education serves as a vehicle to enable students to explore the enactment of sustainability science. By incorporating multiple short-term field experiences, students have the opportunity to critically reflect upon the concepts of sustainable development, sustainability, and sustainability science in different context. “We train students to be leaders in sustainability. They need more than just classroom instruction to prepare them to take on leadership positions when they graduate,” says Dr. Plummer. “Sustainability science extends beyond the classroom and the University campus. Modifying the curriculum in our foundational course to include an ‘experiencing sustainability’ module enables new ways to connect theory and practice.”

Over the course of the term, Dr. Plummer’s students participate in three field experiences which were organized with financial support from a Teaching & Learning Innovation Grant made possible through Brock’s Centre for Pedagogical Innovation and the University’s Experiential Education unit. Each experience provides different perspectives on the interplay between natural and social systems in sustainability efforts at Brock and in the broader Niagara region. In 2018 the short-term field experiences included:

• Nature Conservation and Reserves: Students explored Brock’s privileged location in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, led by UNESCO Chair in Community Sustainability, Dr. Liette Vasseur, and were provided with an introduction to the Niagara Biosphere Reserve by the Senior Strategic Advisor for the Niagara Escarpment Commission, Lisa Grbinicek.
• Sustainability in Institutions: Students visited the Brock’s co-generation plant which generates and supplies power to the university. Scott Johnston, Associate Vice President of Facilities Management, led students on a tour of the facility, as well as Brock’s underground tunnel system and explained university sustainability efforts undertaken by facilities management and the Brock University Charter Agreement. The second component of this field experience exposed student to the sustainability efforts in Brock’s Dining Services through their waste-management program.
  
• Innovative Partnerships: Students were provided with an overview of the Brock-Lincoln Living lab Partnership in the Town of Lincoln. A second stop on this field experience included a tour of the Vineland Innovation and Research Centre where students learned about crop management techniques being developed in Niagara. Finally, students were able to provide insights into research when we visited our partners at the Niagara Parks Commission.

To solidify their learning through the field experiences, students demonstrate their understanding of partnership agreements and their role in sustainability by producing a social media communique. By using mediums such as blogs, vlogs, videos, or a series of tweets, Instagram or Facebook posts, students not only reflect on how their understanding of the relationship between research and application in sustainability has developed through the field experiences, but also translate their knowledge for the general public. Supporting students in translating their knowledge to a variety of audiences is a key component of developing effective communication skills and contributing to scholarly discourse, which are key learning outcomes for the course.

Instructor: Dr. Michael Ripmeester, Professor

Course: GEOG/TOUR 3Q93 – Vancouver Field Course

Program: Geography and/or Tourism Studies

Exploring the Geographies of a Major City 

This field course concentrates on Vancouver as a major metropolitan area. Topics the students engage with include:

• The historical geography of Vancouver;
• Planning and architecture;
• Public space in the 21st century;
• The social and cultural geographies of Vancouver.

The goal of this course is to expose students to the intricate, conflicting, and contradictory geographies of a major city. The course emphasizes participation in walking tours during which students engage geographical theories, concepts and ideas. This class enhances students’ ability to recognize geography’s influence on planning and social policy.

Through the immersive nature of their study, students participate in guided tours throughout the city, while also experiencing SITU seminars, research design, and active participation, where learning is framed through, scheduled and unscheduled discussions.

During the entire experience, students are required to keep a field notebook (complete with diagrams, images, and maps) as a means of documenting their reflections on the material they collect in addition to recording facts. The field notebook includes reflective writings and work with their final assignment being a paper in which they are to focus on experiential education. They are to review the literature and then write a paper on their experience of being immersed in an experiential field study. As part of the assignment they are to use examples from their field notes to illustrate the points they are trying to make regarding experiential learning and the field study itself. If they are able, they are to formulate a supported opinion about how experiential education (for good or for ill) compares to in-class learning.

Instructor: Nicole Luke

Course: ADST 5P76

Program: Applied Disability Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences

Pre-service behavior analysts (PSBAs) in their final graduate level course were offered an opportunity to complete a field experience in partnership with a community organization that serves young adults with developmental disabilities. The project paired groups of PSBAs with clients in virtual reality spaces where they could work on their conversation skills and have a chance to meet some new people despite the lockdown restrictions of the pandemic. The tech team from XpertVR partnered to help me deliver this experience and we provided all students and community members with Pico Neo headsets which they used to access the Engage platform app where they could meet synchronously, engage in conversation, and learn to use the technology. Each person created their own avatar and learned to interact with each other and with the objects available in the virtual environments. For example, the Engage coffee shop contained seating, tables, and coffee cups. The students and community members could navigate through the shop, sit together at the table, pick up cups and pretend to drink as they talked to each other. Students completed a series of tasks related to the experience including reflective journaling, literature review, and debriefing with other students. The tasks were posted as modules in their Sakai course.