Greetings Everyone,
I hope this fall semester has been a good one for you. As this project nears completion, and in alignment with the tenets of community engaged research, I am eager to share with you the project report and recommendations to which you have all contributed valuable time and expertise. Many of you are invested in making positive (individual and systemic) changes to experiential education at UBC and I hope this project will represent some movement in that direction.
A number of you have been asking about the report, and once you receive it, I hope it will contribute to your own efforts for enhanced support in your faculties and offices. Our goal has been to share at least something with you by the holidays, and while I cannot send out the report today, I can share the following information:
- The report/recommendations document was approved by the project advisory committee (Kim Kiloh, Susan Grossman, Jeff Miller, and Gillian Gerhard) in October;
- Simon Bates (AVP Teaching and Learning) has read the report and noted that it contains similar findings and recommendations to those of the Interdisciplinary Education Project. This is leading to more conversations and potential collaboration with that project.
- Findings and recommendations were presented (in part) to Senate Teaching and Learning Committee in late October.
- Simon Bates will be sharing out the report and recommendations with you in the near future. At that time, I will also be able to share the report with anyone who is interested.
In the meantime, colleagues and I in the CTLT, CCEL, and CSI&C offices are continuing our work to build resources and presentations that respond to the needs identified in the study. I will touch base again in the new year for one more update and to share how the work will be carried forward. As always, feel free to connect with me if you have questions or comments (by email or @experientialubc on Twitter).
I developed the visual above to show the recommended flow of action in making sustainable changes to some of the challenges that have been highlighted in this study. This visual is not a hierarchy of importance but rather a suggested flow of action, with the recognition that to achieve the worthy recommendations on the bottom half, we first need to have a collaboratively developed vision that is championed by high level leadership. The recommendations are expanded upon in detail in the report that Simon will be sharing in the coming weeks.
Wishing all of you a joyful and restful holiday season!