This is a repost of an article published in Tapestry magazine, Issue 55 (2009/2010) pp. 12-13.

Get in the MIX! A New Way to Bring Interdisciplinary Learning to More Students
by: Geoff Costeloe, Terry Project Assistant

Photo Caption: Carla and Celeste partnered on a tree-related project for students in their classes

Editor’s note: Geoff appeared at my door, along with colleagues Shagufta Pasta, fellow Terry Project Assistant and Dave Ng, Director of the Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory (AMBL) at the Michael Smith Laboratories, to update me on Terry Talks, one of the many programs on campus that has a sustainability connection. Geoff, a 5th year student pursuing a double major in Integrated Science and Political Science, initiated UBC MIX through his interest in extending his own positive experience with interdisciplinary learning, through the Integrated Sciences Program, to all students.

UBC MIX grew out of the ‘Wish’ talk Geoff gave at the successful 2008 Terry Talks Conference. In his talk, he dubbed the idea IF: The Integrated Forum. The project was endorsed by the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGIU), a part of the Clinton Global Initiative that encourages and enables students to make changes to their world. Geoff attended the CGIU conference in Austin, Texas and discussed his plans with students from around the world. Geoff, who himself has traveled all over the world is interested in education’s role on global issues.

The project, refocused and renamed UBC MIX, aims to make any class on campus accessible to interdisciplinary teaching and learning. It is simple, effective and not resource- or time-consuming. There are even perks for the faculty members involved.

The integration of teaching and learning across faculties and disciplines is becoming a more and more popular discussion topic around our campus. From first year programs such as Science One and Arts One, to degree granting programs such as Integrated Sciences and International Relations, UBC offers a wide array
of opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. These are well respected programs that have one thing in common: they leave a positive, lasting impression on a student’s education and university experience.

As successful as these programs are, there are some setbacks with the current approach to interdisciplinary education. Interdisciplinary courses and programs rely on the dedication of faculty members for development, teaching, and administration. Students have to commit to taking a full course or major program in order to experience the benefits of an interdisciplinary learning community, something that many are unable to manage due to their already cramped schedules. As a result the vast majority of students go through their time at UBC without exposure to concepts and perspectives outside of their main field of study, and with little opportunity to explore how other disciplines and subjects are related and relevant to their work and their future. Despite the benefits of current programs, some measurable by NSSE, (see http://www.pair.ubc.ca/surveys/nsse/ for more information) there have been few initiatives that promise to bring interdisciplinary learning to a larger proportion of the undergraduate community. What is needed is a new way of approaching interdisciplinary study. This approach must be flexible and relatively easy to manage. It must be effective across disciplines and in different classroom settings, without the need for extensive curriculum readjustment or extra work for already be- leaguered faculty members. UBC MIX hopes to do all of this and more.

UBC MIX works through developing cross-discipline and cross- faculty partnerships between courses already taught at UBC. UBC MIX helps pairs of faculty members make small adjustments to their class curricula that can mix, or bring together, students of two different courses. The partnership could involve one or two joint lectures, electronic ‘pen-pal’ communication between the classes, a mixed-group project, or anything else the faculty members think would be valuable to their students. The idea is to complement the curriculum of both classes by exploring the links between them, exposing the students to new ideas and points of view. It is also important to ensure that there is no additional workload on students or faculty. Assignments are ‘tweaked’, not added, to allow the partnership to interact.

UBC MIX already has one exciting partnership underway involving Celeste Leander, who teaches Biology in Science One, Faculty of Science and Carla Paterson, who teaches History in the Faculty of Arts as well as Civil Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Sciences. Working with students in Science One and in History 104 this past Fall, they used a variety of classroom activities to draw on major themes from both classes. One example was a project about trees around campus. Students from the two classes formed groups, found and identified trees in the local UBC ecosystem, taking photos of themselves in front of them, then gave short presentations on the tree species and it historical uses in BC aboriginal communities. This was a chance for students to learn from each other and put the skills and knowledge they take from class and put them into practice.

There are lots of reasons that a UBC MIX partnership could benefit faculty members as well. Just as partnerships help break down barriers between students in different faculties, they can also help to bring new ideas into the lives of faculty members. Celeste and Carla were excited to learn more about each other’s area of expertise.

There are other perks for faculty members too. UBC MIX provides funding to partnerships that could be used for extra resources, field trips or to hire a TA or Graduate Academic Assistant.

Interested? UBC MIX is currently looking for faculty members to form partnerships. Check out www.terry.ubc.ca/mix or e-mail <ubcmix@gmail.com> for details about current partnerships and the benefits of getting involved in UBC MIX.

UBC MIX has been recognized by the Student Leadership Conference and will be a featured project that Geoff will present on January 9, 2010 http://slc.ubc.ca. You can see Geoff’s Terry Talk as well as eight other awesome student speakers at www.terry.ubc.ca/terrytalks; view photos from Terry Talks 2008 at www.flickr.com/photos/terrytalks.

As part of the selection process for Terry talks 2008, each speaker was asked to make a wish, of which one was chosen for the campus to develop. The 2008 wish was from Integrated Science and Political Science student Geoff Costeloe and called UBC MIX to create interdisciplinary classroom partnerships, exposing students to new ideas and experiences.

UBC MIX develops cross-discipline and cross-faculty partnerships between courses already taught at UBC. It helps two faculty members make small adjustments to their class curricula that can bring together students from two courses. The partnership could involve one or two joint lectures, electronic ‘pen-pal’ communication between the classes, a mixed-group project, or anything else the faculty members think would be valuable to the students. The idea is to compliment the curricula of both classes by exploring the links between them, exposing the students to new ideas.

Celeste Leander, who teaches Science One Biology, and Carla Paterson from HIST 104 will be giving UBC MIX a shot in September. They will be using a variety of classroom activities that will draw on major themes from both classes. One activity is a project looking at trees around campus. Students from each class will be partnered together. They will have to find and identify trees in the UBC community, take a photo of themselves in front of it, then give a short presentation on the tree and it historical uses in B.C. aboriginal communities. It is a chance for students to learn from each other and put the skills and knowledge they take from class and put them into practice.

UBC MIX is currently looking for interested faculty members to form partnerships.
For more information visit: www.terry.ubc.ca/mix.

Originally published in UBC Reports – Source

Photo Credit: fboudville

UBC MIX offers a casual learning environment

By Samantha Jung
news@ubyssey.ca

Monday, September 7th, 2009

Combining History and Biology seems like an odd pairing for a class assignment, but Geoff Costeloe doesn’t think so. It’s the basis for the first UBC Mix pairing, a new interdisciplinary venture at UBC.

Costeloe is a blogger for UBC’s Terry website, which promotes interdisciplinary studies and learning. He gave a presentation at last November’s Terry Talks, Terry’s first speaker series exclusively featuring students talking about current and relevant issues. Students at Terry Talks chose one person as that year’s “Wish” speaker, and they received funding to make their “wish” come true.

Costeloe told students that “students, society and academics have a one dimensional way of viewing issues” and proposed an Integrated Forum (IF) as a way to bridge that gap between faculties. Students chose Costeloe as the “wish” speaker, IF was changed to UBC Mix, and he went to work.

The idea behind UBC Mix is to create a more casual environment for students across faculties to interact with one another. Costeloe said that there are quite a few interdisciplinary courses at UBC, but they are structured and don’t offer flexibility. “Professors are busy and they don’t have a lot of time to make up courses and do that kind of stuff,” he said.

UBC Mix’s first pairing is History 104 with sessional lecturer Carla Paterson, and Science One Biology with professor Celeste Leander and is scheduled to take place during the fall semester. Proposed ideas for interactions between students include joint classes, a pen-pal project and a joint project on the biological and cultural significance of coniferous trees.

A few problems Costeloe has run into include large class sizes, scheduling issues and the fact that he is pressed for time because he started the project late in the year. He said that he is working on a few more partnerships for January.

He also said that faculty should be driving this project. “Our role is really going to be helping make sure it works out,” he said. “We also have the money; we’re willing to hire TAs to mark assignments, to help students out.”

Costeloe has gotten positive feedback from his colleagues. “It’s great,” said Paterson, “and what I think is really brilliant about it is the emphasis is on informal partnership…and so this bypasses all this bureaucracy.”

Political Science professor and co-founder of the Terry project Allen Sens is excited. “I think it’s potentially a very big step, because much of what the Terry project has done are very focused projects,” he said. “What UBC MIX promises is using its own course structures rather than adding big, new elements.”

“The benefits potentially are quite large.”

Original article from the Ubyssey – source

Photo Credit: dsevilla

I’m pleased to announce UBC MIX’s first partnership: Science One Biology and HIST 104!

This partnership is a great one and the faculty involved are certainly diving into it head first.

There are several components to this partnership. I’m going to go ahead and outline what the plan is.

Continue reading →

Although, I would love to apply the famous words of Mary Shelly’s Dr. Frankenstein, “Its alive!!!” to the 2008 Wish “Its still alive!!” may be more accurate.

Many of you may have thought the contrary. Thought that no work had been done on the Wish and it had slowly disintegrated in the minds of those who were supposed to guide its progress from wish to reality. Well fellow Terry supporters, I’m here to tell you that this is not the case.

Progress has been made in the Wish. The biggest change you might notice is a refinement in its scope. When I first presented the Wish (here) it had a very long list of things that would be included: a conference, a website, a kind of academic-Facebook, and the ability for independent classes to explore tangible links between disciplines. In regards to most of these plans, they have been placed on hold.

There are two major reasons for this. Firstly, each of these dreams is a project in and of itself. We just don’t have the man-power, money, or time to see them all through. That doesn’t mean that they won’t happen, I just think that we need to prioritize something so that we can get it done and have something to show for it. Secondly, there is a risk in some of these goals of being redundant. There are so many services, groups, and projects at UBC that it is hard to find something that no one else is trying. For example, the Terry website is a great place to engage students on crossdiscipline issues. Because of this, I’ve focused in on what I believe to be a truly unique and central part of what was presented as IF: the classroom partnerships.

Running with this new focus, there have been several successes. Firstly, after an application process I was selected to attend the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative University meeting in Austin, TX. This is a conference where university students from all over the world come together to discuss projects that they are working that produce ‘real, measurable, tangible goals’ the work to solve global problems. The focus issues are Education, Energy and Climate Change, Global Health, and Human Rights and Peace. Students just like us are doing fantastic things and changing the world. Check out all the details here. I met lots of awesome students as well as important individuals (notably Paul Begala, Myron Rolle, Natalie Portman, and sexy Matthew McConaughey). I even had a chance to briefly speak to the former President himself and describe IF in about 45 seconds. He said he liked it (and I almost fainted with joy).

At the end of it all, the project became not only a Terry Wish, but also a CGIU Commitment to Action, which provides it increased awareness and legitimacy.

There has also been a bit of a name change to the project. As attached as I was to IF, Integrated Forum just doesn’t describe the renewed focus. We are now functioning under the working title of UBC MIX (as in mix up your education). It doesn’t stand for anything…but who cares; its catchy as hell, memorable, and conveys what the project is trying to do.

Now I’m in the process of making UBC MIX a reality. How do we do this? We start by finding professors and instructors who might be interested in, and excited about giving it a shot. If we can find enough interest we are going to try to get some partnerships off the ground to run some pilot partnerships this September.

What exactly does a partnership entail? This is the great part about the project. A classroom partnership can be as deep or as shallow as the two profs want. It could be as extensive as an assignment pairing up students from two disciplines to accomplish a task requiring both of their unique skills, to casual discussions surrounding how the two fields are connected. It is simple, flexible, but most importantly tangible. With some dedicated faculty, this could really add some relevance to UBC students degrees.

That’s where you come in. Have you had an instructor who you think would be perfect for MIX? If so then send an e-mail to ubc.mix@gmail.com with your suggestions. And stay tuned for more updates (they will come more frequently now).

We’re back in business.