Mix Feedback Reports

Each of the links below will open a PDF file. These files are Mix Feedback Reports, generated from feedback collected from students after UBC Mix events. These reports were primarily generated for Mix partners to reflect on their Mix experiences, but the reports are also useful for other educators to see how students conceptualize interdisciplinarity and its values and practice.

All Mix feedback forms asked students to evaluate the following three questions, choosing an option on a Likert scale (strongly agree – agree – neutral – disagree – strongly disagree):

  • This event was educationally valuable to me.
  • The interdisciplinary nature of this event enhanced my learning.
  • In general, connecting with students and instructors in other disciplines enriches my education.

Some forms also included variations on the following questions:

  • What does interdisciplinary learning mean for you?
  • What kind of interdisciplinary learning activities would interest you?
  • What did you find most interesting, surprising, or valuable about this event?
  • What is something you learned from discussions with other students?
  • Please share any other comments or questions about this event or about interdisciplinary teaching and learning.

Mix Feedback Reports

Arts One Science One – Mix Feedback Report: Arts One and Science One students organized an “edutainment” activity. With few opportunities for students in the two programs to get together, representatives from each group worked together to design a social activity. They watched Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to discuss the moral, ethical, narrative, and scientific dimensions of the Frankenstein story.

Chasing Ice – Mix Feedback Report: Naoko Ellis (Chemical and Biological Engineering) and Eric Mazzi (Clean Energy Engineering) hosted a film screening of Chasing Ice, a documentary about visualizing the effects of climate change. Students from engineering, film, and geography participated.

CHBE-PLAN – Mix Feedback Report: Naoko Ellis (Chemical and Biological Engineering) and Jon O’Riordan (School of Regional and Community Planning) joined their classes for a BC Carbon Tax stakeholder consultation simulation. Stakeholder representative groups included BC Greenhouse Growers’ Association, Union of BC Municipalities, Pembina Institute, Business Council of BC, FortisBC, BC Tax Payers Federation, and the Canadian Centre for Policy.

CHBE-POLI Mix Feedback: Royall Petrell (Chemical and Biological Engineering) and Kate Neville (Political Science) worked with Alaya Boisvert from the Community Learning Initiative to host Mike Bell, co-chair of the Sierra Club Comox Valley. Bell and participating students discussed the concept of Earth Jurisprudence.

LIBR-CPSC – Mix Feedback Report: Rafa Absar (School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies) and Kevin Leyton-Brown (Computer Science) brought their students together for two sessions to discuss intellectual property in the digital age.

Homelessness Teach-In

Economics instructor Catherine Douglas has hosted three Mix events with students in her class, ECON 317: Poverty and Inequality. Each year, she has invited Jennifer Hales and Danse Crowkiller to talk with her class and students from Mix partner courses in sociology, applied science, education, and other disciplines. Hales is an education consultant and author of Learning about Homelessness in BC: A Guide for Senior High School Teachers. Crowkiller is an Aboriginal carver who has experienced living on the streets of Vancouver. In the 2012-2013 school year, Douglas organized a “teach-in” event on homelessness. Hales facilitated a panel and question and answer session with Crowkiller, Lauren Gill (activist, community organizer, and youth worker, with lived experience on the streets), and Frank Williams (a First Nations carver related to Crowkiller).

TerreWEB

UBC Mix supported TerreWEB initiatives in the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 academic years (TerreWEB: Terrestrial Research on Ecosystems & World-wide Education & Broadcast). In the 2012-2013 academic year, TerreWEB students participated in a data visualization workshop and another networking fieldtrip.

  • TerreWeb Networking Fieldtrip – Mix Feedback Report (2012): TerreWEB students participated in a social media workshop and networking fieldtrip. On the fieldtrip, students visited partnering organizations in the Lower Mainland to consider the applied and policy dimensions of their research.
  • TerreWeb Networking Fieldtrip 2013 – Mix Feedback Report: For this year’s fieldtrip, TerreWEB students visited partnership organizations in Victoria.
  • TerreWeb Film Workshop – Mix Feedback Report (2012): TerreWEB students learned how to use film to convey their research to public audiences. One workshop group’s video was featured on the New York Times blog Dot Earth! Click here to read the NYT story.
  • TerreWeb Social Media – Mix Report (2012): TerreWEB hosted a series of interdisciplinary talks on issues such as climate change and the environmental effects of the Tar Sands. UBC Mix supported an undergraduate student’s efforts to promote the series through various social media outlets.

UBC Reads Sustainability

UBC Mix supported the UBC Read Sustainability program in the 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013 academic years.

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