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A special exhibit opened today at the University of Waterloo Art Gallery showcasing seven museum exhibits designed by groups of students in the Knowledge Integration (KI) program at UW. The exhibition will only be available until Wednesday at 6pm.

This is the culmination of over a year of work, including four courses and an overseas field trip to Amsterdam. This is truly integration as it draws on different disciplines (from art to engineering), different types of learning (courses, research, experiential, self-directed, team based) and pulling it all together to build publicly accessible museum design projects from which we can learn.

In spring 2010 students travelled to Amsterdam for a field trip and intensive exploration of museums. After they returned, they spent much of the next year applying what they learned to design their own museum exhibits. This year students will be heading to Berlin at the end of April.

Exhibits include:

• bukimi no tani – learn why robots may make you feel uncomfortable
• Give Peace a Chance – learn about peaceful protest including John and Yoko’s bed-ins
• Guess What – learn about archaeology and figuring out the purpose of an unknown object
• In Your Dreams – learn about dreams
• Knocked Out! – learn about concussions
• Letters Numbers Colours – learn about synesthesia, where some people see letters and numbers in colour
• Math Tools – learn about how limitations in mathematical tools like the slide rule led to the development of new ones

Check it out!

Hours for the Exhibition:

• Tuesday March 15, 12-7 pm
• Wednesday March 16, 12-6 pm

Location:
University of Waterloo Art Gallery
East Campus Hall (ECH) Room 1239
263 Phillip St., Waterloo

Limited metered parking is available behind East Campus Hall.
Visitors Parking in Lot UWP, Lot N and Lot B after 3:45 pm (Lot B is permit only before 3:45 pm)

Here’s a campus map (ECH is at the far right; click on “permit parking” to see Lot B):
http://www.uwaterloo.ca/map/index.php

For more information see:
http://envblogs.uwaterloo.ca/blogs/kix/

 

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The Centre for Teaching Excellence welcomes contributions to its blog. If you are a faculty member, staff member, or student at the University of Waterloo (or beyond!) and would like contribute a posting about some aspect of teaching or learning, please contact Mark Morton or Trevor Holmes.

After checking my emails this morning, I decided to catch up on some news. I came across an article that showcased the importance of goal setting in academia. It seemed very relevant to what we do here at the Centre. To summarize the article in one sentence or less – realistic goal setting increases grades and reduces drop-out rates.

I strongly emphasize the word “realistic”. It is unrealistic to set goals that can be too challenging for the individual. Simply stating a goal and not working towards it will not get a student a 90% in a course. It is my belief that if goal setting were implemented into our curriculum, educators would see an increase in grades. It encourages both students and educators to achieve success in the classroom. It is a great way for educators to evaluate what students expect/ want from their course. It doesn’t mean that educators should hold students’ hands and walk them through it, but to introduce goal setting skills into our young students. I remember starting university and how confusing everything felt. I didn’t feel connected to my professors or programs, which led to poor grades. Explaining grading systems and how students can achieve good grades can induce students to take on a more proactive role in investing into their future.

In my earlier university years, I was guilty of just cramming before midterms and writing final exams. I never thought about how much I actually learned, what I took away from the course, and quite frankly I don’t think I cared. My goal was just to get high grades at the end of the term. It wasn’t until I met a student that was quite older than me that I realized we’re not here just to get good grades, but we should actually “learn”. He was so passionate about improving and learning from his mistakes. I’ve never met another student who was so comfortable talking to professors and constantly going to office hours. Learning, to me, is the ability to take away knowledge and skills from a course to apply them in our lives and real world situations.

I was introduced to goal setting during my last year of high school. My business teacher used a “Management by Objective” model to set goals with us. For every goal we achieved, we received 1% of our grade (up to 3%). I recall setting goals that I thought were realistic, but I didn’t manage to achieve them all. Sometimes, failure can help you reflect and understand what went well and what didn’t. It gives you a taste of reality.

Perhaps you are skeptical about the power of goal setting. Let me share a story with you. My business teacher has a habit of writing a journal. In one entry she wrote about her dream to drive a BMW in Greece. After many years, she forgot about that dream. One summer she travelled to Greece to spend time with her family. She decided to rent a car for that summer. She said she remembers driving along a coast in Greece and then she realized something. She was in Greece driving a BMW! She believes that because she wrote out her goal in vivid details, her brain subconsciously worked towards that goal.

After three years of studying at the University of Waterloo, I think I’ve started to feel the key of success – hard work and care. When I look at my grades, I realize that the ones I’ve done exceptionally well in are those where my professors cared about our achievements and wanted us to succeed. All it takes is that sense that someone wants me to succeed, and together we work hard towards that goal.

Here is the article:

“Making Kids Work on Goals (And Not Just in Soccer)”

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The Centre for Teaching Excellence welcomes contributions to its blog. If you are a faculty member, staff member, or student at the University of Waterloo (or beyond!) and would like contribute a posting about some aspect of teaching or learning, please contact Mark Morton or Trevor Holmes.

I’m just returning from the Congress of the Humanities and Social Science in Montreal, where (as at last year’s Congress) I bumped into a few Waterloo colleagues there for their own disciplinary conferences. I was there for the Canadian Society for Studies in Higher Education meeting, running a session with a colleague in which papers addressed the changing demographic of post-secondary students in the future based Continue reading Renewing my Scholarship: Journeys Away — Nicola Simmons

What is it actually meant to “learn” something? Is it just to acquire the necessary information? To understand it? Or maybe you just need to be able to answer that question on the final exam. To most people (students at least), this is in fact what learning is all about. To me, the only way I would know I have learned something is when I am able to teach what I have learned to someone else. Continue reading Learning Through Teaching – Michael Li