March 2 0 0 4 Vo l . 2 N o . 5
Reflecting the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning at the
University of Saskatchewan
In this issue
From Kaleidoscopes to Collages:
Bringing Closure to a Course
Dr. Sandra Bassendowski,
Assistant Professor, College of
Nursing
The History Department and
Teaching Assistants
By Dr. Gordon DesBrisay,
Department of History
The English Department’s AntiPlagiarism Road Show, Part II
By Joel Deshaye, TLC Instructional
Technology Consultant
and Sessional Lecturer
Doctor Ped’s Advice Column
Unabridged : Carolyn Brooks,
Sessional Lecturer, Department of
Sociology,
Recipient of the Sylvia Wallace
Award for Excellence in Teaching
THE BEST OF ADVICE
Eileen M. Herteis, TLC Programme Director
Welcome to our first online-only edition of “Bridges.” We dedicate
this inaugural issue to advice, the very best advice from University
of Saskatchewan colleagues.
Sandra Bassendowksi from the College of Nursing asks why so
much attention has been paid to the first day of class, while the last
is often unplanned—or even worse—a futile rush to the finish.
Sandra has some excellent suggestions on how to plan for a last
day that is filled with meaning and learning.
Gordon DesBrisay from History has advice for training the
graduate students in your department to become TAs; Joel
Deshaye, from English and the TLC, gives us the second part of his
recent experience advising students how not to plagiarize; our
pseudonymous columnist, Dr. Ped, consoles and counsels a faculty
member whose students did very poorly on their midterm.
We are also delighted to introduce the University of
Saskatchewan’s most recent teaching award winner, Carolyn
Brooks from Sociology, who received the Sylvia Wallace Award
given to an outstanding sessional lecturer.
On a personal note, this is my last “Bridges” editorial. On May
1st, I begin the exhilarating new challenge of directing the Purdy
Crawford Teaching Centre at Mount Allison University in Sackville,
New Brunswick. And while I am delighted to be returning to the
Maritimes, I do so not a little sadly. I leave the University of
Saskatchewan enriched by the lessons learned from colleagues
and humbled by the memories of your generosity.
Eileen
1
The Gwenna Moss Teaching & Learning Centre
37 Murray Building • 966-2231
March 2004
Vol. 2 No. 5
The Gwenna Moss Teaching
& Learning Centre
University of Saskatchewan
Room 37 Murray Building
3 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A4
Phone (306) 966-2231
Fax (306) 966-2242
e-mail : corinne.f@usask.ca
Web site : www.usask.ca/tlc
Bridges is distributed to every
teacher at the University of
Saskatchewan and to all the
Instructional Development Offices
in Canada, and some beyond.
It is freely available on the world
wide web through the TLC web
site. Your contributions to
Bridges will reach a wide local,
national, and international
audience. Please consider
submitting an article or opinion
piece to Bridges. Contact any
one of the following people;
we’d be delighted to hear from
you!
Ron Marken
TLC Director
Phone (306) 966-5532
ron.marken@usask.ca
Eileen Herteis
TLC Programme Director
& Bridges Editor
Phone (306) 966-2238
Fax (306) 966-2242
eileen.herteis@usask.ca
Christine Anderson Obach
Programme Coordinator
Phone (306) 966-1950
christine.anderson@usask.ca
Corinne Fasthuber
Assistant
Phone (306) 966-2231
corinne.f@usask.ca
Joel Deshaye
Instructional Technology Consultant
(306) 966-2245
joel.deshaye@usask.ca
ISSN 1703-1222
FROM KALEIDOSCOPES TO
COLLAGES: BRINGING CLOSURE
TO A COURSE
Dr. Sandra Bassendowski, Assistant Professor, College of Nursing
The last session or day of a course
requires the same attention to design,
development, and delivery as the first
session of a new course. In the first day
of a course, students are made to feel
welcome through introductions,
explanation of course material, and
discussion of general course content
and learning outcomes. Learning
outcomes are discussed in terms of
instructional strategies, evaluation
criteria, and links to course content.
What I discovered about my own
courses was that I was not paying the
same attention to the last class- and
neither were students! Some students
were not showing up once we had
discussed the specific aspects of the
final exam or paper, or others showed
up only to patiently wait for the class to
be dismissed. I wanted a stronger
sense of closure with students and with
the course content. I wanted students to
complete the course with energy and a
sense of engagement.
I thought about various instructional
strategies that could be adapted to my
course content to provide this sense of
engagement and ended up with an
instructional strategy that I call “From
Kaleidoscopes to Collages.” It requires
both reflection and active participation
by students.
Educational Theory
Problem-solving abilities, research
ideas, and independence from
traditional modes of thinking can be
generated by educators and learners
willing to explore alternative
approaches within the classroom. A
review of the literature reveals that
2
creative classroom approaches are
essential to learning (Chambers et al.,
2000; Grant Kalischuck & Thorpe,
2002; Hamza, Khalid, & Farrow,
2000; Leggo, 2003; Lones, 1999).
The creative arts are applicable to most
course content because they involve
doing activities, using imagination, and
participating collaboratively (Leggo,
2003). Apps states, “I use these weird
things like drawing, and I have people
creating third dimensional
representations of abstract ideas by
using pencils and paper clips and
masking tape, and all of that stuff…it’s
learning, it’s change.” (Cauthers, 1991,
p. 61).
Creative learning does not discount the
overall importance of information and
facts; on the contrary, information
provides the raw data for learning
rather than being the end product.
Historically, adult education curricula
emphasized the acquisition of
knowledge by focusing on
memorization and recall. Creative
learning stresses the importance of
using knowledge by focusing on
analysis and synthesis. It gives students
the opportunity to apply previously
learned material to novel situations.
Creativity involves the development of
new perspectives and unusual mental
angles through the use of strategies that
shift viewpoints. This flexibility involves
re-organizing existing elements, facts,
or occurrences in such a way as to
cause a rethinking of established
patterns. So kaleidoscopes and
collages become essential elements in
this instructional strategy that affects
students’ perspectives.
The kaleidoscope illustrates linkages,
interrelatedness, and evolving images.
As the kaleidoscope turns, the student
sees divisions, differences, and
apparent disorder. When the
movement stops and an image
appears, there is integration,
wholeness, and brilliance. The magic
of pattern is unveiled through
kaleidoscopes (Chaska, 1990).
The collage provides an avenue for
faculty to reach beyond the text and
course content and provide an
opportunity for students to show
evidence of learning (Stanford, 2003).
The use of pictures and images to
develop a collage reaches students who
are more visually or spatially oriented
but the activity also has an effect on
students who are used to listening to
lectures or responding to written
assignments.
Instructions for the Activity
Two to three weeks prior to the last
class in the course, students are asked
to bring scissors, pictures, magazines,
stickers, markers, tape, colored paper,
and other items to the last class. I
supply sheets of flipchart paper or large
blank jigsaw puzzles for each student.
I introduce the activity by encouraging
students to think about course content as
the pieces within a kaleidoscope and to
remember that there is always room for
diverse viewpoints and perspectivessymbolic of the process of change. As
I discuss the activity, I pass around
several kaleidoscopes for students to
turn and view the changing images.
Just as each student sees a different
image with the kaleidoscope, each
student ‘sees’ a different view of course
content depending on how the pieces
are put together. The pieces can
include lecture notes, group
presentations, guest speakers, videos,
required reading, discussion, group
work, and online searches. I ask
students to take a few minutes to review
the highlights of the course content and
think about the pieces that made a
I wanted a stronger
sense of closure with
students and with the
course content. I
wanted students to
complete the course
with energy and a
sense of
engagement.
difference in their learning or attitude
and portray it visually on the flipchart
paper or jigsaw puzzle. The collage
can include magazine photos,
drawings, stickers, poems, music notes,
or any combination of materials and
ideas. This activity can be adapted by
having small groups develop a collage
together and focusing on course
themes.
I arrange the room so they can sit
around one large table, share
resources, share stories, and have fun.
As Leggo (2003) states, “Above all, the
creative teacher knows that fun is
integral to learning (p.14). Students
are encouraged to cut and paste photos
or pictures, draw diagrams or pictures,
or use stickers to illustrate the main
pieces of course content. I participate
in the activity as well and create a
collage that focuses on what I have
learned from the students’ participation
and discussion throughout the course.
At the end of the activity, students place
all the collages around the room and
we gather as a group to view the work
and to reflect on the individual pieces.
The students are asked to explain the
collage in terms of course content and
what prompted them to develop it in the
way that they did. When each student
is finished, we applaud to acknowledge
the work and bring closure to that
student’s work in the course.
I am usually the last person to explain
3
my collage and I highlight the pieces of
content that relate back to the first day
of class, specific aspects of group
discussions, and my new knowledge.
Students are encouraged to take their
collage home and I thank students for
their participation in the course and at
the last class. I stand at the door as
they leave to say good-bye, shake
hands, and wish them well in future
courses.
Summary
The last class of a course should be
delivered with an emphasis on bringing
closure to the teaching and learning
relationship and to course content. The
activity “From Kaleidoscopes to
Collages” challenges students to think
about course content and how they can
visually portray certain aspects of the
course that has made a difference to
them as adult learners. They determine
the importance of concepts and
learning outcomes for themselves rather
than rely on someone else’s experience
or on the memorization of facts and
information.
Students focus on the course content
that had relevance for them and by
doing this, they summarize the content
of the course better than I could during
the last class session. Students will
sometimes highlight a single concept,
point, or remark that others have
forgotten. This strategy is based on the
premise that adults have a rich
experience to draw on and that adult
learners learn best when they are using
their experiences- doing is more
effective than listening or seeing. The
acquisition of facts and the move to
innovative learning brings change and
restructuring. Students are free to
discover new forms, new symbols, and
new patterns—the pieces of the
kaleidoscope!
References
Cauthers, J. (1991). Continuing
education in the learning society- an
interview with Dr. Jerold Apps.
Canadian Journal of University
Continuing Education, XVII(2), 55-68.
Chambers, A., Bartle Angus, J., Carter-Wells, J., Bagwell, J., Greenbaum, J., Padget, D., & Thomson, C. (2000). Creative
and active strategies to promote critical thinking. Yearbook (Claremont Reading Conference), 58-69.
Chaska, N. (Ed.). (1990). The nursing profession: Turning points. Philadelphia, PA: Mosby Company.
Grant Kalischuck, R., & Thorpe, K. (2002). Thinking creatively: From nursing education to practice. The Journal of
Continuing Education in Nursing, 33(4), 155-163.
Hamza, M., Khalid, M., & Farrow, V. (2000). Fostering creativity and problem solving in the classroom. Kappa Delta Pi
Record, 37(1), 33-35.
Leggo, C. (2003). Calling the muses: A poet’s ruminations on creativity in the classroom. Education Canada, 43(4), 12-15.
Lones, P. (1999). Learning as creativity: Implications for adult learners. Adult Learning, 11(4), 9-12.
Stanford, P. (2003). Multiple intelligences for every classroom. Intervention in School and Clinic, 39(2), 80-85.
THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT AND
TEACHING ASSISTANTS
By Dr. Gordon DesBrisay, Department of History
In recent years, the
history department has
taken an increasingly
proactive role in training,
directing, and monitoring our TAs. We like to think that it is
paying off for three constituencies very dear to us: our
undergrad students, our TAs, and ourselves.
Every teaching unit on campus has its own
pedagogical needs, methods, customs, traditions, ruts, and
so forth, so let me just explain briefly what it is that we ask
TAs in the history department to do.
of steps to increase faculty involvement in and oversight of the
tutorials and the TAs. When I came here eleven years ago
and had 48 new 80-minute lectures to prepare, I was quite
content to leave the tutorials to function on their own. I got
away with it that first year because the department assigned
me an experienced TA who needed little guidance – which is
just what he got from me: little guidance. When we first met,
around Labour Day, he had the foresight to bring the list of
readings my predecessor had assigned, and the tact not to
produce it until I asked. “It just so happens”, he said. “Well,
then”, I said. He took care of everything, and it all went
swimmingly.
Most of our TAs are assigned to run discussion groups
– we call them tutorials, but they are really more like
seminars – in large first-year classes of fifty or more
students. The tutorials are capped at 18 students. Each
week, first-year students attend three hours of lectures
delivered by the lead instructor, and spend an additional
one hour with their discussion group and their TA.
Discussions normally revolve around readings assigned by
the instructor. The TAs facilitate discussion and assign
students a grade for participation. TAs also advise students
on essay topics and essay writing, and marks their essays.
We do not allow TAs to mark midterms or exams except in
special circumstances.
In my second year, however, my ad hoc policy of
benign neglect caught up with me. Everything that had gone
right the year before went wrong. The new TA did not
understand me intuitively, and did not communicate my
unspoken wishes to my students, who in turn failed to respond
and develop as I blithely assumed they would. It was a mess,
and it was my fault. Amidst the wreckage two things came
crashing home with particular force:
That basic package of TA duties has been in place
forever, but over the past few years we have taken a series
Luckily for me, other colleagues in the department had
reached much the same conclusions, less painfully I’m sure,
1) Those are my students in those tutorials, and what goes on
there is my responsibility.
2) For the tutorials to work as I intend, I need to ensure that
my TAs are adequately trained, directed, and monitored.
4
and moves were already afoot to make
it harder for people like me to screw
up.
presentations, and always bring to the
discussions a wealth of battlefield
experience and a bracing, sometimes
withering, pragmatism regarding what
can and cannot be reasonably
expected of TAs and their students.
years, they won’t darken history’s
portals ever again.
We then proceed with a series of
presentations designed to offer practical
An important first step was to
guidance on how to initiate and sustain
begin to hold annual workshops for TAs
meaningful discussion, how to deal with
each year. They began with the idea
conflict in the classroom, how to grade
that we, the faculty, would tell TAs what
essays, what to do about plagiarism,
they needed to know and do. The
and how to do what needs to be done
In an ideal world, the joy
most important outcome, by far,
within the contracted hours. The
of learning would be all
however, was that they told us what we
presentations are made by
the incentive anyone
needed to do to enable them to run our
experienced TAs and outside experts,
tutorials more effectively.
as well as our own faculty. We
needed, but here on
particularly encourage new faculty to
planet earth it turned out
The message we heard over and
get involved, as a way of introducing
that when tutorials
over from the TAs was that faculty
them to the graduate students, and to
counted for little or even
needed to acknowledge and indeed
take advantage of the fact that most of
no part of the final grade,
demonstrate that tutorials were a vital
them have been TAs themselves within
and integral part of every first-year
living memory. We try to switch
it was sometimes difficult
course. In an ideal world, the joy of
speakers around from year to year so
for TAs to motivate their
learning would be all the incentive
that returning TAs have a chance to
charges.
anyone needed, but here on planet
hear different perspectives and
earth it turned out that when tutorials
emphases. We also encourage
counted for little or even no part of the
presenters to leave plenty of time for
final grade, it was sometimes difficult
discussion, in the hope that an ideal
for TAs to motivate their charges. So the
The fall Workshop runs for half a
tutorial, or series of tutorials, will
department ruled that in all first-year
day – usually the first Friday after
actually unfold before our eyes.
classes tutorial work – not including
classes start. It begins and ends with
Everyone involved in the
essays – would count for at least fifteen bonding rituals disguised as a free
Workshop, faculty included, comes
percent of the final grade, up from our
lunch (that would be the beginning) and away with practical tips for improving
previous minimum of ten percent. This
a wine and beer reception (that would
their teaching. They also come away
small but critical bump seems to have
be the end, and experience suggests
with various useful bits of paper. Our
prompted all three of our constituencies that these rituals prove most efficacious department had a longstanding aim of
to approach the tutorials with a
when performed in this order). In
providing TAs with a state-of-the-art
renewed sense of purpose: students,
between eating and drinking, there are handbook of sound practical advice,
TAs and faculty members all seemed to presentations covering a certain set of
which we finally achieved in 2001
take the tutorials more seriously when
topics that need to be covered every
when we gave up trying to reinvent the
there were more marks on the line. A
year. Somebody, usually me, begins by wheel and bought an off-the-shelf TA
sad commentary on our mercenary
discussing the nature of the TA calling,
handbook produced by the Canadian
culture, perhaps, but effective none the and about how much the department
Historical Association. Done. We also
less.
needs and values TAs and what they
provide students with a selection of
do. I’m happy to make that speech
essay grading grids intended to help
So the first step was to make sure because I happen to believe it. I tell
clarify, regularize, and speed the
that the tutorials counted for something
TAs that they are para-professors, first
marking of essays. Some profs provide
tangible. The next step was to help
on the scene when it comes to dealing
such a grid for their TAs, but where
prepare the TAs to undertake their
with our newest students, and that we
none is specified we encourage TAs to
duties as effectively and efficiently as
intend to ensure that they, like paraconsider adopting one on their own.
possible. TAs have always learned
medics, are qualified to provide quality
from one another, and the department
care within certain carefully
We also encourage TAs to type
encourages profs to meet with their TAs demarcated limits. What makes them
out essay comments and grades and
on a regular basis. Our most concerted so important to the history department, I keep them on a computer file, a simple
group training effort, however, centres
continue, is not just the labour they
tactic with enormous benefits. Students
on the annual fall TA Workshop I
undertake and the labour they spare us can read the comments, for one thing,
mentioned a moment ago. The
faculty, but the fact that they deal with
and when they do not heed the advice
Workshop is a contractual obligation
our most precious commodities – first
given on the first essay there is a record
for all our TAs, including returning
year students. If we as faculty and TAs that can be brought to bear on the
veterans who sometimes make formal
don’t do a decent job with our first
second essay: “Nehemiah, this is a
5
good paper in places, but you were
advised last time that no good could
come of your insistent use of ....”. My
own practice is to have TAs return the
marked essays and the file with
comments and grades to me. I then
review and amend the comments as
necessary (removing any actionable
statements, for example), make sure
the grades are reasonable and
comparable across all the tutorials in
the course, and then return the files to
the TAs so they can see the changes
made. The last step is to print and
attach the comments sheet to the
essays and return them myself to the
students, a gesture intended to
emphasize that the TAs and I are
operating as a team, and to make it
clear that the final responsibility for the
comments and grades rests with me.
who decides whether to renew TA
contracts.
Somebody, usually me,
begins by discussing the
nature of the TA calling,
and about how much the
department needs and
values TAs and what they
do. I’m happy to make that
speech because I happen
to believe it.
drift further towards skills-based training
in the years ahead.
I said at the outset that the history
department’s more proactive role in
training, directing, and monitoring TAs
is paying off for all concerned, and I’ll
hold to that. Our students are better
served when the tutorials are run in an
orderly fashion by TAs who have
received clear instructions and some
practical training. Our TAs work more
efficiently and effectively. The
department stands to gain more majors
and honours students when our firstyear feeder courses offer valuable
tutorial experiences. And the work that
faculty put into making all this happen
pays off not only in the short run as
students in these classes do better work
and learn more, but in the long run as
students provided with a solid first-year
foundation turn up in senior level
courses – and maybe even in grad
school, where they form the next cohort
of TAs.
So, the history department has
signalled its commitment to tutorials by
assigning them a meaningful proportion
of the course grade and taken steps to
Much of the Workshop is always
train the TAs in the fine art of tutorial
devoted to the vexed issue of how to
management. The final part of the
get students to engage in meaningful
process I want to mention concerns
discussions, and here the TAs
oversight. We ask two things of our
themselves often have wonderful advice faculty in this regard. The first is that
to offer. Increasingly, faculty and
This article is the text of a presentation
they set clear assignments for the
experienced TAs alike are stressing the tutorials under their command, and the
Gordon gave at a TLC teaching
importance of regular, preferably
Assistant event in December 2003.
second is that they evaluate the
weekly, small writing assignments as a
performance of their TAs. With regard
spur to close reading and informed
to assignments, there is a wide and
discussion. Tying writing assignments
fruitful variety. Whatever direction the
to the reading assignments has a direct prof decides to take the tutorial in, it is
impact on the quality of tutorial
important that the full list of assignments
discussions. It gives students valuable
be worked out at the start of term, so
practice in writing and allows TAs to
that everyone knows where they are
identify and correct problems early on
and where they are going next. The
(referring students to the Writing Centre integration of the tutorial work with the
as necessary). In the Workshop we talk rest of the course should be clear to
about how to manage such writing
everyone at all times. With regard to
assignments without swamping the TA
evaluations, lead instructors are
with extra work and point out that,
required to sit in on each tutorial at least
since poor writing is the single greatest once a term and to complete a TA
impediment to swift and efficient essay Evaluation Form. The instructor meets
grading, attention to writing in the
with the TA to discuss the findings, and
tutorials can pay off at the essay
the report is submitted to and kept on
grading stage. Such an emphasis on
file by the department head. This
writing represents not so much a shift
probably sounds more time-consuming
away from our traditional focus on “the that it generally is, but once again the
material” in question (writing reinforces structured formality of the process helps
reading, after all), but an added
to concentrate everyone’s mind, and it
dimension of skills-based learning
provides vital feedback for the TAs, for
intended to better prepare our students faculty who take the occasion to reflect
for all their subsequent work at
on what they might do to improve the
University, and in the world beyond. I
tutorials, and for the department head
suspect that we will see our tutorials
6
THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT’S ANTI-PLAGIARISM
ROAD SHOW, PART II
By Joel Deshaye, TLC Instructional Technology Consultant and Sessional Lecturer
In the November 2003 issue of Bridges
(Vol. 2, No. 3), I told an interesting
story, but only its beginning. The story
explained how the English Department
was promoting integrity and (we hope)
deterring plagiarism by sending me
and my colleague Jon Bath to every
first-year class in September and
October. During these visits we saw
well over 2,000 students in nearly 65
classes. After a successful first term, we
visited another 20 classes and another
800 students in the second term. We
talked about how to define plagiarism
and honesty, how and why to cite
sources correctly, and perhaps most
controversially, how to plagiarize from
the Internet and why this is both
unethical and generally stupid. We also
encouraged students to seek the help
and advice of a variety of University
sources (instructors, counsellors,
advocates, tutors) when dealing with
the pressures that lead to plagiarism
and the repercussions of being
accused.
I promised that I would present
the feedback Jon and I received from
students and faculty members whom we
visited. These responses tell the second
part of the story, but certainly not the
whole story, because the responses
indicate that solving the problem of
plagiarism will involve not only
teaching students, but teaching
ourselves how to change in response to
the threat of cheating. The responsibility
is on teachers as much as students.
Almost without exception, the
faculty members wanted these antiplagiarism visits to continue (although a
few professors declined our invitations
from the start without explanation).
However, a few professors were
concerned that the presentations had
negative connotations. One wrote that
instructors suggested that having a
guest in class helped to attract the
students’ attention and impress upon
them the scope and importance of the
topic.
Several professors reported that
students were more interested in talking
about this controversial topic and in
learning about documentation after the
visits. Some students were nervous
“’Academic Integrity’ needs to be
about cheating accidentally, too,
understood as an obligation on
eveyone on campus, and in a context of especially when they learned that
ignorance is not an excuse, according
predominant decency and honesty.”
to the current guidelines from the
Accordingly, the anti-plagiarism
University Secretary’s Office. Of course,
presentation in that class “soured” the
our visits sparked even more interest
sense of mutual obligation between
from faculty members, who offered
teacher and students.
interesting questions and feedback.
Another professor, who
nevertheless endorsed the sessions, said
that he “would like to see more of a
balance between trust and immediate
suspicion of plagiarism” in future visits.
While Jon and I both stressed that most
students are honest, it’s inevitable that
our presence as guest speakers
indicates some suspicion. Despite the
importance of showing trust in the
students, we thought it would be equally
important to respect their intelligence
and not speak euphemistically about
the problem of cheating. Repeating that
most of us are honest is the nice way of
saying that some of us are cheaters; it
dodges part of the issue. Being
forthright is part of academic integrity.
Rather than objecting to our
methods, most instructors agreed with
them, and we found that many of them
have very thorough plans for teaching
students how to acknowledge their
sources. I sensed that some of these
people found the interruption to their
classes partly counterproductive.
Nevertheless, even some of these
7
A couple of instructors suggested
that briefly distinguishing between
editorial advice, proofreading,
patchworking, and ghost writing would
be important and perhaps provocative
for the students. At what point, one
asked, does the help with writing verge
on plagiarism? Professional academics
routinely get advice and some
proofreading from the editors of
journals, but students should know that
patching essays together without
demonstrating learning is one step too
close to outright rebellion against
course requirements. Ghost writing,
despite being routine among politicians
and celebrities (and, if rumour is
correct, among busy researchers), is
sometimes a way of avoiding
responsibility for knowledge. Even if
these professionals feel that they can
take responsibility as figureheads of
their own work, they really are
misleading readers about the author.
Post-modern authors of literature do this
playfully, but professionals (especially
academics and politicians) should strive
to be open. If students know that
professionals can and should be
criticized for being deceptive, too, then
they will not feel like they’re in the hot
seat alone.
It might help students to know
that the broader consequences of ghost
writing in politics are much like the
consequences of dishonesty in
academia. When politicians pay
writers to tell their stories, they
generate a perception of insincerity
that dilutes the public trust so that
citizens greet even the most upstanding
politician with cynicism. This cynicism
affects universities, too. For example,
honest students are working very hard
to earn degrees. The value of those
degrees is not only the money spent on
tuition. Their value is also based on the
reputation of the university; thus,
graduates from Harvard and Yale enjoy
the esteem of degrees that imply
excellence, heritage, and integrity. If a
university is perceived to be granting
degrees to cheaters, the degrees lose
value collectively, in step with the
increasing cynicism about the value of
education.
Students appreciate
practical advice,
especially the kind that
demystifies the
sometimes esoteric
activities of scholars.
politics is especially interesting. One
professor recommended an example:
cultural critics have recently
interrogated political groups and
governments for having used
misleading information “with impunity”
to justify war (i.e., the outdated study
about weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq that prompted Bush and Blair to
declare war). He implied that
plagiarism is a form of misinformation
or, bluntly, lying. This suggestion is
understandable, considering that when
company executives euphemistically
“misappropriate funds,“ they are
usually punished as if they were thieves.
Literary theft and literary
Since this point might seem
misappropriation both have the effect of
rather empty to honest students who
deceiving an audience. Teachers must
wonder how they can improve
tell students that spin-doctoring and
academic integrity, we often remarked
doublespeaking are neither appropriate
that safeguarding intellectual property is to scholarship nor ethical in the pursuit
a good step. One instructor wanted
of truth at universities.
more emphasis on the fact that
“knowingly allowing your work to be
The same professor said that
plagiarized by others is also an
“[t]he question of instructors using
offence, e.g. selling (or lending) your
plagiarized material in their lectures
paper to a fellow student to copy.”
might be of interest. How does one sort
Students should know that although
out the various sources and resources
academics want to protect their
one uses in an average lecture?” The
knowledge (which sometimes leads the question seems to imply a different
public to think of universities as ivory
standard of common (or context)
towers), they will gladly share it if they
knowledge for instructors and students.
get due credit for the knowledge
With due disregard for possible
they’ve produced or assembled. In fact, controversy, perhaps there is less onus
this sharing is the foundation for
on professors because common
scholarship.
knowledge among them is usually much
broader and deeper than that of their
Students appreciate practical
first-year students.
advice, especially the kind that
demystifies the sometimes esoteric
While it might be the fault of my
activities of scholars. Returning to the
memory, I don’t recall any instructor
issue of honesty in contemporary
referring to the key scholars in English
8
literature until I reached upper-level
courses. My graduate-level professors
were constantly referring to ideas and
their provenance, perhaps because as
the relationship between students and
teachers matures, their two differing
levels of common knowledge begin to
merge and require diligent and specific
references to direct future scholarship.
Most first-year students don’t have
enough experience to judge what is
common knowledge except what they
learn from classrooms lectures,
textbooks, and discussions, so it is their
responsibility to document the sources
of their knowledge as they begin to
acquire it while researching their
essays.
Their professors have good
reasons for not referencing everything.
Mainly, they demonstrate their
knowledge (to their students, at least) in
speech, which helpfully emphasizes
spoken narrative coherence rather than
the scholarly conventions of
documenting texts and ideas in writing.
They also know that first-year students
are often overwhelmed by primary
texts, so secondary sources might only
add to the confusion and might
intimidate people who should be
encouraged to feel that they have (or
will have) an original contribution to
make in scholarship. As students
progress to higher levels of study,
secondary sources will help them to
better understand the scholarly debates
and appreciate that scholarship exists
in a historical continuum of evolving
knowledge.
Because these first-year students
still have assumptions about academic
conduct based on their often less
disciplined high school experiences, it
is enlightening to examine the gulf
between post-secondary teachers’
expectations and their students. An
instructor in the department suggested
that students compile “a short,
provocative list of questions about
where exactly [they] draw the line
between what THEY consider to be
cheating and what not: anonymously
answered.” In fact, there is some
scholarship on this very subject.
Drawing on a huge survey of
15,000 undergraduate students and
1,900 faculty from 11 Canadian
universities, Dr. Donald McCabe from
Rutgers University and Dr. Julia
Christensen Hughes from the University
of Guelph compared student views of
cheating to faculty views. In her
response to the study’s preliminary
findings, Margaret-Anne Bennett from
Saint Mary’s Instructional Development
Office explained that
there is a correlation between
students’ perception of what
constitutes serious cheating
behaviours and the degree to
which they engage in them.
Students see various
‘collaborative’ behaviours such as
working together on individual
assignments and getting help on
assignments as “not cheating” or
“trivial”. By contrast, the majority
of faculty and TAs who responded
to the survey viewed these
‘collaborative’ behaviors as
“moderate” to “serious” cheating.
The disconnect between
collaborative behaviors and
students’ perception of their
seriousness and faculty / TA
perceptions may suggest that we
need to explore ways to reconcile
our more traditional,
individualistic learning culture
with an emerging collaborative
culture.
(Bennett, Margaret-Anne. “Preserving
and Promoting Academic Integrity.” The
Times. Saint Mary’s University.
November 2003, Vol. 34 No. 2.
Accessed Nov. 24, 2003. <http://
www.smu.ca/thetimes/t2003-10/
preserving.html>)
and clear so that everyone involved
knows who is contributing what (and
who gets the credit). Cheating through
collaboration is not “trivial” if the
assigned task or research will be
evaluated on an individal basis.
The Office of the University
Secretary (which invited Dr. Julia
Christensen Hughes to speak here in
2003) defines the rule on its Academic
Honesty Website at www.usask.ca/
honesty. Honesty is “[p]erform[ing] your
own work unless specifically instructed
otherwise.” As much as creativity and
originality can be encouraged by
teamwork, working alone has benefits.
When students write their own essays,
they learn to speak and think for
Rather than objecting to
our methods, most
instructors agreed with
them, and we found that
many of them have very
thorough plans for
teaching students how to
acknowledge their
sources.
themselves (even if their ideas, born in
response to other scholarship, are not
original). This self-reliance improves
future teamwork.
Yet it is often self-doubt or
insecurity that motivates cheating,
according to the responses of some
teachers and students in the
We are deliberately causing this shift
department. Considering that our antitoward a collaborative culture. In the
plagiarism presentations reportedly
humanities, we are beginning to
made some students feel nervous about
endorse a model of scholarship that
accidentally cheating, we might have
imitates the collaborative tradition in the unintentionally encouraged its very
sciences in response to problems that
cause, only making the students’
are increasingly complex and multialready high-pressure lives even more
disciplinary. However, for this new
nerve-wracking.
model to be ethical, it has to be fair
9
Nevertheless, there was a
general sense among instructors that
these presentations could not hurt
integrity, even if they would not prevent
dishonesty. In fact, between September
and December, when the antiplagiarism presentations were first
introduced (along with a campus-wide
awareness campaign), there were 6
allegations of plagiarism in the English
Department, compared to 25 in the
same months last year - so something
has changed. One professor, however,
implied that our presentations and
vigilance could have another
unintended effect:
I worry that, while it will doubtless have
an effect on the simpler and more
obvious forms of plagiarism, it may just
lead some to more sophisticated, and
perhaps undetectable, forms of
cheating such as personally written
essays or assignments.
This is a very real possibility, since the
easily detected forms of cheating are
usually the least sophisticated. Essays
drawn from the free web are easily
discovered, but essays drawn from the
gated web (of Library journals or
members-only free essay sites) cannot
be easily discovered with a Google
search. One of the only effective
solutions that I have encountered,
besides “simply” reminding everyone
that honesty is one of our values, is to
design assignments that discourage
cheating.
Russ Hunt, in his controversial
recent article (as reprinted in Bridges,
Vol. 2, No. 3), suggests that the
problem of plagiarism might prompt a
useful transformation in the design of
writing assignments. Hunt suggests that
essays are too often rote, arhetorical,
and generic assignments whose
“answers” are readily available on the
Internet. If instructors demand rhetorical
(argumentative and persuasive) essays
that respond to the social context of
texts and discussions about them, then
plagiarism will be far more difficult. In
fact, students will feel connected to the
exchange of ideas that is the basis of
scholarship; their engagement in this
process will encourage individual effort, creativity, and integrity. Moreover, their new-found sense of contribution to
academia will prompt higher achievements and better learning for both the students and instructor. In turn, this will create
scholarly relationships that will encourage meaningful collaboration in the future, as students become graduate students and
eventually professional scholars and teachers.
I hope that this sense of contribution and engagement will also stunt any temptation for students to seek custom-written
essays. Undoubtedly, total success is impossible, but even the simple strategy of requiring a few in-class writing assignments
will reduce the risk, because students will know that they have provided a stylistic fingerprint to their instructor, who can
compare submitted essays with writing known to be from the author.
While Internet-based companies such as turnitin.com offer sophisticated and growing plagiarism-detection services,
these services have their own ethical hitches. In a National Post article on December 10, 2003 (“Presumed plagiarists”),
Sarah Schmidt reported that student unions object to services that requires students to submit essays to be scanned by filters
such as turnitin.com. This company earns a profit based on its essay collection, which is full of work by honest students, who
are not remunerated for adding (often against their will) to the turnitin.com database. This seems unethical, as does the
process of presuming guilt until innocence is proven. Hence, more traditional strategies will have to suffice for many
conscientious universities, including ours.
Will these strategies work? The question won’t be answered until we have more data. In the past two years, over one
hundred cases of cheating have been brought to the Dean’s committee on academic honesty. If this number declines over a
period of a few years (with consideration of the growing enrolments), then perhaps we are making progress - and perhaps
we’ll point toward the anti-plagiarism sessions and the increasing promotion and discussion of academic integrity as some
of the factors.
Campus Saskatchewan and the Faculty Development and Support Committee proudly
present a Symposium:
Riding the Crest of Change: Technology Enhanced
Teaching and Learning
The Symposium will take place May 3rd and 4th, 2004, at the University of Regina. Be sure to mark your calendar for this
outstanding professional development opportunity.
The Symposium theme, Teaching and Learning with Technology will be explored in three streams:
Research, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Terry Anderson from Athabasca University
Instruction and Design, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Zane Burge from the University of Maryland, and
Practical and Hands-on Applications, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Richard Schwier from the University of Saskatchewan.
This Symposium will be of interest to:
Faculty and Instructors
Instructional Designers
Administrators
Researchers
Support Staff, and
Anyone involved with technology in post-secondary teaching and learning.
Watch the Symposium web site http://prometheus.cc.uregina.ca:7090/crestofchange/
for information on proposal submission, registration and other details.
Please Join Us! Remember - Mark your calendar for May 3rd and 4th for Riding the Crest of Change: Technology Enhanced
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A Campus Saskatchewan professional development event.
10
DOCTOR PED’S ADVICE COLUMN
preparation for the class changed, for
example, a different prerequisite or
I’m an experienced faculty member who
foundational course?
has taught at the U of S for over a
decade, and I’ve just had the most
Let’s focus on the actual exam for a
disappointing experience grading my
moment. Were your questions too hard
class’s midterm. Almost half of the
for the students’ level of knowledge?
students have failed and the class mean
Did students run out of time because the
is 47 per cent.
exam was too long? Did everyone
make the same mistakes?
Nothing like this has ever happened
before. I’m very concerned, and you
Take a look at the questions. Were they
can imagine how my students are
• Too narrow: didn’t cover all the
feeling. Still, I am reluctant simply to
material so students couldn’t show what
raise the grades or to make the next
they knew?
exam easier—there has to be a better
• Too specific: students knew the
solution than that
general idea, but not the details?
• Too vague: students didn’t know what
Can you offer any advice?
you were asking?
• Too unexpected: you asked students
Professor Ecks
to apply rather than simply recall
information?
Dear Professor Ecks:
Dear Dr. Ped:
First let me assure you that yours is not
an uncommon dilemma. My first advice
is don’t panic—and tell the same to the
students.
While it is tempting to surmise that this
cohort of students is simply weaker than
in previous years, I think that the
answer is more complex than that.
Adjusting the marks is also too “easy”
because it does nothing to improve the
students’ understanding of the material,
which no doubt is important for their
future success.
Improving things depends on what
might have gone wrong in the first
place. Let me start, then, with some
questions. Some are obvious, but they
may point you toward a solution:
• Have you changed the text, the
content, the instructional activities, or
the testing method?
• Are the students coming to class
regularly and prepared?
• Is the class larger than normal? Are
there more elective students?
• Has something in the students’
Analyzing the test in this way can be
helpful because then you can
understand what you need to teach
again or review before you can move
on.
If the answer isn’t in the exam, then we
have to look elsewhere. You thought
they were learning the material, but it
doesn’t appear that they did. Was it a
failure to understand a fundamental
concept that affected everything else: a
skill (like case writing or statistical
analysis) or the ability to apply the
concept?
be two different things.
• Offer the class the chance to resubmit
the exam as an assignment, and then
re-weight the two marks (in whatever
way seems reasonable).
• Offer students an additional midterm
and have the students agree to a
percentage value of that extra exam for
the final grade.
• Give the class the option of
reallocating the course marks and
weightings—but everyone has to agree
before you can switch the weighting of
the midterm from 40% to 30%, for
example.
You also have to remind the students of
their responsibility and what they can
do to improve in the future. Ask for an
honest assessment from the students
Once you’ve decided what might have about whether they are doing the
happened, talk to the class honestly and required reading in preparation for the
class, and ask how long they studied
clearly. Tell the students that we
for the mid-term.
(students and instructor) are in this
course together and we have a
Editor’s note:
common goal: which is to succeed —
Dr.
Ped is a pseudonym for a shy
and success means mastering the
scholar
at the U of S. In responding to
material.
this inquiry, Dr. Ped sought advice from
Review the exam and your expectations a number of colleagues across campus:
Professors Silke Falkner, Tom Steele,
in class.
Terry Tollefson, Adel Mohamed,
• Discuss remedies in class and also
Maureen Reed, Terry Matheson, Barb
have handouts because what you are
Phillips, Nick Low, and Susan Gingell.
saying and what they are hearing will
11
CONGRATULATIONS TO CAROLYN BROOKS,
SESSIONAL LECTURER, DEPARTMENT OF
SOCIOLOGY,
RECIPIENT OF THE SYLVIA WALLACE AWARD
FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
Dr. John Thompson, one of her
undergraduate professors, expressed
delight that Carolyn Brooks has been
named the fourth recipient of the Sylvia
Wallace Sessional Lecturer Award and
so recognized publicly as an
outstanding teacher. Here is an
excerpt from John’s presentation, given
at a reception in Carolyn’s honour at
the Teaching & Learning Centre,
February 27, 2004.
In her courses - a mix of
classroom and site visits, of lectures and
small group discussions, of writing and
critical reading, of “takes” and talks —
Carolyn tenaciously tackles systematic
injustice of racism, poverty, neglect of
children, violence. She both confronts
and inspires students to want to make a
difference with their lives for the world.
Carolyn gives them hope and courage
and gives us a collective future.
Today - when metaphors of
commodities, clients and commerce
masquerade as meaningful talk about
education - it is pure grace to meet a
teacher like Carolyn. To hear Carolyn
talk about students is to hear words
about persons, about learning as lifegiving, about service to each other
and to society as our collective
purpose. It is to hear care in her
words. To listen to students talk about
Carolyn is to hear “an exceptional
teacher,” “I now wish I had majored in
sociology,” the best professor I’ve ever
had,” “a great class and a great
professor,” “awesome,” “a great
teacher, professor and a wonderful
person” - to hear them say we are
“cared for,” we count. With her
students, Carolyn “creates a space in
which the community of truth is
practiced,” as Parker Palmer describes
good teaching - a place that makes a
difference not only in what we know,
but also in how we relate to each
other, what we hear in our hearts,
what we care about, what we want to
become.
In the actions and words of
Carolyn Brooks and in students’
response to her, I hear compassion - a
heart whose deep gladness meets the
world’s great hunger - even when the
world does not recognize its own
hunger. Carolyn’s vocation to teaching
means that many students experience
their own talent, a call to service, the
gift of learning and life. Parker Palmer
describes this power to evoke life . . .
Tips, tricks, and techniques are not
the heart of education - fire is. I
mean finding light in the darkness,
staying warm in a cold world,
avoiding being burned if you can,
and knowing what brings healing
if you cannot. That is the
knowledge that our students really
want, and that is the knowledge
we owe them. Not merely the
facts, not merely the theories, but
a deep knowing of what it means
to kindle the gift of life in
ourselves, in others, and in the
world.
Palmer, p. x in O’Reilley, Radical
Presence (1998).
12
Like the three previous Sylvia
Wallace award winners - Jack Coggins,
Marcus Rayner, and Wendy Schissel Carolyn represents “exceptional
competence in teaching - including
superior command of the subject area,
skills at organizing and developing
class materials, and the capacity to
motivate and inspire students.’
On behalf of all of us in the Sociology
Department, Carolyn, I offer you our
congratulations, admiration, and
gratitude. We and our students are
honoured to be associated with you.
UNABRIDGED
We are delighted to reprint
in its entirety, Carolyn
Brooks’ Reflective
Statement of Teaching
Philosophy
I am honoured and humbled to
be nominated for the Sessional Lecturer
Teaching Excellence Award. I have
learned from the teaching excellence of
so many others, who I believe are much
more deserving of recognition.
When I enrolled in Sociology
and Criminology it became an
immediate passion. A few years later, I
began my MA, working in related
fields, and was soon privileged to be
involved in communities of learners,
instructing and discussing the
academic research I consider so vital
for community empowerment and
enhancement. I am excited about so
many things related to my field. As
Anthony Giddens states: “The study of
Sociology is simultaneously fascinating
and vexing because... it is an effort to
understand ourselves better in the hope
that self enlightenment will lead to
improved lives”. Criminology,
especially critical criminology, thrills
me with its meaningful investigation of
our systems of ‘justice’ and
governance; with the richness of the
theoretical and methodological
practices; and with the links between
the academic research to community
and restorative alternatives. By
combining my teaching with my own
experience working in Corrections as
well as non-governmental organizations
(NGO) and community-based
organizations (CBO), and the
experience of others, I am moved to
remember incidents that remind me of
the genuine value of the issues we
teach.
There are many individuals and
colleagues whom I consider role
models; three I will mention especially.
I will always be motivated by John
Thompson’s amazing passion in the
classroom. The room
boomed with
excitement about
Sociological theory.
(I believe you could
hear Dr. Thompson
lecture at least three
or four classrooms
away, door shut!) Dr.
Thompson focuses on
the student’s learning
process, including
critical thinking,
Sociological
knowledge and
writing skills. I
believe he also thought a good laugh
now and then would help us learn. He
developed stories to tell alongside his
lectures to drive home the Sociological
literature. I remember Dr. Thompson’s
Teaching continues to instruct
me to listen. At first my focus
was on teaching. Now, my
desire is to learn to get out of
the way as much as possible,
for all of us to learn from
each other.
stories from at least 15 years ago, and I
still tell a few.
Dr. Bernard Schissel continues to
be a role model and mentor in my
teaching and research. Dr. Schissel
inspires colleagues and students with
his appreciation and knowledge of the
issues we teach and with his very
generous nature. Dr. Schissel’s
research and teaching help me to
embrace the idea that we strive for
knowledge for its potential to serve us
in life. I am struck continuously by Dr.
Schissel’s ability to apply his work into
the context of our community and to
take such a passionate interest in
others’ well-being. Dr. Schissel’s
compassionate and professional
dedication in the classroom and for his
13
research has been a motivating factor
for my continued academic pursuits,
including the book we co-edited.
My father, Professor Eyrle Brooks,
who died two years ago, is also a role
model. He brought instruction as well
as practical jokes and humour into his
classrooms, and absolutely enjoyed
every day of his 40 years at the
University of Saskatchewan. I believe
he created a positive energy through
the engineering building with his
unrelenting interest in students,
colleagues and college staff. He
reminded many people that being
students, staff and faculty was also
about having fun and creating
relationships — don’t forget to have
coffee breaks and throw a few water
bombs.
I have benefited tremendously
from the diverse and thought-inspiring
faculty, sessionals and colleagues in
Sociology and Women and Gender
Studies and at affiliated colleges within
the University of Saskatchewan. I have
been influenced and inspired by their
research, insights, teaching, and
conversations.
I use a variety of teaching
techniques and activities, including
lectures, group work, peer teaching,
peer debates, “takes” and peer review,
large classroom discussion, video, guest
speakers and tours. My approach to
lectures emphasizes (first and foremost)
interest; I hope, some attempts at
humour; organization and preparation;
an omission of unnecessary details; and
demonstration (with some stories and
examples — some of Dr. Thompson’s).
I also encourage ongoing participation
and discussion. I buttress the lectures
with short vignettes from videos to
emphasize certain points, real life
examples that students can relax and
get their teeth into and/or visual
imagery or analogies that provide some
kind of mental image. For example, in
a lecture on corporate crime and
globalization, I played a short clip of a
woman from Nicaragua who details the
human tragedy faced when Shell Oil
moved into her community. Prior to a
lecture — especially when I am
teaching theory — I may ask the
students to be prepared to paraphrase
and critically assess what has been
said. They are then asked to briefly
describe this in a group of two. I find
that this has the benefit of ensuring that
students listen attentively, also becoming
more active participants with an
immediate application of the lecture.
For organization, I may provide
handouts on the lecture outline as well
as examples discussed throughout.
However, this has also had the negative
impact of using too many trees. I
continue to be inspired by others’
organization, story telling and use of
technology in the classroom and the
amount I still need to learn.
I try to use a variety of small
group discussions and cooperative
learning techniques in addition to
lectures. Common themes of the group
work are face-to-face interaction;
independence; a common purpose or
goal; a focus on the process of
interaction; and accountability to the
group. The group work may combine
material from lectures, the readings or
the “takes”. This work is often
enhanced by having students prepare
material based on answering questions
or developing themes in the literature;
by creating “takes” on the readings
(takes are one page summaries of
sections or readings within the course
that are peer reviewed), or with
handouts detailing different sides of
debatable issues. Students do peer
teaching by dividing up specific course
literature, summarizing key points (and
critically assessing) these different
readings, and teaching each other. The
group work and the peer teaching are
summarized in the larger group in a
variety of ways — either through class
discussion and debate, assigned duties
within groups and/or group summaries.
I use the opportunity to fill in gaps when
any exist and use the board to
summarize ideas. When the students
are willing, I have them come to the
chalk board to summarize the debates
and remove myself to the back of the
room — or somewhere thereabouts.
My goal is to integrate this type of
learning in a more organized fashion
and to ensure the genuine
interdependence of the groups. As with
the other forms of teaching, I have
much more to learn from others.
I encourage group or individual
presentations from students. Individual
presentations or seminar learning is
only mandatory, however, when the
classroom had fewer than twenty
students. It has been quite exhilarating
and motivating to learn that students
remember issues and insights from
discussions, role plays and peer
debates to a much greater degree than
lectures. I am keen to learn from others
who more successfully integrate role
play and peer debates within their
classrooms.
I also attempt to buttress the
academic material with relevant
speakers and videos. For example, in
my criminology courses I often support
the criminological works with both
modernist and postmodern work which
brings in the biographies and histories
of offenders, as well as their
experiences with the Canadian
Criminal Justice System. In this light,
speakers who have been in conflict with
the law and have spent time in prison;
who work for the criminal justice
system; and/or who work for non
governmental organizations in the
interest of the offenders allow students
to analyze real life incidents with
respect to how this fits into the
academic and theoretical analysis. I
often also include tours of the
14
Correctional Centres or youth facilities
(according to the interest of the
students). I hope these approaches add
more interdisciplinary instruction — and
provide students with more information
on their own community, where many of
them will pursue careers. I find myself
in awe of the speakers from the NGO’s
and CBO’s, who work diligently
towards enhancing the well-being of
our communities.
I try to commit to as much one-onone reinforcement and encouragement
as is possible, as well as extensive
feedback on assignments (limited
because of the number of students).
Students are encouraged to hand in
both thesis statements as well as first
and second drafts of their academic
essays to develop their writing skills. I
admire students’ enthusiasm and ideas
and their excitement for our discipline.
I want to improve the interaction inside
and outside the classroom to make
more room to hear their voices, and to
work with their writing.
Teaching continues to instruct me
to listen. At first my focus was on
teaching. Now, my desire is to learn to
get out of the way as much as possible,
for all of us to learn from each other.
Through my experience teaching, I have
realized how scholarship is enhanced
when we are less self-conscious and
value everyone’s process. I realize now
that I could spend my life teaching
without ever having the same job
description. The academic literature
continues to evolve, communities are
constantly changing, the link between
academia and the enhancement of wellbeing is becoming clearer, and there
are forever new and better ways to
learn to teach, facilitate and codiscover.
I am humbled and honoured to
receive this nomination. I have learned
from the teaching excellence of so
many others and I still have so much
more to learn. I thank all of the
individuals who wrote letters in support
of my nomination. I look forward to
supporting colleagues to receive this
type of nomination and recognition in
the future.