Commitment to teaching and learning

At the University of Calgary, student success is a priority. The university is delivering on that commitment by increasing the opportunities for students to participate in co-op work placements, student internships and undergraduate research alongside world-renowned researchers. The buzzword in academia is experiential learning—hands-on, inquiry-based learning.

“Because of this commitment, it is absolutely essential that our learning environment offers students the opportunities and support that motivate them to succeed,” says Alan Harrison, the U of C’s provost and vice-president (academic).
One new initiative designed to offer students more and better learning opportunities is the $1.25-million Teaching and Learning Fund, a pool of money designed to support innovations in the classroom.

In its inaugural year, the fund will support 26 projects covering the breadth of the disciplines. They include technological improvements in the classroom, new courses, mentoring, professional development for professors and opportunities to increase and improve one-on-one interaction with professors for first-year students.

“Data from past student surveys suggest we would do well to focus on increasing faculty-student interaction and engaging students in active and collaborative learning,” Harrison says, “so we specified this focus when we invited submissions. We also stressed the need for projects to have a lasting impact on large groups of students early in their careers.”

The projects, which will launch in the fall of 2007, include an introductory economics course designed to promote collaborative learning and more student-faculty interaction. The project will give first-year students exposure to leading economics researchers and hands-on familiarization with economic research. Another project will develop a set of science courses for non-science students.

The objective is to offer students a level of scientific literacy required for decision-making, participation in civic and cultural affairs and economic productivity. A new initiative, the University Teacher Preparedness Program, will run over three years and target teaching assistants as well as instructors and professors of first-year students in core arts and science faculties. Participants will focus on the knowledge instructors need to better understand entry-level students and their unique needs.

U of C allies with Fort McMurray to address environment and infrastructure

More oil is produced in the oilsands of northern Alberta than anywhere else in Canada and its leading role as a national economic driver will increase as time goes on. But with this rapidly expanding growth comes mounting environmental and social pressures faced by Fort McMurray and other communities in the area.

The University of Calgary and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo are working together to find solutions. U of C President Harvey Weingarten and Melissa Blake, Wood Buffalo mayor, recently signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize the partnership and substantially increase research focused on northern Alberta.

“The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is at the eye of the storm,” says Weingarten. “The energy industry, and in particular, environmentally sustainable oilsands development, plays a critical role in the economic and social prosperity of Albertans and Canadians. Challenges and opportunities faced by the municipality have never been more acutely important.”

U of C partners in national energy school

There is arguably no challenge more central to Canada’s future than finding sustainable and economically viable solutions to the energy issue. Canadians need energy to survive and prosper, but are increasingly motivated to ensure that its production and use does not harm the environment—now or in the future.

The University of Calgary, through its Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, is partnering with two other Alberta-based universities to find sustainable answers. The U of C, the University of Alberta and the University of Lethbridge are part of Canada’s School of Energy and Environment (CSEE), an Alberta-led centre of excellence that received $15 million in the federal government’s 2007 budget plan.

More than 260 researchers and nearly 7,000 students are involved in CSEE, examining many aspects of energy, environment and the economy, ranging from improved production and refinement of Canada’s vast traditional fuel resources, to resource management and development of new sources of energy. 

Capital plan ramps up

Students need space to learn and state-of-the-art facilities to master the skills they’ll need when they graduate. The University of Calgary’s $1.5-billion capital plan is creating these learning tools and is also expanding capacity to enrol more students to meet increasing demand.

This spring, construction begins on the Taylor Family Digital Library. Named after Don and Ruth Taylor, who donated $25 million to the project, the Taylor Family Digital Library is the cornerstone of the University of Calgary’s single largest expansion in its history.

The four major capital projects—the Taylor Family Digital Library, a new building for the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, the Experiential Learning Centre and the Urban Campus Partnership—will permit the university to enrol several thousand new students.

The Taylor Family Digital Library will be a central, public hub on the main campus for learning, the exchange of ideas, collaboration, socializing, research and access to new and emerging technologies.

“This new vision will redesign how we think of libraries,” says Thomas Hickerson, vice-provost (libraries and cultural resources) and university librarian. “It will be a truly integrated facility with multi-purpose spaces that will be broadly accessible. The Taylor Family Digital Library embodies the concept of a library-of-the-future in which technology and information resources converge in new and inspiring ways.”

Also under construction is the Child Development Centre, a facility that will combine state-of-the-art research space with community programming. The new facility, which includes a new campus day care, will open in the fall.

Design development for the Dr. Fok Ying Tung International House, a new international student residence, was completed in February, and the design team is now working on construction documents. Project excavation and foundation work will begin later this spring.

The Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy (ISEEE) is currently selecting an appropriate site for the new building, and is in the early stages of schematic design. ISEEE, now in its fourth year, delivers on a top priority in the University of Calgary’s Academic Plan: build on considerable strengths to make the U of C an international leader in energy-and-environment research, education and innovation. ISEEE has attracted more than $165 million in financial and other commitments from industry, government and other partners. This includes funding from the Alberta government to add almost 1,000 full-time student spaces in high-priority energy-and-environment programs.

The Experiential Learning Centre design team is reviewing the building program, and will soon be developing the schematic design.

The university is currently building the business case for the Urban Campus Partnership to present to government, asking for a funding commitment in the 2008-09 budget. A community leadership board is also being assembled to guide development activity.

The Health Research Innovation Centre, on the U of C’s south medical campus, is in the final stages of furnishing and equipping. The buildings will house the faculties of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine.
The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine has also started construction on its new Clinical Skills Building at Spy Hill in northwest Calgary. Completion is scheduled for summer 2008.

The U of C is also in the process of developing a master plan for the West Campus lands.

Space solutions created for students by students

As a 40th anniversary-year project, it was ambitious. As a gift to students, it was creative. As an example of what is possible when committed individuals put in long hours and considerable effort, Take Your Place is an inspiration.

Throughout 2006, graduate students from the Faculty of Environmental Design overhauled 7,500 square metres of student space on campus, significantly increasing the space on campus for students to study, meet and make connections to last a lifetime. Take Your Place was a
true community partnership, with community members and campus partners donating funds for “front of the wall” costs such as paint and furniture. The university covered “behind the wall” infrastructure costs such as wiring and plumbing.

Eighteen graduate students led the design work, in collaboration with Faculty of Environmental Design professor Brian Sinclair and local architect Craig Ainsworth, a principal at Stantec.

“In my view, this is one of the best examples of experiential learning that we could’ve imagined, hoped for or designed,” says University of Calgary President Harvey Weingarten.

In addition to the new student spaces, the U of C has focused significant resources to enhance the student experience. A new cybercafé called The Loft, a wireless campus, first-stop student services, online service transactions, increased student scholarships and improved spaces for students are tangible examples of progress. More than $4 million has also been given directly to students for priorities identified by students. Now in its third year, it is the only program of its kind in Canada.

Holistic approach to sustainability

The University of Calgary recently appointed a director of sustainability, making it one of only a handful of Canadian universities to commit full-time resources to such a position.

Joanne Perdue, a former senior associate with Calgary firm Designworks Architecture, a member of the Canada Green Building Council and chair of the task force responsible for steering the development of the next generation for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), will provide vision and organizational strategies to integrate sustainability into all aspects of university operations and to enhance the development of sustainability initiatives in the areas of academia and research.

Perdue believes universities have a pivotal role to play in defining a path to a sustainable future. “We must prepare our future teachers, researchers, designers, engineers, corporate CEOs and political leaders through what they are taught, how they are taught and through the physical environments in which they learn,” she says. “It is our responsibility as a role model for the larger community to invest in this.”

For more information on the university’s sustainability initiative, visit www.ucalgary.ca/si.

Changing the face of science education 

Education in the sciences and related fields has always been a hands-on affair, with laboratory sessions complementing lecture-based learning, and students conducting experiments to apply the textbook knowledge they’ve gleaned. But a new facility at the University of Calgary aims to blur the lines between classroom and laboratory, putting students more at the helm of their own learning than ever before.

The $300-million Experiential Learning Centre (ELC) will provide a wealth of opportunities for interactive learning, giving students more occasions to connect with the material, with their professors and with other students in their own disciplines and beyond.

“Students learn best when we teach them to think, to problem solve, to ask the right questions and discover things for themselves,” says Mike Boorman, program manager for the ELC. “Learning is a social activity. We’re increasing opportunities for personalized learning and enhancing the interaction between students and the experts in their fields.”

Laboratories will become flexible learning spaces that allow students not only to conduct experiments but also to participate in mini-lectures, tutorials and small-group discussions. Wireless connections and sophisticated laboratory equipment will allow students to look up facts, download podcasts and tutorials, remotely retrieve data and complete lab reports online. With such rich resources at their fingertips, students will learn to not simply apply their knowledge in a laboratory setting, but to gather, evaluate and question it as well.

This idea of so-called “blended learning” has been practiced at various universities for a number of years, but formalizing the approach—indeed creating entire buildings and learning spaces that cater to it—is an approach only now beginning to surface in Canada and elsewhere. The ELC is therefore predicted to become a model for modern undergraduate science education in the information age.

Classrooms will support not only expert-facilitated instruction, but also demonstrations, group discussion and two-way student participation. The University of Calgary is already a pioneer in the use of hand-held electronic devices called “clickers” that allow students to test their knowledge during large lectures and get immediate feedback from their professor and peers. The university will be exploring other technologies and methods to enhance the ability of students to engage directly in their own learning.

The new learning environment will also feature centrally managed laboratory facilities that will allow every undergraduate student in the sciences the opportunity to conduct hands-on, independent research projects.

The result will be graduates who are more self-sufficient, more critically aware and more adaptable to a world where nothing ever stays the same.

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