Grant recipients:
Joanne Adair
Jennifer Lynes
School of Environment, Enterprise and Development
(Project timeline: September 2014-August 2015)
Description
The project aimed to enhance the current knowledge of Environment and Business (EB) instructors and staff around integrating and engaging 2+2 program students into EB courses. This collective knowledge harnessed would produce a set of resources and/or practices (tools) that assist in course structure, content and delivery in Winter 2015. These proposed changes would enhance the opportunity for 2+2 program students’ and Canadian student interaction to cross-pollinate knowledge from their respective countries and backgrounds. The development of these resources was facilitated in one exploratory workshop led by Dr. Lionel Laroche, Principal of MultiCultural Business Solutions and his partner, Caroline Yang. As the grant was submitted, a role emerged officially led by Environment and Business Professor Haiying Lin, 2+2 Program Liaison Support Coordinator. She was fully supportive of this grant and assisted in many of the workshops and focus groups, and continues in this role today using many of the learnings from this grant research.
Intended purpose of teaching enhancement
The purpose of the teaching enhancement exercise was to explore at the instructor level to better engage 2+2 program students to integrate in classes and have positive, meaningful interactions with domestic students. This was accomplished by the workshop, led by the consultants: see workshop slides (PDF). There was a meaningful discussion during the workshop where professors, staff and instructors shared ideas, challenges and opportunities: see workshop slides (PDF). The second way this was accomplished was taking some of the ‘low-hanging fruit’ ideas that came out of this discussion and implementing them into specific courses.
Findings/Insights
The open, facilitated session with Environment and Business instructors and led by the consultant was a well-attended, productive session. The investigators intended to focus on teaching methods after understanding context for the students, but instead conversation snowballed on many different issues and opportunities. It was an important discussion. After that session it was clear to see that the scope of the grant as intended would not be straight forward to implement. Some of the core issues highlighted showed the desire for more support from the central university, and the challenge to implement new ideas into the classroom given the lack of resources.
Findings included: 1. professors and instructors are supportive, but it isn’t always easy to integrate new methods into teaching practices, and this was more prevalent due to the timing of the LITE grant getting up and running. Feedback from instructors included the need for central to better support the classes with resources that would better engage the students by adding capacity (TA’s, facilitators, etc.) 2. The investigators found that the students were eager to talk and share their ideas about how to better integrate 2+2 program students in Canada and in their respective program. Thus, the investigators focused energy on interacting with those students showing interest and using their capacity and eagerness to understand opportunities and determine which to focus on. 3. Some courses lend themselves more to direct support. The ENBUS 402 course, which the primary investigator is directly involved in, was the most successful integration effort. In addition to her role being tied directly to the course, the investigators were able to hold special sessions for the 2+2 program students to talk about their needs, issues and strengths: see workshop slides (PDF). The feedback on these workshops has been overwhelmingly positive and are now a regular component to the course.
Dissemination and Impact
- At the individual level:The impact on the 2+2 program students from China was positive. Through dedicated time and exploration on specific, high value points of engagement, the investigators noted an improvement in engagement. Specific initiatives facilitated or led included:
- A focus group in March 2015, led by a 4th year 2+2 program student, which invited other 2+2 students to share their thoughts and ideas on how to understand and create opportunities for 2+2 program students to more effectively and positively integrate.
- The creation of a new standing volunteer role on the Waterloo Environment and Business Student Society leadership team for a 2+2 Program student to be “international student liaison and engagement coordinator” (held by students in Winter, Spring, and Fall 2015)
- Success in ENBUS 402 teams that had 2+2 Program Student membership, who were given pointed guidance from their team’s academic advisor. The strategy was to name the problem out loud (language and cultural integration challenges) and then work together to identify tactics to overcome these challenges. Some tactics included: deliberately slowing down the team meetings with individual written reflections for each agenda item, giving all team members time to collect and organize their thoughts on paper before the discussion began; providing opportunities for all team members to lead agenda item discussions for team meetings, advisor meetings and client meetings; encouraging the teams to commit to getting together outside of ENBUS 402 work meetings to socialize (e.g. dinner together, go to a movie etc.)
- At the Department/School and/or Faculty/Unit levels: The LITE grant funding and ‘contract’ allowed the investigators to keep the discussion going and include it as an agenda item whenever appropriate, as well as adding capacity for instructors and staff. A handful of professors have shared that the workshop was very useful, and have intentionally made more of an effort to include relevant international examples in class, and create diverse team membership opportunities so students can work with people that they have not yet worked with.
Impact of the Project
- Teaching: The following examples have been introduced directly due to this LITE grant.
- ENBUS 402: This course now highly focuses on team building skills, including brainstorming about overcoming hurdles to language barrier and cultural differences. The instructors focus on it through very deliberate and complex group selection to provide all students the opportunity to work with a diverse team, special workshops for 2+2 program students to discuss issues and problem-solve issues, team academic advisors heavily promote tactics for all the groups to use to have effective, inclusive conversations together, and clients are coached to ensure all students have a chance to practice leading a team meeting, preparing summary notes etc.
- ENV102 (Taught in China to incoming 2+2 program students): The instructor hosts a skype session for the class in China. She connects one or two past/present 2+2 Program Students and ensures the principle investigator is present in the Skype call to answer questions, share experience and tips for a successful positive experience in Canada. The instructor also takes the students through a photo slide show showing views of campus life, residence life, and Kitchener-Waterloo: see presentation slides (PDF). On the final day of class, the instructor has all students answer two questions on paper: What is your motivation for going to Canada as part of the 2+2 Program? What is one thing you will work on this year before you leave for Canada in July? The results of this was shared with the Student Success Office to compare with what programs and services/orientation opportunities we currently offer that help the students with these goals/aspirations.
- First year domestic student Environment and Business class (to be undertaken in Winter 2016): Introduction to first year domestic students highlighting the importance of an international experience, the rising demand of sustainability related jobs internationally, specifically in China, and tips on working as a group when language and culture is an issue.
- Involvement in other activities or projects: The connections made on campus have been extremely valuable as it has made the investigators feel more connected and working towards presenting a united front. The Principal Investigator is pursuing collaborations on other related projects.
- Connections with people from different departments, faculties, and/or disciplines about teaching and learning: We have made connections with the Special Advisor to the Provost, and staff members and instructors from different units across campus, including the Student Success Office and Renison University College.
References
Project reference list (PDF)