Location: E5 4106 Notes: Open to faculty and staff (registration is required)
Description: The Engineering Ideas Clinic is a new initiative in the Faculty of Engineering which provides authentic learning experiences for undergraduate students across the faculty. In its first year running faculty-wide, the Engineering Ideas Clinic ran engaging, hands-on activities for 3000 undergraduate students across all programs within Engineering, including one activity which was delivered to 1300 students in their 1A term.
An Ideas Clinic activity is hands-on, delivering horizontal integration (i.e., integration across disciplines) and/or vertical integration (i.e., integration across program years) with an emphasis on “soft skill” development. Students are provided an ambiguous problem, and are given the freedom to explore and discover in teams with their peers, and then reflect on what they learned. Ideas Clinic activities have a low student to faculty/staff ratio, which allows for on-the-spot guidance and feedback from the teaching team. Such experiential learning activities provide context to an undergraduate course, and enlighten students as to what Engineering “is”. Students are given an opportunity to face challenges outside of their discipline while also interacting with students, staff, and faculty from other disciplines. An Ideas Clinic Experience prepares students to work effectively in a multi-disciplinary setting while providing skills that they may not have been exposed to, in a safe, confidence-building manner.
In this talk we will describe the general philosophy of the Ideas Clinic, describe an Ideas Clinic Activity and discuss some of the activities that have been delivered so far.
This session is part of the Waterloo High Impact Practices Group (WHIP Group). WHIP Group is collective of Waterloo faculty and staff who support the use of High Impact Practices in teaching and learning. WHIP Group members meet for lunch a few times a year to share their successes, challenges, and tips for High Impact teaching and learning.
Facilitators: Katherine Lithgow, CTE, Samar Mohamed, Engineering Liaison CTE, Sanjeev Bedi, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Jason Grove, Chemical Engineering, Carol Hulls, Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, and Chris Rennick, Engineering Undergraduate Officer
Note: Lunch will be provided to participants. Please register so we can plan accordingly.
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