Integrating Learning and Teaching
From Common Energy UVic
This page will begin to answer the question: how do we integrate classes into Common Energy? The focussed research capacity of a class can be enormous. What are the best ways to integrate them into the network so that they contribute to the beyond climate-neutral plan, through Common Ground? What is the best way to organize their contributions to the Knowledge Base?
We already have a variety of students from classes (particularly Dr. Kara Shaw's) working on research papers that will benefit Common Energy, and attending Working Group meetings. This has been done on an ad-hoc basis. What happens when we have a whole class? Or, how do we identify research questions so that motivated students from any department can take them on in their classes, or, created directed studies to approach the questions?
This is part of an overall project to make the case that Common Energy's approach will have large benefits for the academic purpose of the university: promoting student engagement through (this is a mouthful, I'm warning you now) interdisciplinary, team-based, problem-based, service-learning. (So, learning by finding solutions to problems that will benefit the community, through team-work that bridges traditional barriers of disciplines.)
This is precisely what the University is looking for now: student engagement. And student engagement comes from the creation of meaningful relationships. Creating meaningful relationships to solve pressing problems is what we do; and this page is about the concrete steps that we can take.
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