In the course Ways of Doing, undergraduate students from across campus engage in project and problem-based learning. The course provides students with an opportunity to engage in experiential learning that they have reason to value. Students from across faculties have built their experiences (in partnership with the instructor) to understand their passions within practitioner and academic networks.
Ways of Doing Students in the Media!
- Several student organizers from the 2019 African Diaspora Youth Conference received credit for their extensive work. Diaspora conference attracting record number of youths
- Campus collaboration means business for student
- Summer course to extend opportunities for experiential learning in arts, humanities, and social sciences
- Partnership to extend learning in entrepreneurship
- Partnership to give UWindsor Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences students course credit for entrepreneurship program (Ways of Doing collaboration made it into Academica Group's Top Ten)
- UWindsor student Becca Fryer has started a letter-writing program for Seniors
- Computer Science Student Noah Campbell worked for BlackBerry on two Ways of Knowing projects during the summer of 2020 while enrolled in Ways of Doing. Learn more in this Windsor Star Article.
HDCA Conference Presentation About the Course
For more information about the course as curriculum research please review the following paper which was presented at the Human Development and Capabilities Approach conference in June 2020. This is the extended paper:
Brunet, Timothy A.; Shaban, Hassan; and Gonçalves, Stephanie. (2020). The Capability Approach: A Proposed Framework for Experiential Learning in The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.. 2020 HDCA Conference – Online (Auckland, NZ). https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/ctlpub/7
What's the difference between Co-operative Education and Ways of Doing? Listen to what Noah Campbell has to say about his experiences in the course:
Overall, I felt the course to be a worthwhile experience, particularly for a Computer Science student. In technical courses, we sometimes lack the opportunity to consider the more business, managerial, and human aspects of our work. Additionally, since we are typically buried with technical work, we often lack the opportunity be the lead on exciting partnerships with different organizations and individuals. In this course, since I was managing two large projects and partnerships, I had the complete reverse experience. Other folks handled the technical aspects, while I got to be the lead on contract negotiations and program delivery, thus expanding my knowledge network. However, the academic structure of the course did make it somewhat challenging to be working on implementing these projects, taking other courses, and undertaking additional employment opportunities. As well, given how unfamiliar I was with the subject matter coming into the course, the entire experience very much felt like "building the plane while flying it". The Instructor did work to accommodate this demanding schedule as best as possible and provide additional insight on unfamiliar topics which made the course more manageable. In addition, typical experiential learning experiences lack this academic structure which makes taking stock in them far more difficult. At least with the academic components in this course, rather than in a coop, definite value could be extracted from them for future work experiences. This aspect of the experience is very valuable, particularly to a Computer Science student who is now equipped with a variety of different frameworks and methodologies for interaction and decision-making. These extend what is typically provided in our traditional courses significantly. I now feel armed with both technical insight and a theoretical foundation to make both sound people and business decisions. As social science looks to keep up with technology and innovation on the quest for "tech for good", these cross-disciplinary experiences will be crucial.
Assessments
The course Ways of Doing has no multiple-choice assessments, no midterm or final examination. Skills and competencies are assessed by the professor, the student and the community partner in authentic contexts where students lead projects that they have reason to value. Assessments include:
- audited self-assessments of workshop participation
- reflection assignments
- community partner project assessment
- a final presentation
Community partners, initiatives, and events from 2019 until the present include:
- BlackBerry
- The African Diaspora Youth Conference
- The Canadian Centre for Gender + Sexual Diversity
- Jack.org
- Fort Malden National Historic Site
- The Canadian Historical Aircraft Association
- EPICentre (Discovery Program, and RBC Epic Founder's Program)
- Abilities Centre (Whitby, Ontario)
- Happier Camper
- University of Windsor Women's Lancer Basketball Team
- The University of Windsor Students' Alliance
- Migrant Worker Community Program (Leamington Ontario)
- The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Dean's Office
- The University of Windsor's Senate Office
- University of Windsor Faculty of Education (Dr. Clayton Smith)
- Experiential Learning and course development research with Tim Brunet
- University of Windsor (Aeronautics Program - Prof. Tamsin Bacon)
- University of Windsor (Department of Psychology - Dr. Lori Buchanan)
- Workforce Windsor-Essex
In the past three years, students have attended* or presented at:
- The Human Development and Capabilities Association annual conferences (University of College London, U.K. - 2019)
- The Human Development and Capabilities Association annual conferences (Massey University, Auckland New Zealand - 2020)
- University of British Columbia, Congress 2019
- University of Guelph - Perspectives on Experiential Learning Conference 2019
- The University of Windsor FAHSS Dean's Office (Faculty Coordinating Council)
- The University of Windsor FAHSS Departmental Meetings
- Windsor Morning with Tony Doucette - CBC Radio
- African Diaspora Youth Conference
- The University of Windsor's Lancer Leadership Conference
- The Canadian Historical Aircraft Association
- The Lord Amherst Gastropub
- Fort Malden National Historic Site
- Workforce Windsor Essex
In the course, you will:
- apply introductory concepts in project management,
- apply strategies for finding, managing, navigating and sharing knowledge within human and online networks,
- learn from academics, peers, practitioners and your personal networks,
- apply Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle (an adaptive learning process where students integrate personal narratives, reflections, concrete experiences and abstract conceptualizations),
- begin to apply the Human Development and Capabilities Approach - (a multi-disciplinary approach that:
- underpins the Human Development Index and Human Development Reports for the United Nations,
- is used as a framework to evaluate and benchmark human rights and to further the work of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in academic settings,
- is used as a multi-dimensional framework to measure wellbeing, poverty, and riches,
- is used as a framework to evaluate policy in a multi-dimensional and inter-disciplinary way).
The development of the course has included active dialogue with industry experts from:
- multiple academic disciplines,
- the office of Career Development and Experiential Learning,
- the Centre for Teaching and Learning,
- the Office of Open Learning,
- Advancement,
- the Research Ethics Board,
- Health and Safety Office,
- the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Dean's Office and all Departmental Offices,
- experiential education practitioners in Canada and the United States.
Learn about Alina Hussey's project to launch a Yoga studio through her participation in the EPICentre Discovery Program!
Tim Brunet and Wen Teoh agree to have UWindsor's EPICentre as an official partner of the Ways of Doing course. Students now have the opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship from industry experts while gaining course credit!