Are Canadian Universities Academically Adrift?

Posted by Thomas Peace

Over the past couple of weeks I have had some really concerning conversations about the state of teaching and learning in Canadian universities.  In one, a colleague of mine – a university instructor – claimed that universities do not have an overall curriculum governing their operation.  In another, a senior educator stated bluntly that students learned little in the average undergraduate program.  Both of these statements took me aback and got me thinking a little more deeply about teaching and learning in the classroom.  Surely universities and individual academic departments have curricula that structures student learning outcomes, I thought.  But to what extent does this govern the content of specific courses and class pedagogies?  And in what ways do we measure what students learn from university programs as a whole?

This question led me to Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s recently published study Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses.

Building Digital Literacy and the University Curriculum

Posted by Thomas Peace

The digitization of information, and the growing technologies used to manipulate and analyze it, is rapidly changing the context of the classroom. A couple of weeks ago Ian Milligan, one of my fellow editors at ActiveHistory.ca, reported on the growing debate over the use of laptops and other technology (like cell phones) during class time.  Milligan makes a compelling argument for the importance of allowing students the use of their computers in the lecture hall. Although I agree with much of what he has written on the subject, the use of technology in history courses poses a more complicated problem than simply addressing whether it should or should not be used: Where does digital literacy fit in the university curriculum and how should it be taught?

Welcome to Teaching the Past

This is a group blog focused on teaching history in Canada.  New content will be posted shortly.  In the mean time, please be sure to check out our Toronto area workshop Approaching the Past. Our next workshop on experiential education is being held in High Park on January 27th.