. I am a physicist and teach at York University, Toronto, Canada.
Although I have been working with computers since 1958, I am still struggling with the problems that the electronic information age poses for education. In fact these problems often hide more traditional problems about the classical question of what is teaching and what is learning. Too often virtual education is proposed as the only viable option, when in fact we have yet to understand what is the range of options available.
I am therefore very interested in exploring how "to create new visions of future higher education and learning and to explore the best possible ways of achieving them".
Ross B. Emmett - emmer@Corelli.Augustana.AB.CA
Hello all:
I am an associate professor of economics at Augustana University College in Camrose Alberta Canada. I am interested in the themes of this electronic discussion for two reasons:
1. I am involved in Augustana's Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in the Liberal Arts (http://www.augustana.ab.ca/cirla/), which hosts an interdisciplinary journal on some of these themes (Dianoia -- visit http://www.augustana.ab.ca/cirla/dianoia/) and a biannual conference. For some time, our interdisicplinary dialogue has focused around educational reform, especially on the question of what university education will evolve into as we move into the post-disciplinary and internet-centric era.
2. Recently, I have been engaged in research on the history of higher education in economics during the twentieth century, especially at the University of Chicago (host to the infamous "Chicago School" of economics). My research suggests that there is an intimate connection between scientific research and curricular reform of graduate education (and not just that the research agenda of the faculty drives the graduate curriculum -- at Chicago there was an opposite flow, with curricular reform opening the door for particular forms of research and not others).
Thus, I am interested in how curricular reform today may shape the research of the future.
Ross B. Emmett Editor, HES and CIRLA-L
Augustana University College
Camrose, Alberta CANADA T4V 2R3
voice: (403) 679-1517 fax: (403) 679-1595
e-mail: emmer@corelli.augustana.ab.ca or emmett@augustana.ab.ca
URL: http://www.augustana.ab.ca/~emmer
Elaine Newman - neweb@vax2.concordia.ca
I am a Professor of Biology at Concordia University, involved in a lifetime of trying to understand the genetics' physiology and molecular biology of the bacterium Escherichia coli. Its a lot of fun.
I am also involved in undergraduate universitg teaching and heavily committed to the idea that teaching should enable our students to think for themselves- building ability and confidence in using the information we make available to them. In these days of widespread availability of books and other forms of information, the trick is not to convey information but to convey styles of thinking and give students experience in using their minds and abilities. This is the basis of a small program I founded for gifted science students called the Science College.
I have done this in relatively small courses with one system or another for some years (or at least tried). We are currently preparing a high enrolment first year course devoted to that ideal- and I hope it works!
D. Randy Garrison - randy.garrison@ualberta.ca
I have been researching and writing in the area of adult, higher and distance education as a university professor and administrator for the last 12 years. The primary area of my research interests are around the teaching-learning transaction (self-directed learning & critical thinking).
More recently I have focused on the use of computer conferencing to facilitate higher education. In particular, I am interested in the nature of this medium (asynchronous, written communication) to facilitate higher level cognitive development (eg., critical thinking).
Randy Garrison
Dean, Faculty of Extension
University of Alberta
403-492-2681/0165
FAX: 492-1857
Peter Morgan - pmorgan@CHASS.UTORONTO.CA
I have been retired for a year: have ms, so hobble from my armchair to this machine: am interested in the nineteenth century author Ruskin and (thanks to my computer literate son) have a modest website devoted to him: would like to make my 300 page long list of his letters available on the web
Lev Goldfarb - goldfarb@unb.ca
My professional areas of interest are those related to cognitive sciences (especially to learning processes and their modeling).
My interest in this electronic workshop, however, is motivated by my experiences as a university teacher and science educator. I'm particularly interested in developing a deeper understanding (as well as actively participating in the creation) of various factors and conditions that are critical for the "ideal Higher Education" environment.
Lee Easton - leaston@OISE.UTORONTO.CA
Hello, all.
I am a faculty member of the Mount Royal College English department, cross appointed to the Centre for Communication Excellence. My current interests are in utilizing telematic technologies to deliver curriculum in novel ways. Currently we are working on a project here which will deliver portions of current curriculum in an on-line mode since Mount Royal is moving aggressively towards a model of mixed delivery modes that combines "traditional" classroom delivery with more novel on-line experiences.
My current fascination is in discovering different metaphors and narratives for on-line education rather than simply adapt those that emanate from print culture. Consequently much of my theoretical interests are related to "cultural studies" and the questions of space--social space, cyberspace and so forth. I'm addressing some of these issues in my doctoral work which I'm currently doing at the Ontario Institute for Studies of Education /University of Toronto (OISE/UT).--That explains the Toronto e-mail address. My other interests fall into the broader cultural and social implications of on-line technologies for education and society.
Hope that helps give sense of my interests. I look forward to the discussions..
Lee
Janette McIntosh - janettem@unixg.ubc.ca
Hello, my name is Janette McIntosh at the University of British Columbia, Canada
Hajimemashite. Watashi no namae wa "Janetto" desu. I work at the Institute of Health Promotion Research at U.B.C. as a researcher part time and am involved in community research and other community based initiatives part time in the fields of environmental health, sustainability, refugee/immigrant health and community development. I have been involved with the Task Force on Healthy and Sustainable Communities here at UBC for over five years as its coordinator and member. My passions are social justice and human rights issues in the broadest sense and I am committed to the global efforts of sustainability through community building and social action, communication, education and research. Dozo yoroshiku!!
Farhad Dastur - synapse@is2.dal.ca
My name is Farhad Dastur and I am a PhD graduate student in Psychology
interested in the fields of health psychology, behavioral neuroscience,
and psychoneuroimmunology.
I also work as a study skills facilitator and so I am keenly
interested in understanding how people learn and how to improve my
teaching to meet the different learning styles of diverse peoples.
Farhad Dastur
Dept. of Psychology
Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4J1
e-mail: synapse@is2.dal.ca
Tel: (902) 492-8675 Fax: (902) 494-6585
CHRISTINE WOZNEY (cwozney@noradm.nwcc.bc.ca)
I have lived in Canada all my life, except for 1 year at school in Switzerland in 1962/3 (my father was born in Basel). I graduated from the University of British Columbia with my B.A. in Classical Studies in 1967 and moved North with my husband in 1971. We have lived in Kitimat, which is a an aluminum-smelting town of about 12,000 people, ever since. We are about 700 km due north of Vancouver, in the province of British Columbia, on the Pacific coast of Canada. I have been teaching Adult Basic Education at our local commumunity college for several years now. We run a self-paced program, with some tutorial classes, that give students the subjects they need to graduate from high school and prepare for further training at vocational schools or university. From observing my students, I have become interested in the problem of why some students are successful in their studies while others, equally bright, cannot succeed. How can I, the facilitator, help a learner learn? Many of the unsuccessful students are unable to learn because they do not have life skills, such as time management and also suffer from low self-esteem. They hold themselves back because they don't believe they can succeed.
I would like to see much more reasearch done on these and other topics in cognitive science. Then, more importantly, I would like to see this research get into the classroom. Teachers have to be taught how to use the reasearch results effectively.
p.s) I read somewhere that "one teaches, of course, to learn" and I am finding this out through this workshop. I signed on hoping to learn how to help my students, but instead I am finding out how much one has to change one's learning patterns to participate in an electronic workshop.
It has been a real challenge to keep up to all the email and to sort out all the topics and information pouring in from all sides. Our students of the electronic schools of the future will have to be very well organized and able to cope with a chaotic stream of often-conflicting information. I am enjoying meeting you all electronically. Thank you for expanding my horizons!