LEARNING CENTRE
Duncan McHugh and Morgan Reid
MacMillan Learning Commons
How Can We Help You?
Shortly after the MacMillan Learning Commons officially opened in the fall of 2009, the Learning Centre conducted a series of focus groups to identify how students are using the space.
In mid-2010, Learning Centre staff completed a detailed needs assessment in order to gain a better understanding of the needs of our instructors and students.
Twenty students recruited from our core LFS courses and from the Masters of Food and Resource Economics (MFRE) program were asked how they use the Learning Commons, what they liked about it and what they felt needed improvement. Although the participants expressed some concern about noise levels during class times, overall feedback was positive.
The first phase of research included a focus group of faculty members and staff from different LFS program areas. Led by Ranga Venkatachary, Director of the Learning Centre, and Morgan Reid, Learning Technologies Specialist, the focus group helped to pinpoint concerns as well as identify opportunities.
“The Learning Commons is primarily regarded as an informal learning space,” said Duncan McHugh, the Learning Centre’s Multimedia Developer. “It’s used very dynamically by the students; they move the furniture around and repurpose it for their use.” McHugh added that the Learning Commons is gaining a wordof-mouth reputation around the university. “It’s become a bit of a destination study space on campus. Students come here from other parts of campus just to enjoy it.”
TA Training The Learning Centre held several training sessions on Vista and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) during 2010 for the Faculty’s teaching assistants. “There was a strong interest in still using the PBL format, but TA’s were finding it difficult to commit to a three day workshop,” said Morgan Reid, Learning Technologies Specialist. “We responded by adapting the training and creating a high value, four-hour session.” The workshops were a partnership between the Learning Centre and UBC’s Centre for Teaching and Learning Technologies (CTLT). Session participants reported exceptionally high levels of satisfaction, with 98% strongly agreeing that the sessions were useful and should continue on a regular basis.
“Our purpose was to define faculty members’ beliefs and actions about their teaching practices, perceptions on how their students learn, and their needs in terms of learning technologies, facilities and instructional support,” said Venkatachary. The Learning Centre then created an online survey based on the issues identified by the focus group, which was sent to a wider audience to elicit more detailed feedback. “The results from the survey indicated that our teaching community is interested in community engagement and collaboration, as well as user-friendly technology,” said Reid. “This information has helped us to identify services that are important to the LFS community.” And the LFS community isn’t the only group interested in the results. The data is currently being used by UBC’s Learning Technology Advisory Council (LTAC) as part of the selection process of a new university-wide learning management system. As well, other UBC faculties have approached the Learning Centre for advice on how to conduct the process. “It’s definitely raised our profile on campus as a faculty that is concerned with high quality teaching and learning, community based research and student engagement,” added Reid.
Faculty of Land and Food Systems Annual Report 2009 | 2010
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