Tales of a Teacher: Christine McWebb

This is the second of three Centre for Teaching Excellence Teaching Stories that will appear in the Daily Bulletin this week. The full versions of each piece first appeared on the Centre for Teaching Excellence's website. Interview by Sophie Twardus.

After teaching courses in French literature and culture for almost twenty years – first at the University of Alberta and then at Waterloo – Dr. Christine McWebb changed academic gears: she became the founding Director of Academic Programs at Waterloo’s Stratford Campus. There, one of the programs McWebb has developed with colleagues in the Faculty of Arts is a Master in Digital Experience Innovation. For instructors of that program, the most daunting aspect is perhaps its emphasis on creativity. After all, how does one teach people to be creative?

“Well,” says McWebb, “You can’t. But what you can do is create an environment that is conducive to creativity, and that’s what we’ve tried to do.” McWebb goes on to describe how the physical environment at the Stratford campus has been designed to include “collaboration spaces” on every floor of the main building, as well as 24 “project rooms” where students can work in groups. The glass doors of these project rooms facilitate fertile chance conversations: as students wander by and notice an interesting project on a whiteboard, they are encouraged to enter the project room and join in. As McWebb notes, “The teaching space and learning space extend well beyond the walls of the classroom.”

Additionally, the Digital Experience Innovation program fosters creativity by bringing together students whose undergraduate degrees are in vastly different fields. “We have computer programmers working beside artists, psychologists beside English majors and engineers, and that breeds creativity,” says McWebb. “They have to work together and see each other’s perspectives.”  

The course that McWebb herself teaches in the Digital Experience Innovation program is entitled Media History and New Perspectives. Here, McWebb tries to nurture creativity by, as she puts it, “stepping back.” While she acknowledges that “there needs to be some lecture time when content is conveyed,” McWebb emphasizes that she usually tries to “take a step back and just let the learning happen. It’s quite interesting what comes out of discussions or out of assignments when you don’t hover and don’t give students too many instructions. Autonomy helps foster creativity.”

This term, McWebb gave her students the task of collaborating on writing a book, which was to be published using a digital self-publishing platform called CreateSpace. The students were separated into five teams, with each team writing a chapter on a topic such as crowd-sourcing or digital activism, and with McWebb writing the introduction. Each chapter had to feature at least two types of media other than text, such as infographics, video, or animation.

McWebb was delighted with how her students enthusiastically – and creatively – embraced the project. The students were pleased as well. “The project was one of a kind,” says graduate student Ahsan Riaz. “It was unique and innovative to produce something for the real market. And it was great to feel valued, with all of the students being considered as authors of that book. It was an exciting project for us all.”

 

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Intuition gone right

by Channon Tigert, CECA

Michal Ulman (1B Systems Design Engineering) has started two companies before the age of 20, and he’s just getting warmed up.  In November 2012, he co-founded UIntuition with his friend Melissa Morgan. uIntuition is an agency representing talented university students in both academic and creative areas.  These students are then contracted out to people interested in their services. “Because of their talent and passion, we are able to offer extremely professional services but at a non-professional price,” says Michal.  The students range from tutors, to graphic designers, to musicians, all of them highly talented.  Normally, if such individuals wanted to find a job to put their skills to use they would do this through Craigslist or Kijiji.  “The moment they mention ‘I’m a student’ trust levels go way down, because students are apparently inexperienced, they’re too young and they don’t know what they’re getting into.” uIntuition is changing that perspective, one client at a time.

From Idea to Reality

uIntuition has had over 250 applications from students at Waterloo and Laurier hoping to be contracted out, with 15 of them making the cut so far.  “We only take the best of the best,” says Michal. “uIntuition ensures you won’t get someone that can do an ‘okay’ job.  You’re only getting a student who will go above and beyond expectations.”

In February 2013, uIntuition became incorporated, and is now run by Michal and Melissa, along with a third exec and three student volunteers.  So far they’ve completed projects for 25 clients.  The secret to finding clients? “Network, network, network,” says Michal, explaining that the uIntuition team attends conferences and finds any way to make connections. The clients are mostly in the GTA, but as Michal points out, the company has worldwide potential. “We could do a web design for someone in Australia, because it can all be done online.”

Movie Magic

Running one start-up company might be enough for some people, but Michal has more than uIntuition on his plate.  He also started Green Pixels Productions, a one-man operation through which he produces movie special effects.  Currently working on a film entitled “Love, Guns, and Christmas” that will be premiering at the 2014 Sundance Festival, Michal has enjoyed working with movies since high school.

After applying to his high school’s film editing club in grade 10, his Windows Movie Editor films weren’t enough to allow him to join.  Undeterred, Michal spent the next year teaching himself how to edit films with Adobe programs by watching tutorials online. He got sucked in to special effects and motion graphics.  He applied to the club again, and what happened? “I became the president,” says Michal. “It’s just about motivation and the drive to go something.” He looked for jobs on Craigslist, eventually finding someone needing a last minute special effect.  It ended up making it into the movie and Michal was credited. He came back to work with the same people a year later, which became a stepping stone for bigger jobs.

Classroom Connections

Michal says a great deal of his success thus far is due to his engineering degree. “I never envisioned myself in an engineering job, but engineering is about more than just learning the principles; it will teach you many things.  I know what it’s like to meet strict deadlines, what it’s like to be under constant pressure. Isn’t running a business kind of like that? I know that I never would have been able to start a business if I hadn’t pursued engineering at Waterloo.”

As for the future of uIntuition, Michal has big plans. “We would love to franchise and put a branch in every university in North America.  Every university has extremely talented students. You just have to find them.”

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Christie Design Award winners named

Winners of the inaugural Christie Design Awards were announced Friday at the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus.

A partnership between Christie Digital Systems Canada, Inc. (“Christie®”) and the University of Waterloo Stratford Campus, the Christie Design Awards provide students with ongoing opportunities to explore and learn the capabilities of interactive display.

More than 120 first-year Global Business and Digital Arts (GBDA) students from Stratford campus participated in the competition.

The first place prize of $1,500 was awarded to Jessica Barch, Sarah Clare, Connor Ruest, Lauren Noble and Michelle Kostka for their aquatic-themed animation. Kitty Huang, Tani Omorogbe, Andrew Gibson, Brendon Case and Abubakar Guled took home second place and $1,000 for their dance-inspired project.

The competition required students to develop animation content for display in Christie’s headquarters. Students were challenged to create dynamic content to fit within five specific display configurations ranging from a large-scale, curved projection wall with blended images from two projectors, to a single 70” display cube.

“These Design Awards are an excellent example of how Christie and the University work together to support the ongoing skill set needed for creating content for high resolution displays,” said Dave Muscat, senior director, sales at Christie Digital Systems Canada. “In judging this competition we were impressed by the creative quality of the student’s ideas. We look forward to continuing to work together in supporting their learning in digital display.”

Christie’s innovative visual technology solutions play a key role in the University’s mission to intersect technology, business and art under the Faculty of Arts programs. A first in Canada, the Stratford Campus is designed to create the next generation of digital media graduates for the jobs of the future.

“We are excited to share the creative talents of our students with our long standing partner, Christie,” said Ginny Dybenko, executive director, University of Waterloo Stratford Campus. “The focal point of our campus atrium is a 3-storey Christie® MicroTiles® wall that regularly inspires our students and they are always keen to create dynamic content with a technology leader in the display industry.”

Waterloo’s Stratford Campus is focused on advanced education in the rapidly growing field of digital media.

Details on the winning entries are posted in a video on the Stratford Campus YouTube channel.

 

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An actuarial take on sex, drugs, & rock'n'roll

The Actuarial Science Distinguished Practitioner Series is presenting Neil Haynes, senior vice president of finance at Sun Life Financial for a talk entitled "Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll: Can We Live Forever?"

In his presentation, Haynes will explore the sometimes surprising factors that influenced the rapid increase in life expectancy over the past century, and analyze future potential drivers of life expectancy such as regenerative medicine. He’ll also provide his views on the practical implications of increasing life expectancy, including its impact on society and on the financial services industry.

The lecture takes place on Thursday, March 27, at 4:00 p.m. in EIT 1015.  Space is limited, so registration is encouraged. A complimentary reception will follow in the EIT atrium.

The Actuarial Science Distinguished Practitioner series provide talks on various fields of finance and actuarial science with a focus on current issues of interest to practitioners and possible career paths of actuarial graduates. The talks are given termly and are aimed at actuarial science students and alumni.

 

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Wednesday's notes

Call it the fish factor: Computational Mathematics is presenting Sushi Night starting at 4:30 p.m. today in DC 1330. If you're a Mathematics student, and if you love free sushi, this is the event for you.

"It will be an opportunity to socialize and enjoy some good sushi and a variety of Japanese cuisine," writes Patty Robinson-Angel. "CM seniors and alumni will share their experience in computational mathematics."

Here's the latest Nutrition Month "myth vs. fact" from Health Services dietician Sandra Ace:

Myth: Intermittent fasting is beneficial to health and aids in weight loss.

Truth: Intermittent fasting, or going without food for a period one to several days at a time, is the latest diet fad which is plugged as a way to delay or prevent age-related health problems or lose weight in many recent diet books. Do these plans really work or are the claims too good to be true?

While isolated studies that have shown some short term benefits, mainly on test animals, the benefits and risks of regular intermittent fasting on human health are so far unclear and unproven. There is, however, plenty of research which clearly demonstrates the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle, including regular and varied meals, physical activity, and adequate sleep, to support both healthy weights and lowered risks of many chronic diseases. Fasting, rather than burning fat for energy, can result in be using lean muscle as an energy source. Both muscles and the brain operate best when they receive regular supplies of glucose obtained through the digestion of a balanced diet. Check with your health care provider or a Registered Dietitian before you go on any type of new diet, particularly one that involves fasting.

 

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