Teaching Strides

Politics, socio-cultural climates, oppression, and anti-racism are all disciplines that come into play in a women's and gender studies course. But Maki Motapanyane, an associate professor in Mount Royal's department of women's and gender studies, takes the conversation beyond readings and lectures and asks her students to position themselves within the context of the issues.

How much do we rely on Google Maps to get around? How do we track the way viruses spread? Can Twitter be used to address local issues? These are all questions Dr. Lynn Moorman, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and in the Department of General Education, says can be answered by thinking spatially — a concept you don't need a background in science to get behind!

Libraries may be a space for keeping knowledge, but how often do we think about who is creating it? Jessie Loyer is the anthropology and Indigenous studies relations liaison at the Riddel Library and Learning Centre. She's worked with students to help them develop their research skills but goes beyond that and asks them to think ethically about their sources. In this episode, we explore truth and reconciliation, interconnectedness and how libraries have played into both.

Dr. Brett McCollum’s students loved his lectures so much that he stopped doing them. After realising that his students weren’t doing much reading outside of their classes, he wanted to introduce a new, problem solving-based approach. In a move to encourage them to read academic texts and engage with what they were learning, he developed the “flipped classroom.” In this episode, Dr. McCollum talks about the success of the approach and its benefits can be found outside of class and how it can encourage team building in a highly competitive discipline.

Dr. Kenna Olsen has been teaching in MRU’s Department of English, Languages and Culture since 2008. She teaches Old and Middle English Literature, but the tools she uses are anything but medieval -- from tweeting the field's best-regarded academics to feasting in the MRU Library's Immersion Studio to Twitter.

Dr. Tim Rahilly is MRU’s tenth President and first Vice-Chancellor, but he’s had an extensive teaching career before that. His journey through academia has taken him to Fraser University, University of Manitoba, Royal Roads University, Technical University of British Columbia and McGill University. Recently, he co-authored “University Pathways: A Global Perspective” and “Serving Diverse Students in Canadian Higher Education: Models and Practices for Success.” In this episode, Dr. Rahilly talks about what “good teaching” means to him, and why MRU’s slogan “You Belong Here” resonates with him.

In this first episode of the new season, we discuss how Otahpiaaki, a week in Calgary dedicated to Indigenous fashion and design, is driving the conversation about reconciliation and how Indigenous-led entrepreneurship created a space for creativity and passion. Spirit River Striped Wolf, an MRU policy studies student, and Patti Derbyshire, Associate Professor in Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, are both co-founders of Otahpiaaki. They walk us through how deeply the project’s roots really go and what its success has meant for the communities involved.

Teaching Strides is back for a fourth season with new host Meg Wilcox. Subscribe to be the first to hear the new season at the end of October.

An interview with Dr. Trevor Day.

An interview with Dr. Catherine Pearl.