Ten with Ken (Video)

So-called "maker spaces" are proliferating in campus libraries, but truly effective ones require much more than a 3D printer and some shiny new toys. This week, Ken Steele chats with Kerry Harmer, the Maker Studio Specialist at Mount Royal University, about the potential connections between academic makerspaces and undergraduate curriculum and pedagogy. Makerspaces are creative spaces for thinking differently, Kerry explains, "a place for students to make a mess, to be creative, and a safe environment to get things wrong."

MRU's Maker Studio is a bright, glass-walled space on the main floor of the Riddell Library & Learning Centre. (If you missed our episode on MRU's new $110 million library, check it out: https://youtu.be/eSM-wyyxXVs ). The Maker Studio has 3D printers and scanners, laser cutters, 7 kinds of sewing machines, and a full suite of electronics and robotics from Little Bits to ADA Fruit, Raspberry Pi, Arduino and more. (For an inventory of equipment and software see https://library.mtroyal.ca/teaching/makerstudio/resources ).

Mount Royal's Maker Studio is "completely barrier-free," open to students, faculty, staff and the external community in Calgary, free of charge. Because material costs can cause users to second-guess themselves, all materials for 3D printing are offered completely free as part of the pilot year, to help build digital literacies and see how the technology gets used.

So why do Makerspaces so often wind up in campus libraries? Meagan Bowler, Dean of Libraries at MRU, explains that "a library collection is not just a collection of books. It can be a collection of software, of tools. It aligns with our mission to collect the things our users need to create new knowledge and get it out there into the world." Moreover, Kerry Harmer emphasizes that locating new technologies centrally on a campus removes barriers, inspires interdisciplinary collaboration, and democratizes the technology. "There's a real kind of magic and synergy, peer learning and self-directed learning" when students from across the university work beside each other in the space.

A big part of Kerry's job is working with faculty across many disciplines to develop unexpected curriculum connections for their students and class projects. Science and technology faculty and students actually seem to be using the Maker Studio less than students in the Arts and elsewhere. So far, more than 24 courses from all faculties have done coursework in the Maker Studio, from Math, Child Studies, and Interior Design, to Social Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship classes. Makerspaces are increasingly part of the learning commons in primary and secondary schools, so it's really important that MRU's pre-service elementary school teachers get familiar with the technologies that will be in the K-12 curriculum they will teach. In addition to working one-on-one with faculty across the university, Kerry is developing a full-day faculty workshop to expose them to the design thinking process, and the resources of the Maker Studio. Then faculty can better consider how to incorporate making experiences into their curricula, and how to assess the learning that lies behind student creations.

Maker spaces are about much more than 3D printers, which "can only output as good as you put in." The key, Kerry explains, is to understand that the learning in a makerspace "is not necessarily about the making; sometimes it's about the thinking," from problem definition and human-centred design to design thinking. The ideation process is similar, for a 3D print or a traditional essay: "The tools are just the output for the thinking that happens in the Maker Studio, which is creative, which is innovative… it's about making change."

Special thanks to Mount Royal University for hosting our visit and providing the videographers for this episode.

Next time, we'll return to MRU to explore the 360° VR Immersion Studio in more depth. To be sure you don't miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

For decades, college and university libraries have been continuously renovating their space and replacing technology. But what would a 21st-century library look like if you could build it from scratch, with a $100 million budget? Two years ago, Calgary's Mount Royal University got the chance to do just that! This week, Ken Steele talks with MRU Provost Lesley Brown and Dean of Libraries Meagan Bowler about the Riddell Library & Learning Centre.

When it was announced that Mount Royal College would gain university status, the existing library was "woefully inadequate." "We knew that we would have to build our collections, expand our services, and the information environment was changing in a rapid way," Meagan explains.

The new $110 million facility opened in 2017 as the new centerpiece of the campus, and also houses MRU's Department of Education, Student Learning Services, the Institute for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and the Academic Development Centre for faculty. The furnishings, architecture and zoning are designed to be progressively quieter from floor 1 through 4, and student spaces range from purely introverted study carrels and cozy benches for two, through lounge spaces and walking desks. But the 34 collaboration rooms have been the biggest hit, constantly booked up by students.

The MRU Library is a testament to active learning and emerging technologies. "We knew that students weren't just consuming information," Meagan explains. "They needed space and technology to engage with it, to mobilize it, to create it, to hack it up, to change it and to share it with other people." The main floor "Ideas Lounge," and a similar classroom, feature massive 6x3 screen touch-enabled visualization walls that allow groups to engage with multiple inputs simultaneously. The building also includes a VR Experience Lab, audio recording suites, and media production studios. In particular, we'll focus on the 360-degree "Immersion Studio" and the "Maker Studio" in upcoming episodes.

The campus library is the "heart" of the university, explains Lesley, but also an "interstitial space" for exploring teaching practices, accessing and engaging with new information and technologies. MRU centralized these facilities to make them available across faculties and departments, and for interdisciplinary work. But an effective library needs more than space and resources, emphasizes Meagan: it also needs the expertise of talented librarians. "It's a jungle out there in information-land," she jests.

Special thanks to Mount Royal University for hosting our visit and providing the videographers for this episode.

In upcoming episodes, we'll return to MRU to explore the Maker Studio and Immersion Studio in more depth. To be sure you don't miss them, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

Children are natural born scientists, with an insatiable curiosity and desire to experiment – but studies have demonstrated that somehow, through years of formal education, most teenagers lose their enthusiasm for science. By the time they are applying to college, less than a quarter say they remain very interested in science, which they consider "complicated" and "difficult" rather than "fun" or "inspiring." (See the findings of the CFI's "Canadian Youth Science Monitor" at https://www.innovation.ca/sites/default/files/news_items/Jun-7-2010-ipsos.pdf).

This week, Ken chats with Bonnie Schmidt, founder and president of Let's Talk Science, about the importance of keeping young people engaged in STEM fields, and some recommendations for science teaching at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. She emphasizes that "what's happening at K-12 is actually THE most important economic driver for this country."

Since 1991, Let's Talk Science has mobilized more than 26,000 college and university students to bring experiential, hands-on STEM activities to some 5 million elementary and secondary school students. LTS provides web tools, governance, resources, guidance and support for the student teams at no charge. "We love bringing science to life!" (For more information, check out http://letstalkscience.ca)

LTS has been leading Canada2067, an ambitious initiative examining international trends in STEM education, and mapping future directions for the next 50 years. (Check out their resources at https://canada2067.ca) Canada2067 brought together Grade 9/10 students, millennials, parents, teachers, industry and non-profit organization leaders, and policy makers across the country, and there was considerable agreement on some general principles, including:

RELEVANT: To keep students of any age engaged with course content, it has to be clearly relevant to their daily lives.

EXPERIENTIAL: Hands-on, group activities have been a key component of the Let's Talk Science program for decades. (We explored the importance of experiential learning in this episode: https://youtu.be/DU1gRLZeEIo).

INTERDISCIPLINARY: Bonnie emphasizes that the best way to create relevance for students is to move towards "an interdisciplinary, issues-based" approach to teaching, addressing big global challenges from multiple perspectives. In Saskatchewan, for example, there are some interesting experiments in multidisciplinary senior-level science courses. But colleges and universities will need to accept those interdisciplinary credits, and higher ed instructors need to revisit the tradition of "teaching how we were taught."

TEACHER PD: "We're not investing enough in our teachers," Bonnie laments, at any level of education. Teachers need resources, training, and time to develop lessons and share best practices.

PARENTS: "Parents are the #1 influencer of the students taking optional credits at high school," and it's crucial that parents urge their children to persist in STEM subjects even when they are challenging, to keep higher ed doors open. Parents also need to keep an open mind about non-traditional teaching approaches, such as experiential or inquiry-based learning.

"The world is undergoing such transformation right now," Bonnie says, that we need to reconsider how we teach STEM in primary, secondary, and tertiary classrooms. Memorization is a far less important part of learning. We need accelerated ways to upskill and reskill displaced workers, and more pathways between universities and colleges. "We're all recognizing that change is needed," Bonnie says. "I have never actually seen the stars align with a desire to change in education at all levels that I've seen in Canada over the last 5 years."

Bonnie Schmidt holds a PhD in Physiology from Western University, was identified as one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40, is a member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She has chaired numerous national science education committees and task forces, and served on the board of governors of Ontario Tech University and the board of directors of the Ontario Genomics Institute.

Special thanks to Let's Talk Science, who hosted Ken as keynote at the Digital Literacy Summit in Toronto in late January 2018, and provided the videographers for this interview.

Next time, 10K travels to Mount Royal University in Calgary, to check out the latest in makerspaces and immersive VR at the Riddell Library and Learning Centre. To be sure you don't miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

This week, Ken gets a "taste" of social innovation at Simon Fraser University's RADIUS incubator, speaking with co-director Shawn Smith and social entrepreneur Dylan Jones about their work. We learn how innovation requires bureaucratic flexibility, and Ken winds up at a loss for words with his mouth full of crickets!

For decades now, higher education has embraced the entrepreneurial incubator to promote the commercialization of software developers and research breakthroughs in engineering, chemistry and medicine. (10K covered the movement broadly in this episode on "Campus Incubators and Accelerators" https://youtu.be/kwMooswS_C8, and visited the University of Waterloo's "Velocity Garage" https://youtu.be/lj1AnCfYRMk). But in recent years, a wave of incubators has begun appearing to support social enterprises, launched by a new generation of altruistic entrepreneurs and "changemakers," focused on the so-called "triple bottom line."

SFU's Beedie School of Business established the RADIUS social innovation hub in 2013. (The name is an acronym for "Radical Ideas Useful to Society.") Every year, RADIUS Fellows hosts emerging leaders in the social economy, and RADIUS ChangeLabs deliver extracurricular activities to SFU students. RADIUS's Local Economic Development Lab (LEDlab) is working in Vancouver's downtown eastside to build a more dynamic and inclusive economy (www.LEDLab.ca). They helped turn an informal group of wastepickers and recyclers into The Binners Project, with its own brand, marketing, and business model for R&D, cartsharing, and event services. (Learn more at www.binnersproject.org).

RADIUS Ventures delivers incubation support to startups at the business model validation stage, and acceleration support to growth-ready companies ready to attract venture capital. These social-purpose companies have potentially profitable business models, but also aim to improve society by addressing environmental sustainability, homelessness, and other social challenges. RADIUS "co-entrepreneurs" with the ventures, going deep and ensuring they provide a meaningful change in trajectory for the entrepreneur and the company.

One RADIUS venture was Zero Waste Market, Canada's first package-free, zero-waste grocery store. (They changed their name literally days after this episode was completed, to Nada Grocery. Learn more at www.nadagrocery.com).

Another great example of a social enterprise incubated at RADIUS is Coast Protein, a sustainable energy bar and protein powder company (see www.coastprotein.com). Their products are all-natural, with no artificial sweeteners or preservatives, and very few ingredients – primarily Canadian-farmed cricket flour. Cricket protein is far more sustainable and nutritious than beef or chicken, explains CEO Ryan Jones: per pound of protein, cows take 13x more land, produce 100x more greenhouse gases, and require 2,000x more water. And instead of 30% protein by volume, crickets are 65% protein, while also being high in iron, calcium, and B12 – an essential vitamin often missing in vegetarian diets. It's still "the wild west of crickets right now," Ryan explains, and most of Coast Protein's marketing budget goes to consumer education. People don't realize that the insect protein market is already about $200 million annually in North America, and expected to grow to about $1.5 billion by 2023. Or that crickets taste like "burnt roasted almonds with a hint of roasted mushroom."

Shawn observes that innovation can sometimes be challenging within a bureaucratic environment like a major public university. Entrepreneurs need to respect boundaries and structures, while remaining adaptive and responsive in an emergent space. RADIUS functions like a "skunkworks" at SFU, where risks can be taken, failures go quietly, and lessons can be learned. Academic innovators need their "pockets of innovation" to be protected from needless bureaucracy, and depend on "bridging innovators" in a wide range of departments, particularly in finance, to make their innovation work possible. Shawn emphasizes that SFU has a lot of these people, but that "they don't always get the recognition they deserve."

On the upside, though, a university setting provides a wealth of expertise and cutting-edge researchers in a wide range of disciplines, and an endless supply of enthusiastic students who deeply care about social issues and want to make the world a better place. Social incubators like RADIUS need to bring people together from disparate perspectives, to "bite off problems that people haven't quite figured out yet," and universities are an ideal setting in which to do that.

Shawn Smith is Director of Social Innovation at Simon Fraser University, co-founder and co-director of RADIUS, and an adjunct professor in the Beedie School of Business. He earned an MBA in social entrepreneurship from the University of Oxford in 2010, and has spent 12 years working in social impact organizations, including Impacto Quito, Global Agents for Change, and Education Generation.

Special thanks to Shawn Smith, Dylan Jones, and the SFU videographers who made this episode possible.

For more information about SFU's RADIUS, please visit www.RadiusSFU.com.

Next week, Ken sits down with Bonnie Schmidt, founder of Let's Talk Science, about how we can improve science education at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. To be sure you don't miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

Despite its significant sticker price, higher education doesn't often come with a guarantee. After all, what a student learns, and how they put their skills to work in the world, has more to do with their own effort than anything the institution can do. But in a world of labour market uncertainty and rising career anxiety, students and their parents are often looking for a "sure thing" -- high employment placement rates, impressive starting salaries, or a guaranteed return on investment.

For the past 10 years, one university in Canada has been offering students a literal guarantee that they will find career-related employment within six months of graduation: the University of Regina, in Saskatchewan. This week, Ken Steele sits down with president Vianne Timmons to discuss the "UR Guarantee," a recruitment marketing tool that also drives student retention and career success.

Unlike many extended warranties, the UR Guarantee had to be offered free to all undergraduate students, to enhance accessibility rather than being an elite program for a select few who could afford it. From the moment a student signs up, they are assigned a mentor who helps them design a program to get engaged on campus, in clubs, sports, student government, etc., depending on their interests. To stay eligible for the Guarantee, students must access academic counselling and support services, take resume-writing and employment interview workshops, and attend networking events. They also have to volunteer, on campus and in the community – providing significant energy and enthusiasm to the University's campus ambassador program. They must maintain a 70% GPA, and keep a daily log of their networking and job search activities. After all that, the University's career services staff will work with new graduates for 6 months, to find them a job related to their field of study. If they are unsuccessful, they are welcome to return to campus and take up to 10 additional courses, tuition-free.

Obviously, the UR Guarantee is effective as a recruitment differentiator: students come from across North America, attracted by the prospect of guaranteed employment upon graduation. But the program is actually much more than a marketing gimmick: it ensures that students are aware of the support services and advising that they ought to be accessing on campus, and it even reduces any perceived stigma around using them, by effectively requiring it in order not to "void their warranty."

The UR Guarantee was developed to address a key driver of student attrition: lack of engagement with extracurriculars and the support services that prepare students for transition to the world of work. The initiative was intended to increase student retention, success and satisfaction, and it works: students enrolled in the program are 8% more likely to persist, and they graduate more employable and career-ready.

The offer of free tuition doesn't actually cost the University of Regina much at all: in 10 years offering the Guarantee, just 2 students have had to return to campus to take additional classes. But the University has had to invest significantly in additional support staff to meet the demand – paid for thanks to the increased persistence of more than 1,800 students enrolled in the Guarantee program.

In Canada, at least 2 other universities have launched similar programs in the wake of the UR Guarantee: Concordia University of Edmonton has a "Concordia Commitment" program, and Nipissing University offers "the Nipissing Promise." Vianne would certainly encourage other institutional leaders to consider the approach as a powerful driver of student engagement.

You can read more about the UR Guarantee at https://www.uregina.ca/urguarantee/about/index.html

Vianne Timmons began her teaching career on the Babine First Nations Reserve in BC, and was appointed President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Regina in 2008. She has helped advance Indigenization through dozens of initiatives, and two successive strategic plans. Vianne is one of 12 recipients of the national 2019 Indspire Award.

Shot on location at First Nations University, on the University of Regina campus, in October 2018, by campus videography staff – thank you again!

Next week, we visit RadIUS, the social innovation incubator at Simon Fraser University, and learn why we should all start eating bugs, for the good of our health and the planet. To be sure you don't miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

This week, Ken Steele chats with Maureen Adamson, president of Fleming College, about how higher ed leaders can sustain a culture of innovation on campus, particularly by investing in our people.

"The most important thing" Maureen says, is to "give the gift of time" to front-line faculty and staff to reflect and innovate. "It can't be someone in a back room trying to think something up." We also need to invest in our people. "We want our faculty to be best in class; that requires investment and professional development." It's also important to bring in external perspectives for lectures and workshops, to help campus personnel "think outside the box" and "beyond our navel," to be exposed to the many innovative ideas out there in higher ed around the world. "There's a lot of fabulous stuff out there that is mind-blowing," she observes.

Maureen has publicly committed that, even in times of serious budgetary pressure, "there will be no cuts to professional development at Fleming College." Ken observes that it seems particularly appropriate for institutions committed to education, to also be committed to the continuing education of their people. "There is no evidence to say that cutting PD is helpful," Maureen observes wryly.

From her career experience in the healthcare sector, Maureen has learned that research, whether pure or applied, requires some tolerance for mistakes. "We have to give people the opportunity to take a risk, and to make mistakes… That's the only way we're going to get to that point of innovation." Between academic rigour and public-sector accountability, Ken points out, public colleges and universities experience a compound, cultural "double whammy" that discourages innovation and risk-taking, particularly at the levels of middle management and front-line staff and faculty. Maureen emphasizes that "it's all about accountability," and accountability frameworks need to allow front-line personnel to take some calculated risks. "These kinds of approaches are all hands on deck, and they're very iterative."

From her experience in government, Maureen knows first-hand that bureaucracy "is very risk averse." Colleges are fortunate to be a few steps removed from that bureaucracy, and to have some latitude "to change things up." Maureen believes we have to shift the centre of power to faculty in the classroom, and to the student experience itself. Finally, she observes, in a bureaucratic environment, even if people don't want to hear it, "you always must speak truth to power… It allows you to sleep at night."

Maureen Adamson is president of Sir Sandford Fleming College, in the region of Peterborough Ontario. She has 25 years of leadership experience in PSE, healthcare, government and the not-for-profit sector. She has previously served as President & CEO of the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences and of Cystic Fibrosis Canada, as VP Corporate Services at Mohawk College, and as Deputy Minister of both Tourism, Culture and Sport and of the Status of Women for the government of Ontario.

A sincere thank-you to Fleming College for arranging the onsite videography for this episode.

Next week, Ken's conversation with Maureen Adamson concludes with her thoughts on how to nurture a culture of innovation on campus by investing in our people. To be sure you don't miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

This week, Ken Steele's conversation continues with Maureen Adamson, president of Fleming College in Peterborough Ontario. Maureen was formerly Ontario's Deputy Minister responsible for the Status of Women, so this week Ken asks her thoughts on gender equity and increasing diversity in higher education.

When it comes to equity of access and success of women in higher ed, "we've got a lot of work to do," Maureen admits bluntly. We know that high-performing organizations require balanced boards of governors, and yet we still don't see that in many industries. We need to start teaching young people about being leaders and volunteers in the community, and that leadership needs to start at PSE campuses. In particular, she says, "we need to debunk the theory that women don't want to go into trades and technology because it's dirty work. It's not!" Fleming College will be focusing on cultivating interest in these critical areas for our future economy, at a very young age.

Maureen also emphasizes that the pay gap between women and men to this day remains "alarming." (In Canada, it is often cited that women earn 87¢ for every dollar earned by men. In the US, women's earning ratio has risen slowly from 61% in the 1960s to about 78% in 2013.) Maureen also observes that even at the highest levels, women serving on boards and as CEOs still don't earn the same as men. "There's a gap in the labour market, and this is one that colleges have a responsibility to fill."

In higher education, although the number of female college and university presidents has been increasing, leadership in the sector remains male-dominated, but "we're making strides," Maureen observes. (A quick survey of Ontario college presidents finds 11 females and 14 males, or about 44% female.)

Campus student populations are becoming more and more diverse, as institutions recruit increasing numbers of international students, and encourage participation by under-represented groups like visible minorities, students with disabilities, and indigenous students. As colleges recruit more international students in particular, Maureen observes, we need to ensure those students are socially and academically integrated so that all students benefit from the richness of student diversity on campus. (A recent CBIE survey found that 74% of international students in Canada report some difficulty getting involved in campus life.)

"We have to make it front and centre to be an inclusive and diverse college and culture," Maureen asserts. Especially in smaller communities, without widespread diversity in the population, colleges have to pursue international exchanges and partnerships to create a diverse experience for students. The global student today is "super-global," Maureen explains, and colleges have to respond to that. Global perspectives are crucial to prepare our students to be global citizens, and employees or entrepreneurs who can be successful in a global economy. It has to be "front and centre" as a priority, Maureen insists. "It has to be accomplished through active participation. We can't just sit around and say we're going to be inclusive and diverse, but without action."

Maureen Adamson is president of Sir Sandford Fleming College, in the region of Peterborough Ontario. She has 25 years of leadership experience in PSE, healthcare, government and the not-for-profit sector. She has previously served as President & CEO of the Michener Institute for Applied Health Sciences and of Cystic Fibrosis Canada, as VP Corporate Services at Mohawk College, and as Deputy Minister of both Tourism, Culture and Sport and of the Status of Women for the government of Ontario.

A sincere thank-you to Fleming College for arranging the onsite videography for this episode.

Next week, Ken's conversation with Maureen Adamson concludes with her thoughts on how to nurture a culture of innovation on campus by investing in our people. To be sure you don't miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

This week, Ten with Ken visits Fleming College, in Peterborough Ontario, where Ken Steele and president Maureen Adamson discuss the labour market needs of the fourth industrial revolution, and the need to prepare college students with interdisciplinary programs and the so-called "soft skills" in demand by employers.

Some of the biggest challenges facing higher education institutions, aside from budget pressure and demographic shifts, are the rapidly-evolving labour market. Most elementary students today will work in jobs that don't yet exist. Artificial intelligence and automation are widely projected to impact at least half of all human jobs over the next few decades, and already prototypes have been unveiled of semi-autonomous vehicles, bricklayers, drywallers, news anchors, and even master chefs. In the past few decades, the jobs that have increased most worldwide are not those that require STEM skills, but those that require people skills, communication and emotional intelligence.

Fleming College is helping prepare students for a changing world, Maureen explains, through interdisciplinary experiential programs at its Kawartha Trades & Technology Centre. In this new 87,000-square-foot facility, plumbers, carpenters, and electricians work together to build an entire house. Students gain "hard", technical skills, but also those critical social and teamwork skills.

Multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and interprofessional training will become even more vital as "narrow" AI gets more and more capable of automating work within individual specialties. Ken shares Kai Fu Lee's schema of AI's impact on the labour market, which divides employment into 4 quadrants based on the level of creativity and strategic thinking required, and the level of "compassion" or social skills required. Lee predicts that routine, impersonal jobs will be fully automated within 5-10 years, while routine interpersonal tasks will require a partnership between an AI performing "back-end" tasks (like interpreting medical scans) and a human explaining those results to a patient. More creative, transdisciplinary work will require humans working in conjunction with AI tools for the foreseeable future. (Check out Kai Fu Lee's TEDx talk, "How AI can save our humanity," at https://youtu.be/ajGgd9Ld-Wc).

The fourth industrial revolution, caused by the impact of AI and automation on the labour market, means that today's college graduates will desperately need the so-called "soft skills" like creative, strategic and transdisciplinary thinking, as well as interpersonal communication and empathy. "Not everything is technical," Maureen emphasizes, which is why Fleming tries to integrate arts and humanities skills into many of its courses. Ken cites Scott Hartley's argument (in the Fuzzy and the Techie) that "the antidote to technological irrelevance is to become MORE human, not less."

Experiential, team-based collaborative learning models will help young people in particular become workforce-ready, and develop the interpersonal and workplace skills that many students no longer gain through part-time jobs. Maureen observes that "students need to learn how to learn," and emphasizes the importance of the employer perspective on skills and competencies. (A 2015 Canadian survey by McKinsey found that 83% of educators, 44% of students, and just 34% of employers felt that today's youth are being adequately prepared for the world of work.) "The more we can listen to our industry partners" about their needs, Maureen believes, the more colleges can "create programs in more of a design-thinking fashion." For Fleming, and most colleges, "it's going to be a culture shift" that will take significant time, as well as "investment in our people."

A sincere thank-you to Fleming College for arranging the onsite videography for this episode.

Next week, Ken's conversation with Maureen Adamson turns to diversity and equity in higher education, both in terms of gender parity and the integration of international students and perspectives. To be sure you don't miss it, take a moment to subscribe at http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

And if you would like to host 10K at your campus, more information is available at http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/

The distinction between 2-year colleges and 4-year universities is becoming increasingly blurred, with the rise of polytechnics, collaborative and dual enrolment programs, postgrad certificates at university and applied degrees at colleges. (Sheridan College has not been coy about its ambitions to eventually become a university itself.) This week, Ken Steele's conversation with Janet Morrison, president and vice-chancellor of Sheridan, concludes with an exploration of the differences and synergies between university and college.

Janet feels strongly that "this bifurcated lens on PSE in Ontario… really isn't meeting the needs of learners today," much less the needs of learners or the workforce of the future. "The system has to evolve" to ensure we are preparing students to be "agile, change-adept, resilient, independent, creative thinkers comfortable in a morphing space."

Sheridan offers 26 four-year honours baccalaureate degree programs, with exceptional quality and university-equivalent rigor. All incorporate work-integrated learning, through co-op, placements, internships, capstone projects, and applied research – what a student called "the secret sauce" of a Sheridan education. Faculty members are actively engaged with industry, community, and NGOs to stay current. "What we're doing is at the nexus of both a theoretical and a practical preparatory program, that positions students for work and life."

Students already realize that they will be faced with an average of 11 career changes between ages 20 and 45; they will need skills and competencies to position them "as lifelong learners and adept, agile change-agents." Higher ed will need to consider new approaches to credentialing and microcredentialing, to ease pathways for credit transfer between programs and institutions. At Sheridan, much attention is paid to pathways in, through, and out of the institution: fully one-quarter of Sheridan students arrive already having earned a university degree; there are 70 different pathways from Sheridan trades and certificate programs through degrees; and the Provost and Registrar often work with Sheridan grads to gain entry into graduate study. For 40 years, Sheridan has developed pathway agreements with universities in Canada and the US, but even graduates of Sheridan's #1-ranked animation program still "don't have unfettered access to graduate programming," which suggests to Janet that the whole system needs "a rethink." "If we expect students to navigate gray space… we have to do it too." Janet also emphasizes the growing need to better develop global competency, and recognize the prior learning and life experience of international students.

Conversations about credit transfer, and a rethink of the PSE system, will be difficult and will demand courage and creativity. But Janet asserts, "if you position learning and learners at the centre, there's far more alignment than you'd sometimes think."

Dr Janet Morrison championed student success at York University for 17 years, ultimately as VP Students, before joining Sheridan College in 2016 as VP Academic, and 2 years later becoming Sheridan's President. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in History and Education. (If you missed the previous parts of our conversation, see "Cultivating Creativity" at https://youtu.be/awH4WVFV-hcand "Mental Health & Student Success" at https://youtu.be/u3fHpn2Pt4A).

Every week, Ten with Ken shares innovations and bright ideas affecting higher education. To be sure you don't miss it, be sure to subscribe! http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

Special thanks to Sheridan College for the onsite videography. (If you would like to host an onsite episode of Ten with Ken, please see http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/for more information.)

Colleges and universities are investing more and more resources into student retention and success initiatives, and student mental health has become an escalating crisis on many campuses. This week, Ken Steele sits down with Janet Morrison, president and vice-chancellor of Sheridan College, to discuss some lessons she has learned over 25 years as a champion of student success, in the university and college sectors.

There is a wealth of research into student success, and Janet believes in programming that is "evidence-based and theoretically informed." Institutions now need to understand their own specific demographics, and pilot-test interventions. Janet emphasizes that "on many levels student success is a commentary on privilege," and many students at commuter institutions (like York or Sheridan) have very different experiences than the faculty or administrators responsible for their education. Many students are working in excess of 26 hours a week, and commuting an average of 2 hours daily, while attending school full time, and potentially also juggling responsibilities for dependents and significant debt. We need to "co-define success" with learners, in ways much more holistic than mere grade-point averages. Janet emphasizes the crucial importance of "purpose", because when things inevitably become challenging, "that sense of purpose is the pull, the energy, the fuel, the accelerant to help students make it to the next gatepost." She is truly inspired by the perseverance and dedication of many students who have overcome incredible obstacles.

Institutions can help support student success by conducting research to identify the top ten obstacles to student learning, which will differ by campus and by student demographic. Students need a sense of academic culture, and particularly for first-generation students, a lot of that falls to academic advising staff. Students need a sense of connection with faculty, staff and peers, and student affairs staff can organize co-curricular records, and promote wellness. "This really is a team effort" with staff and faculty fostering a sense of purpose, connectivity, and resourcefulness in our students.

Negative mental health in particular has been a rising issue on campus in recent years, with a significant increase in demand for counselling services on campus. Janet observes "a multitude of causal contributors" to the trend, but sums it up as, basically "life is more complicated." Socioeconomic demands and anxieties, among incoming and graduating students, drives considerable stress. "There are limits to what post-secondary institutions can do to support students, and those are difficult conversations to be having." Sheridan is trying to cultivate a healthy campus for students, staff, faculty and guests, but it's a "really big" challenge. Students pursuing creative vocations can be particularly vulnerable, perhaps because they are more sensitive and introspective, and certainly need to face ongoing critique of their work.

Janet emphasizes the importance of psychological resilience, and shares one student's metaphor of the "Bobo doll": the ability to bounce back from setbacks and difficulties. "Being mentally health is a foundational requisite to student success," and institutions need to continually improve. The crisis, however, is visible everywhere in broader society, in secondary and even primary schools: "it truly is the challenge of our time."

Dr Janet Morrison championed student success at York University for 17 years, ultimately as VP Students, before joining Sheridan College in 2016 as VP Academic, and 2 years later becoming Sheridan's President. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in History and Education. (If you missed part 1 of our conversation on "Cultivating Creativity", check it out here: https://youtu.be/awH4WVFV-hc).

Next week, this 3-part series with Janet concludes with a look at the converging solitudes of colleges and universities (or 2-year and 4-year colleges). So you don't miss it, be sure to subscribe! http://eduvation.ca/subscribe/

Special thanks to Sheridan College for the onsite videography. (If you would like to host an onsite episode of Ten with Ken, please see http://eduvation.ca/twk/site-visits/for more information.)