In my last blog post I described Vancouver, the UBC campus and the people who live here. In this next post I want to explore my academic experience so far in terms of both what I am learning about and how I am learning about it. I have found that there are three main ways in which my experience here differs from my experience in London.
- I am taking a wider range of subjects
- All my courses connect to my immediate surroundings
- The teaching approach focuses on academic engagement and continuous assessment
Firstly, I decided that this was the year to go a bit rogue with my module choices and learn about all sorts of things I've never learnt about before. Therefore, I have chosen to study a much wider range of subjects than I have in previous years in London. My workload is spread between the departments of Geography (naturally), Forestry, Anthropology, Archaeology and Land and Food Systems. Although this difference is largely due to my personal subject choices and less to do with UBC as an institution, many of the topic areas I have chosen draw on UBC’s unique academic strengths, such as those in the Faculty of Forestry and the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (both Faculties that don’t exist at UCL). Furthermore, the Canadian approach to the degree system is much broader in itself, they encourage students to take a range of subjects, many of which are outside their given department. Arts-based degrees generally require students to take some science credits and science-based degrees generally require students to take some arts credits.
I have listed my modules choices below for illustration:
Term 1 Modules:
- Geography: Introduction to Geographic Information Science (GIS)
- Forestry: Community Forests and Community Forestry
- Biology: Plants and Peoples
- Anthropology: First Nations of British Columbia
Term 2 Modules:
- Biology: Introduction to Soil Science
- Archaeology: Emergence of Complex Societies in Europe and Asia
- Land and Food Systems: Agroecology
- Applied Biology: Horticultural Techniques
Secondly, everything I am learning about seems to connect in some way to the areas directly around me … and by “around me” I mean between a 5-minute walk and a 20-minute cycle. In London most of the things I was learning about felt somewhat more remote, for example: pond ecology in Norfolk, reconstructing past environments in Scotland and modeling the hydrology of wetlands in Nigeria. So far every module that I am taking here has involved trips to places on or near the campus. For example, in my Anthropology class (First Nations of BC) we went to a traditional Haida village reconstruction situated just outside the Museum of Anthropology…
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A traditional Haida village reconstruction outside the Museum of Anthropology. The left-hand picture shows my lecturer explaining the village layout to us. The right-hand picture shows a part of the hand-drawn village design before it was built.
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In my Forestry class, we went inside the Museum of Anthropology to examine indigenous uses of forest wood products. We were shown traditional Canadian totem poles and other tribal woodcarvings from around the world.
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Two indigenous wood sculptures from the Museum of Anthropology: on the left is a section of a totem pole from Coastal BC and on the right is a sculpture of a tribal 'Witch Doctor' from Papua New Guinea.
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In my ‘Plants and People’ module we went to the UBC Botanical Gardens to learn about the biology of staple food crops in their ‘Food Garden’ and about traditional herbal medicines in their ‘Physic Garden’…
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| The UBC Botanical Garden: on the left is the “Food Garden” and on the right is the “Physic Garden” |
We also went on a trip into Vancouver’s Chinatown to learn about the biology and uses of a range of Asian herbs, spices and teas … followed by a very educational (and delicious) exotic fruit tasting session!
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Vancouver’s China town: on the left a signpost in front of a Chinese Gingko tree, on the right an array of dried fruits, nuts and spices outside one of the shops.
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Our spread of exotic fruits ready to be tasted!
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This week we are going to UBC’s Arboretum (yes, it has its own Arboretum…) to examine key Canadian tree species and look at some of the features of plant growth that we learnt about in our most recent lab.
My GIS class has also related the course content to the immediate surrounding area. Geographic Information Science involves displaying and analyzing spatial data. In order to make complicated software techniques and data manipulation methods more relatable, we used spatial data from the local Vancouver area to construct different maps. We also compared remotely sensed images of the the campus to photos that we took from the ground whilst walking around it. Below I have included an example of a map I made using ArcGIS software. The map identifies the coastal areas of metro Vancouver that are theoretically at risk from a potential Tsunami (all non-beige areas). The red rectangles highlight areas where major roads cross into these danger zones and therefore areas where warning signs should be placed... (I know the key is a bit too small to read, sorry!).
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| Map of metro Vancouver showing zones at risk from a theoretical tsunami and areas where warning signs should be placed on roads |
Next term my Horticultural Techniques and Agroecology modules will both make use of the facilities at the UBC farm and the extensive campus greenhouses. My Soil Science module will involve trips into the Pacific Spirit Regional Park behind the campus to look at typical local forest soils and my Archaeology module will once again have me venturing into the Museum of Anthropology.
The third key difference that has been the most striking is the emphasis on academic engagement and continuous assessment. The UBC approach allows you to really get your teeth into what you are learning about in a participatory and discursive manner rather than in a ‘sitting in the library reading 30 academic articles’ manner. The assessment for all my courses is broken down into:
- Participation marks (answering questions in lectures)
- Online blog posts
- Regular class assignments (mini essays)
- Group projects (either written reports or presentations)
- A mid-term exam
- And then a final exam (at the end of the respective term, not at the end of the year).
No single form of assessment makes up more than 30% of your final grade. For each course I am also given one key reading each week (as opposed to about 10 per lecture), which are then analyzed and discussed together in class. I find this quantity of reading much more achievable and so actually keep on top of it. This whole assessment system means that you keep up to date with the material you are learning about and develop good class dynamics through group discussions and group projects. For example, the online blog posts are a platform for class debate: one person will have to post a reading response or reflection once a week and everyone else is expected to read this and then write their own opinions in the comments section.
At UCL there is more emphasis on independent study, individual extended coursework and final exams (all at the end of the year). The assessment comes in big chunks, such as a big piece of coursework or a big exam making up 50-100% of your grade. Different people learn in different ways but I find I am much more suited to having a more structured, broken down and engaged schedule.
In summary, I have really settled into the academic environment at UBC. Due to the participatory nature of the teaching approach I have found it much easier to engage in the topics we are learning about, to make friends with other people in my classes and to be more confident about having one on one conversations with my professors.