Today@Dal

From the Globe and Mail's new interactive feature, Transforming the ivory tower:

Robert Huish encourages his students to dissent.

Every course that he teaches at Dalhousie University includes an activism component – it does not necessarily involve students marching on the streets (although they have), but rather is focused on building communication skills that lead to social change.

For Dr. Huish, that’s the essence of a changing university education: The shoehorning of students into lecture halls is an outdated model that needs to be replaced with experiential learning that reminds students they have power to elicit powerful responses.

"We need to go beyond the traditional lecture and the textbooks," said Dr. Huish, an assistant professor of international development. "This is a great opportunity to get students together and organize [based] on their interests, what motivates them, and where do they want to act and why."

Students in one of his classes raised awareness of global food and hunger issues, visiting elementary and high schools, writing to a Member of Parliament and, in this particular case, marching on the streets of Halifax. Another class raised $9,000 for earthquake relief in Haiti. The students are graded on the organization of their project, such as formulating a coherent message.

You can read the rest of this article at The Globe and Mail website, and you can also watch a video interview with Dr. Huish about his classes.

Want to learn more about academic innovation at Dal? Visit the Academic Innovation website and make plans to attend/watch the DALVision 2020 Senate Forum on Undergraduate Education on November 13.