| Title | eScience – Enhancing the Science Learning Community |
|---|---|
| Faculty/College/Unit | Science |
| Status | Completed |
| Duration | 2 Year |
| Initiation | 04/01/2003 |
| Completion | 03/31/2005 |
| Funding Details | |
| Year 1: Project Title | e-Science – the Science Students’ Digital Communities Project |
| Year 1: Project Year | Year 1 |
| Year 1: Funding Year | 2003/2004 |
| Year 1: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 1: Principal Investigator | Paul G. Harrison |
| Year 1: Funded Amount | 48,352 |
| Year 1: Team Members | Paul G. Harrison, Science Student Centre and Skylight, Faculty of Science |
| Year 1: Summary | Objective: Students' university experience is shaped by the information they access and their social and academic integration into the university. This project targets students from their first interest in science, through their undergraduate, graduate, and alumni years, with the goals of building community and creating successful learners and scientists while at UBC and beyond. The a-Science project will provide access to a collaborative digital space that provides resources selected for their potential to help build community: communities of learning (e.g., learning resources, web log groups), communities of purpose (e.g., projects, Science Advising, Career Development), communities of interest (e.g., MUGs, clubs, Science Undergraduate Society), and communities of practice (e.g., peer tutoring, research). These communities will help students to develop support structures that lead logically to a variety effective learning and social interactions inside and outside this virtual space. The e-Science project is not a standalone initiative, but one that will work collaboratively with other web resource projects at UBC and generate channels for the myUBC Portal initiative. Rationale: Among the many challenges that UBC sets science students, a major one is the "unsupportive culture" (Seymour, 1995) of science. As student success is strongly linked to the teaching and learning environment, if students are unable to access appropriate information and develop support systems, they are at a higher degree of risk for failing, repeatedly switching majors, or dropping out. This project addresses the need to provide a more supportive environment through a digital community learning space where students can find and develop their academic and individual communities. Although many new web resources will certainly be created by this project, perhaps more importantly the e-Science project will provide a unified structure for organizing and presenting existing web resources for current, potential, and alumni Science students and through this effort also serve to keep information consistent and accurate. |
| Year 2: Project Year | Year 2 |
| Year 2: Funding Year | 2004/2005 |
| Year 2: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 2: Principal Investigator | Paul G. Harrison |
| Year 2: Funded Amount | 35,426 |
| Year 2: Team Members | Paul G. Harrison, Science Student Centre / Skylight, Faculty of Science |
| Year 2: Summary | Objective: Students' university experiences are shaped by the information they access and their social and academic integration into the university. This project targets students from their first interest in science, through their undergraduate, graduate, and alumni years, with the goals of building community and creating successful learners and scientists while at UBC and beyond. The eScience project will provide access to a collaborative digital space that provides resources selected for their potential to help students build their own communities: students interacting with peers through public and private electronic communication forums that lead to team work whether on a class project or in the Student Rec Centre; students planning their academic programs with the aid of critical updates on academic rules and regulations from the Science Advising Centre; students accessing opportunities for international experiences, for research internships, or for workshops on career planning through timed and timely notifications tailored to the individuals needs and interests. These resources will help students to develop support structures that lead to a variety of effective learning and social interactions inside and outside this virtual space. The eScience project is not a stand-alone initiative, but one that will work collaboratively with other web resource projects at UBC and generate channels for the myUBC Portal initiative when the opportunity exists. Rationale: Although generally successful in their studies, we know through surveys that many UBC Science student indicate their learning and university experience would have benefited from a greater sense of community. This project addresses the need to provide a more supportive environment through digital resources and a learning space where students can find and develop their academic and individual communities. Many new and updated web resources have already been created in the first year of this project, and given the positive responses to them, we believe additional resources will further the ability of eScience to support students' preferences and needs and to reach not only current but also potential and alumni Science students. |