Blogs
Delegates and Federation officials share their Congress experience. Follow them throughout the week in our blogs section which will also include what other bloggers say about Congress. In collaboration with The Walrus Magazine. New Blog entries starting May 22.
The Walrus
May 28 : Blogs from Congress, May 26-28
Nathalie Des Rosiers writes…
Another day at Congress - Listened to Justice Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella Lecture on the necessity of human rights and the way in which we have failed to integrate the three lessons from Wolrd War II : - indifference as the gound for intolerance, - that we should be known not for what one stands for, but for one stands up for, and that we need to see the world through the eyes of the vulnerable. (more…)
May 26 : Sex, Archives and the Police
Daniel Drolet writes…
A lot of the real work of Congress is taking place quietly, in the classrooms of Carleton University. That’s where many of the sessions are held. At those sessions, the academics at Congress present their latest work to colleagues in what is inevitably a real exchange of information. The topics, of course, can be very narrowly focused and therefore not necessarily of interest to the general public. On the other hand, the people who do attend these sessions are very interested – and very knowledgeable. (more…)
May 26 : Early risers and interdisciplinarity
Daniel Drolet writes…
It’s early morning, 7:40, and Ottawa’s municipal bus system has delivered me to campus, right on time.
I’ve come to hear David Foot, a U of T economist, demographer and author, talk about workplace trends. (I imagine most people have heard about his book Boom, Bust and Echo.)
While the audience settles down to breakfast – scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, fruit and of course coffee – he proceeds to tell us, in a very engaging way, about how the changing demographic structure of Canada’s population affects everything from university enrolment to careers. And how it’s possible, if you study demographics, to plan quite confidently for the future – and understand social trends today (more…)
May 26 : Great for engaging students, but …
Daniel Drolet writes…
If you’re reading this blog then you must be interested in blogs.
But that doesn’t mean academics know much about them, or their uses in teaching.
So to find out more, I attended a session this morning called Academic Blogs: Connecting people and ideas. (The session was part of Career Corner, a regular feature of Congress 2009. There are several sessions a day focussed on career development.)
The session left me with two rather contradictory take-away messages: On the one hand, blogs can be useful in an academic environment – particularly for engaging students and encouraging debate. But on the other hand, how do you overcome the fact that they take up time and can contribute to information overload? (more…)
May 25 : Congress 2009 Diary: May 22-23
Daniel Drolet writes…
Talking to passionate people is always stimulating. And after a couple of weeks interviewing professors and researchers presenting papers at Congress 09, I can certainly I’ve been stimulated. Arctic sovereignty. Visible minorities. Hockey. Hyperactivity. The economic crisis. Canada’s grocery industry … rarely have I encountered such an eclectic range of topics in one place. (more…)
Jeff Francom, Masters of Education student at Nipissing University, ON, writes…
As a college teacher, I have often advertised the value of extra education to my students. About 3 years ago, I decided to ‘eat my own cooking’, taking my own advice and returning to school, albeit part-time. 6 MEd courses and a couple of years later, I am completing my thesis and presenting my findings at the Graduate Student panel on Monday. (more…)
May 21 : Congress, yesterday and tomorrow
Nathalie Des Rosiers writes…
Academic life has its rhythms: back-to-school in September, grant application deadlines, semester’s end buried under marking exams and assignments, the fatigue of the winter months, the scramble at the end of the school year… and the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. (more…)
Who's blogging about Congress
May 29 : knowledge mobilization: maximizing your career options — inside, outside, and beside the academy
Research Impact writes…
I was trained as an immunologist. The title of my major paper from my PhD was “Gallysin-1, an antibacterial protein isolated from hemolymph of Galleria mellonella.” (Dev. Comp. Immunol 18: 13-23). The title of the major paper from my post doc was “Increased enzymatic activity of the T-cell antigen receptor-associated Fyn protein tyrosine kinase in asymptomatic patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.” (Blood 90 (9):3603-3612) which lead to a patent “Methods for the early detection of HIV infection” (WO1997/021102). I was never trained to be a knowledge broker because no one ever grows up wanting to be one. (more…)
May 26 : Congress ’09 - Scholarship of teaching and learning ‘not good enough’
Léo Carbonneau from Margin Notes writes…
Gary Poole is a tireless advocate for the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) because he thinks it will improve how academics teach and how students learn. We’ve made good progress in Canada in terms of SoTL, he says, but not good enough. He admits he’s getting a bit impatient. (more…)
Carolyn Steele from Career Sense writes…
For the next 5 days I am going to be blogging from Congress 2009 at Carleton University.
I attended the President’s reception this evening. Lots of great food, libations, and a mass of fascinating conversations. This is what interdisciplinarity is all about. Not replacing the value of field-specific concentrations, but enriching them immeasurably with ideas and concepts from other areas. The energy this synergy produces is positively electric. (more…)
