Globally Networking Learning (GNL) on Refugees and Forced Migration Through Innovative Collaborative Pedagogy in Mexico, Ecuador, and Canada

This Globally Networking Learning (GNL) experience was brought together in August 2020 per the initiative of the York International’s GNL Initiative at York University and involved York University (Canada), Universidad San Francisco de Quito (Ecuador) and Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico). The courses of the three institutions were very different but did share the main axis of talking about diverse international people having to adapt to an unknown international context. This GNL course came together several months after the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic “lockdown” of higher educational institutions across the globe. Students enjoyed the opportunity to work with students from other countries and cultures on the subject matter cited above, that is international by its very nature.

Promoting Collaborative Pedagogy in Classrooms: Challenges and Solutions

<p><em>Collaborative pedagogy appears to be productive among students and thereby adopted in many classrooms to ensure that students are active participants in the knowledge production process. However, challenges exist among students, alongside their instructors, which hinders the active involvement of students in the collaborative knowledge production process. In the same vein, the study also examines the possible ways to navigate the challenges. The argument is located within social constructivism and conceptual analysis of collaborative pedagogy to explore the trajectories of collaborative classrooms in schools. In response to the challenges, the study proposed solutions that include promotion of unity in diversities among students, the introduction of cultural variations in classrooms, and instigation of student’s readiness to interact. The study concludes that collaborative knowledge construction is worthy of being promoted with the recommendation that schools should ensure that students are taught to be united in the process of generating knowledge and that there must be concerted efforts to teach different cultures in the system with student motivation for natural interest. </em></p>

Hidden Town in 3D

This article presents a case of collaborative pedagogy of digital humanities involving a virtual version of historic Salem, North Carolina. “Hidden Town in 3D” is a partnership between Middle Tennessee State University’s Public History, Animation, and Aerospace programs, and Old Salem Museums and Gardens. The object of Hidden Town in 3D is to use digital technologies to recover and represent the stories of the African Americans of Salem. The anticipated outputs for this project are an augmented reality application that can be used on-site at Old Salem, allowing visitors to see slave dwellings where they once stood and a virtual tour using gaming technology of the entire town in the year 1860 with African-American stories and homes reintegrated. Along with enhancing the museum’s visitor experience, these outputs enhance the educational experiences of undergraduate and graduate students through interdisciplinary, project-based learning. Thus, the technical work of modeling, animating, and augmented reality benefits teaching, historical scholarship, and museum offerings.

Scientific Discourse: Can Our First-Year Students Express Themselves in Science?

Scientific discourse is a specialized, semantically dense language used to formulate clear, objective arguments around experimental results. However, science classrooms are practically void of scientific argumentation and this important skill is rarely modelled or developed in these spaces. Yet, students are expected to engage with complex disciplinary texts and then demonstrate their mastery of scientific subject matter using appropriate scientific discourse. Students find this extremely challenging and many are implicitly excluded from successful engagement with the subject. The aim of our study was the assessment and development of first-year biology students’ scientific discourse skills through collaborative pedagogy, to make aspects of biology discourse explicit to all students. We drew on Legitimation Code Theory’s concept of semantic density, which considers complexity of meaning, to design a learning opportunity and then analyzed selections of students’ summative assessments. Results showed profound variation in the proficiency of the students’ scientific vocabulary and language functions, and the discourse of the school and first-year biology textbooks. We therefore argue for science pedagogy that would allow students time and opportunities to mindfully engage with complex disciplinary text and then demonstrate their mastery of their learning using appropriate scientific discourse.