Campus Catchup

Computing students in BC reject mandatory gym class

Computing students at the British Columbia Institute of Technology have started to rebel against mandatory gym classes they are required to attend. 

The students are required to participate in one weekly 8:30 a.m. gym class in order to obtain their degree. 

The mandatory gym classes have existed for several years, but students are only now beginning to voice their concerns with them.

A petition has been signed by dozens of students and shows a wide opposition to these classes. A curriculum committee will decide on whether to keep the classes. 

Computing students are the only students on campus required to attend the 50-minute, uninstructed gym classes. According to an article in Maclean’s, many feel they are being unfairly picked on due to stereotypes that surround computing students. 

Associate Dean of Computer Systems Technology, Brian Pidcock, insisted their intentions were good. 

“It’s not like we force them to play dodgeball. It’s not like high-school P.E,” he told Maclean’s.

— Rosie Hales

Concordia to allow students to use chosen name

At Concordia University, transgender students will be able to use their chosen names on everything except their transcripts starting fall 2012.

After two years of campaigning, students were granted the ability to make a written request to have only their chosen name on students IDs, class lists and exams, meaning that they don’t have to risk being called by a name they don’t identify with. 

The University of Toronto has a similar policy.

At Queen’s, any requests to change a name must be accompanied by supporting documentation. 

Ben Boudreau, a second-year student at Concordia, brought about this change after complaining about having to use his birth name. With help from Concordia’s 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, Boudreau staged a campaign which led to the University creating a working group to come up with the compromise.

— Rosie Hales

Study shows blended models are effective in universities

A study by former Princeton University president William G. Bowen suggests blended learning may be more effective than traditional in-lecture learning.

Blended learning is a combination of online and in-lecture learning.

Bowen’s study was conducted within six different public universities in the U.S. and involved 605 students. The students were placed in a statistics class that split them up in either a technology based or in-lecture class. The technology-based classes involved minimal lecture time.

The study concluded that students who took the technology based class performed just as well on the standardized tests as the other students and were able to learn the course material 25 per cent quicker.

The University of Manitoba recently implemented blended learning due to recent budget issues affecting the amount of available professors to teach introductory psychology courses.

Queen’s has added blending learning to some of its classes in recent years, including PSYC 100.

— Rachel Herscovici

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