UBC Mix Community Portal

UBC Mix: Mixing up your Education
...helps to partner instructors, students and courses together to create an interdisciplinary atmosphere for better learning and understanding.
Welcome to the UBC Mix Community Portal. Here you'll find examples of previous mixes, contact information for future mixes, and other resources to help you mix it up.

This page is part of the Teaching and Learning Resources Portal

Welcome to the UBC Mix Community Portal! Here you'll find contacts, resources and other materials to support your interdisciplinary project. To learn more about UBC Mix, please visit our website.

Get Involved

Add your profile to the wiki to develop our Mix community of practice and to share your Mix ideas and capacity!

• Create a UBC Mix Profile
  • Directly on the Wiki: Log in using your CWL and fill in our Profile Template (HINT: right click to open a new window).
  • Submit a Form: Download our Profile Request Form, fill it out, and email it to the UBC Mix Student Coordinator. You will be notified when your profile is ready.
• Email the UBC Mix Student Coordinator at ubc-mix@interchange.ubc.ca. Discuss your ideas.
• Contribute to the Portal. Everyone is encouraged to add or edit pages.

UBC Mix Call for Proposals

UBC Mix is accepting proposals for Mix partnerships and Mix activities. Up to $500 start-up funding, consultation, planning support, and Mix matchmaking services are available for new Mixes and ReMixes.

Deadlines once per term, with a rolling deadline for submissions throughout the rest of the year.

Email Mix proposals and questions to: ubc.mix@interchange.ubc.ca

Please include the following information in your 1-page Mix proposal:

• Mix partners’ names, departments, faculties, and contact information
• Plans for Mix activity, Mix funds, and student participant evaluation

Please note that you may submit a proposal even if you are only in the developmental stages of designing a Mix partnership or activity. The Mix Coordinator can help you to locate Mix partners, design activities, and connect you with resources.

We especially welcome proposals for next school year!

Resources

Below are some resources to help you get started. For general teaching and learning resources, check out the Teaching and Learning Resources Portal.

Suggested Mix Formats

Below is a list of some possible formats a UBC Mix could take. Where applicable, each format is linked to examples of previous and current Mixes.

• Common Discussions, Labs, and Tutorials
• Data Mash-up Meetings
• Establishing Learning Communities
• Interdisciplinary Ethics Salons
• Joint Assignments
• Joint Lectures and Lecture Series
• Mixed Community Service Learning (CSL) Projects
• Parisian Salon
• Student Presentations/Symposia
• Swapping Classes for a Lecture

Interdisciplinarity

R.J. Ellis identifies six ways to approach interdisciplinarity, listed below . These are a good place to start planning your mix.

1. Develop conceptual links using a perspective in one discipline to modify a perspective in another discipline
2. Recognize a new level of organisation with its own processes in order to solve unsolved problems within existing disciplines or problems that lie beyond the scope of any one discipline
3. Use research techniques developed in one discipline to elaborate a theoretical model in another
4. Modify and extending a theoretical framework from one domain to apply in another
5. Develop a new theoretical framework that may reconceptualize research in separate domains as it attempts to integrate them
6. Address broad issues and/or complex questions spanning more than one disciplinary field

UBC Mix Projects and Partners

Projects Supported by UBC Mix

Below is a list of interdisciplinary initiatives supported by UBC Mix.

• Course Mix = HIST104 + Science One Biology
• Dambisa Moyo Lecture = UBC Mix + Terry* Project + many more!
• Danse Crowkiller Lecture = ECON317 + APSC263 + APSC450 + CSL
• Global Citizenship Term in Guatemala = PHIL335A + SOCI430
• Joint Assignment=STAT450+POLI423A
• Joint Lectures = Arts One + Science One
• Joint Project = STAT450 + BIOL363
• UBC Law Innocence Project = Faculty of Law + School of Journalism
• UBC Reads Sustainability = UBC Mix + AMS Sustainability + UBC Sustainability Initiative + more!

UBC Mix Profiles

Name	Affiliation(s)	Mix Ideas
Allen Sens	Department of Political Science	Teaches Introduction to International Relations (2nd year) Interested in possible mixes with 2nd year science courses addressing climate change, nuclear weapons, chemical and/or biological weapons, any other possibilities.
Annette Berndt	Centre for Professional Skills Development Faculty of Applied Science (Engineering)	Teach APSC 201 (Technical Communication): Engineering students learn about context and documentation, audience and purpose by writing instruction sets, mechanism descriptions, formal reports, letters and memoranda. Teach APSC 263 (Technology and Development, subtitled "The Global Engineer") Elective for engineering students with a few seats for arts students. In collaboration with the Maiwa Foundation, students work on sociotechnical problems identified by rural artisans in India (without travelling to India) and learn how social context influences the design and implementation of proposed solutions. Interested in developing joint assignments and/or collaborating on mixed Community Service-Learning projects with colleagues involved in Sauder's D-Studio Journalism Education (visual literacy issues in teaching and learning) Cultural Studies Anthropology/Sociology Chemistry (water purification, rapid/natural dyes) Engineering (Chemical, Materials, Mechanical) Etc.
Arlene Sindelar	Department of History Faculty of Arts	LASO 204 Introduction to Law and Society HIST 101 World History Topics: Sin, Sex and Society in the Pre-Modern World
Carla Paterson	Faculty of Applied Science	APSC 261 and 262: these are technology and society courses focusing on sustainability at UBC We would like to: invite folks to join us for guest lectures be able to join other classes for special lectures bring students from different disciplines together to work on assignments
Christina Hendricks	Faculty of Arts Philosophy and Arts One	Arts One/Science One mixes
Eugenia Yu	Statistics	Statistical consulting
Gordon Bates	Department of Chemistry Science One	Encourage MIX activities involving Science One Past events which were joint with Arts One included speakers and a film/discussion night. We also had a joint project with Hist 104 and the biology unit of Science One (two years) Would welcome Guest speakers (especially those whose interests cross traditional boundaries), possible short micro-course units for presentation to Science One
Joanne Fox	Michael Smith Laboratories Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty of Science	Teaches MICB405: Bioinformatics Teaches SCIE113: First Year Seminar in Science Co-organizes the Terry* project. Interested in creating a joint lecture series, opportunity to pair class with SCIE113 Science & Society speaker series
Kyle Nelson	The Faculty of Land and Food Systems and the UBC Community Learning Initiative	I feel that the power of story telling is often over looked. Stories empower, enable and engage. The ability to shape and share a story about you and your work is a powerful way to empower people to act, enable processes to change and engage those on the periphery who might otherwise stand still.
L.M. (Les) Lavkulich	TerreWeb	Being kept informed Innovations in integrating emerging IT into courses on Communications
Luisa Canuto	Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology	Teaches ITAL 101, ITAL 102, ITAL 201, ITAL 202 These are all language courses for beginner and intermediate students of Italian language and culture
Lydia Jones	Free University of Berlin (formerly at UBC)	Long distance collaborations (Vancouver - Berlin). Topic/format is open!
Machiel Van der Loos	Dept. of Mechanical Engineering	Teaches undergraduate design courses, such as the 4th-year capstone design project course. Often brings in speakers from industry to give students an idea of what kind of career options they have. Interested in collaboration with other courses.
Natalie Baloy	CTLT Department of Anthropology	As UBC Mix Student Coordinator, I have lots of ideas about potential Mixes. Contact me to discuss your Mix ideas and I'll link you with partners and resources!
Nisha Malhotra	Dept. of Economics UBC Mix International Relations	ECON micro/macro economics ECON international trade (3rd and 4th year) ECON 490, students research papers on development, gender population and health. (anemia among women, discrimination against girls, birth rates). I am interested in guest lecturers to discuss the political side on international trade and creating a partnership with statistics.
Ray Hsu	Creative Writing	Interested in creating an interdisciplinary workshop on new media, literacy, advocacy.
Sam Fenn	UBC History	I am interested in facilitating student initiated and led interdisciplinary mixes at UBC. This could include undergraduate research clusters, student directed seminars, discussion groups at global speaker series and much more. Please email me or drop by the Center for Student Involvement to discuss mix ideas!
Shayna Plaut	Faculty of Education Liu Institute for Global Issues	I am in the final stages of putting together a human rights reporting class at the Graduate School of Journalism where we will be bringing in Political science, Law, First Nations Studies, and Gender Studies faculty/staff/readings/issues and students I am always eager to bring in human rights issues into unconventional - or perhaps non-obvious places/spaces/curricula/audiences. I am happy to help connect people to various resources (readings, guest speakers, events) that can do so.
Sunaina Assanand	Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts	Psychology 304, Brain and Behaviour Psychology 305, Personality Psychology Psychology 307, Cultural Psychology Psychology 320, Gender Psychology Interested in Joint Lectures and Lecture Series, Mixed Community Service Learning (CSL) Projects, Swapping Classes for a Lecture
VictoriaWood	College of Health Disciplines	I work with a team of faculty and staff from different programs across campus to develop learning experiences that bring together students from a range of disciplines to learn with, from and about each other. I organize and promote the College of Health Disciplines Parisian Salon Series. Encourage your students to attend!
TerreWEB	TerreWEB	TerreWEB is a graduate training program that focuses on effective communication of global change research. Selected as one of three 2011 programs at UBC funded by the NSERC-CREATE (Collaborative Research and Training Experience) initiative, TerreWEB aims to have Master and PhD students integrate global change science, social science and communications research. TerreWEB is an enriched, interdisciplinary and collaborative graduate training program focused on global change impacts on terrestrial ecosystems, mitigation and adaptation strategies, and the role of scientific communication to affect appropriate changes in human behaviour for adapting to global change. TerreWEB is inclusive, and invites current and potential UBC graduate student and their supervisor, with research focusing on terrestrial ecosystems and communication to become a part of our team. We are looking to collaborate on a wide-range of projects, e.g. seminars, workshops, campus-wide and off-campus internships and lab-rotations, outreach initiatives and more.

UBC Experts

UBC has a database of experts who are available to speak to the media on a wide range of topics, from allergies to water. This database can be starting point for identifying potential Mix partners. Email the Mix coordinator at ubc-mix@interchange.ubc.ca if you would like help facilitating your partnership and communication!

Courses and Programs in the Mix

Click on the courses and programs below to find out more about their involvement in UBC Mix-supported interdisciplinary initiatives.

Courses

History 104: Topics in World History (Carla Paterson)

Science One Biology (Celeste Leander)

Economics 317: Poverty and Inequality (Catherine Douglas)

Applied Science 263: Technology and Development (Carla Paterson and Annette Berndt)

Applied Science 450: Professional Engineering Practice (Dawn Mills)

Philosophy 335A: Power and Oppression (Sylvia Berryman)

Sociology 430: Global Citizenship (Tom Kemple)

Statistics 450: Case Studies in Statistics (John Petkau and Eugenia Yu)

Biology 363: Laboratory in Animal Physiology (Agnes Lacombe)

Civil Engineering 201: Civil Engineering I

Anthropology 360: Introduction to Ecological Anthropology

Political Science 423A: Issues in Comparative Politics (Chris Kam)

UBC Programs

the Terry* Project

the UBC President’s Office

the Commerce Undergraduate Society

Africa Awareness Initiative

Arts One Program (Christina Hendricks)

Science One Program (Gordon Bates)

Faculty of Law (Tamara Levy)

School of Journalism (Mary Lynn Young)

Other Programs

Lundin for Africa

Vancouver Institute

External Resources

Select Bibliography

To add a bibliographic entry:

• Log on with your CWL
• Go to the Bibliography section, click the 'Edit' tab at the top of the page (next to 'View')
• In the text box, find 'Bibliography:', click enter, type an asterisk, then type the bibliographic reference details
• To add an UBC e-link button, follow instructions here: http://wiki.ubc.ca/Help:Linking_to_UBC_Library_Material
• Show preview and then save page to add your contribution to the Wiki!

Bibliography:

• Barisonzi, J., & Thorn, M. (2003). Teaching revolution: Issues in interdisciplinary education. College Teaching, 51(1), 5-8.

• Cerra, F., & Brandt, B.F. (2011). Renewed focus in the United States links interprofessional education with redesigning health care. Journal of Interprofessional Care 25(6), 394-396.

• Krometis, L. H., Clark, E. P., Gonzalez, V., & Leslie, M. E. (2011). The "death" of disciplines: Development of a team-taught course to provide an interdisciplinary perspective for first-year students. College Teaching, 59(2), 73-78.

• Nowacek, R. S. (2009). Why is being interdisciplinary so very hard to do? thoughts on the perils and promise of interdisciplinary pedagogy. College Composition and Communication, 60(3), 493-516.

Links

• Carleton College Interdisciplinary Science and Math Initiative
• Excerpt from "Interdisciplinary Courses and Team Teaching" by James R. Davis
• the Association for Integrative Studies
  • see particularly: Selected Interdisciplinary Syllabi
  • and: INTERDIS Listserv
  • and: Bibliography of Interdisciplinary Studies
• LLAS Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Group
  • see particularly: Ellis, R.J. (2003). "Interdisciplinarity." Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Good Practice Guide. http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/2241.

Help Develop This Resource

You only need to login with your CWL first.

You can use the following code to add an article to the UBC Mix Projectbox

• {{Projectbox_UBC_Mix}} - adds the page to the UBC Mix Projectbox

You can use the following code to add an article to the list of previous and current UBC Mix projects

• [[Category:UBC Mix Examples]] - adds the page to the list of previous and current UBC Mix projects

How Are We Doing?

Is this resource portal useful to you? We'd like your feedback. Drop us a line on the discussion tab of this page. or Email the UBC Mix Student Coordinator with your comments, suggestions and ideas.