Team Members: Gillis Aning, Alison Gibbs, Alan Lam, Saneea Mustafa, Jessie Richards
Supporters: Mick Healey, Cherie Woolmer
Project Description
Involving students in the program-level curriculum development process has been a topic of conversation for the Department of Statistical Sciences at the University of Toronto St. George campus as they have embarked on a large-scale revision of their undergraduate program. As a discipline, statistics has been evolving rapidly and programs of study in statistics at the University of Toronto have experienced massive growth in enrolment. The Associate Chair, Undergraduate of the statistics department has been working closely with the University of Toronto’s Curriculum Developer on the revision project, and both are interested in developing a formal process for involving students in a more substantial role. They are putting together a team for this purpose which will include two undergraduate students and the department’s Undergraduate Administrator.
The team is excited to take the opportunity of the McMaster Change Institute to develop a framework for involving students as partners in the curriculum development process, starting with involving students in the development of that framework. Various opportunities for student involvement have already been discussed, including seeking feedback (e.g. surveys, focus groups), creating pedagogical consultant roles to participate in curriculum committee meetings, and/or establishing program advisory council meetings of which students are a part. The Change Institute workshop time and mentorship will allow the team to determine if and how the aforementioned options would be suitable for the faculty, staff, and students of the statistics department, particularly the options that involve students in a more significant and integrated way. The team is also interested to hear what other institutions are doing to involve students in their curriculum development processes. A draft framework will be established by the end of the Institute and will be piloted with the statistics department in the following year.
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