Maple League universities team up for multidisciplinary distance learning

SACKVILLE, NB — The Maple League universities — Mount Allison, Acadia, St. Francis Xavier, and Bishop’s — are offering a new multidisciplinary course exploring the theme of “time” this Fall, demonstrating how this consortium of universities can collaborate to offer students a richer, more relevant learning experience across four campuses.

Four award-winning professors from different fields — Dr. David Hornidge (Physics, Mount Allison); Dr. Michele Murray (Religion, Bishop’s); Dr. Michael Cardinal-Aucoin (Biology, St.F.X.); and Dr. Jeff Hennesy (Music, Acadia) — have designed an innovative learning experience in a team-taught, distance learning environment.

Using the latest technology, students enrolled in the course at all four Maple League universities will reflect on how time informs and shapes knowledge in four very different academic disciplines. They will attend classes via videoconference and in person throughout the Fall semester. Classes are divided into disciplinary blocks and one professor explores what time means in their field of expertise with the students and other instructors. This synchronous online learning experience provides students with both in class and virtual instruction in a small seminar-style course.

Dr. David Hornidge, Mount Allison University physics professor and department head, is one of four professors who will be teaching the new class through the Maple League. Hornidge says he’s looking forward to the experience.

“Bringing together different areas of expertise, across different campuses, is really exciting,” says Hornidge, who will be teaching the first part of the new course from the Mount Allison campus. “I’ve never taught a course across four campuses simultaneously. I hope to make the class as experiential as possible and work to involve the students in every part.”

As the professors write, “Time is a concept we encounter every day and yet one that we rarely, if ever, consider beyond checking it on our wall clock (or iPhone). However, our seemingly familiar relationship with time deceives us into believing that the concept of time is a simple one. This course will seek answers to questions such as: What is the meaning of time and how can it be defined? What is the space-time continuum and what does the theory of relativity imply about time? How do organisms perceive time and what is a biological clock? How have different religious traditions perceived time and given it meaning? How is time divided to create rhythms and how do we keep a beat?”

“This multidisciplinary learning experience encourages students to make connections between facts, concepts and ideas in various academic disciplines,” says Maple League Executive Director and Bishop’s University English Department Associate Professor Dr. Jessica Riddell. “Made possible by 21st-century technology, this course is a striking demonstration that the liberal arts approach to learning – at the core of all four of the Maple League universities – is more relevant than ever for students, as they seek to understand our increasingly complex and fast-paced world.”

Through their collaboration, the four universities of the Maple League help students prepare for rapidly evolving job market, with courses like these that challenge students to think critically and creatively about the world around them. For more information about the Maple League, visit: www.mapleleague.ca

Photo caption: Mount Allison University physics professor Dr. David Hornidge is one of four professors team teaching the new course TIME, offered through the Maple League of Universities. The Maple League, made up of Mount Allison, Acadia, Bishop’s, and St. Francis Xavier universities, shares a focused commitment to the undergraduate experience.