Dr. Peggy Patterson spoke first about learners and leaders and I was particularly drawn to the info on undergraduate success and satisfaction as my little sister is headed off to Dalhousie University in the fall. I echoed some of her findings with my own experience - I feel I had an enriched university experience because I lived in residence. If I had not, I'm not sure how integrated into University life I would have felt. I encouraged my sister to go away to school so she could experience res life too (although, maybe not quite so far as Halifax, but what are you going to do!) because of the positive experiences and lifelong friends I created in res.
(My sister and I at Christmas eve dinner 2011)
I then listened to our lovely site assistant Jacqueline talk about learning spaces. I find environment design fascinating and she's a great speaker. I learned a few tools to evaluate the spaces I enter so that I can perhaps rearrange things to an environment that is more useful to it's participants.
The last lecture of the day was the 4 Alice's in Imaginative Education. I really enjoyed hearing how the educators who worked with adult learners incorporated imaginative education as I've found that to be a big struggle for me in this course. Of course, hearing my colleague and fellow dental hygienist speak was lovely. It's nice to hear about dental issues occasionally!
