OUSA

Just before lunch I had a fantastic conversation with an educational developer from Open Universities Australia (OUA). With the provincial government preparing to create implement an Ontario Online Institute, learning from the experiences of others is critical if we are to avoid duplicating their mistakes.

The OUA, like the Open University in the UK, takes online courses from “brick and mortar” universities and brings them together to create degree programs. Students interact directly with the OUA on everything from admissions to student support, but another institution grants the final degree. In pulling all these online courses together, credit transfer and cost-sharing become significant hurdles, but the OUA has worked through these issues over the last 15 years or so.

This is exactly the kind of model students want to see from the Ontario Online Institute, and OUSA will continue to work with the OUA and other partners in online education as we prepare a detailed blueprint for the Institute.

Alexi White
Executive Director

According to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), active and collaborative learning pedagogies are closely related to deep learning, rather than the passive lecture style. While active learning opportunities are increasing slowly on individual campuses, no one can say with any certainty where we are from a system-wide view. With so much progress still to be made, I chose to attend the breakout sessions listed above, hosted by four educational developers from McGill.

The session focused on fostering active learning environments and how we can build better classrooms. After an overview of the advances taking place at McGill, the presenters posed an interesting question: is it really worth the investing in the tables, chairs, screens, projectors and interactive technology required to create an active learning classroom?

Of course, the room gave a resounding yes. Not only does the literature clearly demonstrate the value of active learning, the importance of this sort of high-impact experience clearly warrants prioritizing funding in this area. The results of student surveys also support this view. Of the students and faculty who participated in the active learning programs at McGill, over 90% believed learning outcomes and engagement had improved.

What’s striking is how small things can have a large impact on learning. Students commented that something as simple as substituting round tables for the traditional side-by-side lecture format created significant increases in group discussion and collaborative learning. Add to that multiple screens, writable walls and full computer access and you have a completely transformed learning environment.

To their credit, the presenters also showed us student criticisms, including, “the space does not make us learn better but rather the teaching methods of the teacher is what really makes a difference.” Additionally, it was noted that these classrooms are resource and space intensive, and its broad implementation remains a challenge that will require institutional leadership.

Session conclusions:
1. Instructors and students had positive perceptions of the impact of active classroom environments on student engagement.

2. It’s important to integrate appropriate features of classroom with course design.

3. There is a great need for comprehensive instructor support within this environment.

Sam Andrey
Director of Research and Policy Analysis

At this year’s STLHE conference at Ryerson and OCAD, staff from OUSA are joining over 700 other students, faculty, administrators and educational developers for three days of intensive discussion on how we can improve teaching and learning in Canada. Delegates, some from as far away as Egypt, Australia, The Bahamas, and Iran, will navigate their way through over 100 plenary, breakout and poster sessions, and that’s just today.

The conference began bright and early this morning with a welcome from Joy Mighty, STLHE President and OUSA Partners Dinner keynote speaker. Following her, Ryerson VP Academic Alan Shepard and OCAD VP Academic Sarah McKinnon thanked delegates on behalf of the hosting institutions and spoke of the importance of collaboration in improving teaching and learning.

The highlight of the plenary sessions was by far the address by Dr. Michael Wesch, an anthropologist from Kansas State University, who spoke passionately of the need to change from a focus on knowledge to one of knowledge-ability. More than simply critical thinking, this approach to knowledge requires students to develop communication skills, empathy and thoughtfulness, all three of which work in tandem to allow the student to tackle the challenges the world throws at them.

Dr. Wesch also spoke of students’ deep desire to have a place in the world and suggested that faculty mentor students to proactively make a meaning for their lives as “meaning-makers” rather than “meaning-seekers”. Using a number of engaging examples, he described the need for universities to create “digital citizens” who harness new media to improve the world.

One of his most interesting points was about how instructors continuously squander the opportunity presented by having a projector and internet access in every room. Why do profs turn away from the incredible knowledge contained in the internet and instead choose to use the often mind-numbing PowerPoint approach?

As the first steps to change, Dr. Wesch suggested two things: engage students in real problems and harness the relevant tools to add to the learning experience. Though this advice is far from new, it has yet to be accepted widely, and this stubbornness is undeniably letting our students down.

Stay tuned for more as the conference progresses.

Alexi White
Executive Director

Hello,

I want to use my first blog as an opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Daud Grewal and I`m currently in my 4th year of Political Science at Brock University. This year I am honoured to be serving as the Vice President of University Affairs for the Brock University Students Union (BUSU).

I am very excited to be a part of OUSA this year and am looking forward to helping improve the way education is delivered in the PSE sector. Education is not a luxury but a need. Every Canadian citizen should be able to access post secondary education despite their socio-economic status. As John Dewey said, “Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself.”

This year I am looking forward to working with our partners to improve the accessibility, affordability, accountability, and quality of post secondary education.

Daud Grewal
VP University Affairs
Brock University Students’ Union

On the morning of June 22, OUSA hosted it first Student Roundtable Series discussion at the Sutton Place Hotel in Toronto. The focus was on alternative cost-recovery models and how Ontario can ensure sustainable funding for post-secondary education while improving accessibility, affordability and quality.

The roundtable began with a presentation by OUSA’s Director of Research & Policy Analysis on highlights from OUSA’s two-year research project into various cost-recovery models from around the world. The discussion was moderated by Academic Transformations co-author Ian D. Clark, who praised OUSA for its eagerness to discuss such a difficult and broad issue, and for a thorough and high-quality research project.

Joining the discussion with OUSA’s Steering Committee were representatives from the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, the Council of Ontario Universities, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, and many other partners from throughout the higher education sector.

The roundtable series was created as an opportunity for OUSA to facilitate discussion amongst its partners on topics that are interesting and important to students and the sector. This roundtable hopes to be the first of many student-led discussions about how we can work together towards improving the accessibility, affordability, accountability, and quality of post-secondary education in Ontario.

Alvin Tedjo
Director of Communications & Public Relations

June 22 Roundtable

Hi Everyone,

My name is Saad Aslam and I’m this year’s Vice President: University Affairs for the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union. I am currently entering my 5th year of study in a double bachelors of arts in Psychology and Political Science. For my first blog post I thought I’d just touch on some of the stuff currently happening at Laurier and with myself!

The summer at Laurier is always quiet in the sense that there aren’t very many students around since most classes are not offered during the summer semester. However, it is always a very busy time for administration as well as the student executive in terms of planning and goal setting for the year to come. My role as VP:UA has been off to a furious pace over the last two months as I’ve been on the road a lot for transition and strategic planning conferences. This past weekend, I was away for a training retreat with the rest of the WLUSU student executive and the 40 or so student coordinators from our Brantford and Waterloo campuses. It was great to get to know a lot of the new faces and witness all of the excitement and positive energy from the weekend. I am really excited to see everyone’s ideas and hard work come to fruition over the next 10 months!

Another welcome part of the summer is the inevitable on-campus renovations that occur. In Waterloo, the big project this year is an expansion of the Terrace Food Court that encompasses the bottom floor of the Fred Nichols Campus Centre. Since the double cohort year, the undergraduate population has grown by sizeable amounts each year while most facilities have been stagnant in terms of capacity. This year the incoming first year class at Laurier is about 4500 students which is an increase of over 6%. Last year it seemed that the Terrace was bumping every time I went for a meal this size expansion should help accommodate the rush – especially at peak times.

Over the summer I am also taking a few courses online at the University of Guelph in order to gain additional credits so I can complete my degree (they are also not offered at Laurier over the summer). As a student who has always had to work during the school year to support paying for my education I really appreciate the flexibility that online courses allow. I am really interested to see what the Ontario government plans for the Ontario Online Institute which we should hear about more in the coming months. Hopefully, the Online Institute facilities an easier credit transfer system for students. Personally speaking, it was definitely a challenging process for me this year to ensure I did everything correctly to earn credit for taking the classes at Guelph on my Laurier record.

Well that’s all for me until my next blog entry. If there’s ever anything you want to talk about don’t hesitate to send me an e-mail!

-Saad Aslam
Vice President University Affairs
Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Robert Woodrich, and I am returning for a second year as the Vice President University Affairs of the University of Windsor Students’ Alliance. As such, I have also returned for a second year on the Steering Committee and am looking forward to working with another inspiring team of young student leaders.

Last year was a success for OUSA and I am confident that we will build upon our strengths under the leadership of President Meaghan Coker. I am particularly interested in involving more of my constituents in the process of developing OUSA policy, as well as expanding upon our campaigns. My previous term saw Windsor gaining a great deal of media coverage of OUSA’s activity on and off campus, and I think that this is something that we can continue to excel at.
This year is going to be a great one not only for OUSA, but for Canadian students. I can’t wait to see what such a phenomenal group of people can accomplish when they work together.

Cheers,

-Robert Woodrich
Vice President University Affairs
University of Windsor Students’ Alliance

In the 2010 Provincial Budget, the Government announced a plan to increase international enrolment in post-secondary institutions by fifty percent. In 2009, Ontario universities enrolled a total of 16,274 international students. When the government’s international enrolment target is met, this number will increase to 24,411. With enough international students in Ontario to compose a medium-large size university, the need for greater attention to issues specific to them is pressing. Moreover, with international students paying deregulated tuition, the need to examine the fairness of international student contributions is more important than ever.

Average international student tuition for a first year arts/science student in 2009 was $16,907, a full 240% more than the average domestic tuition rate of $4,698. This difference is understandable, as institutions do not receive provincial operating funding for international students. However, there has been a growing concern on campuses that international students pay more than their fair share of tuition, subsidizing growing institutional deficits. There has been corresponding concern that efforts to internationalize campuses carry financial motivations.

Taking international student enrolment and tuition in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 from Common University Data Ontario, it is possible to determine average growth rates over the past four years. Based on data reported by the institutions, the average growth rate from 2009-2010 was 5.90%, followed by 6.64% and 6.10% in 2008-2009 and 2007-2008 respectively. This means that growth rates have exceeded the five per cent cap that domestic tuition is regulated to.

On top of this, when one compares average international student tuition in 2008 ($15,917) to average university revenue per domestic student in the same year ($13,061), it can be found that universities received an average of $2,856 more per international student than domestic student. However, the estimate of revenue per student does not take into account capital funding, which could partially explain the difference in revenue per domestic and international student. Additionally, it has been suggested that the costs associated with recruiting, transition and additional support are cost burdens associated with international students.

Additionally, when broken down by institution and year, international tuition growth rates are shockingly inconsistent. In 2006-2007, international tuition at York University rose by 17.77%, followed by a 1.41% increase in 2007-2008. At Lakehead, a 20% increase was followed by a 4.17% increase. It becomes problematic to expect international students to be able to plan adequately for upcoming years of education when they could face dramatic and unpredictable increases in tuition.

Based on the data available, it is impossible to completely answer the question as to whether international student tuition is currently fair. However, I would submit that Ontario institutions should be able to clearly demonstrate fairness. Certainly greater vigilance and attention must be paid to international student costs, and the growth rates in these costs.

Ontario will never be able to attract the best and the brightest if the price of admission isn’t fair.

-Chris Martin
OUSA Research Team

When advocating against tuition fee increases, one argument often raised is that high fees force students to work more part-time hours during the academic year, thus eating into time for more important academic pursuits. According to a new study in the Canadian Journal of Higher Education, however, increasing tuition causes students to work more during the summer but has little effect on work patterns while in school. The study, entitled “Dividing Time Between Work and Study: Are Tuition Fees a Factor?”, looks at data from the 1999, 2001 and 2003 Youth In Transition Survey (YITS) to investigate how tuition increases impact student employment patterns.

But before accepting these conclusions, let’s look at what the study actually tells us. The authors found that in attempting to accommodate a $1,000 increase in tuition, the average student works 38 more hours over the course of the year, with 96% of those additional hours coming in the summer. While it’s true that students are not sacrificing their academics to work more during the year, this conclusion presupposes that working additional hours during the school year is a viable option for all of these students when, in fact, it is not.

One issue the authors did not take into account is the impact that a restrictive financial assistance program has on student behaviour. At the time of the survey, Ontario students who received loans from the federal and provincial governments (which are also the students most likely to feel the strain of tuition increases) were allowed to make only $50 per week while in school before their additional earnings were clawed back to pay down their debt. That’s a cap of 7 hours per week for a student working at $7 an hour, yet the study indicates the average student was working about 11 hours a week – already well above the cap. Even if these students were in desperate need of additional funds, working more while in school was simply not an option. (The Ontario government has recently increased this cap to $103 per week to provide some additional room, but the federal government has yet to follow suit.)

In addition to employment patterns, the study can also tell us something about debt levels, though the authors did not attempt to tackle this issue. If a student worked 38 additional hours over the course of the year at a generous wage of $10 an hour, the student would earn only slightly more than a third of the $1,000 increase in tuition they must pay. Many of these students would be forced to borrow the remaining funds, thus adding to debt levels that have climbed to well above $20,000 on average.

Indeed, the authors suggest that the best option for students is to take out more loans and pay them back after graduation: “An increase in tuition should not have a large effect even on summer working hours, since it would be more efficient for students to borrow additional funds during the year and pay back their loans after graduation.” Again, this presupposes that a student will find decent employment upon graduation, that he or she isn’t already receiving the maximum amount of public loans available, and that the student is not already carrying a potentially crippling amount of debt.

The truth is that we don’t know how much debt is too much debt and much more research needs to be done in this area if we are to understand how dealing with $20,000 in debt is impacting the lives of recent graduates.

Sure, higher tuition may not hurt your grades, but it may hurt your future.

-Alexi White
OUSA Executive Director

Greetings!

Having just returned from a jam-packed week in the beautiful province of Prince Edward Island, I can be certain of at least two things: the lobster season is in full swing and student representation across Canada is strong and engaged. From June 6th – 12th, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), one of OUSA’s partners, held their annual Policy and Strategy Conference in the lobster hotbed of Charlottetown. This week is designed to identify the policy and advocacy priorities that CASA’s members have for the next year.

In addition to the sessions on strategy and governmental climate, this week the general assembly was charged with the responsibility of selecting CASA’s next National Director. Congratulations to Zachary Dayler, a Hamilton Ontario native, who will surely provide great leadership for the organization as National Director.

Not alone in Charlottetown, many of OUSA’s steering committee members were in attendance including Daud Grewal (Brock University) who was elected to CASA’s Board of Directors as the Regional Director for the Central Region, Nick Soave (University of Waterloo), Saad Aslam (Wilfrid Laurier University), and Joe Finkle (McMaster University).

Another highlight includes the forming of the Pan-Canadian Accord Committee, which employs the mandate of encouraging a strong partnership between the federal and provincial government for the purpose of ensuring high quality education in post-secondary institutions across Canada. Some of the anticipated topics that will be covered in the Pan-Canadian Accord include early outreach and teaching and learning data, namely two areas that our OUSA staff are currently researching. Both Joe and I are really looking forward to contributing to this expansive initiative over the next year as members of this committee.

Moreover, OUSA will be conducting our own Strategic Planning Conference at the beginning of July. This will be a great opportunity for our Steering Committee to identify our priorities and action plan for the next year. Really looking forward to it!

Meaghan Coker
OUSA President
USC VP University Affairs