Accolades for the week of December 17

Vice-Provost of Teaching and Learning Ollivier Dyens is appearing on the Discovery Channel on Wednesday, December 19 at 9 p.m. The series, called Avoiding the Apocalypse, examines how humans can survive in a world that’s over-exploited, over-populated, and ravaged by human activity. His commentary, which relates to technology and the future, will also be aired on TFO on February 14, 2013.

 

 

Profession bibliothécaire, a new book by Guylaine Beaudry, director of Concordia’s Webster Library, has proven to be the most popular of the 17 books in a series detailing different professions held by intellectuals.

 

Released in August 2012 by Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, the book, which describes the job of a librarian, has been downloaded 2,414 times. The next most popular of the books in the series is Traducteur, which has been downloaded only 400 times. 

 

“It’s amazing!” says Beaudry. “I didn’t know that so many people were interested in my profession.” With so many of Quebec’s librarians getting set to retire, the author says she hopes it’s a sign that more students are now considering her career. 

 

In total, 4,814 copies of the books in the series were downloaded, and half of the total downloads were of Beaudry’s book. All 17 titles are now available via the publisher’s website for $5 as an Epub or PDF version. 

 

 

Concordia has recently signed a partnership with Canal Savoir, an education television station serving the province of Quebec. The university will provide student projects from three departments — journalism, communication studies, and film production — to be aired on the network this winter. 

 

The new partnership is “a chance to give some exposure to our students, and our best student work, and it also helps us to promote our programs,” says Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning, Ollivier Dyens. 

 

Peter Downie, director of the Graduate Program in Journalism, says the agreement is a golden opportunity for students to produce work for a larger audience than just their professors and classmates. “Not only is it going to look great on your resumé, that you’ve met professional standards with your work, but it also means a lot in terms of team morale,” he says. “The level of cooperation in a class changes when you’re working on a project like this. It’s going to benefit everybody.”

 

In January, NOW will publish a more in-depth preview of the upcoming Concordia-produced shows to air on Canal Savoir, including a complete schedule of airdates. Stay tuned.

 

 

The e-course Sociology of Business (SOCI 298E) was recently named by the International e-Learning Association (IELA) as the best academic e-learning product of the year worldwide. The e-course, offered by part-time instructor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Roger MacLean through eConcordia, is designed to give students a broad overview of the impact of business on daily life by examining commerce and business, not just from a corporate perspective, but rather based on social interaction and exchanges. Throughout the course, students learn the essentials of business thinking, the questions to ask in business, and how to start thinking in broader-based terms. Watch an excerpt on YouTube.

 

Award winners were recently announced at the awards ceremony at the Interactive Collaborative Learning Conference in Villach, Austria. 

 

This is the second such e-course to win accolades: “Leading the way in online learning” — NOW, December 11, 2012.

 

 

Peter Stoett, a professor of global politics in the Department of Political Science, has been awarded a grant of $4,000 from Fulbright Canada to help the students in Sustainable Concordia and the City Farm School on the Loyola Campus. The Fulbright Canada-RBC Eco-Leadership Program supports projects in Canada and the U.S. that rely entirely on volunteers, have established community partners, and would have a lasting impact on the community and the environment.