Steam 4

In this session, we will invite scholars from different disciplines to share the issues they have observed with citation. With conversation led by Romany Craig & Emma Scott (Library), Rebekah Eckert (Academic Writing), and Kaylan Schwarz (Liberal Education), we aim to discuss techniques for changing the rhetoric around citation from a punitive or secondary aspect of research to a collaborative conversation that all researchers, both novice and experienced, can engage in. Our objective is to collaboratively explore and gain insight from innovative practices attendees are already implementing.

Way back in 2021 a team of passionate teachers from different faculties across campus decided to create a peer-to-peer resource to support teaching excellence. We wanted to make the most of the hard lessons we were all learning from pandemic teaching, and see if we could build something transformative for our colleagues. The result is the ReSet project, which brings together accessible language about the core features of excellence in teaching; suggested readings showing the research about those features; and a repository of examples of teaching materials from colleagues across campus. This roundtable includes four of the team members talking about the different features of the site, where we hope to go from here, and an invitation for our colleagues to contribute.

In the Spring 2023 semester, Kennett, Lahiji, and Harper-Brown collaborated on an applied studies disciplinary credit cohort of six students developing VR experiences for Lethbridge District 51. Built on the success of Developing Media for Children, a joint New Media/Education course that has run several times, students were invited to expand on their previous learning and develop a range of new experiences in VR. Applied Studies courses are a form of work-integrated learning that combines real-world professional experience with academic studies. WIL incorporates reflective practices that are an essential activity to both recognize and articulate skill competencies developed through both academic and applied learning. Developing a cohort of Applied Studies students was a logical, and natural move for the continuation of Developing Media for Children.

Workshops and funding through Agility helped support this opportunity for students to further their skills, and helps our institution create a road map for future collaborative endeavours of this kind.

This roundtable spotlights a multi-institutional initiative that is probing possible ameliorations to conundrums such as these. The Media Access and Copyright Group (MAC) was created by the roundtable convenors under the sponsorship of the Film and Media Studies Association of Canada. Comprising about 45 communication and media studies scholars, academic librarians, copyright advisors, filmmakers, and legal experts, MAC is pursuing the development of best practice codes to help faculty understand when unlicensed educational access to and use of media content may be permissible.

Chairs and coordinators of MAC’s three working groups will briefly outline the focus and progress of their groups to date and touch on why media access and use issues remain pressing ones––especially as we move away from physical media and further into the streaming age. Following a Q&A to address any questions about MAC, we will invite you to share your stories, experiences, and perhaps uncertainties regarding teaching and researching using media content while trying to remain copyright-compliant.