About the Course

This innovative graduate course provides a supportive and challenging setting for students to build multidisciplinary understandings and skills into their professional and personal lives as they candidly explore diverse issues with peers from disciplines across campus. Meeting weekly in face-to-face small groups and online, students collectively engage in problem solving of case studies to explore a wide range of professional issues and pressing questions. GSR984 focuses on frameworks of thinking (often invisible to us) that are used for almost everything we do in our personal and professional lives. The key themes, thinking about thinking, identification of our assumptions, and reflection to enhance learning and thinking, are built into every session. Our frameworks of thinking are explored by discussion of case studies and questions in several topic areas. Past topics include: critical thinking; motivation and talent; personality and our thinking; mindsets, learning and framing failure; epistemology and organizational behaviour; legal reasoning; teamwork and leadership; and intellectual property issues.

Through multidisciplinary discussions among peers in different graduate programs and from diverse cultures and backgrounds, students uncover their own knowledge frameworks and assumptions. They discover ways in which personality, social contexts, cultural beliefs, and fields of study subtly but deeply shape our ways of knowing and acting, often without our awareness.  Students develop mutual appreciation of each others’ vantage points that enrich their own academic fields and research and their friendships.

This course is a major initiative toward meeting the concerns the Tri-Council Granting Agencies and the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies have recently expressed about the need to include a wide range of professional skills within Canadian graduate programs to enable graduate students to excel in responsibly engaging and leading our complex global communities into the future, to making a difference.

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend. - Henri Bergson, French Philosopher and Educator

It is the theory that decides what we can observe. Or modified slightly, It is our theories and thinking that decides what we can observe. - Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

In past years, graduate students have found GSR 984 an exciting opportunity for exploring, challenging, and expanding their ways of knowing and communicating.

Watch the short video to learn what six of the more than 200 graduate students who have participated in GSR 984 say about their transformative experience in the course:

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Eligibility

This course is open to graduate students registered at the University of Saskatchewan. Post-doctoral fellows or other interested persons at the University of Saskatchewan may also apply to register through contacting the Gwenna Moss Centre.

There is no fee associated with GSR 984. The course appears on your transcript as a 0-credit unit course with a grade of "credit" or "fail".

Learning Goals

The Learning Goals associated with GSR 984 expect that you will:

• Identify a number of professional skills you need to focus on as you develop your professional and personal goals.
• Become aware of your conceptual frameworks and developed thinking skills, to identify assumptions and biases in your and other’s thinking.
• Develop an appreciation of differences in the thinking in diverse disciplines and how to interact within multidisciplinary groups.
• Learn to appreciate the importance of group dynamics for problem solving and learning.
• Develop a personal understanding of how disciplinary excellence requires reflection on how you think, what you believe, and how you act.

Course Format and Logistics

GSR 984 will be presented weekly in Term 2, 2012 with total time expectations being less than a normal 3 cu course.

There will be no marked assignments and recognition of completion of this non-credit course will appear on transcripts on a pass/fail basis.

The only requirement is that students attend and participate in the group discussions and interact with the on-line material. Each topic is spread over one week intervals, and students are expected to spend about 3/4 to 1 hour with preparatory material, attend a 2.5 hour discussion session, and spend ~1/2 hour reflecting on the session via on-line postings and individual journals.

In addition to the professor assigned to the course, each topic is facilitated by a different expert, which exposes students to a wide range of expertise and ideas.

Course Coordinators and Facilitators

The format, content, goals, facilitation, and administration of GSR984 are discussed and developed via a Community of Practice. A Community of Practice is a flexible organization made up of a wide range of individuals interested in a common purpose. The GSR984 CoP benefits from the input of a wide variety of expertises from communities within and outside of the University of Saskatchewan. The routine administration and facilitation of the 2011 program is coordinated by a core group within this CoP, made up of the following persons:

• Professor Emeritus Richard Cassidy (Chemistry)
• Professor Emeritus John Thompson (Sociology)
• Professor Emeritus Murray Scharf (Education)
• Gerald Seniuk, Retired Chief Judge of Saskatchewan
• Professor Jim Greer, (University Learning Centre)
• Brad Wuetherick, Program Director, Gwenna Moss Centre
• Dr. Jayne Hudson

A number of guest facilitators will be leading weekly discussion sessions on selected topics.

Timetable

Tentative topics for 2012 are posted below. These will be updated if any changes occur. The class will be held Wednesdays evenings from 7 p.m. till 9:30 p.m. in the Graduate Commons, which is located in the former Emmanuel and St. Chad Chapel on the corner of Wiggins and College Dr.

Topics vary somewhat from year to year. Topics for 2011, 2010, and 2009 are shown below:

2011 Timetable

2010 Timetable

2009 Timetable

Statement of Commitment

GSR 984, Thinking Critically, is designed around student-centred concepts that permit students to take greater control of their learning. In GSR 984, graduate students meet in interdisciplinary groups to explore their thinking on topics related to the application of their disciplinary skills. The primary goal is to cultivate deeper thinking about fundamental frameworks rather than the accumulation of more technical knowledge. Free and wide-ranging discussions are critical for the goals of this course. To ensure effective discussion in class, all grading has been eliminated. There are no marked assignments or tests, and no final marks. The only requirement for your transcripts to acknowledge completion of the course is regular attendance and participation (see Course Format and Logistics section).

GSR 984 participants attend voluntarily. The discussion leaders are volunteers. Commitments must be made by both participants and the discussion leaders to facilitate the exchange of ideas, to challenge thinking and to stimulate effective learning. The GSR 984 leaders welcome suggestions that may enhance the achievement of these goals.

The expectations of participants in GSR 984 include timely attendance and prior reading of any required material to ensure that discussion time is not wasted. Discussion is a key component in effective learning, and learning is enhanced from the input of as many interdisciplinary voices as possible. Failure to attend class or being unprepared means that other participants will not learn as effectively from your response to their ideas and from your ideas.

Because both the goals and structure of this class are quite different from typical university courses we want to ensure that all participants understand these features, and recognize their responsibilities towards other participants by participating in both class and on-line discussions. Once you have attended the introduction and first two sessions and decide to continue with the course, we hope that you commit, within reasonable limits, to attend and participate in as many of the classes as possible.

Course Requirements: This course will show up on your transcript as a 0-credit course with a Pass or Fail grade. Attendance and participation in the classes is the only requirement to pass. If circumstances beyond your control prevent your attendance at some of the sessions, and you inform a course coordinator, then you will be excused from the session. The minimum number of sessions required for credit you can miss and still obtain credit is three. For special circumstances, exceptions to these requirements will be considered if discussed in advance with a course coordinator.

Accolades From Former Students

In 2006 a number of former GSR 984 students were asked to offer their perspectives on the proposed BDE program, based on their experience with GSR 984. These students took GSR 984 from 2 to10 years ago, and have different disciplinary and work experiences, as indicated below. Quotations from their statements have been organized below into four categories: Interdisciplinary Impact, Class Format, Effect on Thinking, and Impact on Studies and Work. These four areas represent key aspects and intended outcomes of the Beyond Disciplinary Excellence Program. Many of the outcomes identified by the students were tranformative, and included such aspects as: exposed and challenged previous assumptions; developed recognition of the importance of multidisciplinary discussions of ideas; learned about the limitation of human thinking; developed new perspectives and skills that continue to influence research, work, and everyday living.

Disciplinary Background of Former Students Providing Statements:

• Sociology, writing PhD dissertation, U of S
• Exploration Geology, PhD, Perth, Australia
• Commerce, PhD, new faculty at Wilfred Laurier University
• Chemistry, PhD, Weyeth Pharmaceutical, Virginia
• Education and Accountant, PhD student, U of S
• Philosophy, writing PhD, Laval University
• Engineering, Environmental Activist, MSc student, U of S
• Private Business and Education, MEd, U of S
• Geography, PhD student, Waterloo University
• Geochemistry, PhD, Technology Transfer Consultant, Universität Potsdam, Germany

Summary of Statements From Students

Interdisciplinary Impact

• GSR 984 stood out as highlight -collectively learning had broader implications than what my sub-discipline was focused on and produced unexpected and enlightening results
• bringing together people from many disciplines to discuss an issue forces one to re-examine one's assumptions
• provides an experience that is not otherwise available
• innovative approaches that start with a novel multidisciplinary interpretation of the framework
• emphasis on discussion certainly helped me to learn and also to unlearn a lot of things
• faced with a room full of peers from wide-ranging disparate disciplines, different cultures and dissimilar life paths and tasked with discussing issues with the eye of a critical thinker, permanently altered my conscious world
• communication and understanding and thinking across disciplinary and cultural borders are keys and warrants for success, progress and conflict prevention

Class Format

• chances to get to know people one would generally not have the chance to come into contact, let alone learn from and with, were invaluable
• case study and discussion format used for the classes facilitated learning
• the format of the class was a very effective vehicle for getting us to think about thing
• course material valuable, memorable, and worthy of sharing with my peers
• provocative and stimulating in their approach of not lecturing, but presenting ideas, questions and setting up open discussions
• one of the most interesting things is that the discussions did not end in the classroom
• develops a community of critical thinkers who feel safe and empowered to share their experiences and knowledge.

Effect On Thinking

• learned decisions are based on our beliefs and personalities
• refreshing to learn something new about the way we think
• challenged my thinking on complex issues
• an eye opener - how knowledge is created
• immensely invaluable to me in terms of thinking " outside the ethnocentric box”
• enabled me to be far more critical, objective and yet considerate of other disciplines
• even with my background in philosophy, I found it very rich and stimulating
• challenged my accepted beliefs
• permanently altered my conscious world
• all students should be encouraged to assess how their historical, cultural and personal worldviews have been shaped by powerful forces
• learned to question what we may not have even considered ethical issues in the past
• I gained valuable understanding and significantly broadened my horizon
• recognition of parallelism between scientific and societal or ideological developments was an eye-opener

Impact on Studies and Work

• learning can be fun at the same time
• I have constantly thought about how it applies in my research
• In my research, I have applied concepts I have learned about critical thinking and to complex issues especially in ethics and standard setting in the accounting domain
• learned that you needed to make these different assumptions explicit when writing up your research
• expanded my range of thinking and removed an ethnocentric (i.e. interest or field of research group) lens, which I believe has benefited my research
• an invaluable addition to any education - "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
• the new ideas and approaches to problem solving that were presented have stuck with me and guided many of my decisions and personal research interests
• made an early impact in my career
• good to foster team work and leadership abilities
• think critically during my studies but also in my research with the Aboriginal Education Research Centre (AERC) and my self-employment within the film industry
• as an educator I will affect thousands of other people over time and will continue to seed attention to critical thinking or “thinking about our thinking”
• taken my new knowledge of historical worldviews, personality, the effect of language, leadership, racialization, ethics and all the other topics into my work
• “Critical thinking” has helped me realizing that a university degree is not about recording and reproducing data but it is more about learning how to solve problems by means of communication as leader, team member or colleague.
• an indispensable asset for a successful career with a responsible approach
• benefited from it both in life and at work

Registration Instructions

You must register for this course in PAWS. It is under Graduate Studies (GSR) courses in 2011-12 Term 2. The CRN is 27290, Thinking Critically Professional Skills for Global Citizens. The course meets face to face on Wednesdays, 7-9:20 p.m., from Jan. 11 to Apr. 4.

Pilot Proposal and Assessment

The original pilot proposal and summaries of assessment for GSR984 can be opened as PDFs by clicking the links below:

Original Pilot Proposal

Overall Summary of Assessment 2009-2011

Summary of Assessment 2010

Summary of Assessment 2009

Individual Assessment Form 2011