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Looking ahead to this coming weekend, AskAway will be closed on Good Friday (April 2nd) and Easter Monday (April 5th).
AskAway will be open normal hours on Saturday (April 3rd) 11am-5pm and Sunday (April 4th) 10am-9pm.
Wishing you all a safe and happy Easter!
by Jarrett Seto
Science fiction can explore concepts of everyday life, technology, and political institutions in ways that other genres have trouble doing. It opens new and exciting pathways into where reality could be, or what a possible future could look like. It can present reality often in ways that you may not have imagined before. Maybe we aren’t in the Darkest Timeline after all. What would the world be like if there was an alien colonization; what if our smartphones became sentient beings, what if the polar ice caps melted in 1925? If you’re looking for a change of pace from your overwhelming day of assignments, zoom meetings, housecleaning, and fixing the car, try borrowing from our selection of sci-fi tales.
The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker (2019)
The terror of perpetual sleep, a void which no one can escape, provides a claustrophobic backdrop to The Dreamers. A unique writing style will draw you in, pulled into a vortex and unable to stop turning from page to page. Like you’re in a dream.
Radicalized: Four Tales of Our Present Moment by Cory Doctorow (2020)
If you’re searching for an outlet from the world of 2021 look no further. Immerse yourself in these stories. But don’t worry if the content is a little frightening. After all, they’re only science fiction. For now, at least.
Sputnik’s Children by Terri Favro (2017)
Thanks to the unreliability of the narrator, you’re unsure if it’s all made up, a first hand account, or a mixture of both. Sputnik’s Children graces us with alternate timelines, time travel, and a dash of coming of age.
During the COVID-19 crisis, many students are experiencing financial hardship and challenges purchasing groceries due to reduced income. Reducing barriers to accessing healthy nutrition and supporting students at risk are at the core of the BCIT Student Association Wellness Department mission.
To support our students during this critical time, BCIT Student Association Wellness Department has partnered with the Greater Vancouver Food Bank and local community organizations to provide a new emergency food relief service for current BCIT students experiencing financial hardship during the pandemic. Emergency food relief programs not only relieve hunger but also financial pressures. When the stress of providing food is alleviated, students are better able to focus on their academics and have more financial resources to pay rent & other essential bills.
ABOUT THE BCITSA EMERGENCY FOOD RELIEF SERVICES:
Through the Emergency Food Relief Service, students in need, can access the following resources:
STEPS TO ACCESS EMERGENCY FOOD RELIEF SERVICES:
1. Students can complete the Financial Support Services Online Request Form to book a virtual intake appointment with a BCITSA staff member.
2. During the 15 minute intake appointment, staff will discuss options available to you based on your needs and location and refer you to appropriate programs.
3. If eligible for the Food Hamper Program, students will be provided with additional information and a link to book an individual timeslot to pick up your food hamper. Food hampers will be available for pick up every Thursday from the Student Association Centre in SE2 using an individual appointment booking system to maintain social distancing.
CONTACT DETAILS FOR PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS:
For questions or more information about the BCITSA Emergency Food Relief Services for students, please email wellness@bcitsa.ca to connect with BCITSA Wellness Manager Andrea Wilder and BCITSA Wellness Coordinator Kelsey Nikl.
by Erica Huntley
“In spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood
Just in time for your spring gardening, here’s a list of new books for gardeners of all skill levels. Be sure to email in your requests for the BCIT Seed Library also!
Beginning Seed Saving for the Home Gardener by Jim Ulager (2019)
Available in e-book format from the BCIT Library, Beginning Seed Saving For the Home Gardener shows you how to harvest and prepare seed from your own garden for next year’s crop. Seed saving is an important part of preserving local food culture, a great way to connect with the life of your garden and it just may make you a few new gardening friends (seed-swap, anyone?). This book gives you all the facts you’ll need to make seed saving efficient and fun regardless of the size of your garden or skill level.
The New Seed-Starters Handbook by Nancy Bubel with Jean Nick (2018)
The New Seed-Starters Handbook is the revised and updated edition of a classic work on home gardening. Whether you’re new to growing your plants from seed or just looking to troubleshoot a specific sprouting problem, this is the guide for you. This thorough book is divided up into handy sections allowing you to quickly locate information.
The Northwest Garden Manifesto by John J. Albers (2018)
The Northwest Garden Manifesto is a gorgeously illustrated and thorough and practical introduction to the concept of biodiversity in gardening on the Pacific Northwest. Absolute beginners may be intimidated at first by the in-depth knowledge shared in this volume, especially if read cover-to-cover. Nevertheless, the book is sure to become a handy reference guide, and an inspiring call to action for gardeners of all levels.
BCIT’s highly anticipated Seed Library has made it’s return. The format is a little different this year, but we hope it will still be accessible.
Below is the list of seeds for spring 2021. Please pick up to 6 varieties from the list and email your selections to libcirc@bcit.ca. The library staff will put together your order and you can come pick up from the library when you are ready.
Please note that the library is operating under reduced hours: 8:00 to 3:00 Monday to Friday.
Seed donations will also gratefully be accepted at the library’s front desk. Thank you for your support!
Questions or comments? Email the seed librarian, Alison Griffin (agriffin11@bcit.ca) or visit the BCIT Library Seed Guide.
Happy planting!
Vegetables:
beans
beets
carrots
corn
cucumber
kale
lettuce
pumpkin
sugar snap pea
tomato
watermelon
Herbs:
basil
cat grass
catnip
dill
lavender
parsley
Flowers:
cone flower
cosmos
daisy
hollyhock
lobelia
lupin
nasturtium
sunflower
wild flower
by Jeff Verbeem & Linda Matsuba
With the buzz around the introduction of the Learning Glass at BCIT Library’s MediaWorks, I have to confess to a reaction mainly of excitement but also of some trepidation at learning yet another piece of Ed Tech. Most days in an educator’s life are full enough with prepping, planning and marking. By processing the everyday through reflection and professional development, we develop principles and go-to strategies that make our instruction effective and our own. So, cultivating a healthy curiosity of other ways of doing things can seem somewhat aspirational at times. On the other hand, I cling to the hope that setting aside some time to explore alternative approaches may save me from feeling burned out and jaded. And so with this new feature in the Library blog I hope to foster that curiosity in myself, to share it with others, and also to highlight some of the amazing resources we have in MediaWorks and the Library. My emphasis here will be on the ‘Ed’ in Ed Tech, and the topics—as with this week’s—might not be particularly ‘cutting-edge’ or have much to do with technology at all. And I welcome topic suggestions!
Case Studies: we all know what they are and have probably been involved in them at some level, whether or not the term ‘case study’ was actually used. When we think a typical case study, we think of students informed and guided by learned concepts, grappling with a real-world problem. Essentially, cases are narratives. Often, we ask students to create the conclusion or moral to a story. While most often associated with business, law and medicine, there are few subject areas where case studies would not have a place. And I was surprised realize how many different permutations of the general activity category are possible.
When you consider Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, case studies lend themselves to learning objectives that involve application, analysis and evaluation, and more elaborate approaches would involve elements of creation as well. They also usually have a collaborative component. When I was an EAL teacher, I used case studies for that communicative element, focusing on students’ listening, explanation and persuasion skills.
It is easy to see why case studies would be well-suited in particular for BCIT: they can bridge the gap between academic concepts and real workplace problems like few other activities. They also support our students’ development as critical thinkers, creative problem solvers and effective communicators as laid out in BCIT’s Learning and Teaching Framework. BCIT actually has a number of courses built around the approach, including BUSA 3475 – Case Studies in E-commerce, currently taught by John Foster.
Why do you use case studies? When would you not use them?
For those considering using case studies, there are a number of websites to get you started. Carnegie Melon’s Eberly Centre offers a concise explanation of the skills that can be developed through case studies, and offers a handy six-step process for introducing a case-based discussion.
https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/casestudies.html
My colleague Linda Matsuba found a resource that suggests ways to construct and analyze case studies in the field of business and finance:
Cengage https://college.cengage.com/business/resources/casestudies/students/overview.htm
What advice would you give a teaching colleague for organizing a case study in your subject area for the first time?
The Library offers a range of material on case studies. There are over 70 ejournals on the subject of case studies (in health sciences = case reports). Many of these publications contain cases you could use in your instruction. Be in touch with your Librarian if you have questions about use or have a particular topic in mind.
A keyword search of the term “case studies” brings back an extensive list of ebook titles in the Library catalogue in almost every subject you can think of. Add in your topic area as a keyword to help focus results.
If you are looking specifically for Business case studies, the Library is now trialing the Harvard Business Publishing Student Success database. It includes a selection of Harvard business school case studies AND some core curriculum readings covering entrepreneurship, finance, accounting, marketing, operations management, organizational behaviour and strategy. (TRIAL until December31, 2021)
While there is no shortage of free sources for case studies on the web, it is also true that often you will have to pay for the teaching material created around the cases. An example is the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science at the University at Buffalo, which has a database of case studies ranging across various topics and levels: from anatomy to economics and middle school to faculty development.
https://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/
Ivey Cases from the University of Western Ontario is another good bet for business and management although there are prices around these as well. https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/case-study-resources
What is your favourite source of case studies?
For those interested in taking a deeper dive into how case studies can be used in your area, there is plenty of literature out there. Here’s a sample:
Furse, C. M., & Ziegenfuss, D. H. (2020). A busy professor’s guide to sanely flipping your classroom: Bringing active learning to your teaching practice. IEEE Antennas & Propagation Magazine, 62(2), 31-42. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAP.2020.2969241
Kaye, R., Hawkridge, D. G., & MyiLibrary. (2003). Learning and teaching for business: Case studies of successful innovation. Kogen Page. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bcit/detail.action?docID=198431
Ojala, M. (2016). Studying case studies. Online Searcher, 40(4), 57-59. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/docview/1821758291?accountid=26389&sourcetype=Trade%20Journals
Sharma, J. B. (2020;2019;). Applications of small unmanned aircraft systems: Best practices and case studies (1st ed.). CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.1201/9780429244117
Vacek, J., & Liesveld, J. (2020). Teaching concepts to nursing students using model case studies, the venn diagram, and questioning strategies. Nursing Education Perspectives, 41(6), 373-375. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000514
The BMC Campus Library will re-open Monday, March 8th, however due to COVID-19 your visit will be a little different. Here’s what to expect:
International Women’s Day is celebrated to recognize the achievements of women and bring attention to gender parity and women’s rights. This year, BCIT’s 2021 IWD celebration will feature two Zoom events.
The first of these events will convene a panel of women from around the world to discuss issues affecting women and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s lives. This panel will take place on Zoom on March 8, 2021, 8:30 a.m.–10:00 a.m. PST (16:30–18:00 GMT).
8:30–10:00 a.m. PST
Musical performance: Jillian Lebeck
Panel Discussion
Eva Das Dores Pascoal, Brazil
Güssün Güneş, Turkey
Latifa Bouanzi, Tunisia
Ana Barroso Abecasis, Portugal
Joana Filipa Machado de Morais Afonso, Angola
Fatima de Sousa, Brazil
Book draw!
To register visit: https://bcit.libcal.com/event/3596273
The second IWD event will take place will showcase women authors at BCIT.
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Musical performance.: Jillian Lebeck
Comments from BCIT President Kathy Kinloch
Women Authors from BCIT
Kate Braid, Victoria
Tessa Jordan, Vancouver
Geraldine Eliot, Vancouver
Readings
Book draw!
To register visit: https://bcit.libcal.com/event/3596274
All students, faculty and staff welcome! See you there!
Date: Wednesday, March 10th
Time: 12 noon – 1pm
Where: via Zoom
Curious about 3D Printing? Then join Richard Te from MediaWorks for this fun, free virtual workshop.
In this session, we will cover some of the basics of 3D modeling and printing. We will explore a free online tool called TinkerCad to create and modify 3D models, set up your models for 3D printing in CURA, and print your work using our 3D printers in MediaWorks.
FREE workshop available by registration to BCIT students, staff, and faculty only!
Zoom link will be emailed to participants 3 hours in advance. To register visit: https://bcit.libcal.com/event/3595481