mbonsma
commented
7 years ago @arlissc, here's an edit to the Description, if possible:
This session will be a discussion on how we can create diverse communities that span multiple academic disciplines. We will brainstorm and discuss why this is beneficial and talk about ways to achieve and maintain this, as well as what can get in the way of this ideal. This session will give participants information they can use to support their own interdisciplinary and diverse groups.
[ ID ] 0760d084-d9bc-4cc1-bb23-9f14a1e69179
[ Submitter's Name ] Madeleine Bonsma [ Submitter's Affiliated Organisation ] University of Toronto [ Submitter's Twitter ] @mbonsma
[ Space ] science [ Secondary Space ] localisation
[ Format ] demo, learning-lab, fireside
Description
This would primarily be a discussion on how we can create diverse communities that span multiple academic disciplines. We would brainstorm with a group why this is beneficial, and talk about some concrete ways that this can be helped along, as well as what can get in the way of this ideal.
Agenda
This could be a short presentation by us followed by audience sharing and Q&A, or the entire thing could be a casual led discussion.
Since the topic is bridging disciplines, what we would most want to see is people from different backgrounds sharing concrete, helpful advice and insights, so it would be best if it wasn't just a few people talking the whole time. For example: we could start by brainstorming times when we've learned something new or useful from someone unexpected, then move to discussing how that can occur in the context of a study group.
Participants
We envision this as a fairly informal chat, which means that it would work very well with a small group (3-5 people). With about 15 people, it could still function as a single group discussion or Q&A. If it's a larger group of more than 15 people, We would most likely shift more to presentation-style and ask people to pair up or divide into smaller groups for chunks of discussion throughout.
Outcome
We first hope that we and participants can be encouraged in our and their community building efforts. Our specific goal would be that participants have a better appreciation of the challenges in developing a diverse academic community and to use the strategies and methods we discussed to encourage the growth and maintenance of these communities. We will also take insight and suggestions from the group back to our own study group, UofT Scientific Coders. Finally, we would hope that we and participants could stay in contact over the internet as an ongoing network of support.