MacEwan offers hundreds of courses each term, and some stand out thanks to interesting content or novel approaches. Check out some of the unique opportunities students have taken part in this term – along with new program tech and an interactive lab space.
A field trip to STARS
Students in NURS 426: Perspectives of Trauma and Injury learn about the ways that trauma and injury affect individuals, families, communities and populations. In addition to analyzing their role in those relationships as nurses, they look at organizational and ethical considerations. To top it all off, Dr. Morgan Wadams takes students to visit STARS air ambulance to learn from the nurses, paramedics and pilots who care for people in traumatic and emergent situations.
Sci-fi storytelling
Students can take their childhood love of Star Wars to the next level in BCSC 305: Popular Culture and Film Studies: Science Fiction. In this course, Dr. David Garfinkle leads an examination of sci-fi media from comic books to movies, from gaming to music and theme parks. Students explore film studies as found in the realms of speculative fiction, body horror and dystopia, where you can focus on aliens, spaceships, monsters, zombies, cyborgs, post-humans, world-building and more.
Bringing life to memories
After spending four weeks interviewing Edmonton seniors about their happy memories, students in ARTE 317: 3D Concepts and Practice Extended took those stories and created sculptures from a variety of materials and media. Sessional instructor Cindy Baker partnered with Aspen Zettel, instructor in the School of Continuing Education, and Carolyn Jervis, director and curator of the Mitchell Art Gallery, to have the creations displayed in an exhibition in the gallery’s second space in Allard Hall.
New VR nursing platform
This year, virtual reality (VR) has been integrated into Bachelor of Science in Nursing labs and seminars to prepare nursing students for the complexities of clinical practice. Through immersive, multi-patient scenarios set in a realistic hospital environment, students engage in dynamic learning experiences that replicate real health-care settings, using VR headsets.
Crime scene investigations
Police Studies and Investigative Studies students are applying classroom learning in the newly renovated Crime Lab. Each term, the room is transformed into three different setups, each lasting three weeks, so every student has the chance to complete each investigation. In addition to documenting and identifying evidence, students learn about how forensic analysis is used to solve crimes by using on-site tech such as chemical fingerprint analysis.