Reading week ramble

It has been a good week to be an International Relations major. Between Castro's resignation, the independence declaration of Kosovo, and the elections in Pakistan, there has been a lot of global developments to discuss.

I don't always feel so keen about my major - I have gone through phases of wishing that I picked some other discipline for my undergrad degree. This is typical of IR majors, I think, because the programme is so interdisciplinary. Every once in a while I will be in a class or at a talk, and decide that I should have been a Geography major, or a Canadian Studies major, or a Religious Studies Minor.

Recently, I have been thinking about Canadian Studies. This began with a Geography class on the situation in Fort MacMurray, which made me want to take the first plane west to try and volunteer with some kind of charity organization. The class focused on the social, economic and environmental stress caused by the oil sands development. I began to think - if we have these global problems here in Canada, why am I studying International Relations?


This same crisis has recently befallen a good friend of mine who goes to Acadia. She studies music therapy, but has been disappointed a bit by the discipline - or at least how it has been taught. I am currently visiting her out in Wolfville, which has involved some snow shoeing (see photos) and lobster (speaking of Canada).

I sat in on two of her classes today, and was really quite surprised at how many laptops were in the classroom. A good 75% of students had brought their laptops to both classes - one in an auditorium, and the other in a seminar room. While this was useful for taking notes without wasting paper, it was also useful for e-mail, MSN, facebook, and Youtube. The sound of clicking keyboards was nearly constant, with a small crescendo whenever the professor said something particularly relevant.

When I was deciding which university to attend after high school, my choice was between Acadia and Mount Allison. When making my decision, I was deterred from Acadia by "The Acadia Advantage" - the provision of a laptop for each student. These laptops are rented - students return them each summer and have the option to purchase them after graduation. While this would be beneficial for some programmes, it wasn't what I was looking for. Sitting in on a class, I realized the difference that a laptop can make to a class atmosphere.

Next year Acadia is launching "The Acadia Advantage 2.0". This policy still puts an emphasis on technology, but replaces mandatory laptop rental with a list of suggested models for Acadia students to purchase. (This is something Mt. A does as well.) It will be interesting to see if this changes the classroom atmosphere, or if technology still plays a dominant role.