A critical part of our mission is to support faculty members, staff practitioners, community experts, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and student partners to advance innovative pedagogies that stretch the boundaries of teaching and learning as we know it. Piloting new courses during the Intersession term is one of the ways that we are pursuing this goal.
How to propose an INSPIRE Pilot
Each Fall, the INSPIRE Office of Flexible Learning encourages proposals for new course concepts that might be taught the following year during Intersession. If you’re interested in exploring this possiblity, we encourage you to take the following steps:
- Attend a Workshop: Our team runs multiple workshops in both spring and fall to introduce INSPIRE’s mission, outline the nature of the proposal and selection process, and provide tips and strategies around how to provide a competitive proposal.
- Review INSPIRE Course Offerings: We have three unique course codes that proposed courses can fall within (see below).
- Submit Your Proposal: Each proposal will require a title, proposed delivery method, a brief course description (150 words or less), and a brief statement on your teaching philosophy.
INSPIRE 2II3 - Introduction to Interdisciplinary Inquiry
This topics course sets out to introduce interdisciplinary inquiry in learning and discovery on selected topics in various areas of study. Topics vary from year to year and the timing of the course will be dependent on the offering.
INSPIRE 3EL3 - Experiential Learning Opportunities
INSPIRE 3EL3 are experiential courses that organize learning around activities such as makerspaces, labs, studios, conferences, lecture series, films, tours, and recitals, both on campus and off-campus.
INSPIRE 3II3 Multidisciplinary Inquiry
Intersession Learning is pleased to offered multidisciplinary inquiry courses for students from all Faculties and Levels. In INSPIRE 3II3 students can explore a variety of topics that range from the health sciences, social sciences, social justice and more!
Additional information:
- Each INSPIRE course is open to all students in any Faculty, program, or level. When proposing a course, ensure no prerequisites or prior knowledge of the topic is required.
- Assume to offer the proposed course during the Intersession term (4 weeks of May).
- Course proposals will be presented to the INSPIRE Office of Flexible Learning’s Faculty and Student Advisory Committees for review.
- Send completed forms to intersession@mcmaster.ca and cc Dr. Kimberley Dej, Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning (vptl@mcmaster.ca) and Dr. Michael Egan (megan@mcmaster.ca)
- May 2025 Intersession Form Due: October 3rd, 2024.
- Details on Fall 2025 timelines will be provided in Spring 2025.
Past Course Examples
Designed for students from all disciplines, “Critical Generative AI Literacies” explores generative artificial intelligence (AI) and the knowledge and skills required to engage with this technology effectively and ethically. The curriculum covers foundational generative AI concepts, tools, and applications, progressing to an examination of considerations like bias, privacy, and societal impacts through case studies, individual and group projects. The course culminates in a collaborative effort to produce a resource empowering McMaster students as critical users of generative AI. Delivered in-person with some online components, students will work closely with instructors and peers to explore and engage with course topics.
Hamilton: A City in Ten Objects is a one-month exploration of Hamilton, Ontario through the study of ten carefully selected artifacts. By studying these objects, which range from poetry, architecture, art, and landscape, students will critically examine the city’s formation, and the different ways people have participated in its construction. The course invites students to connect with the city and consider its challenges and evolution through an interdisciplinary lens. Through experiential learning, and scholarly inquiry, 3II3 will link theoretical concepts, practical application, and the obligations of local citizenship.
Are you passionate about community and/or systemic equity? Interested in making a change, in school or your emerging workplaces? Does driving inclusion and diversity feel important to you in your professional and personal life? WELL, we have a course for you!
Welcome to What About Equity? Conversing with Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) for Emerging Professionals—a short intersession course designed to develop baseline knowledge on the fundamentals of EDIA. This course is much more creative than it seems; throughout we will be engaging in digital, reflective, and arts-based learning, where you will get the opportunity to engage in the principles and foundations of EDIA conversationally and through the creation of art, podcasts, and videos. By the end of this course, you will gain actionable and transferable knowledge, such as: EDIA statement writing, strategic planning and initiative building, and community analysis, so you can apply your learning to your personal and professional pursuits.
In this course, we will converse across terms and expressions of interpersonal and professional power and privilege, analyze equity issues specific to professional contexts and communities, and develop personal understandings of how to engage in equity focused leadership to drive organizational social change, relevant to your emerging professional and academic careers. This course was designed in recognition that many social and professional sectors such as business, health sciences, community organizing and grassroots work, engineering, research, social sciences and more, are asking emerging professional to think through and integrate EDIA into their personal and professional contributions to the workplace. As you are an emerging professional once you graduate, having foundational knowledge into the fundamentals of EDIA would offer you a competitive edge.