At Camosun, an interdisciplinary focus is being actively developed at the course, program and college level. With collaboration and teamwork, students and faculty are bringing interdisciplinary elements into their coursework, initiatives, projects, practicum opportunities, events, and workplace practice.
Annual Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival
Using an interdisciplinary education approach, the School of Health Sciences & Human Services held its first Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival in 2018 to recognize and celebrate the tremendous interdisciplinary projects and/or educational endeavors.The annual themed event showcases end of term capstone like projects in the format of oral presentations, table/poster presentations, portfolios of practicum/placement experiences, or student presentations posted to the .
- 2025 | Growing Together: How the Roots of Our Roles Intertwine
The eighth annual Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival took place on the afternoon of Monday March 31 with in person activities and continued on theuntil Apr 11th. This year's interdisciplinary education competency domain focused on role clarification and team communication. During the in-person Festival, there were 165 students across the following 8 programs: Athletic & Exercise Therapy; Certified Medical Lab Assistant; Community, Family and Child Studies; Interactive Media Developer; Massage Therapy; Medical Radiography; Practical Nursing to Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing; and Sonography. There were 17 poster presentations, 6 oral presentations, and 7 areas of live demonstrations and interactive activities. - 2024 | The Interprofessional Puzzle: Piecing Together Client & Patient Stories
The seventhannual Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival is starts Mar 25thwith in person activities and continues on the until Apr 8th. This year's interprofessional competency domain focuses on "Patient / Client and Family Centred Care" Learning and practitioners seek out, integrate and value, as a partner, the input and engagement of the patient or client, family or community, in designing and implementing care and services. - 2023 | Getting a Scoopon our Scope - What we wish our Colleagues knew!
We are excited to be bringing back the first Interdisciplinary Student Festival to be held in person since 2019 to HSHS. Students' online Festival projects will be featured on the from April 3-7, with our in person student presentations being held in the Jo and Alex Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness on April 5th! We hope you’ll join us as we continue "learning with, from and about each other" to improve patient outcomes and improve service to our clients through interdisciplinary learning and collaboration. - 2022 | Collaborating and Connecting for Resilience
The fifth annual Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival remains virtual, starting March 21st and running until Apr 4th. Please visit the IDE Student-run education platform showcasing live interactive digital activities on the 2022. - 2021 | New Age, New Ways for Interdisciplinary Learning
The fourth annual Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival remained virtual - for the second year in a row due to the pandemic. A revised 2021was created by Camosun Interactive Media Design (IMD) Students who worked collaboratively with programs across HSHS and the college to present the changes our world is undergoing at this moment in time.
- 2020 | Passport to HSHS
The third annual Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival moved online due to the pandemic. Student presentations provided an educational and networking journey exploring Health and Human Service (HSHS) programs..
- 2019 | IDE Festival Local Public Health.Be a Part of It.
The second annual Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival showcased 43 student presentations with a150 delegates from BSN Nursing, Certified Dental Assistant, Community, Family & Child Studies, Dental Hygiene, Health Care Assistant, and Medical Radiography students. The celebratory event recognized the tremendous interdisciplinary projects and/or educational endeavours our students accomplished this academic year.
- 2018 | Learning With, From, and About Each Other.
The inaugural Student Interdisciplinary Education Festival showcased 25-30 oral and poster presentations were the focus for 100 student attendees who participated in a passport stamp program. Students across programs exhibited their work to their peers, providing an educational and networking session with a focus on learning with, from, and about each other.
Classroom-based activities
Interdisciplinary Day of Learning (IDOL): An Approach for Dialogue on Responding to Neurodiversity (2024)
On Sunday November 17, 2024, 130 students and their faculty from 7 different disciplines came together for an afternoon event to apply an Interdisciplinary approach to learning about an important and complex topic of neurodiversity. Many students brought not only their own personal experiences, but also contributed to the discussion and work through their course/program/discipline/professional lens. The afternoon began with four remarkable individuals who shared their own lived experiences, self advocacy journey, and/or sharing as the voice of family, or the roles they play in various organizations supporting individuals who identify as neurodivergent. Students then moved into small interdisciplinary groups to discuss neurodiversity in the context of identity, language use, social justice, safe and supportive settings, and inclusive practice. Small group discussions began with understanding the many barriers and challenges, and quickly moved to action, including what can be done as individuals to support and celebrate diversity, as well as what can be done at the community, societal, or systemic level to help break down barriers. Shout outs go to faculty and students from Certified Dental Assisting; Criminal Justice; Dental Hygiene; Early Leaning and Care; Education Assistant, Community Support; Employment Training and Prep; and Massage Therapy.
Joint Health Care Assistant and Certified Dental Assisting Labs
The Health Care Assistant (HCA) and Certified Dental Assisting (CDA) certificate programs came together for a joint lab experience. The interdisciplinary education competencies of focus included role clarity, team communication and team functioning. In this joint lab session, students taught each other – a true peer to peer educational event. The CDA students demonstrated general oral health/care, as well as how to clean dentures, other remove-ables and tissues to the HCA students. The HCA students then provided guidance to the CDA students on patients’ safe transfers, mobility, dementia consideration and the role of family/care givers.
Joint Athletic and Exercise Therapy and Medical Radiography Experience
The Athletic and Exercise Therapy Bachelor’s Degree (BAET) and Medical Radiography (MRAD) programs were initially brought together by AET Clinic Manager and MRAD instructor to facilitate an experience in which AET students served as models for some X-ray imaging and in exchange, the AET clinic students secretly observed and provided feedback to the MRAD students on their ergonomics, given the physically demanding aspects of their future role as medical imaging professionals. This opportunity allowed students to apply their learning and collaborate with each other to address a real concerns facing healthcare professionals. Since 2018, this exchange with BAET has continued and expanded to other Allied Health & Technology programs including Certified Medical Lab Assistant, Massage Therapy, and Sonography.
Joint Nursing 2 and Medical Radiography Simulation
The Baccalaureate of Nursing (BSN) and Medical Radiography (MRAD) programs facilitated an interprofessional simulation (SIM) to build knowledge, skills, and abilities in interprofessional competencies. The SIM started with a pre-brief as an orientation to the learning activity and to provide the basis for a psychologically safe learning environment. The SIM involved BSN students assessing a simulated post-surgical patient experiencing delirium and then calling upon the MRAD students for a portable chest x-ray. The post-SIM debrief guided reflection of the experience and purpose including role clarification, collaborative leadership, and person-centred care.
Practicum opportunities
The students witness firsthand how a variety of disciplines can work together and the roles each one has for the benefit of the people they serve. We've had great success because it’s a circle, all relating to each other when we have IDE placements with our community partners, as our human bodies and minds are related, not square, and not separate.
Without a doubt, we have had at least 5 programs that have been supported at one location with up to 3 programs at the same time. When this type of placement occurs, it is common place that the students meet with their site mentors at team meetings to review the whole picture of a person’s needs, all under strict confidence. This happens with several of our community partners who choose to support our students.
In health, right from the start when we come from an Interprofessional Education perspective, we look at the whole picture hence the whole well-being of a person, which in most cases leads to solving challenges. There has been and always will be the opportunity for more than one discipline to work together.
Faculty development
College wide community of practice: Interdisciplinary education
Our students are entering complex work environments where they will need to take into account multiple perspectives, and collaborate across a wide range of disciplines. How can we better prepare them for this reality? How can we as educators begin collaborating more effectively so that we are modelling interdisciplinary practice? If you get excited about innovating new approaches to education, and want to draw on a diversity of perspectives, then join faculty from across the college for stimulating conversation with an action oriented focus.
Simulation Based Education: Targeting excellence in simulation programs, with Dr. Colette Foisy-Doll
is the Clinical Director of Clinical Simulation in the Faculty of Health Sciences at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. In this session Dr. Foisy-Doll provided an overview of existing standards in Simulation and engaged participants in a discussion about how their use can enhance learner experiences and outcomes, increase patient safety, and contribute to improved patient care outcomes. Innovative and Creative Teaching and Learning Lunch and Share Sessions
Holy Grail? Or Temple of Doom? Towards Virtual Reality (VR) and Pedagogy Integration: An amazing introduction to VR, the 2 Brent’s shared their experiences of integrating VR in the classroom. They inspired others to envision how to leverage this technology in their own practice. Brent McMillen and Brent Mekelburg.
Voice Up – a Social Justice Student Engagement Project: This project provided students with a creative opportunity to highlight areas of oppression and stigma through the use of interactive based theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. Mary Harber.
Supporting Student Success: We are all aware of the multi-faceted challenges that students may be managing during their time at Camosun. In this session, innovation and inclusive processes and strategies to support students to achieve knowledge and skill competencies was shared. Ways of accommodating students who may be facing the many challenges of today's world were discussed. Kristin Ross and Jody Watson.
Actualizing Dr. Martin Brokenleg’s, Circle of Courage: The Circle of Courage is a holistic approach, grounded in the science of resilience, and in the values of deep respect for the dignity of students. Join us as we explore the following core values for nurturing our students in the clinical setting: belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. Laura Sacilotto, Faye Martin, and Kayla Douglas.
