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University of Guelph Senate: Board of Graduate Studies
VOLUME 1: PROPOSAL BRIEF - NEW GRADUATE
PROGRAM
A. Program Name and Administration
1. Program Name: MA/PhD in Critical Studies in Improvisation (CSI): “MA-IMPR”,
“PHD-IMPR”
2. Sponsoring Department/School and College(s): International Institute for Critical
Studies in Improvisation (School of English and Theatre Studies, College of Arts)
3. Program Coordinator responsible for program management and academic
counselling: Dr. Daniel Fischlin
4. Evidence of any consultation with other units/programs participating in the proposed
new program/specialization: (i.e., if the program of study includes courses from unit(s) other than
the sponsoring unit, a clear commitment of support for the proposed program/specialization must be
included).
The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) has developed the
proposed MA/PhD graduate program in Critical Studies in Improvisation (CSI) over the
last four years as a key component of the Institute and as a major formal output
commitment associated with the SSHRC Partnership Fund grant that supports the
Institute. Faculty, staff, and students from four areas of the College of Arts (SETS,
SOFAM, SOLAL, and Philosophy) and from the Office of Open Learning have
contributed to the proposed graduate program and its curriculum components. The
IICSI curriculum committee has also consulted with faculty in the College of Social and
Applied Human Sciences (FRAN, CESI, Political Science), as well as the College of
Physical and Engineering Sciences (SoCS). Beyond the University of Guelph, faculty
and units at IICSI research partnership sites have also been consulted and have
committed to supporting this program (UBC, Memorial, Regina, McGill, and University of
California, Santa Barbara). The Musagetes Foundation has also played a key role in
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consultations and development of the curriculum, especially via its support of the annual
Improviser-in-Residence program. Musagetes has committed to ongoing financial
support in sustaining student internships for the proposed new program; this
commitment will be periodically reviewed (every four years) as the program goes
forward.
Commitments of support from each of these units are included in this application:
College of Arts: Donald Bruce, Dean
School of English and Theatre Studies (SETS): Ann Wilson, Director
School of Fine Arts and Music (SOFAM): Sally Hickson, Director
School of Languages and Literature (SOLAL): Margot Irvine, Director
Philosophy Department: Mark McCullagh, Chair
College of Social and Applied Human Sciences (CSAHS): Belinda Leach, Associate
Dean Research
This program has been designed in keeping with IICSI’s longstanding, successful
commitment to collaboration in research, teaching, and learning. Our Institute is
comprised of the six partnering institutions and an arts foundation, as well as over 35
cultural and social service organizations. Locally, we have a fruitful ten-plus year
practice-based research partnership with KidsAbility Centre for Child Development, as
well as strong ongoing collaborations with the Guelph Jazz Festival, Immigrant Services
Guelph-Wellington, Dodolab creative arts practice, CFRU, the Musagetes Foundation,
Silence, and many more. Our research, dissemination, and arts programming ventures
with these partners will provide opportunities for interested students to participate in
community-engaged, experiential learning activities and pedagogies. The Program
Director will oversee internship and arts-based community making placements, ensuring
that activities are mutually beneficial to all parties.
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B. Program Learning Outcomes and University of Guelph Learning
Outcomes
1. Outline and describe the learning outcomes of the proposed program (clearly state
outcomes which should be appropriate to the nature of the program and to the level of
the degree offered). For more on learning outcomes at the University of Guelph, see:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/vpacademic/avpa/outcomes.
Program Outcomes and University of Guelph Learning Outcomes:
1. To develop students with a broad understanding of the field of Critical Studies in
Improvisation, and provide opportunities to experiment with foundational
principles in practice. (Breadth and depth of knowledge)
2. To ensure that, by the end of their program, students will apply written, oral, and
artistic methods to communicate effectively and creatively their knowledge of the
field and the results of their research to a range of audiences. (Knowledge of
methodologies; Communication skills)
3. To expand and deepen the networks among scholars, artists, and professionals
in the growing field of Critical Studies in Improvisation at local, national, and
international levels and to support idea-sharing and innovation in the field (Global
understanding; Professional capacity)
4. To foster independent and collaborative scholars capable of designing and
facilitating creative research and community engaged projects across diverse
disciplines and sectors. (Research and scholarship; Autonomy)
5. To engage in and contribute to a dynamic and growing field of research and
practice. Students will develop skills, mindsets, and resources to prepare them
for their contemporary roles in society as leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs
able to apply their nuanced expertise in a wide range of contexts. (Professional)
2. Indicate how the identified outcomes will be assessed.
The CSI curriculum has been designed with care to ensure that each curricular element
– courses, modules, internships, the commonplace book, pedagogical development,
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and public presentation – is aligned with one or more of the program’s learning
outcomes. Assessment of students’ work in these program elements will be carried out
by course instructors, faculty supervisors, and/or community mentors that will include
pedagogical support from our wide range of institutional partners. Assessment will be
aligned with the learning outcomes associated with each program element to ensure
that a) students receive clear and timely feedback on their work and b) expeditious
progress toward meeting learning outcomes and objectives can be tracked and
reviewed throughout the program.
3. Identify which of the five University of Guelph Learning Outcomes for Graduate
Degree are particularly addressed and how the proposed program supports student
achievement of the Learning Outcomes. Include the Learning Outcome Alignment
Template with this submission (see the “LO Alignment Template on the LO website
under Graduate LOs):
The Critical Studies in Improvisation curriculum integrates each of Guelph’s five
Learning Outcomes for Graduate Degrees throughout its program design. Strategies for
assessment and program delivery have been developed to support students’
achievement of each goal as follows:
1. Critical and Creative Thinking
Students in this program will integrate foundational principles in Critical Studies in
Improvisation to apply and critically evaluate a diversity of ideas and practices in
the context of complex, community-facing interdisciplinary projects. This
program’s emphasis on creativity as both a practice and a method of inquiry will
prepare scholars to critically engage with, experiment with, and elaborate upon
existing modes of inquiry. Building on multiple perspectives and disciplinary
engagements, students will pursue curiosity-driven scholarly exploration in both
independent and collaborative endeavours.
a. Independent Inquiry and Analysis
Students will be able to conduct independent research and apply a variety
of research techniques and methods in the creation of original work.
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b. Problem Solving
Students will demonstrate competence in interdisciplinary critical and
creative practices; they will synthesize and integrate multiple perspectives
in decision making, adapt in real time, build connections between
disparate elements, and learn collaboratively.
c. Creativity
Students will generate, apply, and evaluate novel ideas, both in principle
and practice, to bridge the divide between text-based research and
community-facing work.
d. Depth and Breadth of Understanding
Critical studies in improvisation requires a depth and breadth of
understanding that spans multiple fields through an interdisciplinary lens.
Students will develop intensified areas of specialization that provide
opportunities to synthesize and mobilize knowledge across boundaries of
discipline and domain.
2. Literacy
Literacy in all its dimensions––including written and oral expression, synthesis
and integration of information across a broad range of media, and cultural and
community literacy––is a vital component of this program. Students will be
expected to produce substantial pieces of writing in relation to specific
coursework outcomes, become skilled at multiple forms of presentation, with the
ability to discern and navigate complex systems and relationships through their
participation in collaborative, community-engaged program elements. Students
will be challenged and supported in the development of exemplary literacies
through the mentorship of leading scholars in their field, and through structured
opportunities to practice their writing and critical reading through: (a) the
program’s annual colloquium, (b) submissions to IICSI’s peer-reviewed journal,
Critical Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation, (c)
participation in the Thinking Spaces: Improvisation Reading Group and Speaker
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Series, and (d) participation in a range of ongoing practicum workshops and
scholarly conferences.
a. Information Literacy
Students will be able to critically read, synthesize, and evaluate a range of
text-based, theatrical, visual, film/video, intermedial, and musical
resources, identifying the ways they convey information, the biases that
shape the resources’ communication, and the ways in which students are
positioned as readers of those resources.
b. Quantitative Literacy
Through their participation in community and performance-based projects,
students will develop and demonstrate quantitative literacy through the
creation and implementation of project time-lining, budgets, and effective
resource management.
c. Technological Literacy
Through the program’s research deployment of digital humanities,
technological innovation, telematic learning and performance practice, and
computer-driven compositional techniques, students will demonstrate
competence in the use and application of innovative technologies.
d. Visual Literacy
The program’s focus on creative practice and representation requires the
development of strong visual literacy skills; students will become skilled
critical observers and interpreters. Students will become adept readers of
artistic and cultural practices. Upon completion of their studies, students
will be able to: (a) engage critically with visual representations and (b)
identify the ways in which they construct meaning.
3. Global Understanding
Improvisation is a ubiquitous element of human creativity, apparent across times
and cultures, and always shaped by multiple contexts. This program is designed
to expose students to a range of contemporary and historical, culturally diverse
and varied, forms of improvised practices. A key aspect of this program is its
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recognition that many forms of human activity—social, political, collaborative,
pedagogical—are at their heart improvisatory practices. The new program
provides a framework for the rigorous study of critical studies in improvisation via
the spectrum of linkages extant between theory and practice. The integrated
global understanding—both of the forms that improvised creative practices have
taken and can take, and of the range of ways in which individuals and groups can
improvise in response to their world—is a key theoretical and practical outcome
of students’ engagement in the program.
a. Global Understanding
Through case studies and direct experience with diverse forms of
improvisation, students will develop the ability to describe the
commonalities and variations across cultural practices of improvisation.
They will competently apply a cross-cultural analytical approach,
particularly in the context of non-Western, postcolonial, and global texts,
artworks, and performances.
b. Sense of Historical Development
Critical Studies in Improvisation, recently formalized as a field, draws upon
and is informed by many disciplinary traditions. With a solid grasp of these
traditions, and the ability to engage critically with conventional modes of
inquiry, students will theorize and enact innovative forms of creative,
scholarly research practice.
c. Civic Knowledge and Engagement
Students will assess and negotiate complex relationships and systems in
a collaborative manner, as they conceptualize and execute models of
ethical community-engaged research and creative practice.
d. Intercultural Knowledge and Competence
Students will work across and between a range of cultures, media, and
locations.
4. Communication
In the context of this program, effective communication includes: deep listening;
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close reading of texts, situations, and relationships; integrative practices of
community engagement and agency; and a clarity of expression across a range
of modes. Students in our programs will develop the capacity to communicate
effectively with a variety of collaborators and audiences, including scholars from
various disciplines, artists, community-based partners, students, and a broad
range of other stakeholders.
a. Oral Communication
Students will be able to effectively communicate their knowledge of the
field and convey results of their practice-based research to a range of
audiences. Dialogue will help students to interactively arrive at an
understanding of experience in relation to the world, to other people, and
to one’s own intentions.
b. Written Communication
Students will clearly and effectively express critical arguments in their
writing. Students will be able to disseminate their practice-based research
developments to a range of audiences with a professional approach to
writing and referencing.
c. Reading Comprehension
Through an interdisciplinary lens, students will interpret and respond to
complex bodies of work. Specifically, students will be able to critically
situate written work, intermedial representations, theatrical performances,
visual art, film/video, and musical recordings within historical contexts and
recognize the issues raised by them in terms of social, environmental, and
ethical impacts.
d. Integrative Communication
Students will be able to synthesize oral, written, and artistic modes of
representation and incorporate various forms of multimedia to effectively
disseminate their knowledge in practice.
5. Professional and Ethical Behaviour
Critical Studies in Improvisation graduates will go on to work in a broad range of
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fields. Many will be scholars, artists, community workers, and social innovators;
all will benefit from the development of strong professional skills in project
management, collaboration, decision-making, leadership and mentorship, and
ethical practices of community engagement. Further, graduates will be guided by
their own insights and principles; MAs will competently propose and conduct their
own research; PhDs will develop and implement innovative research projects,
contributing to the ongoing development of their field by identifying gaps in the
literature and extending knowledge in the field.
a. Teamwork
Students will engage in a variety of collaborative tasks with demonstrated
integrity and respect for a diversity of ideas. Key values in improvisation
practices will be expressed through collaborative practice, including
openness to risk, willingness to challenge orthodoxies, intellectual and
creative curiosity, and power-sharing.
b. Ethical Reasoning
Students will demonstrate ethical behaviours that model civic
engagement, community-facing awareness, and facilitative leadership.
c. Leadership
Students will build leadership capacity in themselves and others through
the design, facilitation, and implementation of various project-based
interactions and initiatives.
d. Personal Organization/Time Management
Students will be able to prioritize competing demands, multi-task to
produce quality work, and will demonstrate personal responsibility and
commitment.
e. Intellectual Independence
Students will actively participate in a social and aesthetic practice that
fosters the capacity for independence of thought and freedom to
experiment, particularly in their research and within an emerging field of
study and practice.
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4. Identify any distinctive curriculum aspects, program innovations or creative
components. For professional program areas, identify congruence with current
accreditation and regulatory requirements of the profession and include any formal
correspondence with accrediting bodies.
The proposed graduate program in Critical Studies in Improvisation is distinct in terms
of content, as the first ever graduate program in its field both nationally and
internationally, and in terms of program delivery and student pathways. The program
emphasizes practice-based learning and research, where students learn about and from
improvised practices through direct participation and experiential learning (that is,
music, movement, visual arts, theatre, and so forth, depending on student focus). The
program is also centred around community-engaged, collaborative teaching, and
research. Students will develop a strong working knowledge through direct experience
of collaborative work with community groups, other students and researchers, and a
range of arts practitioners facilitated by our unique partnership structure and access to
multiple sites associated with IICSI’s research team.
The interdisciplinary research at IICSI (and previously ICASP, "Improvisation,
Community and Social Practice") offers cutting-edge, real-world projects and a research
mobilization platform through which RAs can develop their critical thinking, expand their
skills and knowledge-base, and produce actual research and knowledge mobilization
outputs from their assistantships. These interdisciplinary experiences have contributed
to students finding employment in a variety of fields—as educators, scholars,
professionals, arts programmers, and more. Past IICSI and ICASP students and
postdoctoral fellows are now employed in a range of professional and public sector
roles as well as academic tenure-track positions. A sample of current posts held by
IICSI research assistant alumni includes the following (among many other examples):
Associate Professor, Music at Carleton University; Executive Director, One Laptop per
Child Canada; Associate Professor and Director, Labrador Institute at Memorial
University of Newfoundland; Community Librarian, Vancouver Public Library; Consultant
- Community Engagement, Harry Cummings & Associates; Food Bank Lead, George
Brown College; Designer, Games Institute at University of Waterloo; Attorney, European
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Commission; Policy and Performance Analyst, Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada.
Through multi-site experiential learning opportunities, students will develop broadly
applicable practical skills in research and project development, management and
implementation, leadership, and collaboration. We are committed to, and our curriculum
is designed to support, learner-centred, enquiry-based learning that brings together
theory and practice; students will select their research focus, design and conduct
research, and determine their pathways through the program, all with the strong support
and mentorship of faculty and other experts in the field.
The Program Director will play a crucial advisory role in matching students and their
work to appropriate faculty advisors, exam committee members, and community
mentors, to ensure that students are strongly supported in building networks,
developing innovative research projects, and carrying out effective work in their chosen
areas of research and practice.
A unique feature of the program will include access to practitioners from multiple fields
of practice, including through the multi-year Improviser-in-Residence (IIR). The IIR is led
by IICSI in collaboration with the Musagetes Foundation and the interdisciplinary
Community Music MA program at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Beyond its interdisciplinarity, its basis in multi-site learning opportunities, and its holistic
approach to theory and praxis, a distinctive feature of the program is the entry design,
which is shaped to streamline both admissions and the flexibility of the student
experience. This graduate program has clear advantages in that students may enter the
two-year MA program, enter the PhD program directly, or, at the end of the first year of
the MA program, apply to the graduate program committee to transfer to the PhD
program. This also means that, under the current provincial Ministry of Advanced
Education and Skills Development graduate funding model, students will be fully
supported for two years at the MA level and three years at the PhD level with a
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streamlined admissions process thus producing flexibility for students’ trajectories
through the program while also securing their funding over two to five years.
The MA/PhD model makes the program and graduate study more affordable for
students because it allows for sustained support through five years of study and it
allows an efficacious use of government resources in ways that enhance the actual
learning experience of students while also diminishing faculty workload in relation to
admissions procedures that are not unnecessarily duplicated. All PhD students will be
expected to complete the PhD in four to five years and we have put in place cohort
evaluation structures, program design elements, and strong advisory supports to ensure
that this is a doable and reasonable outcome for all entering students.
The proposed program strongly advocates for this flexibility at the MA level based on a
clearly articulated program of study developed by the student in consultation with the
Program Director and a faculty advisory committee—and is designed to stage a
student’s progress to increasingly sophisticated research methodologies and outcomes
in ways that attend to students’ ability, skillset, and volition while at the same time
providing an integrated platform for students to proceed from MA-level analysis and
research outcomes to the scale and scope required for a PhD dissertation.
Integrative staging is another key aspect of the proposed program, with the core course
content, the flexible/diverse learning modules and practica, and the community-facing
research all designed to provide a balance between efficacious advancement through
the different program levels and frank acknowledgement of the real time it takes to
acquire core competencies in interdisciplinary engagements and research
methodologies, community-facing work (which cannot be rushed), and the research,
writing, and presentation skills required to undertake a PhD dissertation. Program
design, cohort structure, advisory oversight, and group work at both MA and PhD levels
will ensure that students complete their programs in a timely manner, with MA and PhD
students completing in a five-year maximum period. The key difference between the MA
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and the PhD will involve the scale and scope of these research and pedagogical
practices in relation to the core curriculum of the proposed program.
Collaboration and scholarly engagement across distances with partner sites (and
potential cotutelles) will be used to facilitate this integrative approach, with telematic
learning opportunities, as well as site-visits to partner institutions, summer intensive
courses focused on practicum experiences, and paid internships. We underline that the
proposed program will, from the start, have in place paid internships independently
funded by a partner institution, the Musagetes Foundation. These internships will
heighten the professionalization of our student cohort and provide further opportunities
to enhance their training as Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP).
Further innovations for the program include a sustained writing practice tied to both
course and program work (exemplified in the commonplace book learning portfolio,
described below) but also tied to public presentations and inter-student research
collaborations the program will foster. It will be virtually impossible to go through this
program without sustained collaborative contact with other students, with program
faculty, and with community partners. Moreover, all students regardless of their initial
formations, will be expected to have direct experience of a range of improvisatory
strategies through direct contact with practitioners, thus further enhancing the linkage
between pedagogy and practice that is at the core of the proposed new program.
Once established, the graduate program intends to develop a unique interface with an
undergraduate course. We will propose a university-wide undergraduate (and potentially
Distance Education/Office of Open Learning) course that will serve several purposes: 1)
pedagogical training of our graduate students in teaching methodologies; and 2)
incubating an audience for the program itself while seeding potential future admissions
to the program and spreading the word about the intellectual content of the discipline at
the undergraduate level. These multiple innovations demonstrate leadership in devising
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exemplary pedagogical structures meant to maximize the learning benefits to students
and provide resourcing streams to the program.
5. Fields in the program(s): (note: master’s programs are not required to declare specific fields)
Critical Studies in Improvisation is the field of inquiry for this program, developed
through the core coursework and the Primary Area credit, and supported by a faculty
complement which is internationally established in this field.
PhD students will establish a secondary area of expertise that overlaps with disciplinary
areas through course electives, the pedagogy lab and the Secondary Area credit (SA).
This secondary area (not a separate field) will focus in a specific discipline such as
History, English, Theatre Studies, Philosophy, Art History, Studio Art, or Music. The
secondary area will reinforce the relationship to critical studies in improvisation.
6. Intended career and/or higher education, any specific outcome in the discipline: (e.g.,
professional skills, etc. Program outcomes should also relate to the careers to which graduates in the
discipline can aspire. For professional program areas, identify congruence with current regulatory
requirements of the profession.)
Through this program, students will develop crucial transferable skills with broad
relevance and application across a range of fields. Critical thinking, improvisational
skills, collaborative competencies, and project management experience will all be
fostered. These skills will enhance students’ effectiveness in academic, scholarly,
artistic, business, and grassroots community contexts, maximizing graduates’ expertise
and employability not only in the field of education, but in areas such as research,
writing, public administration, communications, government and non-government
organizations, not-for-profits, community leadership, arts programming and
administration, and artistic practices spread across digital, traditional, and emergent
media.
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The previously discussed internship component offered in collaboration with the
Musagetes Foundation will provide a unique opportunity to work closely with an
international arts organization to develop hands-on experience in community
engagement, arts programming and administration, arts writing, and pedagogy. These
unique opportunities will not only enhance students’ employability in artistic, academic,
business, and community contexts, but will foster independent and collaborative
graduates capable of designing and facilitating arts-based community-making projects
across diverse disciplines and sectors. Transferable skills include community literacy,
project management, collaborative competencies, improvisational skills, and critical
thinking.
C. Rationale and Consistency with the University’s Mission and
Integrated Plan
1. Rationale for developing the program and identify the relationship of the program to
the Integrated Plans of the Department/School and College, and overall University
Integrated Plan:
The Critical Studies in Improvisation program strongly advances four of the five core
themes laid out in the University of Guelph's new strategic framework: 1) Inspiring
Learning and Inquiry; 2) Catalyzing Discovery and Change; 3) Connecting
Communities; and 5) Nurturing a Distinctive University Culture. The CSI graduate
programs focus on excellence with demonstrated world leadership in improvisation
theory and practice, built on research strengths at the University of Guelph and across
Canada. The proposed program incorporates collaboration deeply and intentionally to
ensure the long-term sustainability of our research and teaching initiatives.
Core IICSI faculty members have played a vital role in the formation of this brand new
field of interdisciplinary scholarly inquiry. The development of this field has been tied to
significant and measurable outputs across scholarly and practice-based activities within
a rich framework of partnership engagement. Students and researchers working in the
field now have access to an exceptional array of partnerships, research experience, and
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community-facing programs, as well as unique opportunities to develop original, co-
creative work that makes distinctive contributions to knowledge. This work is
distinguished by its commitment to deeply collaborative research design,
implementation, and dissemination across all levels of the partnership: between faculty
at various sites, between students and their mentors, and—crucially given the research
team’s commitment to mutually beneficial collaboration with communities—through
consultation and co-creation with community partners.
Having established the University of Guelph as a focal point for leading-edge research
in an interdisciplinary field that these scholars have, in effect, defined, we are taking
these established capacities to a globally competitive level. We have assembled a team
of highly skilled and prominent researchers, most of whom have been working together
(first through our MCRI grant, now through the Partnership funded IICSI) for a decade,
and we have trained and mentored hundreds of HQP, with many of our students and
postdoctoral fellows now in tenure-track positions. The University of Guelph has
designated improvisation as an important and innovative transdisciplinary research area
under the “social and cultural transformation” sub-theme in its 2011 Strategic Research
Plan, highlighted our MCRI project in the 2012 SRP, and granted us formal Institute
status in 2013. The consistent, high-level institutional support we receive for our work
(from a diverse range of granting agencies, partner research institutions, foundations,
and community partners), the significant growth of a field of scholarly activity directly
linked to our work, the constant influx of graduate students coming to Guelph
specifically to work with our research team and in the field of Critical Studies in
Improvisation, and the eagerness of other university departments at Guelph, as well as
institutional and community partners to participate in the development and support of
our proposed graduate programs, all combine to make this the crucial moment to launch
a graduate program in this field. The University of Guelph stands out as the appropriate
and even necessary place for this field to institute its first graduate program.
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D. Anticipated Enrolment and Impact on Existing Programs
1. Projected enrolment levels for the first five years of operation, including: initial
enrolment, enrolment after two years, steady state annual enrolment, steady state total
enrolment and year they will be achieved.
CSI expects to enroll an initial cohort of 5 students in the two-year MA program, and 2-4
students in the 4-year PhD program, for a total of 7-9 students in the first year
(anticipated in Fall 2018). Following on, we will admit up to 5 new MA students in each
subsequent year, for an average steady state total enrolment of 10 MA students in the
program after year two. During the third term of each MA student's program (the end of
their first year), MA students may apply to transfer into the PhD program. Conversely,
PhD-track students who have completed all MA requirements may apply to the graduate
committee to transfer to the MA program to complete their program with a terminal
Master's degree. The graduate program committee will review cohort numbers on an
annual basis, and will consider applications for the MA program, direct entry to PhD
applications, and transfer from the MA to the PhD program. Additional growth will be
determined based on demand and resource availability and may entail development of
a Graduate Certificate in Arts-Based Community Making and Improvisation. The PhD
program intake is planned to continue at a rate of two to four per year, subject to
adequate resource availability. Ideally, a total of 7-9 graduate students (MA and PhD-
levels) will be enrolled each year, for a total on-time steady state student body
enrolment of 18-34 students at any given time.
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2. Overlap, if any, with existing programs: (discuss potential impact of new program on existing
programs and whether students may move to this program from others or whether the proposed program
is expected to attract new students.)
The proposed Critical Studies in Improvisation program will be the first of its kind
anywhere and is designed to serve a generative and complementary function with a
number of other programs in the College of Arts and at the University of Guelph. As an
interdisciplinary arts program with foundations in critical inquiry, multidisciplinary
improvisatory practices, performative agency, and community engagement, CSI will
attract new students to the University and provide a degree program not currently
offered anywhere else. The Institute's track record has already distinguished Guelph
internationally in this field and attracted students to its courses and research programs.
We expect increased enrolment across the board as a result of this program. Relevant
courses will also be cross-listed with SETS and other programs. As a niche
interdisciplinary program, demand for this interdisciplinary area of study is clearly
demonstrated through the numbers of students and applicants to its programs. Since
2007, IICSI has received 156 applications for postdoctoral fellowship positions (45%
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domestic / 55% international). The SETS PhD (LSTS) program has also attracted a
substantial number of students who have specifically applied to do graduate work with
the faculty in this field. In 2011 the Specialization in Improvisation was recognized as a
formal field of study within the existing SETS PhD program framework. In addition to
students coming directly to pursue work in Critical Studies in Improvisation, IICSI faculty
have provided training and mentorship for the equivalent of more than 246 term-length
graduate student research positions (Master’s and PhD) who were attracted to IICSI's
research programs from a variety of the university's disciplinary units. The proposed
new program is expected to attract a significant intake of new students with a particular
interest in its unique curricular design, while also supporting existing programs in the
College of Arts and at the University of Guelph.
The core courses CSI will offer are unique reflections of the intellectual content that the
curriculum committee has identified as specific to the discipline of CSI. These have
arisen out of the foundational work done over many years by researchers associated
with IICSI, most notably the long-running, peer-reviewed, SSHRC-funded journal Critical
Studies in Improvisation / Études critiques en improvisation, the book series
Improvisation, Community and Social Practice published by Duke University Press and
general edited by Dr. Fischlin, and the Summer Institute, the Guelph Jazz Festival
Colloquium, and the Improviser-in-Residence Program – all of which have served as
platforms over many years to develop the theory and practice of the disciplinary
engagements particular to critical studies in improvisation.
The unique profile of all these activities has been internationally recognized and has
established the University of Guelph as a leader in the emergent field of CSI. Core
courses in the program will build from that unique profile while also complementing the
degree programs of students in other graduate programs at the university. In particular,
the three central CSI courses (Core Concepts in Critical Improvisation, Foundational
Research Practices for Critical Studies in Improvisation, and Arts-Based Community
Making Module & Practicum) would be of potential interest to students in Fine Arts,
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Music, Social Work, Anthropology, Sociology, as well as art-interested computer
science students and students interested in the digital humanities.
3. Programs proposed for closure as a result of this proposed new program.
This program is a new initiative that fills a distinct niche. No programs will be proposed
for closure as a result of this proposed new program and the potential for partnership
and shared resourcing with extant programs is implicit in what we are proposing.
E. Admission Requirements
1. List of admission requirements and indicate their appropriateness for ensuring
adequate achievement and preparation for entry into the program:
Applicants to the MA must hold an Honours Bachelor’s degree or equivalent with a
minimum GPA of 75%, in a field related to their proposed study. Applicants to both the
2-year terminal MA and to the 4-year PhD program must provide two letters of
reference. Applicants to the PhD program may enter directly from an honours BA or
already hold a Master’s degree (in which case they would earn a second MA en route).
Both the MA and PhD applicants will be required to submit a portfolio with a
representative sampling of their best and most relevant creative, professional, and/or
research practice, in relationship to the field of CSI and to their proposed area of
research. Portfolios can include music, artwork, digital files, writings, and must be linked
to the candidates’ rationale for admission to the program. Applicants will submit a
research proposal outlining their critical orientation and proposed research activity for
the program of study. A rationale for admission will also be required, outlining the fitness
of the applicant’s profile and proposed research to the program, and explaining how
they will contribute to the field and how their previous work prepares them for entry to
the program. Applicants to the PhD program will be required to take part in an interview
(in person or via teleconference) with the Program Director and faculty members.
Evaluation of this interview will inform decisions about offers.
21
2. List any proposed alternative requirements and rationale:
Strong candidates without a bachelor’s degree or with a degree in a field not directly
related to CSI or with exceptional practitioner experience will be evaluated for MA
admission based on the contents of their portfolio, research proposal, reference letters,
and detailed rationale for admission. Upon admission, such candidates may be
assigned necessary courses to ensure adequate preparedness for research and
practice in the field.
3. For new fields within an already approved graduate program, admission requirements
that differ from existing requirements within the degree program and rationale. N/A
F. Program Requirements
1. Outline of program (course) requirements, including:
This is a new program, and the first graduate program in its field. As such, it requires
the creation of new courses to address the particular content needs in the field of
Critical Studies in Improvisation. Earlier iterations of our core required courses have
been taught under existing course codes. Core courses have been designed to be open
to students in other graduate programs while focusing on the key innovations that
differentiate the field of Critical Studies in Improvisation as a uniquely multidisciplinary
field. Students will have the option to take elective courses to complement their learning
during the course of their studies; this will enable them to integrate their learning about
CSI with their practices and studies in other disciplines. We have confirmed a list of
courses that students may choose to take as electives; instructors of have confirmed
their willingness to support CSI students by allowing their enrollment in these courses.
The MA.IMPR and PHD.IMPR Graduate Program and Course Trajectory is built on
three core courses, which are developed from existing courses. Two of these will be re-
created as new courses to establish and differentiate the IMPR program. The outline of
the course program on the following two pages envisages student progression through
the IMPR program in the Master’s and PhD levels.
IMPR-CSIGraduateProgram–CurriculumPathways July2017
ColorKey:Orange:3Corecourses;Green:Electives;Blue:Advisory/Module-basedcourses
Term1(Fall)
IMPR*6010:Core
ConceptsinCritical
StudiesinImprovisation,
PartIFischlin(1.0Cr.)
UNIV*6040:
FoundationalResearch
PracticesforCritical
StudiesinImprovisation
(0.5Cr.)
Term2(Winter)
IMPR*6010:Core
ConceptsinCritical
StudiesinImprovisation,
PartII(cont'd1.0Cr.)
Elective
CoA/CSAHS/IICSIor
othercourses
(0.5Cr.)
Term3(Spring)
IMPR*6200:Internship
orElective
CoA/CSAHS/IICSIor
othercourses(0.5Cr.)
IMPR*6300:Graduate
Colloquium- Advisors,researchinprogress
(0.5Cr.)
MASTERS(5Credits)
MA/Ph.D(5+3Credits)
• Modules&Reflections:Minimum2peracademicyear,
listconfirmedannually.
IMPR*6100SpecialTopicsin
Improvisation(0.25credit:Advisors)
• Modules&Reflections:Minimum2peracademic
year,listconfirmedannually.
IMPR*6100SpecialTopicsinImprovisation
(0.25Cr.)Advisors
Term4(Fall)
IMPR*6020:Arts-Based
CommunityMakingPartI
(1.0Cr.)Heble
Elective
CoA/CSAHS/IICSIorother
courses(0.5Cr.)
Term5(Winter)
IMPR*6020:Arts-Based
CommunityMakingPartII
(cont'd1.0Cr.)
IMPR*6410:PedagogyLab
(0.5Cr.)Advisors
MAstudentsmayapplyto
transfertoPhDProgram
Term6(Spring)
IMPR*6025:Arts-Based
CommunityMakingIII-
PracticumorInternship
(0.5Cr.)Advisors
IMPR*6300Graduate
Colloquium(0.5Cr.)
PublicPresentationCapstone/CulminatingIMPR*6210MRP(MAs)
MASTERSComplete(5.0Credits)
Ph.DContinued(opportunitytoterminatew/MA)
Y1
Y2
IMPR-CSIGraduateProgram–CurriculumPathways July2017
ColorKey:Orange:3Corecourses;Green:Electives;Blue:Advisory/Module-basedcourses
Ph.D(Continued/ConvertedMA's)
Term7(Fall)
IMPR*6420:PhD:
SecondaryArea(0.5
Cr.)
Elective
CoA/CSAHS/IICSIor
othercourses
(0.5Cr.)
Term8(Winter)
IMPR*6410:PhD:
PrimaryArea
(0.5Cr.)
ElectiveORDirected
ReadingCourse
(0.5Cr.)
Term9(Spring)
IMPR*6410:PhD:
PrimaryArea
(0.5Cr.)
IMPR*6300:
Graduate
Colloquium
(0.5Cr.)
• Modules&Reflections:Minimum2peracademicyear,
listconfirmedannually.
IMPR*6100SpecialTopicsinImprovisation
(0.25Cr.)Advisors
Term10(Fall)
PrimaryArea:QE
Presentation
IMPR*6500:
ResearchDesign&
Prospectus
Development
OngoingResearch
(Term10- 15)
Term11(Winter)
Ongoing
Research
(Term10-15)
Term12(Spring)
IMPR*6300:Graduate
Colloquium
IMPR*6210MRP
Capstoneproject
ThesisDefense
OngoingResearch
Ph.DCompletebyendofyear5
• Minimum2peracademicyear,listconfirmedannually.IMPR*6100SpecialTopicsinImprovisation
(0.25Cr.)
Y3
Y4
Y5 • Terms12-15,asrequiredthroughdefensedate.OngoingResearch
24
a. courses currently offered, with frequency of offering;
As noted at the beginning of this section, the IMPR graduate program is built on three
core courses, which have already been established at the University of Guelph. The first
term required core course “Foundational Research Methods in Critical Studies in
Improvisation,” will be the new title of UNIV*6040, an existing course already “co-
owned” across the College of Arts: SETS (50%), SOFAM (25%) and SOLAL (25%), and
open to students across the University. This team-taught, multi-disciplinary course
focusing on Improvisation will broadly encompass applicable Foundational Research
Practices in Arts and Humanities, thus serving the entire college and university. This
course will be taught annually beginning Fall 2018. The course coordinator is currently
slated to be either Harley (Agreement in principle from Music Department & SOFAM) or
the IICSI postdoctoral fellow. This course will be modified through a course change
agreed upon by the three College of Arts schools to revise the title and enable a Fall
course offering (currently a summer course).
b. list of any new courses proposed as part of the submission; (append completed new
course proposal form(s))
The other two core IMPR courses have been developed and taught under the English
Department’s variable content course code ENGL*6691 Interdisciplinary Studies [0.50].
These two courses are: IMPR*6010 Core Concepts in Critical Studies in
Improvisation I & II [Year 1, F/W, 1.0 credit over 2 terms] (Fischlin – SETS course
release committed) and IMPR*6020 Arts-Based Community Making Part I & II [Year
2, F/W, 1.0 credit] (Heble – SETS course release committed). To establish the IMPR
program, these will be re-launched with the IMPR prefix, and defined as new 1.0
courses that run over two semesters. Graduate students from disciplines across the
College will be permitted entry and the courses will be cross-listed in SETS.
Additional New Courses:
25
IMPR*6025 Arts-Based Community Making III (Practicum or Internship) (0.5)
IMPR*6100 Special Topics in Critical Studies in Improvisation (Module based
course) (0.25)
IMPR*6200 Internship (0.5)
IMPR*6210 Major Research Project/Paper (0.5)
IMPR*6300 Graduate Colloquium (0.5)
IMPR*6410 Pedagogy Lab (0.5)
IMPR*6420 Primary Area (PA, 0.5)
IMPR*6430 Secondary Area (SA, 0.5)
IMPR*6500 Research Design and Prospectus Development (0.5)
c. required courses mounted by other units and confirm commitment by said unit;
N/A
d. for doctoral programs, the structure of the qualifying examination;
To qualify as ABD in the program will require completion of both a credited Secondary
Area in a specific elective discipline that focuses on core content and pedagogy as well
as the formal Qualifying Exam for the program in the Primary Area credit, focused on
the student’s projected primary research area.
Part 1. Primary Research Area: develop a research article suitable for publication tied to
a conference presentation, followed by oral presentation for advisory committee, and
revisions leading to submission for publication. The research article may be replaced by
practice-based or community engaged research options.
Part 2. Secondary Research Area: PhD students will dedicate some of their work in the
Pedagogy Lab to develop reading lists and syllabus outlines for an undergraduate level
course, to be presented at the program research colloquium, followed by revisions
based on discussion with the advisory committee. This Secondary Area will enable CSI
students to build an area of disciplinary competence beyond and complementary to their
primary studies, which we consider a critical element of their development as graduates
26
entering a complex culture and job market. The outcome of the Secondary Area (SA)
will be an undergraduate course syllabus and reading list that situates the Secondary
Area in the context of CSI. Students will present their rationale for the course structure
and content, demonstrate their intervention in existing fields, and the complementarity
that their proposed course offers to the increasing interdisciplinarity of the field of CSI.
The Program Director will play a key role in identifying appropriate disciplinary
engagements for each student in the program at this level of study.
f. required thesis, major paper or other capstone requirement.
PhD: major written thesis including an oral defense, or major applied research project
accompanied by a substantial position paper and oral defense.
MA: Major Research Project (MRP) with flexibility in terms of methodology and form
indexed to student emphasis on academic, practice-based or community-facing
research.
2. Mode of delivery (in-class, lecture, problem- or case-based learning, online/distance, hybrid) and
explain why the methods are appropriate for meeting the program’s learning outcomes:
Our curriculum has been developed with the diverse learning styles and needs of
students in mind. We have created this program with attention to the importance of
universal design and the deep impacts and lasting learning that can be generated when
students participate in a variety of learning experiences. Students in our program will
take part in full-group classroom learning, as well as one-on-one mentorship from their
faculty supervisors and internship mentors, and will also participate in experiential
learning through Special Topics sessions, the Pedagogy Lab, and the Arts-based
Community Making modules. We will also offer enriched learning through multi-site
collaboration with IICSI research team members at our 5 other sites, all of whom have
agreed to participate remotely in their courses and to serve as committee members and
to advise cotutelles where appropriate. We have years of experience offering hybrid
learning opportunities to our students. The Institute's longstanding Summer Institute, for
instance, brought together students from multiple sites for an intensive on-site program,
complemented by online preparation and learning sessions. In 2016, two Guelph
27
students, three Regina students, and 3 students from MUN received credit for a hybrid
course offered partly online and partly through collaborative learning on-site at MUN.
This proof of concept ran smoothly and created successful outcomes, with student
learning objectives met and all parts of the pedagogical process running smoothly. We
look forward to continuing and expanding our model of universally-designed,
experiential and engaged, hybrid learning (involving close work with our partners) in the
proposed new programs.
3. Appropriateness of the program’s structure and curriculum in meeting expressed
learning outcomes:
Each element of the curriculum has been designed and developed by experienced
faculty and staff, with the support of educational developers, and after significant
consultation and input. Content, delivery, and assessment have been designed to work
together to support students’ achievement of our learning outcomes, and the carefully
structured program pathways ensure that content and experiences build toward a
deeper grasp and competency with the material. In addition to ongoing assessment of
coursework and internships, faculty will ensure that students are on track and meeting
our objectives by holding regular check-ins and reviewing students’ commonplace
books (a critical creative learning portfolio to be developed throughout the course of
study).
Please see the attached Graduate Learning Outcome Alignment Template for further
information on how specific program elements relate to our learning outcomes.
4. Appropriateness of the proposed method of assessment in evaluating student
progress and achievement of the learning outcomes:
As described in the attached Learning Outcomes Alignment Template, our assessment
methods have been designed to ensure that we can monitor students’ progress in
meeting specific program and course-based learning objectives, in keeping with the
University of Guelph’s Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes. Further, we have
28
incorporated a range of tasks and outcomes into the program, ensuring that students
are assessed on an ongoing basis on their work across a broad range of contexts --
including collaborative methods, written communication, teaching and knowledge
mobilization, and critical analysis. Finally, assessment will rest largely -- but crucially,
not exclusively -- with course instructors and faculty supervisors. Students’ work on the
Arts-Based Community Making modules and internships will be subject to review and
feedback from their community supervisors and partners, ensuring that a range of
perspectives and impacts are included in their evaluations.
Note: the proposed calendar copy for this program (Preamble, Schedule of Studies)
and templates (course forms and course outlines) for any new courses proposed to
support the program will be required with the submission (see Volume II: Supporting
Documentation).
G. Human and Physical Resource Requirements
1. Complete Table 1.
TABLE 1. Faculty members by field.
N.B.: The intent of this Table is to establish the strength and the degree of involvement of the faculty complement
participating in each field of the graduate program and whose CVs are provided in Volume II of the Brief. This is an
important element in the assessment of program quality.
Faculty Members by Field
Faculty Name & Rank Home Unit
Supervisory
Privileges
Courses
Core Method
Pedagogy
Arts- Based
C-E
Advising
Spec Top
Category 2 (Non-Tenured/T-track Faculty dedicated exclusively to CSI)
IICSI Postdoctoral Fellow
(need/expertise dependent)
SETS/IICSI Co x x x x x x
Instructor (need/expertise
dependent)*
IICSI Co x x x x x x
29
Category 3 (Tenure/tenure track core faculty w/involvement in other programs)
Daniel Fischlin, Professor (SETS)
and (Graduate Program
Coordinator)
SETS
(English/IICSI)
Full x x x x x x
Ajay Heble, Professor (SETS) and
Director (IICSI)
SETS
(English/IICSI)
Full x x x x x x
Frederique Arroyas, Associate
Professor
SOLAL
(French)
Full x x x
William Bettger, Associate Professor CBS (Human
Health and
Nutritional
Sciences)
Full x x x x
Diane Borsato, Associate Professor SOFAM (Studio
Art)
Full x x x x
Rumina Dhalla, Associate Professor CBE
(Management)
Full x x
James Harley, Associate Professor SOFAM
(Music)
Full x x x x
Leah Levac, Assistant Professor CSAHS
(Political
Science)
Full x x x x
Mark Lipton, SETS (Media
Studies)
Full x x x x x x
Marta McCarthy, Associate
Professor
SOFAM
(Music)
Full x x x
Carla Rice, Professor CSAHS
(FRAN)
Full x x x
Howard Spring, Associate Professor SOFAM
(Music)
Full x x
Kimberley McLeod, Assistant
Professor
SETS (Theatre) Full x x x x x x
Category 4 (Non-tenured, core faculty, also in other programs)
Community Engaged Scholarship
Institute (CESI):
Researchers/Faculty
CSAHS Co x x x x
IICSI Staff (HQP: expertise
dependent)*
SETS Co x x x x
Category 5 (Other core faculty e.g. emeritus, Associated graduate faculty w/supervisory & teaching)
Rebecca Caines, University of Department of Co x x
30
Regina, Associate Professor Media, Art and
Performance
Eric Lewis, McGill University,
Associate Professor
Department of
Philosophy
Co x x
Kevin McNeilly, University of British
Columbia, Associate Professor
Department of
English
Co x x
George Lipsitz, University of
California, Santa Barbara, Professor
Department of
Black Studies
Co x x
Ellen Waterman, Memorial
University of Newfoundland,
Professor
School of
Music
Co x x
Category 6 (Special Graduate Faculty)
Improviser in Residence IICSI n/a x x x x
Visiting Artists* (modular
coursework/practica)
Various n/a
*We anticipate that Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) with expertise in the field will be a strong source of additional support to the program. For
instance, Dr. Elizabeth Jackson, Associate Director at the Community Engaged Scholarship Institute (CESI), and Dr. Megan Troop, Online Learning
Consultant (University of Waterloo) and First Year Seminar Instructor (University of Guelph) both have made significant contributions to the CSI
curriculum and Dr. Troop co-taught (with Dr. William Bettger, listed above) a First Year Seminar on improvisation, titled "IMPROV(e) Life" in Fall 2016;
Dr. Fischlin contributed a core practicum section to the course.
2. Areas of strength and expertise of the faculty up to, and including, its current status,
and also any plan for future development. The commitment of the core faculty to the
graduate program through sustained participation in activities involving graduate
students (e.g., seminars, colloquia, conferences, journal clubs, etc.) should be
demonstrated.
The core faculty for the proposed CSI graduate program are leaders in the field, with
members bringing diverse yet complementary areas of expertise to this initiative, in
addition to well-established histories of collaboration across multiple locations and
institutions. Members have a demonstrated track record in grant management and
student training, as well as in fostering innovative research partnerships with the
broader community. With expertise in a range of disciplines including critical, literary,
historical, musical, sociological, technological, and philosophical inquiry, policy-oriented
social research, and creative response (and in keeping with the University of Guelph’s
Strategic Research Plan), our faculty are well positioned to address improvisation in
31
relation to pressing issues of social and cultural transformation: human rights,
transculturalism, pedagogy, the civic participation of aggrieved populations, the role of
creativity in powering economic growth––issues central to the challenges of diversity
and social cooperation in Canada.
This curriculum builds on two large-scale partnership-based SSHRC grants
(MCRI/Partnership Fund; PI: Ajay Heble), which have led to the formation of a highly
integrated and diverse team whose significant experience in training, supervising, and
mentoring students, serving on advisory committees, and participating in colloquia
demonstrates a sustained commitment to activities involving graduate students. As
noted above, the core members of the IICSI research team who will be part of this
graduate program have trained and mentored the equivalent of over 246 graduate-level
studentships and 23 postdoctoral fellows to date.
In an effort to broaden the reach of our core faculty, we have also confirmed faculty
members, as stated earlier, at our Institute’s partner institutions: McGill University,
University of British Columbia, Memorial University of Newfoundland, University of
Regina, University of California at Santa Barbara. These commitments build on an
extensive track record of well-developed, sustained collaborations, and on already
existing inter-institutional agreements among the partner institutions. In addition to
serving on advisory committees and to teaching course modules (either telematically or
on site through summer institutes) for our program, these faculty members will also
teach courses through their home institutions that they will make available to students in
our program. They will also work with community partners to create internship
opportunities for our students.
The Institute involves a multi-site research partnership, and we seek to encourage
engagement and collaboration across our multiple sites. Building on ongoing
collaborative commitments and on existing partnership and inter-institutional
agreements, and as a proof of concept in our effort to develop a multi-institutional
curriculum, we have created mechanisms for graduate students at any of our six partner
32
sites to take courses offered by an IICSI faculty member at site universities outside their
home institution. In summer 2016, for example, as mentioned earlier, Memorial
University of Newfoundland site coordinator and IICSI researcher Dr. Ellen Waterman
successfully offered a hybrid course for credit that included graduate students from both
the University of Guelph and the University of Regina. This course, MUSIC
7806/Education 6920 "Issues and Contexts in Contemporary Performance," included
participation in a colloquium organized by IICSI.
3. For doctoral and thesis-based master’s programs, evidence of scholarly activity and
intellectual atmosphere of the academic unit based on the number and quality of
significant publications of the members and by the unit’s continuing insistence on
originality and excellence. (In the case of programs in professional areas, there must be a solid basis
of appropriate scholarly or creative activities.)
The Critical Studies in Improvisation graduate program at the University of Guelph is
built on the highly productive and award-winning fifteen-year research program
associated with the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation, itself the
outgrowth of years of prior research and community-facing activities. The Institute and
the work of its key faculty researchers focuses on excellence with world leadership in
improvisation theory and practice. This new program will build on research strengths in
the College of Arts and across the University of Guelph, as well as leveraging the
Institute’s key partnerships across Canada.
IICSI has developed from the career-long research efforts of highly productive faculty,
the university’s strategic research plan, long-standing partnerships with community
organizations, and national and international collaborations with researchers and
practitioners of improvisation in many disciplines. It has become a focal point for
advanced research in an interdisciplinary field that its research team has, in effect,
shaped and defined. It brings together a dynamic international research team (58
scholars from 20 institutions) with a demonstrated track record in grant management
and student training, and it fosters innovative partnerships with 30+ community-based
organizations. With roots in six universities across Canada and the United States, IICSI
connects scholars of improvisation studies in unprecedented ways via affiliations
33
ranging from the grassroots connections between community partners to the formalized
cooperative agreements at top levels of administration and research oversight at
partnered institutions. This sustained record of collaborative, leading-edge research
development, implementation, and dissemination has allowed the IICSI team to create a
highly productive and engaging intellectual atmosphere of originality and excellence,
which draws on the momentum created by strong cross-sector and inter-institutional
partnerships and projects.
H. Funding and Resource Availability
1. Evidence of adequate resources to sustain the research activities and quality of
scholarship produced by students, including information technology support, and
laboratory access.
The CSI MA and PhD graduate programs are designed to 1) maximize existing
university resources, 2) capitalize on provincial student funding models, and 3) create
innovative funding streams to support the graduate program.
1) Existing university resources to be leveraged for this program include several
important components. Via the large-scale SSHRC Partnership Grant (PI: Ajay Heble)
research funding is in place through 2020 (with a planned extension to 2021), which will
significantly support a range of core program activity including teaching, advising,
student travel, internships, and program promotion and outreach. The proposed
graduate program and curriculum design is one of the expected outcomes of
Partnership Grant as approved by SSHRC. Faculty across the College of Arts and the
University of Guelph are coming together in this program to contribute leading-edge
expertise in improvisation and community-engaged scholarship and to support teaching
and advising, as noted in the faculty resources chart above. Inter-institutional
agreements are already in place with partner universities, which include graduate study
and student support (and a potential for cotutelles). Individual faculty listed above from
all these partner universities have committed to advising students and providing
opportunities. Existing partnerships with community organizations will provide secure
internship locations that are essential to the learning outcomes for graduate students in
34
the program. Administrative support in the College of Arts will provide needed graduate
secretary assistance. The School of English and Theatre Studies (SETS) has
guaranteed course releases for key faculty to teach in and lead this program.
2) Provincial student funding models have been taken into account in structuring the
program design so that the trajectory matches the funding available for MA and for PhD
programs.
3) New funding streams will also contribute to supporting this graduate program. A
university-wide undergraduate course (also possibly offered through distance education
or Office of Open Learning) is described elsewhere in this brief. Commitment from the
Musagetes Foundation, in particular, will support paid internships for the CSI students
as they gain experience and develop projects based on their research. Additional
funding for future studentships, fellowships, and visiting artist/scholars program will be
sought from donors.
Specifically, then, the program will leverage existing resources, policies, and institutional
structures without adding new costs. These include using three existing graduate
courses to mount the core program courses (as per trajectory, "Core Concepts,"
"Research Practices," and "Arts-based Community Making"), designated graduate
faculty status for qualified IICSI staff to teach and advise in the program, guarantee of
tenure and promotion credit in the distribution of effort for service to CSI by faculty in
various departments (per faculty commitments chart above), teaching status for the
IICSI Postdoctoral Fellow and Improviser-in-Residence (as applicable), establishment of
a university-wide undergraduate course with income flowing into the graduate program
(not including development costs if required for a distance education course), paid
student internships for every CSI graduate student that will be fully funded through the
SSHRC Partnership Grant ($18,000/year through 2020) and the Musagetes Foundation
(amount to be determined with review after 4 years), existing capacity in graduate
program secretary resources in the College of Arts (~$57,852 per year), and GTA
commitments will be allocated by the College of Arts to incoming students. Promotional
start up costs will be supported by the Office of Graduate Studies and IICSI’s promotion
and communication budget.
35
In short, resources exist to establish this program, matriculate the first cohort in Fall
2018, and demonstrate demand for this innovative and impactful program.
Commitments will be required for a new tenure track hire to be cross-listed in a
department with duties to teach and advise in CSI (by 2021). Please see the working
chart for resource needs below.
Resource Source Annual
budget/cost
(if applicable)
Committed?
Teaching and Advising
Program Leadership – Course
Release for Graduate
Coordinator (Fischlin) from
department
SETS Yes. Per CoA policy on par
with MFA programs
Core Program Teaching –
Course Release
(Heble/Fischlin) from
department (1.0 per year x 2
faculty)
SETS Yes, Ann Wilson, Director
Special Graduate faculty
status for qualified IICSI staff
to teach/advise
IICSI; U of G
Faculty Senate
(request)
Pro Forma with appropriate
credentials & rationale
Postdoctoral Fellow* (include
teaching in annual IICSI
postdoc job posting)
IICSI; U of G
Faculty Senate
(status request)
~$46,800 Yes through 2020.
Improviser-in-
Residence
Musagetes
(SSHRC matching)
$20,000 per year Yes, annual through 2020
Capacity for IICSI faculty at
other sites to teach courses
per proof of concept and
Summer Institute models
IICSI partners,
inter-institutional
agreements in
place.
Yes from professors;
administrative mechanisms
available
Administration
Graduate program secretary
(USW Band 3, Level 4, + 33%
ben.)
College of Arts Existing graduate
secretary capacity
Yes
Administrative operations,
space, IT, etc
College of Arts In-kind (existing
capacity)
Yes
36
Wired classroom for teaching
across sites,
videoconferencing
College of
Arts/infrastructure
funding
No
Program Launch, recruiting,
and promotional support
Office of Graduate
Studies, IICSI
$20,000 one time
cost in year 1
Yes
Student Support Packages
Student Funding Flow-
Through (MTCU MSEAC)
Provincial: 2yrs
MA/3yrs PhD
$6,000 / MA and
$10,000/PhD
Yes, if part of SMA
Student GRA-ships SSHRC PG
funding, $1 -
$5,000/year x ~10
$50,000 / year Yes (through 2020)
TA-ships: $34,200 per MA
student and $68,400 per phd
student (if 4 years of GTA is
guaranteed); Teaching
College of Arts
(RAG funding)
$5,700 per term x 3
terms =$17,100 per
student per year.
$119,700 -
$307,800
(depending on
enrolment and
external funding)
Yes
Student Travel (competitive
funds: IICSI travel resource,
CoA graduate travel funding)
IICSI SSHRC PG;
CoA
$10,500 Yes
Student Internships
Musagetes (new
commitment)
Amount TBD. Yes
SSHRC PG $18,000/year
through 2020
Yes
Program Activities
Operations Budget IICSI SSHRC PG $5,000/yr Yes $5,000 SSHRC PG
Colloquium SSHRC / VPR $11,000
(SSHRC)/$7,000
(VPR) to 2020
Yes
Exhibitions & Projects (Can be
sought for ABCM projects.
Ideal, $1500 per student.)
SSHRC PG
(competitive
internal fund)
$10,000 total over 3
years
Yes
Additional Needs
Tenure Track hire (by 2021) CoA or CSAHS
($87,431 hiring
floor estimate
2017/18 + 25%
benefits UGFA)
~$118,750 /yrs new
TT line
No
37
Visiting Artists/Speaker
Program
Donor/CoA/Provost 5 yearly @ $4,000
each = $20,000/yr
No
Undergraduate course
(University Wide)
University wide No
*Postdoctoral Fellow: Fellow cannot advise students who have the same faculty advisor. IICSI will ensure that
teaching is included in call for applications and job offer, and that special graduate faculty status is requested from U
of Guelph Faculty Senate.
2. Notable resources available to the program demonstrating institutional
appropriateness (e.g., research institutes, centres and chairs; unique library collections or resources;
facilities such as computer, laboratory, other acquisitions, etc.)
● International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI)
● Journal: Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation
● Duke University Press book series
● SSHRC operating funding through 2020 (planned extension to 2021) – stipends, travel,
colloquium, postdoc
● IICSI house (9 University Ave. East) and MacKinnon lab and offices (042, 039)
● University Research Chair (Fischlin)
● Improviser in Residence
● SSHRC journal funding
● Annual colloquium
● Inter-Institutional Agreements with Partnership Grant institutions
● Library collections including Guelph Jazz Festival and CFRU archive
● Organizational community partners
3. Complete Table 2.
TABLE 2
Total Operating Research Funding by Source and Year for the Past 4 Years
Source
Year1 Granting Councils2 Other Peer Adjudicated3 Contracts Others4
38
2012-13 $330,910 $21,000 $2,695 (SI) 0
2013-14 $542,386 $21,000 0 0
2014-15 $606,741 $20,000 0 0
2015-16 $413,545 $34,250 0 0
Totals $1,893,582 $96,250 $2,695 0
1. Academic year.
2. Do not include equipment grants, conference grants, or grants allocated by the university such as SSHRC minor grants in
this column.
2012-2013= $299,113 (SSHRC MCRI) + $11,800 (Aid to Scholarly Journals) + $20,000 (SSHRC PG LOI)
2013-14 = $391,963 (SSHRC MCRI) + $110,523 (SSHRC PG) + $39,900 (SSHRC Connections)
2014-15 = $589,941 (SSHRC PG) + $16,800 (SSHRC ASJ)
2015-16 = $396,745 (SSHRC PG) + $16,800 (SSHRC ASJ)
3. Explain source and type in footnote.
2012-2013= $21,000 (Musagetes)
2013-14 = $21,000 (Musagetes)
2014-15 = $20,000 (Musagetes)
2015-16 = $27,750 (Musagetes) + $6,500 (Chawkers Foundation)
CONTRACTS (2012-2013) = Summer Institute Registration Fees
4. University allocated grants (such as SSHRC minor grants).
4. Expected level and source(s) of student stipend, if any, to be provided.
Program entry and length have been designed to correspond with graduate student
provincial funding models for a 2 year MA or 4 year PhD program. The RAG flow
through funds would be included in student stipend packages. Students may also gain
support from Graduate Teaching Assistantship positions, within the program and
affiliated departments. The program will provide appropriate guarantees for incoming
students in a manner that parallels existing offers in the SETS PhD program as listed in
the resourcing chart in Section H, above. These student stipends will be enhanced by
Graduate Research Assistantship commitments funded by faculty research grants to
support IICSI research programs (70 hours=$2,375 and/or 140 hours=$4,745 per term).
Further, all students will be required to apply for additional competitive scholarship
opportunities and will be carefully mentored through this process. Any awards coming
directly to students will allow GRA funds to be held for future years or incorporated into
analysis of program expansion. In addition to GRAs, internships will be an important
component of this graduate program. Funds for these graduate program related
39
internships are already incorporated into the 7-year plan of the IICSI SSHRC
partnership grant, at the same levels as the GRA above. Also, as stated earlier, the
Musagetes Foundation has committed to an internship program which will support the
student internship component, pairing CSI students with community organizations and
partners. Additional funds may be sought to support internships through other sources
such as MITACS (a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered
research and training programs in Canada for 15 years) and the Canadian Queen
Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) Advanced-Scholars program,
SSHRC, and others.
5. If not included in the appended CVs of core faculty, in a table list the source of
research operating funds to core faculty members for the past six years (e.g., granting
councils, industry, government, foundations, etc)
See CVs.
6. In a (separate) table, list other types of research funding (e.g., equipment, travel,
publication)
See CVs and list in Section H above. (journal, book series, travel resource fund)
I. Duplication, Student Demand and Societal Need
1. Similar programs offered by other institutions in the Ontario university system and
evidence of justifiable duplication based on demand and/or societal need.
While music programs in Ontario do teach some improvised music and improvisation,
none is oriented, as ours is, toward the interdisciplinary, critical theoretical
implementation of improvisation theory as a model and a basis for investigation,
analysis, social practice, and collaboration. This work of our Institute and our graduate
program represent new directions and the development of a new field of critical inquiry.
Having effectively established the field of Critical Studies in Improvisation in Canada, we
are now poised to create the first-ever graduate program in the field. This new graduate
program will codify Improvisational Studies as an academic discipline committed to the
highest standards of research, interdisciplinarity, socially responsible scholarship and
40
teaching, community-engaged outputs, and culturally responsive research agendas and
priorities.
2. Convincing evidence of student demand for the program. Per the MTCU checklist,
consider the following in making these determinations:
a. evidence of student demand through application statistics: (e.g., number of enquiries,
applications received, number of qualified applicants)
IICSI core researchers and affiliated faculty, including Fischlin, Harley, Heble, and Rice,
regularly respond to inquiries from potential students who have heard about the still-in-
development graduate program, or who are seeking interdisciplinary arts-based
community-engaged graduate studies. While these students can sometimes participate
in IICSI GRA experiences through existing programs in SETS, philosophy, music, or
even computer science, there is no dedicated program that fully accommodates their
interests. Indeed, numerous current and past students whose work is improvisation-
based have sought research assistantships and faculty mentorship and advising from
IICSI faculty.
Critical Studies in Improvisation, as noted earlier, is designated as a field of
specialization within the SETS PhD program. There are currently 7 PhD students
affiliated with IICSI whose work is improvisation-based. Of these, 5 are housed in
SETS, and 2 in other departments. Summer Institutes, which ran four times in 2008,
2010, 2012, and 2014, drew a total of 71 participants from both domestic and
international institutions.
IICSI has continued to see steady interest in scholarships and research assistantships
from undergraduate and graduate students in a range of disciplines, even while overall
enrolment across the College of Arts has declined. Students come from a range of
disciplines, including Music, English, Theatre, Philosophy, Art, Geography,
Environmental Governance, Arts and Sciences, and Computer Science. Interestingly,
the Arts and Sciences undergraduate major (BAS) remains a source of undergraduate
41
interest. We anticipate that IICSI's CFI proposed technology-integrated research space,
ImprovLab, will also be a significant draw for this range of students.
From 2007 through 2016-17, IICSI has provided 349 Research Assistantships (103
undergraduate and 246 graduate-level). These graduate assistantships include: 73
Masters-level RA-ships, and 173 PhD RA-ships. The Institute has funded 23 post-
doctoral fellows to date.
*numberofresearchassistantshipsperacademicyear,standardized,basedonfundsexpended,notindividual
people.Numbersforpastyearsareequivalents,basedontheURA/GRArateforagivenyearinwhich140hoursis
considered1RA-ship.
IICSI Colloquia have been consistently well-attended, with many venues reaching
capacity and even having overflow/standing room only for panels, keynotes, and
workshops. For example, the Guelph Jazz Festival Colloquium usually opts to run
parallel sessions during its three day program in order to accommodate the large
number of high quality submissions.
The IICSI-run journal Critical Studies in Improvisation / Etudes Critiques en
improvisation has received 347 submissions since inception, resulting in 213 published
peer-reviewed articles. It is a central mandate of the journal to disseminate and promote
the research of emerging scholars in the field. Worldwide interest in this field is evident
42
in the journal's readership statistics, with largest numbers of readers in Canada, the
United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Journal statistics have shown a
steady increase in the number of reads per month since 2011. Since February 2012, the
number of reads per month has not slipped below 2,000, and in most cases well
exceeds that number. From 2014 until the present, the numbers rarely fall below 2,500
reads per month.
b. origin of student demand (% domestic and visa students):
As noted above, there are currently 7 PhD students at Guelph working on projects
linked to CSI and being supported and/or supervised by IICSI researchers, notably even
in the absence of a formal program. As noted, between 2009 and 2016, postdoctoral
fellowship applicants have been 45% domestic and 55% foreign. For IICSI sponsored
colloquia, with 642 individual presenters at 20 conferences over the past five years,
43
there was 62% domestic and 38% foreign participation. Attendees at our Summer
Institutes between 2008 and 2014 were 69% domestic, 31% international.
c. duration of the projected demand (e.g., short, medium or long-term demand from specified
sources):
Demand for this program is expected to be ongoing, steady, and long-term, as it has
been since we began teaching this stream as part of the SETS PhD program.
d. evidence of review and comment by appropriate student organization(s), if applicable.
Several key student organizations on campus have strong and long-standing
relationships with IICSI. The Central Student Association (CSA) sponsors the Guelph
Jazz Festival Colloquium annually and sponsors an on-campus event during the
colloquium. The Music Students' Association, which presents the annual Creative Music
Symposium, works with IICSI as a co-sponsor and often provides volunteers for various
IICSI events. Finally, CFRU, the student-run campus radio station, is a partner in IICSI,
and co-sponsors a wide range of activities with the Institute throughout the year. These
student organizations will be natural avenues for students to become involved in
improvisation studies and for recruitment to pursue graduate studies in the CSI
program.
3. Identify the societal need for the proposed program including:
The need for graduates with the skills engendered by the graduate programs in CSI are
national and indeed international in scope. Ontario’s Innovation Agenda declares that
“the arts, humanities, and social sciences are essential components of a creative
knowledge-based economy.” This growing sector requires broadly educated and
specialized people who are trained for the adaptability and flexibility that such work
requires. Key transferrable skills include the community literacy and collaboration that
are cornerstones of the CSI program curriculum.
As recently reported by the Ontario Arts Council: “Arts, culture and heritage products
represent $25.3 billion of the province’s gross domestic product (GDP) and over
276,000 jobs.” This OAC report cites measurable economic impacts of the arts and
44
culture industries which were released in the May 2016 Statistics Canada Technical
Series report: “Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2010 to 2014.” Tourism from
the arts, entertainment, and recreation reportedly generate an estimated $10,413,938
direct GDP to this region; and Guelph’s cultural festivals are a cornerstone of the
tourism economy in the area. CSI is poised to contribute to the continued growth of this
vibrant field – with the effects of this growth felt at both economic and cultural levels.
This CSI graduate program is the only such program anywhere. The research program
of these scholars highlight collaboration with arts presenters, social service
organizations, educators, and policy-makers to ensure the broadest possible impact in
developing such a creative, knowledge-based economy. Currently Work in Culture
estimates that one in twenty-six Canadian workers is employed in the cultural sector;
and as the creative, entrepreneurial, and collaborative arts sectors continue to expand,
we anticipate that the need for our graduates will also grow over the coming decades.
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template 2013 University of Guelph Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes and Associated Skills reviewed for alignment with Degree Program and/or Field Outcomes (insert name of
degree/program/field)
Critical and creative thinking is a concept that refers to the application of logical principles, after much inquiry and analysis, to solve problems with a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking and risk taking. Those mastering this outcome show evidence of integrating knowledge
and applying this knowledge across disciplinary boundaries. Depth and breadth of understanding of disciplines is essential to this outcome. At the graduate level, originality in the application of knowledge (master’s) and undertaking of research (doctoral) is expected.
Field Outcomes (GUDLE’s)
Learning Outcomes &
Associated Skills (2013)
Degree Program Outcomes How the Program Supports the Outcomes
Examples of Assessment Methods
Depth and breadth of knowledge
1. Independent Inquiry and
Analysis
Students will conduct independent research and apply a variety of
research techniques and methods in the creation of original work.
Students will work in a closely mentored relationship with supervisor and committee members throughout the
program, and will complete a research focused course.
Students will present as a part of a graduate colloquium, create a
dissertation proposal, and lead a successful defense of their original
research.
Depth and Breadth of Knowledge
Knowledge and Scholarship
Level of Application of Knowledge Professional
Capacity/Autonomy
2. Problem Solving
Students will demonstrate competence in interdisciplinary
critical and creative practices; they will synthesize and integrate multiple
perspectives in decision-making, adapt in real time, build connections
between disparate elements, and learn collaboratively.
Students will have opportunities to solve problems
in the context of interdisciplinary teamwork and will be expected to engage in critical and creative practices
through their ongoing participation in workshops,
courses, and modules.
Students will participate in a series of special topics workshops and modules
that will require them to exercise problem solving. The capstone
experience where they will present will allow students to problem solve as they respond to a public oral defense.
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Research and Scholarship
Level of Application of Knowledge
3. Creativity
Students will generate, apply, and evaluate novel ideas, both in principle
and practice, to bridge the divide between text-based research and
community-facing work.
The skill of creativity will be acquired and evaluated
through the collaborative dialogue in the colloquium and
in the culminating capstone project.
Students will engage in interdisciplinary dialogue in the
graduate colloquium and will prepare for the presentation of their practice-
based research projects
Depth and breadth of knowledge
Awareness of Limits of Knowledge
4. Depth and Breadth of
Understanding
Students in critical studies in improvisation will integrate and
critique a broad range of literature that spans multiple disciplines
relevant to their chosen area of research. Students will articulate
implications of their research and will develop intensified areas of specialization that provide
opportunities to synergize, synthesize, and mobilize across boundaries of
discipline and domain.
Students will survey the literature in foundational
course work. They will have the opportunity to identify and
appraise the field of research practice through their own
identified areas of specialization.
Students will complete a comprehensive literature scan and
engage in proposal and grant writing in the context of a foundational
research course. In their own research, students will be expected to gain
ethical clearance, collect and analyze their data set, and disseminate in their
findings to a variety of audiences.
Literacy is the ability to extract material from a variety of resources, assess the quality and validity of the material, and use it to discover new
knowledge. This definition also includes the ability to use quantitative data, effective use of technology and the development of visual literacy.
Field Outcomes (GUDLE’s)
Learning Outcomes and
Associated Skills (2013)
Degree Program Outcomes How the Program Supports the Outcomes Examples of Assessment Methods
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Research and Scholarship
Level of Communication
Skills
1. Information Literacy
Students will critically read, synthesize, and evaluate a range of text-based,
theatrical, visual, film/video, and musical resources, identifying the ways
they convey information, the biases that shape the resources communication, and the ways in which students are
positioned as readers of those resources.
Students will comprehensively and critically review the resources
associated with their research topic in the context of foundational and research focused coursework and through the practical experiences offered in workshops and special
topics courses.
Commonplace books will be generated and organized by students to reflect their interaction with and
communication of a variety of resources. This commonplace book will explicitly inform discussions in
the pedagogy lab, arts-based community making, and independent
research contexts.
Research and Scholarship
Level of Communication
Skills
2. Quantitative Literacy
Students will participate in community and performance-based projects and
will develop and demonstrate quantitative literacy through the
creation and implementation of project budgets and effective resource
management.
Students organize interdisciplinary conference or event from start to
finish?
Research and Scholarship
Level of Communication
Skills
3. Technological Literacy
Through the program’s research focus on digital humanities, technological
innovation, and computer-driven compositional techniques, students will demonstrate competence in the use and application of innovative technologies.
Research and Scholarship
Level of Communication
Skills
4. Visual Literacy
The program’s focus on creative practice and representation requires the
development of strong visual literacy skills; students will become skilled
critical observers. Students will become adept readers of artistic and cultural practices. Upon completion of their studies, students will be able to: (a)
critically engage with visual representations and (b) identify the
ways in which they construct meaning.
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Global understanding encompasses the knowledge of cultural similarities and differences, the context (historical, geographical, political and environmental) from which these arise, and how they are manifest in modern society. Global understanding is exercised as civic engagement,
intercultural competence and the ability to understand an academic discipline outside of the domestic context.
Field Outcomes (GUDLE’s)
Learning Outcomes and
Associated Skills (2013)
Degree Program Outcomes How the Program Supports the Outcomes Examples of Assessment Methods
Depth and breadth of knowledge
1. Global Understanding
Through case studies and direct experience with diverse forms of
improvisation, students will develop the ability to describe the
commonalities and variations across cultural practices of improvisation.
They will competently apply a cross-cultural analytical approach,
particularly in the context of non-Western, postcolonial, and global
texts, artworks, and performances.
Students will engage in a series of case studies in the context of coursework and modules to
exercise critique and to integrate a broad range of texts and
practices pertinent to Critical Studies in Improvisation.
Students will participate in a series of hands-on workshops with guest
artists to explore diverse forms of improvisation. Students will record and reflect on these experiences in their commonplace books applying
conceptual and analytic frameworks gained from foundational
coursework.
Depth and Breadth of Knowledge Research and Scholarship
Awareness of Limits of Knowledge
2. Sense of Historical
Development
Critical Studies in Improvisation, recently formalized as a field, draws
upon and is informed by many disciplinary traditions. With a solid grasp of these traditions, and the
ability to engage critically with conventional modes of inquiry, students will theorize and enact
innovative forms of creative, scholarly research practice.
Students will maintain a commonplace book as a way to
chronicle and record their learning throughout the program.
The commonplace book will be used as a means to identify
particular areas of interest that can be explored further in their
dissertation research.
Students will receive instructor feedback on their commonplace
book throughout the program and will be closely mentored by
supervisor and committee members to build on areas of strength and
interest in the creation and situating of their dissertation proposal within a recently formalized field of study
and practice.
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Professional Capacity/Autonomy
3. Civic Knowledge and
Engagement
Students will assess and negotiate complex relationships and systems in
a collaborative manner, as they conceptualize and execute models of ethical community-engaged research
and creative practice.
Within a community context in coursework and research, students will experience
opportunities to demonstrate leadership, activate agency and engagement in themselves and
others.
Through activities and interactions that promote community literacy and critically reflective practice,
students will have ample formative feedback to prepare and contribute to their culminating research that
will be evaluated by committee and in a public forum.
Professional Capacity/Autonomy
Level of Communication
Skills
4. Intercultural Knowledge and
Competence
Students will work across and between a range of cultures, media,
and locations.
Through coursework and community engagement,
students will hone professional communication skills.
Proposal presentation to panel of campus and community experts.
Communicating is the ability to interact effectively with a variety of individuals and groups, and convey information successfully in a variety of
formats including oral and written communication. Communicating also comprises attentiveness and listening, as well as reading comprehension. It is the ability to communicate and synthesize information, arguments, and analyses accurately and reliably.
Field Outcomes (GUDLE’s)
Learning Outcomes and
Associated Skills (2013)
Degree Program Outcomes How the Program Supports the Outcomes Examples of Assessment Methods
Research and Scholarship
Level of Communication
Skills
1. Oral Communication
Students will effectively communicate their knowledge of
the field and convey results of their practice-based research to a range
of audiences. Dialogue will help students to interactively arrive at
an understanding of experience in relation to the world, to other
people, and to one’s own intentions.
Expected standards will be communicated to students in
foundational courses on course outlines and through
participatory activities and interactions. Faculty will model
and mentor a process of developing and disseminating
research.
Students will be assessed on: Preparedness for each class
session as outlined in the course outline. Active participation in the
program will occur through dialogue, experiential learning activities, and through a broad range of presentations in the
context of graduate colloquiums, workshops, and public
performances.
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Research and Scholarship
Level of Communication
Skills
2. Written Communication
Students will clearly and effectively express critical arguments in their writing. Students will be able to disseminate their practice-based
research developments to a range of audiences with a sophisticated
approach to writing and referencing.
Students will communicate complex ideas, issues,
arguments, and research findings clearly and effectively in a
manner that is accessible to a diverse range of audiences in a
range of small to more large scale comprehensive tasks and
experiences.
Students will receive formative oral and written feedback
throughout the program on their writing, which will lead towards
cumulative writing of qualifying exams and the written component of their independent
research.
Research and Scholarship
Level of Application of
Knowledge Level of
Communication Skills
3. Reading Comprehension
Through an interdisciplinary lens, students will interpret and respond
to complex bodies of work. Specifically, students will be able to
critically situate written work, theatrical performances, visual art, film/video and musical recordings
within historical contexts and recognize the issues raised by them
in terms of social, environmental, and ethical impacts.
A hybrid model will be integrated in all coursework to support a flipped classroom approach.
Students will examine bodies of work independently and come prepared to seminars ready to
explore and evaluate these works through collaborative dialogue and by engaging in
classroom activities.
Commonplace books will be generated and organized by
students to reflect their interaction with and
communication of a variety of resources. This commonplace book will explicitly inform discussions in
the pedagogy lab, arts-based community making, and
independent research contexts.
Research and Scholarship
Level of Application of
Knowledge Level of
Communication Skills
4. Integrative Communication
Students will be able to synthesize oral, written, and artistic modes of
representation and incorporate various forms of multimedia to
effectively disseminate their knowledge in practice.
Students will be encouraged to integrate various modes of
representation and multimedia in seminar presentations and in their own independent research
dissemination.
Students will engage in seminar and colloquium presentations, the creation of their research project
and the dissemination of their findings at conferences and events to advance scholarship in the field.
Professional and ethical behaviour requires the ability to accomplish the tasks at hand with proficient skills in teamwork and leadership, while
remembering ethical reasoning behind all decisions. Organizational and time management skills are essential in bringing together all aspects of managing self and others. Academic integrity is central to mastery in this outcome. At the graduate level, intellectual independence is needed for
professional and academic development and engagement.
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Field Outcomes (GUDLE’s)
Learning Outcomes and
Associated Skills (2013)
Degree Program Outcomes How the Program Supports the Outcomes
Examples of Assessment Methods
Professional Capacity/Autonomy 1. Teamwork
Students will engage in a variety of collaborative tasks with
demonstrated integrity and respect for a diversity of ideas. Key values in improvisation practices will be expressed through collaborative practice, including openness to
risk, willingness to challenge orthodoxies, intellectual and
creative curiosity, and power-sharing.
The pedagogy lab and practitioner-based workshops will offer
opportunities for students to work in teams and collaborate in the
expression and evaluation of ideas. These ongoing team interactions within their cohort will be instrumental to the
design, development, and implementation phases of their
independent research.
Formative and summative assessment will be applied
to the design, development,
implementation of student research by committee and public audiences.
Professional Capacity/Autonomy
2. Ethical Reasoning
Students will demonstrate ethical behaviours that model civic
engagement, community-facing awareness, and facilitative
leadership.
Improvisation and Community Making coursework will introduce students to
principles and practices of ethical community engaged learning and
scholarship. Students will be expected to apply these principles in their independent research contexts.
Community-based projects completed as part of
coursework will authentically expose students to the
ethically sound practices for implementation in their own
research contexts.
Professional Capacity/Autonomy 3. Leadership
Students will build leadership capacity in themselves and others
through the design, facilitation, and implementation of various project-based interactions and
initiatives.
The pedagogy lab will support opportunities for students to develop
facilitation skills and course design experience. These experiences will
develop skills that can be applied to academia and beyond.
Self, peer, and instructor feedback provided.
Students will receive pass/fail credit for
organizing and participating in seminars, workshops, and events related to exploring the
intersections of pedagogy and the principles of
improvisation.
University of Guelph, Graduate Degree Learning Outcomes Alignment Template - March 2013
Professional Capacity/Autonomy
4. Personal Organization /
Time Management
Students will be able to prioritize competing demands, multi-task to
produce quality work, and will demonstrate personal
responsibility and commitment.
Students will be expected to produce quality work in an integrated and ongoing manner related to their
research and coursework.
Students will be expected to submit assignments on time and will participate
and lead program related experiences and events.
Professional Capacity/Autonomy
5. Intellectual Independence
Students will actively participate in a social and aesthetic practice that
fosters the capacity for independence of thought and
freedom to experiment, particularly in their research and within an emerging field of study
and practice.
The pedagogy lab and arts-based community making experiences will
support opportunities for students to develop skills necessary for intellectual independence within their specialized professional/research areas. Students
will participate throughout the program in self-directed and
collaborative inquiry.
Students will complete a community proposal and
project in their coursework that will
prepare them for completing their
dissertation work in the same vein in a more self-
directed manner.
