August 3rd, 2021
What department are you affiliated with? How long have you been teaching at UofT?
I am Full Professor, Teaching Stream in the Department of Psychology at UTM. I’ve spent most of my adult life at the UofT. It all started in the Fall of 1988 when I enrolled at UTSC as an Undergraduate Psychology student. I collected my PhD Data at UTM, served as a TA, administrative staff, and for most of my career (I just stepped down July 1, 2021) as Director of the Psychology Undergraduate Program at UTM!
Can you briefly describe the PSY306Y0 course? What makes this Summer Abroad course unique compared to other courses you teach at UofT?
Three of the four courses I teach are within the interdisciplinary field of “Disability Studies”. PSY345H5 is a lecture version, PSY442Y5 entails a Practicum, and PSY306Y0 is the Summer Abroad version taught in either England or Italy. It includes field trips to interesting and important sites where students can learn about disability outside the classroom (and the country)! There is so much to learn about and experience in terms of how people with disabilities were treated in the past and how progress was made to better understand the causes of disability.
You’ve taught this course in both England and Italy in the past. What is your favourite memory from each location?
I don’t even know where to start!
The England program takes place at the University of Oxford’s historic “Worcester College”. In the end of the course the class gets together for a formal “High Table Dinner”. We all get dressed up to celebrate and enjoy the formalities that England is so well known for. This includes sipping a glass of champagne while viewing the spectacular quad with its immaculate gardens and lawn in the centre!
And Italy? Probably the “Contrada Dinner”. Yes, food again… A “Contrada” is a neighbourhood in Italy. The Contradas in historic Siena compete against one another in the Palio – the well known horse race. Well before the race each Contrada gets together for inclusive large outdoor community wide dinners. We got to go to one – what an experience!
Honestly - Its not just about the food and atmosphere… Course-related experiences were wonderful too! For descriptions of the field trips we took in Italy please check out:
Kamenetsky, S. (2020). “Experiential Learning: A Study-Abroad Psychology Course in Italy.” Cultura & Comunicazione, Anno X, n. 17: 19-23, 71.
Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349537191_Experiential_Learning_A_Study-Abroad_Psychology_Course_in_Italy
Your course will be offered virtually this summer. What interactive ways will students experience this course material?
This summer, like everyone else, I’m trying to make the best out of a difficult situation the pandemic created. Going to Italy or England, holding classes in person and physically visiting interesting places would provide a better and more enjoyable learning experience. But the pandemic and consequently the holding of virtual classes on Zoom opened new possibilities I never imagined. In lieu of visiting places, I am bringing these to class. And why restrict such experiences to one country? We will be “visiting” the US, Scotland, Japan and Israel as well as England and Italy. All and all there will be nine presentations from international experts who will provide engaging interactive talks about relevant disability topics in their countries. This is indeed a bit of an experiment but my sense is that such “international classrooms” will become more and more prevalent and will find their place at our university alongside more traditional international programs.
What part of the course are you the most excited about for this year?
I have an excellent class of outstanding diverse young minds who are interested and committed to learning about disability. Several students will be taking the class from other countries in other time zones, which should really be interesting! I am very much hoping that in the end of the Summer, COVID-19 restrictions will be such that we could all safely get together in person –outdoors, perhaps on one of the beautiful lawns on the St. George campus! After four weeks of intensive teaching and learning this can be a wonderful community building experience! I’ll have to think of a solution for the international students who will be taking the course from afar. Life isn’t simple, is it???
What take-aways do you hope students will experience after completing PSY306Y0?
Students will learn that there are many factors that determine whether people who have medically defined impairments experience disability. For example, a person who has a spinal cord injury and uses a wheelchair may or may not experience a high quality of life given both the medical factors associated with his/her condition but also many social factors (e.g., whether or not public places such as restaurants, stores, transportation and more are accessible). By the end of the course students will realize that there is no single definition of disability and that the manners by which the disability experience may be reduced are broad and diverse. Its never the case that “one size fits all” - rather, individualized solutions often need to be created.