iron warrior: volume 5, issue 7

8/14/2019 Iron Warrior: Volume 5, Issue 7

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OCTO ER 1984

C ~A FORUM FOR ENGINEERING ON EPTS- c : w

TEACHING ND THEUNIVERSITY

Christopher KnapperTeaching Resource PersonStudents at Waterloo are naturallyconcerned about the quality of theinstruction they receive, and they understandably see the main function of theuniversity as being to provide excellentteaching. For faculty, however, t eachingundergraduate classes is only one of anumber of responsibilities. For example,professors are expected to do research ,attract grants, write articles and sometimes textbooks. Supervising graduatestudents might take up several hourseach week. In addition faculty areincreasingly required to take on administrative chores that range from serving

as departmental undergraduate officerto participating in a eemingly endlessround of committee meetings. These,- p ) .si ilitie ' x ~ t at all u n ~ cr i i .but a special burden is placed on Water-loo faculty by their very heavy teachingloads and the high ratio of students toin tructors. In fact, the student-facultyratio of 23: I is among the highest in

Canada, and is higher than for mostcomparablea institutions in the Westernworld. FUlthermore. those aspects ofuniversity teaching encountered by students are only the tip of the iceberg sinceteaching involves no t only delivering lectures, but planning the course, constantly updating material, setting suitable assignments and exams (andmarking them ) as well as being available to give students advice on an ind ividual basis, when asked. It is obviousthat Waterloo faculty must work underconsiderable pressure.Despite such pressure, there is nodoubt that some of the faculty at Waterloo are excellent teachers, while othersseem to cope less well. The University isconcerned that the quality of teachingshould be as high as possible, and hastaken a number of initiatives to encourage excellence in teaching and improveteaching performance where it is lessthan sati factory. These initiatives include:

The evaluation of teaching bystudents.Virtually all departments in the University regularly evaluate faculty teaching performance, through such means asthe Eng Soc course critique. Resultsfrom these evaluations are generallymade available to students, and areseriously considered when an instructoris being considered for contract renewal,granting of tenure, promotion, or (inrare cases) dismissal. To be effective,however, these evaluations have to betreated very seriously by the students

who complete them; for example, if students fail to fill out the forms, or regardthe whole exercise as a joke or chancefor a vendetta (as opposed to an oppor-tunity for constructive criticism), thenevaluation results simply lose credibility.Furthermore, if faculty are to changetheir performance, they need to be givenconcrete suggestions - not just aboutwhat they are doing wrong, but whatsteps they might take to improve.Distinguished Teacher Awards.Since 1976 the University has annu-ally honoured three Distinguished

Teachers. To date, four awards havebeen made to individuals from theFaculty of Engineering. Student playa. ci"l r r in th(' fY \ r )"nini';iotl rrr.cess. Since the number of nominations isfar greater than the number of awards,the selection comm ittee needs extensiveand convincing evidence about aninstructor's teaching activitie and abilities. Generally speaking, only tudentsare in a position to provide such evidence, and most successful nominationsin the past have been made by groups ofstudents within a particular department.*The Teaching Resource Office.[n 1976 the University established theposition of Teaching Resource Personto serve as a consultant on teaching andlearning and provide advice on how thequality of teaching might be improved.Although the office is smaJl (the staff isonly two), Waterloo is one of very fewuniversities in the country to have such aservice. Most students are probablyunaware of the existence of the TRO;this is to be expected, since the officeworks mainly with teaching staff. In fact,the office promotes a wide range of services and activities. It publishes a regularnewsletter containing advice on teachingmethods (for a copy, call extension2579), and organises workshops, conferences, and seminars on various aspectsof teaching (for example, computers ineducation, how to run sl1)all group discussions, better lecturing techniques,improving correspondence courses, etc.).Special training programmes are alsooffered for teaching assistants. Thisterm, programmes have been run forTAs in Mechanical Engineering andManagement Science. The TRO offerssmall grants to support innovation andexperimentation in teaching, and a

(continued on page 6)

IN THIS ISSUEIAN SMART ON S.T.A.G.S 4

TEACHING:A POINT OF VIEW 7

THE MONDRAGONEXPERIMENT ________________ 10

WORKTERM IN ISRAEL 12


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2 IRON W RRIOR OCTOBER 984THE EVOLUTION OF UNIVERSITIES

Frank BaylisEDITOR

A major portion of this months issue concerns the quality of education at theuniversity of Waterloo. Inside, there are a number of articles each relating to someaspect of this topic. This issue is intended not only to inform the students on thecurrent situation but also to present some ideas as to how to improve the learningprocess at Waterloo.The problem related to the learning process in universities are the result of theunclear official role that the universities have in society. Is their main objective to

teach students or to do research work? The reason this goal has not been clearlydefined is that there has gradually been a functional change in the universities' rolewithout a corres ponding change in the administration's position. To see this changein the universities, one must look back in history to the early development ofuniversities. In the past they were research centres for the prominent intellects of theday, with the purpose of achieving advancements in their respected fields. There werevery few students, and the emphasis was on research as opposed to teaching. Theywere, if one can imagine, what a modern day university of only PhD students wouldbe like.This, however, is no longer the case. As society progressed, mor e and more peoplesought to further their education until universities became what they are today; apost secondary educational institute for the general public as well as being traditionalresearch centres. It is an undeniable fact that a major role of today's universities is toteach students. However the administration's position towards education does notseem to have dept in step with society's changing demands. P rofessors continue to berated mainly on their research and prestige. This position of treating education as aminor role of the university is also seen in the fact that, to become a universityprofessor, a person does not need any formal training in the art of teaching.The approach to teaching in the universities has been a poor one. Simply put theytell their professors "Teach and when you've finished the course we'll evaluate yourperformance". When one considers that the administration, the professors and thestudents want to improve the teaching process, it seems that a better approach can befound.So, what to do? From an objective point of view, it seems rather obvious that toimprove the quality of education, the administration should teach the professors toteach. This does not mean all professors should be sent to teachers college for ayear; that would be unviable as well as unnecessary. Yet a course with a similarformat to the present university ones, 4 months at hours a week, that stresses thebasic principles of teaching should be established. By training professors beforemaking them teach, the administration would be giving them the tools necessary todo a proper jo b.

COURSE CRITIQUES -W e LennoxDean of Engineering

Whenever one egment of society isinvolved in the performance evaluationof others, there is potential for controversy. Such is certainly the situation withcourse critiques. We have gone throughmany interactions of the critique and, nodoubt will continue to make changes aswe develop more expertise in this formof teaching evaluation.I should emphasize that the critique isonly one component of he teaching evaluation process. University policy dictates that each chairman is responsiblefor faculty teaching performance. This isoften done by peer evaluations, classroom visits, discussions with membersof the class, feedback through class professor hours, student/ faculty meetings,review of class notes, etc.

The course critiques are the formalmethod of involving the class in the evaluation process. The question aredesigned to elicit useful informationabout the teaching experience. However, it is difficult to obtain objectivemeasures with class surveys. This hasalways been acknowledged from thevery beginning. One common complaint

is that is tends to measure the popularityof the instructor more than the ability toteach, i.e., a demanding instructorwould not do as well as one who assignslttle work and sets easy mid-terms. Nodoubt there is some truth to this. If I failone half of the class at mid-term andhand the marks back just prior to thesurvey, I'm sure it would affect theresults.

Some faculty claim a response couldimprove by as much as 30 points byhanding out high grades prior to thesurvey. t is also interesting to note thatstudent views on how effective aninstructor was change with time. Com-ments from alumni are another important source of information for teachingevaluation.

t is clear that the surveys are notperfect, but, in my view, the course critiques certainly provide useful information in helping assess teaching. Facultyare reviewed annually on their performance and effective teaching is a majorcomponent in the overall assessmentand in this regard, the critiques playauseful role.

It is important to realize that such a course would not only be to the benefit of thestudents but to the professors as well. Professors are, as some of us tend to forget,justordinary people. Neither the students nor the administration have the right to expectthem to know how to teach prope rly simply because they are experts in some field ofstudy. Many professors are unaware of proper teaching methods and class dynam-ics. Professors have feeling and therefore can be hurt when a class feels animositytowards them because they are not performingwelL Look at the survey in this paper.Other than the top professors: those operating on natural ability, the professors aresaying that they can use help in the form of these so called tools.

Some 25 years ago, the administration at Waterloo put this university on the map.They started a revolutionary new system: co-op, when they decided that all theorywith no practice did not lead to the best educational process. Conversely, theopposite is also true: all practice with no theory does not lead to the best results inteaching. This university has the opportunity to once again bec ome a world leader inthe area of education by now "co-oping" our professors.

WHERE'S THE BEEF?


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OcrO ER 984LETTER TOTHE EDITOR

I would like to correct a couple ofinaccuracies that appeared in the lastIron Warrior, in the article entitledWPIRG and Engineers: Not MutuallyExclusive."First, I'm not the past president of

WPIRG. WPIRG is run by a board ofseven, s tudent elected, student director,who share the decision making responsibilities. Therefore WPIRG has no president, past or present. Although in thepast I've served as an interm boardmember, filling in for directors on workteams, I am not a board member thisterm.Second, in reference to the film, "TheMondragon Experiment", the articleshould have read, "worker co-operativesare not the only economic solution forthe Basques or for anyone else. But theyare one of the intelligent choices."I appologize for any misunderstanding that resulted from the article andhope that they didn't tarnish an otherwise excellent Iron Warrior.Stephen Thwaites4A Mechanical Engineering

IRON WARRIOR

FEDERATION NEWSAlthough Federation Hall was expected to be open by Halloween, thepresent schedule calls for an openingceremony on November 14th with the I15th, 16th and 17th being the first three

pub nights, And yes, all you cynics outthere I do mean 1984 .The Creative Arts Board will be pres- Ienting a production of Streetcar Named IDesire on November 15th, 16th, 17th Iand 18th, and is contemplating bringingJazz nights to the Bombshelter. TheBombshelter has already begun holdingFolk music nights.The Women's Centre film series is stillgoing on, including the movies Hookerson Davie and My Brilliant Career. Men 'may attend , for more information callext. 3457.International Student Identity Cardsare available through the Federation ofStudents. This card costs $5.00 and entities you to all kinds of discounts both in

Canada and abroad. It should be ofspecial interest to grads who intend to dosome travelling this summer.The primary purpose of this column isto communicate Federation of Studentsactivities to Engineering Students. TheNews items presented are often thosewhich tend not to receive sufficientexposure on posters or in existing campus news sources. For more informationon Federation activities check the Federation Bulletin Boards, drop into theFed office in theCC or cal The Fed Infonumber: 886-FEDS. encourage anyonewho has any questions, suggestions orcomplaints regarding the Federation ofStudents to contact Sue Hausfeld,Steven Sopora,or Golden Wiseman. Weare supposed to be representing you andyour feedback is a must. We all havemailboxes in the Fed Office in the CCand a lot of you know who we are, sostop us and make your voices heard.

THE ENTREPRENEURS COURSECord Denny

A proposal has been put forth to havethe engineering faculty at Waterloo andthe business faculty at Laurier providetheir students with the opportunity tojointly prepare a one-term group projectin their 4th year. The project would betechnical in nature, and its commercialpotential would be fully researched.Each group would present a seminar atend of term, 'selling' their 'product' to apanel composed of engineering and business faculty members.

This proposal was initiated after discussions between Gord Denny, a 3Belectrical engineering student at the University of Waterloo, and Mike Rubino,a 4th year Wilfrid Laurier Universitybusiness student, revealed that thereexi ted a large gap between their respective educations. The engineering studentat Waterloo knew nothing concerningmarketing, finance, management ormanufacaturing, while the bu iness student at Laurier was deficient in areassuch a engineering terminology, generalengineering problem solving, and thelatest trends in the engineering fields. Itwas felt that a great many oPPoliunitieswere being missed because of the defi-

IRON W RRIOR STAFF

ciencies present in each education.One needn't look too far to find anengineer w h o ~ ideas fo an inno aliveproduct were finally transformed intoreality by someone ( is/,; or the manugcrwhose poor decision to go ahead withone of many possible products resultedin financial loss.In today'. world, a sllccessful company must have engineers that know themarket, and managers that know thetechnology. Where the adding machineof yesterday might not have becomeobsolete for 10 years, today's microcomputers are obsolete after 2 years.The design of the next generation of aproduct is now occurring while the prcs-

EDITOR STAFF WRITERS LAYOUT PHOTOGRAPHERS STAFF HELPFrank Baylis Simon Birch Jacques Desjardins (head) Andrew Paterson (head) MaggieChris Dubelaar Eric Nordin Micheal Bayer NestorMANAGING EDITOR Don Pecena Pierre Schipper Harry BranschKris Shah

Gordon Strachan Ken Slaughter David WuJe l l Urbanic Gordon Strachan

John Willemsma

The IRON WARRIOR is a publ ica t ion of the Engineering Societyat the Univers i ty of Waterloo. I t s purpose i s to promoteprofessional awareness within the Engineering Faculty and toinform Engineers of the society act iv i t ies .

Mail ing Addres sI ron Warriorc/o Eng. Soc. AUnivers i ty of WaterlooWaterloo, Ontar io

EastonSamagalski

3


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IRON WARRIORS T A G s Without SkinIan martEngineering Stu dent Counsellor

If you've read this far you are certainlyentitled to an explanation. "'S.T.AG." isnot a reference to the mode of socialsoiree that critics believe engineeringstudents indulge in when they're feelingculturally deprived, but to a form ofteacher-student consultation which couldbe another Waterloo "'first." The acronym stands for Student-Teacher Advisory Group, and refers to the use of smallgroups to provide rapid and continuingfeedback for the teachers o flarg e classes.Students, on the other hand often havedifficulty with the problems of pacingtoo fast? too slow?), comprehension(can I hear? Can I read the blackboardefforts?), and content (is this old material? Too difficult?) presented by manyprofessors. Professors, on the other

hand, also wish to know where theystand for pace, clarity, etc., and when theclass exceeds 15 or 20 people the problems of mutual understanding increaseremarkably. .One solution is the S.T.AG. The professor meets with six volunteers from theclass (usually chosen to represent high,medium, and marginal achievement, orfrom front. middle and rear of the c1assboth work well) in an informal setting.

The Engineering Student Counsellor.Ian Smart, s present to help keep thingson track, focus on issues, clarify. promote objectivity, and so on . Meetingsoccur once a week at first, then (if thestudents approve) later once every twoweeks. Other useful times are just beforeand after midterms and before the finals.On average. a .T.A.O. for a particularcourse would meet about seven to tentimes durin g the term. Refreshments areprovided (it helps the atmosphere). Thesessions are directed towards a frank andrealistic appraisal of such items as con-lent (degree of difficulty of each sectionof the course, materials. textbook, etc.)leaching methodology (audibility, visibility, mannerisms, preparation, question technique, tutorials and tutors, useof examples. assignment/text/exam frequency and design), and class r ~ p o n s i -bili/J (arrivals, departures, noise level.discipline, questions, an d so on). Indeedany concern of either professor or student is legitimate business to explore.

Which brings up a ql. estion. Whoinitiates these sessions? Well, so farabout two thirds of the dozen groupshave been started at the request of professors: some because they felt that asituation was developing in which theywere losing the class. some because theywere new to teaching (most universityprofessors have little or no formal training in teaching), and most because theyjust wanted to know where the class wasin respect to the course and to develop abit more expertise. The remaininggroups were initiated by students whocame to the counsellor to see what couldbe done to improve a teaching situationvarying from mild to wild. The usualsequence of initiation was first, thateither the class or the professor contacted the counsellor; second, the counsellor (where applicable) sought theagreement of the professor; and third,the counsellor and professor spokebriefly with the class (ten minutes) out-lining the idea and presenting the benef-

its. One of the students then obtained thes r v i ~ of five other representatives. anda suitable meeting time was then agreed. upon.

One problem is that the idea sounds abit scary to both parties at first, and thisusually is reflected in their first meeting,where the overture ranges from tentativeto aggressive to 14honeymoorutis" untilsome simple focus is provided, preferably in a nonthreatening area. This iswhere the counsellor's neutrality can beuseful: from here on the co-operationtends to be objective and truly interactive. As the counsellor, I have beenwarmed and encouraged by the responsibility and the caring shown by bothparties as the interactions developed.Several students have voiced theirappreciation (a) that this forum existedfor the benefit of both, and (b) that theyfelt that they had a part in directing theireducation in a way they had ' never

thought possible. The professors, on theother hand. report an improvement i nclass cooperation, in being able to sortout problems (pace, content, etc.)quickly, and of a pride in beingjust thatlittle bit more effective as a teacher. Onearea that almost always arises is that ofclass discipline (noise level, interruptions, and the like): at first the representatives invariably assume that it's up tothe professor to solve the problem (theauthority role), yet soon after they recognjze the class' own responsibilities andcome up with some good strategies thatthey themselves can put into effect.

How effective are the S.T.AG.s?Well, with only a dozen so far it's noteasy to pontificate with exactitude.Besides, what would accurate and effective measures involve? Better ratings onstudent evaluations? Possibly, but sometimes those instruments are affected bymany variables, such as content dif fi-

OCTOBER 1984

culty, personality perceptions, or eventhe fact tha t the course is at 8:30 a.m. orat the end of a heavy day. Generally, wehave had to rely on comments by pothprofessors and students, and these havebeen mostly favourable. The situationleast likely t o succeed is when the class indesperation initiates a S.T.AG. too latein the term to make change possible. Amonth before the final exam just is notenough to alter 10 or 12 weeks of eitherpersonal antagonism or academic confusion, although it can benefit futureclasses. The bes t results seem to be whenantagonism hasn't gone beyond earlystages, or when the professor (or class)asks for a S.T.A G. very early in the ter mas a preventative and / or developmentaldevice. Anyone who wishes to discussS.T.AG.s in greater depth is most welcome to contact Ian Smart in CPH 4320,at Extension 2849.


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OCTOBER 1984

If the question was quality of learningthe answer would e slow down the paceof the program so emphasis is shiftedfrom passing to learning.- Pam Freidrich - 3B GEO

Better student to teacher ratio.- Dave Morch - 1A CIV

IRON W RRIOR 5PLUMBERSFORUM

Make more meaningful assignmentswhich are not so time consuming. Cutout garbage assignments.- Dan Finerty - 4A EE

Teaching is good but make classesmore exciting to keep students interested.- Paul Varao - 2A MECH

QUESTION: Hthere was onething you could do to improvethe quality of Education inEngineering at University ofWaterloo, what would it be?

Quality is good, but profs should givehandouts of notes instead of copyingeverything off the board.- Domingos Lopes - 3B CIV

Get input from employers andzations of their expectations and 11'- , . .of grads, then supply some resourceshelp educate students to fulfillexpectations.- Peg Baleshta - Grad Systems

The teaching is generally pretty good, Reducing l ~ s 'iICS but it wourJ meanbut do away with tenure deadwood.' more money.- Steve Giles - 4A SYS - Bob McCallum -


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6. IRON WARRIOR OCTOBER 1984 Teaching and the universitynumber of these have been awarded tofaculty in Engineering. The office a ~ s o.maintains a small but excellent library ofarticles and books on improving teaching performance.

These initiatives show that, despitethe feelings of some students, the University s concerned with the quality ofits teaching, and has taken some steps toshow its support for teaching excellence.What more might be done?

One suggestion frequently made by

students is that faculty receive someformal training in teaching methods. (Incontrast to schoolteachers, most university instructors have no formal teachingqualifications apart from higher degreesin their discipline.) In practice, introducing such a requirement for Canadianfaculty is unrealistic, given the currentdepleted resources of our universities.(The only country, to my knowledge,where the idea has been tried, is theGerman Democratic Republic.) In anycase, training alone may not change any-

(continued from page 1)

thing unless there is a greater emphasison the importance of teaching. Here,students can play an important role bothas individuals and through organisations such as Eng Soc, by stressing toinstructors, teaching assistants, department heads, and even deans, that theycome to Waterloo with the expectationof receiving a quality education. Thismeans excellence in teaching as well as aconcern for the learning needs ofstudents.Most Waterloo faculty are dedicated

individuals who are firmly committed toadvancing both tAeir disciplines andsharing their knowledge and expertisewith the students they teach. At the sametime, no amount of effort put into teaching can, by itself, achieve miracles.Faculty may provide instruction, guidance, motivation, and even inspiration- but in the last analysis it is studentsthemselves who must take responsibilityfor their own learning and take credit fortheir own achievements.

Energy Weapons The Nuclear ParadoxDon PecenaIron Warrior StafT

Electricity has often been considereda best friend and a worst enemy. Theincrease in the standard of living madepossible by the development of this convenient energy distribution systemmakes it our friend. The po tential foracc idental electrocution is, however,always present.Nuclear power development can becompared wi th the history of the electrical distri bution system in the sense thatits gifts of a bundant, concentratedpower in exchange for a tiny amount of

fuel is generous, yet dangerous. Theawesome rage of a nuclear react ion isbeyond the comprehension of most.Nuclear scientists and engineers havesucceeded in des igning "safe" nuclearpower plants just as electrical powerengineers have built safe distribu tionsystems H owever, as with any energyso urce, risks a re a lways present. Thenuclear power industry is devoted to t heimplementation of the safest, cleanes t,mos t reliable energy sou rce used byman. Nuclear powe r is a blessing to

today's society, and should be utilized toits greates t ex ten tNuclear weapons are, by contrast, thegreatest soc ial problem facing today'ssociety Some would argue that t hepo pulation exp losion, po llution, or thefood shortage are more pressing problems than the nuclear arms race, bu tnone of these problems a re as devastating. The physical results of a fu ll scalether mo nuclear war are terrifying; theend of the world as we know it Themovie, The Day After," attempts to

describe a possible senario, though it isoptimistic at best.Th is situation poses many new eth icalproblems for graduat ing engineers at alluniversities Eac h graduate must d ec ideto wha t exten t it is ethical to acceptemployment in nuclear ar ms relatedindu stries. Any product can be used forimmoral purposes, but I believe thatparticipation in an industry solelydevoted to the development of the mostpowerful, efficient killing machinesknown to ma n is not socia lly responsible

For more Information abom the Foundat ionor any of it> programme>. please COnlact:

TE CHINGASSISTANTSHIP

AWARDShe Sandford Fleming Fo undationRoom 4332Carl Pollock Hall885-0010 or ext. 3440Registered Charitable Organization (no.04622752 1-15)

EMERGENCY LOANFUNDS

The Sandford Educational Press maintains anEmergency Loan Fund at the University of Waterloo. The fund is administered y the StudentAwards Offi ce and is intended to assist engineer ingstudents who are experiencing short-term financialproblems on academic and work terms.In addition. the Sandford Fleming Foundation hasestablished an Emergency Loan Fund in memory ofProfessors Alpay and Nicoll, formerly in the Department of Mechanical Engineering . from funds con-tributed by faculty. staff and others.Loans are available to ngineering students inamounts of up to 200 for ninety days. interest free.

1983 84 Academicear

The follow ing Teaching Assistants have beenselected s the winners of the Sandford Flem ingFoundation Teaching Assistantship Awards forthe year September 1983 to August 1984:Navroz Ali Mohammadi Chemical EngineeringBill Ott 1st Year EngineeringBeth Weckman Mechanical EngineeringDave Bonser Systems Design EngineeringDinar Camotin Civil EngineeringThe Awards, which are intended to acknowledgeexcellence in the work of Teaching Assistants,willbe presented at the Annual Engineering AwardsDinner to be held at the Waterloo Motor Inn onNovember 15th, 1984.There were no nominations from the Departmentof Electrical Engineering.


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OCTOBER 1984 lRON WARRIOR 7Simon Birch TEACHING: A POINT OF VIEWIron Warrior Staff

It is often said that the education process that takes place in many universityclasses is far from optimal. While anumber of suggestions have been putforward to effect a positive change, fewseem to help the situation. Generallyspeaking most professors do an adequate job in communicating concepts tostudents, but few ever attain the status ofa good teacher. One can always arguethat a professor's career is not in teaching, but in research. This I would suspectis the prevailing attitu de of most professors, and is justified when we considerthe fact that most professors are notgraduates of formal teaching programsbut, instead, are recognized leaders intheir area of research. Their effectiveness , as viewed by their departments, isrelated to. the research grants theyattract, the papers they publish and therecognition they bring to the university.However, to what extent is teachingimportant? To what extent does the university try to serve the students needs forgood teaching professors. I t may be surprising for the administration to discoverthat most students respect and supportthe professor's responsibility to doresearch. However, students need a professor that can convey i,n an effectivemanner the ideas and theories laid out ina course structure.

The use of a good text and a properstructure can both contribute to the easewith which students learn. However, aswe all know, there are bad texts andpoorly structured courses. For their part,tudents tend to attribute these deficiencie to the professor's teaching ability.This is undeserved because texts andcourse structuring is normally theresponsibility of the department as awhole, or, as in the case of technical

disciplines; a consequence of decisionsmade by other external organizationssuch as certification committees. Still,the typical student is not aware to whatextent the professors have input in thesedecisions or over what aspects they aregiven control. Subsequently, a misconception is developed by the student.

The attitudes of both the profe sorand students have a significant effect onthe teaching process. A conduciveatmosphere to learning can be estab-

lished by the professor conveying a caring attitude towards the class. However,when students encounter a don't careattitude from a professor who feelsteaching is an imposition on his / hertime, the resulting class atmosphere canbe very detrimental to the learning process. On the other hand, an unresponsiveclass can al 0 cr at hi effect, p ciallywith the help of uncooperative, selfelected class clowns and other noisyindividuals.

It may be concluded that general student opinions unjustly lay most of theblame for poor learning processes on theprofessors. It is in fact the unclear objectives of the university that lead to thisprobJem. To improve this situation,. objectives must be reviewed and in doingso an additional aim to create an effective t aching-research combination shouldbe stressed. This is vital because today'sstudents arc tomorrow's professors.

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8 IRON WARRIOR OCTOBER 1984FED BEAT: DID YOU KNOW?Kathryn SeymourChairperson Board of Communications

Your Federation of Students; Do youknow exactly how we are serving you?Surprisingly, the majority of students oncampus have no idea. They don't knowthat Scoops is run by the Federation andhas recently introduced soft ice cream invanilla and chocolate. THey don' t knowthat the ~ d e r a t i o n operates a weekendBus Service to Toronto for $6.00 oneway and $11.00 return. They probablydon't know that the Feds have aphotocopyingservice and have just purchased anew, high quality machine which doeseverything but dice and slice carrots.They might know that the Federationoperates the Bombshelter and has justbuilt a new pub, Federation Hall, whichwill serve up to 800 people and host livegroups. They probably would like toknow that the Federation runs variousfree counselling services, namely the

Lega/ Resources Office, The Birth Control Centre, the Women s Commission,PEERS AND The Ombudsman (alllocated on the intermediate level of thec.c.). They should know that, located inthe lower level of the c.c., are theRecord Store (always a good deal), theCampus Shop (leather U of W jackets,Wloo sweats and packs, etc. available),the Post 9ffice, is the used Book Store(texts in good condition for a fraction ofthe Bookstore cost) and the ClassicalRecords Library (at the back of the UsedBookstore).What else about the Federationshould they know? How about thatevery Fr. Sat. and Sun. night a featurefilm is shown in Arts Lecture Hall FEDFLICKS) for only a dollar; that the Fedsoperate Words, a word processing service and will handle resumes, essays and

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letters at competitive prices; that theFeds even operate a Student Garage inco-operation with the engineers (locatednext to CKMS radio station, all ext.2323).Furthermore, I'm sure students wouldbe interested to know that Student/oansand Bursaries are available from the federation and the Feds provide inexpensive charter flights through their membership in A.O.S.c.; that the Feds willsoon be accepting major credit cards atall of their retail stores; the Feds willsoon be accepting major credit cards atall of their retail stores; the Feds haveinstalled a Free Fed Fone for local calls(located outside the Fed Office) andfinally, that information on aU of theFederation services is available simplyby dropping into the Fed Office, Room235 in the C C anytime between 9:00am

16. 4A ELEC 60 21. 2A G1W

and 4:00 pm, Mon. to Fri., or by dialing886-FEDS (a weekly information recording).I can't conclude this letter promotionof the Feds with out mentioning thatnumerousjobs are available through theFeds (ie Bent crew, poster runs, Scoops,Bombshelter ND applications arenow available for pOSitions at our newFED H LL - app(v early 0There really is a lot more to the Federation than the students may, at first, realize The Student's Council is alwaysactive dealing with issues such as theBovey Commission and OFS. New facesare welcome and interested people arenever turned away. So, when you findyourself sitting in the c.c. killing a littletime, why not visit the Fed Office? Askfor Kathryn or any executive member,we'd be happy to show you around

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9/12

OCTOBER 1984 IRON WARRIORTHE EDUCATIONAL NUMBERS

Gordon Strachan

Iron Warrior StaffHow does a professor's attitude The questions presented to thet?ward teaching effect his/ her in-i q


10/12

10 IRON W RRIORTHE MONDR GONEXPERIMENT

t e p h e ~ ThwaitesWPIRG

The film, The Mondragon Experiment , Co-sponsored by Eng Soc ndWPlRG, describes how five Spanishengineers nd a priest started anemployee co-operative movement in1956 that today employs 18,000 people.The folio wing article examines some o fthe successes nd problems of theseco-ops.

No, it's not the opening line of thelatest Engineers joke, but rather theopening line to a relharkable successstory. 'The Mondragon Experiment',started as an employee co-operative inSpain's Basque region in 1956. Thebrain-child of five engineers and a priest,the program has developed into theprimary industrial base of the regionwith 150 companies employing 18,000people.What is interesting about the employeeco-operative movement is that it succeeds despite the fact that it contradictstraditional western management practice:J. Employee Ownership:With the exception of specialized consultants , all employee are owners andall owners arc employees. An initial feeof $2,000 to $4,000 buys a new employeea hare in the company. This share isrefunded when an employee leaves thecompany.2. Democratic Control:The supreme authority in each Co-op isthe general assembly of members. Eachmember has one vote in assembly. Thea sembly meets once a year to elect amanaging board of directors. Boardmembers get time off for their duties butno extra pay.3. Compressed Salary Scale:The highest salary in a Co-op is onlythree times the minimum salary. Thelow and middle salaries are similar tothose in regular companies.4. Profit Distribution:Spanish law requires that 10 of profitsare spent on community projects. Thenext 20% (more if its been a better thanaverage year) is plowed back into thecompany. The remaining 70% is credited to the value of each employee'sshares.

The roots of the Mondragon Co-opscan be traced back to J943, when ayoung priest, Don Jose Maria ArimendiArrieta, founded a technical school forworking class youth. Five of the firstgraudates went on to complete engineering degrees. They worked for a few years

wplt

in Mondragon's largest factory, then,encouraged by Don Jose Maria, theystarted their own company based onself-management principles. The formation of the new company coincided withthe introduction of butane as a cookingfuel. They acquired the right to producebutane cookers under foreign license.Fortunately for them, at this timebutane was entering the marketplace asa cooking fuel. The next step in thedevelopment of the Co-op system wasthe formation of the Caja Laboral Popular (Working Peoples Bank). With itsown financial organization, expansionof the Co-op system was now possible.

h Caja is a service Co-op, run byother Co-ops, who agree to help theCaja with any solvence problems andalso pay a small membership fee. Inreturn the Caja ~ i v s managerial helpand loans to it's members.The Caja's general assembly is controlled by its member Co-ops, whosevoting power depends on their size. Onethird of the assemply is held by Caja'sstaff.The Caja plays an important role inthe growth of the Mondragon Co-ops.In the 1960's, when the Spanish economy was growing at 10% per year, mostof the new co-ops were started by groupsof people pooling their money. Sincethen most of the investment capital hascome from the Caja. A conservative policy has resulted in only one Co-opBankruptcy.Through the help of the Caja the Coops of Mondragon are a significantforce in the Basque economy. Todaythey are spread over 86 Basque towns.THere are 9 I industrial Co-ops, 60 otherCo-ops, 114 branches of the Caja and 63Co-op stores for consumers. AlthoughCo-ops employ only 3% of the BasquepopUlation, they were responsible for77% of the Basque industrial investmentin 1981 (a recession Year).It's this type of investment in thefuture that led to the following of a Coop Professional/Technical school in1966. Like Waterloo students, studentsat LECOOP divide their time betweenclassroom theory and practical experience. One course even requires students to build their machines such as

lathes and drill presses.The success of the Mondragon Coops is staggering, but like any system ithas some problems. The leadership ofthe co-ops has had to walk a very fineline. In recent years the radical Basqueseparatist party has become violentlyanti-government. Although the majorityof Basques may not support the groupstactics most seem to support greaterBasque autonomy. For the Co-op leadership to support the views of itsmembers without alienating the government is no easy task. Yet so far they'vemanaged to keep their noses relativelyclean.The Co-ops have encouraged cooperation. Undoubtedly this is a bigcontributor to their success. Howeverthere was one notableexception. In 1974a large appliance Co-op (the one theengineers started in 1956) upgradedwhite collar work at the expense of bluecollar work. After exhausting the grievance procedures a short wildcat strikeerupted. A strike just isn't supposed tohappen in a democraticaUy controlledcompany.The only strike in the history of theMondragon Co-ops left a positiveimpact. For example a dishwasherassembly plant reduced the number ofsupervisory positions, put more responsibility on its blue collar workers, andeliminated the assembly line. The strikealso prompted an upper limit of 500 on aCo-op's membership. After 500 membersa Co-op is divided into smaller Co-ops.The strike illuminated some of theinherent difficulties with the Co-op'sstructure. Perhaps the primary structural conflict is between the roles of theblue and white collar employees mustalso decipher complex technical andfinancial information to effectively participate in decisions. WHite collaremployees deal with this type of information in their daily work and have noextra burden. Most objections to management's plans then, come throughorganized groups. Not aU of thesegroups are unions. Unions representonly about 10 of Co-op employees.There is also a conflict betweenemployee participation and an efficientbureaucracy. The more people involved

OCTOBER 1984

n n ~ turnabout prieM. and omot enpneu.tNt JWtrd dWlr own companyn the w 10' . 11wr

r i m o m t turned In tO I hlshJypfOducdw rqkln 0(91 worbtowned IdI IUKrid cooprnrtvft

in a decision the longer it takes. In anincreasingly complex world decisionsoften have to be made quickly to remaincompetitive. On the othe r hand, participatory management can lead toimproved morale and productivity. Allcompanies face this dilema, but it posesthe biggest problem in employee runcompanies, where, in theory, everyonecontributes to the decision-makingprocess.Everyone felt the recession of the lastfew years. The Co-ops of Mondragonwere no exception. The appliance Co-opfounded by DonJose Maria's.engjpeerslost money for the firsttime in 81. ThIsdrop in domestic demand poses a problem for the Co-ops. Increasing exportsmeans being very cost competitive. Thisrequires large investments in technology, larger than most Co-ops can raise.The capital musat be borrowed from theCaja. For newer Co-ops already in debtto the Caja this is especially risky.However, the structure of the Co-opsallowed them to weather the recessionbetter than many companies. Instead oflaying off workers, the Co-op networkallowed workers to transfer from oneCo-op to another. Some employeeswere even transferred from white collarjobs to blue collar jobs. Something thatno union would allow. If all else failedemployees were sent to technical schoolfor training.Aithough weakened by the recessionthe Co-ops' flexibility has been itsstrength. In fact the Caja has remainedso strong that it's been criticized forincreasing its power in the region.Despite the recession, despite internalconflicts, and despite technology's compounding complexity. Few doubt thecontinued success of this Basque experiment. The Mondragon Experiment.By Stephen ThwaitsStephen Thwaites is a 4th year Mechanical Engineering student and a formerWPIRG director.


11/12

OCTOBER 198 IRON WARRIORENGINEERING RESEARCH AT W Chris Dubelaar

ill UrbanicDR GERRY SULLIVAN: PRO ESS CONTROLS Iron Warrior StaffThe Waterloo Centre for ProcessDevelopemnt is the home of Canada'sleading centre for process control technology applications research. t offers a

wide variedy of services to industry on acontract and project basis. ProfessorSullivan is one of the major drivesbehind this successful organization. Hisparticular expertise is computerized system control.Dr. Sullivan began by o btaining hisB.A.Sc. at the U.W. in Chemical Engineering and later pursued his PhD at theImperial College of Science and Technology in London. There, he developedhis thesis in conjunction with British Petroleum . After earning his PhD, Dr. Sullivan began working for Imperial Oil inDartmouth, N. B. where he was involvedin setting up one of the earliest totallycomputerized control systems within anoil refinery. He then came to U. W. in1980 as a professor in Chemical Engineering. While a professor at U.W. hehas worked on several Applicationorientated projects. That is a client fromindustry will present a case for study andProfessor Sullivan and his team willinvestigate, formulate a proposal andthen work towards optimizing the system simulators. The team is presentlyinvloved in several process control projects, such as Petroleum Unit Controlstrategies, Pulp and Paper Automation,

Process Control in Biomas Production,and Computer Technology for Conventional Grain Drying Systems.This last project, initiated by a localcompany, Canada Farm Tech Systems,took a year of research, study, innovative thinking, and testing. What makethis project special is that it demonstratethe application of modern techniques toone of the most conventional industries.In this case, grain drying was the systemand computerized control; was the technique. The objective was to reduce costsby improving the efficiency ofthe dryers.These dryers are commonly usedthroughout Ontario and around theworld: thus, improving their performance would be a major advantage toproduction on a grand scale. As anexample in Ontario alone the 200commercial grain d rye rs handling morethan four million tons of grain per yearcould each reduce their operating costsby up to $80,000 per year. This isaccomplished by tailoring the dryingprocess to each batch of grain, in thisexample: corn. The drying procedure isto lower the corn on shelves throughtwenty-five metre silos, while applyingheat. f oo little heat is applied the corndoes not meet Canadian Standards forsafe corn storage. If too much heat isapplied, it not only wastes energy, butalso reduces the value of the corn to the

farmers since they are pa id by we ight.Therefore, the solution was to calculatethe exact amount of heat required bymeasuring the amount of moisture in thecorn, and then apply it to reduce themoisture content to precisely the Canadian Standard of 15.5%Examples like this abound within theprocess group showing how it is possiblefor the university to meet the practicalneeds of industry while benefiting bothorganizations. The benefits that industrysees, in such a co-operative effort, are

reduction in immediate operating costs;as well as profits from the ales of thistechnology to ot her industries. The university on the other hand, is paid royalties for every system sold. It also receivesworld wide recognition which in turnwill attract more clients.Dr. Sullivan and his team of workersare an excellent example of the highcaliber research taking place at the n -versity of Waterloo. Their integration oftheory and practice is a case engineeringwork at its best.

SHAPE UP AND MAKE. . . . ........ . . . . .0 .=. . .......1-MONE TOO

How To Reach The Students ?

Notice of a meeting to address the topic ofcommunication and relations between thestudents and the Federation and to discussInnovative Ideas for Improving campuscommunication .If you have ever felt frustaration with theFederation's current system of cQmmunicationbe at this meeting and help us effect a change forthe better.Meeting :Thurs. Nov. 8th 4:30 p.m.Fed. Office CC 135for more information contact Kathryn Seymourext. 358

How: Poster RunHow Much: $15 per runWhen: We'll schedule you at yourconvenienceAn Organizational Meeting will take placeTuesday Afternoon, November 6th at 4: 30in the Fed Office Boardroom CC 235

Bring a Friend

For more information contactKathryn Seymour ext. 2358


12/12

2 IRON W RRIOR OCTOBER 984MY WORKTERM IN ISR EL

get a little worried. My concerns wereCorrey Miller soon dismissed when my contact showedup and I found myself working less than2 hours after my arrival.

I was p art of a three-person technicalstaff; an engineer, a technician andmyself. Vice President of EngineeringPersonally, I have long held an in ter- must have sounded impressive in my letest in Israel. or this reason, I was ters to home. This staff was part of adelighted this summer when I managed Kibbutz. Kibbutzium (plural for Kibto combine Waterloo s co-op program butz) are traditionally communal farmswith my own travel aspirations. I was which the members own and run. he efortunate enough to live and wor k in days however, most Kibbutzium haveIsrael. factories because farming alone can noAfter a quick tour through London, longer support itself. My Kibbutz wasEngland, I flew to my fourth and most situated approximately 5 Km north ofinteresting work term. There was a small the Sea of Gallilee. There, I workedproblem when I arrived in Israel: no one : together with an engineer, developingwas there to meet me at the airport . new sensory and control equipment forWhen you are thousands of miles from an automated milking system. I can tellhome, in a foreign country and the per- you, doing field experiments took on ason sent to meet you is late, you tend to new meaning.

The electronics lab in which I workedcould h avej ust as easily been in Torontoas it was in Israel. t was too small,messy, and full of technical manuals,electronic components and frustratedengineers. The job was also quite similarto a typical work term in Canada. 1drank a lot of coffee, explained the co-opsystem many times, and was overworkedand underpaid. Oh yes, the salary: Imade almost 20 dollars a month for myefforts. Although 1 lived for free, myalary in cash for the term amounted towhat most students make in a single day.Fortunately for me, the bank of Momlent me enough to return to school.On the Kibbutz, I was just one ofabout a dozen volunteers who was willing to trade work ing services for a placeto live. Like myself most of these volunteers were young and many were alsostudents. We had people from Denmark, France, Wales, England, Amer-

ica, Australia, and Switzerland in addition to one home-sick Canadian.Strangely enough, one of the bestaspects of my Israel work term was meeting people from all over the world.Although language was sometimes aproblem, especially with the American, Imanaged to make some very goodfriends. Together we would eat, drink,party, solve the world s problems, longfor home, and talk of new travel plans.Leaving these new-found friends wasmade bearable only because we vowedto meet again somewhere in the world.Arriving back in Canada, I was ofcourse glad to be home, yet I missedIsrael. I missed Jerusalem with its fascinating history, the Mediterranean Sea,the kibbutz life, the beautiful deserts,and the warm nights. All in all, it was amemorable work term whose value layin experiences and memories, not in dollars and cents.

iron warrior: volume 5, issue 7

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