Adam Chapnick's Newsletter - March 2023
Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. I hope to use it to update you on what I’ve been thinking and speaking about, where I’m speaking next, and people and issues that have caught my attention.
I recently took over as head of the Department of Defence Studies at RMC and as deputy-director of academics at the Canadian Forces College. (It's a package deal.) These new responsibilities have had a rather significant impact on my schedule and will likely continue to do so for a while. As a result, these newsletters are likely to get shorter for a bit.
Publications
Before work got so busy, I wrote an essay for the Canadian Global Affairs Institute about “The Future of Canadian Foreign Policy: Why Diplomacy Must Matter Again.” It was based on my Senate testimony from last October. Some folks found it helpful. Others did not agree with me at all.
Blog
My blog has similarly slowed down, but I have tried to continue to write something at least once a month. In December, that meant reflections on Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy. In January, I offered thoughts on our former finance minister Bill Morneau's new memoir. In February, I discussed reports of Chinese interference in Canadian elections.
Presentations and Speeches in the Community
I have continued to speak publicly about international affairs. In January, I joined the always delightful Veronica Kitchen on a panel for the Toronto Branch of the Canadian International Council focused on "What's Ahead for 2023 in International Affairs?" I spoke to the Probus Club of North York about the United Nations, and to Lifelong Learning - Markham about ten historical events that shaped Canada's national character. I have also been offering an on-line ten-lecture, non-credit course to Living and Learning in Retirement - Glendon College called, cheekily, "Canadian Politics from the Inside Out (or why our politicians keep making such bizarre decisions)." I finished recording the lectures last week, but the final four have yet to appear.
Upcoming Talks
I am very much looking forward to talking about multiculturalism with the Probus Club of Alliston in April. I haven't been asked to give that lecture in a while, and it typically engenders a fascinating conversion. I'll also be returning (virtually) to Thornhill Lifelong Learning that same month for a Canadian history lecture. I am tentatively committed to a book launch for the revised edition of Academic Writing for Military Personnel, the short academic writing guide that my colleague Craig Stone and I just updated, in late May. If you, or your organization, is looking for a speaker, please don't hesitate to reach out.
What I've Been Reading
In addition to Morneau's memoir, I just finished The Tyranny of Talent: How It Compels and Limits Athletic Achievement... And Why You Should Ignore It by Joe Baker. Baker writes with incredible nuance, and his book is a thoughtful and impeccably researched take on how bad we are (collectively) at assessing athletic potential. Inasmuch as that issue interests me, I read the book primarily for the links between how we assess potential in athletes and how we do so in students. Baker draws, sometimes implicitly and sometimes deliberately, from the science of learning in his analysis, and taught me a new thing or two about how to manage my classroom. A shout-out to Alex Hutchinson for including the book on his annual recommended reading list.
Scattered Thoughts
I'm doing a fair bit of reading right now about how foreign policy fits, and doesn't fit, into Canadian election campaigns. I hope to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and discuss what I have found at some point later this year.
I've been thinking about how poorly we tend to measure learning in our classes. I consider a course to have been successful in promoting real learning if I observe some of the following actions and behaviours: (1) my students have started to read / listen / watch something new because of what they learned; (2) they are interested in taking another course in the same discipline; (3) they look at an issue (or multiple issues) differently now than they did when the course started; (4) they think about their future differently because of something they learned from the course; (5) their attitude towards (academic) learning has changed because of the course. Many of the measures that universities ask for at the end of the course - was the instructor well organized, was the course demanding - don't tell us much about whether we really effected change in our students' knowledge, attitudes, or behaviours. I wish we asked better questions.