Things I learned this week

Throughout elementary school, I was asked by adults, “what did you learn today?” Of course, I would answer things like “absolutely nothing” or “not anything important” because, at that time, I wasn’t the most engaged with my studies but more excited about clubs and social activities. As I moved through high school and now to university, I look back and wish I was still being asked this question. It is such a shame now when I start learning about these important subjects; I am no longer asked, “what did you learn today?” because the answer is everything! Each day of classes is a new challenge and a new realization about the world around me. With this in mind, I reached out to my community and started to ask others, “what did you learn today?” and here are the responses I got:

"One thing I learned at school this week was that all my professors really love their cats and will often pick them up to introduce them to us. More specifically, Dr. T’s class (Legal Environment of Business 3705U) made me wonder and come up with a hypothesis I want to test out to see if there is a correlation between people who have achieved higher education preferring cats over other types of popular pets."

"One thing I learned this week was Zero Order Cross Tabs in Data Analysis-202101. We learned how to analyze two sets of data and how to measure the strength of their relationship!"

- Jade Santos, 2nd-year Forensic Psychology with a minor in Criminology and Justice 

"One thing I learned this week was the importance of using the Canadian Charter to decriminalize harmful legislation in Gender, Sexuality, and the Law LGLS -3330U. We learned how to apply different sections of the Charter to determine the impact specific legislation has on marginalized individuals and ways to resolve this harm."

- Dakoda Cluett, 3rd-year Legal Studies with a specialization in Alternative Dispute Resolution 

"For one of my electives that I am taking Immigration and Refugee Law LGLS-2011, the one thing I learned at school this week was about the Express Entry System for economic immigration within Canada. Applicants can either be selected quickly for an invitation of permanent residence, or have to wait a long time before based on their score and whether it is above the cutoff or not."

- Michael Di Iorio, 2nd-year Political Science with a minor in Sustainability Studies

"One thing I learned at school this week was the signs and symptoms of Bipolar Disorder as well as the DSM 5’s diagnostic criteria for this mood disorder. As part of NURS 3701 (Mental Health Nursing and Practicum), it’s important to be able to distinguish between Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorders in order to initiate the appropriate nursing interventions for the plan of care. As prevalent as this disorder is in the media- in both positive and negative lights- there are still many inaccurate presumptions that affect the public’s perception of those diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder."

- Langston, 3rd-year Collaborative Nursing 

"One thing I learned this week was intervening for an unresponsive patient. Through my course NURS 4700 (Pre-Consolidation-Virtual Simulation), I get the opportunity to make decisions through simulations to enrich my patient intervention skills. I reviewed vital signs, delegated tasks to an unregulated worker, read glucose lab results, and was able to intervene by administering oxygen through nasal prongs and give dextrose fluid through intravenous push. I even did health teaching by choosing statements that matched the signs and symptoms of hypoglycemia. Lastly, I debriefed with my clinical instructor and talked about my experience in the simulation and will be working on reflection questions."

- Safa Malek, 4th-year Collaborative Nursing

"One thing I learned this week was the importance of being at the top of my work, especially during the midterm exam period. In the course PSYC1000U - Introductory Psychology, I have an exam coming up next Tuesday, and this is the time when being at the top of my studies is the most important. I would need time management plus motivation in order to ace the midterm exam."

- Hasan Ahmad, 1st-year Life Sciences

Special thank you to everyone who submitted a response! Now you are probably wondering what I learned this week… I learned that my colleagues are all engaging in important research and learned concepts past my realm of knowledge. It makes me wonder why we aren’t having these conversations more often and showing an interest in the work others are doing around us. So I pass it off to you, dear reader - find one person in your life (student or non-student) and ask them this simple question: What did you learn this week?