Jeanne Paquette

In 2015, a newly renovated active learning laboratory opened in the Adams building at McGill. Dr. Jeanne Paquette assumed responsibility for the lab, looking after it with the attention and care usually accorded to one’s personal possessions. Jeanne takes the initiative to constantly improve the student lab experience, for example, through her successful proposal for new microscopes. Since her involvement in the lab’s redesign, hundreds of students have benefitted from learning in this collaborative space.

The lab is an especially interesting example of an active learning space at McGill, due to its flexible potential as a teaching laboratory and a classroom — it’s often a stop on tours of learning spaces that Teaching and Learning Services (TLS) offers university visitors. On tours, Jeanne animatedly describes to visitors how students learn about geology in this space. She demonstrates features such as mobile whiteboards for group work and shows how projector screens around the room allow for close views of rock specimens.

Jeanne also helps to coordinate lab access outside of courses and tours. She opens the lab to instructor workshops offered by TLS, so a broader audience can benefit from learning in this space. For many instructors, it is their first experience in a space built for active learning. Colleagues at TLS appreciate Jeanne’s efforts to coordinate access to the room, her explanations of how to use equipment, and her receptiveness to welcoming instructors from across the university.

Jeanne goes above and beyond in stewarding and sharing the lab with multiple groups and audiences. She should be recognized for the Unsung Hero that she is.

Nominated by a member of staff at Teaching & Learning Services