What are Clark Collaborations?
Clark Collaborations aims to integrate sociotechnical systems thinking throughout each students’ engineering education. We work with engineering faculty, staff and students on pedagogical innovations in engineering curriculum, such as active learning, experiential learning, games and improv.
What is Sociotechnical Systems Thinking and why does it matter?
The Grand Challenges of our time are complex, interdisciplinary problems that require complex, interdisciplinary solutions. Sociotechnical Systems Thinking is the ability to identify, address, and integrate social and technical dimensions of engineering. Sociotechnical systems thinkers can leverage durable skills for collaboration and communication of technical expertise…
Meet Christine Alexander
I am a Lecturer for the Science, Technology, and Society Programs in the A. James Clark School of Engineering and I run the Clark Collaborations initiative.
I combine my facilitation skills and passion for human development to create purpose driven experiences for groups of all ages and stages. Before earning my M.A. in Teacher Education and Professional Development from the University of Maryland, I worked as a Teaching Artist in schools, museums, and theaters. My training includes 7 years of applied improvisation for educational contexts (Smithsonian Associates), and two years of Gestalt Theatre training for educators (Gestalt Theatre Association), along with coursework in Design Thinking.
I teach ENES200: Technology and Consequences: Engineering, Ethics, and Humanity, as well CPSP210: Art Tech Studio: Integrations of the Arts and Technology for Change Making, and the fall and spring colloquia for first year STS Scholars.
Get in touch with Christine
Schedule a consultation or request a guest lecture.
Office: 1106 Kim Engineering Building
Ongoing Collaborations
Jenna Mueller – BioE Capstone (curricular consultation – tools provided – systems mapping)
Ian White – Design Course (curricular consultation – inclusive design)
Shannon Bate – ENED101 (Guest Lecture – Outdoor Activity – Talking to Strangers – interviewing as an engineering skill)
Adaire Parker – Materials Science (Guest Lecture – Role Play – OceanGate and the Titan Submersible – codes of ethics and engineering decision making)
Miroslaw J. Skibniewski – Civil Engineering (Guest Lecture – STS Postures – AI Data Center case study)
Flexus & Virtus – (curricular alignment)
Engineering Dialogue – OGEL (curricular alignment)
Upcoming Community Events
Make the Game/Break the Game
We can use games to teach and learn with our students, but not all course content has a ready-made game available. By breaking existing games, you give yourself the opportunity to (1) learn the mechanics of games so that you can break any game, (2) design your own game from scratch, or (3) invite your students to break or design games as a way of demonstrating content knowledge.
We meet 2x each semester for a maximum of 2 hrs in the STS Lab (Kim Building RM 1105).
Instructors, staff, students (grad or undergrad) are all welcome. The more the merrier.
The only constraint on participation is that attendance at the Break the Game sessions (which will always come second) is contingent upon attendance at the Play the Game sessions (which will always come first). That way the people breaking the game have already played it.
Resources
Erickson, J., S. Claussen, J. A. Leydens, K. E. Johnson, and J. Tsai. (2020). Real-world Examples and Sociotechnical Integration: What’s the Connection? ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings, ASEE Conferences.
Mazzurco, A., and S. Daniel. (2020). Socio-Technical Thinking of Students and Practitioners in the Context of Humanitarian Engineering. Journal of Engineering Education 109 (2): 243–261 https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20307.
Zacharias, K., J. Seniuk Cicek, L. Wilkinson, C. Rodier, L. M. Patterson, R. B. Rodrigues, and K. Tallman. 2023. “Transdisciplinary Approaches in Canadian Engineering Education: Convergences and Challenges.” 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Symposium. Conducted at the Meeting of American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).