7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. |
Alpine Meadows/Castle/Assiniboine |
Breakfast Available until 9:00 a.m. |
8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. |
Hotel Lobby |
Registration Open |
CONCURRENT SESSIONS |
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Aspen |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Teaching as Authentic Practice in the Graduate Student Supervisory Relationship
The presentation is the outcome of a co-inquiry with students, where shared interests about student learning, students as partners, and a hermeneutic lens shaped the main research questions:
— What are graduate students’ experiences of the supervisory relationship?
— What happens inside the relationship in terms of learning and student success?
Although the supervisory relationship deviates from the traditional classroom learning, we began our inquiry from the recognition that the individual pedagogy warrants attention in the SoTL literature, especially when considered within the students as partners framework. The team conducted 16 in-depth interviews with graduate students across programs at the University of Calgary between October 2018 and April 2019.
Using hermeneutic analytical approaches and framing the analysis around the emerging question of what constitutes teaching and learning in a supervisory relationship, we found that it may be more appropriate to speak of the pedagogy as mentoring; what Kreber (2015) described as authentic practice for SoTL. This is relevant to SoTL because it allowed us to think of the nuances in the word teaching, and how supervisory relationships in higher education may need to expand the way we talk about teaching and learning in higher education.
Galicia Blackman, University of Calgary
James Field, University of Calgary
Kaitlyn Francois, University of Calgary
|
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Birch |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
The Influence of Fieldwork Design on Students’ Perceptions of Employability-Enhancing Skills Development
Fieldwork is a signature pedagogy of environmental subjects including biosciences, geography and geology. As well as providing an opportunity for students to engage with subject-specific content, fieldwork can develop a wide range of employability-enhancing technical and transferable skills. However, students can have difficulty identifying the skills they develop both during fieldwork and throughout their degree programmes. We investigated whether giving students autonomy to design and undertake a fieldwork investigation influenced the skills they developed and identified compared with when they participated in staff-led fieldwork investigations. We also explored whether students recognised the potential enhancement to their employability that skills developed through fieldwork might provide. Most previous research assessing students’ perceptions of skills development through fieldwork has focused on post-course reflections. However, our students completed short daily reflections throughout a field course. Overall, students recognised technical skills more frequently than transferable skills and many were able to link their skills development to their future employability. However, during staff-led fieldwork students recognised more technical skills, but during autonomous student-designed investigations, they recognised more transferable skills. This presentation will discuss the implications of these findings for designing learning opportunities that maximise graduate employability through the delivery of subject-specific content.
Emma Peasland, University of Hull
|
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Black Bear |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Development and Validation of a New Measure of Gut Feeling in Practicum Nursing Education
Clinical instructors are expected to objectively appraise students using subjective tools such as anecdotal notes, unstructured observations and feedback from patients and colleagues. Placing a student on a learning plan is affected by personal, professional and institutional variables swaying evaluation towards subjectivity. We conducted a sequential explanatory mixed methods design where a quantitative research study, focusing on identifying factors that determine clinical instructors’ decision to put students on learning contracts, followed a qualitative inquiry. Data was collected and analyzed in two phase. In phase two we quantitatively pilot tested a tool constructed from data generated qualitatively in phase one. We computed the reliability and consistency of the tool using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Cronbach alpha. Clinical instructors teaching nursing students in practicum courses in all four years of a BN program were recruited to use the tool on students. Findings from pilot testing the tool established its validity and reliability. It is expected the tool will be integrated into the BN program as an evaluation tool in practicum courses. Findings will support educators to create guidelines and standards for use in clinical education to aid in the decision making process of placing students on learning contracts.
Mohamed EL Hussein, Mount Royal University
Olive Fast, Mount Royal University
|
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Cedar |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Successful Translation of Theory to Practice: Factors Affecting Registered Nurse Preparedness for High Acuity Clinical Learning
Registered Nurses who wish to transition to high acuity clinical practice areas such as the intensive care unit or emergency department require additional theoretical knowledge and clinical experiential learning to be able to successfully and safely practice. While previous research has defined the skills, attitudes and practices that pertain to an ideal clinical educator, less attention has been paid to the role of the adult learner in terms of preparation for returning to clinical learning. This presentation will highlight findings from a pilot study that examined factors that most influence RN student preparedness and self perception of preparedness for success in the clinical learning environment in high acuity practice areas. This presentation is intended for educators who teach adult learners, particularly those with a clinical or practical component to their courses.
Heather McLellan, Mount Royal University
Tricia Bray, Mount Royal University
Nicole Tailby, Mount Royal University
|
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Maple |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Fostering a Growth Mindset in Utilization of Educational Technologies with Traditional Lecture-Based Courses
Technological advancements are changing the way our students consume information, but adoption of technology is often slow in university lecture halls. We educators worry about the adverse effects on attendance, engagement, and learning that new methods may bring. Unfortunately, this uncertainty can lead instructors into a fixed-mindset, unwilling to adopt new teaching methods and educational technologies, depriving students of the proven benefits of effective new pedagogy. This session will share my experiences in putting students first by adopting multiple teaching technologies (including student response systems, social media, digital whiteboarding, lecture recording and asynchronous delivery) to develop an educational technology toolkit. The way that multiple technologies are stacked together with a proactive and growth-mindset will be discussed and demonstrated to help instructors avoid technological pitfalls and adopt best practices. The overall goals of this session are:
- To encourage reflective teaching and a growth mindset to bring student’s educational needs to the forefront of your pedagogy
- To demonstrate how building an educational technology toolkit enhances student engagement and learning, increases flexibility, and saves instructor time outside of class
- To allow instructors to assess teaching effectiveness and student learning more readily by harnessing data analytics
Kyle Anderson, University of Saskatchewan
|
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Pine |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Benefits of Collaborative Testing: How Faculty Can Make Test-Taking More Useful and Beneficial for Student Learning (SoTL Project)
Test-taking is a widely adopted practice for assessing student learning. Many universities and colleges rely heavily on test-taking as the main indicator of student performance. We see test-taking as the normative assessment tool across disciplines and programs. Traditionally student learning is assessed independently. Students receive little to no feedback other than a numeric grade. In some incidents, students may be shown correct answers, but rarely do students debrief their strategies for determining the correct answer or the logic they applied. An alternative pedagogical approach to testing is collaborative testing (CT). Bloom (2009) explained collaborative testing as an educational strategy that engages groups of students in formative assessments designed to both assess and enhance student learning. Zimbardo et al. (2003) found benefits of CT to include: reduced test anxiety, elevated confidence in materials, irrelevance of cheating and an increase in the enjoyment of testing. In the session, I will also speak about wide adoption at the University of this approach, across disciplines and decanal units, since approach to test-taking reduces marking load and expedites student feedback.
This session presents how collaborative testing can be incorporated into large undergraduate courses and will discuss quantitative and qualitative results (student and instructor perspectives).
Robyne-Hanley-Dafoe, Trent University
|
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Willow |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Healer, Mage, or Warrior? Engage Your Students with Game-Based Learning Technologies
Want your students to be present, engaged, and motivated? In our SoTL project, we integrated game-based learning technologies in an applied criminal justice English course. We customized Classcraft, an online role-playing game, to meet the needs of the course outcomes, content, and adult learners. Initially, it was determined more research was required to understand the potential of tools, like Classcraft, in increasing student engagement in a variety of settings, especially in higher education contexts (Papadakis & Kalogiannakis, 2017). In addition, prior research purported Classcraft encouraged teamwork, cooperative problem-solving, and interaction (Sanchez, Young, & Jouneau-Sion, 2017; Papadakis & Kalogiannakis, 2017). Our students created avatars, earned points from random challenges, and were rewarded for their efforts with prizes, badges, and avatar upgrades. We assessed the effectiveness of Classcraft using a self-report survey completed by our students. Quantitative, descriptive data was gathered and analyzed, with the assistance of a student researcher, to determine the impact this instructional technique had on our students’ experiences. Join us as we share how we worked collaboratively to learn about the functions, powers, rules, and other features Classcraft offers to create gamified learning environments that span one semester and reflect scholarly teaching principles.
Kristen Fantazir, Lethbridge College
Murray Bartley, Lethbridge College
|
9:00 a.m. – 9:40 a.m. |
Lynx |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Transforming the Lecture and Student Experience by Implementing Pen-Enabled Cloud-Based Methodologies (PECM) in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
STEM educators have to deliver complex information to large cohorts of students in challenging learning spaces, resulting in surface learning or low engagement. Cognitive research tells us that intentional engagement and active-learning pedagogies enhance the learning process.(1) Active participation in the learning process, which encourages talking, listening, writing and reflecting, is important for the development of students’ cognitive skills, allowing them to clarify, question, consolidate and develop new knowledge.(2)
Teaching and learning with technology using Pen-Enabled Cloud-Based Methodologies (PECM) was implemented to transform the lecture experience for students and teachers. Existing research shows that digital-inking can increase students’ ability to make accurate inferences about information, learning through note-taking and knowledge creation.(3) For STEM subjects, a pen-interface supports human expression and spatial content (3-4), with deeper learning resulting from inclusion of pictorial information.(5) The focus of this project was to explore this using a portable digital device, enabling live-text annotations and classroom mobility. Harnessing the flexibility of the PECM, short screencast videos can also be created to supplement lecture content, enabling a flipped classroom approach.
This paper will report findings from an on-going multi-methodological project exploring and explaining the impact of PECMs on the teaching and learning experience in STEM subjects.
Sylvia Urban, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Natasha Taylor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Aspen |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Explicit Content: Curricular Interventions that Cultivate Academic Integrity
Academic honesty remains an urgent issue for higher education. More recent approaches to this issue focus on cultivating a “culture of integrity” (Eaton and Edino 2018) and supporting student learning of this foundational aptitude. As both an administrator and an instructor, I gained insight into student (mis)understandings of academic integrity that has led to a three-year project to develop and assess enhanced and explicit instruction in academic integrity in first-year writing courses. We asked: What could we do differently so that our students know how to meet the expectations of academic integrity, but also why they should care to do so? How could we engage both faculty and students to change the conversation from one of fear and punishment to one of knowledge and aspiration?
This presentation shares key findings and recommendations from this project, and outlines next steps in research and practice that these findings suggest. Drawing on the qualitative and quantitative data from students and faculty, including surveys, focus groups, and interviews, I illustrate the improved uptake by students (and instructors) of academic integrity, as well as new insights we’ve gained about the place of academic integrity in larger conversations about student belonging, wellness, and access.
Laurie McNeill, The University of British Columbia
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Birch |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
OnTask: A Learning Analytics Tool to Provide Personalized Feedback to Increase Student Motivation and Success
With increasing class size and student diversity in many higher education institutions, personalized feedback to students can be difficult to provide due to limited time and resources available to instructors. Based on nudge theory, Fritz (2017) claims we can use learning analytic data to help nudge students to take responsibility for their learning. The goals of this session are to 1) describe a learning analytic tool that can be used for mass personalization of course feedback, 2) present student perceptions of the usefulness of this tool in terms of strengthening the instructor-student relationship, increasing motivation to participate and further engage with the course materials and improve performance as well as 3) discuss student responses to the mass personalization messages.
Sylvia Bartolic, The University of British Columbia
Sandra Brown, The University of British Columbia
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Cedar |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Use of Adaptive Release Case Studies to Increase Realism in Distance Learning
Effectively engaging adult learners in a distance environment is challenging for educators. Case studies are an exceptional way to engage learners and develop critical thinking skills however static case studies can lack realism. One solution for this is the use of the adaptive release, unfolding case study. In this presentation you will learn about how this effective active learning strategy for increasing realism was used to engage registered nurses learning online. We will also discuss how the strategy can be applied in other disciplines. This presentation will be helpful for those teaching in either face to face or distance learning environments where there is a need for students to translate theoretical learning into practical situations.
Heather McLellan, Mount Royal University
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Maple |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Building and Using Mapping Skills in an Introductory Statistics Class
As the marginal cost of gathering, processing, and visualizing spatial data has decreased dramatically, developing spatial visualization and spatial analysis skills has become accessible for undergraduate students with majors other than geography. My presentation will focus on a mapping assignment for an introductory statistics course for undergraduate policy studies students at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. Introductory economics and political science courses are prerequisites for this required statistics course, but the students have no formal cartographic skills. The assignment asked them to choose variables from the City of Calgary census, produce choropleth maps, and analyze them. Using a geographic information system (GIS) allows students to visualize and analyze patterns and trends, inquire why certain things happen where they do, and what can be done about it from a policy perspective. Students’ level of engagement increases once they visualize spatial data, and this assignment provides a GIS foundation that can be expanded in future courses or after graduation.
Lavinia Moldovan, Mount Royal University
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Pine |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Conceptualizing the Roles and Activities of Clinical Instructors in Undergraduate Nursing Education
In undergraduate nursing education clinical instructors are responsible for supporting student nurses’ development of practical knowledge. One of the goals for clinical instructors is to use strategies that provide students with opportunities to effectively merge the “knowing that” with the “knowing how”. To facilitate this merge it is important to understand the specific work completed by clinical instructors. While there are research studies that outline effective teaching strategies for clinical practice, there is a gap in knowing the actual strategies used by instructors to support experiential learning. The objectives of this study are to make the work of clinical instructors visible and to provide better understanding of the work of clinical nursing instructors who facilitate experiential learning for students in the Bachelor of Nursing program at Mount Royal University. Understanding the work of clinical instructors may offer the Bachelor of Nursing program an opportunity to assess for gaps in clinical teaching and to create more effective methods to support students in applying theory to practice. This study will inform a future research project that will explore how to address identified gaps in experiential teaching and inform professional development opportunities implemented to enhance the teaching completed by clinical instructors.
Maggie Quance, Mount Royal University
Giuliana Harvey, Mount Royal University
Mohamed EL Hussein, Mount Royal University
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Willow |
Involving Undergraduate Students in SoTL |
Collaborative Theatre: Creating Questions for Inquiry into Instructor-Student Engagement
Transmission-based learning may take us away from the opportunity for empathetic and engaged learning. One aim of this session is to attempt to regain insight into a less performative and more communicative teaching style; the second is to create SoTL questions to study impact on engagement for students and the instructor. While theatre may be called performance art, an engaged audience is understood to be a product of the actors’ engagement with the material, their co-actors, and their audience (Fancy, 2007) on a level that transcends a declarative performance style.
We focus on a “relational perspective” (Trigwell, Prosser, & Waterhouse, 1999, p. 409) to generate SoTL questions about interactions between instructor and students. Our thesis: that the instructor’s authentic ‘activity’ or engagement moves passive students to become active learners. We will apply three principles from dramatic arts theory (Murray, 2010) and through a process of “defining the issue, agitating the inquiry, and discerning the questions” (authors, forthcoming), we help you hone the SoTL questions that get at issues of engagement in the classroom. We hope you experience greater insight about your limitless capacity to develop and inquiry into engagement: with your students, the material, and with yourself.
Kit Simmons, Humber College
Nicola Simmons, Brock University
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Lynx |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
An Easy Entrance into Educational VR
VR, AR, MR, XR, what does it all mean? Educational Virtual Reality (VR) is on the cutting-edge of innovative teaching techniques but many educators don’t know what it is, what is possible, or how to begin incorporating it into their classroom.
During this session, participants will be introduced to the current landscape of educational VR through understanding of terminology, levels of immersion, and easy ways to bring VR into the classroom today by using free and open source tools while leveraging student smart devices. It is important to not use this technology just for wow factor but to support curriculum in a hands-on way that engages student empathy, critical thinking, and innovation.
Tanya Weder, Lethbridge College
|
9:45 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. |
Black Bear |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Taking Writing Offline. Requiring Students to Use Research Notebooks in a Humanities Course
What happens when students are required to write out their thoughts, questions, and research notes in a notebook rather than on a computer? This project presents the first findings from a study of student learning in two sections of a research methods seminar in which the students used notebooks rather than technology to manage their research, formulate questions, and present preliminary findings.
Mills Kelly, George Mason University
|
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. |
Alpine Meadows |
Coffee |
CRACKER BARREL PRESENTATIONS
The CRACKER BARREL is a short session repeated three times in 90 minutes. The presenter usually provides a brief introduction to the topic and participants are invited to comment and ask questions. After 25 minutes, when the bell rings, participants will move on to another table, and the presenter will repeat the presentation to a new group. Three groups will pass by each table in a 90 minute period.
CRACKER BARREL presentations will take place in both the Lynx and Black Bear Rooms, Banff Park Lodge.
We ask that you be in your presentation room 10 minutes before the session starts at 11:00 a.m. At that time you will receive procedural information and have an opportunity to meet fellow presenters and get settled at your table. We hope you will provide a handout that states the key points of your presentation, activity or exercise material and any additional information (references) you think would be valuable to your session attendees.
ROOM SETUP
Your three consecutive presentations will take place between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 8th. Please note that technical provisions such as audio/video systems, laptops and screens will not be available. If you are using your own laptop, please be reminded to charge it prior to your session. Wi-Fi is available.
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Lynx |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Reporting Academic Dishonesty in Post-Secondary Institutions – A Case Study of the University of Lethbridge
Recent developments around the world shows that academic dishonesty is becoming an issue that should be tackled and discouraged in post-secondary institutions. Several post-secondary institutions in the United States of America have researched and confirmed an increasing rate of academic dishonesty in their schools and have adopted severe measures as a deterrent. The University of Lethbridge’s (UofL) academic calendar addresses academic offences on pages 67-72, and this is comparable with the definitions provided by other post-secondary institutions worldwide. For example, the University of Colorado, Denver defines academic dishonesty or academic misconduct as any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a formal academic exercise. It includes but not limited to plagiarism (adoption or reproduction of another person’s distinct words or ideas without given due acknowledgment), student’s use of unauthorized assistance with intent to deceive an instructor in meeting course and degree requirement, fabrication and falsification of information, etc. In this presentation, we will use reports from other similar research studies completed on students’ perception about academic dishonesty as our reference point. we hope that this project will provide necessary evidence, giving the university administrators clear paths to encouraging a sustainable and high-quality of graduates being produced from our institution.
Olu Awosoga, University of Lethbridge
Jeff Meadows, University of Lethbridge
Randall Barley, University of Lethbridge
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Lynx |
Collaborating Beyond the Single Classroom |
Collaborative Faculty and Spaces: Blended Course Design in an Undergraduate Arts Course
Increasing enrollments and increasing demand on limited classroom space especially for introductory large enrollment courses in the Department of Sociology are forcing instructors to turn away students or schedule classes in ways that make learning more challenging. At the same time, we hope these entry level courses will draw high caliber and highly motivated students to our discipline.
The goals of this session are to:
- describe a redesign of a large enrollment lecture course using a blended course design model in order to:
a) reduce the need for classroom space,
b) reduce the size of the classroom needed for the course without reducing the number of enrolled students and
c) better meet the diverse learning needs and situations of our students;
- discuss student evaluations of learning in this blended format;
- describe faculty collaboration in the development/teaching of the redesign.
Silvia Bartolic, The University of British Columbia
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Lynx |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Using Technology to Create and Execute an Educationally Purposeful Scavenger Hunt to Meet Learning Outcomes
This presentation focuses on an activity that engages student critical thinking and leverages the university-wide learning management system (LMS) along with multiple technology tools. Through the use of Canvas, the university LMS, the internet, QR code readers, Zoom, photoshop, and other tools, students engaged in an interactive scavenger hunt created to enhance the critical thinking and active learning that was specifically designed to meet the course learning outcomes. Analysis of these pilot data will be described including results of student survey responses as well as student grades.
Kelly Treece, Chaminade University of Honolulu
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Lynx |
Calls for Collaboration, Triangulation, and Development |
Using Teaching Competencies to Engage Faculty in Scholarly Teaching and SoTL at a Community College
In the Fall of 2018, the Educational Development Team at [COLLEGE] began to develop teaching competencies for all instructors. Jardim (2007), notes that the concept of competencies is multidimensional and corresponds to individual instructors' knowledge, skill, and attitudes in real and concrete situations. Tigelaar et al. (2004) state that teaching is a complex activity that requires the identification of teaching competencies. We are using the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) as an approach to help frame the development process. Auten and Twigg (2013) espouse that higher education must focus on preparing faculty as teachers and encouraging faculty to have a stake in their own teaching and further learning.
In this cracker barrel session will share what we have completed on the project so far and discuss our next steps over the 2019-2020 academic year. We will share insights about how we engaged faculty in the project development and reflect on some surprise we encountered. We will engage participants in conversations about the benefits and challenges of implementing a teaching competency program. We hope to gain insight and advice on how we can support faculty transition into teaching competencies program that is scholarly, self-reflective, and self-directed.
Melanie Hamilton, Lethbridge College
Erin Howard, Lethbridge College
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Black Bear |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Aristotle on Teaching and Learning
In this paper I investigate how well Aristotle’s theory of causation explains the activities of teaching and learning. Aristotle sees the natural world as full of objects possessing potentials which, if actualized, make their possessors actually what they were only potentially. Thus educational processes should also be explicable in terms of actuality and potentiality, and Aristotle makes some comments in the Metaphysics and elsewhere about how teachers and students actualize potentials through educational acts. One of the interesting results of Aristotle’s metaphysics of education is that the teacher’s activity of teaching turns out to be identical to the student’s activity of learning. Some may find this appealing, since Aristotle thinks the learning process is more intimately connected to the activity of the teacher than can be expressed by a contemporary Humean regularity theory of causation. On the other hand, I indicate some problems about conceiving education as the actualization of pre-existing potentials.
Duncan Maclean, Mount Royal University
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Black Bear |
Involving Undergraduate Students in SoTL |
From Experiential Teaching to Experiential Learning: Faculty and Student Self-Reflections
In Western Canada, opportunities for social practices in French remain limited for FSL students. However, French for the Future (FFTF), a national non-profit organization promoting linguistic duality in Canada, overcomes this lack by holding the FFTF forum, usually every other year. This forum puts the emphasis on the social and career benefits of bilingualism by primarily encouraging camaraderie among FSL and Immersion high-school students. This year, the FFTF forum was held in Cochrane and brought together nearly 300 grade 8-12 FSL and Immersion students. The main objective of the forum was twofold: presenting students with options concerning their continuation of French while experiencing artistic, cultural, and outdoor activities in French.
Having the opportunity to facilitate a workshop for this gathering event, I envisioned a workshop that could integrate experiential teaching and learning practices involving my own students. Therefore, a group of seven university students was created with the goal of providing learning activities to high-school students in the form of a workshop. This workshop was collaboratively constructed, facilitated and debriefed. Our self-reflections included comments and feedbacks on the relevance of experiential learning, the need for flexibility, and the bridging between experiential learning activities in high-school and undergraduate students.
Fanny Macé, University of Calgary
Samantha Carron, University of Calgary
Alejandra Vivas, University of Calgary
Mackenzie Whicker, University of Calgary
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Black Bear |
Calls for Collaboration, Triangulation, and Development |
Novices? Experts? Leaders?: Investigating the Role of Postdoctoral Fellows in Teaching and Learning Centres in Canada
Scholarship on educational development has explored the multiple pathways for practitioners into the field (McDonald & Stockley, 2008), where educational developers represent a vast array of disciplinary identities, staff and faculty roles, and career motivations (Land, 2004). The same holds true for the increasing number of postdoctoral fellows based in Canadian teaching and learning (T&L) centres. These postdoctoral researchers are frequently engaged in their own Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) research, and play an important role in building capacity for conducting SoTL within their institutions. Postdocs in T&L centres can occupy a liminal professional space (Burke et al., 2017; Nowell, Grant, & Mikita, in press) in that they are not students, faculty, nor educational developers. As a result, their experiences and contributions as a growing group of professionals in the SoTL community are not fully understood, nor is the variety of ways in which they enhance the field of SoTL.
The authors, all of whom are SoTL postdocs, invite discussion and debate for an emerging research project, exploring such topics as motivations for hiring postdocs in T&L centres, how positions of novice and expert intersect for SoTL-focused postdocs, as well as the implications for their professional development and identity.
Cherie Woolmer, McMaster University
Michael Agnew, McMaster University
Alice Kim, York University
Brian Nairn, York University
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Black Bear |
Calls for Collaboration, Triangulation, and Development |
Using "The SoTL Scaffold" to Measure the Impact of Teaching on Learning, to Engage New Research(ers), and to Advance a Culture of SoTL on Campus
Last year, "The SoTL Scaffold: Supporting Evidence‐Based Teaching Practice in Educational Development" was published, providing a framework for educational developers to advance not only a culture of teaching and learning, but of original research on the impact of teaching on learning. In the union of these two objectives exists a compelling foundation for positively framing, validating, and supporting SoTL research in university settings historically less inclined to do so. By positioning SoTL as an evidence-based approach to measuring instructional impact, one can speak and appeal to the research disposition of faculty, foster a generative culture of SoTL in "hard to reach places", and generate new knowledge into student learning and success. The educational developer can further shift the discussion from following best practices to generating best practices, from dividing research and teaching to unifying them in a manner that results in a more diverse array of scholarship and a measurable impact of instructional innovation on campus. This paper shares strategies used to positively affect a culture of SoTL, teaching, and learning in a research university setting.
Brian Smentkowski, University of Idaho
|
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Black Bear |
Calls for Collaboration, Triangulation, and Development |
Coming Full Circle: Engaging Students, Engaging Faculty Through the Scholarship of Educational Development (SOED)
While many teaching support units conduct research into their own practices, these analyses are rarely shared beyond the institution, thus limiting the scope of its influence on educational development (ED) as a profession, and on what has become known as the scholarship of educational development (SoED) as a unique field of inquiry within the broader domain of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).
The intersection between ED practice, SoTL, and SoED occurs when “in-practice inquiry extends from studying educational development practice into studying impacts of specific teaching and learning strategies on student learning” (Kenny et al., 2017, p.9). EDs may thus be seen as the ‘crucial link’ bringing teaching and learning together, engaging both faculty and students.
In this session, participants will discuss ways to promote the SoED at their own institutions, as well as identify significant barriers to undergoing research and disseminating their work. The hope is to encourage an open dialogue around the opportunities for, and challenges to, conducting SoED. The ultimate aim is to build a community of practice around EDs who are engaging in, or wish to engage in SoED, by building and encouraging opportunities for collaboration across institutions and identifying potential avenues for dissemination.
Melanie Greene, University of Alberta
|
12:35 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. |
Alpine Meadows/Castle/Assiniboine |
Lunch |
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. |
Alpine Meadows/Castle/Assiniboine |
‘Getting Published in SoTL’ Plenary Panel
Moderator: Michelle Yeo, Academic Director
Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning, Mount Royal University
|
Are you new to SoTL, and wondering how to go about getting published? Finding the publishing norms and expectations for articles very different in the SoTL world from what you are used to? Or perhaps you have been working in SoTL for some time, have presented a lot, but are wondering how to break through to publications? Or maybe you are interested in doing more journal review or editing? If any of these sound familiar, this panel is for you!
Please join Michelle, Beth, Cherie, and Karen to discuss the ins and outs of SoTL publishing, and learn about an exciting new publishing opportunity stemming from the Symposium.
Beth Marquis has published in and reviewed for a number of SoTL journals, and currently serves as Senior Editor for the Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Co-Editor of the International Journal for Students as Partners.
Cherie Woolmer is Editorial Manager of the International Journal for Students as Partners and supports faculty, staff, and students who are authors, editors, and reviewers of the journal. She has also published and reviewed in SoTL-focused journals.
Karen Manarin has facilitated writing residencies for people interested in publishing in SoTL journals. Karen has experience reviewing and writing for journals, writing a SoTL book, and organizing an edited collection.
|
2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Aspen |
Collaborating Beyond the Single Classroom |
SoTL and CISCO: Partner Catalysts for Transformational Change
“Change is required if education is to meet the rapidly changing needs of society today [however it] does not occur unless faculty become involved in leadership, including professional development and professional learning communities” (Smith, 2011, 1). So while “Change is about using external influences to modify actions to achieve desired results…Transformation is about modifying beliefs so that natural actions achieve the desired results” (Palinkas, 2013, para. 5)
This panel will discuss the individual reflections, experiences, and transformations of three CISCO Chair recipients from the Faculty of Business, and how their SoTL research has the opportunity to transform their own classrooms as well as their learners, their School and their Institution. Alongside these reflections will be a discussion of ways that the faculty at SAIT are supported in their SoTL work (via coaching/mentoring, professional development, and the strategic planning exercise underway at SAIT, moving the Institute into 2025). The panel will explore the opportunities and the challenges afforded by this CISCO ‘tipping point’ in the business school, the addition of a SoTL mentor to support and grow the SoTL conversation at SAIT, the potential shift at the institutional level for SoTL support, and how SAIT might sustain this shift.
Jacqueline Lyndon, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Heramb Vadalkar, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Steve Janz, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Diane Janes, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Bradley Ackroyd, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
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2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Birch |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Concept Mapping in a Flipped Clinical: A Basic Qualitative Study
Despite recommendations for the use of flipped learning and concept mapping in nursing education, research is limited on the concurrent use of flipped learning and concept mapping in clinical teaching environments. The aim of this basic qualitative research study was to explore the experience of 12 baccalaureate-nursing students in a non-traditional medical surgical flipped clinical to understand students’ learning from an engagement perspective. Throughout the course, students completed reflective journals for review at course exit and participated in individual interviews to provide information connected to their learning. Thematic analysis revealed that students were actively engaged in critical thinking when they mapped out care in clinical practice. Participants also indicated that completing concept maps in a flipped clinical environment changed the ways they engaged with the course material, faculty, staff, and patients. The mapping process propelled students beyond simple participation to active engagement and resulted in improved motivation, stimulation of high-level thinking, increased critical thinking, and expansion of knowledge. Students also reported an increase in confidence in their knowledge, learning, and ability to “think like a nurse.” Findings from this hold implications for future application in clinical and classroom environments.
Juliet Onabadejo, Lethbridge College
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2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Cedar |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Drawing Connections Between Experiences, Theories, and Practices in Teacher Education
“How well do we know our students?” (Poole & Chick, 2014, p. 1). Often, students and instructors spend months together, only to walk away from a course knowing almost nothing about each other. When students enter a course, little is known about their perspectives, experiences, beliefs, values, or attitudes. Yet, these can play a crucial role in how students interpret course content and implement it in practice. In this SoTL study, we explored how creating representations (drawings) within a Bachelor of Education course about inclusive education can support preservice teachers connect their perspectives with theory and inform future practice. We used drawings encourage discourse among peers and to better connect course content with preservice teachers’ perspectives. Using data from 285 students we share themes and trends of preservice teachers’ representations and how their perspectives evolved over time.
Chris Ostrowski, University of Calgary
Man-Wai Chu, University of Calgary
Miwa Takeuchi, University of Calgary
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2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Maple |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Stop Cheating in its Tracks: Use Features in Excel to Delete Stolen Data Before It Can Be Submitted
Cheating has long been a hide-and-seek game where the perpetrators attempt to hide their behavior and faculty seek to expose it. This paradigm relies on the threat of punishment to deter cheating. If your methods hands-on activities using digital tools, then you can change the game. This session will present methods available within Microsoft Office to combine simple meta-data, supplemental meta-data, hidden features of Microsoft Office, and a little ingenuity to expose cheating and even delete stolen work before it can be hijacked. Workshop participants will be able to examine a sample assignment file fully instrumented with these techniques.
Kurt Schmitz, Georgia State University
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2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Pine |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Student Response Systems: Does the Question-Type Matter for Engagement and Learning?
Student response systems (SRS) continue to evolve as bring your own device (BYOD) systems allow more question and answer types to be utilized. While users were once limited to a button press on a clicker selecting from a list of predetermined responses, students can now generate text and numerical responses on their personal devices. Question and response types are now limited only by software, and new features can be added without requiring overhaul of the existing system. Using two successive course offerings the effect of question type was evaluated specifically for novel calculations covered in the course using a crossover experimental design. Student use of the Top Hat BYOD system with multiple choice or numerical response in-class questions was evaluated on: time to in-class completion, in-class student success, success on tests, and additionally students were surveyed on overall preference of question types. Analysis shows that students take more time on numerical response questions and do better on examinations than when given the same questions as multiple choice. The findings from this study will be useful to instructors looking to formulate their own evidence-based best practices when incorporating SRS’s into their pedagogy.
Kyle Anderson, University of Saskatchewan
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2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Willow |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
A Study of Graduate Students’ Perceptions of Engaged Learning Behaviors
This presentation focuses on the results of a study that asked graduate students to identify and describe their own behaviors indicative of engagement as they participated in learning tasks or activities. Students responded to 5 open ended questions on the Student Engagement Reflection questionnaire. The qualitative study used a phenomenological research design to ascertain engagement as perceived by graduate students in a classroom context. Based on the themes and concepts that emerged from the written responses, engaged learning involves: (1) communication and conversation, (2) expectations and accountability, (3) authentic and deeper learning, and (4) feelings of competence and understanding.
Don Beach, Tarleton State University – Texas A&M University System
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2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Lynx |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Engagement: I Would Prefer Not Too
Disruption has become a buzzword of our times. It’s often characterized as the turbo-charged engine of progress—displacing the old with the new, the slow with the fast, the laborious with the effortless, and the sufficient with the exceptional. What’s not to like about disruption? For the purposes of this presentation, I’m going to assume "Absolutely nothing." In fact, I’m proposing disruption be practiced on another buzzword of our time: “engagement,” more commonly construed as “interaction.” For centuries, traditional “Mug & Jug” educators filled "passive" learners from pooled reservoirs of knowledge. These “banking” models were disrupted in the 60s by learners and teachers who demanded to participate in their education, to be engaged and to “interact” in their education. This presentation speaks to how the creative fervour of that engagement has been dissipated and domesticated by new communication technologies that maintain its veneer but subvert its substance. In drawing a distinction between “interactive” and “interpassive” forms of engagement, this presentation cautions educators to critically question technologies that promote and support current forms of engagement, making a case for their disruption and displacement.
Derek Briton, Athabasca University
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2:35 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. |
Black Bear |
Involving Undergraduate Students in SoTL |
Pedagogical Partnerships and Equity in the Classroom: Insights from One Partnership Program
Student-faculty partnership is often framed as a boundary-crossing practice with the potential to contribute to transforming institutions into more equitable and egalitarian spaces (Matthews, Cook-Sather, & Healey, 2018). For example, partnership has been shown to contribute to valuing and foregrounding marginalized voices and knowledges, and to supporting the growth of students’ confidence, agency, and sense of belonging (Colón García 2017; de Bie et al., 2019; Cook-Sather & Agu, 2013). In light of these possibilities, this session will describe an initiative that sought to contribute to educational equity by facilitating partnerships between students who identify as members of equity-seeking groups and instructors interested in enhancing equity and inclusion in their courses/programs. This initiative, which was co-designed and co-researched by students, faculty, and staff, saw pairs of faculty and students work together, with support from a team of students and staff, to develop practices and projects focused on enhancing equity in the faculty members’ courses and programs. We will share preliminary findings from interviews with participants, drawing on these and on our own reflections to promote discussion of the possibilities and challenges of working toward equity through this type of partnership initiative.
Elizabeth Marquis, McMaster University
Emily Carrasco, McMaster University
Alise de Bie, McMaster University
Srikripa Krishna Prasad, McMaster University
Sneha Wadhwani, McMaster University
Cherie Woolmer, McMaster University
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3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. |
Alpine Meadows |
Coffee |
3:50 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
Aspen |
Methodologies and Innovative Approaches to Data Gathering and Analysis |
Exploring Methods for the Study of Learning Spaces
There is growing literature on the impact learning spaces can have on teaching and learning practices (Beichner, 2007; Brooks, 2011; Cotner et al, 2013; Chiu & Chang, 2016). As SOTL researchers explore their own research questions, they might want to consider how learning space design features influence their inquiry. In this presentation, we will explore some of the options available in the literature around methods and instruments that can be used to study learning spaces features, such as layout, furniture, and classroom technology. We will also have an opportunity for participants to add other instruments. Join us as we collaboratively create a repository of methods and instruments used to study this topic. The resulting repository can help SOTL scholars further understand the influence physical learning spaces have on their own teaching and learning practices.
Luciano da Rosa dos Santos, Mount Royal University
John Cheeseman, Mount Royal University
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3:50 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
Birch |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Space Exploration: Impacts of Active-Learning Classroom Design on Teaching and Learning
When course instructors use active learning strategies, students are more likely to achieve course learning objectives and succeed in the course (Freeman et al., 2014). Facilitating effective active learning in large classes can be challenging because the layout of large classrooms often hinders student-student collaborations and student-instructor interactions. At the Okanagan campus of UBC, we recently built a 400-seat active learning classroom (Talbert & Mor-Avi, 2018). To assess the impact of the design, we observed large introductory chemistry and physics classes taught by course instructors before and after they taught their courses in the new classroom. COPUS observations (Smith et al., 2013) reveal what teaching strategies are achievable in the new learning space, and the frequency of student collaboration and student-instructor interaction. Distributions of students’ grade and drop/fail/withdrawal rates show the impact of the design, and the teaching it permits, on student success. The results inform the instructional design of courses offered in the classroom and guide the professional development of course instructors scheduled for the classroom.
W. Stephen McNeil, The University of British Columbia (Okanagan)
Peter Newbury, The University of British Columbia (Okanagan)
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3:50 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
Cedar |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Bringing it to the Bedside Simulation Lab: “Stressful, but in a Good Way!”
Nursing students describe early clinical experiences as exciting, but also anxiety provoking, despite the many preparatory course and labs they have taken1,2. Capstone labs, simulation, and gaming have been used to assimilate prior learning in preparation for clinical3,4,5. Developed in response to students feeling uncertain, and unprepared for clinical, this innovative teaching strategy combined gaming and simulation in a capstone lab to create a fun, low-stakes, high impact learning environment. Scenarios challenged students to apply previous learning in a simulated environment that encouraged risk taking, critical thinking and reflection.
The study was designed to explore the following research questions:
What feelings do students have before their first clinical?
How well prepared do students feel for their first clinical?
Does a gaming simulation capstone lab reduce anxiety about clinical?
Does student confidence in knowledge increase after a gaming simulation capstone lab?
This presentation will explore the results of the qualitative self-report questionnaires, administered to students in the course before the lab, after the lab, and during their first clinical experience. Student perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the lab in consolidating their learning, reducing stress and preparing them to “bring it to the bedside” in the clinical setting will be discussed.
Cheryl Besse, University of Saskatchewan
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3:50 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
Maple |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Authentic Task Design and Assessment: Engaging Students in Real World Learning
While there is a laudable emphasis on student engagement in higher education, instructors recognize a tension between incorporating innovative activities to enhance engagement and traditional modes of assessing students’ learning. The principles of authentic task design provide a theoretical framework to support instructors who want to include more intrinsically engaging activities that allow students to develop and demonstrate “real world” knowledge and skills. Importantly, these principles also support authentic assessment strategies which instructors can use to evaluate student learning and provide feedback that reflects the criteria and context of their field. In this session, we will introduce the literature of authentic task design and assessment and provide multidisciplinary examples of using these principles when working with undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty. We will also outline a study currently exploring the impact of authentic task design and assessment with graduate students and offer strategies to inform future SoTL research in this area.
Kimberley Grant, University of Calgary
Lisa Fedoruk, University of Calgary
Lorelli Nowell, University of Calgary
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3:50 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
Pine |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Engaging the “Canadian” Heroic: Students and Their Created Superheroes/Heroines
This case study is part of a continuing research project that explores how students engage with notions of national identities and representations of social difference in visual media. This study, borne of curricular work in an undergraduate writing and images course in 2019, elicited students’ responses to set questions about Canada, Canadian identity and representations thereof in Canadian and American comics. In this iteration of the project, we posed these questions in a unit focused on comic books and nationalist superheroes, nationalist superheroes being characters whose costumes and powers incorporate a nation’s flag or other national signifiers (Dittmer 2013). We examine the responses from two of several class projects, including one in which students were asked to create/draw their own superhero/ine and account for said creation’s presence in the Canadian comic universe. Working within a postmodern SoTL framework (Miller-Young and Yeo 2015), we use discourse analysis to frame student constructions of Canada and Canadian values as articulated in 12 written responses. Drawing on semiotic analysis and close reading we explore the extent to which these students engage with the dominant ideologies of Canadian nationalism and Canadian identity as they inflect their written responses to known superheroes and/or their individual creations.
Lee Easton, Mount Royal University
Kelly Hewson, Mount Royal University
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3:50 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
Willow |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Being Brave Together: Engaging Both Faculty and Students Through Experiential Learning
This presentation explores the journey of a new Faculty member as she strives to find ways to be brave and take risks in the classroom. In doing so, an environment is created where students are also encouraged to be brave and take risks. The presentation highlights the necessity for both Faculty and students to participate if full engagement is to be accomplished, and the responsibilities and accountabilities of both are also explored. Situated within the context of leadership curriculum, E2-learning is presented as a critical solution for teaching content within the affective domain. Fusing the best of experiential and e-learning models, E2-learning is a paradigm shift to an integrated teaching model that results in innovative and dynamic learning for today’s digital savvy learners. The resulting SoTL research agenda will be presented to provide the new and exciting future of her practice.
Jacqueline Lyndon, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
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3:50 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. |
Lynx |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
The Tale of Three Studies: An Iterative Design and Research Approach to Teaching and Learning
Calculus I is one of the largest enrolled courses at New York University. Over a thousand undergraduate students take Calculus I each semester. In the past is was delivered in a traditional format but in 2014 faculty from Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences wanted to make a change to the course design in order to improve student outcomes. Since 2014 an iterative design and research approach has shaped the course. Three research studies evaluated design features of the new course format to determine the impacts on student learning. The results of each research study informed changes to the course design as well as roused new questions for continued research. This presentation aims to tell the story of the results of these research studies as well as how research continues to inform course design and scholarly work.
Elizabeth McAlpin, New York University
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4:35 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. |
Birch |
Collaborating Beyond the Single Classroom |
International, Cross-Institution Undergraduate Student Diversity Assignment
This presentation will report on an assignment in which students from a Canadian and U.S. university interacted via videochat technology to discuss their ideas about healthy relationships and explore diversity in attitudes, behaviors and beliefs between the two groups. In this presentation we will describe: our educational goals, pedagogical underpinnings of the assignment, the universities and students involved, the assignment itself, the evaluation of the assignment, and final reflections.
Learning Goals
An overarching goal of the assignment was to have an experience that would be informative, engaging for students and broaden their perspectives about relationships.
More specific goals included having students:
- identify and articulate their own culture’s values, beliefs, norms and practices regarding close relationships;
- similarly explore close relationships in a different culture;
- compare the similarities and differences in close relationship in the two cultures; and
- develop active listening and empathy skills.
Silvia Bartolic, The University of British Columbia
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4:35 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. |
Cedar |
Involving Undergraduate Students in SoTL |
Undergraduate Student Leadership in SoTL Research on Academic Stress and Drug Use
Engaging undergraduates in research has been shown to increase a number of outcomes, including student retention, particularly in underrepresented groups (Nagda, Gregerman, Jonides, Hippel, & Lerner, 1998). Scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) research can be empowering for our learners in that they may guide research projects that are personally relevant to them. By incorporating undergraduates in SoTL research, we can more accurately tap into questions relevant to the lives of students outside of the classroom that directly impact their ability to learn effectively at university.
Anxiety and stress are clearly health concerns, but also affect our students’ ability to study and learn effectively. I partnered with undergraduates to measure stress and anxiety as well as study habits in order to develop a profile of students at our institution. In addition, to further understand the use of drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism, we asked students about their drug use, including the use of study drugs (e.g., Ritalin, Adderall).
This SoTL project provided valuable research leadership experience to undergraduate students. It also helped shed light on factors outside of the classroom that directly affect our students’ ability to learn.
Suzanne Wood, University of Toronto
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4:35 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. |
Maple |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Student Peer Review on ComPAIR: Lessons for Integrating Editorial Metalanguage Into Instruction
We report on a project which investigates the effectiveness of the UBC-developed ComPAIR platform for peer review among students. ComPAIR's unique feature is that students first rank and then write feedback in a comparative layout that presents two drafts of other students' writing side by side. By coding the student and instructor texts, we assess the quality of students' peer feedback against the metalanguage (language about language or writing) used by the instructors in assignment setup (Ädel, 2017). Our project has direct implications for how instructors write their assignment descriptions and how students can be trained to employ metalanguage in the process of peer review. We argue that by integrating metalanguage that refers with precision to necessary elements of written assignments, instructors can help guide students’ development of their own repertoire of editorial metalanguage that is needed for ongoing and self-directed processes of writing and revision.
Katja Thieme, The University of British Columbia
Laila Ferreira, The University of British Columbia
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4:35 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. |
Pine |
Collaborating Beyond the Single Classroom |
University-Museum Collaboration to Support Pre-Service Teacher Education
This presentation describes a university-museum collaboration that was established to support the development of pre-service teachers. University students participated in a semester-long collaboration with a science/history museum in order to (1) build relationships with museum education staff, (2) develop familiarity with museum resources and (3) create teaching/learning materials for use in the K-5 classroom. This presentation will express the goals and impacts of these collaborative activities. Results include that the collaboration (1) expanded pre-service teacher thinking about community resources such as museums and (2) reinforced that learning happens in various places; not simply school. Further the pre-service teachers really enjoyed the hands-on museum activities, the opportunity to observe classes of students participating in field trips and developing relationships with museum staff.
Katrina Roseler, Chaminade University of Honolulu
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4:35 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. |
Willow |
Collaborating Beyond the Single Classroom |
Partners in Place: SoTL Within a School-University Partnership
The purpose of our SoTL research is to investigate how Gr. 4-9 students and teacher candidates’ experiences in field studies with community partners can inform an interdisciplinary alternative experiential practicum semester based on a curriculum of place. Emerging research suggests that place-based education is limited because it does not critique colonial legacies in theoretical frameworks of place (Calderon, 2014, Gruenewald, 2003). Our interdisciplinary SoTL research explored this tension as we come to a deeper and shared understanding of our co-responsibility within Treaty 7 relationships. Our project seeks to consider varying perspectives of place as it informs educational pedagogy.
Kevin O’Connor, Mount Royal University
Tanya Stogre, Mount Royal University
Phil Butterfield, Connect Charter School
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4:35 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. |
Lynx |
Involving Undergraduate Students in SoTL |
Turning the Tables: How Undergrads Can Help Support Faculty in SoTL
A group of faculty members engaged in SoTL were asked about the challenges and enablers that helped or hindered them in their SoTL work, and what might help encourage their colleagues to engage. The findings were instrumental in identifying components for a guide for SoTL. Two undergraduate students took a central role guided by experienced researchers, in collating, coding and analyzing the results. In this session we will share a brief overview of the project and its outcomes, provide detail of the involvement of the students and hear from them about the experience of taking part in the project. The findings from both the original study and the student experiences will be of interest to others interested in work in this field.
Laura Farrugia, York University
Salma Saleh, York University
Celia Popovic, York University
Alice Kim, York University
Mandy Frake-Mistak, York University
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POSTER SESSION and Wine and Cheese |
5:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. |
Castle/Assiniboine |
Collaborating Beyond the Single Classroom |
Academic Writing: A Cross-Disciplinary Comparison of Two Writing Intensive Course Models
INTRODUCTION: Writing has traditionally been taught in freshman level composition courses.2 However, faculty in student majors often find writing deficits among students.3 There is little research on the effectiveness of writing intensive courses on writing outcomes in health professions courses.3 This study examines writing outcomes in an undergraduate interdisciplinary Global Health course implementing two different writing intensive approaches.
METHODS: An undergraduate global health course, co-taught by Nursing and Public Health faculty (n=19), shared class time but assignments were distinct by discipline. One course required weekly papers with feedback and a revised final paper and the other course required a culminating paper. Final papers were evaluated using AACU VALUE rubric criteria (1=benchmark, 2-3=developing, 4=capstone).
RESULTS: Students with weekly papers and feedback scored a mean of 0.71 points higher across all rubric domains. When examining individual rubric criteria, students completing weekly papers performed above the mean difference on the rubric domains: written communication, quantitative literacy, intercultural learning and information literacy. Outcomes were above the mean difference for the domains critical thinking and global learning.
DISCUSSION: Findings from this analysis highlight the value of regular feedback and revision as important for improved written communication and quantitative and information literacy in health professions courses.
Shannon McCrory-Churchill, D’Youville College
Lauren Clay, D’Youville College
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5:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. |
Castle/Assiniboine |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Friend or Foe? Nursing Student Experiences with Computer Based Testing
The National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) is a computer adaptive licensure examination that nursing students are eligible to write upon completion of their undergraduate nursing degree. Success on this exam is a requirement for practice. Historically, the Canadian licensure examination was a paper-based exam. In 2015 the NCLEX-RN was adopted and pass rates declined. Nursing schools across Canada have been seeking strategies to better prepare students for this exam and computer-based testing (CBT), whether linear or adaptive, may be one approach. However, CBT has not been widely used in nursing programs due to issues with space, computer availability, IT support, and faculty and student comfort levels with technology. The presenter recently integrated CBT in a third year undergraduate nursing course. The purpose of this presentation is to provide preliminary findings from a qualitative SoTL study that explores third year nursing student experiences with CBT. Data was collected from 35 participants who completed a set of reflective questions. Data was analyzed by thematic analysis. This presentation will describe the findings including benefits, challenges, and recommendations. Furthermore, it will identify next steps in the second phase of this SoTL study which considers the concepts of anxiety and test preparation.
Jennifer Hooper, Mount Royal University
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5:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. |
Castle/Assiniboine |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
The Health Impact of Electronic Clinic Tools Within Primary Health Care
Electronic medical records (EMR) have become an essential part of the healthcare landscape over the past 20 years. Their ability to organize client health information and encounters, track trends in the health status of clients, and enhance clinical office workflows has greatly improved client care, both individually and on a population level. The inherent database analytic capabilities within EMR’s allows for client health information to direct care in a proactive and collaborative manner. At the present time, there is minimal research on the roles of the registered nurse (RN) in influencing client health outcomes with the use of EMRs. Hence, the purpose of this study is intended to examine the health impact of an intervention of the perceived health of clients coordinated with the aid of an electronic medical records. Utilizing both a qualitative analysis and an established health assessment questionnaire, the impact of a health intervention will be examined on a population of patients whose care is supported by an electronic medical record software. Literature search, assistance with analysis of the data and preparation of a future manuscript will employ student researchers.
Liza Choi, Mount Royal University
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5:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. |
Castle/Assiniboine |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Development of an Evidence-Based Workshop for Academic Librarians on Research Metrics
This poster describes the development, delivery and assessment of a training workshop on research metrics for academic librarians. Interest in gauging the impact of research using a variety of quantitative metrics is increasing on our campus, and those who wish to learn about these tools often turn to librarians for assistance. However, teaching on these topics requires in-depth knowledge of complex tools and concepts that must be applied carefully and critically, and many librarians express that they lack the necessary knowledge and skills. To build capacity among our colleagues for teaching and consultation in the area of research metrics, we designed and delivered an evidence-based workshop to respond to expressed needs and interests, and assessed the outcomes via two assessment tools. Our results indicate that the workshop addressed expressed learning goals and generated ideas for future educational offerings. This poster will be of interest to instructors interested in engaging their peers and building capacity in a collaborative, evidence-based setting.
Christine Hurrell, University of Calgary
Heather Granshorn, University of Calgary
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5:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. |
Castle/Assiniboine |
Teaching and Learning with Technology |
Augmenting Learning with Interactive Video in Business Finance Courses
In the business classroom, you can find many ways to teach – lecture, case-based or problem-based learning (Li, et. al., 2016). Among the modes that have been proposed as effective, is the BOPPPS teaching model (Yang, 2019). In addition, interactive video has been shown as an effective teaching modality and employs the use of narrative and storytelling as an underlying feature (Wilson, 2013). Couple this with finance as the topic under discussion, which is considered to be one of the more complex topics for students to understand (Worthington, 2002) and you are left with an interesting educational dilemma. This presentation reviews the preliminary work by a Cisco Chair in E-Learning at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in the School of Business, where the researcher will analyze the student’s perception of interactive videos using the BOPPPS teaching model, within a finance context. By means of pre and post term surveys, followed up by focus group style interviews, the researcher looks to see how the intersection of BOPPPS, interactive video, active learning, and the subject of finance in as a Business School, work together to improve the outcomes of business students studying finance at a Canadian Polytechnic.
Heramb Vadalkar, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
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5:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. |
Castle/Assiniboine |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
The Impact of an English as an Additional Language (EAL) Nursing Student Support Program
EAL students in post-secondary nursing education are known to experience greater rates of underperformance and attrition compared to their peers (Salamonson, Attwood, Everett, Weaver, & Glew, 2013; Crawford & Candlin, 2013a, 2013b; Donnell, 2015). In addition to academic challenges, EAL students are often confronted with an array of psychosocial challenges that include but are not limited to: discrimination, marginalization, lack of social support, cultural discord, and psychological distress (Sacre, Nash, & Lock, 2010; Jeong et al., 2011; Olson, 2012; Malecha, Tart, & Junious, 2012; Schoofs, 2012; Evans, 2013). In an effort to support EAL students and minimize their disparity in academic performance, an innovative support program was designed at Mount Royal University (MRU) to address a multitude of issues brought forward by the EAL student. The effectiveness and impact of this support group will be examined in order to determine:
- If this support group improves academic performance
- Why EAL nursing students value this group
- Effectiveness of this group as defined by the participants
- Needs of the EAL nursing students
Research findings suggest the principles of academic safety, purposeful design, disciplinary relevance, positive faculty influence, and proactive enrollment have the most potential to facilitate EAL student success.
Liza Choi, Mount Royal University
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5:20 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. |
Castle/Assiniboine |
Research on Teaching and Learning |
Using a Novel Interactive-Visual Approach to Teach Regulation in Genetics
Undergraduate students in biological and health sciences must learn about how gene activity is regulated by elements in the cell environment. The biological components have multiple interacting elements and function in complex ways. In a classroom setting, static images or videos are typically used to convey these biological representations, however static images fail to convey dynamic interactions and videos can become difficult to follow because of the limitations of working memory. To address this, we have designed an interactive-visual lesson with paper cut-out pieces to promote an active learning approach to teaching regulation in genetics. We have pilot-tested the learning activity in a third-year molecular biology and bioinformatics research course as we further refine the lesson for our use and for easy adoption by other teaching professionals.
Carly Pontifex, University of Calgary
Mayi Arcellana-Panlilio, University of Calgary
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6:30 p.m. |
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Dinner on Your Own |