Education Commons^™

Examining Variations In Divergent Thinking Within Norwegian And Canadian Communities, Catharine Dishke Hondzel, Marte Sørebø Gulliksen

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Creativity and divergent thinking are components of learning in childhood that often go unmeasured in favor of standardized subject assessments. To better understand the ways in which creativity develops and is related to environmental and cross-cultural factors, this study reports on the scores obtained by 8-year-old students living in differently sized communities in Norway and Canada measured using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Results of multivariate analyses indicate statistically significant differences between Norwegian and Canadian children on several Torrance Test subscales as well as surprising relationships between the size of the community in which the children lived and …

Barriers To Attracting Apprentices And Completing Their Apprenticeships, Chelsey Maclachlan, Joel Lopata, Catharine Dishke Hondzel, Debra Mountenay

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Supporting apprenticeships benefits employers by increasing workplace competitiveness, improving productivity, improving quality of services and products, improving workforce skills, and reducing staff turnover. This report analyzes the barriers employers face in attracting apprentices, and barriers apprentices face when attempting to complete their training.

The Apprentice Retention Program: Evaluation And Implications For Ontario, Catharine Dishke Hondzel, Ronald Hansen

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Apprentice retention and completion focus of new study

The completion rates of Ontario’s apprentices remain a point of concern, prompting growing interest in programs to improve retention and completion. A new study from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario examines the development, implementation and efficacy of the Apprentice Retention Program (ARP).

Project description

ARP was developed in a partnership with Western University, Fanshawe College, the local Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities’ (MTCU) Employment Ontario office, the Apprenticeship Network and the Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workplace Planning and Development Board. The program consisted of nine hands-on and two online workshops …

Teaching Culture Perception: Documenting And Transforming Institutional Teaching Cultures, Erika Kustra, Florida Doci, Kaitlyn Gillard, Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

An institutional culture that values teaching is likely to lead to improved student learning. The main focus of this study was to determine faculty, graduate and undergraduate students’ perception of the teaching culture at their institution and identify indicators of that teaching culture. Themes included support for teaching development; support for best practices, innovative practices and specific effective behaviours; recognition of teaching; infrastructure; evaluation of teaching and implementing the student feedback received from teaching evaluations. The study contributes to a larger project examining the quality of institutional teaching culture.

Teaching Culture Indicators: Enhancing Quality Teaching., Erica Kustra, Florida Doci, Ken Meadows, Catharine Dishke Hondzel, Lori Goff, Peter Wolf, Donna Ellis, Jill Grose, Paola Borin, Sandy Hughes

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Canadian postsecondary institutions are committed to providing students with high quality teaching and learning experiences. In recent years, provincial and institutional stakeholders have shifted their focus toward better supporting this effort and enhancing an evolving, teaching- and learning-centred institutional culture. As Cox, McIntosh, Reason, and Terenzini (2011) note, a culture with improved teaching quality is likely to lead to improved student engagement and learning. Researchers in the United States, Europe, and Australia have investigated institutional culture and its relationship to high quality teaching over the last 20 years (Aitken & Sorcinelli, 1994; Cox et al., 2011; Hodge, Nadler, Shore, & …

Accountable To Whom? Teacher Reflections On The Relationship Between Creativity And Standardized Testing In Ontario., Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

This paper describes teachers’ perceptions of the relationship between standardized testing and creativity. Using an interview guide format, eight teachers were asked to consider their perspectives on, and practices related to fostering creative behaviours in children, with regard to their own creative teaching methods in light of accountability legislation. The responses teachers provided indicated that standardized testing process often impacted their teaching by taking time away from learning material they considered to be more valuable. Teachers in this study also indicated a sense of incongruity, in that they believed creativity could not exist in a classroom focused on improving standardized …

Fostering Creativity: Ontario Teachers’ Perceptions, Strategies, And Experiences, Catharine M. Dishke Hondzel

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

This study provides a broad overview of perceptions elementary school teachers hold regarding creativity, the strategies those teachers use to foster creative thinking and behaviour in their students, and the environmental challenges and opportunities they navigate when striving to develop 21st century skills in students. Earlier research examining teachers’ perceptions and creativity-fostering behaviours have typically asked teachers to describe their classroom practices, or self-report their perceptions regarding creative children or children’s creative actions. Using a mixed-methods approach, in this study 22 Grade 5-7 teachers working in Ontario completed an online questionnaire which measured their creativity-fostering behaviours. Following the survey, 12 …

Diverse Perspectives On Adult Education And Lifelong Learning, Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Adult learning is a broad field of inquiry spanning a diverse range of topics, issues, and applications. As part of the course work for the graduate class in adult education and lifelong learning at Western University the contributing authors were asked to pick a topic related to adult learning that they found personally meaningful and write a chapter on that topic so that others could learn about it and use the knowledge to improve their practice. Within this volume you will find a number of different perspectives on adult education and lifelong learning. Unifying each chapter is a connection to …

Dissertation - Brief Research Summary, Catharine M. Dishke Hondzel

Catharine Dishke Hondzel

Creativity is an essential, but elusive human skill (or set of skills). As humans, we know there is something special about those who are highly creative – we build museums and art galleries to showcase these talents, and love to see our students come up with new and useful ideas. What we sometimes have trouble understanding is what conditions or environments foster creativity, and which ones prevent creativity from developing. And everyone has a theory! The purpose of this research study was to better understand, from the perspective of teachers, what exactly creativity is, and what teachers think encourages or …