Higher Education Commons^™

From Epistemic Bubbles To Generative Possibilities: Knowledge Leadership And Knowledge Mobilization For Child And Youth Care Practicum Education, Carys Cragg

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Child and Youth Care (CYC) Practicum Education (CYCPE) operates in more than 40 public postsecondary institutions (PSI) across Canada. CYC educators instruct and assess, while supervisors mentor thousands of students at child, youth, and family-serving organizations. As an emerging profession, CYC does not yet experience well-established governance, widespread postsecondary research infrastructure, nor public recognition, leaving CYCPE with threats to its credibility and existence. Despite individual CYC educators’ and programs’ extensive professional knowledge, we lack CYC-specific CYCPE organizational knowledge. This problem of practice (PoP) limits CYC educators’ ability to inform, improve, and innovate upon CYCPE’s design and delivery. This organizational improvement …

How To Drink From A Firehose: Systemic Supports For Polytechnic Chairs, Jocelyn R. Crocker

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is centred on the Problem of Practice of the inadequate institutional supports for academic Chairs at Prairie Polytechnic (a pseudonym), a large public higher education institution in Western Canada. Chairs are pivotal for higher education institutions because they impact student, departmental, and institutional outcomes; however, the leadership development needs of Chairs are overlooked, and the limited training available for Chairs is primarily ad hoc, episodic, short-term, and self-guided. The objective of this OIP is to determine how Prairie Polytechnic can provide more effective systemic supports for Chairs. Postmodernism is used to explore the relationships between …

Innovating For Student Success: A Course-Integrated Approach To Delivering Academic Skills And Competency Resources, Danielle Palombi

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores student academic support delivery in Burns College (a pseudonym), a large postsecondary institution in Central Canada. The Problem of Practice (PoP) addresses a gap in the consistent and equitable delivery of academic supports, and the increasing need to meet students within the classroom in their first year. The problem responds to nontraditional student needs, but the solution is meant to be beneficial for all students. Nontraditional students are the majority in higher education today, with competing responsibilities that impact their ability to access academic supports outside of the traditionally structured classroom. By integrating skills …

Changing The Course Of Faculty Engagement In Academic Governance: Reconcilation Through Education, Trish Nuyten

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

During the past decade, River’s Edge has engaged in organizational change due to neoliberal reforms permeating the higher education sector in the province. Chronic under-funding and annual budget cuts have directed change efforts towards commodifying service, education, and research to generate revenue from public consumption. Like other higher education institutions, River's Edge responds by positioning itself to become a driver of economic development rather than a force for social change. The mandate and strategic priorities of the provincial government is the primary driver of institutional change. The mandate holds the institution accountable by setting key performance indicators to serve the …

Frame-Bending Quality: Leading Through Discourses Towards Equity And Student Success, Christopher F. Mcgrath

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In 2018, the Government of Ontario introduced a post-secondary accountability framework that attributes up to 60% of colleges’ annual public funding to the achievement of ten government-directed performance outcomes. The new framework’s shift from the previous enrollment-based funding model intensifies neoliberal and post-structural policy discourses of quality and accountability, further relegating social inequities to the margins of post-secondary education. At the same time, burgeoning social movements have appealed to governments and post-secondary institutions to dismantle systemic barriers that impede students from equity-deserving communities from accessing and flourishing in college. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores how a large urban college …

Interdisciplinary Explorations: Setting The Stage For Change Through Understanding Culture And Attending To Psychological Safety In An Ontario Community College, Louise Chatterton

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Central to this Organizational Improvement Plan is the desire to close the gap between a curriculum that is disciplinary-centric to one that is more interdisciplinary. This change will better prepare college graduates for the future skills required in the workplace where increasingly complex problems require interdisciplinary solutions. While this may, at first, appear to be solely about the curriculum, the problem is that moving from a disciplinary to an interdisciplinary mindset involves disturbing deeply rooted disciplinary boundaries and, in turn, challenging faculty identities. In order to influence the culture of College X towards interdisciplinarity, the cultural context of the institution …

Continuous Improvement Leadership In Applied Research, Silvana Maclean

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The purpose of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is to assist leaders in Ontario colleges in understanding the barriers and challenges of engaging faculty to enact applied research practices. Undergirding this OIP is social cognition theory and the analytical discipline of improvement science theory. Taken together, these theories align with systems thinking and are a step towards a holistic understanding of the dynamics of a college learning culture. Underpinned by a set of simple principles including improving through communication, learning through collaboration, and changing through coordination, a continuous improvement (CI) leadership approach, which combines servant (Greenleaf, 1977), team (Kogler Hill, …

Creating An Institutional Web Of Support For Students By College Leaders: An Exploratory Case Study Of Social Capital At One Ontario Community College, Marilyn A. Ott

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Social Capital can have a positive impact on a student’s ability to be successful in their schooling (Coleman, 1987, 1988, 1990 & 1994). Coleman’s research identified norms, networks, and trust as being crucial to the definition of social capital. This dissertation explores the manifestation of / or what it “looks like” and particular outcomes of social capital within the context of a college in Ontario. Specifically, this exploratory case study (Yin, 2014) examined the perspectives of senior leadership on the ways social capital is currently evident in their college and how it contributes publically to positive outcomes for students. Data …

Enhancing Employability Skill Sets: The Obligation Of Community Colleges To Be Greater Than The Sum Of Their Parts, Linda C. Hill Ms.

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The pressure upon post-secondary institutions in Ontario to address the persistent gap between the employability skill sets of their graduates and the changing needs of the modern workplace has never been greater. Forces such as the complexities of participating in a globally competitive economy, and advancements in information and communication technologies have shifted workplace expectations. Parents, students, and employers want to be assured that a diploma is indicative of the full range of skill sets necessary to achieve entry into a chosen occupation. The case method of analysis was used to examine one college’s quality assurance strategies for teaching and …

Supporting Department Chairs As Educational Leaders In A Polytechnic Context, Jennifer Marran

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) presents a possible solution to improve support for department chairs at a large polytechnic institution in Canada. It takes into consideration the unique situation where chairs are often hired directly from industry with little or no background in pedagogy/andragogy or postsecondary education and do not have teaching or research duties as part of their responsibilities. More specifically, this OIP focuses on the institutional Educational Development Centre’s (EDC) role in supporting chairs and addresses the following Problem of Practice: Department chairs at this institution do not receive consistent and purposeful training to support them in their …

The Processes Of Designing And Implementing Globally Networked Learning Environments And Their Implications On College Instructors’ Professional Learning: The Case Of Québec Cégeps, Olivier Bégin-Caouette, Yishin Khoo, Momina Afridi

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

Abstract

This study describes the design and implementation processes of globally networked learning environments (GNLEs) in a college environment and discusses how these processes may contribute to instructors' professional learning. A thematic analysis was conducted on five interviews with instructors working in Quebec general and vocational colleges (CEGEPs). The design and implementation processes were mapped out using Fretchling's (2007) logic modeling basic components. Findings suggest that GNLEs in a college context take the form of joint lectures or joint activities. Instructors reported that designing and teaching within a GNLE had led to pedagogical, intercultural and technology-related learning; and that learning …