Education Commons^™

The Feminist First-Year Seminar: Using Critical Pedagogy To Design A Mandatory Information Literacy Course, Heather Campbell

Western Libraries Publications

No abstract provided.

Leading From Between: Finding Meaning As A Third-Space Librarian, Heather Campbell

Western Libraries Publications

No abstract provided.

Decolonizing & Indigenizing Lis, Heather Hill, Marni Harrington, Paulette Rothbauer, Danica Pawlick Potts

FIMS Publications

What does it mean to Indigenize and decolonize a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program? This paper outlines the process by which one Canadian MLIS program responded to the reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and the Canadian Federation of Library Association Indigenous Matters Committee that specify the implications and provide guidelines for best practices for librarianship and the information professions across Canada. In outlining the challenges of re-engineering our standard procedures, practices, and pedagogies, this paper provides a path forward for other MLIS programs looking to critically evaluate and develop their own programs.

Tracing Controversies In Internationalization: National Actors In Canadian Higher Education, Melody Viczko

Education Publications

No abstract provided.

Employability In Covid-19, Melody Viczko Dr, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

The impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic on higher education could be seen in education in early 2020. Significant labour market disruptions places students among the group experiencing the heaviest burden from layoffs and work insecurity during this time. Higher education institutions also face financial uncertainty, bracing for shifts in enrolment and tuition revenue, particularly related to international student cohorts. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student employability are on the radar of policymakers, university faculty and administrators, employers, and students alike.

Policy Problems: Preparing Students For The “Real World”, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

Employability of students has risen as a key indicator of success of institutions, alongside an increased focus on policy for skills development in Canada. In Ontario, a hub for Canada’s economy, the issue of the “skills gap” has sustained interest as a significant but contested policy issue in public post-secondary education (Viczko, Lorusso, & McKechnie, 2019). Directed by policy and by public demand, significant resources at universities are invested into efforts to increase students’ skills capacities, career prospects, and overall employability. For student affairs staff (SAS), developing student career readiness and employability is central to many portfolios of our work …

Mentoring Faculty Online: A Literature Review And Recommendations For Web-Based Programs, Beth J. Hundey, Lauren M. Anstey, Heather Cruickshank, Gavan P.L. Watson

Centre for Teaching and Learning Publications

Teaching-focused faculty mentorship programs can expose instructors to new ideas, as well as opportunities for critical self-reflection, professional growth, and network building. In this literature review, we synthesize the research on teaching-focused faculty mentorship programs that have been facilitated at institutions of higher education through online or blended modalities. We identify key trends in the reported outcomes of these programs, as well as aspects of program design and implementation that might enable or impede program success. Finally, we provide eight recommendations to help guide the implementation of online and blended faculty mentorship programs.

Student Employability In Covid-19 Project Summary, Melody Viczko Dr., Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

The impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic on higher education could be seen in education in early 2020. Significant labour market disruptions places students among the group experiencing the heaviest burden from layoffs and work insecurity during this time. Higher education institutions also face financial uncertainty, bracing for shifts in enrolment and tuition revenue, particularly related to international student cohorts. The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on student employability are on the radar of policymakers, university faculty and administrators, employers, and students alike.

Perceptions Of Institutional Teaching Culture By Tenured, Tenure-Track, And Sessional Faculty, Debra Dawson, Ken Meadows, Erika Kustra, Kathryn Hanson

Centre for Teaching and Learning Publications

The Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Survey (ITCPS) was used to investigate beliefs of tenured, tenure-track, and sessional faculty members (N=576) about the teaching culture within three large research-intensive universities in Canada. As predicted, we found significant differences between these three groups of faculty members’ perceptions of their institutions’ teaching cultures. Sessional faculty perceived that their universities rewarded effective teaching less than their tenured or tenure-track colleagues. Tenured faculty were less likely than the tenure-track and sessional faculty to believe it was important to encourage, recognize, or assess effective teaching. These results have important implications for the quality of teaching and, …

Politics Versus Policies: Fourth Wave Feminist Critiques Of Higher Education’S Response To Sexual Violence, Rita A. Gardiner Ph.D, Michelle Shockness, Jennifer Almquist, Hayley Finn

Education Publications

This article uses the lens of fourth wave feminism to examine media accounts of institutional and student responses in two cases of sexual violence at institutions of higher education. Competing discourses reveal a disconnect between what institutions say they do and students’ actual experiences of the institutional handling of sexual violence cases. When policies, actions, and values are not fully aligned, institutions of higher education are unable to respond to societal and institutional injustices. Hence, recommendations for better alignment between institutional values and actions are proposed.

The Skills Gap Agenda In Canadian Higher Education Research Summary, Melody Viczko Dr, Jenna Lorusso, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

Solving the skills gap is a difficult task due to the differing opinions on the subject. Even though these opinions may be different, they are all driven by the same assumptions that students are primarily motivated by economic reasoning in what they choose to study. We think that’s a problem, because there are many reasons that motive students and not all students have equal access to economic resources.

Research Summary: The Skills Gap Agenda In Canadian Higher Education, Melody Viczko Dr, Jenna Lorusso, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

The issue of the ‘skills gap’ is an important discussion in higher education policy both in Canada and internationally. The idea of the skills gap is that there is an inconsistency between the skills of graduates and the needs of the labour market. The problem here is that there is no agreement about the nature of the skills gap, or that a skills gap even exists. Given that there is no agreement surrounding the issue of skills, we ask: What should we make of the different representations of the skills gap, and how are post-secondary students positioned in this issue?

How Do We Increase Educator’S Engagement With Learning Management Systems In Higher Education?, Abby Al-Takriti

Education Presentations

Abstract

As a former Faculty Assistant at Ivey Business School, I contributed directly to research, theory, case study development, while working alongside practitioners in management. I supported several faculty members, delivering quality education across several high-profile business programs. In this paper, I will outline a Problem of Practice (PoP) within academia and discuss its delineation and associated solutions. The following definition of PoP is used: “A problem of practice is a persistent, contextualized, and specific issue embedded in the work of a professional practitioner, the addressing of which the potential to result in has improved understanding, experience, and outcomes.” (CPED, …

Invisible Or Clichéd: How Are Women Represented In Business Cases?, Colleen M. Sharen, Rosemary A. Mcgowan

Brescia School of Leadership & Social Change Publications

Women represent just less than 50% of undergraduate business graduates and 36% of MBA graduates. Despite their strong presence in management education programs, women are noticeably absent from business case studies—a key pedagogical tool for instruction within management education programs worldwide. While case studies inform students about business processes, decision making, strategy, and leadership and management challenges, they also promote unintentional learning about gender. We argue that case studies contain a “hidden curriculum” that presents and reinforces implicit assumptions and stereotypes about women’s fitness to lead. Using NVivo 11 software to analyze the content of written cases, we examine the …

Mapping International Refugee Access To Higher Education, Melody Viczko Dr, Marie-Agnès Détourbe Dr, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

There are approximately 25 million refugees around the world, and over half of this 25 million are under the age of 25. While many refugees hold strong aspirations to attend higher education, about 3% of refugees have access due to political, social and economic challenges. The challenge is how to understand, support, and develop successful greater access to higher education for refugees.

Project Summary: Mapping International Refugee Access To Higher Education, Melody Viczko Dr, Marie-Agnès Détourbe Dr, Shannon Mckechnie

Education Publications

There are approximately 25 million refugees around the world, and over half of this 25 million are under the age of 25. While many refugees hold strong aspirations to attend higher education, about 3% of refugees have access due to political, social and economic challenges. The challenge is how to understand, support, and develop successful greater access to higher education for refugees.

Group Career Counselling For International Students: Evaluation And Promising Practices, Snjezana Linkes, Frederick Ezekiel, Ashleigh Lerch, Ken Meadows

Centre for Teaching and Learning Publications

Similar to trends in universities across North America, Western University has seen a 134% increase in international student enrolment from 2009- 2017. Enrolment increases have corresponded with increased demand for career services to meet the unique needs of international students. Group career counselling for international students wishing to secure employment in Canada was piloted as a scalable program to meet increasing demands. Participants demonstrated significant improvements in their career development process, including improved cultural adjustment, self-understanding, job search strategies, and interview anxiety. Through this study, we present a promising, evidence-based, scalable model to meet growing career development demands among international …

Mind The Gap: Mapping Skills In Higher Education Project Summary, Melody Viczko Dr, Shannon Mckechnie, Natasja Van Buggenhout, J. Eduardo Álvarez Barrios

Education Publications

The call for reform in higher education has been a focus of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for over a decade. This call for reform is driven by a stated “skills gap” between the skills of graduates and the needs of the labour market. Student groups have also voiced their concern about the skills gap and its impact on future employment.

Staying Current In Your Field Of Interest: Tips For Aspiring Students As Researchers, Dor D. Abelman

Health Studies Publications

Undergraduate students are becoming increasingly involved in research. They already posses the skills required to make meaningful contributions to their field of interest. Some important components of their success relates to a student's ability to stay up to date in the research of their field, and to learn practical skills pertaining to the publishing process. This article hopes to help with this through presenting easy-to-follow summary tables and short paragraphs on tips for success. Topics include staying up to date in a practical way, getting involved, reaching out for help, and publication. For students, by students, this report is relatable …

An M-Learning Maturity Model For Universities And Higher Educational Institutes, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Muasaad Alrasheedi, Arif Raza

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

An m-learning maturity model is put forward in this research to assess the mobile technology adoption rates in universities and higher educational institutes. The model is derived from Capability Maturity Model (CMM), which has been widely used in organizations to gauge the adoption of various new processes. Five levels of m-learning maturity are specified including preliminary, established, defined, structured, and continuous improvement. Each of these maturity levels is gauged through nine critical success factors (CSFs) in assessment questionnaires. The CSFs used in measuring instrument of the model are adopted from three of our previous empirical studies. Using an assessment questionnaire …

International Comparison Of Media Usage Among University Students, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Gerd Gidion

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

A survey on media usage was conducted at Western University, followed by similar surveys in Germany, Spain and Thailand. It seems that the usage of IT-devices is more popular in Thailand and Germany than in Canada. The use of social network related applications in academia seems to be more common in Thailand compared to Canada and Germany. The competitiveness of the Internet-based market of academic education might be more intensive in Canada because of the proximity of the U.S. market. An international comparison is, nevertheless, problematic, because the circumstances are really diverse and in constant change. Future plans involve conducting …

Carrying On With Wayward Sons, Erika Simpson, Henrik Lagerlund

Political Science Publications

With their brains not maturing until their mid-20s, it's time to use a different approach to life and learning with our young men.

A New Approach To Evaluating Information: A Reflection On Radar, Kevin Tanner, Kim Mcphee

Western Libraries Presentations

For instruction librarians, teaching information literacy (IL) skills is often an important aspect of any lesson plan. One area of IL includes the critical evaluation of sources, an essential skill that students need to succeed as aspiring scholars and researchers. This ability to differentiate “good” from “bad” information is beneficial to students beyond their academic careers, and will help them navigate the “sea of information” for the rest of their lives. Typically, such evaluation skills are taught through applying the CRAAP test: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. While humorous and memorable, the name of this test devalues the usefulness …

Leveraging Resources Across Units And Universities To Address Academic Literacies And Research Skills In Ontario Graduate Students, Melanie Mills, Elan Paulson

Western Libraries Presentations

Student2Scholar (S2S) is a fully online and open course that aims to teach academic literacies and research skills to social science graduate students. Set to launch in December 2015, S2S was conceived of and created by a diverse and distributed team of academic librarians, university staff, and graduate students from three Ontario Universities: Western, the University of Toronto, and Queen’s. Members of the project team brought with them varying degrees of experience and expertise across a range of disciplinary and teaching and learning backgrounds, including: adult education, information literacy, and online learning (to name only a few).

S2S serves as …

Interrogating Course-Related Public Interest Internships In Communications, Sandra Smeltzer

FIMS Publications

This article examines the benefits and drawbacks of for-credit, unpaid internships geared towards the public good. Attention is focused specifically on communication internships with non- governmental, non-profit, and community-based organizations. Drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews with students, staff, faculty, and host organizations, the author advances a critical model of service learning that more fully recognizes the labour of community partners and encourages students to consider what role they can and should play in advancing the public good. The article also highlights two key issues vis-à-vis public interest internships that are of particular relevance to the field of communications. …

Awareness And Perception Of Copyright Among Teaching Faculty At Canadian Universities, Lisa Di Valentino

FIMS Presentations

In this talk I discuss the results of a survey of Canadian university faculty members undertaken from October to December 2014. The survey sought to determine teaching faculty awareness of copyright law and institutional policy and training, and how they would respond in various scenarios.

Analysis of the results suggests that while faculty members are aware of the existence of their institution's copyright policy, much fewer know whether their institution offers training. Of those who do know about training, only one-third have attended. However, faculty who have attended copyright training find that their knowledge is enhanced by the experience.

It …

Awareness And Perception Of Copyright Among Teaching Faculty At Canadian Universities, Lisa Di Valentino

FIMS Publications

This article describes the background, methodology, and results of a study undertaken in 2014 to determine university faculty awareness and perceptions of copyright as it affects their teaching. An online survey questionnaire was distributed to teaching faculty across Canada, seeking feedback about the copyright policies and training opportunities at their institutions, where they go for copyright assistance, and how they would respond to various copyright-related scenarios that may arise in the course of teaching.

Most of the respondents are aware of the copyright policies or guidelines at their universities, but much fewer know whether or not their institution offers copyright …

The Apprentice Retention Program: Evaluation And Implications For Ontario, Ron Hansen, Catharine Dishke Hondzel, Higher Education Quality Council Of Ontario

Publications

Attraction and retention of apprentices and completion of apprenticeships are issues of concern to all stakeholders involved in training, economic development and workforce planning. The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) has forecast that by 2017 there will be a need to train 316,000 workers to replace the retiring workforce in the construction industry alone (CAF, 2011a). In the automotive sector, shortages are expected to reach between 43,700 and 77,150 by 2021. However, shortages are already widespread across the sector, and CAF survey data show that almost half (48.1%) of employers reported that there was a limited number of qualified staff in …

Media Usage Survey: Overall Comparison Of Faculty And Students, Gerd Gidion, Michael Grosch, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Ken Meadows Dr.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Recent developments in the use of technologies in education have provided unique opportunities for teaching and learning. This paper describes the results of a survey conducted at Western University (Canada) in 2013, regarding the use of media by students and instructors. The results of this study support the assumption that the media usage of students and instructors include a mixture of traditional and new media. The main traditional media continue to be important, and some new media have emerged as seemingly on equal footing or even more important than the traditional forms of media. Some new media that have recently …

Media Usage In Post-Secondary Education And Implications For Teaching And Learning, Gerd Gidion, Luiz Fernando Capretz, Ken Mead Dr., Michael Grosch Dr.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

The Web 2.0 has permeated academic life. The use of online information services in post-secondary education has led to dramatic changes in faculty teaching methods as well as in the learning and study behavior of students. At the same time, traditional information media, such as textbooks and printed handouts, still form the basic pillars of teaching and learning. This paper reports the results of a survey about media usage in teaching and learning conducted with Western University students and instructors, highlighting trends in the usage of new and traditional media in higher education by instructors and students. In addition, the …