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Full-Text Articles in Education

Learning Journey Towards Reconciliation: Developing Teacher Self-Efficacy, Birgitte Biorn Aug 2023

Learning Journey Towards Reconciliation: Developing Teacher Self-Efficacy, Birgitte Biorn

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Current changes in curriculum and provincial teaching standards are intended to address the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Teachers are responsible for implementing the changes but do not yet have the knowledge or skills to effectively manage the transformative changes being suggested. This organizational improvement plan (OIP) aims to address the problem of practice associated with teacher efficacy to incorporate Indigenous-Informed pedagogy (IIP) using the collaborative model of professional learning communities (PLC). The triadic determination of beliefs, skills, and environment of social cognitive theory by Albert Bandura is highlighted as a necessary structure to ensure that …


The Missing Link: Applying Embodied Cognition To Professional Learning, Jon William Aug 2023

The Missing Link: Applying Embodied Cognition To Professional Learning, Jon William

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Post-secondaries have been implementing a hyflex delivery model, which is a far more complex pedagogical setting than more traditional modes of face to face or online delivery. This has fundamentally changed the way faculty experience the learning environment, with some faculty noting an increase in stress and a decrease in performance. Drawing on Organization A’s implementation of hyflex, this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) observes professional learning (PL) for the hyflex environment focuses solely on technology and cognitive knowledge, with consideration to wellness and performance scantly discussed. This OIP proposes the missing link to address wellness and performance is the inclusion …


Engaging Health Professionals Toward The Redevelopment Of A Continuing Competence Program, Salima Thawer Aug 2023

Engaging Health Professionals Toward The Redevelopment Of A Continuing Competence Program, Salima Thawer

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Continuing competence is the combination of knowledge, skills, abilities, and judgment of a professional, applied safely and ethically to their practice of the profession. Under the Health Professions Act in Alberta, health regulatory colleges must oversee the continuing competence of their registrants, ensuring they act in the public’s best interest. At Health Professionals Regulatory College (HPRC), over 3500 registrants are accountable to its continuing competence program (CCP). The current CCP, in place for over 15 years, has not integrated collection and analysis of diversity data that may influence individual competence, nor has it evolved with trends toward right-touch regulation that …


Hidden In Plain Sight: Finding A Balance Between Assessment And Learning In Competency-Based Education In Canadian Health Care, Scott Murray Aug 2023

Hidden In Plain Sight: Finding A Balance Between Assessment And Learning In Competency-Based Education In Canadian Health Care, Scott Murray

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Due to its emphasis on skill development and alignment with workforce demands, competency-based education (CBE) has garnered considerable attention in recent years. My organizational improvement plan (OIP) focuses on the potential benefits of incorporating learners’ voices into CBE in Canadian medical education and proposes a corresponding implementation framework. The traditional CBE model often lacks a critical component: the learner’s voice. My OIP reviews the literature and outlines its theoretical underpinnings (e.g., systems theory, adult education theory) within the scope of authentic leadership. The findings suggest incorporating learners’ voices into CBE to boost engagement, motivation, and agency. In response to such …


Nurturing A Culture Of Responsible Conduct Of Research To Support Safe Disclosure, Grace Kelly Jul 2023

Nurturing A Culture Of Responsible Conduct Of Research To Support Safe Disclosure, Grace Kelly

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Pressures to publish, which are prevalent in higher education, can lead to research misconduct and, in the absence of clear, safe disclosure policies—and mechanisms and structures to support them—individuals affected by research misconduct may fear retaliation when speaking up. This Organizational Improvement Plan examines how to foster a climate where individuals feel supported and are encouraged to speak up if they witness research misconduct at Forest University (a pseudonym), a research-intensive university in Ontario, Canada. In alignment with my values, the change process is guided by authentic and ethical leadership perspectives. The Change-Path Model, supported by Beckhard and Harris’ Change-Management …


Community Integration Through Cooperative Education (Cice): A Post-Secondary World Fit For All, Stephanie Kathleen De Franceschi Aug 2022

Community Integration Through Cooperative Education (Cice): A Post-Secondary World Fit For All, Stephanie Kathleen De Franceschi

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Students with developmental disabilities are a growing and diverse population. Higher education landscapes are becoming increasingly complex. Despite academic and personal supports available to all Ontario college students through student services centers, Marshall College (a pseudonym) is experiencing a disconnect between the stated vision, mission, and values and the Community Integration Through Cooperative Education (CICE) program and its students. Diverse views have polarized senior administration, faculty, and staff on how to adapt to having students with developmental disabilities accessing post-secondary education through the CICE program. This Organizational Improvement Plan explores the organizational context of Marshall College and proposes an improvement …


Transformation Through Trust And Authenticity: Improving And Aligning Service Learning In An International Baccalaureate School, Christopher Wallace Aug 2022

Transformation Through Trust And Authenticity: Improving And Aligning Service Learning In An International Baccalaureate School, Christopher Wallace

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme places service learning at the core of its curriculum. Yet, challenges with implementing it successfully are omnipresent in international schools. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to support teachers with the implementation of service learning projects at a private, non-profit international school in Western Europe. It is guided and framed by a Problem of Practice (POP) that addresses the current state of service learning at Mountain Range School (MRS) where curriculum and independent service projects are inconsistently designed, implemented and supported. It includes an evaluation of school policies, curriculum, teacher capacity, resources and systems. …


Beyond Persistence: Increasing The Representation Of Women Faculty And Leaders In Academic Surgery, Dinah M. Frank Aug 2022

Beyond Persistence: Increasing The Representation Of Women Faculty And Leaders In Academic Surgery, Dinah M. Frank

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In demanding tripartite roles, faculty at Academic Health Sciences Centres provide surgeon training and patient care, while seeking discovery through research and innovation. The persistent imbalance of women in academic surgery has been empirically evident and an intense topic of discussion for decades, yet solutions remain elusive. There has been increasing analysis and scrutiny of the factors affecting women in this domain, while highlighting the disconnect between the current state and our affirmed belief in gender equity in both education and medicine. My Organizational Improvement Plan is focussed on the recognition and resolution of barriers and biases impeding the appointment …


Moving Beyond The Status Quo: Building An Intersectional Student-Centred Culture In A Registrar’S Office, Darran A. Fernandez Jul 2022

Moving Beyond The Status Quo: Building An Intersectional Student-Centred Culture In A Registrar’S Office, Darran A. Fernandez

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

With an increasing number of students with diverse and complex identities attending colleges and universities, higher education institutions (HEIs) need to adapt to better serve their intersectional lives. At the centre of service delivery at most HEIs is the registrar’s office (RO), often offering services from before a student’s arrival right through to graduation. This Organizational Improvement Plan (plan) explores building a student-centred service delivery model in an RO at a large comprehensive university in Ontario. Organizational structures in HEIs are commonly vertically based on the specialty of work of the staff member rather than the horizontal crosscutting needs of …


Reframing Behaviour To Foster Safe And Supporting Schools, Shannon L. Cassidy-Rouleau Aug 2021

Reframing Behaviour To Foster Safe And Supporting Schools, Shannon L. Cassidy-Rouleau

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) examines educator support to students who present with chronically challenging behaviours. Educators are experiencing an increase in the frequency and severity of interfering student behaviours affecting classroom learning, school climate, and educator mental well-being (RRDSB, 2018a, 2019b; Santor et al., 2019). Educators frequently disengage from these students and their discipline is managed by administration (RRDSB, 2019b). These students, often already members of marginalized communities (Bailey, 2015), are further marginalized by the use of exclusionary, punitive measures. This mandates a social justice framework that benefits from the moral dialogue evoked by transformative leadership (Shields, 2018). In …


The Growth And Development Of Institutional Reputation, Neil A. Mort Mr Aug 2021

The Growth And Development Of Institutional Reputation, Neil A. Mort Mr

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Higher education institutions spend considerable effort developing and maintaining quality educational programs and experiences for their students. However, these great programs and experiences can become best kept secrets if the institution is unknown. A positive reputation can contribute to student recruitment; successful career placement for graduates; greater retention of students, faculty, and staff; overall student satisfaction; and greater opportunities for the institution. A poor reputation, on the other hand, can negatively impact its success in recruitment; graduate career placements; and student, faculty, and staff retention. How does an institution develop and build a positive reputation and become more widely known …


Creating A Unified School Culture In A Rural School Serving Families In Multiple Communities, Elliott Roellchen-Pfohl Aug 2021

Creating A Unified School Culture In A Rural School Serving Families In Multiple Communities, Elliott Roellchen-Pfohl

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) addresses the fractured culture of School X resulting from an influx of staff and students from neighbouring communities following rural school closures. The problem of practice (PoP) presented explores ways that a unified school identity can be developed in a receiving school with a student population coming from three separate communities. Through the utilization of both distributed and authentic leadership, the methods that principals of rural schools can use to address this problem are explored. The focus of the problem when viewed through the social capital theory is that all stakeholders of the school have …


Virtually Constructed Leadership: A Study Of Accountability In An International Non-Profit Organization, Kristopher Ph Tharris May 2021

Virtually Constructed Leadership: A Study Of Accountability In An International Non-Profit Organization, Kristopher Ph Tharris

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Through the eyes of a leader within a virtual non-profit organization (referred to as the Centre), this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores the lack of formal accountability amongst an international team of volunteers. The lack of formal accountability has the potential to hinder all interactions of the team, decreasing efficiency of the organization and ultimately decreasing its impact on beneficiaries. The relationship between the volunteer leaders and the Centre is described as organizational volunteerism, where organizations are voluntarily contributing their human resources to benefit the international community. This improvement plan examines a combination of complementary leadership approaches that form a …


Evidence Informed Strategy To Improve Organizational Learning Engagement, Glenn G. Barton Aug 2020

Evidence Informed Strategy To Improve Organizational Learning Engagement, Glenn G. Barton

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The ability of an organization to effectively learn and apply knowledge not only equates with highly agile performance, it is increasingly important to surviving in a knowledge based economy. Organizational learning has been widely popularized in recent decades, however defining, coordinating, and maximizing this collective learning capability within organizations remains challenging. In part this difficulty may lie in conflicted views about the purposes of learning and who it benefits, varied ways in which learning or leading it can happen, and most importantly in employee’s different motivations to engage in learning at all. This plan examines organizational learning engagement and targets …


Change Management, Quality Assurance And Race: Advancing Race-Based Equity In Canadian Higher Education By Leveraging Established Institutional Mechanisms, Nadia Mallay Jul 2020

Change Management, Quality Assurance And Race: Advancing Race-Based Equity In Canadian Higher Education By Leveraging Established Institutional Mechanisms, Nadia Mallay

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Higher education in Canada has been well regarded for decades. Academically rigorous programs and institutions graduate strong students while also attracting top local and global talent as employees to their institutional communities. However, the field of Critical Race Theory, among others, explicates that higher education institutions are not equitable for all bodies. Individuals with intersectionalities inclusive of the Black Diaspora continue to be excluded from academic success and success as employee stakeholders in higher education institutions. Critically, Black bodies continue to struggle with entry to higher education and means to economic success post-graduation, as well as lack of inclusivity to …


Creating A Culture Of Data-Informed Strategic Enrollment Management At A Canadian Higher Educational Institution, Shawna M. Matthews May 2020

Creating A Culture Of Data-Informed Strategic Enrollment Management At A Canadian Higher Educational Institution, Shawna M. Matthews

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Higher education institutions are focusing significant energy to attract and retain students through strategic enrollment management (SEM). This organizational improvement plan (OIP) addressed the lack of a data-informed approach to strategic enrollment management at a small Canadian University campus. Although the SEM process is complex, without a data-informed approach to SEM, institutions are wasting their time and resources. This organizational improvement plan used a cultural change approach as well as a combination of authentic and distributed leadership approaches to provide a solution to the problem of a lack of data-informed strategic enrollment management at a Campus X. With enrollments almost …


Relationships Among Authentic Leadership, Manager Incivility And Trust In The Manager, Ohood Ali Alkaabi Aug 2018

Relationships Among Authentic Leadership, Manager Incivility And Trust In The Manager, Ohood Ali Alkaabi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There have been growing concerns about manager incivility toward new graduate nurses which hinders their adaptation to the workplace environment. Manager incivility impairs the relationship between managers and their staff. Furthermore, nursing managers have a significant responsibility to facilitate new graduate nurses' transition into the nursing profession. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to examine the relationships among authentic leadership of managers and new graduate nurses’ experience of manager incivility and their subsequent degree of trust in their managers. Secondary analysis of the baseline data using a non-experimental, correlational design was conducted. A random sample of 1020 new graduate …


A Strategic Approach To Leading And Managing Low Teacher Morale In An Adult Newcomer Education School Setting, Lenny Dinanath Aug 2018

A Strategic Approach To Leading And Managing Low Teacher Morale In An Adult Newcomer Education School Setting, Lenny Dinanath

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

The purpose of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is to produce a comprehensive and actionable plan to the problem of low teacher morale at Crest Wood Adult Education School (CWAES) which is a small, but rapidly expanding adult newcomer education school located in Ontario. Teachers’ morale and motivation increases when good working conditions exist and when they are offered opportunities to develop their professionalism and skills (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2005). A professional learning community (PLC) is central to the facilitating such learning opportunities which can be leveraged to improve students’ success and achievements. Leadership approach and style …


In Governance We Trust: Introducing A Comprehensive University Governance Education Program To Improve Institutional Trust, Erika Hegedues Jun 2018

In Governance We Trust: Introducing A Comprehensive University Governance Education Program To Improve Institutional Trust, Erika Hegedues

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In recent years, the governing bodies of several universities became the centre of attention for the wrong reason: they were implicated as the cause of institutional-level trust failures, involving senior university executives and chairs of the governing bodies. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that revolves around the university community’s lack of trust in the governing bodies of Organization Y due to an organizational-level trust failure. The review committees established after the event determined a deep-seated dissatisfaction of the community with the operations of the governing bodies, and with the culture and leadership of the …


Improving Employees' Experience With The Performance Appraisal Process, Melanie Molnar Jun 2018

Improving Employees' Experience With The Performance Appraisal Process, Melanie Molnar

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Organizational changes can be successful when approached with an appreciation for an appropriate change management strategy that aligns with the organizational context and the change that is being implemented. In this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP), the performance evaluation process in place at University Y will be looked at and recommendations will be made for improvements. Special attention will be given to the requirements for a successful change management process. An authentic leadership approach is the preferred approach for the purpose of this OIP. Complex Adaptive Systems is a field within Complexity theories and will be used in order to address …


Changing School Culture To Engage Disengaged Students, Trisha E. Sotropa May 2017

Changing School Culture To Engage Disengaged Students, Trisha E. Sotropa

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) examines how formal leaders (including principals and vice principals) and informal school leaders (such as influential teachers) can provide opportunities for greater engagement in the learning process for all students by changing the culture (Schein, 2010) of an increasingly diverse Alberta school. Educational leaders beliefs and assumptions about the purpose of education and the roles of teachers and students will impact their beliefs about student engagement (Vibert & Shields, 2003) in both teacher-led curricular and extracurricular activities. Several recent surveys, including surveys in Alberta schools (Learning Bar, 2016) and larger surveys in the United States …


Leadership, Nursing, And Patient Safety Within A Hospital-Based Learning Organization, Lara Murphy Aug 2016

Leadership, Nursing, And Patient Safety Within A Hospital-Based Learning Organization, Lara Murphy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Within the complex and often changing Canadian landscape of healthcare, patient safety remains at the forefront of hospital corporate priorities and strategic plans. Drawing data from an emergency department in one Ontario-based hospital that was supported by 180 nursing staff and a three-member front-line leadership team (two coordinators and a manager), this study provides further insight into aspects of how safe patient care can be provided. An exploratory mixed-methods case study was used to understand how and why leadership attributes impact a patient safety culture and patient safety outcomes in a learning organization. It was hypothesized that nursing staff who …