ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Teaching Assistant Competencies in Canada: Building a Framework for Practice Together
Author: Korpan, Cynthia
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Assistants,Guidelines,Graduate Students,Professional Associations,Higher Education,Teacher Competencies,Faculty Development,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Interpersonal Communication,Communication Skills,Foreign Countries

This paper examines the stages of development for a framework of teaching assistant (TA) competencies initiated by the Teaching Assistant and Graduate Student Advancement (TAGSA) special interest group (SIG) of the Society of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE). TAGSA initiated an iterative consultative process to inform the creation of the competencies that sought input from the STLHE community on four occasions. At each stage of the consultations, the competencies were formed and re-formed, their purpose and value debated, and the challenges of creating a development framework recognized. This process, described in this paper, resulted in a clear, succinct and flexible framework that can be used across institutions in multiple contexts.
MySci Advisors: Establishing a Peer-Mentoring Program for First Year Science Student Support
Author: Poling, Kirsten
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Mentors,Science Instruction,College Freshmen,Program Descriptions,Foreign Countries,Student Adjustment,Educational Practices,Program Development,Science Education,Peer Groups,Interpersonal Relationship,Academic Advising

Would you like to help your students adjust to university life? Perhaps you are simply interested in allowing them to feel more integrated into a department right from the start of their first year? These were the types of issues that we were hoping to address when we founded the MySci Advisors Program, a peer-mentoring group for first year students in the Faculty of Science at the University of Windsor. This program is run entirely on a volunteer basis with no working budget, so if you were considering starting a mentoring program but have been concerned about the cost of doing so, this essay may be of particular interest to you. MySci Advisors is only in its third year currently, so this essay is meant to focus on the lessons we have learned in the early establishment of the program. I outline some of the practices we have adopted for the program, some of the changes we have had to make along the way and provide some early evidence of success. It is my hope that others may be motivated to also form such a program or use this information to assist in their own early endeavours.
Teaching Culture Perception: Documenting and Transforming Institutional Teaching Cultures
Author: Kustra, Erika
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Organizational Culture,College Faculty,Undergraduate Students,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Best Practices,Instructional Innovation,Educational Quality,Feedback (Response),Teacher Evaluation,Focus Groups,Foreign Countries,Teacher Behavior,Graduate Students

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.
Realizing Partnership Potential: A Report on a Formal Collaboration between a Teaching and Learning Centre and Libraries at the University of Toronto
Author: Bolan, John
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Libraries,Academic Achievement,Cooperation,Partnerships in Education,Academic Libraries,Program Descriptions,Program Development,Excellence in Education,Higher Education,Professional Education,Surveys,Focus Groups,Risk,Communication (Thought Transfer),Interpersonal Relationship,Teaching Methods,Professional Identity

In 2010, the University of Toronto's Centre for Teaching Support &amp; Innovation (CTSI) and University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) jointly launched Partnering for Academic Student Success (PASS), a partnership to foster new opportunities for collaboration between academic librarians and those involved in developing excellence in university teaching. This article describes the challenge of professional education in support of the teaching mission for librarians, and a partnership designed to address this need. The article reports on the genesis, goals, and key principles contributing to the partnership's success, while discussing implications and recommendations for those seeking to develop similar programs of intentional collaboration that enable teaching/learning goals.
&quot;There Is No Single Right Answer&quot;: The Potential for Active Learning Classrooms to Facilitate Actively Open-Minded Thinking
Author: Chen, Victoria
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Active Learning,Cooperative Learning,Undergraduate Students,Classroom Environment,Classroom Techniques,Class Organization,Psychology,Majors (Students),Questionnaires,Scores,Statistical Analysis,Pretests Posttests

Education is meant to open your mind, but is that what universities are really doing? Rather than fostering open-minded thinking, the format of lecturing, the lack of interaction among students and instructors, and the passive nature of learning are likely producing the opposite, students with closed-minds. The development and implementation of Active Learning Classrooms (ALC) has the capability to counteract this negative trend by providing a configuration suited for more collaborative learning and opportunities for students to share their thoughts, hear other perspectives from peers, and have the potential to become more open-minded. A description of a study on students in a fourth year psychology course is provided in which the instructor changed her course in order to use the ALC to its fullest capacity. Students were also given an Actively Open-minded Thinking questionnaire (Stanovich &amp; West, 1997) pre and post course, with results indicating that open-minded thinking increased over the term. Although there are many components that could contribute to this result, the impact that educational spaces may have on student learning are discussed.
Performance, Feedback, and Revision: Metacognitive Approaches to Undergraduate Essay Writing
Author: Riddell, Jessica
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Undergraduate Students,Essays,Expository Writing,Introductory Courses,Feedback (Response),Writing Improvement,Scaffolding (Teaching Technique),English Literature,Writing Evaluation,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Evaluation Criteria,Early Intervention,Writing Skills,Metacognition,Foreign Countries,Qualitative Research,Statistical Analysis

This paper explores ways in which frequent feedback and clear assessment criteria can improve students' essay writing performance in a first-year English literature course. Students (n = 68) completed a series of three scaffolded exercises over the course of a semester, where they evaluated undergraduate essays using a predetermined assessment process. They were then asked to write their own essays and evaluate them using the same assessment criteria. The efficacy of the project was evaluated based upon student feedback, both quantitative and qualitative, and an analysis of their marks. The essay-writing project was informed by fundamental principles supported by research in teaching and learning: namely, that early intervention in first-year courses helps students improve their essay-writing skills, clear and transparent expectations are crucial for positive student perceptions around learning, carefully scaffolded assignments help students develop their writing skills over time, and increasing the frequency of writing opportunities and feedback leads to higher learning outcomes. Findings suggest that a metacognitive approach to essay writing can provide significant opportunities for students to improve their essay-writing skills. The essay-writing project has implications for those who plan, support, and deliver first-year university courses, particularly those courses involving academic writing assignments.
Athletics, Music, Languages, and Leadership: How Parents Influence the Extracurricular Activities of Their Children
Author: Ashbourne, Dianne
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Athletics,Music Education,Second Language Learning,Leadership,Extracurricular Activities,Educational Attainment,Parent Background,Predictor Variables,Student Participation,Second Language Programs,Mixed Methods Research,Semi Structured Interviews,Foreign Countries,Parenting Styles,French,Questionnaires,Parent Attitudes,Longitudinal Studies,High School Students

In this study, we explore the impact that parents have on the participation of their children in extracurricular activities (ECAs) in a sample of Canadian parents with children between the ages of four and 17. Employing a concurrent, nested, mixed methods strategy, we use the insights gained through semi-structured interviews with parents to inform the creation of four regression models with which we investigate four types of activities (athletics, music, languages, and leadership). Our findings reveal that, depending on the type of activity, ECA participation by children varies by parental education. Values and experiences held by parents with the lowest educational attainment were stronger predictors of participation in specialized music programs, and those of parents with advanced degrees were stronger predictors of participation by their children in specialized language programs. We conclude by discussing the equity implications of our study for Canadian children.
Development and Evaluation of a Peer Mentorship Program for Aboriginal University Students
Author: Rawana, Jennine S.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Program Development,Program Evaluation,Learner Engagement,Resilience (Psychology),Mixed Methods Research,Well Being,Measures (Individuals),Ethnicity,Self Concept,Mental Health,College Students,Foreign Countries,Needs Assessment,Canada Natives,American Indian Students,Indigenous Populations,Eskimos,Mentors

Although Aboriginal students encounter educational challenges, few post-secondary mentorship programs that facilitate positive educational and mental health outcomes within this population are described in the literature. This study describes the development and evaluation of a mentorship program for Aboriginal university students. Program development was informed by a literature review and needs assessment. Using a mixed-methods design, 12 Aboriginal students completed pre- and post-program measures of resilience and ethnic identity awareness. Post-program, improvements in social competence resiliency, other-group ethnic orientation, and school engagement were identified. Research and community stakeholders are encouraged to develop mentorship programs to improve the well-being of Aboriginal students.
Fostering Cultural Humility among Pre-Service Teachers: Connecting with Children and Youth of Immigrant Families through Service-Learning
Author: Lund, Darren
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Faculty Development,Social Attitudes,Service Learning,Immigrants,School Community Programs,Interviews,Preservice Teachers,Student Attitudes,Program Effectiveness,Social Justice,Self Concept,Children,Youth,Foreign Countries,After School Programs,Consciousness Raising,Social Stratification,English (Second Language),At Risk Persons,Minority Groups,Racial Differences

This article documents a community-initiated service-learning project within a teacher education program. A social justice model guided the initiative to raise critical awareness on power and privilege while countering deficit-model thinking. Partnering with community agencies serving immigrant children and youth, the faculty researcher worked with an office for community-engaged learning. Data included pre- and post-experience interviews with pre-service candidates. Findings showed benefits from this justice-based approach in improving self-awareness, appreciating the strengths of immigrant children and youth, and an increased sense of cultural humility in pre-service teachers.
Queer Pedagogy in Sex Education
Author: Drazenovich, George
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Sex Education,Homosexuality,Sexual Orientation,Sexual Identity,Identification (Psychology),Constructivism (Learning),Self Expression,Social Attitudes,Social Influences,Teaching Methods,Social Theories,Social Bias,Spiritual Development,Educational History

While increased visibility of gay, lesbian, transgendered, and queer people in public settings, including schools, is certainly freeing for many students, critical questions concerning whether popular media depictions of LGBTQ identities serve to liberate students, or instead facilitate subtle strategies of containment and ghettoizing, are being raised. The present article argues that as a sex education strategy, the essentializing of sexual identity within sex education should be supplanted by more constructivist approaches; ones that allow for maximum individuation and self-expression. Rather than embracing particular labels and the commodification that sometimes flows from them in the popular media landscape, queer-positive sex educators might consider adopting some methods associated with spiritual pedagogy to assist students in rethinking questions of sexuality and creating new possibilities for identities and creative self-expression.
Digital Storytelling for Transformative Global Citizenship Education
Author: Truong-White, Hoa
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Transformative Learning,Citizenship Education,Discourse Analysis,Story Telling,Teaching Methods,Guidelines,Middle School Students,High School Students,Case Studies,Controversial Issues (Course Content),Learner Engagement,Reflection,Critical Theory,Personal Narratives,Educational Technology,Computer Mediated Communication,Program Descriptions,Climate,Environmental Education,Cooperative Learning,International Educational Exchange,Intercultural Communication,Curriculum

This article explores how digital storytelling offers the potential to support transformative global citizenship education (TGCE) through a case study of the Bridges to Understanding program that connected middle and high school students globally using digital storytelling. Drawing on a TGCE framework, this research project probed the curriculum and digital stories using a multimodal critical discourse analysis. The findings of this study showed that digital storytelling, as integrated into the curriculum, enhanced student engagement with non-mainstream perspectives and self-reflection. However, the core elements of discussing controversial issues, analyzing systemic causes/impacts of global problems, and determining collective action responses required critical pedagogical practices beyond those embedded within the digital storytelling curriculum.
The Influence of Collective Asynchronous Discourse Elaborated Online by Pre-Service Teachers on Their Educational Interventions in the Classroom
Author: Allaire, Stéphane
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Preservice Teachers,Asynchronous Communication,Intervention,Statistical Analysis,Social Networks,Communities of Practice,Practicums,Teacher Supervision,Educational Quality,Teacher Effectiveness,Computer Mediated Communication,Teacher Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Classroom Techniques,Discourse Analysis,Foreign Countries,Teacher Education,Secondary School Teachers

Networked learning communities are growing and they offer new opportunities for reflection on practice in education. Many authors have studied the processes followed and the contents produced by such communities. On the other hand, few have observed how collective asynchronous discourse can be enacted in the classroom. This objective was pursued in the context of this exploratory research. Data was provided by asynchronous discourse written on the Knowledge Forum by five pre-service teachers during a 14-week practicum throughout the winter 2011 semester, as well as in situ observations from their university supervisor, while they were teaching students. Qualitative and descriptive quantitative analyses were conducted. In particular, results showed participants were highly concerned with quality of teaching when elaborating collectively in the electronic forum regarding ideas of interventions, and with the importance of properly handling the possible enactment of such ideas in the classroom while teaching.
Toward Accuracy, Depth and Insight: How Reflective Writing Assignments Can Be Used to Address Multiple Learning Objectives in Small and Large Courses
Author: Dukewich, Kristie R.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Writing Assignments,Writing (Composition),Reflection,Journal Writing,Grading,Feedback (Response),College Faculty,Teacher Collaboration,Foreign Countries,Educational Objectives

Writing-to-learn involves the use of low-stakes informal writing activities intended to help students reflect on concepts or ideas presented in a course. Writing-to-learn can be a flexible and effective tool to help students understand and engage with course concepts, and past research has shown that writing-to-learn activities can substantially improve performance on summative assessments. Not only is coherent writing helpful for learning, it is also a skill that students are expected to acquire during their degree. However, it can be a challenge to provide writing opportunities that are both interesting to students and easy for instructors to implement and grade, particularly in courses with a large number of students. Reflective journaling is one method that can address these learning objectives. The versatility of reflective writing means that it can be adapted to suit a number of different disciplines. In this essay, we will explore reflective writing as a subgenre of writing-to-learn activities, summarizing some of the benefits associated with these assignments that have been described in the pedagogical literature. We will then describe how to tailor the assignments to different kinds of disciplines, including STEM courses, professional programs, and the social sciences and humanities. We will provide some guidance on how to resolve tension around marking and feedback for such an assignment. Finally, we will describe our individual experiences with using this kind of assignment in two courses. As there were a number of contextual differences between the two courses, including size and discipline, our commentary is advanced within the specific context supplied by each.
The Road Less Travelled? Pathways from Passivity to Agency in Student Learning
Author: Frost, Gail
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: College Seniors,Service Learning,Problem Based Learning,Reflection,Learning Strategies,Journal Writing,Prompting,Mastery Learning,Formative Evaluation,Summative Evaluation,Feedback (Response),Questionnaires,Qualitative Research

This qualitative study examined fourth-year undergraduate students' responses to reflective writing prompts and journal entries related to their practical experiences in two capstone courses, both based in SBL/PBL pedagogies. We examined their &quot;strategic&quot; approaches to learning that make engagement with subject matter and learning processes more instrumental than meaningfully grasped and applied. Three levels of analysis were used in a recursive process of description, reduction, and interpretation, and the results were added to our previous work examining student responses to reflective activities that foster deep learning. Our provisional conclusions are that strategic learners are invested in a mastery relationship with subject matter that makes grade procurement the evidence of this mastery and this shifts their focus to product over process as an obvious consequence. This disconnect from process leads students to an unhelpful relationship with formative assessment and feedback. They tend to wrestle with the formative elements and see them as mini summative assessments or quasi final products, rather than the necessarily perplexing engagement that leads to the imaginative generation of possibilities and recursive building and refining of ideas and processes. Our future research will focus on environments that encourage more comfort with mistakes and contingencies as learning opportunities.
Peer Review of Teaching: Sharing Best Practices
Author: Golparian, Shaya
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Peer Evaluation,Best Practices,Educational Practices,Instruction,Instructional Effectiveness,Instructional Improvement,Educational History,Case Studies,Program Descriptions,College Programs,Foreign Countries

In this paper, we share examples of best peer review of teaching practices, drawing on our involvement in the design and implementation of the Peer Review of Teaching program at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology. We review the history of the Peer Review of Teaching Initiative at the University of British Columbia and explain key aspects of the interactive peer review of teaching session we facilitated at STLHE 2014. We provide examples generated by participants of that session, as well as participants of Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology workshops on peer review of teaching. We share future steps for the Peer Review of Teaching Program at UBC.
The Interplay of Space, Place and Identity: Transforming Our Learning Experiences in an Outdoor Setting
Author: Cassidy, Alice L. E. V.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Self Concept,Outdoor Education,Faculty Development,Higher Education,College Faculty,Foreign Countries,Workshops,Educational Benefits,Feedback (Response),Teacher Attitudes,Learning Experience,Role,Conferences (Gatherings),Teaching Methods

In this paper, we use a day-long professional development workshop for higher education faculty conducted in an outdoor setting as the starting point for an examination of the value of such activities. We explore the potential benefits, in terms of learning and holistic well-being, of educational activities designed to provide participants with sessions either in the natural environment or the built (urban) environment beyond the four walls of the traditional classroom. Drawing on the literature of &quot;place-based learning&quot;, the well-established traditions of some conference organizations, the emerging trend to mount such pre-conference workshops in the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE: Canada) and the feedback of past participants, we explore the nature of these experiences and the various outcomes, grappling with the challenge of identifying tangible &quot;takeaways&quot; at the individual and community levels. We conclude with directions for further analysis of the role of this type of session in terms of conference pedagogy and means of measuring impact on the well-being, outlook, and practices of instructors in higher education.