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Conventional scholarship within the sociology of education and organizations posits that schools achieve legitimacy by virtue of conforming to normative standards, abiding by government regulations and mimicking the forms of successful peers. Through this study, an examination of a sample of 751 Canadian for-profit colleges (FPCs) is performed, revealing the presence of an alternative logic. Rather than conformity, organizations within this sector engage in niche-seeking behaviour, using promotional materials to carve out unconventional identities. They do so by directly drawing on symbolic resources and affiliations from the industrial sectors which they service. These findings are interpreted through the prism of contemporary theorizing within organizational sociology.

Gaining ethical approval for qualitative health research and implementing all the planned research processes in a proposed study are not straightforward endeavours. The situation becomes more complex when qualitative research is conducted in a cross-national healthcare and academic context. Also, it is even exhausting when the study is student-based, as student researchers may be considered novices and inexperienced researchers, especially for field-based research. Our aim in this reflective paper is to present, reflect, and discuss the experiences of a doctoral researcher in dealing with two independent institutional review boards in Canada and Ghana during an interdisciplinary Ph.D. project and the ethical dilemmas encountered while collecting data in Ghana. Based on the researcher's experiences, it became apparent that consent and its documentation can have cultural implications in different settings; hence, institutional review boards must exercise reflexivity in their protocol review practice. Also, sharing research data with participants and institutional leaders while maintaining participant confidentiality and privacy in institutional ethnographic research requires sensitivity to bi-lateral ethical values. With the experiences shared in this paper, we advocate for a dialogic ethical review process in qualitative research where researchers and research ethics boards engage in ongoing dialogue rather than the usual prescriptive format research ethics reviews often assume.

Objective: To explore the barriers associated with the adoption of the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth in schools according to characteristics of the innovation (guidelines) and the organization (schools). Design: Cross-sectional telephone survey. Setting and Participants: Schools in Alberta, Canada. Principals from 357 schools. Main Outcome Measure: Barriers to adopting the nutrition guidelines. Analysis: A 19-question telephone survey, including open- and closed-ended questions, was used to obtain information regarding schools' characteristics and barriers to adopting the guidelines. Qualitative data were coded according to common themes a priori, based on constructs from the Diffusion of Innovations framework. Results: Schools reported many barriers related to the relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity of adopting the guidelines. Parents' resistance to change and cost were the key reported barriers. Lack of knowledge, student preferences, the physical location of the school, and barriers related to the provision of healthful food were also reported. Conclusions and Implications: Disseminating guidelines without providing adequate support for their implementation may not promote change within the school setting. School nutrition initiatives need to involve the parents and have access to sufficient financial and human resource support. (Contains 4 tables.)

The PRO-ACTIVE randomized clinical trial offers 3 swallowing therapies to Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) patients during radiotherapy (RT) namely: reactive, proactive low- ("EAT-RT" only) and high-intensity ("EAT-RT + exercises"). Understanding the experiences of the trial Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) will be useful to inform clinical implementation. This study assessed SLP opinions of acceptability and clinical feasibility of the 3 trial therapies. 8 SLPs from 3 Canadian PRO-ACTIVE trial sites participated in individual interviews. Using a qualitative approach, data collection and thematic analysis were guided by the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. Member checking was conducted through a follow-up focus group with willing participants. Seven themes were derived: intervention coherence, burden, barriers/facilitators, self-efficacy, attitude, ethicality, and perceived effectiveness. SLPs felt all 3 therapies had potential benefit yet perceived more advantages of proactive therapies compared to reactive. Compared to exercises, SLPs particularly endorsed the EAT-RT component. A major barrier was keeping patients motivated, which was impacted by acute toxicity and sometimes conflicting instructions from the healthcare team. Strategies utilized by to overcome barriers included: scaling exercises and/or diet up/down according to the changing patient needs and communicating therapy goals with healthcare team. A model was derived describing the perceived acceptability of the swallowing therapies according to SLPs, based on the interconnection of main themes. Proactive therapies were perceived as more acceptable to trial SLPs, for facilitating patient engagement. The perceived acceptability of the swallowing therapies was related to seven interconnected aspects of providers' experience. These findings will inform the implementation and potential uptake of the PRO-ACTIVE swallowing therapies in clinical practice., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This in-progress study presents aspects of using educational technology in teaching mathematics education. More exactly, it explores ways in which educational technology might be used in order to improve teachers' cultural awareness and social activism. A rationale for a qualitative research study is presented by using multiple methods combining action research and multiple case studies. Three high school mathematics teachers from Greater Toronto Area are selected to participate in this research. Actor Network Theory (ANT) was considered as research paradigm for this study.

Background: The limited available data suggest that the Canadian surgical workforce does not reflect the racial diversity of the patient population it serves, despite the well-established benefits of patient-provider race concordance. There have been no studies to date that characterize the systemic and individual challenges faced by Black medical students in matching to and successfully finishing training in a surgical specialty within a Canadian context that can explain this underrepresentation., Study Design: Using critical qualitative inquiry and purposive sampling to ensure sex, geographical, and student or trainee year heterogeneity, we recruited self-identifying Black medical students and surgical residents across Canada. Online in-depth semistructured interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analyzed through an inductive reflexive narrative thematic process by 4 analysts., Results: Twenty-seven participants including 18 medical students and 9 residents, were interviewed. The results showed 3 major themes that characterized their experiences: journey to and through medicine, perceptions of the surgical culture, and recommendations to improve the student experience. Medical students identified lack of mentorship and representation as well as experiences with racism as the main barriers to pursuing surgical training. Surgical trainees cited systemic racism, lack of representation, and insufficient safe spaces as the key deterrents to program completion. The intersection with sex exponentially increased these identified barriers., Conclusions: Except for a few surgical programs, medical schools across Canada do not offer a safe space for Black students and trainees to access and complete surgical training. An urgent change is needed to provide diverse mentorship that is transparent, acknowledges the real challenges related to systemic racism and biases, and is inclusive of different racial and ethnic backgrounds., (Copyright © 2024 by the American College of Surgeons. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how a Canadian intervention based on a professional development (PD) model did or did not influence schools' capacities to absorb a Healthy School (HS) approach into their operations. This study is the second part of a research project: previously published results regarding this research provided a detailed description of the PD model and highlighted the relevance and effectiveness of PD in improving actors' HS-related knowledge and practices. The present paper focuses on the organizational impact of such PD intervention. Design/Methodology/Approach: The design was based on a realist evaluation approach, which helps to elicit a theory explaining how an intervention leads to particular outcomes. A multi-site case study of three schools with pre-(T[subscript 0]) and post-(T[subscript 1]) intervention comparison was adopted. Multiple qualitative methods were used to capture how the changes were achieved by collecting data from various stakeholders involved in the intervention. Findings: The PD model tested reinforced the schools' capacities to absorb this type of initiative. For one of the capacities examined, "exploitation", i.e., the ability to incorporate and maintain the initiative into schools operation, the evidence was less apparent. In congruence with the realist evaluation, the results are rendered in the form of a contextualized intervention theory identifying the links between the PD and the mechanisms that were likely necessary to explain what led to the changes in "absorptive" capacities (which refers to the capabilities of schools to acquire and assimilate HS knowledge, and also to transform and exploit them, in the context). Originality/Value: The refined theory, based on empirical findings, can enable facilitators and practitioners to gain a deeper understanding of the action mechanisms shown to be determining in the success of HS implementation.

Objective: Health-promoting schools (HPS) constitute an internationally recognised approach that connects health and education in a planned, integrated and holistic way. There is considerable variability, however, in how HPS is implemented and recent research has attempted to clarify the key functions of implementation. A provincial HPS strategy in Nova Scotia (NS) (Canada) provided a unique research opportunity to examine implementation related to emerging theory. The purpose of this exploratory study was to describe a provincial case study of HPS implementation using theoretical components identified in the literature. Design: Collective case study approach using qualitative research methods. Setting: The study was situated within a larger province-wide school-based research project examining the relationships between health, nutrition, physical activity, mental health and school performance of children in NS. As a follow-up to the provincial study, nine schools (n = 9) that varied in their HPS implementation strategies and characteristics (i.e. size and region) were invited to take part as case study schools. Method: Data collection included observations, interviews and documents from nine schools (n = 9). Data were analysed for emerging themes and using the a priori theoretical components. Results: The results revealed that schools assembled into three sequential categories based on the functioning of theoretical components. Higher level visioning and school-level leadership were critical in sustaining the adoption and implementation of HPS across schools and appeared to enable and integrate organisational processes, such as distributed leadership and a collaborative school culture, to enhance HPS implementation at school level. Conclusion: This study confirmed other reports that it is imperative to integrate HPS work with educational values so as to enable partnerships in both the health and education sectors, thereby promoting both health and prosperity among students.

This qualitative case study investigates the transformative power of a leadership course designed for immigrant secondary school students learning English as an additional language with a social justice orientation. Course projects allowed the students to get involved in tutoring, present at a conference on intercultural education, deliver equity presentations and role model presentation skills for their peers by discussing topics such as Canadian culture, showcase their talents from their L1 cultures and give advice on how to integrate into the school and to lead activities to create school spirit by sharing music from their culture, running a "thank your teacher" campaign, or taking the lead with an international humanitarian cause. The teacher's plans and notes, course assignments, video footage of students presenting a conference workshop and monthly feedback forms were the data that allowed us to understand how transformative pedagogy was enacted by the teacher and experienced by the students in one Canadian secondary school with a very diverse student population.

Growth in the field of medical education is evidenced by the proliferation of units dedicated to advancing Medical Education Research and Innovation (MERI). While a review of the literature discovered narrative accounts of MERI unit development, we found no systematic examinations of the dimensions of and structures that facilitate the success of these units. We conducted qualitative interviews with the directors of 12 MERI units across Canada. Data were analyzed using qualitative description (Sandelowski in "Res Nurs Health" 23:334-340, 2000). Final analysis drew on Bourdieu's ("Outline of a theory of practice." Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977; "Media, culture and society: a critical reader." Sage, London, 1986; "Language and symbolic power." Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1991) concepts of "field," "habitus," and "capital", and more recent research investigating the "field" of MERI (Albert in "Acad Med" 79:948-954, 2004; Albert et al. in "Adv Health Sci Educ" 12:103-115, 2007). When asked about the metrics by which they define their success, directors cited: teaching, faculty mentoring, building collaborations, delivering conference presentations, winning grant funding, and disseminating publications. Analyzed using Bourdieu's concepts, these metrics are discussed as forms of capital that have been legitimized in the MERI field. All directors, with the exception of one, described success as being comprised of elements (capital) at both ends of the service-research spectrum (i.e., Albert's PP-PU structure). Our analysis highlights the forms of "habitus" (i.e., behaviors, attitudes, demeanors) directors use to negotiate, strategize and position the unit within their local context. These findings may assist institutions in developing a new--or reorganizing an existing--MERI unit. We posit that a better understanding of these complex social structures can help units become savvy participants in the MERI "field". With such insight, units can improve their academic output and their status in the MERI context-locally, nationally, and internationally.

This paper examines practices of teaching and learning in the era of digitalization. More specifically, it addresses practices of teaching and learning for students with professional experience who work alongside their studies. Based on the assumption that digitalization is a means of allowing more open and flexible pathways for teaching and learning in higher education, the paper focuses on the perspectives and perceptions of both students and teachers in digital supported teaching and learning environments as forms of blended learning. It brings together findings from two qualitative empirical studies: one focused on students' perspectives of their development over the course of their studies; the second addressed teachers' perspectives and their teaching strategies and activities. Based on the findings of these two research studies, the paper outlines future perspectives for teaching and learning and the role of digitalization, with a particular emphasis on programs of lifelong learning at universities.

Recent technologies are offering the power to share and grow knowledge and ideas in unprecedented ways. The CogEx software platform was developed to take advantage of the digital world with innovative ideas to support designers work in both industrial and academic contexts. This paper presents a qualitative study on the usage of CogEx during capstone design projects in mechanical engineering. It explores its potential to eventually supersede a paper logbook. This study combines three pilot projects where 15 undergraduate students used CogEx for one semester and discussed their experience in a final interview. The focus is limited to individual usage in this study. Results support that the platform has a good potential for engineering design education by replacing the paper logbook. The "extended concept mapping" structure was efficient to organize design work, and although the "concept-knowledge" separation needs refinement, it has good potential in building designer knowledge base.

This paper reports on a qualitative research synthesis that explored the intersections between art and social work. The scholarship notes a rise in interest in integrating creative arts practices in social work classrooms from assignment design to classroom activities. Also highlighted are the potential contributions of these artsinformed practices to teaching about topics related to oppression. The synthesis presented in this paper explored this potential through an interpretivist analysis of articles on the intersection of art and social work. Findings highlight the contribution of this approach to enhancing student engagement and critical reflexivity; creating a sense of collectivity and solidarity in the classroom; as well as transforming the role of the educator. Findings suggest the need for further research to explore the potential contributions of arts-informed approaches in social work education beyond a single classroom.

This paper argues that the way future teachers are being initiated into the ethical dimensions of their future profession is largely out of step with the movement to professionalize teaching. After recalling the role that codes of professional conduct play in the ecology of professional self-regulation, and arguing that familiarizing students with their local code of ethics should be considered as the bare minimum of an adequate ethics education for professionals, the paper presents research findings indicating that education students are not leaving colleges and universities with a clear understanding of what is expected of them by society, their peers and the profession. The paper concludes with three suggestions about how to begin bringing ethics education for teachers more into line with teaching's aspiration to professional status.

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

Teaching and learning research in higher education, often referred to as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), is still relatively novel in many academic contexts compared to the mainstay of disciplinary research. One indication of this is the challenges those who engage in SoTL report in terms of how this work is valued or considered credible amongst disciplinary colleagues and in the face of institutional policies and practices. This paper moves beyond the literature that describes these specific challenges to investigate how 23 experienced SoTL researchers from five different countries understood the notion of credibility in relationship to their SoTL research and how they went about developing credibility for their work. Semistructured interviews were facilitated and analyzed using inductive analysis. Findings indicate that notions of credibility encompassed putting SoTL research into action and building capacity and community around research findings, as well as gaining external validation through traditional indicators such as publishing. SoTL researchers reported a variety of strategies and approaches they were using, both formal and informal, to develop credibility for their work. The direct focus of this paper on "credibility" of SoTL work as perceived by experienced SoTL researchers, and how they go about developing credibility, is a distinct contribution to the discussions about the valuing of SoTL work.

This paper discusses the results of a qualitative study that examined the professional growth of undergraduate peer mentors as teacher leaders during an innovative Learning Community initiative designed for a teacher education program at the University of Saskatchewan. The paper describes the extent to which peer mentors exhibited characteristics of teacher leadership during the enactment of this role. Focus group and individual interview data were analyzed using a conceptual framework developed by Hunzicker (2012) that considers how teacher leadership is enacted in three areas: (a) participation in a professional community, (b) growing and developing professionally, and (c) demonstrating professionalism. The paper concludes by suggesting that the Learning Community's initiative provides an exciting opportunity to foster the development of teacher leadership for peer mentors during their undergraduate teacher education preparation.

The field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) is similar to other fields in that we must not take it for granted that novice teachers will survive their first year without some kind of support. This paper outlines how three novice ESL teachers in Canada survived their first year without any support from the school they were placed. Specifically, the paper outlines how they, with the aid of a facilitator, engaged in reflective practice by using a framework for reflecting on practice to help them navigate complex issues and challenges they faced during their first year of teaching. Had they not engaged in such structured reflection during their first year, they would have probably become another statistic of those who quit the profession and contribute to the growing perception that TESOL is a profession that eats its young. The paper suggests that language teacher educators and novice teachers should not just wait until their first year to learn the skills of reflective practice but should do so much earlier in their teacher education programs so that they can be better prepared for the transition from their teacher education programs to the first year of teaching.

Purpose: The objective of this article is to describe the implementation of the Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation (STAIR), a manualized, evidence-based cognitive behavioral group treatment for childhood trauma at Cedar Centre, a community-based trauma treatment center, and describe the preliminary evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment. Method: Pre- and postmeasurements of emotion regulation, interpersonal problems, and traumatic stress symptoms using psychometrically validated instruments were collected. Outcomes were assessed for 85 individuals who experienced childhood sexual abuse and participated in the first cycles of intervention at the center. Results: Results indicated significant reductions in difficulties in emotion regulation, interpersonal problems, and trauma symptoms among participants from pretreatment to posttreatment. Discussion: Overall, there was a positive response to the adoption and integration of the STAIR intervention into the program. Qualitative assessment identified the benefits perceived by both facilitators and group participants. [Paper presented at the Stockholm Conference on Behavioral and Social Intervention Research, 11-12 May, 2017.]

This paper, derived from a larger case study, presents new perspectives on arts-integrated elementary schools. It focusses on several issues including teacher understandings of arts-integrated pedagogy, willingness to collaborate, arts credentials, and teacher perceptions of those students enrolling from outside catchment area. Hence it raises the question as to whether school districts should consider new policies specific to arts-integrated schools for both students enrolling, and teaching staff. As a teacher-administrator at Mosaic for several years, the researcher became interested in the motivations for student enrollments from outside of Mosaic's catchment area. Through interviews with educators and parents, the case study investigates perceptions and motivations for student enrollments. This paper's focus is the analysis of interviews with Mosaic educators: their understandings and perspectives on arts-integrated pedagogy, student profiles, and their own valuing of the arts.

Universities and institutions of higher education are facing economic pressures to sustain large classes, while simultaneously maintaining the quality of the online learning environment (Deming et al., 2015). Digital learning environments require significant pedagogical shifts on the part of the teacher. This paper is a qualitative examination of the nature of teaching in the digital age, and the significant changes facing teachers in the 21st century. The authors describe key features of quality distance pedagogy that were exhibited during 12 weeks of a synchronous undergraduate course held in Adobe Connect. The central research questions are: (1) How can problem-based learning pedagogy enable instructors to form smaller cohesive groups of students that take greater responsibility for their own learning?; (2) What strategies can be used by teachers to develop communities of practice and inquiry?; (3) How can an instructor in a large virtual class co-create the level of social capital that is required to build and maintain the relationships that are a necessary condition for a high quality learning experience?; and (4) What are the perceptions of teachers about the challenges and benefits of facilitating a high quality problem based learning environment through invisible pedagogy? The research is grounded in literature through the work of Cousins and Bissar (2012), Kaufman (2013), Badge, Saunders and Cann (2012), Flavin (2012) and McNeill, Gosper and Xu (2012). These authors examine how teachers and learners adapt to the digital age. In addition, more recent work by Bowers and Kumar (2015), Hoadley (2016), Deming et al. (2015) and Gunduz et al. (2016) are examined. In these digital spaces, teachers become facilitators, guides, collaborators and learners themselves, thus making traditional pedagogy virtually invisible. Further, the paper uses qualitative semi-structured interviews of two assistant professors who instructed the two groups of undergraduate students. The teachers identify challenges and successes to using problem based learning as a tool for attaining 21st century learning outcomes in digital learning spaces.

In this paper, we describe and investigate small group discussions of assigned readings in an online version of a "triple-entry activity" in a blended course used an annotation tool, "Marginalia". We wondered if students would interact in this structured, critical, reflective reading activity as effectively online as they had when the activity was undertaken on paper in face-to-face classes. We investigated what happened, why, and if successful, and how these findings might inform the use of annotated discussions in the future. We found 30% of comments acknowledged the value of ideas expressed in a group member's response to a reading, 30% extended those ideas, 11% connected the reading to personal experience, 9% were questions, and 6% answers. Approximately 60% of the interactions were between one group member and the author of the response; 40% involved comments that were connected to each other as well as the author's response to the reading. Students felt using "Marginalia" to comment on classmates' responses and having classmates comment on their responses facilitated their learning from assigned readings. The instructor agreed and felt the online discussions also contributed to the development of a community of learners between face-to-face classes. In addition, reading students' responses and discussions before each class informed the instructor's preparation for in-class activities.

This paper presents the findings of a research project that sought to interrogate the possibilities of digital storytelling as a pathway towards a more complete understanding of treaties and the treaty relationship in western Canada. This research is situated in the province of Saskatchewan, where treaty education (that is, education about the history of the numbered treaties signed between First Nations people and the British Crown, as well as the subsequent history of the treaty relationship) has been mandatory for almost a decade. The paper details a two-year journey alongside elementary educators as they used digital storytelling to take up treaty education in their classrooms. We present an overview of the research project as well as the narratives of a teacher, a researcher, and a Cree knowledge keeper, all of whom were involved in and reflected on the research journey. We consider the research findings alongside these narratives in order to explore the possibilities that digital storytelling might offer as we, as a Canadian nation, move towards reconciliation with Aboriginal people within a Canadian context of ongoing colonialism.

This paper is based on a research that explored how Inuit community members in Nunavut Territory, Canada, conceptualized quality education in the socio-cultural context of the territory. Data were collected through telephone interviews of 13 Inuit community members in Nunavut and document reviews both of which were conducted in 2010. The data analysis showed that Inuit community members are gravely concerned with:(1) the low grade twelve graduation rates and high dropout rates in the territory schools;(2) School improvement planning that engages Inuit communities; (3) Integration of school with the larger community; (4) Communicative engagement with parents and other community stakeholders; (5) Culturally relevant school programming and pedagogy; and (6) Culturally appropriate disciplinary methods. In the conclusion, the paper spells out the policy implications of the findings.

What is social justice-informed co-teaching? Why is it important? How can social justice pedagogy deepen co-teaching practices? What are the key challenges and possibilities open to teachers and learners involved in a social-justice informed co-teaching experience? These questions are useful to ask as they begin to address new pedagogical approaches in teacher education, which engage with the current diverse student population. Each of these questions is discussed in this qualitative research paper. This narrative inquiry adds to the literature on social justice-informed co-teaching in an innovative way. It also critically examines the purposeful endeavor of two professors who used a social justice framework to guide their co-teaching practice and pedagogy. At once, this paper is a lived experience, a story, and a research study. In deconstructing two narratives, the authors articulate outcomes and implications of social justice informed co-teaching practice and pedagogy. Further implications for research and practice in teacher education programs, teaching practices and field experiences, and co-teachers themselves are shared in the closing segment of the paper.

In this article, I draw on my experiences as a non-binary researcher in a high school to interrogate the normative construction of adulthood. I centre the discussion on the concept of adulthood in order to interrogate a presumption within the field of education that all researchers are recognized as adults. I argue that a person's adherence to cisheteronormative logics is an integral aspect of being recognized as an adult and that people who do not move in legible ways along a socio-culturally prescribed trajectory of growing up can instead be positioned as non-adults. I explore the complexities of generating research in an age-striated space as a person who is not read as an adult. I argue that non-adults navigate distinct challenges as well as unique possibilities in education research because of their divergent ways of moving through field sites. I assert that grappling with questions of adulthood is necessary for youth-focused education research and end with ideas on what this thinking may make possible for future methodological work.

Critics have suggested that the practice of psychology is based on ethnocentric assumptions that do not necessarily apply to non-European cultures, resulting in the underutilization of counselling centres by minority populations. Few practical, culturally appropriate alternatives have flowed from these concerns. This paper reviews experiences from a doctoral-level practicum in counselling psychology that targeted aboriginal and international university students outside of the mainstream counselling services at a western Canadian university over a two-year period. It recommends an integrated approach, combining assessment, learning strategy skills, and counselling skills while incorporating community development methodology. The paper concludes with recommendations for counsellor training that will enhance services to both international and aboriginal students.

It is increasingly understood that university education must be accessible to persons with disabilities. The responsibility to make the university accessible is arguably shared by all of us and yet, the extent to which it has become fully accessible is certainly suspect. By undertaking qualitative, discursive analysis of websites, online texts and other materials provided by Ontario's teaching and learning centres, this paper seeks to do two things. First, it provides a critical overview of the types of training currently available at Ontario universities for teaching assistants on accessibility and teaching. This review will outline initiatives directed towards compliance with Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) requirements, those focused on education and advocacy (as well as areas of overlap) and broader equity training which encompasses accessibility. Second, this paper, considering the content of the reviewed material and informed by critical disability studies, offers up an articulation of future directions for research, writing, advocacy, and training on teaching assistant development on accessible teaching.

Climate change is not local; it is global. This means that many environmental issues related to climate change are not geographically limited and hence concern humans in more than one location. There is a growing body of research indicating that today's increased climate change is caused by human activities and our modern lifestyle. Consequently, climate change awareness and attention from the entire world's population needs to be a global priority and we need to work collaboratively to attain a sustainable future. A powerful tool in this process is to develop an understanding of climate change through education. Recognizing this, climate change has been included in many science curricula as a part of science education in schools. However, teaching such a complex and global topic as climate change is not easy. The research in this paper has been driven by this challenge. In this paper, we will present our online science module called Global Climate Exchange, designed with inquiry activities for international peer collaboration to teach climate change. In this study, we engaged 157 students from four countries (Canada, China, Sweden, and Norway) to collaborate in Global Climate Exchange. To explore the opportunities that international peer collaboration in Global Climate Exchange gives, we have analyzed how students develop their explanations about climate change issues over time. Our analysis showed that the students increased the proportion of relevant scientific concepts in relation to the total number of words in their explanations and that they improved the quality of links between concepts over a six-week period. The analysis also revealed that the students explained more perspectives relating to climate change issues over time. The outcomes indicate that international peer collaboration, if successfully supported, can be an effective approach to climate change education.

This research explores the professionalization of Library and Information Science (LIS) students who participated in a peer-tutoring service, "Research Rescue." Research Rescue was a collaboration of the Chapman Learning Commons and the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS) at the University of British Columbia. The purpose of the service was to provide an experiential learning opportunity for LIS students, benefit undergraduate students in need of assistance with term papers, and increase undergraduates' awareness and use of the campus libraries through targeted referrals. Research Rescue interactions were documented as "shift notes" in a wiki, which was moderated by a learning services librarian and SLAIS faculty. The wiki acted as a shared learning resource and a means of observing and exploring LIS students' learning and professional development as an outcome of participating in the service. In this paper, we report on our qualitative analysis of the shift notes, which provide evidence that peer tutors took steps towards the formation of their professional identities. We explore the learning and socialization that occurred as part of tutors' involvement in Research Rescue, while also advocating that peer tutoring is a viable model for LIS education.

This paper reports the qualitative findings of a mixed methods research study conducted at three Canadian post-secondary institutions. Called the Meaningful E-learning or MEL project, the study was an exploration of the teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students as well as their perceptions of the benefits and challenges of e-learning. Importantly, e-learning was conceptualized as the integration of pedagogy, instructional technology, and the Internet into teaching and learning environments. Based on this definition, participants reflected on e-learning in relation to one or more of the following contexts: face-to-face (f2f) classrooms in which instructional technologies (e.g. learning management systems, video and web-conferencing, mobile devices, etc.) are used; blended or web-enhanced learning environments; and fully online learning environments. Data collected for the study included survey data (n = 1377 for students, n = 187 for faculty); narrative comments (n = 269 for students, n = 74 for faculty); and focus groups (n = 16 for students, n = 33 for faculty). The latter two sets of data comprise the basis of this paper. Four major themes emerged based on the responses of students and faculty. Represented by the acronym HIDI, the themes include human connection (H), IT support (I), design (D), and institutional infrastructure (I). These themes and sub-themes are presented in the paper as well as recommendations for educators and administrators who aspire to make e-learning a pedagogically meaningful experience for both learners and their teachers.

What role do texts play in LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) parents’ experiences of disability service systems? In interviews with 15 LGBTQ parents of disabled children in Toronto, Canada, participants selected documents to be used as a focus for discussion. Parents considered how LGBTQ identity and other intersectional identities influenced their experiences of institutional texts including adoption certificates, intake forms, and assessments. Findings suggest that documentation practices can operate as forms of systemic gatekeeping. LGBTQ identity was sometimes very significant in parents’ accounts, and sometimes less central than other aspects of their families' identities and experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research in the fields of second-language acquisition and education has supported the value of written reflection, but scant research has explored how other types of reflection may come into play when learners employ strategies and produce oral language. This paper reports findings from an action research study that focused on integrating individual oral reflection using digital recorders to facilitate 18 graduate-level English-as-an-additional-language (EAL) students' learning of academic speaking skills. The qualitative and quantitative results provide important empirical information about what strategies graduate students used, the relationships between the learners' strategic behaviours and oral performance, and differences in the quality of reflection between advanced and nonadvanced proficiency learners. The study's findings indicate that weekly spoken reflection functions as a mediational tool that learners can use to deal with their language-learning-related thoughts and emotions, which have important implications because of the online nature of speaking. In addition to generating empirical knowledge about a modality of reflection that has direct pedagogical implications, the paper includes a personal reflection on the challenges involved in conducting action research, for the purpose of inviting further dialogue and reflection among action researchers.

Managing international cohorts of students who undertake workplace learning in countries other than the country of their host university can be a very complex and difficult process. University academics are accustomed to personal, face to face contact with their students. When students then move offshore, but remain the responsibility of the academics, there is often difficulty working in a virtual world of communication. This sorely tests the participants' concept of teaching and good pedagogy and can lead to the academic feeling a loss of intimacy or with-it-ness with their students. This paper investigates the use of a very simple social media tool to stay in regular and personal contact with students during their off-shore work placements. The paper will show that contact with students within a virtual environment up until recently is usually undertaken using older literacy practices such as emails. These simply become an electronic form of a handout or letter. Although crafted to avoid ambiguity, the emails nevertheless seem not to work in a virtual environment as they would do in a face to face environment. Drawing upon the literature, the point is made in this paper that contact with students in virtual environments can be made using social media tools that involve newer literacy practices.

In a milieu where traditional views of scholarship are embedded in the culture of educational institutions, and nursing programs in particular, this paper reports on a research project designed to support nurse educators' capacity to engage in scholarly activities. Rogers' (2003, 2004) "Diffusion of Innovation" model provided a theoretical vantage point from which to consider the ways scholarly inquiry in and across the nursing programs could be promoted. The project was evaluated between 2004 and 2007 using both quantitative and qualitative methods. In this paper we highlight some of the meanings emerging from the qualitative information collected because this data best illustrates Rogers' (2003) model. Although significant progress was made towards building scholarship capacity with nursing faculty there remains ongoing work to be undertaken. Continuing to support a broader view of scholarship and intentional scholarship capacity building, particularly the scholarship of teaching and learning is becoming increasingly difficult given existing cultural and structural contradictions such as traditional ideologies associated with research; the competitiveness associated with the valuing of individual research; lack of infrastructure supports; and time for research in contexts where there are decreasing numbers of faculty. The authors think it is important to pay attention to this feedback as advances in scholarship of teaching and learning may be at risk. (Contains 1 table and 2 footnotes.)

This paper draws explicitly on the field experiences of two doctoral researchers in geography to elucidate some of the challenges and issues related to researcher vulnerability that are especially acute for graduate students. In spite of significant differences in context, both researchers experienced an unanticipated degree of professional vulnerability during their doctoral fieldwork that warrants further exploration, including a theoretical interrogation of the complex (and shifting) terrain of power relations within qualitative research projects. This paper addresses the lacuna in the qualitative methodological research literature on the topic of researcher vulnerability (in contrast to the well-developed discussion of participant vulnerability). Throughout, the authors suggest possible strategies for mitigating researcher vulnerability while protecting the overall integrity of the research process. (Contains 1 footnote.)

This paper identifies some of the methodological considerations involved in narrative research with conservative faith groups, while addressing the things left unsaid through an exploration of silence in the author's own life narrative of faith and sexuality. The challenges posed by silence -- temporal silence and concealment -- require greater focus in narrative research methods. Moreover, the pervasive and palpable effects of silence in sexuality research with (nominally) Evangelical Christians calls into question what we (can) know about sexuality in conservative faith communities using qualitative research methods.

Inspired by scholarly calls to focus more intently on the influence of context on leaders' construction and negotiation of identity, this paper draws on evidence from our Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) project in London, New York City and Toronto. Throughout the paper, we strive to illuminate how the city-based context influences how race/ethnicity is experienced and described. We use social identity theory, organisational fit and in-group prototypes to frame school leaders' explicit discuss race/ethnicity when reflecting on identity. We describe our data gathering process using our Professional Identity card-sort Tool, which guided leaders' reflections on identity. The analysis details how we extracted and interpreted evidence from leaders who were explicit about the interrelationship between their own personal racial/ethnic identification and its alignment or misalignment with their school-level communities. We explore how different city contexts influence leader experience of in-groups and out-groups and the related leadership challenges and opportunities. In conclusion, we reflect on the influence that structures, policies and communities have on how leaders experience identity and the possible implications for their work. We also explore the value of attending to potential context-based identity-driven experiences for school leader development and support.

The Canadian government supports the transformation of education for health care providers based on the recognized need for an inter-professional collaborative approach to care. This first paper in a series of papers demonstrates the credibility of an action research approach for the promotion and understanding of inter-professional education (IPE). Located in the critical paradigm, this action research project is concerned with creating an educational environment that enhances the ability of learners and educators to provide patient-centred care through inter-professional collaboration. The QUIPPED project has invited various stakeholders (faculty and learners from various disciplines, consumers of health care, university administration and clinicians) to participate in the collaborative transformation of the educational culture and the co-creation of a shared knowledge for IPE. (Contains 3 figures.)

Given the extensive adoption of research orientations that employ qualitative data collection techniques in education, Margaret Haughey found it exciting to read about a meta-analytical method that combined findings from studies within these research orientations with those from the well-established traditional forms that most often employed quantitative data strategies. Traditional research methods are not exclusively quantitative but usually transform qualitative data obtained through methods such as open question survey responses into a quantitative form. Since the development of alternative research paradigms and data analysis strategies for qualitative data, there has been extensive writing, much heat and little light on the vexing question of how to acknowledge the differing research orientations while coming to some general conclusion that could be useful to policy makers. Abrami, Bernard and their colleagues suggest they have a format that will bridge the chasm. Haughey's commentary focuses on the most obvious next question, Does this research categorization scheme work?

This paper presents the results of a research study on scientific software training in blended learning environments. The investigation focused on training approaches followed by scientific software users whose goal is the reliable application of such software. A key issue in current literature is the requirement for a theory-substantiated training framework that will support knowledge sharing among scientific software users. This study followed a "grounded theory" research design in a qualitative methodology. Snowball sampling as well as purposive sampling methods were employed. Input from respondents with diverse education and experience was collected and analyzed with constant comparative analysis. The "scientific software training cycle" that results from this research encapsulates specific aptitudes and strategies that affect the users' in-depth understanding and professional growth regarding scientific software applications. The findings of this study indicate the importance of three key themes in designing training methods for successful application of scientific software: (a) "responsibility in comprehension"; (b) "discipline"; and (c) "ability to adapt."

While a growing body of literature in cooperative education (co-op) has seen an increased focus on what makes for a quality work term for the student, few studies investigate the satisfaction of the co-op supervisor. This paper seeks to address how supervisors perceive the role of the co-op student in the workplace and understand how these values influence satisfaction with a hired co-op student. A self-report survey was sent to supervisors who had hired co-op students from one Canadian academic institution. The results showed a significant correlation between attributes valued by the supervisor and supervisor rating of the student when those attributes were exhibited; however, this was only the case after the attributes were weighted for importance. The results demonstrate the importance of expectations in influencing satisfaction and reinforce the need for preparation of the student for the workterm, a clear alignment of expectations between the student and supervisor, and the value of onboarding in creating a successful work term.

Teacher principles encompass a teacher's stated assumptions, beliefs, and conceptions about acquiring and teaching a second language (L2). Due to the complex and diversified nature of how principles take form, an individual teacher's principles will influence their judgements, perceptions and instructional decisions, thus affecting the outcome of classroom practices. Exploring teacher principles and their impact on classroom practices and vice versa is an invaluable and necessary component to research in L2 teaching and learning since it plays an influential role in instructional outcomes. This paper explores the nature of the principles/practice relationship through an investigative case study with an ESL teacher of L2 speaking. Additionally, the results of research on principles and practices related to L2 teaching when conducted by academics rarely gets back to teachers in the front lines. Thus the researchers shared their findings with the teacher who as a result of reflecting on the analysis came up with a set of principles she says guides her teaching of L2 speaking.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the concept of sustainability imaginaries--unifying core assumptions on what sustainability entails held by stakeholders--set within a large suburban Canadian university. The study aims to expand the field of research into imaginaries by focusing on imaginaries within an institution as opposed to a societal or national level. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is conceptual in nature and draws upon empirical tools, such as collaborative thematic coding of interviews of university community members, to illustrate emergent imaginaries around sustainability at the institution. Findings: This paper identifies four core sustainability imaginaries in an analysis of the interview data: sustainability as performance, sustainability as governance, sustainability as techno-efficiency and sustainability as community organizing. The paper then uses these imaginaries to analyse two recent university-wide events: the establishment of a high-level sustainability council and an energy management program. Research limitations/implications: Because of the institutional focus of this study, the research may lack generalizability to other institutions. Thus, researchers are encouraged to explore what other imaginaries may exist at other institutions. Practical implications: This paper includes implications for how universities can manage conflicting expectations and definitions in relation to new sustainability initiatives on campus. Originality/value: This paper offers reflections on the concept of sustainability imaginaries and what they might offer the field of sustainability in higher education.

In this paper, we draw attention to the impact of neoliberal globalisation in rearticulating conceptions of equity within the Ontario context. The Ontario education system has been hailed for its top performance on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) as a high-equity/high-quality education system and created "PISA envy" in the international context. Our aim in this paper is to provide some critical analysis of the neoliberal rationality and to examine its manifestations for rearticulating conceptions of social justice. Drawing on equity education policies in Ontario and one in-depth interview with an equity practitioner in one of Ontario's large and most diverse school boards, this paper illustrates how a redefinition of equity has been made possible through neoliberal systems of accountability and performativity involving measurement and facticity. As a result of these strategies, equity policy in education has been concerned with outcome measurement and boys' underachievement, while racial and class inequalities have become invisible. While this paper is focused on Ontario equity policy, we believe that it serves much broader interest given the current context of global education policy field.

Risk permeates all aspects of modern life, and the International Secondary Education Market (ISEM) is no exception. Drawing on empirical data, this paper considers a specific type of risk: namely, the potential loss of cultural identity, which Nigerian parents associate with educating their children in the West. This paper argues that Nigerian families employ three key risk management strategies (the Right time; the Right country; and the Right school--or the 3Rs) in their attempt to mitigate and/or avoid this perceived risk. Adopting a broadly socio-cultural analysis of risk, the paper argues that parents' understanding of risk as well as the type of risk management strategy they use are shaped by socio-cultural factors such as religion, gender, and social class. Data from the study indicate that cultural and religious beliefs influence which of their children parents choose to invest in, and in which country they chose to educate them, as certain bodies are rendered more "risky" and in need of closer monitoring.

Drawing on a qualitative case study of writing practices and pedagogies in one Canadian graduate Education program, this article discusses roles and responsibilities of course instructors for teaching and supporting academic writing at the master's level. Data were collected through individual, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 14 graduate students and eight professors and they were analyzed thematically. The discussion is framed by the academic literacies pedagogical framework (ACLITS). The data suggest that academic writing expectations can be sources of extreme stress for graduate students. The students and instructors lacked a common language to discuss student texts. In the absence of explicit academic writing pedagogies, students and instructors sometimes turned to simplistic advice received at school. The paper also discusses pedagogical challenges associated with the teaching of disciplinary writing genres in multi-perspectival fields such as Curriculum Studies.

University management seeks to achieve the objectives established by higher education's institutions, including their third mission, which corresponds to the transfer of research results into the industry; in this regard, emerging technologies play an important role to solve problems identified in the industry. Emerging technologies are those found in the embryonic stage of its life cycle. Although they have features that make them difficult to manage, they can quickly change the dynamics of the market. That is why it is necessary to analyze the management process of these technologies at the university level, due to, in many cases, it is in high education institutions where these technologies arise. This paper presents results of a study aiming at analyzing the process of university management of emerging technologies in a developing country, identifying gaps in such process in relation to referent countries, and proposing recommendations to reduce those gaps. The research methodology included benchmarking to identify best practices concerning referent universities and a case study in which a university research group in a developing country was analyzed. Results indicate that universities of developing countries acknowledge the importance of managing emerging technologies, which should lead to structural changes in the Systems of Science and Technology as well as in the higher education's institutions and in the management of the research groups that generate and use these technologies. However, the analysis identified some key success factors of referent universities to be either absent or acting deficiently in the focal case studied. Finally, some recommendations are proposed to reduce the identified gaps.

Numerous forecasts suggest that professional-competence development depends on human encounters. Interaction between organizations, tasks, and individual providers influence human behaviour, affect organizations' or systems' performance, and are a key component of professional-competence development. Further, insufficient or ineffective communication between professionals is deemed a contributing factor to adverse events worldwide. This underscores the need to provide educators with the tools and education to embed methods in their teaching that will enable learners to effectively intervene in highly charged interpersonal situations and high-risk scenarios; these concerns highlight the value of realistic simulated-experiential approaches, such as the one proposed in this project. The first phase of this project involved conducting a three-day experiential workshop developed at a Canadian university to provide educators with knowledge and skills to work and effectively utilize simulators, enhancing pedagogical classroom practices for teaching undergraduate learners. This workshop's development resulted in numerous benefits. Participation in the workshop provided educators with opportunities for meaningful reflection on their teaching practice and the ability to apply this insight to optimize student learning. It provided theatre students, recruited as simulators as part of this interdisciplinary initiative, to expand their experiences and this will lead to an expanded practicum course for their program. There is now a group of simulators available to educators across the university to include in classroom activities, and lastly there are further iterations of this workshop available for faculty development. This paper reflects on the workshop experiences and the feedback obtained from the participants. Formal and informal feedback obtained provides an understanding of the participants' experiences.

Using the analogy of children's building blocks, the reader is guided through the results of a research study that explored the use of three Artistic Pedagogical Technologies (APTs). "Building blocks" was the major theme that emerged from the data. Sub-themes included developing community, enhancing creativity, and risk taking. The discourse of the paper centers on how selected APTs stimulate interaction, create social presence, and help develop community in the online post-secondary classroom. Additional findings are discussed and implications are presented.