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At the time of writing, the first community colleges in Ontario were preparing for transition to an accreditation model from an audit system. This paper revisits constructivist literature, arguing that a more pragmatic definition of constructivism effectively blends positivist and interactionist philosophies to achieve both student centred learning and predetermined outcomes. Relevant Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (OCQAS) and College Quality Assurance Process (CQAAP) standards and requirements are presented along with their implications for college policy and constructivist teaching methods. This paper provides practical suggestions for integrating both constructivist philosophies and policies translated from accreditation standards into instructional methods.

The number of articulation agreements between Canadian colleges and universities has been increasing steadily since the early 2000s. Though various implications of these agreements have been discussed, missing are the students' grounded transfer experiences. This paper discusses the academic and social experiences of college transfer students at a Southern Ontario university. Using multiple methods, this paper identifies the following issues regarding the college transfer experience: transfer shock; expectations about university life; the social aspects of the college transfer experience; and student concerns about college transfer credits. Student-based recommendations for the development and assessment of college transfer processes are also presented. Across Canada, community colleges and university relationships are structured according to two arrangements. British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec pioneered the development postsecondary systems in which direct university and college collaboration have been encouraged. Subsequently, the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba have also developed stronger links between colleges and universities (Stanyon, 2003). In Ontario, the community colleges and universities have traditionally maintained relatively separate roles with community colleges being established to fulfill the demand for technical training while universities have provided career-oriented preparation for professions and knowledge-based occupations (Beach, Boadway & McInnis, 2005, p.10). However, Ontario has recently moved in the direction of the latter provinces in initiating formal articulation links between university and college programs (Stanyon, 2003). In Ontario, a growing number of college students are now pursuing post-graduate studies at universities. In 2004, over 4100 Ontario college graduates enrolled in university studies within six months of completing their college studies (ACAATO, 2005). In addition, a recent study indicates that over 20% of Ontario college students intend to pursue university and/or further college studies (ACAATO, 2005). According to the Ontario College University Transfer Guide, these students currently have 217 transfer agreements from which to choose (OCUTG, 2006). 173 of these agreements are bilateral (versus multilateral or direct entry articulation categories). The most common type of articulation agreement in Ontario is the degree completion arrangement (N = 156) in which "[a]college(s) and at least one university negotiate an articulation agreement whereby graduates of a diploma program receive specified transfer credit for a completed diploma program toward a degree and then complete a specified number of additional credits at the university in order to qualify for the baccalaureate degree" (OCUTG, 2006). The success of these college-university articulation arrangements depends, in part, on an understanding of the experiences, challenges and motivations of students who transfer from one type of institution to another, as well as the experiences of staff who oversee the implementation of the articulation agreements. This paper is one in a series of two papers which focuses on the college transfer experience from the student's perspective; the companion paper describes the experiences of university staff. Relatively well-established research in the United States has identified a range of student and institutional issues related to the transfer experience. Some of the issues include the effects of transfer upon student grades commonly known as "transfer shock" and "transfer ecstasy" (Carlan & Byxbe, 2000; Cjeda, 1997; Fredrickson, 1998; Glass & Harrington, 2002; Laanan, 2001; Rhine, Milligan & Nelson, 2000), student withdrawal rates (Minear, 1998 in D.S. Peterman, 2002; Van Middlesworth, Carpenter-Davis & McCool, 2002), student perceptions of the cultural differences between college and university (Davies & Dickmann, 1998) and institutional remedies to enhance the success of transfer students (Rhine, Milligan & Nelson, 2000). The importance of understanding the factors and processes that contribute to the experiences of college transfer students has important implications for the retention, graduation and overall success of students. While there are statistical analyses and reports detailing the mobility of students from college to university (ACAATO, 2005), their grade patterns, graduation rates and withdrawals (Chan, 1995), we know very little about the qualitative experiences of college transfer students, particularly in a Canadian context. This paper presents the results of a case study that analyzes the academic adjustment and social activities of college transfer students at a medium-sized university campus in Southern Ontario where college transfers constitute approximately 20 percent of the student population. The goals of this paper are threefold. First, it attempts to identify whether the "transfer shock" phenomenon is evident among students at this university institution. If transfer shock is evident, then a finer-grained analysis is performed to examine if the phenomenon is specific to certain academic programs. Second, the paper explores the perceptions and experiences of college transfer students to better understand the ways in which university and college experiences are similar and the ways in which they are different, and the implications of these similarities and differences for a successful transfer experience. Finally, the paper identifies the difficulties, if any, faced by college transfer students and subsequently proposes recommendations for established and prospective transfer arrangements in other postsecondary contexts. (Contains 2 tables.)

In this paper, the authors reflect on a two-year journey to indigenize the program they have taught in at a community college in Ontario. These efforts necessitated their own education in Indigenous history and perspectives, as well as contemplation of the impact of colonialism on their own teaching. This reflection was combined with much consultation with the First Peoples Indigenous Centre at Durham College and research of other post-secondary efforts to indigenize curricula as part of a broader effort to implement some of the recommendations arising out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The work completed during this project also included a student focus group, educational workshops for non-Indigenous faculty and the creation of internal media assets featuring Indigenous themes. As well, this work led to the creation of a new compulsory course on Indigenous perspectives in contemporary media that has been added to the college's Broadcasting program. At the end of this project, the authors stress moral imperative of continuing this work to educate future generations of media professionals on the value of Indigenous culture and the importance of understanding the historical wrongs endured by Indigenous peoples.

The number of international students seeking educational opportunities at Ontario colleges of applied arts and technology (CAATs) has grown at an unprecedented rate in the past 10 years. It appears that as the number of the international college students has increased, colleges have also been relying more heavily on educational agents to recruit such students. To explore this assertion, the author examined institutional data provided by an Ontario college of applied arts and technology. The findings show that the proportion of international students who use an agent has indeed risen dramatically in recent years. The paper also identifies and examines various factors contributing to CAATs' increasing use of educational agents.

Since their creation, community colleges have had a mandate to be responsive to their communities, often through relationships with local business. As globalization and technological advancements increase pressure on small businesses (SMEs), the role of colleges in helping these SMEs to innovate in order to survive becomes clearer. Relationships between colleges and SMEs, however, are often balked by a number of barriers as perceived by individuals within the college system. This paper begins to examine the relationship between these entities through a series of interviews with individuals within the Manitoba community college system. An analysis of these conversations reveals seven distinct categories of perceived barriers.

Applied Research (AR) in Canadian community colleges is driven by a mandate, via the collective voice of Colleges and Institutes Canada--a national voluntary membership association of publicly supported colleges and related institutions--to address issues of interest to industry, government, and/or community. AR is supported through significant federal and provincial level funding mechanisms as well as funding from the private sector. Performance measurement tools have largely been developed by government agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), which are external to the colleges that engage in AR. This paper presents an overview of AR in Canadian community colleges and institutes and provides recommendations for the development of sustainable performance measurement frameworks for AR in Canadian community colleges and institutes.

In this article, the author discusses the problems facing Ontario's community colleges' faculty as educators whose "craft" is to teach. The author contends that the problems educators face haven't really been the focus of the three constituencies that have dominated the conversations about the colleges: (1) college management; (2) the Federal and Provincial government; and (3) OPSEU. College managements have been focused on demonstrating that public funds have been expended in an accountable fashion, that the various consumers--students, parents, employers--are satisfied, and that future funding can be secured in order that the institutions remain robust. The Federal and Provincial governments has been focused on securing public favour for the investments they have made in the Ontario college system, and OPSEU has been focused on securing the best employment terms and conditions it can for its membership. The author is not taking issue here with the priorities of these constituencies, but merely observing that given these priorities, there has been inadequate attention paid to the "craft" that defines one's profession and qualifies him/her to be called professor: education. (Contains 1 note.)

This paper reports and discusses the results of a study that was undertaken to determine factors that influence choices that secondary school students make between enrolling in community college or university, and in particular whether or not those choices are affected by the degree of "articulation" within a public system of post-secondary education. There are several studies that have emerged recently in the United States and Canada that examine factors that influence the choice of university and four-year college. There are a few studies that examine the choice of community and two-year college. None, however, either in Canada or in the United States, has sought to examine "college choice" comparatively among students who apply to baccalaureate and (four-year colleges and universities) and sub-baccalaureate (community colleges) programs. This study examines college choice on the basis of two series of longitudinal surveys conducted in the province of Ontario since the late 1980s, and on a series of surveys and interviews of students, parents and guidance counselors in six secondary schools, each with a different student population, since 2004. The third study--called the "college choice" project--tracked secondary school students as they made decisions about attending college or university, and as they finally selected the institutions that they would attend. The study concludes that greater conventional articulation will not significantly affect rates of transfer, that for most students plans to transfer develop after they enter college and are not a major factor in their initial "choice," that the rate of transfer is highly dependent on the corresponding arrays of programs at colleges and universities, and that articulation might better be thought of as a subset of other basic forms of inter-institutional cooperation.

In this essay the author discusses the effects of globalization on Canadian community colleges. She applies contemporary social theories culled from the fields of feminism, geography and political science to understand one hidden manifestation of globalization in community colleges: involvement in global civil society via participation in international development projects. She begins by discussing the history of community colleges, highlighting their flexible missions, as a way of understanding how they have changed within the current socio-economic climate. She then presents evidence of community colleges participating in international development projects, and provides an analysis of what participation might signify on the broader social level. She ends with a call to understand more about these somewhat overlooked activities in order to ensure that they are carried out effectively whilst keeping in mind the needs of both "local" communities.

This paper describes the journey of a mid-size community college towards developing and institutionalizing a core set of values into the culture. The aim is to establish a common guidepost to integrate planning, decision-making and behaviour within the learning community of Red Deer College (RDC). Consultative process was used to engage staff and students in defining the values and a set of associated questions for each value. In order to encourage living the values, strategies were implemented to create strong branding, to establish the values as the organizing framework for key processes, and to facilitate conscious use of the values in daily activity. The values were linked to the college vision, mandate, mission, board goals, and leadership principles as an integral component of the "big picture" and of ongoing cultural change. Key determinants of success and key challenges are outlined as well as future directions.

Applied Research (AR) in Canadian community colleges is driven by a mandate, via the collective voice of Colleges and Institutes Canada - a national voluntary membership association of publicly supported colleges and related institutions - to address issues of interest to industry, government, and/or community. AR is supported through significant federal and provincial level funding mechanisms as well as funding from the private sector. Performance measurement tools have largely been developed by government agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), which are external to the colleges that engage in AR. This paper presents an overview of AR in Canadian community colleges and institutes and provides recommendations for the development of sustainable performance measurement frameworks for AR in Canadian community colleges and institutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]