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An online survey was conducted of students, instructors, and researchers in distance education regarding principles for the ethical treatment of human research subjects. The study used an online questionnaire based on principles drawn from Canada's "Tri-Council Policy Statement, Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans" (TCPS, 2003), which the authors had sometimes found problematic in their own distance education practice (as researchers, in their work with graduate students, and as Research Ethics Board [REB] members). Overall, findings showed that respondents tended to agree with the principles presented, whether consistent or not with the TCPS; however, those with more research experience showed a tendency to agree more with questionnaire items that were consistent with the TCPS, and less with those items not consistent with the Policy, a pattern that was more pronounced in a group of 25 published researchers invited to participate. Conclusions were that research experience was associated with greater agreement with the TCPS's principles, with ethics issues, and with REB experience; that by their own admission many participants were not well acquainted with the TCPS; and that efforts to address the reservations of distance education researchers about ethics review should include the involvement of experienced researchers, as this group probably best represents the ethical norms and practices of the field. (Contains 9 tables.)

Users' experiences in mental health assessment are multifaceted, including their emotional experiences. Yet, studies of mobile apps for psychiatric assessment have centered on diagnostic accuracy and perceived usability, with little consideration of the impact of user emotional experiences. In this study, we focused on users' perceived usability and emotions and compared the user experience of a paper-and-pencil and an app-based collection of mental health screening questionnaires: EarlyDetect. The System Usability Scale (SUS) and modality-directed emotion questionnaires were administered using paper-and-pencil or iPad. Modality was assigned pseudo-randomly on patients' first visit at a referral-based mental health clinic. We found that patients assigned to the iPad app reported a significantly higher SUS score than patients assigned to paper-and-pencil, qualified by a modality-by-gender interaction where modality effects were significant for men but not for women. Moreover, enjoyment was positively linked to perceived usability, whereas boredom, frustration, and anxiety were negatively linked to usability. Our findings illustrate the added value of studying user experience applied to psychiatric assessments, where both emotions and gender-specific user experience should be taken into consideration. We further discuss the implications for psychiatric assessments via app versus traditional data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Looks at the turnaround safety performance in the Kenora, Ontario pulp and paper mill of Rainy River Forest Products Inc. which used a questionnaire survey technique. Description on the model developed for safety management; Elements assessed in the questionnaire developed; Survey results; Steps taken by the company to improve its safety rules. INSET: Beliefs & Practices for Excellence in Safety on Which the Model.

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.]

Recent media coverage of the rape chant at Saint Mary's University, the misogynist Facebook posts at Dalhousie's dental school, and the suspension of the University of Ottawa's hockey team have brought the topic of campus sexual assault under intense public scrutiny and the media accounts point to a widespread systemic rape culture on Canadian campuses. The objective of this paper is to examine the existing structure of campus sexual assault services at Canadian universities and colleges in order to highlight best practices and barriers to their success. The study's data collection entailed an environmental scan of existing programs and campus-community collaborations across Canada, and a half-day symposium in which stakeholders reviewed the scan's results and developed recommendations. The study's findings indicate that most campus sexual assault and women's centres rely on volunteers and collaboration with off-campus organizations in order to maintain a breadth of services for sexual assault survivors. Funding challenges were found to impose significant limitations to the functionality of the centres. The paper closes with recommendations for improvements, including public education programming and dedicated services provided by professionals with specialized training and experience.

Often, knowledge and quality education is reserved for the elite, where there are systemic obstacles to gaining access to today's leaders. Gender and racial inequities in executive-level positions across North America have been a longstanding debate amongst scholars and policy makers. Research has consistently documented that women are disproportionately represented in upper management and in positions of power and still continue to dominate traditionally "female" occupations, such as administrative support and service workers. Though gender inequalities are evidently present, there is also a clear under-representation of visible minorities holding executive-level positions as well. In order to reverse these trends, governments across North-America have enforced employment equity legislation and many organizations have voluntarily committed to similar initiatives. Perceived educational and career-related barriers to opportunity, choice, and information within these segregated groups are shaped early on. For this reason, many researchers champion early interventional programs in order to prevent such perceived barriers from developing. In this paper, there will be a discussion of social networks and how certain groups are denied access to sources of social capital, thus hindering their ability to seek out prospective jobs or entering certain career streams. In this study, Women in the Lead, a database published in 2009, is a national directory of women whose professional expertise and experience recommend them as candidates for positions of senior level responsibility and as members on corporate boards. The Women in the Lead database was comprised entirely of professional women who had voluntarily subscribed as members. Of the 630 women asked to participate, 210 responded to the survey. The 210 women who responded were from 14 different industries in Canada and the United States. The next generation was described as soon to be graduates of high school. A summary of this advice is reported in this paper, with the objective of providing guidance to the next generation looking to enter the workforce, regardless of their gender, location, and race. We also explore the potential of the internet in levelling these barriers and opening up new possibilities for e-mentoring youth and building social capital.

This paper investigates the presence (or absence) of Ely's (1999) conditions for implementing innovation in a rural context in the province of Quebec (Canada). The innovation, namely the Remote Networked School (RNS) initiative, is designed to bring new technology tools to enrich the learning environment of students and diminish teachers' isolation in the smallest and most remote schools of the province. The study presents a discourse analysis of four major stakeholder groups of the RNS initiative over three years. The qualitative analysis was designed to identify: 1) the conditions for innovation that were most present in stakeholder discourse over the years; 2) the indicators that strengthened the conditions for innovation presence or absence; and finally, 3) certain variations occurring during the adoption/implementation years of the RNS initiative. This paper reconfirms the adequacy of Ely's model as an effective framework for understanding and monitoring ICT-based systemic teaching and learning innovations such as the province-wide RNS initiative in Quebec.

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.

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 reports on several phases of a five-year science education development project in Nunavut, Canada. The project, in its entirety, was established as a Pilot Program for Nunavut schools in effort to understand school community aspirations for science education and potential contributors and impediments to fostering the realization of identified goals. This paper focuses on the cases of three Inuit school communities in identifying and achieving their aspirations for science education. This paper describes the goals collaboratively identified and the processes utilized to work towards the realizations of such goals. Of importance is the identification by the school communities to offer an educational experience that combines the knowledge, processes and values of "both worlds" (western science and "Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit") and to employ both traditional and contemporary methods for implementing and evaluating the success of the project. Finally, based upon the outcomes of this project, suggestions are provided for supporting developments in other jurisdictions aspiring to see the realization of local and Indigenous aspirations for science education. Of critical importance to seeing such efforts realized are the policy and leadership conditions manifest at the school-community, divisional and territorial level for fostering culture-based education programs. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)

In this study, 254 Royal Roads University School of Business learners (graduates and undergraduates) were surveyed on their online course-related reading habits and choices. Based on their responses and anecdotal comments and the data from follow-up interviews with six of the participants, learners preferred print copies of text materials for reasons of portability, dependability, flexibility, and ergonomics. Recommendations include providing an option in all online courses to print electronic text files in a format suitable for reading from paper. Further research is proposed on the effect of extended time spent in front of a computer screen on learners' preference for reading from paper. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper describes a pilot project that explored teacher candidates' opinions of the use of desktop videoconference technologies to provide teaching experiences that mimic the real-world practicum. Opinions were gleaned from questionnaires and reflective papers. Videoconference software was said to mimic certain aspects of the practicum such as: direct instruction, questioning, tutoring, and one-on-one scenarios that rely to a large extent on audio communication. The candidates also reported that limitations of the technology (e.g., slow frame rates, inability to capture students' facial expressions, and inability to simultaneously capture images of students' and written work as it is created) constrain its ability to mimic the practicum. The limitations lead candidates to suggest that videoconference sessions might be used by a Faculty of Education to augment but not replace the real-world practicum experience. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper reports on the development of the revised Social Justice Questionnaire (SJQ2), an instrument which permits the quantitative examination of socially just school leadership. The SJQ2 is based on data drawn from an exploratory province-wide study to determine to what extent, and how, school principals on Prince Edward Island understand and enact principles of social justice in their work. Although this was a 'stand-alone' project, the research also provides a Canadian contribution to the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN). The researchers utilized a mixed methods approach to glean both qualitative and quantitative data for analysis. The findings indicated that there is a statistically significant correlation between socially just school leadership and the community context. This research supports and enhances current qualitative studies by adding a statistical perspective to show that effective social justice leadership cannot be segregated from the political, economic, and cultural context of the community.

Are current evaluation scheme practices really inclusive of differing teaching and learning preferences and cultural sensitivities? Are students and faculty satisfied with the assignments they have now? Do assignments accurately reflect a student's learning and skill acquisition? How can students be given assignment options to engage them more fully without increasing workload for faculty? This paper will examine how the flexible weighting option responds to the learning needs of students by promoting their success, building on their strengths, and giving them a sense of ownership and choice. Results of this pilot project have shown that flexible weighting can encourage student engagement and reduce their stress. What does this mean for faculty? Any course with a variety of assignments can implement flexible weighting. Flexible weighting can be successfully applied in courses regardless of the method of delivery and can be adapted for courses in a variety of disciplines.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to draw attention towards sustainability consciousness (SC) of pre-service teachers (student teachers) as their role is central in teaching for sustainable development. This paper investigated SC of the pre-service teachers in Pakistan and compared it with other undergraduate students in the country and with that of Swedish upper secondary students. Design/methodology/approach: The paper used survey method using a tool developed by a group of Canadian researchers to measure knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable development. The instrument was later adapted by a group of Swedish researchers to measure SC. Study data came from 207 pre-service teachers and 154 undergraduate students studying humanities. Findings: The paper reports that SC of the pre-service teachers in Pakistan is much lower than that of Swedish upper secondary students. Moreover, the paper indicates that the SC of pre-service teachers is not different from other undergraduate students in the country. Practical implications: This paper establishes a baseline of SC of the final-year pre-service teachers enrolled in BEd (Honours) programme in Pakistan. Such a study is critical in the context when ESD is a missing element in teacher education in Pakistan. In the presence of such a baseline study, teacher education institutes and departments might review their curricula in terms of their focus on ESD and plan for initiatives to educate pre-service teachers for sustainability. Originality/value: The paper contributes to a broader debate on measuring SC of university students.

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.

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.

Prior research has shown that classroom-based evaluation tools are unable to adequately capture the unique aspects of online courses. To address such challenges, a mid-sized Canadian university with a broad and diverse programme of online offerings adapted a questionnaire designed to assess constructivist-compatible online teaching practices. This paper presents the results of a two-phase pilot project to evaluate the appropriateness of the modified tool. The methods section describes the questionnaire, Bangert's Student Evaluation of Online Teaching Effectiveness, the participants in the project, and the techniques used to analyse the data. The results are presented in terms of a validity framework used to guide the evaluation process. Finally, the paper offers critical insights into the key findings from the pilot project and the future of teaching effectiveness evaluation at the institution.

From a design perspective, the intentionality of students to engage in surface or deep learning is often experienced through prescribed activities and learning tasks. Educators understand that meaningful learning can be furthered through the structural and organizational design of the online environment that motivates the student towards task completion. However, learning engagement is unique for each student. It is dependent on both how students learn and their intentions for learning. Based on this challenge, the design of online discussions becomes a pedagogical means in developing students' intentionality for the adoption of strategies leading to deep learning. Through a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach, iterative design of online learning components for undergraduate field experience courses were studied. For this paper, the focus of the research is on examining factors that influenced deep and surface levels of learning in online discussion forums. The results indicate that design factors (i.e., student engagement, group structures, and organization) influence the nature and degree of deep learning. From the findings, two implications for practice are shared to inform the design and scaffolding of online discussion forums to foster deep approaches to student learning.

In this paper, we explore how the frequency of utilization of social supports is related to teacher demographics, stress factors, job satisfaction, career intent, career commitment, and the perception of a stigma attached to teacher stress. Using data from self-report questionnaires (N = 264) from teachers in northern Ontario, we found that teachers seldom spoke to their health care providers about stress and instead utilized family, friends, fellow teachers, and sometimes their principals. The frequency of which teachers accessed different social support networks did vary depending on stressor (workload, student behaviour, professional relationships, societal attitudes, and employment conditions). Teachers who frequently talked to their friends about stress had a lower sense of career intent and career commitment. Males were less likely to talk to their various social supports about stress. This study adds to the literature by exploring the frequency of contact with and usage of social supports and their impact on teacher stress and perspectives on teaching.

Teaching online requires different skills, roles and competencies for online instructors compared to teaching in traditional learning environments. Universities should offer ongoing support in various forms to help academic staff through their online journey. This paper provides insights into a multinational faculty development program for teaching online, elaborating on results of expectancy and satisfaction surveys. From a local program to a subproject within the Swiss National Science Foundation Project Scopes, e-Tutor aimed at expanding competencies in online lecturing and providing OER material for training colleagues. Designed in the form of a descriptive case study, this research was conducted with 34 attendees of e-Tutor. Data was collected using an e-learning readiness and expectancy questionnaire, and open-ended questions after the program to measure satisfaction. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the survey data and content analysis for open-ended data. Participants considered e-Tutor a well-planned and targeted program with good theoretical and practical balance. Duration of such courses, opportunities for adaptation to real-life situations, and localization of the content are areas to be explored further. For future studies, it would also be interesting to see whether participants can apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills to create efficient online learning environments.

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.

In 2016 the 3M National Teaching Fellowship reached a milestone in celebrating the 30th anniversary of the first fellowship in 1986. The fellowship is the premier award of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and each year up to 10 fellows are announced. Thus far, there has not been a systematic review or evaluation of the fellowship program. This study is a starting point to engage the various stakeholders and gather their perspectives regarding the fellowship program. This paper highlights the findings of a national questionnaire that targeted 3M National Teaching Fellows, administrators, educational developers, faculty, and students. The findings provide a snapshot of the awareness of the fellowship, the impact of fellows on their institutions and beyond, and recommendations for the future of the program.

Concerns over the usefulness and validity of student ratings of instruction (SRI) have continued to grow with online processes. This paper presents seven common and persistent concerns identified and tested during the development and implementation of a revised SRI policy at a Canadian research-intensive university. These concerns include bias due to insufficient sample size, student academic performance, polarized student responses, disciplinary differences, class size, punishment of rigorous instructor standards, and timing of final exams. We analyzed SRI responses from two mandatory Likert scale questions related to the course and instructor, both of which were consistent over time and across all academic units at our institution. The results show that overall participation in online SRIs is representative of the student body, with academically stronger students responding at a higher rate, and the SRIs, themselves, providing evidence that may moderate worries about the concerns.

In this paper, we take a new look at the problem of analyzing course evaluations. We examine ten years of undergraduate course evaluations from a large Engineering faculty. To the best of our knowledge, our data set is an order of magnitude larger than those used by previous work on this topic, at over 250,000 student evaluations of over 5,000 courses taught by over 2,000 distinct instructors. We build linear regression models to study the factors affecting course and instructor appraisals, and we perform a novel information-theoretic study to determine when some classmates rate a course and/or its instructor highly but others poorly. In addition to confirming the results of previous regression studies, we report a number of new observations that can help improve teaching and course quality.

This paper reports on research into the study habits of-university students, their use digital technologies and how they communicate with each other and their professors. We conclude that most students feel comfortable with digital technologies and that they use social media for connecting and interacting with friends rather than for academic communication. Students prefer face-to-face communication for both academic/school and social communication and they prefer to learn by themselves, work independently and to study at home.

While advances in game-based learning are already transforming educative practices globally, with tech giants like Microsoft, Apple and Google taking notice and investing in educational game initiatives, there is a concurrent and critically important development that focuses on "game construction" pedagogy as a vehicle for enhancing computational literacy in middle and high school students. Essentially, game construction-based curriculum takes the central question "do children learn from playing games" to the next stage by asking "(what) can children learn from constructing games?" Founded on Seymour Papert's constructionist learning model, and developed over nearly two decades, there is compelling evidence that game construction can increase student confidence and build their capacity towards ongoing computing science involvement and other STEM subjects. Our study adds to the growing body of literature on school-based game construction through comprehensive empirical methodology and evidence-based guidelines for curriculum design. There is still debate as to the utility of different software tools for game construction, models of scaffolding knowledge, and evaluation of learning outcomes and knowledge transfer. In this paper, we present a study we conducted in a classroom environment with three groups of grade 6 students (60+ students) using Game Maker to construct their own games. Based on a quantitative analysis and a qualitative discussion we organize results around several core themes that speak to the field of inquiry: levels of computational literacy based on pre- and post-tests; gender-based attitudes to computing science and programming based on a pre- and post-survey; and the relationship between existing media literacy and performance in programming as part of the game construction curriculum. Significant results include some gender differences in attitudes towards computers and programming with boys demonstrating slightly higher confidence and performance. We discuss the complex reasons potentially contributing to that, particularly against a diverse ecology of overall media use, gameplay experience, and access to technology at home. Finally, we theorize game construction as an educational tool that directly engages foundational literacy and numeracy, and connects to wider STEM-oriented learning objectives in ways that can benefit both boys and girls in the classroom.

Qualitative research conducted with 237 pupils from Canada, France, and Morocco, between 10 and 12 years of age, on the setting and functioning of simple electric circuits, demonstrates that similar explanatory systems of the students. For this, we had given them a paper and pencil questionnaire of a sixty minutes duration. The first question was related to power a light bulb using wires and battery. The second issue was intended to determine whether pupils are conscious of the danger associated with a polarity battery. The third is related to the flow of electric current between the + and - terminals of a battery in an electric circuit. The last question requires an understanding of the law of conservation of the charge in a circuit constituted by a battery and a bulb. This research provides an answer to the question of ethnocentricity and universality of students' conceptions from different cultures and linguistic communities. In this research, the thesis of the universality was establish from the students' responses to a questionnaire.

This paper explores the use of video-stimulated recall as a reflective approach for supporting the development of third spaces in action research. The concept of third spaces is used as a conceptual descriptor of the specific intercultural context and relations between the researcher and participants present within the project. The paper summarizes findings drawn from an action research project conducted in partnership with an Inuit school board from northern Québec, Canada. The research goal was to explore the cultural role of teachers in the classroom during a unique teacher training course delivered as part of the project. Course work was structured using a stimulated recall procedure with teachers recording their own classroom practice with the use of video. Based on a content analysis of data drawn from project documentation, teachers' cultural role can be seen as: agents of cultural development; facilitators of cultural transmission; and translators of traditional knowledge. Findings suggest that the establishment of a self-reflective community of practice and "third space" point to the use of video-stimulated recall as a promising procedure for facilitating dialogue in third spaces.

This paper focuses on the results of a mixed-methods study of 13 participants in a Radical Humanities programme designed as a transformative learning space for low-income adults who have experienced barriers to learning. Using demographic questionnaires, semi-structured narrative interviews and course evaluations this study examined participants' experiences in the programme and the impact on their learning, sense of agency and future ambitions. As the first phase of a longitudinal project on the well-being and agency of under-represented and marginalized learners, this preliminary study revealed five predominant themes emerging from learners' experiences: (1) self-reflective meaning-making processes; (2) interrelated personal and communal growth; (3) appreciation of diversity; (4) emerging sense of self-as-learner; (5) renewed aspirations. This paper argues that transformative learning for low-income adults is a complex and challenging process that entails participants' ongoing negotiations of self, learning, and purpose. Understanding and evaluating the effectiveness of transformative learning within a social-emancipatory humanities programme requires attention to the programme's social context and choices faced by participants. Programme participation fosters increased well-being, deeper relationships and hope for the future. However, these tangible benefits are tempered by constraints of individual and structural systems that, for some students, impose limitations on their ability to enact change in themselves and in their lives.

This paper addresses a niche in studies on immersion programmes for English as second language learners. While studies on the impact of the experience of studying abroad are replete with reports about the enhancement of participants' language proficiency or intercultural skills, the present study investigates the types of language and culture strategies used by a group of student teachers on an overseas immersion programme by coding their interview responses and documenting the types of strategies reported. It also traces changes in the participants' perceptions of their strategy use before, during and after studying abroad. The findings show that while participants reported using speaking strategies and listening strategies much more than other language strategies, only a narrow range of both strategy groups are reported. Similar findings are found in their use of culture strategies. Different changes in strategy use before, during and after the immersion are reported. The paper interprets the findings. Both short-term and long-term pedagogic implications for strategy development on study-abroad programmes are proposed.

The paper reports on an action research (AR) project with six public high school leaders (reviewers) who volunteered to engage in an 18 month project to overcome their own defensiveness in addressing concerns with teachers (reviewees) whose performance they were evaluating. In the paper I outline how I acted as a coach in a long-term development approach where participant ownership of focus, data collection, analysis and interpretation was given highest priority. An exploration of the AR approach adopted, and the theory and strategies for addressing concerns is provided. The strategies may likely be a new, unique, contribution for many reviewers. A transcript of one reviewer-reviewee discussion sets the scene for an outline of reviewer tracking of their implementation strategies for improvement and subsequent evaluation. The final part of the paper covers a meta-level discussion of outcomes associated with the overall evaluation findings. Positive outcomes were shown for four of the six leaders for enhanced employment of strategies.

This paper reports the results of a survey on ethics education in initial teacher education in Canada. Using an online survey and an academic calendar analysis, data was collected on ethics course requirements, perceptions about ethics content, institutional factors mediating the implementation of ethics courses, and teaching and learning objectives. Unexpectedly, the results showed that a required ethics course is as common in teacher education in Canada as it is in medical education and that an ethics curriculum is regarded highly by Canadian teacher educators as an aspect of teacher education. The paper concludes by suggesting directions for future research and underlining the need for network building in the area of ethics education for teachers in Canada.

Because they propose a form of modeling, videos have been recognised to be useful to transfer knowledge about practices requiring teachers to adopt a different role. This paper describes the results of a satisfaction survey with 98 teachers, school administrators and professionals regarding their appreciation of training videos showing teacher-led psychosocial interventions. The association between teachers' appreciation of the video and their desire to implement the intervention are explored in terms of authenticity, vicarious learning and self-efficacy, in an attempt to further comprehend how the use of video supports different aspects of modeling (skills--know-how, attitudes--know-how to be). The authors suggest that training videos featuring teachers leading psychosocial interventions support knowledge transfer because learners can relate to successful peers and can think of themselves as competent to replicate the intervention and comfortable to adopt a different role in the classroom.

A qualitative research approach was chosen to analyse the conceptions of pupils attending elementary school from Canada (N = 135), France (N = 30) and Morocco (N = 92) between 10 and 12 years of age. Their conceptions were identified while being mobilised on energy transformations during the working of a simple electric circuit made of a battery, a bulb and electric wires: light, thermal, electrical and chemical. With paper and pencil, they completed a questionnaire made up of six questions during a forty-five minute period. The analysis of the data of the experimentation demonstrates that the majority of the conceptions identified are naïve compared to those constructed by the scientists. It also shows that their conceptions are similar in spite of the different cultures. The results confirm the findings of the international community of researchers in didactics of sciences regarding the universality of children's conceptions about the working of simple electrical circuits. These findings have implications on teacher training, science teaching and learning in a multiple cultural environment.

In this paper, we report findings on the contemporary idea of a university as defined by the relative importance of teaching, research, service, and collegiality in teaching-intensive universities. We also investigate Boyer's model of scholarship relative to the research--teaching--service nexus. Our findings show that while research is embraced as a key academic responsibility of professors, there is general agreement on the primacy of teaching. Equally, awareness of Boyer's model exposes faculty to diverse opportunities for scholarship and has the potential to open up faculty members to a new idea of the university.

This paper presents a large scale study of online MLIS students (n = 910), who completed at least one online course and were enrolled in 36 of the 58 ALA-accredited MLIS programs in Canada and the United States. The results indicate that the typical student is female, White, lives in an urban setting, and is in her mid-30s. Online students were found to be quite diverse, with statistically significant differences in their preferences and satisfaction across five demographic variables: "age" (generational cohort)," "employment status," "urban status," "commute distance," and "program modality." Three motivations emerged: "accommodation," "predisposition," and "selectivity", which influenced the respondents to choose online learning. The prevalent issues online MLIS students experienced were a sense of isolation from peers and instructors, and a lack of professional development and networking opportunities with peers. The findings have implications for enhancing MLIS online education including marketing, course offerings, and student support services.

This paper summarizes the results of a pan-Canadian online survey study that investigates the extent to which school practitioners (N = 1,153) use research to inform their practice. The self-reports indicate that the majority of the respondents used educational research, yet this engagement was infrequent. Although the respondents shared neutral attitudes about research, their comments add rather a negative connotation to their perceptions. This study's findings are relevant to school leadership organizations, teacher education institutions, and research-generating bodies as they point to the necessity of increasing research relevance and accessibility, cultivating teaching as a research-based profession, and building school capacity to use research.

Many Canadian universities have created professional development programs for their teaching assistants (TA) but may be uncertain about how to bridge the gap between TAs' knowledge of effective teaching strategies and TAs' confident applications of these strategies. We present a technique used in a two-day training workshop to enhance graduate students' skills in using effective teaching strategies: role playing. This paper outlines a framework that includes five key elements (Icebreaking, Shared Experiences, Modelling, Acting and Debriefing) to strategically design role playing activities in a training program. We describe each of the 5 elements and explain how they support training through role play exercises. Participant written feedback collected in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014 suggested that role playing was a useful and enjoyable technique. Pre and post workshop questionnaire data suggested that self-perceived competencies for specified tasks directly connected to a role play activity promoted greater positive differences between the pre and post groups compared to self-perceived competencies for specified tasks not directly connected to a role play activity. Based on these results, we assert that training programs which rely on strategic role playing activities will lead to a better overall TA experience of the training program and improvements in TAs' self-perceptions of certain teaching competencies.

This article reports on research regarding interprofessional education (IPE) in child welfare conducted in 2009 and 2010. Pre service nursing, social worker and teacher education candidates participated in a workshop that "exposed" (Charles, Bainbridge & Gilbert, 2010) students to IPE in child welfare. This paper addresses a gap in literature in IPE in child welfare. Literature in IPE precedes a description of the workshop followed by an explanation of the integrated expert presentation, case study, modeling, reflection and small and large group processes. Results of the survey administered to workshop attendees are presented. Likert scaled questions indicate a high degree of satisfaction with the workshop organization, pedagogy and objectives. Responses to the open-ended questions align closely with the Thistlethwaite and Moran (2010) learning outcomes framework. It is clear that pre-service students learned with, from and about each other's discipline. 2 tables and an extensive reference list are included.

This paper focuses on promoting fairness and equity in student assessment practices. The researchers used questionnaires and interviews and the study encompassed a total of 3312 individuals representing a range of stakeholders. The paper is presented in two parts: fairness and discrimination, and challenging policy and practice. Five key principles emerged. Educators must strive to address the personal impact of assessment practices on individual students and their families. Assessment must be differentiated to accommodate the ability, social, cultural and linguistic background of students. All members of school communities must challenge the complacency associated with accepting indefensible assessment practices. The frequency, intensity and intrusiveness of assessments must not be overwhelming for students and their families. Finally, assessment must not be used to counter inappropriate student behaviour or reward desired behaviour. Implications for practice are presented. Additionally, the authors describe changes to policy and practice that occurred as a result of the study.

Our service learning research includes assessment of reflective assignments done by students who apply theoretical knowledge in practical, real-life contexts by working with actual clients. For many of these students our classes are a departure from traditional forms of learning, and a challenge to their ability to apply what they know in often very unpredictable situations. The reflective assignments, which include field notes and journal entries, are designed to 1) train the professional competencies of client case management, writing and recording and 2) foster a sustained commitment to learning and professional development. This paper will describe several teaching and learning issues related to reflective writing which we have encountered in our students' work, and outline our plans to address them as we continue to promote critical thinking and reflection as important skills for our students to master.

Although student involvement in research and inquiry can advance undergraduate learning, there are limited opportunities for undergraduate students to be directly involved in social science research. Social science faculty members typically work outside of laboratory settings, with the limited research assistance work being completed by graduate students. The challenge, therefore, is to find ways to involve undergraduate social science students in research projects that relate to their field of study and that allow them to develop career-relevant skills. The Taking the Pulse of Saskatchewan project presents a unique model for undergraduate student involvement in social science research. The project involved over 30 faculty members from across the University of Saskatchewan's Division of Social Sciences and over 40 undergraduate students. Students were directly involved in data collection, data analysis, report writing and media communications. Through their involvement, students developed and applied research, inquiry and communications skills. Drawing on academic literature regarding undergraduate involvement in research, this paper will present an overview of the Taking the Pulse project, and reflect on the lessons of the project.

This paper has as its aim to analyze how CityVille, a videogame hosted on Facebook and oriented to the construction of a virtual city, can favor collaboration between gamers along with the exchange of strategies, equally contributing to learning transfer and skill acquisition. The first step consists in identifying the opportunities which the said game can offer in order to develop skills and promote learning formats linked with planning and resource management, after which a presentation is made of the opinions expressed by a sample of gamers (N = 105)--belonging to the Fans-CityVille community--about the priorities established by them to communicate with their neighbors and the skills that they believe to have acquired playing this game. 85.7% of them state that they communicate with others to share strategies and expand their city. Unlike women, who value collaboration, men prioritize competition. Designing their city has enhanced a number of gamer skills in different proportions: creative skills (71.4%); organizational ones (68.0%); skills associated with decision-making and problem-solving (67.0%); and interpersonal skills through interaction with others (61.9%). The CityVille game mode favors skill development and helps to create a ludic atmosphere of collaboration and optimal strategy exchange through communication between neighbors by strengthening their mutual relationships. Its formula moves away from the often-criticized competitive practices of other games.

Senior undergraduate research projects are important components of most undergraduate science degrees. The delivery of such projects in a distance education format is challenging. Athabasca University (AU) science project courses allow distance education students to complete research project courses by working with research supervisors in their local area, coordinated at a distance by AU faculty. This paper presents demographics and course performance for 155 students over five years. Pass rates were similar to other distance education courses. Research students were surveyed by questionnaire, and external supervisors and AU faculty were interviewed, to examine the outcomes of these project courses for each group. Students reported high levels of satisfaction with the course, local supervisors, and faculty coordinators. Students also reported that the experience increased their interest in research, and the probability that they would pursue graduate or additional certification. Local supervisors and faculty affirmed that the purposes of project courses are to introduce the student to research, provide opportunity for students to use their cumulative knowledge, develop cognitive abilities, and independent thinking. The advantages and challenges associated with this course model are discussed.

This paper examined teachers' decisions to pursue graduate programs and their career choices following completion of their studies. Based on document analysis and statistical examination of teacher questionnaire responses, this study determined that teachers choose graduate studies for different reasons, their program choice influences future career options, the impact varies across programs, and barriers preventing teachers from advancing to leadership positions exist. These findings also show that females are underrepresented in the most senior leadership positions and there are significant gender differences in career goals and program selection. Policy makers need to address issues like the work-life balance, increased workload, gender imbalance, and increased opportunities for aspiring leaders.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe how researchers from four large Canadian distance education or dual mode institutions conducted a survey aiming to describe the use of and interest in social software and Web 2.0 applications by distance education students and to measure their interest in collaborating with peers. Design/methodology/approach: In order to do this, an online questionnaire was distributed to students from four large Canadian distance education institutions. A systematic sampling procedure led to 3,462 completed questionnaires. The results show that students have diverse views and experiences, but they also show strong and significant age and gender differences in a variety of measures, as well as an important institution effect for interest in collaboration. Findings: Males and younger students score higher on almost all indicators, including cooperative preferences. In this paper the authors review quantitative results from the survey from earlier work (Poellhuber et al.) and present an analysis of the qualitative data gathered from open-ended questions in the survey. Answers to open-ended questions regarding the expectation and interest in using social software in their courses, show that students have positive expectations about interactions and course quality, but also concerns about technical, time, and efficiency issues. Research limitations/implications: The probabilist sampling, as well as the high number of respondents, are forces. The limits of the research are linked to its survey methodology, possible self-selection bias, history effect and social desirability effect. Practical implications: The study opens avenues to those who consider the integration of social software or Web 2.0 tools in distance courses. Social implications: It also offers guidance to those who consider using social software for learning purposes in general. Originality/value: While social media and social networking tools offer new educational affordances and avenues for students to interact, that may alleviate the drop-out rate problem faced by distance education institutions. Little is known about distance students' expertise with social media or their interest in using them to learn individually or to collaborate with peers. (Contains 6 tables.)