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This paper presents a reliable tool for measuring transformative learning in undergraduate social work education, the Social Work Transformation Survey (SWTS). The SWTS was developed from a qualitative theoretical model and translated into quantitative scales. The study collected data from 248 undergraduate students from eight countries who participated in a transnational project using creative journaling to facilitate transformative learning. Structural equation modelling was used to validate the internal structure of the SWTS. We then confirmed the measures' reliability, and subsequently the effectiveness of creative journaling practices as a pedagogy for facilitating transformative learning in social work students. This paper highlights the potential of combining qualitative and quantitative research approaches to develop educational evaluation tools for higher education settings and presents one specific measure for transformative learning.

The Teaching Scholars Program and Community of Practice (TSCoP) develops educational leadership and research through enabling reflective conversations, purposeful listening, inclusive standards, and bold thinking about Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Teaching Scholars lead innovative practice in their own faculty given their shared commitment to improving teaching and learning in diverse post-secondary contexts through practice focused research. In this paper, we describe how the TSCoP is both formal in structure and design, and informal and emergent in facilitated interpersonal discussions. Ongoing conversations among diverse colleagues contribute to Teaching Scholars' reflective and reflexive practice, help each educational leader gain new insights into their own studies and expand their vision for educational leadership in higher education. We use a SoTL framework to examine and position each of our research projects, and explore and make connections with educational leadership, mentorship and SoTL research. [Articles in this journal were presented at the University of Calgary Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching.]

Critical reflection (CR) is regarded as essential for learning in higher education. Many instructors want students to reflect deeply and critically, but lament perceived deficiencies in students' value and understanding of CR. This qualitative study explored four undergraduate courses across disciplines to appraise how instructors' perceptions of CR compared to the perceptions of their students. We uncovered similarities and differences in how instructors and students define, engage, identify, and value CR. Our findings reveal tensions around how to explain CR to students, and around different methods and meanings across disciplines and contexts with implications for practice. The findings suggest that although facilitating CR remains a challenging and often-nebulous endeavor, both instructors and students value the process and the gap may not be as insurmountable as commonly perceived.

In this paper, we emphasize the value of an online community of practice (OCoP) for bringing together faculty from across disciplines to share and leverage their diverse expertise and perspectives. We examine the transition of an interdisciplinary community of practice through the pivot into an online environment for engagement, communication, and collaboration. Through this paper we describe our individual Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) projects and how we have navigated these projects within the Teaching Scholars OCoP, as well as our reflections and key learnings that have resulted from this sustained collaboration. We contribute key learnings and online strategies which can inform and be tailored by other academics and institutions who are developing online communities of practice as an approach to sustaining educational leadership and change in SoTL research and practice in diverse and distributed contexts.

This seven-cohort mixed methods study examines student engagement in their learning in higher education utilizing inquiry-based learning. The study was conducted in varied settings (on-campus, in community, and study abroad), and across various degree levels (undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral) in social work education. Study results reveal an increase in participant reflective and integrative learning, and an increase in higher-order learning. Qualitative findings support the results through four emergent themes: (1) experience of inquiry-based learning, (2) adjustments required for learning process, (3) impactful facilitators to learning, and (4) developing deep learning. Implications and recommendations are offered for higher education and professional programs.

COVID-19 has required researchers to change methods to better reflect the new realities of social distancing, sheltering in place, and the use of extended quarantines to isolate from the community. The paper illustrates the implications of shifting recruitment strategies midstream with populations that are already normally considered 'hard-to-reach'. The population in this illustration involves mothers with young children in shared parenting arrangements across three Canadian provinces (Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario) who have experienced domestic violence. Due to public health protocols that required social distancing, strategies typically used to engage vulnerable populations in research, including collaborating with community service providers and face-to-face contact were no longer possible. With limited knowledge and resources, we pivoted our recruitment strategy from the use of posters in agencies to a paid Facebook advertisement strategy. Prior to our social media campaign, our time-intensive recruitment efforts had produced very few responses to our online survey. Our advertisement ran from March 13 to 12 July 2020 and Facebook reported that it 'reached' an approximate 42,488 viewers Through Facebook, we discovered a number of support groups for mothers with young children that only exist online. Rather than putting up posters in their settings, community service providers became online recruiters through their 'tweets', 'likes', and 'sharing' of our study. The impact of COVID-19 on our research has taught us about the power of social media as a recruitment strategy. Facebook is a useful tool to enhance research awareness and engagement with hard-to-reach populations even post COVID-19.

Transformative learning captures the process by which students engage in their learning at holistic levels (emotional, cognitive, spiritual, physical, social, and environmental) and the extent to which they experience a change in perspective, of themselves or society. This four-year, four-cohort study (n = 40) examined the transformative learning experiences of Masters of Social Work students as they prepared to graduate and practice in their professional field. Data were collected via focus group methods and were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Three primary themes were identified: (1) transformation is a process of feeling displaced, re-evaluating, and surfacing; (2) transformative outcomes are multidimensional and embody personal and professional learning; and (3) transformative learning is a holistic experience. This study makes a novel contribution to the literature on transformative learning by empirically examining students' experiences of transformation within accredited professional programs, and the development of pedagogical approaches that facilitate student growth within such settings.

This study estimates the causal effects of six corrective actions for children's problem behaviors, comparing four types of longitudinal analyses that correct for pre-existing differences in a cohort of 1,464 4- and 5-year-olds from Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) data. Analyses of residualized gain scores found apparently detrimental effects of all corrective actions by parents and professionals on subsequent antisocial behavior and hyperactivity. In contrast, analyses of simple gain scores found only apparently beneficial effects. Temporally reversed analyses yielded the same pattern of results, consistent with selection biases and regression artifacts, not with unidirectional causal effects. The findings were similar for corrective actions by professionals (e.g., Ritalin, psychotherapy) and by parents (physical and nonphysical punishment, scolding/yelling, "hostile-ineffective" parenting). Longitudinal analyses should check for similar artifacts by implementing temporally-reversed analyses and by determining whether causally relevant coefficients would replicate without artifacts biased in their favor. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)

Using 1980/81 and 1990/91 census data from Australia, Canada, and the United States, we estimate the effects of time in the destination country on male immigrants' wages, employment, and earnings. We find that total earnings assimilation is greatest in the United States and least in Australia. Employment assimilation explains all of the earnings progress experienced by Australian immigrants, whereas wage assimilation plays the dominant role in the United States, and Canada falls in between. We argue that relatively inflexible wages and generous unemployment insurance in countries like Australia may cause assimilation to occur along the quantity rather than the price dimension. (Contains 4 tables and 11 footnotes.)

Data from two Canadian surveys showed that only 32% of dislocated workers had unionized jobs before displacement; their wage loss represented about 80% of wages lost by all displaced workers surveyed. Losing union status was associated with large wage losses regardless of whether they switched industries. (SK)

A 21-item scale combining and modifying an environmental paradigm and a social paradigm was used in 2 surveys. This paper compares attitudinal dimensions resulting from factor analysis. Similarities in terms of relationships between scores on the scale and preferences for energy-related options were also assessed. (Author/CW)