Another engaging thought-provoking presentation at the UO Conference 2014

Making Writing Public(s): How Blogs and Social Media Connect Students to a Writing Community 

“Research on writing development suggests that students who learn to write for multiple audiences...are the strongest writers when they graduate. However, our data indicate instructors across the university rarely ask students to write for any audience other than the instructor.” (Graves, 2013)

In her presentation, Brooklin Schneider introduced a quick lesson on blogs and social media and explained how we can use the tools and strategies, which are currently integrated in the Olds’ College teaching practices, into our own teaching and professional development practices. 

She claimed that writing has always been public and that the technology and social media platforms have just allowed us a different avenue to do what we have always done. We still share stories, convey information, and, thus, continue the evolution of writing communities and the process of “making writing public”.

"Traditionally, in the school system, it is common to think that the student writing should be just for a teacher and should be graded."  Brooklin questioned the “limited” approach of considering student writing as incomplete and in need of formal assessment before the “good copy” becomes public.  To oppose the conventional system, she told a story of  current students whose “writing lives are almost exclusively online”. The students have been practising “public writing” with the rise of social media, by sharing their thoughts on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. Therefore, Brooklin suggested to , perhaps, change our own perspective and recreate  the “social media” environment in classroom.  

To learn more from Brooklin , please watch the recorded session of her presentation at the UO Conference 2014 .

Brooklin Schneider is a Communications instructor in the School of Agrifood, Land and Fashion at Olds College. She has been teaching communications and literature classes at Olds College for two years and prior to that was a PhD student at York University, studying South African literature. She is also the College’s Twitter maven, managing the official Olds College Twitter account and supporting other social media accounts for the College's Brewmaster & Brewery Operations Program.

New appreciation for YouTube in the classroom:UO Conference

Post author: Tasha Nott

When broached about the topic of YouTube and its uses in the classroom, I sometimes cringe at the name and suppose that YouTube should belong to the same category as Wikipedia – an informational hub that can sometimes carry a tarnished reputation due to its boundless and editable data.  Preferring scholarly documentaries and journals to potentially opined ideas on websites, YouTube used to be a website of – agad! – fear and loathsomeness.  That is, until I attended some YouTube Media Curation meetings with the CEFL team and, the Media Curation UO Conference presentation by my fellow podmate and online teacher extraordinaire, Jennefer Rousseau.

Jennefer Rousseau (source)

Jennefer’s presentation took us on a journey through technology.  She began by discussing her own voyage using YouTube in the classroom – back when it was in its infancy. Jennefer demonstrated through an engaging PowerPoint how her roots in YouTube began as (and what her students must have thought also) an imaginative teacher engaging her students in a language that they could really relate to: technology.  Shakespeare and sports?!  On video?  Fantastic!

What the presentation really hit home for me was the fact that student engagement is driven up when using a visual that they can understand and, more importantly, relate to.  No more need for lengthy and scholarly documentaries, conducting basic searches in YouTube will yield many suitable choices for even the pickiest of teachers provided he or she has the basic principles in mind: condensed length, visually-appealing design, and audience and curricularly-appropriate content.

Jennefer challenged her participants to view several YouTube clips that ranged from the, uh, ordinary to the awe-inspiring.  I left the session feeling like I had a new repertoire of resources at my awaiting fingertips, and I was eager to see what other great, concise video clips were out there.  My search has yielded a multitude of beneficial resources and now my problem is not how to find the latest and greatest, but where to store all these juicy videos!

Move over, BBC, here comes YouTube!


To view the presentation, click on the following link: UO Conference - Media Curation.

What skills does one need to be an applied researcher?

By: Sandi Loschnig

Image provided by shutterstock.com image id. 209103715.

Bow Valley College’s Community of Practice for Applied Research hosted an inaugural forum on September 30, 2014 to explore the characteristics, skills and motivations of the applied researcher. This is what we learned.

“Pay attention to what unsettles you, what doesn’t feel right” Dr. Phyllis Steeves[1] told the forum. “The work I do impacts the Indigenous communities I work with. Research needs to be meaningful. It engages us in thinking about real world problems. When we do research we develop and articulate knowledge.”

Karen Mercer[2] agrees. “I never thought of myself as an applied researcher but I’m inquisitive. I ask questions. I’m curious.  My research started from a discussion, and I realized if things struck a chord with me, they may strike a chord with others. Applied research is about being interested in learning and sharing that learning.”

Curious, flexible, persuasive, people-minded, open, collaborative, engaged in learning, persistent, passionate. These words came up again and again in describing the qualities that make an applied researcher. And they certainly describe the researchers on the panel.

All six distinguished participants* on the panel spoke enthusiastically and passionately about the different research projects they had initiated. They also shared their thoughts on the importance of applied research and what it contributes to learners, Bow Valley College and communities in general.

Collaboration, cross-disciplinary teamwork, and partnerships are key in developing applied research projects.

For Corinne Finnie, applied research is about community development – helping the community identify opportunities and partnerships. “In the process of interviewing and engaging people, they become part of the research. You identify people and organizations that have a common interest.” Corinne was instrumental in Bow Valley College’s involvement in an extensive study led by Mount Royal University investigating the impacts of the 2013 floods on families in High River. Her applied research projects also include Rural Workforce Development: Assessing Employer Needs and Improving Access to Training. This included a survey of 184 business leaders and employers to identify workforce training needs in High River and Okotoks.[3]

“I want to get involved when I see or suspect that things could be done better. At TOWES (Test of Workplace and Essential Skills), I have an interesting opportunity to engage with government, educational institutions and businesses to talk about literacy. We do develop products, but we also participate in bigger discussions about literacy” Krista Medhurst explained. Krista is the business lead responsible for managing the TOWES unit at BVC. She has conducted and managed several innovative applied research projects, most recently the development of TOWES Prime, an intuitive online complement to the pen and paper TOWES.[4]

Hana Taleb Imai is the current chair of BVC’s Research Ethics Board and Coordinator, Innovation and Research for the Centre for Excellence in Immigrant and Intercultural Advancement. “I am always looking for a better way to do things. There used to be only one pathway for learners who had entry-level English. I was part of a team of researchers who collaborated to develop another assessment tool/pathway for learners based on entry level language benchmarks.”[5] At present, she is involved with a team looking at distributed learning and other modalities as opposed to the traditional ELL classroom.

It’s important to be aware of our own assumptions and prejudices.

Dr. Phyllis Steeves emphasized that what we value impacts our teaching practice and underpins our research. Currently, she is working on an Adult Literacy Research Institute project as lead researcher with a team developing an oral assessment framework for Aboriginal Peoples funded by Innovation and Advanced Education.[6] “We realized how embedded the prioritization of written language is in most forms of assessments. The Assessment Framework project is being developed to focus on strengths of Aboriginal peoples and to find ways for adult learners to be empowered when assessing their skills.”

Be committed to translating your research into practice.

Dr. Rena Shimoni was BVC’s Dean of Applied Research and Innovation and was responsible for securing research funding and seeing several province-wide studies from idea to completion.[7] She spoke about the importance of planning for change that results from your research. “It’s not enough to do a study and share the results. If you believe your research influences change, plan for it. How am I going to make sure the research is impactful? Be committed to translating it into practice.”

Some final words of advice to the future applied researcher

“When you have that initial idea, talk about it with colleagues. The richness of their feedback can really guide you.”(Krista Medhurst)

“Know your funders, know the environment, and partner if you can.” (Corinne Finnie)

“At the college, there are a number of people who have done applied research, and the Applied Research and Evaluation department. Utilize this internal expertise.” (Hana Taleb Imai)

“There is a lot of organization that goes into a research project.  Be aware of your own strengths, as well as the areas where you could benefit from input and assistance from others.” (Dr. Rena Shimoni)

“Research doesn’t stand alone. Your own philosophical perspectives, theories, all aspects of your life will inform your research.” (Dr. Phyllis Steeves)

“What you find might also surprise you. You have to be open-minded and flexible, be open enough to see something different than what you expected.” (Karen Mercer)

*The panelists

• Rena Shimoni, Research Advisor to the Vice President, Learning, and to the Director of Learning Resource Services and Applied Research (BVC)
• Karen Mercer, Program Coordinator overseeing High School Programs and Curriculum Development (BVC)
• Corinne Finnie, Director, Regional Stewardship, (BVC)
• Krista Medhurst, Business Lead, TOWES Unit, (BVC)
• Hana Taleb Imai, current chair of BVC’s Research Ethics Board and Program Coordinator, Innovation and Research, Centre for Excellence in Immigrant and Intercultural Advancement (BVC)
• Phyllis Steeves, Assistant Professor at Werklund School of Education and Applied Researcher (University of Calgary)

An invitation to get involved

“In the spirit of bringing together people with a thirst for knowledge,”[8] the BVC Community of Practice for Applied Research was formed in late 2013. The group is open to all members of the College community interested in connecting, sharing, engaging and talking about research on topics that matter to them. This is the first of what is hoped to be many special events featuring researchers and projects from BVC and beyond.

Contact arcop@bowvalleycollege.ca for more information and to get involved.

 

This event was organized and planned by:

Patricia Pryce, Instructor Lead, Essential Skills, Centre for Excellence in Foundational Learning

Scott Henwood, Researcher, Applied Research and Evaluation

Tim Loblaw, Coordinator Teaching & Learning Enhancement, Learning Resource Services

Aggie Legaspi, Evaluation and Applied Research Lead, Applied Research and Evaluation

Candace Witkowskyj, Instructor Lead, Disability and Literacy, Centre for Excellence in Foundational Learning

Afifah Oishi, Research and Evaluation Assistant, Applied Research & Evaluation

Samra Admasu, Communications Officer, Adult Literacy Research Institute

 

[1] Dr. Phyllis Steeves is currently an assistant professor at the Werklund School of Education and has done extensive research into the concept of Aboriginal literacy and its impact on Indigenous peoples. Her Phd dissertation Literacy: Genocide’s Silken Instrument explores the “actions/events/discourses that facilitated creation of a concept which reframes Aboriginal peoples’ ways of knowing and being under a Eurocentric construct: the concept of Aboriginal literacy.” (Steeves, 2010).

[2] Karen Mercer is a Program Coordinator in the Centre for Excellence in Foundational Learning. Her research project A Selected Literature Review for Adult Learner Success Aboriginal Upgrading Program done in collaboration with April Bellegarde and Alice Charland can be found at http://centreforfoundationallearning.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/2012aug07_litreview_aboriginal_final.pdf

[3] See https://www.bowvalleycollege.ca/rural_workforce_development_assessing_employer_needs_and_improving_access_to_training.pdf

[4] See http://www.towes.com/media/31455/towes%20prime%20announcement.pdf

[5] See https://centre.bowvalleycollege.ca/research-development/projects-development/redevelopment-target

[6] See http://www.centreforexcellenceinfoundationallearning.ca/ under projects.

[7] See https://www.bowvalleycollege.ca/campus-services/applied-research-and-evaluation/publications.html

[8] Community of Practice Planning Committee announcement

Art as Part of Aboriginal Program Orientation by Amy Horne

The Aboriginal Upgrading program is a classroom dedicated to supporting First Nations, Metis and Inuit students. Our main goal on Orientation Day is to have the students become familiar with one another. In doing this we also took advantage of the first day of classes as an opportunity to create some artwork for the classroom.  We are lucky to have several students who are artists and enjoy creating works in their own spare time, so taking advantage of that natural talent is always a good idea. Our main challenge was to choose a project that appealed to adults and that captured our students pride in their shared – yet diverse- aboriginal heritage.  This is how our beautiful “Buffalo Mosaic” watercolour came to life.

Traditional Aboriginal belief reinforces the idea there is no distinction between art and life, similarly, there is no word that exists in the hundreds of Native American languages that comes close to our modern definition of art. In many indigenous cultures, art, beauty, functionality and spirituality are intertwined – creating art for “art’s sake” just doesn’t exist.  This project, although aesthetically beautiful, had the underlying motive of creating community within the classroom. Throughout the semester we witness people who meet and become good friends because they sat together on the first day of class.

For our watercolour mosaic project Kiarra and I searched for an image relevant to our classroom. We discovered a colourful Buffalo painting by Native New Mexico Artist John Nieto. He had several paintings that fit our requirements – colourful, an animal, by an aboriginal artist. We chose the Buffalo because of its meaning. The Buffalo represents honour and generosity, and is associated with strength, endurance and protection.

 

Notes on “Coaching Instructors: Tales from an LMS Transition” presented online at UO Conference 2014

Post author: Marjorie Contenti

The standout idea of this session from the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary was the use of graduate students as technology coaches providing support to instructors in the implementation of a new learning management system (LMS).  The presenters described benefits that were realized by the student-coaches, the instructors, and the Werklund School and provoked discussion about effective ways to roll out new technology.  One of the main strategies and benefits seemed to be the collaboration that developed among IT, the graduate students, the instructors/users and the presenters.  It seems like a very simple and logical idea, but I have not heard of many institutions using graduate students working in this way with instructors.

The presenters invited input from the small group who attended the session, and a few Bow Valley College people offered comments.   I observed the implementation at BVC was on a smaller scale and was focused on pilot projects followed by workshop.  In addition, budget and resources were quite different as the U of C graduate students were paid as coaches, and the timeline seemed quite a bit longer. 

Overall, the session provided some strong ideas for future technology implementations in an educational institution.

You can access the recording of this session, presented by Luciano da Rosa Dos Santos and Jennifer Lock, on the UO Conference website.

Alec Couros’s presentation via the UO Conference.

                 

Alec Couros

Dr. Alec Couros is a professor of educational technology and media and the Coordinator of Information and Communications Technology at the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. Couros is a scholar and advocate of openness in distributed learning environments. He has given hundreds of workshops and presentations around the globe on topics such as openness in education, social/networked learning, instructional design, digital citizenship, and critical media literacy. His graduate and undergraduate courses help current and future educators understand how to use and take advantage of the educational potential offered by the tools of connectivity.

Alec spoke on Embedding Digital Citizenship in Adult Basic Education or Adult Upgrading.

It’s important to be aware of your digital identity. For some human beings, their first appearance on the Internet is before birth.

                                       

Alec provided several unfortunate examples where legal adults, and more often teenagers, that were caught via Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook in the process of poor decision making. Alec’s examples were a reminder to all that use the Internet, one’s digital imprint is forever and rarely forgiven. Yet, Alec advocates that avoiding the internet altogether is impossible and a better solution is to be a conscious digital citizen. 

Alec finished his presentation with some heart-warming stories in which the Internet changed people’s lives, including one about ESL students from Brazil who got to practice their English with senior citizens in North America via an internet device resembling Skype.

To watch Alec’s Couros’ full presentation, follow the link below:

https://adobeconnect.nait.ca/p1txj96qako/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal