MRU Institute for SoTL

Phenomenography – A Research Method with a (Focus on) Difference

Thanks to Margy for sharing information about her presentations at the Banff SoTL Symposium earlier this month.  Margy received a Going Public Award for presenting this work:

Phenomenography – A Research Method with a (Focus on) Difference (with Victoria Guglietti)

This presentation provided a brief overview of phenomenography as a research method for SoTL, contextualized within qualitative research and detailed through the experiences of two Nexen scholars who have used it on separate projects. There was a rich discussion of how phenomenography might be applied to some SoTL questions including the strengths and challenges of applying this method. Participants received a brief bibliography on foundational sources and recent applications for the method.
(see Symposium program to access resources (which will be posted soon!), scroll to Friday Nov 8 at 2:00 pm)

Connecting Students to Scholarly Readings

This presentation was a longer version of the one I did at ISSOTL, with most of the added time spent completing and discussing a reading activity similar to the one used in my research project. The project examined the connections students could make to a piece of scholarly writing and what those connections illuminated about how students were reading the piece. I used phenomenography as a method for analyzing the data and developing categories of connections.  The discussion also covered implications for teaching students to read in the disciplines, aspects to consider and address and concrete changes in my own teaching.

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Reminder: Developing a SoTL Research Question presentation

Reminder: The next topic in our SoTL Exchange Presentation Series:

Developing a SoTL Research question
Presented by: Margy MacMillan, April McGrath, Janice Miller-Young, Melanie Rathburn, and Glen Ryland
Thursday, Nov 21 at noon in Y324

 This group presentation will survey a range of types of SoTL questions, then presenters will each describe one of their SoTL projects in terms of how it was conceived, what methodologies and sources of evidence were used, plus findings and impact.  There will be time for discussion and our intent is that anyone interested in learning about SoTL or thinking about developing a SoTL inquiry will find this presentation useful and engaging.

Hope to see you there!

SoTLExchange

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Learning Theories

Our SoTL CoP will be launching into a discussion of learning theories at our next meeting. As it happens, there was also a recent request for resources on adult learning theory on the STLHE LinkedIn group.  A few websites were recommended in that discussion.  They are listed below, with some comments from Michelle:

I. Categories

The following two sites try to organize the learning theories into broad categories, as we will do next meeting. You will notice they do so in slightly different ways, for example, some people would categorize constructivism as a type of cognitivism, while other people would give constructivism its own category.

Index of Learning Theories and Models
http://www.learning-theories.com/ 

Learning Theories Site Map
http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/learningmap.html#!

II. Comprehensive Lists

The following two sites list broad arrays of theories. 

Learning Theories – this site does not categorize but just lists a variety of theories alphabetically
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/index.html#!

This site is the one recommended in the Kanuka article – it is interesting in the sense that it groups theories that are related under the original theorist, such as B.F. Skinner. But then it also has categories like Behaviorism – it is a bit overwhelming I’d say. 🙂
http://www.emtech.net/learning_theories.htm 

III. Andragogy
Andragogy is a theory of adult education that some people like to distinguish from pedagogy (if you consider pedagogy to be related to children – also up for debate). A good summary of Malcolm Knowles’ work on by Gayla Keesee can be found here (and browse the site for more): http://teachinglearningresources.pbworks.com/w/page/30310516/Andragogy–Adult%20Learning%20Theory#!

IV. A visual representation of everything – just for fun

A Visual Guide To Every Single Learning Theory – at Edudemic
http://edudemic.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/learningtheories-full.jpg

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Ethical Considerations for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

I’m just putting together a handout of references for the workshop I’m co-presenting this week at the SoTL Symposium.  I know how research ethics is such an exciting topic which everyone LOVES to read about so thought I’d share the list here too  😉

Cheers,
Janice

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“The teacher’s responsibility to hold students’ educational interests paramount provides an important perspective when considering ethical issues for research in teaching and learning” (MacLean & Poole, 2010).

Guidance Documents

Panel on Research Ethics. (2010). Tri‐Council policy statement: Ethical conduct for research involving humans. Available at www.pre.ethics.gc.ca/eng/policy-politique/initiatives/tcps2-eptc2/Default/

Mount Royal University Human Research Ethics Board (2012) Ethical Considerations for Dual‐Role Research: Conducting Research with Students in your own Classroom. Available at http://www.mtroyal.ca/wcm/groups/public/documents/pdf/dualroleresearchers.pdf

Articles

Healey, R.L., Bass, T., Caulfield, J., Hoffman, A. McGinn, M.K., Miller-Young, J., and Haigh, M. (2013) Being Ethically Minded: Practising the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in an Ethical Manner. Teaching and Learning Inquiry 1(2), pp. 23-33. Available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/teachlearninqu.1.issue-2

MacLean, M., and Poole, G. (2010). An introduction to ethical considerations for novices to research in teaching and learning in Canada. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 1(2). Available at http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1016&context=cjsotl_rcacea

Pecorino, P.A., Kincaid, S., and Gironda, B. (2008) Research and Experimentation in Teaching Effectiveness: The Ethical Review Process and the IRB. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 2(1). Available at http://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/int_jtl/23/

Stockley, D. and Balkwill, L. (2013) Raising Awareness of Research Ethics in SoTL: The Role of Educational Developers. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 4(1), Article 7.  Available at http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cjsotl_rcacea/vol4/iss1/7

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CSL Research group – save the dates!!

Arrangements are coming together for two upcoming CSL research group events!  (If you’re interested in only receiving CSL Research Group news, add a comment below requesting to be added to the email distribution list.)

12:00 Thurs Nov 28: presentation by Melanie Rathburn and Roberta Lexier, research design-in-progress for their upcoming GenEd CSL trip to Honduras

all day Thurs Jan 30: CSL-SoTL workshop presented by Patti Clayton, co-author and co-editor of two books on Research on Service Learning
Research on Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks & Assessments

More details coming soon!!

And by the way, here’s a recent, brief article on service learning from Faculty Focus:
What Makes Service Learning Unique: Reflection and Reciprocity

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