Recent publications on Learning Statistics and Reading Academic Texts
Congrats to April McGrath and Margy MacMillan who recently published articles on their Nexen projects:
- McGrath, April L. (2014) Content, Affective, and Behavioral Challenges to Learning: Students’ Experiences Learning Statistics, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(2).
- MacMillan, M. (2014) Student connections with academic texts: A phenomenographic study of reading. Teaching in Higher Education, 19(8), 943-954.
An interdisciplinary, international collaboration about teaching Community Service Learning courses
Above, left to right: Janice Miller-Young (Institute for SoTL), Yasmin Dean (Social Work), Judy Gleeson (Nursing), Victoria Clavert (Bissett School of Business), Patti Clayton (Indiana Univeristy – Purdue University Indianapolis), Melanie Rathburn (Biology), Roberta Lexier (General Education), Margot Underwood (Nursing)
This faculty research group is collaborating with leading scholar Dr. Patti Clayton to conduct a self-study of faculty learning when teaching with the challenging pedagogy “Community Service Learning”. They have conducted a series of interviews about reciprocity in their international service-learning courses and will work over the 2014-15 academic year to analyze them, place their findings within the existing literature, and ultimately produce a paper. However, we are finding the benefits of this work to be as much about process as outcome (the sharing of stories, as well as group analysis and writing are all part of the learning process). Preliminary findings are being presented at the prestigious IARSLCE conference:
- Decoding Ourselves: faculty thinking about reciprocity in global service learning courses, International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, Tulane University, Sept. 2014.
We anticipate that by getting this interdisciplinary community together, other collaborative projects about student learning will grow out of it in the future. Currently, I-SoTL is also sponsoring one SoTL-CSL research project in General Education (Rathburn and Lexier).
“Continuing in SoTL” Community of Practice
Last year, a number of us got together to form a community of practice for those who were looking for continued support in SoTL after finishing the Nexen Scholars program.
Communities of practice are groups whose members “share a passion for something they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better” (Wenger, 2006).
All MRU Nexen Scholars who are interested in continuing their SoTL scholarship are invited to join the group this year, but for the purposes of a developing conversation, must be able to commit to the fall meeting times.
Fall meeting times:
Fridays, 3:00-4:00
Oct 10, Nov 14, Dec 12
Room TBA (hopefully the Faculty Centre so that we can cruise into AA…)
If you’re wondering exactly what this group might want to talk about, well, that will be for the group to decide in its first meeting. Last year we read articles together, discussed research approaches and learning theories, workshopped each other’s projects, and talked about strategies for developing a line of research, carving out time for scholarship and writing, etc.
Teaching and Learning Exchange: Sept 25
The Institute for SoTL invites you to our first T&L Exchange presentation of the year:
Tales from the trenches: How 3rd year journalism students talk about research literacy learning as it relates to current and future practice
Sept 25, 12:30-1:30 in T107
This presentation investigates students’ learning and its connection to practice in a mandatory 3rd year journalism class focused on the development of research literacy skills. The intention is to describe how students make sense of the research literacy skills they are being taught (such as the identification of research methods and questions, sampling procedures and reading statistical information) in the context of their imaginary as students and potential journalists. In sum, this presentation intends to help unravel how students are making sense of experience in the classroom by using their feedback (as opposed to my assumptions as an instructor). In doing so I offer some empirical data about the complex process of student sense making as they negotiate their learning experiences as current and future practitioners.
Dr. Amanda Williams has been a part time instructor for the Faculty of Communication Studies at Mount Royal University since 2009. She teaches theory and research methods for the Journalism, Information Design and Public Relations programs. Her current research projects include an exploration of journalism student identity, discourses of sustainability in the Alberta oil sands, and the development of Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs) in Canada.
2014-15 Going Public Awards: next deadline Sept 30
In an effort to support the dissemination of research results produced by Nexen Scholars, the Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning is pleased to sponsor the Nexen Scholars Going Public Award. This award is available to all Nexen Scholars who are presenting findings resulting from data gathered for their original Nexen project OR findings resulting from a subsequent SoTL inquiry.
Application instructions: 2014-15GoingPublic
Application deadlines: Sept 30 (for conferences Sept-Jan) and Jan 30 (for conferences Feb-Aug)
Next TransCanada Collaborative SoTL grant deadline: Oct 31
TransCanada Pipelines Limited has invested $925,000 over a five year period, part of which will support a Research Program for Learning Innovation and Collaborative Inquiry.
As part of this program, the Institute for SoTL at MRU is pleased to sponsor the Collaborative SoTL Inquiry Grants. These grants are designated for collaborative teaching and learning inquiry projects which go beyond an inquiry about teaching and learning in a single class.
Some examples of collaborative inquiries include, but are not limited to, inquiries about teaching and learning that:
- will be investigated in multiple courses and/or sections in a department or program (for example, studying student learning over a series of courses)
- will be investigated in courses from different programs and faculties (for example, studying students’ writing skills development in courses from a variety of disciplines)
- will be investigated in courses from multiple contexts (for example, studying the effect of a certain pedagogy at institutions with varying class sizes)
- have a student as a co-investigator (a senior student collaborating to design/conduct a study in a lower-level class)
- require the expertise of a variety of co-investigators due to the size and scope of the project (for example, a technical writing expert collaborating to study student report writing skills in a science lab)
Collaborative SoTL projects may apply for funding of up to $10,000 per year. The budget for these grants is $30,000 per year so one or two grants will be awarded per funding cycle. For multi-institutional projects, a MRU faculty member must be the principal investigator on the project. See the guidelines document, below, for more information. If you are uncertain whether or not your proposed project meets the criteria, please contact the Director to explore possibilities.
APPLICATION DEADLINES Mar 31 and Oct 31 each year
**updated for Winter 2015: to apply, Principal Investigators must use the Office of Research Services web-based application, and follow the guidelines below:
2014-15Collaborative-Research-Grant-guidelines-updatedW15
Also see the Institute homepage for information about previously funded projects.