Kudos to Karen Manarin and the Critical Reading team!
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.
“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)
MRU students win 2nd place at the CSC
Karen Manarin elected to VP Canada position with ISSoTL
Finding the sweet spot: ePortfolios connecting personal, classroom, and field-based learning experiences
Congratulations to Norm Vaughan who received a Going Public Award for being accepted to present the following presentation at the American Educational Research Association annual conference this April. He is also presenting with his students here at MRU this week:
Finding the sweet spot:
ePortfolios connecting personal, classroom, and field-based learning experiences
Cathy Li, Brooke Ruskin, and Norm Vaughan (Education)
Friday, March 21, 2014
12 noon – 1 p.m.
Room T231
upcoming SoTL Exchange presentations at MRU
Invitation to participate in a study re: SoTL and Academic Identity
Earle Abrahamson (University of East London) and Karen Manarin (Mount Royal University, Canada) would like to invite you to participate in a brief survey about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) and academic identity.
The information gathered will be used to consider a conceptual model around knowledge and knowing within a SoTL framework. The majority of questions require short answers, and the survey should take around 20 minutes to complete. The survey itself is anonymous, and in any dissemination, we will ensure that you cannot be identified by any information provided. At the end of the survey, you will be asked if you would be interested in being contacted for a follow-up interview.
All questions have been reviewed and approved by the Mount Royal Human Research Ethics Board and the University of East London University Ethics Research Committee. If you have any questions concerning your rights as a possible participant in this research, please contact the Research Compliance Officer, at Mount Royal University, 403-440-8470, herb<at>mtroyal.ca. Completion and submission of the survey implies that consent has been given.
If you would like to participate, please complete the survey on TooFast by February 28, 2014. Click on the following link to go to the survey.