The inverted classroom will no longer be the exception to the rule
Eighty per cent of information will be delivered by massive open online courses, online courses, video and video-call
sessions from experts in the field – methods that do not require attendance in class.
As a consequence, valuable time in class will be used not for lecturing but for question and answer sessions, activities, exercises, case studies and peer group feedback.
Contact-hour teaching will be based on active participation and exercises focusing on the personal benefit to the
students, motivated by their interests instead of their careers.
Students will have to take responsibility for their learning. This inverted classroom approach will represent an
emancipatory process – empowering students to count on their individual strengths. Communication skills,
teamwork and self-development will be of great value, even in a world of digital individualisation.
Now here’s an argument I haven’t heard before: Improving your instruction makes it easier for students to learn. If it’s easier for them to learn, they won’t work as hard in the course, and that means they could learn less. It’s called offsetting behavior and we can’t ask students about it directly because it would be disingenuous for them to admit to studying less when learning becomes easier.
Canadian officials are finding it difficult to keep up with the increasing demand from international students, leading to waiting times for visas that are weeks longer than those in Britain or the United States, and reducing the program’s competitiveness.
The lengthy timelines are contained in a report from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), obtained by The Globe and Mail through freedom of information legislation. While the federal government wants to double the number of students from abroad by 2022, it has not provided sufficient resources to process the increased numbers, the report says. CIC blames this “lack of coordination” between federal departments for an increase of 30 per cent in processing times for study permits and a doubling of the time for temporary resident visas.
Diverses expérimentations de stratégies de collaboration entre l’école, la famille et la communauté (CEFC) en milieu à risque (MR) font ressortir l’apport positif de cette collaboration sur la persévérance scolaire des élèves (Deslandes, 2006; Epstein, 2001; MELS, 2009). Trente-cinq stagiaires en enseignement ont effectué un stage en MR; vingt-cinq La collaboration entre l’école, la famille et la communauté en milieu à risque d’entre eux ont amorcé un projet de CEFC. L’analyse de ces projets à partir de la typologie d’Epstein (2011) fait ressortir principalement deux types de collaboration, à savoir la communication et le volontariat. La collaboration avec la communauté est présente dans quelques projets des stagiaires, tandis que la prise de décisions relatives à la vie scolaire par les parents, ne suscite aucune activité. La formation initiale devrait sensibiliser les
futurs enseignants à la pertinence des six types de CEFC, entre autres, la connaissance par les parents de leur rôle parental et les moyens de susciter le soutien scolaire à la maison.
Mots-clés : collaboration école-famille-communauté, formation initiale en enseignement,
milieu à risque, stagiaires en enseignement, typologie d’Epstein.
Abstract
Several experiments investigated the collaboration strategies between school, family, and community (CSFC) in underprivileged areas (UA). The results showed positive repercussions on the student’s performance and attitude towards school and learning (Deslandes, 2006; Epstein, 2001; MELS, 2009). Thirty-fi ve pre-service teachers had their practicum in schools from underprivileged areas, and 25 of them initiated a CSFC project. After analyzing the projects, based on Epstein’s typology (2011), two dominant types of collaboration emerge: communicating and volunteering. Collaborating with the community was
a part of some projects, while decision making by parents about the school was absent. We argue that the original teaching formation should guide the future teachers towards the six types of CSFC, particularly the knowledge of their parenting role by the parents and ways to get school support at home.
Keywords: Epstein’s typology, original teaching formation, pre-service teacher practicum,
school-family-community collaboration, underprivileged area.
Leadership is an elusive concept. We each define it in our own terms and redefine it as we progress through life. But we are not at a loss for models and formulas of leadership. Our world provides us with many examples of leaders and prescribed routes to becoming leaders ourselves.
The OECD’s Brain and Learning project (2002) emphasized that many misconceptions about the brain exist among professionals in the field of education. Though these so-called “neuromyths” are loosely based on scientific facts, they may have adverse effects on educational practice. The present study investigated the prevalence and predictors of neu-romyths among teachers in selected regions in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. A large observational survey design was used to assess general knowledge of the brain and neuromyths. The sample comprised 242 primary and secondary school teachers who were interested in the neuroscience of learning. It would be of concern if neuromyths were found in this sample, as these teachers may want to use these incorrect interpreta-tions of neuroscience findings in their teaching practice. Participants completed an online survey containing 32 statements about the brain and its influence on learning, of which 15 were neuromyths. Additional data was collected regarding background variables (e.g., age, sex, school type). Results showed that on average, teachers believed 49% of the neuromyths, particularly myths related to commercialized educational programs. Around 70% of the general knowledge statements were answered correctly. Teachers who read popular science magazines achieved higher scores on general knowledge questions. More general knowledge also predicted an increased belief in neuromyths. These findings sug-gest that teachers who are enthusiastic about the possible application of neuroscience findings in the classroom find it difficult to distinguish pseudoscience from scientific facts. Possessing greater general knowledge about the brain does not appear to protect teachers from believing in neuromyths. This demonstrates the need for enhanced interdisciplinary communication to reduce such misunderstandings in the future and establish a successful collaboration between neuroscience and education.
In recent years, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) has launched several studies that analyze and conceptualize the differentiation of the Ontario postsecondary education system (Weingarten & Deller, 2010; Hicks, Weingarten, Jonker & Liu, 2013; Weingarten, Hicks, Jonker & Liu, 2013). Similarly, in the summer of 2012, the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) initiated several projects to identify ways to drive innovation and improve the productivity of the postsecondary sector.
Within this context, in June 2013 HEQCO began to look at what it called ‘the proliferation of public policy schools.’ Anecdotally, there has been much discussion about the rise of public policy programs. Findings from a preliminary scan of existing graduate public policy programs and their establishment dates demonstrated that there has been a proliferation in the number of public policy programs in Canada, starting with Carleton University in 1953 and ending with the University of Calgary in 2011. In roughly the past decade, there has been a one-third increase in the number of such graduate programs. This trend mirrors what has happened elsewhere, in particular in the United States.
Ontario students are supportive of the provincial government’s recent decision to create an Ontario Online Institute. This endeavour could significantly advance access, especially for traditionally underrepresented groups facing financial, physical, social, cultural, and geographic barriers which prevent them from attending a traditional post-secondary institution. Moreover, such an Institute could provide increased flexibility for the thousands of current students looking to blend online learning with an in-class education.
Accessibility offices are encouraging students with autism to turn to their peers for support through university life.
When accessibility specialist Jamie Penner started at the University of Manitoba in 2009, a series of eye-opening client meetings made him reconsider how the institution was accommodating students with an autism spectrum disorder. “One of my first students on the spectrum had a course in ancient history covering some battle. I asked him what the lectures were like and he really only could remember or focus on the fact that they used a certain weapon in the battles. He was paying attention, he was listening, but he got so sidetracked,” Mr. Penner recalls.
In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission makes the following calls to action.
This qualitative investigation identifies a condition of frenetic change experienced by organizational members at two university colleges in British Columbia, Canada, during the past decade. Prominent outcomes of the formal designation of five former community colleges as university colleges included curricular change and the evolution of a new institutional mission. The brief history of the university colleges of British Columbia parallels the process of economic globalization in the province of British Columbia, and the responses of managers and faculty at university colleges indicate that globalization influenced the formation
and functioning of these institutions.
The longer I teach (I’m now in my 32nd year) the more I’m convinced that the best thing we can do for our students is help them learn to think for themselves.
That involves explaining what critical thinking actually means — a step I fear we often skip — as well as equipping them with the requisite skills. That’s why I recommend talking to students on the first day of class about critical thinking. What is it? Why is it important? How can they learn to do it?
What follows is an example of my opening-day remarks. For graduate students and Ph.D.s new to teaching, if this talk resonates with you, feel free to adapt it for your own classrooms.
It’s well known that being bilingual has cognitive benefits: switching between two languages has been compared to mental gymnastics. But now, research suggests that mastering two languages can fundamentally alter the structure of your brain, rewiring it to work differently than the brains of those who only speak one language.
Academic freedom controversies continue to bedevil universities, highlighted most recently by the stunning episode at Wilfrid Laurier University. That a teaching assistant in a communications program would be reprimanded for showing video clips of a debate on the use of gender-neutral language is almost incomprehensible.
Academic freedom is not absolute, and there are some reasonable constraints that govern its application. But none have been offered that justify Wilfrid Laurier’s rebuke of the teaching assistant. She appeared to have been encouraging debate and civil discourse on a topic about which people disagree. That, indeed, is a key function of academic freedom, and of the university itself.
I started my first semester as department chair this fall. While I had an afternoon of training over the summer, it didn’t prepare me for the job. I’ve already made a ton of mistakes, my colleagues are treating me differently and I feel extremely isolated. I haven’t written anything this semester, and I’m kicking myself for agreeing to a three-year term.
I honestly don’t know how I’m going to make it through the rest of the academic year. I’ve tried reaching out to other new chairs on my campus, but when we get together we just end up complaining about how awful the job is (and that makes me feel even worse).
I don’t know what I’m doing and why this is so hard. I need to do something over this break to make things better or figure out how to quit. Please tell me there’s something I can do to make things better.
Sincerely,
Chair in Despair
Higher education's approach to fostering students' innovation potential has focused mostly on developing innovation leadership among a select cadre of students, originally in entrepreneurship and more recently in social sector innovation. But what about the rest of our graduates: what capability do all our graduates need if they're going to engage effectively with innovation in the workplace? Can elements of this capability be adapted to enhance their roles as community members and global citizens as well?
In order to develop the capability for workplace innovation in all our students, we're going to have to begin tackling the challenge in the space where all of them already participate – within our teaching and learning environments.
Queen's University students who attended a controversial costume party last weekend could be punished for violating the school's code of conduct — a set of rules implemented by many universities that includes off-campus, non-academic behaviour.
But Timothy Boyle, a Calgary-based lawyer who has represented students involved in university disciplinary cases, said many schools may be extending their authority too far.
"Fair enough they have certain standards to expect of you as a student while you're on campus," he said. "But now ... they want to extend themselves past their university boundaries and start regulating [students'] affairs while they
are off campus. That has to be a great concern."
College presidents’ partners and spouses aren’t all wives hosting receptions in the president’s house.
Many work jobs outside of their role as presidential partners. A growing number are men. And many say the expectations placed upon them by a college or university influence their spouse’s decision to work as the institution’s president.
A new study from University of Minnesota researchers examines the role of the presidential spouse or partner at a time when it is becoming increasingly complex and challenging. Researchers called the survey, which was released Monday after being presented at the Council of Independent Colleges’ Presidents Institute last week, the “largest and most diverse known sample of presidential partners to date.” The results of the study, which involved the leaders of public and private colleges, were earlier presented at a CIC meeting.
Budget 2016 Consultations
Submission to the House of Commons Standing
Committee on Finance
August 2015
Ideas can... build Canada
The challenges facing publics, governments, and businesses in the 21st century – from managing technological change and driving job creation, to the search for low‐carbon economic strategies, and building social inclusion – require innovative, people‐centered, evidence‐based solutions. The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences welcomes the opportunity to provide the following recommendations to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance for Budget 2016:
Many of the public battles for transgender students have centered on the bathrooms they want to use. And according to a new paper, gender-neutral restrooms are the accommodation transgender and gender-nonconforming college students want most on their campuses. But there’s much more on their wish lists that would make them feel safe and comfortable.