The Canadian Trans Youth Health Survey was a national on-line survey conducted by researchers from several Canadian universities and community organizations. The survey had 923 trans youth participants from all 10 provinces and one of the territories. The survey included somewhat differ- ent questions for younger (14-18 years) and older (19-25
years) trans youth about a wide range of life experiences and behaviours that influence young people’s health. This national report is a first snapshot of survey results.
The next time you sip fruit-infused water while jogging past a “smart” street lamp and wearing workout gear incorporating “intelligent” textiles, you can thank Canada’s community colleges, institutes and polytechnics.
Through partnerships with companies and community organizations, faculty and student researchers at these postsecondary schools play an important role in helping get products and inventions to market while contributing to the country’s economic growth.
This white paper reviews the BCcampus Competency to Credential approach to flexible learning in trades training in British Columbia. First, it considers the broader notion of competency-based education and the development of the Competency to Credential concept in response to current education and training challenges. The paper then considers at a high level how the concept may also be applied to other competency-based education and training programs, such as in health care education. In particular, though, this paper describes how the Competency to Credential approach brings system stakeholders together in a collaborative and unified effort to improve trades training and education system-wide in British Columbia and shows how a broader application to other jurisdictions and trades sectors in Canada might occur.
To exemplify the Competency to Credential approach, the paper focuses on the first two phases of a pilot project targeting certification challengers within the Professional Cook trade in British Columbia.
In their efforts to foster active engagement in the classroom, instructors are increasingly looking to integrate instructional technologies such as online quizzes and clickers into their large courses. While studies of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education have demonstrated that such approaches have the potential not only to enhance the quality of students’ learning experiences generally, but also to help improve their critical thinking skills specifically, much less is known about the effectiveness of instructional technologies in humanities education. This exploratory study seeks to add to our understanding of pedagogical best practices in the humanities by testing the efficacy of engagement strategies in a history course. One main finding of this study is that the adoption of a cluster of engagement strategies similar to those used in physics education did help develop the critical thinking skills of some students in a large first-year history course, but not always to a greater extent than more conventional approaches to instruction.
The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) is an internationally recognized, peer-based, educational development program involving 24 hours of structured intensive instruction designed to strengthen instructors’ skills in planning, teaching, feedback and critical reflection through a student-focussed process. For over 30 years, the ISW has been offered at more than 100 institutions worldwide as a method of facilitating the development of student-centred, reflective instructors (Day, 2004). Although based on best pedagogical principles for teaching adult learners (Day, 2005), little empirical research has been performed to assess the impact on faculty of participating in the ISW (Macpherson, 2011). Research performed to
date has typically shown that individuals who participate in this workshop report that it is transformative to their teaching in the classroom (Macpherson, 2011). The present study sought to extend these findings by conducting a pre-post analysis of ISW and non-ISW participants. The goal of this research was to investigate the influence of the ISW on developing a student-centred approach to teaching in university and college faculty.
In 2007, business, education and labour leaders came together to form Ontario’s Workforce Shortage Coalition, dedicated to raising awareness of the emerging skills shortage challenge. The coalition represents more than100,000 employers and millions of employees.
A Conference Board of Canada report prepared for the coalition predicted Ontario will face a shortage of more than 360,000 employees by 2025. Employers will need more highly skilled workers as technology changes and competition for customers grows tougher. As well, baby boomers are retiring and the number of young workers is about to plummet.
The Blended Synchronous Learning Project sought to investigate how rich-media technologies such as web conferencing, desktop video conferencing and virtual worlds could be used to effectively unite remote and face-to-face students in the same live classes. Increasingly university students are opting to learn from off-campus, often due to work, family and social commitments (Gosper, et al., 2008; James, Krause, & Jennings, 2010). Often universities will cater for remote students by providing access to asynchronous resources via Learning Management Systems, meaning that off-campus students miss out on the benefits of synchronous collaborative learning such as rapid teacher feedback, real-time peer discussions, and an enhanced sense of connectedness.
Students from a number of groups remain underrepresented in Ontario’s universities and colleges, including low-income students, Aboriginal students, first generation students whose parents did not attend a post-secondary institution, rural and northern students, and students with dependants. Improving access to higher education for these and other underrepresented groups is widely acknowledged as essential to building a more equitable society and to competing in the increasingly knowledgebased economy. Indeed, Premier McGuinty has stated his desire to see 70 per cent of Ontarians complete post-secondary education, and achieving this target will require a concerted effort to reduce participation gaps.
This study examined aspects of approval processes for baccalaureate degree programs in colleges in the following 11 jurisdictions: Alberta, British Columbia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Flanders, Florida, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. More detailed profiles are provided for seven of the jurisdictions. In order to make the data more relevant for the Ontario reader, some comparisons with characteristics of the baccalaureate degree approval process in Ontario are noted.
The growth of competency-based education in an online environment requires the development and measurement of
quality competency-based courses. While quality measures for online courses have been developed and standardized, they do not directly align with emerging best practices and principles in the design of quality competency-based online courses. The purpose of this paper is to provide background and research for a proposed rubric to measure quality in competency-based online courses.
While much literature has considered feedback and professional growth in formative peer reviews of teaching, there has been little empirical research conducted on these issues in the context of summative peer reviews. This article explores faculty members’ perceptions of feedback practices in the summative peer review of teaching and reports on their understandings of why constructive feedback is typically non-existent or unspecific in summative reviews. Drawing from interview data with 30 tenure-track professors in a research-intensive Canadian university, the findings indicated that reviewers rarely gave feedback to the candidates, and when they did, comments were typically vague and/or focused on the positive. Feedback, therefore, did not contribute to professional growth in teaching. Faculty members suggested that feedback was limited because of the following: the high-stakes nature of tenure, the demands for research productivity, lack of pedagogical expertise
among academics, non-existent criteria for evaluating teaching, and the artificiality of peer reviews. In this article I argue that when it comes to summative reviews, elements of academic culture, especially the value placed on collegiality, shape feedback practices in important ways.
In recent years, students have been paying more to attend college and earning less upon graduation—trends that have led many observers to question whether a college education remains a good investment. However, an analysis of the economic returns to college since the 1970s demonstrates that the benefits of both a bachelor’s degree and an associate’s degree still tend to outweigh the costs, with both degrees earning a return of about 15 percent over the past decade. The return has remained high in spite of rising tuition and falling earnings because the wages of those without a college degree have also been falling, keeping the college wage premium near an all-time high while reducing the opportunity cost of going to school.
Over recent years, it has become increasingly common for students to pursue multiple pathways through the postsecondary education system. Current research in Canada shows that the movement of students both between and within colleges and universities is becoming more typical (e.g., Youth in Transition Survey, Statistics Canada). In Ontario’s colleges, this trend is evidenced by the fact that current students are more likely to have previous postsecondary experience than in the past. In 2007-08, approximately 37 per cent of college students reported having some previous postsecondary experience; this experience could include an incomplete or a complete credential from either college or university (Student Satisfaction Survey, MTCU). Many of these students were pursuing a second credential, as 11 per cent had previously completed a college diploma, and nine per cent had a university degree. In fact, pursuing multiple credentials is the intended goal of many postsecondary students. For example, in 2007-08, 21 per cent of college students indicated that their main goal in enrolling in college was “to prepare for further college or university study,” a percentage which has increased significantly from 16 per cent of students in 2000-01. In addition, many students make the decision to continue their studies while still attending college, or shortly after graduation. The Graduate Satisfaction Survey (MTCU) is administered to college graduates six months after graduation and includes questions on further education. The most recent survey showed that more than 26 per cent of the 2006-07 graduates were continuing their education within six months of graduation. Many recent college graduates choose to attend university; the percentage of graduates enrolled in university within six months of graduation increased substantially from five per cent for the 2001-02 graduates to nine per cent for 2006-07 graduates.
Gender inequality and sexist behaviour is prevalent in almost all workplaces and rampant in online environments. Although there is much research dedicated to understanding sexist behaviour, we have almost no insight into what triggers this behaviour and the individuals that initiate it. Although social constructionist theory argues that sexism is a response towards women entering a
male dominated arena, this perspective doesn’t explain why only a subset of males behave in this way. We argue that a clearer understanding of sexist behaviour can be gained through an evolutionary perspective that considers evolved differ- ences in intra-sexual competition. We hypothesised that female-initiated disruption of a male hierarchy incites hostile behaviour from
poor performing males who stand to lose the most status. To test this hypothesis, we used an online first-person shooter video game that removes signals of dominance but provides information on gender, individual performance, and skill. We show that lower-skilled players were more hostile towards a female-voiced teammate, especially when performing poorly. In contrast, lower-skilled players behaved submissively towards a male-voiced player in the identical scenario. This difference in gen- der-directed behaviour became more extreme with poorer focal-player performance. We suggest that low-status males increase female-directed hostility to minimize the loss of sta- tus as a consequence of hierarchical reconfiguration resulting from the entrance of a woman into the competitive arena. Higher-skilled players, in contrast, were more positive towards a female relative to a male teammate. As higher-skilled players have less to fear from hierarchical reorganization, we argue that these males behave more positively in an attempt to support and garner a female player’s attention. Our results provide the clearest picture of inter-sexual competition to date, highlighting the importance of considering an evolutionary perspective when exploring the factors that affect male hostility towards women.
ALTHOUGH WE KNOW THAT SEXUAL VIOLENCE OFTEN GOES UNREPORTED, RESEARCH INDICATES THAT THERE ARE 460,000 SEXUAL ASSAULTS IN CANADA EACH YEAR. FOR EVERY 1000 SEXUAL ASSAULTS, ONLY 33 ARE EVER REPORTED TO THE POLICE; 12 RESULT IN CHARGES LAID; ONLY 6 ARE PROSECUTED AND ONLY 3 LEAD TO A CONVICTION.
Very few reach the courts and far too many survivors don’t access support and counselling. This means that survivors aren’t getting the help that they need, and perpetrators of sexual violence are not being held accountable.
Why? Because too many of us have attitudes towards women, men, relationships and rape that towards women, men, relationships and rape that are sexist, misogynist and often just plain wrong.
This report provides parliamentarians with an assessment of the current state of the Canadian labour market by examining labour market indicators relative to trend, trends in wages and compensation, and the evidence of labour shortages and
skills mismatches.
Overall, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) finds that most labour market indicators remain below trend, although continue to recover from the 2008-09 recession. The weakness in the labour market is also reflected in the modest growth in wages and compensation over the recovery. In an attempt to explain the continued weakness in the labour market, PBO examined indicators of labour shortages and skills mismatches but found little evidence in support of a national labour shortage or skills mismatch in Canada.
Every year, schizophrenia disrupts the lives of hundreds of thousands of Canadians. While affecting only approximately
1% of the population, this complex, multifaceted illness places a disproportionate strain on patients, families,
clinicians and other care providers. Symptoms, which vary in severity and expression, can make it incredibly
difficult for patients to sustain relationships, engage in social networks or carry out routine tasks. Moreover, these
social burdens extend well beyond the affected patient. Families and health professionals who provide care often
find their lives interrupted and negatively impacted by the illness. Ineffective policy, poorly organized care systems and
expensive medications all contribute to placing the burden directly on families. The result is higher emotional costs and
lower standards of life among care providers.
This three-year study explored the perceptions of pre-service candidates in a five-year concurrent teacher education program who participated in a peer mentorship practicum model. In this practicum model teacher candidates were placed as a dyad, with each novice first-year candidate paired with a second- or third-year candidate who acted as a peer mentor. Ideally, the pair was then placed in the same classroom under the supervision of the same hosting associate teacher. However, each year
constraints presented by candidates requesting different geographic areas for their placements and/or a lack of associate teachers in some locations who were willing to host two candidates (i.e., a novice and a mentor) necessitated placing between 5 and 8% of candidates in another classroom in the same school as their mentorship partner or in another school in close geographic proximity. The objective of the peer mentorship model was to foster collaborative practice between novice and mentor candidates, which was perceived to hold the potential to provide additional support for both candidates.
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.
A series of video clip for Higher Education practioners.