The paper presents a discussion of faculty development in 22 of Ontario's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology. We report the findings of a survey which collected information on administrative structure, funding, mandate, faculty development activities, publication, incentives for faculty participation, assessment of faculty needs and evaluation. We conclude by raising a number of questions which faculty developers might address as changes in the social, political and economic environment present new challenges to colleges and universities.
Without more efficient management, some colleges may not survive.
More colleages are facing a do-or-die-moment: become more appealing to students and parents or face closure or merger, scholars at a college conference warned.
Michael Skolnik
Although research on Canadian higher education has advanced considerably over the past few decades, the opportunities for university level study of higher education in Canada are still quite limited. Only four universities offer higher education programs; only one has a higher education department; and only a handful of other institutions offer even a course
in higher education. The number of students enrolled in higher education programs in Canada is about 200, compared to about 6,000 in the United States; the number of faculty about 15 compared to 700 in the U.S. Moreover, while American higher education journals have, since the early 1970's, regularly featured articles about university higher education programs, there has not been a single article on this subject in The Canadian Journal of Higher Education. This paper attempts to fill some of that gap by providing some basic information about the study of higher education in Canadian universities and by examining the role of these programs in the overall development of higher education research and the possible reasons for the very limited scale of such programs in Canada.
The author's conclusion is that the factor which has most limited the development of higher education studies in Canadian universities is neither insufficient student demand nor limited employment opportunities of graduates, but reluctance of Canadian universities to allocate resources for this area of study.
Inside Higher Ed’s eighth annual survey of college and university presidents seeks to understand how these leaders view the opportunities and challenges facing higher education institutions in the U.S.
This study addresses the following questions:
• What effects do presidents perceive the election of Donald Trump had on their campus and on higher education more generally?
• What are presidents’ views of some of the federal policies that affect higher education?
• Are presidents confident in the sustainability of their institution’s financial model over the next 5 and 10 years?
• Do presidents believe the business models used in various sectors of higher education are sustainable?
• Do presidents anticipate that additional colleges will close or merge in the coming year?
• What are presidents’ opinions about tuition resets or tuition freezes?
• What are presidents’ biggest concerns about the size and composition of their student body?
• How do presidents assess race relations at their institution and at colleges nationwide?
• Do college presidents believe that Americans have an accurate view of the purposes of higher education?
• What factors do presidents see as causing declines in public support for higher education?
• How vocal have presidents been about political matters?
• How well prepared do presidents think they were for the various tasks of a college presidency when they first became a president?
Every developed country is racing to keep up with profound and fundamental changes in the 21st century The new knowledge economy is creating unprecedented demands for higher levels of expertise and skills, while, at the same \, changing demographics will significantly reduce the numbers of qualified people available in the economy.
Discussions of Canada’s so-called ‘skills gap’ have reached a fever pitch. Driven by conflicting reports and data, the conversation shows no signs of abating. On the one hand, economic indicators commonly used to identify gaps point to problems limited to only certain occupations (like health occupations) and certain provinces (like Alberta) rather than to a general skills crisis. On the other hand, employers continue to report a mismatch between the skills they need in their workplaces and those possessed by job seekers, and to voice concern that the postsecondary system is not graduating students with the skills they need.
Most organizations are awash in data – too much of it. And as many have learned, the ability to make effective, fact-based decisions is not dependent on the amount of data you have. Success is based on your ability to discover more meaningful and predictive insights from all the data you capture.
That’s where predictive analytics and data mining come into play. Data mining looks for hidden patterns in your data that can be used to predict future behavior. Businesses, scientists and governments have used this approach for years to transform data into proactive insights. The same approach applies to business issues across virtually any industry.
KSU redefined the MOOC value proposition through collaboration of university leadership and faculty. The new proposition shifts measures of success beyond just course completion to include measures that benefit students, faculty, and the institution. Students benefitted through access to open educational resources, the acquisition of professional learning units at no cost, and the potential of college credit at a greatly reduced cost. Academic units benefited through a mechanism to attract students and future revenue while the university benefited through digital impressions, branding, institutionally leveraged scalable learning environments, streamlined credit evaluation processes and expanded digital education.
PEQAB Handbook for Ontario Colleges, 2014 – Capacity to Deliver Standard │ Benchmarks 7 – 11
Faculty credentials required for degree program
This report explores the use of social capital theory in understanding educational advantage/disadvantage from a public policy development perspective. We undertake a detailed review and critique of the key ‘strands’ of social capital theory, contextualising these in an analysis of applied social capital theory in a public policy and a development environment. Finally, we use our modified understanding of the theory to explore the social capital of business and IT students in higher education and vocational education and technology (VET) in Victoria.
The Canadian Graduate and Professional Student Survey (CGPSS) is a national survey that was completed by over 51,000 students across 48 universities in 2013. This comprehensive survey includes questions covering a broad array of topics including students’ satisfaction with their departments, programs and advisors, availability of funding, use and quality of university services, and satisfaction with professional development supports (CAGS, 2010). This report uses data and opinions collected from graduate students through the CGPSS in an effort to contribute to the conversation on graduate student education in Canada.
“Are you keeping us for the whole time today? Because I need to leave in 20 minutes,” asked a student with a baffled expression on his face. As I looked at him, I wanted so badly to explain: Of all the ways you could have chosen to introduce yourself on the first day of class, that was not the optimal one.
For more than six years, HEQCO has conducted research on the differentiation of Ontario’s public postsecondary system, where institutions build on and are accountable for their specific strengths, mandates and missions. This report identifies clear distinctions between universities in terms of their research and teaching missions. The data point to critical pathways to achieve the benefits of greater differentiation. The goal is a system that is more cohesive, more sustainable and of higher quality.
This research uses the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) to compare participation in postsecondary education (PSE) in Ontario to such participation in other Canadian regions. We begin by presenting access rates by region, which reveals some substantial differences. University participation rates in Ontario are in about the middle of the pack, while college rates are relatively high. We then undertake an econometric analysis, which reveals that the effects of parental income are quite strong in the Atlantic provinces but much weaker elsewhere, including within Ontario. We also find that the relationship between high school grades and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test scores (measures of academic “performance” and “ability”) differ by region and are generally strongest in Ontario. From this perspective, Ontario would appear to have a relatively “meritocratic” system, where those who are more qualified are more likely to go to university and where overall attendance rates are less affected by family income. Interestingly, the effects of parental education, which are generally much stronger than family income, are similar across provinces. Understanding the reasons underlying these patterns might warrant further investigation.
The purpose of this study was to identify how entrepreneurship education is delivered in Ontario colleges and universities. In Ontario, as in the rest of Canada, the increase in the number of entrepreneurship courses at universities and colleges, and the concurrent popularization and maturation of entrepreneurship programming, contribute to fostering entrepreneurial skills and mindsets, and the creation of businesses. The overall aim of this report is to inform debate and decision-making on entrepreneurship education through a mapping and assessment of existing programs in the province.
Canada’s Economic Action Plan (EAP) is working— creating jobs, keeping the economy growing and returning to balanced
budgets. Since the beginning of the recovery, Canada has achieved the best job creation record of any Group of Seven
(G-7) country, and one of the best economic performances in the G-7.
Economic Action Plan 2014 continues to support jobs and growth by connecting Canadians with available jobs, strengthening Canada’s labour market and investing in the workforce of tomorrow.
Data on how well the information and communication technology (ICT) needs of 1354 Canadian college and university students with disabilities are met on and off campus were collected using the newly developed POSITIVES Scale (Postsecondary Information Technology Initiative Scale). The measure contains 26 items which use a 6- point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 6 = strongly agree) to indicate level of agreement with each of the positively worded items. It has three factor analysis-derived subscales (ICTs at School Meet Student’s Needs, ICTs at Home Meet Student’s Needs, E-learning ICTs Meet Student’s Needs) and a total score. Reliability and validity are excellent for both English and French versions. Versions that could be completed online, on paper (printable PDF), and within a Microsoft Word document were found to be equivalent.
Background: In terms of high school graduation, college entry, and persistence to earning a college degree, young women now consistently outperform their male peers. Yet most research on gender inequalities in education continues to focus on aspects of education where women trail men, such as women’s under representation at top-tier institutions and in science and engineering programs. The paucity of research on the realms where women outpace men, namely college enrollment and completion, constitutes a major gap in the literature.
When Michael Maccoby wrote this article, which was first published in early 2000, the business world was still under the spell of the Internet and its revolutionary promise. It was a time, Maccoby wrote, that called for larger-than-life leaders who could see the big picture and paint a compelling portrait of a dramatically different future. And that, he argued, was one reason we saw the emergence of the superstar CEOs—the grandiose, actively self-promoting, and genuinely narcissistic leaders who dominated the covers of business magazines at that time. Skilled orators and creative strategists, narcissists have vision and a great ability to attract and inspire followers.
The times have changed, and we’ve learned a lot about the dangers of overreliance on big personalities, but that doesn’t mean narcissism can’t be a useful leadership trait. There’s certainly a dark side to narcissism—narcissists, Freud told us, are motionally isolated and highly distrustful. They’re usually poor listeners and lack empathy. Perceived threats can trigger rage. The challenge today—as Maccoby understood it to be four years ago—is to take advantage of their strengths while tempering their weaknesses.
Objective: Responsible media reporting of youth suicide may reduce the risk of contagion and
increase help-seeking behaviour. Accordingly, we conducted a content analysis of Canadian youth suicide newspaper
articles to assess quality and summarize content (themes, age groups, populations and use of scientific evidence). Method: The Canadian Periodical Index Quarterly (CPI.Q) was searched (2008-2012) for full-text Canadian newspaper articles using the keywords “youth” and “suicide.” The top five most relevant articles as judged by CPI.Q were selected sequentially for each year (n=25). Quality was assessed using World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for responsible media reporting. Content analysis was completed in duplicate by two reviewers. Results: All articles addressed youth suicide generally rather than reporting exclusively on a specific death by suicide. Alignment of articles with individual WHO guideline items ranged from 16 to 60%. The most common content theme was prevention (80%). No article was judged to glamorize suicide. Help seeking was
addressed in 52% of articles, but only 20% provided information on where to obtain help. Statistics were referenced more frequently than scientific research (76% vs. 28%). Conclusions: Our review suggests that Canadian media presents youth suicide as an issue for which hope and help exist. While the majority of reports aim to educate the public about suicide, increased use of scientific evidence about risk factors and prevention is recommended to facilitate the translation of rigorous scientific knowledge into improved mental health and reduced suicide risk among Canadian youth.
Key Words: suicide, youth, responsible media reporting, Canada
Objectif: Les médias responsables qui rendent compte du suicide chez les adolescents peuvent réduire le risque de
contagion et favoriser le comportement de recherche d’aide. Conformément, nous avons mené une analyse de contenu des articles de journaux canadiens sur le suicide d’adolescents pour en évaluer la qualité et résumer le contenu (thèmes, groupes d’âge, populations et utilisation de données probantes scientifiques). Méthode: Nous avons recherché (2008- 2012) dans l’Index de périodiques canadiens trimestriel (IPC.T) le texte intégral des articles de journaux canadiens à l’aide des mots « adolescent » et « suicide ». Les cinq principaux articles les plus pertinents, selon l’IPC.T, ont été choisis séquentiellement pour chaque année (n=25). La qualité a été évaluée à l’aide des directives de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) pour une couverture responsable des médias. L’analyse de contenu a été effectuée en double par deux réviseurs. Résultats: Tous les articles abordaient le suicide chez les adolescents généralement plutôt que decouvrir exclusivement un décès spécifique par suicide. L’alignement des articles contenant des éléments individuels des directives de l’OMS allait de 16 à 60%. Le thème le plus commun était la prévention (80%). Aucun article n’a été jugé sensationnaliser le suicide. La recherche d’aide a été mentionnée
dans 52% des articles, mais seulement 20% donnaient de l’information sur l’endroit où obtenir de l’aide. Les références étaient plus fréquemment de l’ordre des statistiques que de la recherche scientifique (76% c. 28%). Conclusions: Notre revue suggère que les médias canadiens présentent le suicide chez les adolescents comme un enjeu pour lequel il existe de l’espoir et de l’aide. Bien que la majorité des articles visent à éduquer le public sur le suicide, le recours accru à des données probantes scientifiques sur les facteurs de risque et la prévention est recommandé pour faciliter la traduction de connaissances scientifiques rigoureuses en une meilleure santé mentale, et des risques de suicide réduits chez les adolescents canadiens.
Mots clés: suicide, adolescent, couverture responsable des médias, Canada