The International Network of Tomorrow’s Leaders (INTL) organized and facilitated ‘International Education Leadership of Tomorrow: Where are We and Where Do We Need To Go?’ an interactive webinar to explore the status of leadership skills in
Canada’s international education sector, and identify leadership development needs for the future generation of international educators. In total, 60 Canadian international educators from eight provinces participated in this webinar, representing 40 universities, colleges, institutes and K-12 school boards across the country.
The 2016 Ontario Budget made headlines for its changes to student financial aid in Ontario. By repackaging and re-focusing existing financial aid programs, the Government of Ontario has made a bold promise: that for certain low-income students in Ontario, tuition will now be “free.”
While improving access to postsecondary education is a welcome policy goal, it is important to recognize that the 2016 Budget makes no additional real public investment in university operating budgets. Our universities are already the lowest funded in Canada on a per-student basis, and this situation will continue to worsen. This will have predictable effects on the quality of education at Ontario universities. Class sizes will continue to rise without new funds to support full-time faculty hiring. The number of precariously employed professors will also grow, trapping many in insecure, unsupported positions. While the government has moved to increase access for low- income students, the worsening financial environment begs the question, “access to what?”
Quality post-secondary education (PSE) is an overlooked and often unseen factor in the promotion of the spiritual, emotional and physical well-being of First Nations and Inuit peoples. The numbers back this up; on average, First Nations and Inuit peoples have lower PSE achievement levels, higher rates of unemployment and lower incomes than non-Aboriginal people. In addition to educational and economic advantages, higher educational attainment levels have been shown to be related to improved health and a better standard of living. Therefore, the promotion of increased post-secondary education for First Nations and Inuit peoples is by default promoting an invigorating, fortifying future for Aboriginal people, families and communities.
Colleges are under increasing pressure to retain their students. Federal and state officials are demanding that those who enter their public institutions— especially students from underrepresented groups— earn a degree. Over two dozen states disburse some state funding on how many students an institution graduates, rather than how many it enrolls. Students and families are more anxious than ever before about crossing the degree finish line, as the financial burden of paying for college has increased significantly in recent years. And retaining students is becoming more crucial to the university bottom line. As recruiting and educating students becomes increasingly expensive, colleges hope to balance the resources they use to recruit students with revenue generated when those students are retained.
According to data released by Statistics Canada in 2014, the years of 2000 - 2010 have seen significant increases in large and private debt among graduating students, and skyrocketing private debt among graduates with doctoral degrees. Although the
percentage of graduates in debt appears to be decreasing overall in this decade, this is both because of the introduction of the Canada Student Grants Program (which turns a portion of student loans into non-repayable grants) and because enrollment growth has outpaced increases in student loan borrowing. Even so, those who are borrowing are taking on much higher debts,
and increasingly from private sources.
Programs that allow foreign workers to occupy positions in Canada have existed since the 1960s and were formally introduced in legislation in the 1970s. While they generally focused on skilled workers, they were expanded to lower-skilled occupations in 2002.
While generally considered beneficial from an economic perspective, foreign workers have received significant public attention in recent years. This is the case especially in relation to foreign workers occupying low-skilled positions, considering that most unemployed Canadian workers would meet the minimum requirements to fill these jobs satisfactorily.
“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.
Two of five Canadians would have difficulty reading this sentence, following the instructions on a prescription bottle,
finding out information about how to vote, or filling out a permission form for their child’s upcoming school trip. Although for nine of the past 14 years, Canada has ranked first on the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI), a measure of a country’s relative wellbeing, complacency would be a serious mistake. Low levels of literacy – especially among adults and vulnerable groups – remain a significant challenge to Canada’s continued wellbeing. As our performance on the HDI and other international rankings confirms, we have a solid foundation on which to build; but we must not underestimate the significance
of literacy problems in this country. The groups most vulnerable to low literacy are the poor; persons of Aboriginal ancestry; persons whose native language is neither English nor French; persons in rural and isolated communities; and persons with certain disabling conditions. Given the rise in skill levels demanded throughout the labour market, the ubiquity of new technologies in daily and work life, and the desire of people to engage with public issues, those with poor literacy will become even further marginalized.
According to the Consortium for School Networking's 2015 IT Leadership Survey, 84% of school technology officials expect that at least half of their insructional materials will be digitally based with three years.
Attention now turns to the upcoming report of the fundamental science review panel chaired by David Naylor.
The Trudeau government tabled its second budget on March 22, promising to address economic challenges facing the country and cultivate a nimble workforce through investment in education and skills development. Among its many elements, the budget expands the Canada Student Loans and Grants program and earmarks $90 million over two years for Indigenous students. However, the budget included no new funding for the three major research granting councils – the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research – dismaying many in the research community.
at the university of british columbia, Aboriginal students congregate in a First Nations Longhouse. At the University of Manitoba, senior managers now travel to Aboriginal communities to recruit students. The University of Saskatchewan’s College of Engineering runs outreach programs to engage Aboriginal youth well before they are of university age. At Lakehead University, the Native access program assists students in making a successful transition to university.
Canadian universities are increasingly creating resources and programs for Aboriginal students – including courses, outreach and financial assistance, as well as programs and physical spaces where Aboriginal students can find counselling, support and connection to their culture.
Co-operative education was one of the University of Waterloo’s (UW) defining characteristics when it opened in 1957 and it remains a foundational pillar today. With the support of its 4,500 employer partners, UW offers alternating terms of academic and workplace experience to more than 16,500 students from more than 120 different academic programs. These figures make UW the largest postsecondary co-op program in the world.
Maintaining strong employer relationships has been a critical success factor for UW’s co-op program. Both the relevant literature and the feedback received from employers have indicated that employability skills (communication, interpersonal skills, problem solving, etc.) are essential to success in today’s workplace (Hodges & Burchell, 2003; McMurtrey, Downey, Zeltmann & Friedman, 2008; Casner-Lotto & Barrington, 2006). A number of studies also indicate that employers are not satisfied with the employability skills of new graduates (Casner-Lotto & Barrington, 2006; AC Neilsen, 2000; Hart Research Associates, 2010).
This roundtable will focus on access to capital markets to meet the needs of a growing number of First Nations businesses and communities seeking financial participation in projects that can be valued in hundreds of millions of dollars. Based on the analysis below, we propose the following key issues and questions for discussion:
For over a century, the central goals of Canada’s Aboriginal policy were to eliminate Aboriginal governments; ignore Aboriginal rights; terminate the Treaties; and, through a process of assimilation, cause Aboriginal peoples to cease to exist as distinct legal, social, cultural, religious, and racial entities in Canada. The establishment and operation of residential schools were a central element of this policy, which can best be described as “cultural genocide.” Physical genocide is the mass killing of the members of a targeted group, and biological genocide is the destruction of the group’s reproductive capacity. Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. States that engage in cultural genocide set out to destroy the political and social institutions of the targeted group. Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. And, most significantly to the issue at hand, families are disrupted to prevent the transmission of cultural values and identity from one generation to the next.
Building on an earlier 2008 summary prepared for OECD by Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter, this paper by Gesa S. E. van den Broek provides a more extensive discussion of approaches described as “research based innovation.” Fostering Communities of Learning is a constructivist approach in which teachers help students discover important curricular concepts. Learning by Design is an inquiry-based science learning programme based on case-based reasoning models. Central Conceptual Structures (CCS) theory describes developmental changes in children’s thinking and what is needed to progress through stages in specific cognitive domains. Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE) is an internet-based adaptive learning environment building on the principles of knowledge integration. Cognitive Tutors and ACT-R theory are intelligent adaptive software programmes that provide students with scaffolded instruction and feedback. Direct Instruction aims to accelerate learning through clear scripted direct instruction by the teacher and scaffolded practice aimed at student involvement and error reduction. Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is for disadvantaged students especially to engage in Socratic dialogues about ideas and strategies to solve computer game-based problems. Knowledge Building is a constructivist teaching approach centred on building knowledge and creating knowledge communities.
RÉSUMÉ
Canada's post-secondary institutions are at the forefront of excellence in science, research and innovation. They help to
train the workforce of tomorrow and create the knowledge and insights needed by the private and public sectors to build a
clean, sustainable economy.
The myth that online education courses cost less to produce and therefore save students money on tuition doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, a survey of distance education providers found.
The survey, conducted by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET), found that most colleges harge students the same or more to study online. And when additional fees are included, more than half of distance ducation students pay more than do those in brick-and-mortar classrooms.
The higher prices -- what students pay -- are connected to higher production costs, the survey found. Researchers sked respondents to think about 21 components of an online course, such as faculty development, instructional esign and student assessment, and how the cost of those components compares to a similar face-to-face course. he respondents -- administrators in charge of distance education at 197 colleges -- said nine of the components cost more in an online course than in a face-to-face course, while 12 cost about the same.
Studies of faculty development efforts at a liberal arts college and a landgrant university suggest the programs can have an impact on student outcomes.
Intuitively, it makes sense that professors who spend time developing their teaching skills will become more effective instructors -- and that that will eventually translate to better student outcomes. Practically speaking,
though, the challenges of (and the variables involved in) tracing the effects of professional development on student learning are myriad. That’s probably why the research on the matter is patchy, relying largely on self-reported measures. But a new book based on data from two very different institutions purports to show that faculty members can learn to become more effective teachers.
When it comes to assessment, there are enough perspectives, stakeholders, tools and methodologies to make your head spin. To be sure, despite the admirable goal of improving student learning by assessment, the trend toward greater accountability is often viewed as something that is imposed upon higher education institutions; infringing on an institution’s autonomy and stifling faculty members’ academic freedom without providing truly meaningful data to justify the additional workload it generates.
Meanwhile, others accept the fact that assessment is here to stay and strategies that, with careful planning, it’s entirely possible to design exactly the type of assessment systems you need to get precisely the type of information required for an accurate picture of learning outcomes.
How do you blend General Education competencies (i.e. communication, ethical/logical/mathematical reasoning) across an institution and curriculum? Kaplan University’s General Education program integrates and assesses student proficiency in General Education disciplines across all undergraduate programs. The datais used to inform curricular improvements in a continuous process for maximizing student learning.