{"id":105,"date":"2019-09-11T12:13:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T15:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/?page_id=105"},"modified":"2019-10-11T14:38:22","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T17:38:22","slug":"abstracts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/abstracts\/","title":{"rendered":"Abstracts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AU Teaching Showcase Session DescriptionsN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Andrew Nurse, Mount Allison University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maintaining Hope: Responding to Teaching Fails<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching fails happen for a variety of reasons. How can post-secondary instructors respond constructively to situations where pedagogies fail to meet expectations, learning stalls, or classroom
dynamics become stilted, among other things? This session looks to promote conversation on a subject that is often discussed between colleagues but far less frequently addressed on a broader scale amidst current discourses of student success, best practices, and award celebrations. This session aims to contribute to a more open discussion of responding to pedagogically difficult situations by highlighting an example of an exercise that provides both instructors and students with a constructive and collaborative but realistic basis for educational optimism in the midst of what can be trying and challenging situations. Our aim will be to share stories of successes and failures, to consider what gives us hope in difficult times, and to work through an illustrative example of an exercise that has worked in other instances of teaching fails, a modified version of the \u201cflipped classroom.\u201d From this exercise, this
session will consider lessons that can be learnt by students (and ourselves as instructors) with regard to empathy, skills or competencies, interpersonal dynamics, habits of mind, empirical knowledge, and evaluative processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Stacey L. MacKinnon, UPEI & Dr. Beth Archer-Kuhn, University of Calgary<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developing and\nMaintaining Trust to Support Intellectual Risk-Taking in Higher Education<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust is a necessary component in developing respectful,\nmutually reinforcing \u201ccommunion\u201d (Marcel, 1962) in engaged pedagogy, however,\nresearch on how to develop it in higher education settings where professors are\nasking their students to step outside their comfort zone is sparse. The unique\nconstellation of circumstances present in higher education (e.g., short\nsemesters, large and culturally diverse classrooms, high stakes, high stress)\nmake the quick and meaningful development of trust a necessary but challenging\ncondition for university students to take intellectual risks in the classroom.\nIn this session, the audience will be asked to consider and engage with the\nquestions 1) How do you create a trusting learning environment between students\nand professors in high risk learning situations?,  2) How does the learning environment need to\nbe modified for students at varying levels of perceived power to develop trust?\nand 3) how do the \u201cstakes\u201d involved influence students\u2019 and professors\u2019 levels\nof trust. During this discussion, we will share the findings of our own\ngrounded theory study including issues of power, ownership of learning, the\n\u201cVegas Rule\u201d, modeling being curious\/becoming curious and \u201cbeing human\u201d as key\ncomponents to the development of trust in situations of intellectual risk\ntaking as articulated by three focus groups with students and professors who\nwere engaged in the intellectually risky process of curiosity and\ninquiry-focused learning in higher education locally, nationally, and\ninternationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Anne Marie Ryan, Dalhousie University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-Author: Dr. Allison Schmidt, Dalhousie University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communicating Our\n(Science) Disciplines to Non-Experts: Importance of Audience and Approach as\nwell as Authenticity and Accuracy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In developing and teaching our Leadership in Science course,\nwe deliberately sought ways to include that which is beyond simply the skills\nand knowledge of our scientific disciplines. We hoped to create a\nscience-learning environment that could realistically equip students to work\ntowards building a better, more equitable future. Consequential to our hope\nthat science could be \u201cdone\u201d better, we believed it important to share with\nstudents the significance of a number of considerations that lie outside the\nimmediate realm of science senso stricto, but that can profoundly impact, and\nbe impacted by, the science. As we taught this class over the past 5 years, our\nstudents have taught us a great number of things: we were often caught like the\nemperor with his invisible cloak, as they exposed the voids and misconceptions\nwe had intuitively sensed were present in their education as future\ncontributing scientists in society. In this session, I focus on just one aspect\nof \u201cbeyond skills and knowledge\u201d that we introduced to students: the challenge\nand role of effective communication as a function of audience, and not just as\na function of the science itself, particularly in relation to the fragile\ninterplay between science and society in an ever-changing world. These insights\nhave led to embedding a number of strategies in my \u201cregular\u201d science courses,\nin which I actively engage students in considering the importance of audience,\ntogether with authentic and accurate representation of their discipline, in\ntheir approach to effective communication of science.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Elizabeth Wells, Mount Allison University; Mr. Toni\nRoberts, Mount Allison University; Dr. Jessica Riddell, Bishops University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Maple League\nTeaching and Learning Project<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Maple League of Canadian universities represents four\nprimarily undergraduate institutions (Mount Allison, Acadia, St.F.X. and\nBishops) that specialize in liberal arts and science education in a small,\nresidential setting.  This consortium\ncame together to promote and disseminate information about this distinctive way\nof learning and living.  This year, the\nLeague formed a Teaching and Learning Committee that is pursuing projects\naround teaching that address this unique way of learning, including a virtual\nteaching centre we hope to build.  A\nlarge thrust of the Maple League is to create new models around education that\nchallenge the large research institution and focus especially on experiential\nlearning, small intimate classroom settings, strong community and life changing\nexperiences in the arts and humanities. \nThis hope is exemplified in generating the critical thinkers, fully\nengaged citizens and committed community members that most frequently come from\nthese universities. This session will present the vision of the Maple League\nand how this consortium is bringing hope to universities that more recently\nhave been seen as peripheral to the mainstream learning experience at large\nresearch based universities.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presenters include the Executive Director of the Maple\nLeague and members of the Maple League Teaching and Learning committee and are\ninterested in talking about this new hope and vision for humanities and arts\neducation while at the same time soliciting ideas as to how the Maple League\nuniversities may interact with other smaller institutions in the Maritimes for\ncooperation and collaboration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ann Braithwaite, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who\u2019s on Your\nSyllabus? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this presentation, I want to challenge the audience to\nthink more about who and what is on their syllabus\u2014and why that question\nmatters. In 2013, Sara Ahmed famously asked, \u201cwho appears? And: who does not\nappear?\u201d, noting that this question of citation has implications for what kinds\nof knowledge are taken for granted in any discipline, and who those knowledges\nreflect. As she put it, \u201cthe reproduction of a discipline can be the\nreproduction of these techniques of selection, ways of making certain bodies\nand thematics core to the discipline, and others not even part.\u201d The\nconsequences of this naturalized selection, of course, are that some voices and\nperspectives are not heard, that many of our students are not reflected in\nthose knowledges, and that \u201cknowledge\u201d is presented as universal and neutral\n(rather than contingent and invested). Making our syllabi\u2014no matter the\nfield\u2014more inclusive of the diversity of people in the classroom, as well as in\nthe larger society around us, can make many forms\u2014from changing content, to\nincorporating different voices and perspectives, to foregrounding how some\nknowledges become present and others are made absent. In this short\npresentation, I want to go through a number of ways in which the issue of\n\u201ccitational politics\u201d matters, and to whom, and offer some suggestions about\nhow we can all take more responsibility for diversifying our syllabi and\ncreating more inclusive knowledges and spaces for all our students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Greg Doran, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promoting Inclusion\nand Equity in the Classroom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If one of the purposes of higher education is, as Jacobs\nsuggests in \u201cWhat\u2019s Hope Got to Do With It?: Theorizing Hope in Education,\u201d to create\npedagogies that \u201care infused with hope for a better, more democratic future\u201d\n(798), then the promotion of inclusion and equity is a worthy goal for any\nclassroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This 20-minute mentoring session will introduce three easy\nways to pro-actively promote a classroom culture of inclusion and equity, even\nin an inherently gendered discipline such as Theatre. By promoting and\ninstilling inclusion and equity in the classroom, teachers have the opportunity\nto instill these qualities in the students. If we view the importance of\ninclusion and equity as a threshold concept, we can, therefore, hope that\ntoday\u2019s students will carry these positive attitudes with them, making the\nfuture a more inclusive and equitable place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The session will present an inclusive introduction-exercise,\nan approach to creating a statement of principles on a course outline, and a\nstrategy for un-gendering traditionally gendered assignments. Through these\nexamples, the session will provide participants with concrete suggestions for\nways to promote inclusion and equity in the classroom. The session will leave\ntime at the end for discussion and questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michelle Malloy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope & Transition:\nHow to Thrive in a World of Constant Change<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus has\nbeen quoted as saying \u201cchange is the only\nconstant in life.\u201d The place in our life when this change is most apparent\nis during university\/college years. Young people are in the midst of coming of\nage. They are leaving the safety of school and\/or home and walking into a world\nof academia that teaches content, but also challenges meaning schemes and bias.\nSomething students may not have expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facilitator is the author of an upcoming book Thriving\nin Chaos: How to Find Hope and Purpose in a World of Constant Change and a\ntherapist in private practice. After having spent 20 years in post-secondary\neducation, many of her clients are university-aged students dealing with\nanxiety and depression as they struggle to find hope, meaning and purpose in\nwhat they are doing day-to-day. Who am I? Why am I here? What is my purpose (or\nwhat\u2019s the point)? These are the existential questions many of us have\nstruggled with in our university years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth today are growing up in a world that changes faster\nthan it ever has before. Their personal and professional growth does not wait\nuntil graduation. How do we, as educators and administrators, structure the\nlearning environment so this growth is possible? In order to serve them, we must\nreflect on our own bias about hope, healing, and personal growth. It is part of\nthe on-going work of those of us called to work in academia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Robert Lapp, Mount Allison University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Practising the Future:\nTeaching Critical Hope in the Anthropocene Classroom<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drawing on readings in adrienne marie brown, Jan Zwicky,\nCharles Eisenstein, and Joanna Macy, this mentoring session shares strategies\nfor developing, sustaining, and teaching \u201ccritical hope\u201d in the university\nclassrooms of the Anthropocene.  The \u201cAnthropocene\u201d\nis shorthand for the set of converging crises threatening the near-term\ncollapse of \u201cbusiness-as-usual,\u201d both in society at large and in our approach\nto how and what we teach in postsecondary education.  In this context, all the authors named above\nsuggest a version of what brown calls \u201cpracticing the future,\u201d which is to\napply our wisdom skills—drawn from all disciplines—to articulate the world\nwe would like to see emerge from the ruins of neoliberal petroculture, and to\nbegin now to live those values actively as an antidote to despair.  I will share some of the principles and\ncomponents I am drawing from these authors to re-conceive my teaching practice\nas a way of \u201cpracticing the future,\u201d part of which is to model the process of\ncultivating, interrogating, and articulating \u201ccritical hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Dany MacDonald, UPEI; Jennifer Newman, UPEI; Dr. Travis\nSaunders, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Can We Ensure that\nStudent-athletes are Having Positive Experiences During their University Careers?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of studies have investigated the relationship\nbetween faculty members and student-athletes (Lawrence, 2008; Williams, Colles,\n& Allen, 2010). However, these studies have mostly focused on faculty\nperceptions of student-athletes with the opinion of students being largely\noverlooked. As such, this study aimed to overcome this gap and investigated\nstudent-athlete views of their interactions with faculty members. Interviews\nwith student-athletes were conducted to better understand the totality of their\nexperiences in university. Results from this study demonstrated that\nexperiences of student-athletes may be different than of other students, but\nsmall and meaningful changes on the part of the different layers of the\ninstitution could result in better experiences for these students. A discussion\nof changes and recommendations will be provided with hopes of gathering\nthoughts about how to best move forward in interacting with student-athletes\nwithin our campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. David Creelman, UNBSJ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encouraging Hope and\nCourage in Individuals within Group Settings<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To hope is to \u201centertain the expectation of something\ndesired\u201d (OED). If I understand the people in my classrooms \u2013 if I remember my\nown time as BA student at Acadia \u2013 undergraduates both long to understand the\nbroad field of knowledge they are encountering, and they also feel the need to\ntest their perceptions and sense whether their opinions are valued. As teachers\nwe are obligated to open up these opportunities to as many of our students as\npossible. Of course, the extroverts and socially confident students are always\nwilling to offer their opinions and contribute to classroom discussions.\nHowever, not all people feel welcomed into the conversation. Some students feel\nless empowered. Introverts, students on the spectrum, racialized individuals,\nthe unattractive — many hesitate to connect. The herd still separates out the\ndifferent. There are a number of active learning strategies that can be used to\ncreate safe places in which students can feel empowered to speak: 1) We can teach\nSocratically from the front and the back of the room; 2) We can assign group\nactivities with a variety of defined tasks that allow each member to shine\nthrough their own activity; 3) We can include a \u201cTake a Stand\u201d activity after a\nclass debate to open up opportunities for less empowered students to voice an\nopinion. All these are active learning strategies that are widely practiced,\nbut they can be tweaked to provide un-(dis)-empowered students with\nopportunities to realize the hopes that are natural to the learning process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Fred Mason, UNB<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students Writing\nExams: Questions of Style and Handwriting Speed<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This session raises questions around students physically\nwriting exams in class, and presents a table of several years\u2019 worth of\nhandwriting samples to see if students print, write cursively, or do something\nin between. Good arguments can be made for handwriting as means of expressing\ncomplex thought (Karavanidou, 2017), and research suggests that handwriting\nin-class notes leads to better learning outcomes through better cognitive\nprocessing (Mueller & Oppenheimer, 2014). However, the simple skill (or\nlack thereof) of handwriting may be a limiting factor for students in exam\nwriting (Connelly et al., 2005). Handwriting speed is important, because the\nmore automatic writing is, the more working memory that can be devoted to\ncomplex thought (Peverley, 2006). Further, those who write faster tend to\ninclude more content, which has performance outcomes (Summers & Caterro,\n2003). Research has determined that cursive writing is faster than printing,\nand a self-determined mix between cursive and manuscript, where some joins are\nmade in the writing but other letters printed, is faster still (Graham,\nWeintraub & Berninger, 1998).  The\ntotal sample analyzed will be over 500 student writing samples collected over\nyears; initial assessments of a portion suggests about 53% of my past students\ndo something in-between (the fastest method), but that 38% do manuscript\nprinting (the slowest).  Results from\nthis assessment will be used to raise questions on the nature and style of exam\nquestions, and how we can modify written exams to engage students with material\nwhile providing a fair chance of assessment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Leigh-Ann MacFarlane, MSVU<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cultivating Empathy\nthrough a Universal Design for Learning Perspective<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This session will examine how the use of a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach has created the conditions for increased empathy in the classroom. The UDL framework, which emphasizes multiple modes of representation, action and expression, and engagement, is designed to give students multiple pathways to achieve learning outcomes.\u00a0 Several studies have shown that UDL practices increase student perceptions of instructor\u2019s approachability and empathy (Orr and Hamming 2009). UDL research, reviewed by Orr and Hammig (2009), suggest that faculty members need to plan proactively to incorporate empathy in their teaching. From this, we see the cultivation of empathy as a practice that we embody as instructors, and that we then foster in students. However, social and emotional learning isn\u2019t just about instructor approachability. We also need to encourage our students to become more empathetic. Katz (2012) and Partridge (2018) both identify UDL as a practice that can help encourage empathy through intentionally teaching for social and emotional learning. By recognizing that students benefit from choice and opportunities to be engaged in their own learning journey, we demonstrate empathy and create flexible learning environments that promote the development of empathy in our students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Elizabeth Wells, Mount Allison University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, There is\nHope!  Strategies Around Marking<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marking or grading has traditionally been seen as one of the\nmost difficult, challenging, and for some the most unpleasant part of their\nacademic jobs.  This session suggests a\nvariety of different approaches to marking that will help to make it less\nonerous, less time-consuming, and perhaps even fun.  The presenter will talk about a unique system\nof colour-coded grading that she has developed which makes the comments on\nstudent work more transparent but also more meaningful. In addition, she will\npresent a system she developed called \u201c54321\u201d which paces grading according to\nthe professor\u2019s own time constraints and attention span.  The session will also discuss flexible\ndeadlines for providing feedback to students, a number of helpful rubrics for\nmarking as well as to manage student expectations and work, and will reflect\nphilosophically on why grading is a particularly difficult task.  Delving into the professor\u2019s time management\nstyle, the session will also make suggestions as to when to grade and even\nwhere.  This fast-paced, informative\nsession is meant to help those who are starting out in their marking careers,\nand those who have been in the trenches for a number of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. John McLoughlin, UNB<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People as Moving\nStories<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Essentially we are moving stories. Gently unpacking the\ncontexts of who we are offers insight into how hope may appear. The biographies\nwe bring and the masks we choose to wear shape the teaching and learning\nexperience. Context plays a critical role in the manner that virtues shift in\nperspective and priority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope looks and feels different to each student. A challenge\nto us as educators is to find a mutual sense of hope with each student, namely,\na meaningful connection for motivating learning. Opening windows for viewing,\nwhether through biography or other means, enables the development of such\nmutual  understandings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening myself to opportunities for professional growth is\npart of my moving story. This year alone has seen two major developments: the\nonline teaching of a graduate course around authentic teaching and\ncollaborating as a mathematician in an artistic performance, The Kindness of\nStrangers. These projects have respectively focused attention primarily on\ncourage and curiousity along with empathy and compassion, while collectively\nshining a brighter light on hope in education and humanity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is hope placed in your teaching? How do you discover\nthe hopes of students in your own contexts? \nPlease join us to engage with these ideas as we move forward with our\nown stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra-Jack Malik, CBU<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curriculum Practices\nCurrere: Inquiry, Reflexivity and Risk Taking
\n
\n<\/em>This presentation explores our efforts to understand our\nreactions to tension filled tenure track experiences related to the mandatory\nfirst year review and second year renewal of two tenure track hires at a\nCanadian university. Using the analytical and synthetical phases of currere as reflective\npractice, including a consideration for art-as-event and our familial\ncurriculum making we attended to the tensions and shifted our stories such that\nwe moved from reactions to responses and from despair to hope. We know this as\na reconceptualization of ourselves and our tenure track stories. We envision a\nfuture where tenure track hires are engaged and supported in communities that\nvalue their curriculum making past, present and future, similar to the\ncommunity we are in the midst of creating. As well, we imagine a future where\nthe tenure track processes includes consideration for the provision of detailed\nguideposts for successful navigation of the process. We also want to call upon\ntenured professors to \u201cimaginatively stretch past taken-for-granted\nassumptions, to see the richness of\u201d (Lessard, et al., 2015, p. 212) the\ndiverse experiences and ways of knowing and world views that tenure track hires\nbring to the academy, often willing and ready to make contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Patt Olivieri, MSVU<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 What Can I Do: Critically Cultivating Virtues through Curiosity and\nWonder<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 With emerging new\nliteracies comes the constant challenge of navigating and redefining the role\nof teacher and learner. It is easy, at times, somewhat seductive, to spiral\ninto despair when faced with the simple, seemingly unattainable, yet powerful\nquestion: What can I do? Being critically hopeful is being critically literate\n– wondering, actively listening, and exercising respectful autonomy in the\neverydayness. From routines to responsibilities, from conversations to silence,\nfrom the social to the solace, from various texts to mass media, we need to\nconsider: What resonates? What causes me angst? Why does this matter? How will\nI harness my angst to provoke change for the better? In other words, what can I\ndo? Toni Morrison once described virtues as not being the \u201caccidents of birth,\nbut rather the things you work for: to be forthright, to be educated, to be in\ncontrol\u2026 You can get them. They are available to you.\u201d This session will explore\nhow explicit and implicit instruction of social competencies (i.e,\ncommunication, creativity, critical thinking) are the means by which we\ninterrogate the everydayness to further awaken a critical consciousness of\nhope. Participants will engage in a variety of learning experiences grounded in\nvoice, identity, perspective and point of view that enable agency in the\ncontext of respectful, equitable learning spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Susan Joudrey, Dalhousie University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating Good\nCitizens?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a period of social change, it can be desirous to\ninspire hope by providing students with meaningful learning experiences such as\nservice-learning projects or activist advocacy assignments. It has been\nobserved that, \u201cActivist approaches to community service-learning transcend the\nprogressivist notions of civic engagement and responsibility and move towards\ntackling systemic social problems by encouraging students to explore the\nproblems\u2019 root causes as well as how their own actions can contribute to\novercoming those social problems.\u201d (Wuetherick, 2018, pp.113-14) This is not a\nnew phenomenon. From the 1930s to the 1950s Biology 3  \u201cPersonal Hygiene and Public Health\u201d was\ntaught at Mount Allison University to any student pursuing an Arts, Science,\nSecretarial, Home Economic, Pre-Medicine or Pre-Nursing degree. It included a\ncommunity public health survey assignment in the hopes that students would\nattain a \u201cworking knowledge\u201d of personal and community hygiene and \u201c\u2026to\nstimulate [students] toward the practical and effective application of that\nknowledge to [their] own physical improvement and the betterment of [their]\ncommunity\u2019s health.\u201d (Academic Calendar, Mount Allison University, 1951-52,\np.71) Admirable goals for a society that was experiencing monumental change.\nHowever, when we design these types of assessments, attempting to make positive\ndifferences, how do we ensure we are creating ethical opportunities for\nstudents to achieve academically? By examining a historical case study of\ncourse assignments from the Mount Allison University archives, participants\nwill consider shifting definitions of community betterment, and reflect on\nmethods for interrogating personal biases and creating ethical learning\nexperiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Dr. Carla\nVanBeselaere, Mount Allison University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Understanding How Attendance and Other Factors Affect Student Success<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Although attendance\nmay not be a virtue, it is certainly a behaviour we would like to cultivate.\nClass attendance has been shown to improve grades and reduce mass practice or\ncramming (Rodgers, 2001; Shimoff and Catania, 2001; Cohen and Johnson, 2006,\nLin and Chen, 2006; Massingham and Herrington, 2006; Cred\u00e9, Roch, and Kiesczczynda,\n2010; Fadelelmoula, 2018). However to establish whether attendance has a causal\neffect on performance, it is important to control for covariates such as\nmotivation, conscientiousness, cognitive ability, study habits and autonomy.\nThe data for this paper is from in Economics 1701: Observational Data Analysis,\nan introductory course on statistics and probability for use with observational\ndata. Attendance and final grades were recorded for all registered students\nduring the semester. This data was then supplemented by responses from a survey\nabout student behaviours and characteristics. This work extends existing\nresearch by collecting a more detailed set of student characteristics including\ndemographics, autonomous learner scores and study habits. Using this data it is\npossible to untangle the effect class attendance has on performance given that\nit is possible to control for other factors which might affect performance.\nWhile it is clear that attendance is correlated with performance (correlation coefficient\nis 0.5137), the reason for this is complex and difficult to untangle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Zhanna Barchuk & Dr. MaryJane Harkins, MSVU<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using Collaborative\nConversations to Explore Educational Dichotomies Imbedded in our Everyday\nResearch and Practice<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The presenters will discuss the differing views of what\nknowledge is, the role of higher education in the construction of knowledge,\nand the even larger role of higher education in society as a public good. The\ntreatment of education as a consumer good has already led to a significant\ndecrease of public funding which augmented dependence on private sources, such\nas student tuition fees and corporate sponsored research. In addition, the\ninfluence of economic globalization on education has resulted in a considerable\nshift in the conception and value of academic labour (Olssen & Peters,\n2005). This shift, evident in a decrease of tenure and tenure-track\nprofessorial positions being created, and being replaced by cheaper part-time\nand adjunct instructors (Berger & Ricci, 2011; Bousquet, 2003; Nelson,\n2010), has implications for how faculty can develop innovative learning\nenvironments, and which faculty are able to do so. Educators also note a\ngeneral increase in demands on faculty to produce economically viable research\nand partnerships (Arshad-Ayaz, 2007; Giroux, 2002, 2007; Hill & Kumar,\n2009; Marginson, 2007; Ross & Gibson, 2007). Collaborative conversations\nwith the participants will be used to co-create a deeper understanding of our\neveryday experiences as well as to explore possibilities of promoting new\neducational pathways to knowledge building and sharing among educational\ncommunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Leslie Shumka, Dr. Fiona Black, Dr. Andrew Wilson, &\nDr. Michael Fox, Mount Allison University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope Critical;\nCompassion Central: Exploring Compassionate Communities through Humanities\n& Social Science Curricula<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Orr, professor of community engagement at Oberlin\nCollege wrote, \u201cHope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.\u201d It\nreminds us of Joan Baez\u2019 comment, \u201cAction is the antidote to despair. We don\u2019t\nhave the luxury or the time for despair and hopelessness.\u201d Our current\ngeneration of students expresses anxiety about their future: they see that\nenvironmental crises, global poverty and social and political injustice require\nspecial skills and values to effect the change they would like to see. One\nresponse is to provide students with opportunities to explore and grow specific\nvalues, such as compassion, through engagement with the communities in which\nthey live and learn. This session aims to discuss the applicability of\ncommunity engaged learning as a key component in creating the compassionate\ncommunity, as it has been laid out in the Charter for Compassion movement (www.charterforcomapssion.org<\/a>).\nSpecifically, it aims to introduce the audience to the compassionate community\nmodel and to document the challenges and opportunities that we see in a number\nof new initiatives being developed in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The\nsession will ask participants to look at their own institutions and communities\nthrough the compassionate community lens, as we outline our findings after year\none of the Research Partnership for Education and Community Engagement\n(R-PEACE) initiative and propose the compassionate community model. We don\u2019t\nhave all of the answers, to be sure, but agree with Joan Baez that we don\u2019t\nhave the luxury or the time for despair and hopelessness!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Jewett, Mount Allison University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopeful Engagement: Active Learning\nthrough an Experience the Arts Course<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of this session is to reflect upon and foster\ninterdisciplinary conversations about the beneficial student and faculty\noutcomes of an Experience the Arts undergraduate course designed to generate\nstudent familiarity with experiential learning theory and practice and to\nfacilitate student-led pedagogy through experience of and participation in a\nvariety of co-curricular artistic and humanistic events and activities. Session\nexamples and discussion queries are based upon the positive and hope-filled\nexperiences of instructing this class at Mount Allison University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Susan C. Graham and Professor Amy J. MacFarlane, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Gender Non-Conformity and Hetero-normativity in Business Education: What We Learned Through Self-Reflection <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When researching \u2018gender in business education\u2019 we\ndiscovered that almost all existing literature focuses on cismale\/cisfemale\ngenders and hetero-normative behaviours and relationships. After an exhaustive\nsearch, only 17 peer-reviewed academic articles considered non-conforming\ngenders in relation to business education. \nThis literature focused on the inclusion of non-gender conforming\nperspectives and\/or issues in business curriculum (primarily in HR courses), the\ninclusion of non-gender conforming individuals in course materials, and in a\nfew cases examined the lived experiences of non-gender conforming faculty\nmembers. Topics that were absent in the literature were the perspectives and\nlived experiences of non-gender conforming business students, the broader\ninclusion of issues and perspectives of non-gender conforming individuals in\nnon-HR curriculum and course materials, and guidance on how to move this\nimportant issue forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This led us to reflect on our own teaching practices and to\nconsider if and how we were perpetuating these narrowly defined and\nexclusionary perspectives. Both of us realized that our somewhat privileged\nstatus as cisgender females in heterosexual relationships had indeed influenced\nour teaching practice through our choice of language, our assumptions, the\nexamples we used to illustrate concepts, etc. To supplement our personal\nreflections and gather empirical evidence, we reviewed the online video\nlectures for an introductory marketing class taught by Dr. Graham. Indeed,\nexamples of cisgender and hetero-normative language were plentiful. The purpose\nof this workshop is to share our experiences, provide a space for our\ncolleagues to reflect on their own teaching practice, and to begin to map a\nplan forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Shannan Grant, MSVU, Chelsey Purdy, & Ann Sylliboy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Two Eyes and One\nHeart Open: Using Person-focused Science Education to Inspire Creativity,\nCo-learning and Reconciliation <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Turtle Island (North America), there is a gap in academic\nattainment between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. This gap is widest at\nthe university level; concerning because jobs in science, technology,\nengineering, math (STEM) and health science fields (e.g. Nutrition and\nDietetics) often require a university education or higher. Recent data suggests\nthat Indigenous people are under-represented in these fields and there have\nbeen numerous calls to action to rectify this (e.g. Truth and Reconciliation Commission\nof Canada), using community-led approaches. Framework: Etuaptmumk (Two-eyed\nSeeing) is a guiding principal for co-learning, offered by elders and academics\nfrom Unama\u2019ki (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia), that guides our programming, to\nensure both Indigenous Ways of Knowing (IK) and STEM Education Principals are\nrepresented and respected in STEM promotion, education, training and\nmentorship. For instance, the seven sacred teachings\/ virtues (e.g. wisdom,\nhumility) of Mi’kmaw IK, stimulate exchange, reflection, and creative ways to\nlink western science knowledge and skills to community, family, and self. To\ndo: Through story-telling, sharing circles, and play, the workshop facilitators\nwill help participants harness the strengths of both ways of knowing so that\nthey can bring their lessons learned back to their respective communities to\nengage learners with two-eyes and one heart open. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Wendy Shilton, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Navigating the Abyss\nin the First-Year Writing Classroom: Integrating Narrative and Reflective Practice\ninto Academic Writing to Foster Wellbeing Across the Curriculum<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I hoped \u2013 I feared – \/ Since I hoped \u2013 I dared \u2013 \u201d:\nEmily Dickinson presents an antithesis in poem 594 I felt starkly today by\nalarming numbers of university students facing mental health challenges.\nAdversity, to them, seems everywhere. And struggling campuses, turning to\nexternal resources in the wider community for help, show positive results\nshadowed by intensifying economic burdens for students and the health care\nsystem. We face a seeming paradox: though hope can trigger terror, hope is\nessential for resilience. How can we help students to sustain hope while\nnavigating the abyss between fear and courage?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One answer looks to the invisible potential in our current\nacademic programs \u2013 particularly those traditionally deemed inappropriate for\noffering therapeutic value. First-year writing (FYW) is a strong example. FYW\nhas long strived to develop valuable proficiencies in expository writing and\nargument. But since the narrative turn of the 1990s and the emergence of\ndigital rhetorics and social media, narrative competence has become\nincreasingly important for academic and professional communication. Because\nnarrative is rooted, moreover, in rhetorically informed reflective practices,\nit can strengthen critical literacies through emphasizing discovery,\nmindfulness, reciprocal agency, and the capacity to re-imagine, narrate, and\nenact more deeply engaged identities.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using two active learning strategies, I will focus on the\nuse of reflection to deepen learning about rhetorical fallacies and cognitive\nschemas in the FYW context. I want to show how narrative competencies can help\nto restore affect to reason, bodies to whole persons, and intersubjectivity to\nacademic inquiry, transforming the experience of student wellbeing across the\ncurriculum for healthier and more promising futures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicole Wadden Garland & Jason Hogan, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accommodate or\nRedesign<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Rose and Meyer (2002), \u201cbarriers to learning are not, in fact,inherent in the capacities of learners, but instead arise in learners\u2019 interactions with inflexible educational materials and methods\u201d (p. vi as cited in Varnois, 2015, p.143). Universal Design for Learning (UDL) \u201cempowers all learners by creating flexible options and equitable opportunities for representing, expressing and engaging with information (Meyer et al., 2014, p. 4 as cited in Varnois, 2015, p. 148). It can be used by staff, faculty, and students in post-secondary institutions to break down barriers, meet the needs of a diverse student population, and make information accessible and transformable (CAST, 2008). Fundamentally, UDL is a good pedagogical practice. It involves anticipating inclusive course design, evokes empathy for every learner, and demands responsiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fitting into the AUT Showcase theme of Critical Hope and Other Academic Virtues, this session will guide participants in the use of student personas to adopt a student\u2019s frame of reference, identify potential learning barriers, and discuss ways to address these barriers through the fundamentals of UDL. These student personas encourage empathy for student experiences and emphasize the barriers experienced by students with a variety of needs. This session will contrast when barriers may be approached through academic accommodations or course redesigns. With each scenario, the questions for participants are asked: \u201cCould the required materials present barriers to your Persona? Could those barriers be addressed through a \u201credesign\u201d? What barriers remain and could they be addressed through\naccommodations?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Peter Foley, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Best Things in\nLife are Free: a Feral Cat Neuter Program on Prince Edward Island and Service\nTeaching Outside the Curriculum<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saturday Feral Cat Neuter Program has been running\ncontinuously at the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward\nIsland for nineteen years. While students in each of the four years of the\nDoctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program have different experience levels\nand different learning requirements, they work together to pursue the same\ngoal:  to neuter a feral or stray cat.\nThe junior students practice basic clinical skills, while the senior students\npractice more advanced clinical skills while also learning leadership and\ncommunications skill in directing their team.  \nThe fact that the program is volunteer-based and outside the curriculum\nactually strengthens its value as a learning tool.   As the students are not being evaluated,\nthey feel less pressure and scrutiny in performing their duties.  They likewise value the experience more, and\nare more grateful of the voluntary participation of the faculty, as everyone is\nthere for the common goal of helping the cats and the community.  Students often have difficulty making the\ntransition from learner to leader in the clinical setting of veterinary medical\npractice.  They have a lot of fear that\ntheir skills will be inadequate, that they will fail their patients, and that\nthey will not know how to direct their team under pressure.  This feral cat neuter project gives them the\nopportunity to practice their leadership and clinical skills in a low stress,\nvolunteer setting.  It gives them hope for\ntheir future success as veterinary leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Scott Comber, Dalhousie University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cDesign Thinking\u201d\nClassroom: Using Empathic Approaches to Address Complex Issues<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher education in Canada faces multiple, complex issues.\nFor example, retention of new students, the rising cost of education, teaching\nmethods and curricula, disenfranchised students and faculty.  Many of the issues that need to be address\nstem from classroom settings; passive audiences, disengaged students,\ninappropriate teaching methodologies to name a few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design thinking is not new, however, its application to\nhigher education and, more specifically, to classroom settings is novel. Design\nthinking is creative process that can be used to solve complex issues such as,\n\u201chow do we create engaged, learning environments in our classrooms?\u201d One core\npremise of design thinking is empathy. \nTherefore, a core area of focus for this session will be to demonstrate\nhow students and faculty develop an empathic understanding of a problem they\nwould like to solve. Empathy, used in this way, focuses on the human\ncenteredness of the issue or problem being addressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empathy is only one element of design thinking. Defining the\nproblem, Ideation, Prototyping, and Testing are the other core elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One goal of this workshop is to present design thinking,\nclassroom examples of how I have used the design thinking process to enhance\nlearning, engagement and inclusion. Another primary goal will be for each\nparticipant to develop a plan for how they may incorporate design thinking\nprinciples into their classrooms. This session will be workshop based, action\noriented and fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Alex Fancy, Mount Allison University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compassion is Not Enough:\nTeaching Three Phases of Empathy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Pinker says that the current interest in empathy is\na \u201ccraze.\u201d Is this because there is a crisis? Mary Gordon believes that\n\u201cempathy is the number-one skill in the 21st century.\u201d  Kathleen Bortolin makes the case for empathy\nin the academy (University Affairs, August 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars have identified \nthree types of empathy: affective (compassion), cognitive (taking the\nperspective of others) and pro-social (the citizen as actant). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although very important, compassion is not enough. This\ninteractive session will explore how the empathetic teacher can help students\npractise \u201cperspective-taking,\u201d or cognitive empathy, as they experience the\nviewpoint of the other.  As scholarly\nteachers we are uniquely prepared to promote, in an intentional way, this phase\nof empathy which can help our students to become empathetic citizens who make a\npositive difference long after they have left our classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do not feel sorry for (our neighbors who are less\nfortunate than us) . We understand how they feel\u201d (Dan Rather). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Dr. Moira A. Law,\nUNBSJ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Virtue Driven Life in Large Undergraduate Classes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large introductory classes can present unique challenges in student engagement and success that can directly affect students\u2019 subsequent attitudes towards learning and achievement in their undergraduate career. As post-secondary educators we have the opportunity to infuse our course elements, e.g., lectures, assignments, assessments, etc. with opportunities for students to grow in foundational virtues necessary for a successful post secondary experience. This high-engagement session will explore what virtues are necessary for a successful undergraduate experience and the course elements that educators can manipulate to provide opportunities for students to grow in these qualities. The session will wrap up with a review of one educator\u2019s attempt to offer such opportunities for growth to students in a large introductory undergraduate course and the feedback students provided on these elements of the course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Carolyn Peach Brown & Dr. Nino Antadze, UPEI<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Balancing Hope and Despair in Environmental Studies<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Home page of the University of Prince Edward Island\nopens with a bold question. \u201cThink you can change the world? We do too.\u201d over\ntop of scenes of various aspects of campus life. When the Bachelor of\nEnvironmental Studies degree was created just over 5 years ago, it set as its\u2019\ngoal to help students \u201clearn to make environmental connections across academic\nfields and to analyze environmental challenges we face today. In the classroom,\nfield, and community, you will lead the way in finding innovative\nsolutions\u2014making a positive impact toward sustainability in your personal life,\nlocally and globally.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These hopeful, bold statements about our capacity to change\nthe world are balanced with the reality of addressing the complexity of\nenvironmental challenges. With the global inaction to tackle climate change,\nmany are in despair about the future of our planet. With a growing global\npopulation, we ask ourselves how we can feed everyone sustainably and still\nleave room for other species. The realization of the tons of plastic waste and\nits effects on our oceans cause us to wonder if our individual choice to not\nuse plastic straws can really make a difference. How can we as professors teach\nabout the reality of environmental challenges without leaving students in\ndespair? How do we cultivate hope? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this session, we propose to tackle this topic through\npresentations by some professors and a panel discussion with UPEI Environmental\nStudies students. Each professor will present on their topic for 15 \u2013 20\nminutes. The panel discussion with students will follow the presentations for\napproximate 20 \u2013 30 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AU Teaching Showcase Session DescriptionsN Dr. Andrew Nurse, Mount Allison University Maintaining Hope: Responding to Teaching Fails Teaching fails happen for a variety of reasons. How can post-secondary instructors respond constructively to situations where pedagogies fail to meet expectations, learning stalls, or classroom dynamics become stilted, among other things? This session looks to promote conversation … Continue reading Abstracts<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143,"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/105\/revisions\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/projects.upei.ca\/au-showcase-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}