Implementing a Flexible Delivery Model at a Large Canadian Polytechnic During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining the Faculty Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic may irreversibly leave its mark on education around the globe. As Canada’s post-secondary institutions pivoted to online learning in March of 2020, faculty and administrators struggled to meet the needs of a new reality. The speed at which schools moved to remote learning was unprecedented (Hodges et al., 2020). Faculty adapted their lessons, administrators adapted their policies, and support staff compiled and created resources. Red River College of Applied Arts and Sciences in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was just one institution that struggled to adhere to the ever-changing realities of the health orders the Province of Manitoba implemented. How did we do? This research seeks to analyze instructor feedback, from their perspective, on how they viewed the rollout of the flexible online delivery model and the supports and resources provided to faculty. Pragmatism guided the philosophical approach of this study, which examined the individual perceptions of faculty as they navigated the move to online and blended learning. The CIPP framework (Stufflebeam, 1971) provided the steps and guidance of the evaluation process. The data collection included 1) an online survey which was offered to all faculty, and 2) one-on-one interviews with volunteer participants. Key themes were analyzed, coded, and then compared between the two instruments. The findings suggest that, while the work of administration and support staff was appreciated by faculty, room remains for improvement to staff resources and the continuation of quality professional development. Central to that, the flexible online delivery model should be adapted and simplified. In addition, the resources to support it should be focused, streamlined, and reorganized to improve accessibility. Finally, RRC may consider re-examining its crisis management and emergency management policies. While policies exist for sudden and short-term natural disasters, they were not prepared for an extended disruption of services. If Red River College embedded mentorships and support networks into their future crisis plans, this would facilitate the formal reconnection of managers, faculty, and staff to provide a safety net for wellness and professional development. Participants indicated that the pacing of resource offerings to faculty was intense and overwhelming due to a lack of cohesive leadership and oversight. Addressing this issue in iv RRC’s crises policies could clarify how the administration would, in the future, communicate instructions and designate who would oversee resource development and ensure accountability

The intellectual structure and substance of the knowledge utilization field: A longitudinal author co-citation analysis, 1945 to 2004

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It has been argued that science and society are in the midst of a far-reaching renegotiation of the social contract between science and society, with society becoming a far more active partner in the creation of knowledge. On the one hand, new forms of knowledge production are emerging, and on the other, both science and society are experiencing a rapid acceleration in new forms of knowledge utilization. Concomitantly since the Second World War, the science underpinning the knowledge utilization field has had exponential growth. Few in-depth examinations of this field exist, and no comprehensive analyses have used bibliometric methods.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using bibliometric analysis, specifically first author co-citation analysis, our group undertook a domain analysis of the knowledge utilization field, tracing its historical development between 1945 and 2004. Our purposes were to map the historical development of knowledge utilization as a field, and to identify the changing intellectual structure of its scientific domains. We analyzed more than 5,000 articles using citation data drawn from the Web of Science^®. Search terms were combinations of knowledge, research, evidence, guidelines, ideas, science, innovation, technology, information theory and use, utilization, and uptake.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We provide an overview of the intellectual structure and how it changed over six decades. The field does not become large enough to represent with a co-citation map until the mid-1960s. Our findings demonstrate vigorous growth from the mid-1960s through 2004, as well as the emergence of specialized domains reflecting distinct collectives of intellectual activity and thought. Until the mid-1980s, the major domains were focused on innovation diffusion, technology transfer, and knowledge utilization. Beginning slowly in the mid-1980s and then growing rapidly, a fourth scientific domain, evidence-based medicine, emerged. The field is dominated in all decades by one individual, Everett Rogers, and by one paradigm, innovation diffusion.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We conclude that the received view that social science disciplines are in a state where no accepted set of principles or theories guide research (<it>i.e.</it>, that they are pre-paradigmatic) could not be supported for this field. Second, we document the emergence of a new domain within the knowledge utilization field, evidence-based medicine. Third, we conclude that Everett Rogers was the dominant figure in the field and, until the emergence of evidence-based medicine, his representation of the general diffusion model was the dominant paradigm in the field.</p

Interactions Between Land Cover/Use Change and Hydrology

The water cycle is a vital component of the North Eurasian environment and plays a central role in the region’s climate, biology, biogeochemistry and in human interactions with the natural environment. The Northern Eurasian arctic drainage covers more than 2/3 of the pan-arctic land mass. Substantial changes in land cover and land use have occurred over the region in recent decades, as a result of changes in climate, permafrost, and water management, among other factors. These changes are likely to affect large-scale linkages between the regional and global climate system, but the nature of these interactions is not well understood. In this chapter, we analyze changes in the dominant hydrological components and explore the interaction of the terrestrial and atmospheric water cycles, with particular attention to key regional cryospheric processes and linkages between the water and carbon cycles. The monitoring of the water cycle from observational networks and remote sensing along with strategies for improving hydrological change detection are discussed in the context of changes in land cover and land use