An Institutional Ethnography Inquiry into the Management of Anaphylaxis for Adolescents at-risk in Ontario Schools

In Ontario, Sabrina’s Law mandates that all school boards have anaphylaxis policies in place to protect at-risk students. Despite this law research has shown that within schools, the management of anaphylactic allergies is still challenging and at-risk students report feelings of anxiety and risk of an allergic reaction. The purpose of this study is to explore how the everyday experiences of adolescents at risk of anaphylaxis is mediated and shaped by exterior forces (e.g. Sabrina’s Law and school board policies) and secondarily to map how these forces shape and affect the everyday experiences of managing their allergies. The study employed Institutional Ethnography, a methodology that begins in the everyday experience of a particular standpoint (at risk adolescents) and then moves outwards to examine the social organization of anaphylaxis management in school settings. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with at-risk students and key informants, as well as through document analysis. Writing and mapping were used as analytical techniques to make visible the social organization of anaphylaxis management within school systems. Through this, the movement of institutional processes from their formation in the translocal and in the text, through their implementation in the local environment, to their effect on the everyday experience was explicated. Within this movement from the translocal down to the local, parts of the text are lost, unclear, or not implemented. Overall, translocal forces (Sabrina’s Law and the School Board Anaphylaxis Policy) affected the student experience by shaping the environment students moved through. Students and families were separated from the institutional processes occurring around anaphylaxis management and unaware of the work done within the schools. Within student safety as it pertains to anaphylaxis management, there is a focus on an allergic reaction and the emergency response, removing the social and emotional needs of anaphylactic students. Anaphylaxis management has been split into two concepts, Emergency Preparedness and Anaphylaxis Prevention, with Emergency Preparedness measures overshadowing preventative measures within the institutional processes. The results of this study support a need to incorporate Anaphylaxis Prevention back into the institutional processes, acknowledging the life experience of anaphylactic allergies, instead of focusing solely on the reaction

The 3M National Teaching Fellowship: A high impact community of practice in higher education

The 3M National Teaching Fellowship is a national teaching award program that has recognized over 300 teachers at more than 80 Canadian universities for their teaching excellence and outstanding educational leadership. Despite its rich, 30 plus-year history, its impact has remained largely anecdotal. In this study, we build on Hannah and Lester’s (2009) original, multilevel approach that looks at interactions between the individual, network, and systems levels to explore the impact of the 3M National Teaching Fellowship program on furthering and enriching teaching and learning in higher education. Through the analysis of a large collection of program artefacts corroborated with in-depth interviews with 11 fellows (key informants), we were able to gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which the program has had impact at the individual (micro), departmental (meso), institutional (macro), and national/international (mega) levels. In this article, we outline our scholarly exploration of the program’s influence and explore its role as a high-impact community of practice in higher education

The 3M National Teaching Fellowship: A High Impact Community of Practice in Higher Education

The 3M National Teaching Fellowship is a national teaching award program that has recognized over 300 teachers at more than 80 Canadian universities for their teaching excellence and outstanding educational leadership. Despite its rich, 30 plus-year history, its impact has remained largely anecdotal. In this study, we build on Hannah and Lester’s (2009) original, multilevel approach that looks at interactions between the individual, network, and systems levels to explore the impact of the 3M National Teaching Fellowship program on furthering and enriching teaching and learning in higher education. Through the analysis of a large collection of program artefacts corroborated with in-depth interviews with 11 fellows (key informants), we were able to gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which the program has had impact at the individual (micro), departmental (meso), institutional (macro), and national/international (mega) levels. In this article, we outline our scholarly exploration of the program’s influence and explore its role as a high-impact community of practice in higher education

Investigating impact in higher education

Are we making a difference? Answering this question with confidence and rigor has been a long-standing challenge for educators at every level. While the teaching and learning sector in higher education is making progress towards evaluating impact of programs, there is no recognized evaluation standard that is widely used. The intent of this guide is to make the process of designing and implementing impact evaluation more feasible and doable. A six-step process has been designed to help you think about the impact you want and to plan for how you will achieve and evaluate, before you begin to implement a program. We hope you feel better equipped to answer questions about where and how to start investigating impact and begin to facilitate reflective and participatory work within your own academic contexts