The Teacher-Volunteer in Ontario

This study explored the practice of “teacher-volunteerism” in Ontario, Canada. A teacher-volunteer refers to those teachers who are fully certified to be employed as teachers in Ontario and who remain active in the teaching labour market. Teachers in Ontario, facing a competitive labour market, have increasingly volunteered inside of schools. Drawing on qualitative interviews with unemployed and underemployed teachers in Ontario, the paper examines and discusses experiences concerning volunteerism within this context. Findings revealed that teacher-volunteerism is largely motivated by employment-related concerns, with volunteers engaging in various teaching-related practices inside of schools. Teacher-volunteerism is understood as a new expectation faced by un(der)employed teachers as they seek paid employment. The exploration of teacher-volunteerism leads to further interrogation surrounding the intersections of teachers’ work and labour in the field of education.&nbsp

Exploring the Working-Lives of Unemployed and Underemployed Teachers in Ontario

This dissertation explores the working-lives of unemployed and underemployed teachers in the Canadian province of Ontario. Over the past decade, the number of new teachers unable to secure employment within the teaching profession in Ontario has continued to grow. As the oversupply of teachers is expected to persist, an extremely competitive labour market has made the position of being an un(der)employed teacher increasingly “precarious” (Ontario College of Teachers, 2014, 2015). However, such concerns must also be examined within the context of the contemporary world of work and society. Standing’s (2011) understanding of precarious work and the precariat provides a theoretical and conceptual framework from which to further explore and interrogate the experiences of un(der)employed teachers in relation to work, employment, unemployment, underemployment and precarity today. Through a qualitative study of 24 teachers, the working-lives of un(der)employed teachers are examined—specifically in relation to issues of precarious work, control, identity and emotion. Teachers revealed that precarious work and precarity have both become common features of, and in, their work and lives as they navigate the labour market in Ontario. Moreover, their work, employment relationships and social relations with teaching appear to be distinctive from those in more traditional permanent teaching positions. For all of these teachers, the inability to secure full-time, permanent employment in a crowded teacher labour market was a shared experience. However, their challenges with un(der)employment were not homogeneous, nor did they experience precarity in the same manner. Changes in the nature of teaching work and employment reveal the numerous ways in which many teachers’ working-lives have changed in Ontario and warrant further consideration for issues surrounding educational equity, access and quality in the 21st century

Who Wrote This? Detecting Artificial Intelligence–Generated Text from Human-Written Text

This article explores the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on written compositions in education. The study examines participants’ accuracy in distinguishing between texts generated by humans and those produced by generative AI (GenAI). The study challenges the assumption that the listed author of a paper is the one who wrote it, which has implications for formal educational systems. If GenAI text becomes indistinguishable from human-generated text to a human instructor, marker, or grader, it raises concerns about the authenticity of submitted work. This is particularly relevant in post-secondary education, where academic papers are crucial in assessing students’ learning, application, and reflection. The study had 135 participants who were randomly presented with two passages in one session. The passages were on the topic of “How will technology change education?” and were placed into one of three pools based on the source of origin: written by researchers, generated by AI, and searched and copied from the internet. The study found that participants were able to identify human-generated texts with an accuracy rate of 63%. But with an accuracy of only 24% when the composition was AI-generated. However, the study also had limitations, such as limited sample size and an older predecessor of the current GenAI software. Overall, this study highlights the potential impact of AI on education and the need for further research to evaluate comparisons between AI-generated and human-generated text

Salience of Charter Schools in Educational Policy Debates in Three Canadian Provinces: 1993-2010

School choice-the movement towards increased parental and student control over public education-has been endorsed extensively as a means of revitalizing and improving public schools. Part of this movement is the concept of charter schools, which have expanded rapidly in the United States and around the globe. In stark contrast, Canadians have remained relatively content with current educational arrangements; only 13 charter schools currently exist in Canada, all in the province of Alberta. This study sought to identify why charter schools have failed to situate themselves in Canadian education. The study used an agenda setting framework to determine the salience of charter schools as a public issue in three provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. Results largely indicate that over the past 18 years, charter schools have gradually declined as a salient issue. Additional discussion concerning the unique characteristics of Canadian education highlights factors that appear to discourage the expansion of such schools. However, although charter schools do not appear to be a current issue for Canadians, they may still emerge in the future, as parents and teachers continue to seek new ways of improving educational outcomes. Thus, although the impact of charter schools on public education has been minimal to date, they provide an illuminating lens towards better understanding educational reform and policy, as well as the fundamental values that shape education in Canada

Who Wrote This? The Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Academy

Artificial technology has improved in many spheres, including large language models (LLM). It seems that text generated by LLMs might be indistinguishable from the human-written text. This research study reports on how accurately participants can identify whether a text composition is written by a human being or by a computer. Implications for teachers, assessment scholars, policymakers, and administrators are discussed

Beyond plagiarism: ChatGPT and the future of AI

Networking Event by Graduate students at the CSSHE conference at York University, ON, Canada (May 30, 2023)CSSH

Artificial Intelligence, Algorithmic Writing & Educational Ethics

Paper presented at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE) 2021 - Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration (CASEA) (June 1, 2021) The purpose of this paper is to provide a theoretical and conceptual discussion of the rapidly emerging field of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic writing (AW). The continued development of new tools—most notably at this time, GPT-3—continues to push forward and against the boundaries between the writing of human and machine. As issues surrounding AI continue to be actively discussed by scientists, futurists and ethicists, educational leaders also find themselves front and centre of debates concerning, academic writing, academic integrity and educational ethics more broadly. Three points of focus provide the basis for this analysis. Firstly, we examine the impact of AW on student writing and academic integrity in schools. Secondly, we discuss similar issues in relation to publication and academic scholarship. Finally, taken together, we discuss the broader ethical dimensions and implications that AI and AW will, and are, quickly bringing into education and the field educational administration and leadership

AI & AI: Exploring the contemporary intersections of artificial intelligence and academic integrity

Issues emerging from the use of artificial intelligence technologies in academic integrity are examined using deontological (principle-based), utilitarian (consequence-based), and feminist (community-based) ethical theories. Specifically, how are these ethical theories to be applied to the matters of Ai when AI mitigates educational interactions? Aside from ethics, the reality of the use of artificial intelligence technology has an impact on labour and even academic labour. Using contemporary theories that tackle automation and work is examined in the context of higher education. Although the futures are volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), the trajectory of how artificial intelligence will be deployed is certainly uncertain. But the application of AI in text generation is here and readily available. Currently, there are a growing number of automatic text generators based on Large Language Models (LLMs) that are available to students at little or no cost. The impact on academics and education is inevitable, and while there are no explicit solutions, there are pedagogically appropriate opportunities that could provide broader change in creating more authenticity in the development of student writing. All the previously explored trends immediately affect academic integrity and assessment in post-secondary education. In the final presentation, the current practices will be troubled, and new opportunities discussed