Using the 3E Framework in Promoting Adult Learners’ Success in Online Environments

The growth of technology has facilitated a rapid expansion of online learning opportunities in postsecondary education, where adult learners are availing themselves of these classes and programs. To facilitate the success of adult learners in online environments, instructors must consider the learning characteristics of adult learners and intentionally design courses that leverage their strengths while addressing their challenges. The purpose of this paper is to utilize the 3E framework to analyze the implementation of e-learning technologies in order to achieve those goals. In this conceptual paper, first the 3E framework is described, and then the literature on adult learning in online environments is presented using a qualitative meta-synthesis approach. The 3E framework is then applied to examine e-learning technologies to highlight the implications this lens may have in the design and implementation of these technologies.La croissance de la technologie a facilité l’expansion rapide des occasions d’apprentissage en ligne dans le monde de l’éducation postsecondaire, où les adultes se prévalent de ces cours et ces programmes. Afin de promouvoir la réussite des apprenants adultes dans ces environnements en ligne, les instructeurs doivent tenir compte des caractéristiques d’apprentissage des apprenants adultes et ensuite concevoir des cours qui exploitent leurs forces tout en abordant leurs points faibles. À cette fin, la présente recherche emploie le cadre 3E (en anglais enhance, extend, empower: améliorer, accroitre, autonomiser) pour analyser la mise en œuvre de l’apprentissage électronique. Cet article conceptuel commence par décrire le cadre 3E pour ensuite présenter, par une synthèse méta-analytique et qualitative, la recherche portant sur l’apprentissage par les adultes dans les environnements en ligne. Par la suite, le cadre 3E est appliqué à l’étude des technologies en ligne pour mettre en valeur les incidences que pourraient avoir cette perspective sur la conception et la mise en œuvre de ces technologies.Mots clés : apprentissage en ligne, apprenants adultes, éducation postsecondair

Voices and Insights: Using Student Voice to Understand and Address Mental Health Issues on Campus

Campuses are becoming increasingly aware of the issues with mental health and well-being among its students. This paper explores the context of mental health on campuses, and examines the urgent issue of how to address this growing phenomenon. Institutions need to use a holistic perspective to view wellness, and the framework of multiple, interrelated dimensions of wellness may provide a structure to examine the strengths of services and programs provided on individual campuses, as well as help in the process of identifying gaps.  In designing a holistic strategy, though, it is imperative that student voice is a fundamentally important piece of planning for the necessary supports for student well-being, including academic and non-academic programs and initiatives

A policy study of the emergence of a joint interdisciplinary school

Educational institutions have remained remarkably unchanged throughout the last century, even when the political, cultural and social environments have undergone very significant transformation (cf. Duderstadt, 2005; Fullan, 2007; Rowan & Miskel, 1999). Because of the noted similarity among educational institutions and the institutions’ perceived inability to change, I wanted to identify a significant change at an educational institution, and examine the context and policy process that promoted this change. The focus of this study was the process of policy development within one type of educational institution, the university. In this case study, I examined the policy process involved in establishing a joint, interdisciplinary school, the School of Policy and Research. Data were gathered from three sources: interviews, documents, and policies. I conducted semi-structured interviews with thirteen participants who had some connection to the School, and analyzed the data by coding emergent themes. These were not discrete themes, but rather were interconnected and reflected the complexity of the policy development process. From the findings, the concept of policy windows, as suggested by Kingdon (2003), was evident in the policy origin stage. The policy stream, the political stream, and the problem stream came together at a critical juncture as a confluence of forces that allowed the initiative of the joint interdisciplinary policy School to move forward into adoption and implementation. Due to this presence of a policy window, the initiative moved through the adoption stage relatively smoothly, at least initially. The policy actors were essentially the same at both universities; there was a core group of grassroots level faculty members who were involved in policy work and believed in the potential of the interdisciplinary policy School. They were supported by senior administrative personnel who saw this initiative as one way to address perceived problems confronting the institutions. However, the implementation stage at both universities was messy and difficult as the proponents of the School encountered many tensions, including issues around securing resources, program development, the proposal approval process, and several sources of resistance to change. The discipline-driven culture of the universities appeared to be an impediment to innovative practices that bridge disciplinary boundaries. Although the timing of this study obviated full consideration of the evaluation stage, the participants did speculate upon several intended impacts of the School, and they proposed possible collateral impacts. Implications of this investigation for practice included a need for individual organizations to conduct a thorough examination of situation-specific organizational practices that promote or inhibit innovation, including reviews of current practice for determining what programs need to be discontinued, for articulating how to monitor progress in achieving outcomes, and for identifying how to promote a more collaborative culture. In terms of implications for research, further exploration of the implementation stage of successful policy development was seen to have some potential. In change theory, further research could address the stark absence of the voice of resistors to change. Two elements of neoinstitutional theory that merit further research are the roles of agents in initiating change, and the role of isomorphic processes (coercive, normative, and mimetic) in inhibiting change in organizations. One theoretical implication of this study was the relevance of certain lenses (political, temporal, organizational, and cultural) in examining change. Additionally, the theoretical dichotomy of incremental and transformative change merits further examination in relation to the dynamics of the policy process

The Politics of Mathematics: Just and Knowing Societies

Educational leaders and researchers recognize that mathematics can be an effective tool in enabling substantial advances in many fields of science and technology. However, the role that mathematics can play in shaping and creating socio-political views of societies is not as well understood. Within the mathematics’ learning community there is little discussion connecting the unique role that mathematics can play in conceptualizing a democratic society even within the democratic societies where that learning happens. Building capacity for learning in context is a critical piece of any comprehensive program but it is sometimes difficult for leaders to agree on what that context should and does look like. There are multitudes of influences at play when educational systems create and enact curricula but in order to push through the stalemate that can exist with different ideologies, it is essential to understand that mathematics can be a conduit to improvements in political social justice as well as a gateway to developments in science and technology. Mathematics has the potential to be a tool to create, as well as an instrument of influence; the key is for leaders to understand how to do both

Changing Trends and Emerging Themes: Teaching and Learning in Post-Secondary Mathematics Classrooms

Educational institutions face increasing pressures to respond to the changing environment, including the rapid advances in technology. All curricula are subject to scrutiny, but arguably the sciences and mathematics curricula are under a special lens, given the impact of changing technology and the increasing importance accorded to the knowledge economy. This paper explores the continuing dialogue regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics including the transition from secondary to post-secondary and the emergent trends in the field of mathematics education. The recent evolution of mathematics teaching is described and the implications for the future of mathematics teaching are highlighted, including the need for an examination of the learning experiences afforded secondary and post-secondary mathematics students, as well as the need for dialogue between the secondary and post-secondary levels of mathematics education with the purpose of evidence-based development for mathematics teaching

Enhance, Extend, Empower: Understanding Faculty Use of E-Learning Technologies

[EN] There has been scant nation-wide assessment of institutional use of learning technology in Canada (Grant, 2016) and where assessment has been done of student access to e-resources, considerable variability within and across institutions has been reported (Kaznowska, Rogers, & Usher, 2011). With a broad goal of improved and increased use of learning technologies, one university wanted to explore the use of e-learning technologies across campus. The purpose of this study was to identify instructors' needs and aspirations with respect to how learning technologies at the university could be designed, implemented, and supported. The 3E framework of Enhance, Extend, Empower, proposed by Smyth, Burce, Fotheringham, & Mainka (2011), was useful in examining the underlying purposes of using e-learning technologies. For this qualitative study, the research team engaged 32 instructors in individual interviews or in focus groups to discuss how they currently use e-learning technologies, how they hope to advance their uses of these technologies, and their perceived barriers or enablers to implementation. The study has implications for practice and policy at postsecondary institutions; additionally, this study suggests possibilities for further research into the scholarship of teaching and learning in the context of e-learning technologies.Squires, V.; Turner, N.; Bassendowski, S.; Wilson, J.; Bens, S. (2017). Enhance, Extend, Empower: Understanding Faculty Use of E-Learning Technologies. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1033-1043. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.55081033104

Reflections on Study Abroad: Insights from Registered Nurses

Globalization has resulted in the increased internationalization of higher education with most universities hosting international students and sending domestic students on international learning experiences. As part of this trend, many undergraduate nursing programs offer study abroad clinical placements to promote cultural sensitivity and global citizenship. While there is an abundance of research evaluating student perceptions of specific international study abroad experiences soon upon their return, there is little research exploring longer-term perspectives of participants across a range of diverse international placement sites. To provide guidance for their study abroad program, a nursing school in western Canada gathered the perspectives of participants from the previous one to eight years. These currently practicing registered nurses had clinical placements in one of six countries across four continents between 2008 and 2015 as part of their undergraduate nursing education. In total 35 participants completed an online survey with 13 agreeing to an individual, semi-structured follow-up interview to elicit more detailed responses. The study was guided by Thorne’s interpretive description qualitative approach. The key beneficial features of their experience identified by the participants included cross-cultural learning, relationship building, and exposure to diverse health contexts. Narratives also captured challenges including cultural adjustment, financial burden, meeting placement and academic expectations, and issues of social injustice/inequality. The participants provided advice for the planning and delivery of international nursing clinical placements and recommended close curricular alignment between the course and placement site, faculty presence, and thorough student pre-departure preparation as essential components of study abroad nursing programs. The narratives highlighted the importance of faculty guidance to help participants move toward critical global citizenship by assessing their own beliefs and assumptions while considering the historical, sociocultural, economic, and political factors as well as other perspectives evident in the host placement context. Such transformational learning should be reinforced by the integration of social responsibility and global citizenship within undergraduate nursing curricula to ensure all nursing graduates are exposed to these critical worldviews. The findings provide guidance for the delivery of future international placements at this school of nursing and may help inform the design and implementation of similar programs. These registered nurses reinforced the value of study abroad as rich experiential learning opportunities that facilitate long-term cultural competence and a critical global nursing perspective. Résumé La mondialisation a entraîné une internationalisation accrue de l’enseignement supérieur, la plupart des universités accueillant des étudiants internationaux et soutenant la mobilité de ses propres étudiants pour une partie de leur formation à l’international. Suivant cette tendance, de nombreux programmes de premier cycle en sciences infirmières offrent des stages cliniques à l’international pour soutenir le développement de leur sensibilité culturelle et citoyenneté mondiale. Bien que plusieurs recherches portent sur les perceptions d’étudiantes peu après leur retour d’expériences spécifiques d’études à l’international, peu de recherches ont examiné la perspective à plus long terme des participantes à des stages dans divers contextes internationaux. Afin d’orienter son programme de stages à l’international, une école de sciences infirmières de l’Ouest canadien a recueilli le point de vue de participantes des dernières huit années. Celles-ci, désormais infirmières en exercice, avaient fait un stage clinique dans un de six pays répartis sur quatre continents, au cours de leurs études de premier cycle en sciences infirmières, entre 2008 et 2015. Au total, 35 participantes ont répondu à un sondage en ligne et 13 d’entre elles ont accepté de prendre part à un entretien individuel subséquent semi-dirigé afin d’approfondir leurs réponses. La recherche était guidée par l’approche qualitative de description interprétative proposée par Thorne. Parmi les plus grands avantages de l’expérience, identifiés par les participantes, notons l’apprentissage interculturel, la création de relations et l’exposition à divers contextes de santé. Les récits décrivaient aussi certains défis, dont l’adaptation culturelle, le fardeau financier, le respect des exigences à la fois du milieu de stage et du milieu de formation, ainsi que les questions d’injustice/ inégalité sociale. Les participantes ont formulé des recommandations pour la planification et la réalisation de stages cliniques internationaux en sciences infirmières, et ont jugé essentiels ces éléments pour tout programme de mobilité : un lien pédagogique étroit entre le cours et le milieu de stage, la présence d’un membre du corps professoral et la préparation minutieuse des étudiantes avant leur départ. Les récits soulignaient l’importance de l’encadrement professoral pour soutenir le développement des participantes vers une citoyenneté mondiale critique en analysant leurs propres croyances et idées préconçues, tout en tenant compte des facteurs historiques, socioculturels, économiques et politiques, ainsi que d’autres perspectives observées dans le milieu d’accueil du stage. Une telle expérience d’apprentissage transformationnelle devrait être consolidée par l’intégration des notions de responsabilité sociale et de citoyenneté mondiale dans le programme d’études de premier cycle en sciences infirmières, de sorte que toutes les diplômées soient exposées à ces visions du monde essentielles. Les résultats ont servi à orienter le format des prochains stages internationaux dans cette école de sciences infirmières et pourraient contribuer à la conception et à la mise en œuvre de programmes similaires. Ces infirmières en exercice ont réaffirmé l’importance des études à l’international comme étant de riches occasions d’apprentissage expérientiel, qui favorisent une intégration durable de la compétence culturelle et une perspective globale critique en sciences infirmières

The Okanagan Charter: Evolution of Health Promotion in Canadian Higher Education

This paper traces the history of health promotion on campuses, including the initial attempts at providing oversight over student behaviour to the increased need for further supports after the influx of World War II veterans onto campuses, to the focus on providing a much broader range of supports that consider well-being from a holistic stance. We describe the current context where campuses are beginning to take a more intentional and organized approach to well-being across Canada; for context, we have included a description of our recent study that explores impactful practices on Health Promotion campuses that have implemented the Okanagan Charter (2015) (Authors, in press). The immediate context with the evolving global pandemic, reliance on online learning, emphasis on diversity and increasing access for all will also be explored. Lastly, we suggest future directions for campuses to take to address the current pressures and how a network of campuses engaged in well-being efforts who are employing whole systems approaches can be a hopeful model for ensuring well-being on Canadian campuses in the future