Project #1:

The archival analysis of teachers in comics

David Lewkowich, Secondary Education

Project Abstract:

This study examines the history of the teacher in North American comics, building a

digital archive and linking the development of historical knowledge about teachers in

comics to the social, cultural, emotional, autobiographical, and intellectual uses that

readers may make of these characters. This work will thus cultivate an enriched

understanding about the impact of popular culture in today's classrooms, where

contemporary pedagogy increasingly relies on the convergence of image and word

through digital, mobile text. The research questions that this study explicitly addresses

are: How has the figure of the teacher been represented in the history of North

American comics and graphic novels, and how have teachers themselves represented

their teaching experiences in comics form? In what ways do these changing

representations reflect larger cultural concerns? The stage of research intended for this

Roger Smith award involves the collection, analysis, and organization of narratives and

images from online repositories of comics and graphic novels, as well as the creation of

an online site dedicated to housing these images.

Project Description:

The student selected for this Roger Smith award (330 hours) will work closely with Dr.

Lewkowich and engage in the following tasks:

1) Collection and analysis of images from online repositories of comics and graphic

novels. (150 hours. This work can be done mostly off-site, though we will meet regularly

to discuss the developing analysis and organization of the archival findings.)

2) The creation of a digital archive dedicated to housing these images. (180 hours.

Working with Dr. Lewkowich as well as “Tech. in Ed.” Some of this work can be done off-

site, though we will have regular meetings on campus as well. The preference is for a

student researcher who already has some experience working with website design and

maintenance.)

Though once considered eminently disposable, comics now play an essential role in the

contemporary landscapes of literature, literacy and learning. However, since their

institutional legitimacy is still a relatively new phenomenon, and there is hardly consensus

regarding how to teach such texts effectively, an expected outcome of this study is to

enable teachers and teacher educators to work more confidently with their students in the

communication and composition of multimodal texts. This project also intends to change

how we think about using comics in research, both as a means of narrative analysis and

a method of inquiry (including creative forms of self-representation). Exploring these

changes, I aim to also question how research findings associated with non-traditional

forms of representation (such as comics) might be disseminated in newer and sometimes

unexpected venues (including digital archives).

Benefits for student involved in research:

The student involved in this project will gain valuable experience regarding the

collection, organization, and analysis of archival data. If the student wishes to pursue

graduate studies in education, history, cultural studies, literature (or other related

disciplines), their work in this project will certainly well prepare them for future research.

At the end of the summer (and in preparation for the Roger Smith celebration in the fall),

the student researcher will prepare a research poster of the work we have done. There

is also the possibility of the student being included as a co-author on a future

publication/academic conference presentation.

Project #2:

Getting Ready to Read: Prosody and Early Literacy in Preschoolers

Lesly Wade-Woolley, Associate Professor

Educational Psychology

Project Abstract:

Children who have difficulty developing the prerequisite literacy skills during the

preschool years are potentially less prepared to undertake the complex task of learning

to read that begins in Kindergarten and Grade 1. With limited foundational skills,

children are more likely to develop a reading-related learning disability. The suite of

critical precursor skills includes phonological awareness, or the ability to reflect on and

manipulate the sounds of language. Much research has been done to establish the

importance of awareness of phonemes, or individual sounds in a word (e.g., the three

sounds in the word “cat”), but there are additional areas that warrant exploration. This

study will examine the ability of preschool children to demonstrate prosodic awareness

and the potential links that this has to other skills related to their later reading abilities.

Prosody is the rhythm and melody of speech. Prosody operates at three different levels:

the word, phrase, and discourse levels. Prosody at the word level is realized in terms of

which syllable receives greater duration, volume, and pitch. For example, there is

primary stress on the first syllable in the noun “RE.bel” versus second syllable stress in

the verb “re.BEL”. Next, at the phrase level, prosody involves the pauses between

words, changes in individual word duration, and changes in pitch that occur within a

phrase. In written language, phrase prosody is often captured by punctuation,

differentiating (a) Let’s eat, Grandma from (b) Let’s eat Grandma. Finally, prosody at the

discourse level involves emphasis of particular words to signal a noteworthy relationship

in the discourse. For example, prosodic emphasis on the word Mary in “Mary stole that

car” would be warranted in a discourse segment that previously asked who had stolen

the car.

Research suggests that prosody is an aspect of language that is used by infants for

speech segmentation, or levering individual words from the speech stream, in a process

known as prosodic bootstrapping. As such, it is an aspect of language with salience for

listeners from an early age. Some evidence suggests that prosodic may set the stage

for phonemic awareness, which has received wide attention as a critical precursor skill

for alphabetic reading. However, this has not been explicitly tested with all three levels

of prosody; only prosodic awareness at the word level has been investigated with

preschool children. It is hypothesized that individual differences in all three levels of

prosodic awareness will be intercorrelated, and that these abilities will be correlated with

early reading measures and other precursors to early literacy.

In Year 1, this project will examine the ability of children 4 and 5 years old to play

language games that target vocabulary, syntax, and the sound-based aspects of oral

language, in addition to emergent literacy (letter sound and letter name knowledge)

level. Parent consent and child assent will be obtained. Parents will also complete a

questionnaire providing demographic information about their children, home language

experience, and home reading practices. The project will assess these skills when

children are four or five years old to establish intercorrelations among all variables, and

then follow up in Year 2 to determine how these precursor skills predict reading skills at

five and six years old. Ethics clearance is currently being sought.

This study is important because it will help us develop the construct of prosodic

awareness and to determine which aspect(s) of prosodic awareness are related to early

reading skills and other critical skills that are precursors to literacy development. It will

lead to further studies to assess whether prosodic awareness is malleable, or can be

taught. If poor prosodic awareness, like phonemic awareness, is a marker of reading

difficulties, these data may also assist in the development of potential interventions.

Project Description:

The primary work undertaken by the student will be working with the participants and their

families to collect data for Year 1 of the study. Participants will be seen at local child care

centres or in the lab of the PI. The student will be trained on all standardized and

experimental measures. This work will require a familiarity with and comfort around young

children, careful attention to detail, and a police check. Other duties will involve scoring

and managing data, and some data analysis. The student will work as part of a small

team of undergraduate and graduate students on this project.

This project is important because it will build on what we know about early identification

of risk for reading problems, and provide data to assist in the development of early

programming to mitigate that risk.

Benefits for student involved in research:

The student will learn how to conduct research with young children. They will learn about

the language bases of reading, and about the early precursors of reading and reading

risk. They will learn about preparation and analysis of quantitative data.

Project deliverables:

The student will be expected to prepare a slideshow describing their participation in the

project, including project aims, background, method and initial findings, for the Fall

Celebration.

Project #3:

Contextual Impact of Graduate Education Programs for Health and Physical

Education Teachers

Douglas Gleddie, Elementary Education

Project Abstract:

According to a research brief by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (Horn & Jang,

2017) there has long been encouragement for teachers to pursue a graduate degree.

Rationale for graduate education comes from a variety of levels and includes such

diversity as: a desire for a higher salary; seeking to raise the status of the profession;

meeting jurisdiction requirements for teacher licensure and; improvement of teacher

effectiveness (professional development). The same report cites numerous studies

(mostly in the math and reading areas) and indicates “…past research depicts a complex,

poorly understood relationship between teacher educational attainment and student

outcomes...” (p. 3). We know even less about how graduate programs affect teachers

themselves (status, professionalism, retention, etc.), which may also indirectly impact

student learning. While there is a well-established body of literature on professional

development for teachers (e.g., Darling- Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Guskey, 2002;

Guskey & Yoon, 2009), it is surprising that despite the proliferation of graduate programs

directed towards in-service teachers, we still know very little about the impact of these

programs on teachers, their contexts (schools) and their students. Therefore, the purpose

of this study is to research the impact of a Deweyan (1938) inspired graduate program

(acknowledge complex learning process, prioritize context and challenge, praxis focused,

nurture career long growth) on teachers’ professional and contextual (school climate,

collegial relationships) growth. The research questions are: 1. How do our respective

graduate programs impact health and physical educators professionally and

contextually? 2. How does this impact change over time (mid-program, end of program,

graduates at one year, two years etc.)? 3. As conceptualized by participants, what are

the key components of a Deweyan inspired graduate program designed for maximum

impact on teachers’ professional development and school context?

Project Description:

The student work will include 4 phases. 1) assisting with thematic analysis of year one

data (13- interviews) that has already been gathered from teachers in the MEd program

(May). 2) assisting with year 2 interviews and transcription (teachers and direct

supervisors) (May-June). 3) Assisting with year 2 data analysis as well as combined year

1&2 data analysis (July-August). 4) Contributing to writing up the year 1 data for a peer-

reviewed journal. There will be some meetings and co-work done on campus, however,

much of the work can be done off-campus with regular research meetings to provide

direction and support. The undergraduate student will work with a graduate student and

professors.

As stated in the abstract, we really don't know a lot about the impact of graduate studies

on teachers themselves (as PD) and their contexts (colleagues, administrators, schools,

students). Since a big part of that we do in the faculty is graduate programming, this

information and research is critical to Education as a field. As we develop new graduate

programs and refine current ones, the data and insight gathered will be relevant and

essential.

Benefits for student involved in research:

This project will allow the student to engage and learn about teacher PD through a MEd

program. As well, they will have an opportunity to be directly involved in a current research

project WITH teachers, a graduate student and professors. Therefore, the student will

gain support and training in several research skills (interviewing, data analysis and

writing) as well as be a part of a peer-reviewed paper.

Project #4:

Open Access for the Global School Library Community

Jennifer Branch-Mueller, Professor and Associate Chair, Graduate

Elementary Education

Project Abstract:

Publication is central to the academic enterprise and publication in “peer-reviewed

journals serves not only as a way to certify the research at hand but, in some measure,

to certify the researcher, who generally must compile a strong publication record in order

to demonstrate merit for tenure and promotion” (Panitch & Michalak, 2005, para. 6). In

the field of school librarianship, scholarly journals such as School Library Research and

School Libraries Worldwide as well as other Library and Information Science/Studies

(LIS) journals serve as the “authoritative medium for information exchange and as the

permanent record of research results (Panitch & Michalak, 2005, para. 6).

These days technological advances and internet have made the dissemination of digital

content easier than before with lower price comparing to physical content. Though there

are restrictions in place to protect the content. The emergence of Open Access (OA)

publishing has changed the world of scholarly communication within the past two decades

(Engeszer & Sarli, 2014). The definition of OA literature explained by Suber (2004)

indicates OA as free, online or digital source and with no copyright and licensing

restrictions which provides access to distributed articles without a subscription fee or

costly memberships, an idea welcomed by scientists, researchers, and libraries. The

movement towards OA journals and repositories is a fundamental step that leads

academics to take advantage of this technology through vast dissemination of research

with less copyright restrictions (Kim, 2011). OA provides authors the opportunity to

maximize their visibility and expand the citation impact of their research (Tanveer, 2017).

Although OA is beneficial to all who are involved in scholarly communication, significant

barriers still exist, preventing OA from being established as a mainstream model

(Engeszer & Sarli, 2014). With the increasing number of OA materials, more funding

agencies enforcing OA policies while libraries are involved with the production of OA

materials and establishing institutional repositories which provide free access to scholarly

literature to users outside the institutional community.

This research project has four goals. The first is to engage in an in-depth literature review

around open access publishing of research through academic journals and scholarly

conference proceedings. The second is to provide open access to 50 years of conference

proceedings from the International Association of School Librarianship. Thirdly, the

content of the open access conference proceedings will be analyzed to determine the

types of research projects being carried out by school library researchers and to

categorize that research using a framework proposed in Branch & Beesoon (2015). The

fourth goal is to survey school library practitioners from around the world to determine

how they might use the open access academic journals articles and conference papers

to inform their practice.

Project Description:

This work is flexible from May to the end of July. The student would need to have some

basic technology skills (others can be taught) and students should have access to a

computer. The student can work off-site but should be available for regular meetings

either in person or by Skype. The student should be a strong writer and have some basic

library searching skills. The student should be able to create and use a basic spread sheet

for collecting data from conference papers. If the student wanted to work on campus, then

office space could be made available.

We are in the middle of a sea change in terms of academic publishing. Scholarly

publishing involves three important participants including faculty scholars, the publishers,

and universities and institutions that purchase the journal through their library system

(McGuigan & Russell, 2008). Change is coming with budget cuts to higher education

shaping collection policies, easy to use and open source software available to create and

share electronic journals, and a new global commitment to dissemination of research to

the developing world. Federal granting agencies are requiring promoting open access to

funded research and there is a general sense of outrage over large corporations charging

exorbitant fees for access to faculty produced, reviewed, and edited content. This

research project will add to the literature around open access publishing by examining

the research context of school libraries in general and the International Association of

School Librarianship in particular. Findings will inform other groups of scholars as they

navigate the new landscape of open access publishing.

Benefits for student involved in research:

The student will develop skills in finding, evaluating, and summarizing research literature.

The student will learn about the open access publishing platform (Open Journal Systems)

used at the University of Alberta and develop skills in adding content and metadata. The

student will gather information from research articles and test a research framework

model based on the data gathered. The student will co-publish a paper based on the

research. The student will help develop a survey to be sent to school library practitioners.

The student will have diverse research experiences with a supportive faculty member.

These experiences will position the student to be successful in graduate studies.

Project #5:

Constructing collaborative learning experiences: Supports and resources needed

for an inclusive physical education professional development experience

Hayley Morrison, Assistant Professor

Elementary Education

Project Abstract:

Professional development opportunities for inclusive physical education (IPE) are limited

and even more rare for teachers and educational assistants to attend together (Morrison

& Gleddie, 2019). Based on a recent study that explored in-service teachers’ and

educational assistants’ experiences with professional development for IPE (Morrison,

2019), more research is necessary to outline effective strategies and resources to

implement meaningful and collaborative IPE professional development. Therefore, the

following research project will:

(a) complete a systematic review on effective professional development strategies in IPE,

(b) analyze data on teachers’ and educational assistants’ suggestions for IPE

professional development, and

(c) outline a series of actions and guiding processes for collaborative IPE professional

development.

The project will produce a paper and begin to construct an initial structure for an IPE

professional development framework.

The principal investigator's current work is exploring how engaging in collaborative

professional development can support relationships between teachers and educational

assistants. Both of these projects will contribute to the creation, implementation, and

examination of this IPE professional development framework.

Project Description:

The undergraduate student will work directly with the principal investigator/ professor.

There will be some meetings and co-work done on campus, however, much of the work

can be done off-campus with regular research meetings to provide direction and support.

The work schedule will follow the guidelines provided by the Faculty of Education for this

award (hours, months of work, etc.) is listed in order of importance:

(1) Student will meet with the professor and a librarian to complete a systematic review

of effective professional development from perspectives of elementary teachers and

educational assistants in (a) physical education, (b) inclusive education, and (c) inclusive

physical education.

(2) Student will assist the principal investigator in a thematic analysis of data collected on

“what type of supports and resources do in-service teachers and educational assistants

need in an IPE professional development experience?”

(3) Student will contribute to writing up some of the findings from tasks a & b for a peer-

reviewed journal.

(4) If time permits and available hours for workload still need to be completed, the student

will outline professional development materials for IPE including (a) creating a master

resource list, (b) compiling text materials, and (c) identifying appropriate online resource

(lessons, websites, organizations) from which they have learned from tasks a - c.

Teachers and educational assistants lack the training to optimally include students with

disabilities in physical education (DeCorby et al., 2005; Maher, 2016) as well as the

knowledge of how to work collaboratively to establish an inclusive teaching environment

(Morrison & Gleddie, 2019a). The deficits result in students with disabilities being

physically marginalized, socially isolated (Vickerman & Coates, 2009) and jeopardizes

their opportunities to engage in physical activity for important growth and development

(Hickson & Morrison, 2018). Teachers and educational assistants have reported desiring

collaborative professional development for IPE, which includes instruction on how to work

together and time to collaborate in their planning and preparation (Morrison & Gleddie,

2019b), however, professional development is often delivered via top-down instruction

from external provision rather than bottom-up collaborative learning (Armour & Yelling,

2007). Therefore, this project is the initial step to explore and outline effective professional

development strategies and resources from the voices of teachers and educational

assistants to help construct a framework for IPE professional development.

Benefits for student involved in research:

This project will allow the student to develop research skills and practical skills through

the support, training, and work that they will undertake during this project. Specifically,

they will learn: (a) how to search and evaluate research articles by working with the

professor and librarian, (b) how to construct themes via data analysis, (c) about/from in-

service teachers and educational assistants’ perspectives and experiences with

professional development and IPE, (d) strategies and resources for professional

development to support their own teaching and professional growth, and (e) how to write

an article with the professor.

Project #6:

Autism Women's Network of Edmonton and Area (AWNE) Study

Heather Brown, Assistant Professor,

Educational Psychology

Project Abstract:

Individuals with autism have astonishingly poor employment outcomes. They tend to be

paid less than the national minimum hourly wage and endure extended periods of

joblessness (Dudley, Nicholas & Zwicker, 2015). Because securing successful

employment is linked to enhanced quality of life and overall well-being for individuals on

the spectrum (Walsh, Lydon & Healy, 2014; Dudley et al., 2015), researchers have

begun to investigate the employment experiences of individuals on the spectrum.

However, no study to date has specifically explored the employment experiences of

women. It is crucial to specifically explore the work experiences of women because

women with autism present differently than men, so the issues they experience at work,

the adaptive behaviours they adopt, and the accommodations they require may differ as

well (Hayward, McVilly & Stokes, 2018). Therefore, there is a critical need to understand

the unique employment experiences of women with autism. The Centre for Autism

Services, an Edmonton-based service provider, has independently secured funding to

run a support group for women with autism called the Autism Women’s Network of

Edmonton and Area (AWNE). AWNE participants will attend six facilitated sessions at

the Centre from September 2019 to April 2020, connecting around discussions of their

employment experiences. In collaboration with the Centre, Dr. Heather Brown’s AIDAN

research lab has been invited to attend these sessions to investigate: How do autistic

women make sense of their employment experiences? Given poor employment

outcomes among adults with autism, it is critical to investigate factors that facilitate or

challenge their ability to be successfully employed.

Project Description:

List of duties: attend bi-weekly lab meetings; coordinate lab activities; organize research

materials in the lab; and work alongside a team of graduate students to help with

transcribing, coding, and analyzing qualitative data. Work hours are flexible and highly

varied. Some work may be done from home while other tasks will need to be completed

in our lab.

Young adults with autism are some of our most vulnerable and poorly served citizens

(Autism Ontario, 2008). Individuals with autism have a right to expect that education will

equip them to cope in the "real world." However, as students with ASD transition into

adulthood, it is currently estimated that only 9-34% of them hold steady jobs, and most

would be considered underemployed (Howlin, 2005). This is a huge loss for both the

individual with ASD and society as a whole. Understanding how women with autism make

sense of their employment experiences is the first step in the process of developing

appropriate supports that specifically target members of this population. Such supports

may begin early in life (i.e., during the school years) in order to ensure that individuals

with autism are set up for success when they enter the workforce. Results from this study

will inform how to best foster satisfying employment experiences for Canadian women on

the autism spectrum.

Benefits for student involved in research:

You will gain insight into what it might be like to be a graduate student as well as practical

experience in conducting meaningful research. Specifically, you will gain knowledge in

qualitative research methods, including transcribing data obtained from focus groups,

coding qualitative data, analyzing qualitative data, and disseminating results. You will also

gain experience in collaborating with fellow students and researchers. Additionally, if

desired, you may have the opportunity to learn about quantitative research methods by

interacting and collaborating with graduate students in the lab. Finally, exposure to

current, relevant research and spending time critically evaluating research methods is

another great benefit for students working in this lab.

Project #7:

Documentation, Mobilization, and Cultivation of Capacity for Innovation in Pre-

service FNMI Teacher Education

Dr. Trudy Cardinal; Associate Professor

Elementary Education

Project Abstract:

The UofA’s Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP) research collective is

seeking a research assistant to support a program of research that explores the

documentation, mobilization, and cultivation of capacity for innovation in pre-service

FNMI teacher education. Overall Methodology - Our project is guided by the work of

Indigenous scholars and their allies who identify the significance of Community Based

Participatory Research (CBPR)(Evans, Hole, Berg, Hutchinson, & Sookraj, 2009; Smith;

2012; TallBear, 2013) and Visual Participatory Research (VPR) (del Vecchio, Toomey,

& Tuck, 2017; Higgins, 2014; Jordan, Stocek, Mark, & Matches, 2009; Thompson,

Miller, & Cameron, 2016) in working towards respectful, responsible, and responsive

research with Indigenous communities. As Jordan and colleagues (2009) state: “there is

a growing commitment among [Indigenous] communities to constructively engage with

issues [and possibilities] by generating solutions that are local, Indigenous and self-

determined” (p. 74). In short, CBPR and VPR are partnership approaches that work to

equitably involve and lift Indigenous community members’ efforts, voices, and visions

(both metaphorically and literally through the visual) by engaging them in all aspects of

the research, beginning with consultation on the project we have conceptualized herein.

Further, the use of participatory videography and production of oral transcripts (i.e., in

open-access book) is intentional. It works to honour Indigenous oral traditions and offer

pre-service teachers the opportunity to learn from and through this central Indigenous

pedagogy. CBPR and VPR will inform and guide how we work towards recognizing and

honouring already existing expertise within Indigenous and scholarly communities,

share decision-making, as well as negotiate ownership and dissemination of research in

supporting fulsome implementation of the new professional TQS relating to FNMI

education and protect spiritual knowledge. This purpose of this research project is to

offer pre-service teachers and practicing teachers the opportunity to learn about

Indigenous ways of being, doing, and knowing directly from those Indigenous peoples

who have the lived experience and wisdom. Those that have been and will be recorded,

have given their written and/or oral consent. They all understand that this project is

about knowledge mobilization and that these recordings may be used to create

professional resources. Additionally, they understand that they are not being

"researched". Rather they are contributing to knowledge mobilization, and that this work

will be for the benefit of "all" children.

Project Description:

Duties may include: reviewing scholarly literature; supporting and participating in

community consultation; communicating with (potential) participants; data management;

project management and organization including making meeting minutes, assisting on

report writing, creating and updating schedules, calendars and checklists. Being part of

the scholarly discussions about the project and assisting the Indigenous scholars, allies

and knowledge holders as the project unfolds. Depending on the interest of and

qualifications of the assistant there is an opportunity to co-author academic manuscripts

related to the project and its findings.

Relevant skills sought. Lived experience and scholarly knowledge of participating in

Indigenous education in community, university, and school contexts is essential. The

sought after knowledge set also includes local Indigenous protocols.

Weekly meetings with one of the research team consisting of Dr. Evelyn Steinhauer, Dr.

Brooke Madden, Dr. Marc Higgins, Dr. Patsy Steinhauer, Angela Wolfe. (M ED). Dr. Trudy

Cardinal to be the main point of contact. Weekly tasks to be delegated during the weekly

meetings so as to continue to provide ongoing mentoring and feedback.

15 weeks (or about 330 hours) = 22 hours per week.

1. May 4 to 8 7. June 15 to 19 13. July 27 to 31

2. May 11 to 15 8. June 22 to 26 14. August 3 to 7

3. May 18 to 22 9. June 29 to July 3 15. August 17 to 21

4. May 25 to29 10. July 6 to 10th

5. June 1 to 5 11. July 13 to 17

6. June 8 to 12 12. July 20 to 24

Videos will be shared via a University of Alberta hosted project website and curated by the ATEP research collective. We anticipate their immediate use in BEd coursework and pre-service teaching practicums, as well as foresee the contribution they are positioned to make in faculty of education graduate coursework, university coursework across faculties, and ongoing professional development for educational leaders and in-service teachers at district and provincial levels. In Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing this co-collaboration with knowledge holders is making an immediate scholarly contribution and long-term contributions with the video artifacts created (e.g., Dr. Susan Dion’s video on the “perfect stranger” stance from a similar project has over 10,000 views).

Benefits for student involved in research:

The undergraduate assistant gets to be in the midst of this unfolding process and live

what it is that we talk about in this context. They get experience and mentoring with the

practical side of projects (organization, calendars, paper work, writing) as well as the

opportunity to live alongside and engage in conversation with Indigenous scholars and

knowledge holders. This will allow them to build on their own lived experience and

knowledge of Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing and also contribute to the

project drawing on their previous lived experiences. They are given an opportunity to be

known and connect to community members. They build their capacity as a researcher,

scholar and Indigenous community member. They are also given an opportunity to

engage in a project dedicated to knowledge mobilization and translation (to resources) in

ways where we are not ‘researching on’ but ‘collaborating with’. Building their skills in

researching in this very important context which runs parallel to how a teacher might work

in curricular co-creation. Throughout the summer the student will be expected to keep a

researcher journal. It can be written, photographs, words, poems, drawing (think sketch

notes) to document their journey and their learnings. At the end of the project they will

be expected to create a research poster highlighting their experience as a “researcher

becoming” (which can be then used as part of the Fall Celebration). As stated earlier in

the description, depending on the interest of and qualifications of the assistant, there may

also be an opportunity to co-author academic manuscripts related to the project and its

findings.

Project #8:

Practical significance and the interpretation of statistics for a Canada-China

Study of Feedback and Deep Learning Project

Darryl Hunter Associate Professor, Educational Policy Studies

Project Abstract:

Dr. Hunter is looking for an insightful Faculty of Education student who will help unpack

the oxymoron “statistical literacy” and the phrase “evidence-based problem-solving.”

The primary purpose of the project is to enable a talented teacher candidate, without a

strong mathematics background, to build confidence with numeric information. At the

same time, Dr. Hunter is interested in understanding the perspectives of teacher

candidates on practical significance, and obtaining some assistance in interpreting

survey results for a trans-national project he is conducting.

Project Description:

The summer project is sequentially organized to move from gaining a conceptual grasp

of the major elements in practical reasoning to their application in practice, from

accomplishing short analyses that are subsequently elaborated into more lengthy reports.

Depending on respective April-August schedules, Dr. Hunter plans on f2f meeting or

Skyping at least once per week to provide advice to the Roger Smith awardee. A mix of

on- and off- campus work is forecast.

The Roger Smith candidate will 1) write a short, eight-page literature review of the major

pieces of research about professionals’ concepts of practical significance, including

professionals in North America, China, and India; 2) help Dr. Hunter in interpreting

statistics from an international study he is conducting among teacher candidates at the

University of Alberta and Suzhou University in the Peoples’ Republic of China; 3) help

prepare a short report that interprets survey statistics and compares Canadian and

Chinese fourth-year students about the ethical influences which shape the ways they will

provide feedback to students in schools.

The two research questions are: 1) “How do Western and non-Western scholars

understand and apply the idea of practical significance for statistical differences?” 2) “How

does a teacher candidate draw on practical significance when interpreting data, and link

it with a teacher’s feedback processes to students?“

Timelines:

April 15 Orientation to Dr. Hunter’s research

May 15: Potential sources for Literature Review

June 15: Submission of 3-page Annotated Bibliography

July 15: Submission of 8-page Literature Review

July 31: Completion of 3-page analysis of statistics for Ethical Antecedents Survey

completed by Faculty of Education undergraduate students at both the University of

Alberta and Suzhou University in 2020 August 15: Submission of 7-page report which

interprets results and reflects on the practical significance of differences between Chinese

and Canadian students in dealing with results

What does it mean when you receive a score of 18.5? or a credit rating of 127? or your

group is 4 points above another group? What does it mean for a teacher when the class

average is 5 points below the school or provincial average?

Interpreting statistics is a key aspect of teaching and learning, of quantitative educational

research, in educational administration, and in educational finance. Not only

administrators are required to interpret numbers. Teachers will create and communicate

hundreds of marks that they assign as grades each year, make decisions about student

progress, determine appropriate instruction and remediation for students, and promote

students on the basis of those marks. These marks are used to provide feedback to

students and parents three or four times a year. All teacher professionals in schools will

calculate and interpret statistics for inclusion in report cards.

Yet, perhaps surprisingly, we know little about how professionals interpret statistics.

Some have said this is the substance of applied mathematics. However, the interpretation

of statistics involves much more than mathematics. It involves a theory of probability, the

choice of an appropriate measure of center (mean, median, or mode) and our

understanding of distribution and variation. Proportion is also a crucial idea when looking

at the significance of a statistic. Each of these concepts has a long history in Western

science. Yet little is known about these concepts from perspectives in other cultures or in

longstanding traditions such as the Chinese arts and sciences.

In fact, statistics is often taught as a lesson in mathematics as opposed to a strategy for

answering questions about world. We know little about the kinds of questions that come

into professionals’ minds when they have statistics as reading material. In fact, we know

little about non-mathematics teachers’ processes for interpreting statistical graphs,

numbers, and symbols such as p<.05, or for applying them in their teaching practice.

To analyze statistical results, there are well-developed and formal measures of statistical

significance. However, a new vocabulary has arisen in the past twenty years which

revolves around the practical significance or the policy significance of differences in

numbers. These are more informal notions of significance. What are the procedural and

substantive differences in meaning between practical and statistical significance? How

do researchers think differently, and process results differently, depending on whether

they are thinking about practical or statistical significance? Do the two generate alternate

types of reasoning when reviewing results? Indeed, we do not know much about the

ordinary or colloquial meanings that professionals often have for many statistical ideas,

including their concepts of practical or policy significance.

Select Bibliography: Ben- Zvi. D. & Garfield, J. (2004). Statistical literacy, reasoning, and

thinking: Goals, definitions, and challenges. In The Challenge of Developing Statistical

Literacy, Reasoning and Thinking (pp. 3-15). Dordrecht: Springer ,

Gal, I. (2002). Adults' statistical literacy: Meanings, components, responsibilities.

International Statistical Review, 70(1), 1-25 .

Kirk, R. E. (1996). Practical significance: A concept whose time has come. Educational

and Psychological Measurement, 56(5), 746-759.

Newton, R. R., & Rudestam, K. E. (2013). Your statistical consultant. Thousand Oaks CA:

Sage.

Nickerson, R. S. (2000). Null hypothesis significance testing: A review of an old and

continuing controversy. Psychological Methods, 5(2), 241-301.

Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Leech, N. L. (2004). Enhancing the interpretation of “significant”

findings: The role of mixed methods research. The Qualitative Report, 9(4), 770-792 .

Thompson, B. (2002). “Statistical,”“practical,” and “clinical”: How many kinds of

significance do counselors need to consider? Journal of Counseling & Development,

80(1), 64-71.

Benefits for student involved in research:

• The Roger Smith award winner will deepen his/her understanding of quantitative

research and the process of interpreting survey results.

• The award winner will also contribute as co-author to a journal article which will be

submitted to a journal for publication in late fall 2020 on practical significance and teacher

feedback.

• Moreover, the student will deepen her/his reflections on the teacher’s role in providing

feedback and helping parents and students when interpreting grades.

Project #9:

Texts, Lies, and Mediascapes: Communication Technologies and Social Media as

Risk in the Educational Landscape

Dr Bonnie Stelmach, Educational Policy Studies

Project Abstract:

"What would be the optics out there in the public? What would the general public think

of the school division? …Would it involve the Minister of Education?...How messy would

something get? It would make the front-page news. The trustees would have to deal

with [it]. What would the superintendent have to deal with?" (Alberta School

Administrator).

"…we want to ensure that our messaging is correct and that it provides appropriate

facts…. I don't want to have anybody with the ability to criticize or misinterpret a

situation." (Alberta School Administrator)

The above quotations were documented in a study examining Alberta school

administrators’ conceptualizations of risk (Stelmach, Hunter, & O’Connor, 2019). It was

clear in that study that school administrators obsess with “control[ling] the message…to

mitigate risk” (p. 21); the social media is risk-laden. Legal battles, reputation, and safety

are some of what is on the line. It seems that when it comes to social media and

communication technology on the educational landscape risk lurks everywhere, and

everything is risky. But is this so? And if so, how do social media and other technology

communications shape educators’ and educational stakeholders’ interpretations of and

responses to risk? The overarching aim of this research is to gain insight into how social

media and communication technologies shape and/or distort the risk field for educators.

Theoretically, the social amplification of risk, an idea put forward by Kasperson et al.

(1988), assumes risk is a social experience. While the social amplification of risk is

partly contingent upon direct personal experiences, they argue that most risks are not

experienced directly, and so other factors or actors—such as the media—have much to

do with the information flow and responses to it. Their social amplification of risk theory

preceded the media environment we have today, of course, but the conceptual

framework affords a lens through which to understand the interpretive nature of risk.

Currently, how educators take up stories emerging from social media are left to

anecdote. Documenting social media 'events' with risk potential is the aim of this

project, and will result in an empirical spine that can then be analyzed to understand

more fully how risk is socially amplified or attenuated in the educational realm. This will

involve an analysis of the information itself, or in Kasperson’s et al. (1988) terms, the

“informational mechanisms” of social amplification which considers the simple question

of volume along with more complex social processes of dispute, dramatization, and

symbolic meaning. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are among the most popular

social media networks in Canada (McKinnon, 2019), and these networks can provide

voluminous and variant data in a short time span (McCay-Peet & Quan-Haase, 2016).

References

Alberta Education. (2018, February). Overview of revised Teaching Quality Standard.

Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/professional-practice-standards/teaching-

quality-standard/

Alberta Teachers’ Association. (2017). A national study of the impact of electronic

communication on Canadian school leaders. Edmonton, AB: Alberta Teachers’

Association. Alberta Teachers’ Association. (2019). Alberta school leadership within the

teaching profession 2019: Seismic shifts and fault lines: Experiencing the highs, lows

and shadows. Retrieved from

https://www.teachers.ab.ca/SiteCollectionDocuments/ATA/Publications/Research/COO

R-101-26%20School%20Leadership%20in%20the%20Teaching%20Profession.pdf

Huang, L. (2020). Social media-based data collection and analysis in educational

research. In E. Kennedy, & Y. Qian (Eds.), Advanced educational research with

emerging technology (pp. 54 – 77). IGI Global.

McCay-Peet, L., & Quan-Haase, A. (2016). What is social media and what questions

can social media research help us answer? In L. Sloan & A. Quan-Haase (Eds.), The

SAGE handbook of social media research methods (pp. 13 – 26). SAGE.

McKinnon, M. (2019). 2019 report: Social media use in Canada.

https://canadiansinternet.com/2019-report-social-media-use-canada/

Stelmach, B., Hunter, D., & O’Connor, B. (2019, June 1—5). Educational administrators’

conceptions of risk in relation to parents and classroom assessment: An Alberta inquiry.

[Paper presentation]. Canadian Society for the Study of Education annual meeting,

Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Project Description:

Presumably, an undergraduate researcher will have intimate knowledge about and

confidence with social networking (e.g. Facebook), microblogging (e.g. Twitter,

Instagram), and media sharing platforms (e.g. YouTube), and will bring methodological

expertise to the study.

The student awarded the Roger S. Smith Undergraduate Student Award will contribute to

this research by:

(1) conducting a literature search on educational professionals’ attitudes toward social

media as a positive and negative risk (May 2020);

(2) synthesizing in a brief written report the findings and concepts emerging from the

literature search with key elements of social amplification of risk theory (June 2020);

(3) completing a time-bound (e.g. 1 year) scan of school-based educational news items

that appear on the Internet (e.g. newsfeeds) and social media (e.g. Twitter, YouTube,

Facebook) in Alberta (July 2020);

(4) reviewing select school board meeting minutes and/or school websites to gain insights

into the presence or absence and nature of school boards’ response to social media items

about their school or school jurisdiction (July 2020);

(5) using qualitative software (i.e. NVivo) to analyze inobtrusive qualitative data (August

2020); and,

(6) co-drafting a manuscript for publication to an academic or professional journal in

education (August 2020).

The student will participate in the delimitation to the data collection as necessary (e.g.

time frame, school board, geographic location, etc.).

This research is directly situated on the K-12 school landscape. It advances educational

research by using a relatively novel form of data: social media. According to Huang (2020)

social media-based data collection in education has focused primarily on social media as

a pedagogical tool, and its impact on the learner experience and learning outcomes.

Currently, how educators take up stories emerging from social media are left to anecdote.

Documenting what educational issues appear in social media and in what form; who

authors these social media stories; and, how educational stakeholders such as school

boards or principals respond to or ignore social media featuring their schools is the aim

of this project. The study will result in an empirical spine that can then be analyzed to

understand more fully how risk is socially amplified or attenuated in the educational realm.

Benefits for student involved in research:

Pre-service teachers in our faculty learn about the legal and ethical implications of social

media and communication technologies in courses such as EDPS 410: Law and Ethics

in Teaching, but this project will afford a student an in-depth examination of how the

teaching profession is influenced by social media. The student will learn foundational

skills of research, including evaluating research; collecting unobtrusive data through

Internet and social media, and public meeting minutes; analyzing qualitative data using

the qualitative data analysis software; synthesizing literature and qualitative data into a

comprehensive report for publication, and collaborating in a research partnership. The

knowledge and skills gained from this research experience will contribute to the students’

growth in the second TQS competency, Engaging in Career-Long learning—specifically

the indicators “seeking, critically reviewing and applying educational research to improve

practice” and “maintaining an awareness of emerging technologies to enhance

knowledge and inform practice” (Alberta Education, 2018, p. 4).

Project #10:

Completion rates in postsecondary institutions in rural and remote northern

communities: What do we know?

Heather Kanuka, Professor, EPS

Project Abstract:

As a sparsely populated and geographically dispersed country, Canada has struggled with access to education at from kindergarten to postsecondary in rural and remote areas. And while success rates in general are lower in rural Canada than in urban areas (Canadian Council on Learning, 2006; Rural Education Report, 2018) postsecondary completion rates in northern Canadian rural and remote communities experience below average retention and completion rates compared to national standards in rural and remote areas (NWT government, 2013). Addressing access to rural and remote communities in northern Canada is an ongoing concern of Canadian governments at all levels.

The central challenge experienced by Canadian postsecondary institutions since WWII has been the inability to provide low cost, wide access and high quality learning experiences at the same time – frequently referred to as the ‘iron triangle’ (Daniel, Kanwar, & Uvalic-Trumbic 2009). Technological developments over the last four decades have proposed breaking the iron triangle through such instructional design initiatives as moving from bricks to clicks (online, distance learning), flipped and blended learning models, machine learning and assessment, gaming and simulation, mobile learning and more recently MOOCs.

At present we have (fairly) comprehensive reviews of the literature that have captured

an overview of the quantitative research on the effects of innovative instructional design

strategies and completion rates in postsecondary institutions in northern remote and

rural communities in Canada. However, there is a need to gain a broad and fulsome

knowledge of the prior research in both qualitative and quantitative studies. The

purpose of this project is to conduct a scoping review of the literature to find ALL the

research on the topic of access, completion rates and the effects of instructional design

in northern Canadian rural and remote communities.

Project Description:

Duties of the student, through my guidance will be:

• Conduct a library search

• Based on the criteria, select relevant research publications for the scoping review

• Write an annotated bibliography

• Assist in writing a proposal for CSSHE at the Congress

• (Possibly) assist in writing a journal article

Benefits for student involved in research:

In addition to cultivating a research partnership between myself and the selected

student, the student selected for this award will be provided with the following

opportunities:

• Learn about various library data bases

• Learn how to conduct in depth library searchers

• Learn how distinguish peer reviewed research in credible academic journals from grey

literature and non-evidence based literature

• Learn how to disseminate relevant findings (in both academic writing and scholarly

conferences)

• Gain an understanding through the literature of Canadian challenges with respect to

rural and remote northern communities

• Gain an understanding of the uses and effects of instructional design within the

postsecondary sector