Canadian Post-secondary Education Research Articles

Classroom Experiences of International Students in Canadian Postsecondary Education

The aim of this paper is to examine the classroom experiences of 12 international students in a Canadian postsecondary institution. The literature related to this purpose shows that many international students are challenged by the English language proficiency needed for analytical classroom discussion, and they are often confused by Westernize student-centric learning tactics such as oral presentations and open-ended assignments. Grounded within qualitative phenomenological research, our study documents the lived classroom experiences of international students and how they interpret social learning exchanges. Based on semi-structured individual interviews, the findings reflected three main themes. First, international students faced challenges with deciphering the English language of local students and teachers. Also, they struggled with the quick response time needed for classroom discussions. Second, many international students were frustrated with mandated group work. Many students felt discriminated against by their group members; other students experienced unbalanced workloads when completing collaborative assignments. Finally, students experienced a steep learning curve regarding the Westernize student-centric approach to learning. For example, many students were intimidated by creative assignments and the associated lack of direction provided by the instructor. The findings of this research are analyzed via Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which dictates that effective learning is dependent upon personal agency (one’s actions), proxy agency (the environmental resources), and collective agency (group dynamics). Currently worldwide, burgeoning numbers of international students are streaming into Western postsecondary institutions accentuating the need for this research. These institutions have an ethical and financial obligation to supply high quality education to international students. However, to provide a supportive learning environment, instructors, administrators, and educational policymakers need to be knowledgeable of the learning experiences of international students and adjust their institutional culture and pedagogical tendencies to best suit the needs of these students.

Classroom Experiences of International Students in Canadian Postsecondary Education

The aim of this paper is to examine the classroom experiences of 12 international students in a Canadian postsecondary institution. The literature related to this purpose shows that many international students are challenged by the English language proficiency needed for analytical classroom discussion, and they are often confused by Westernize student-centric learning tactics such as oral presentations and open-ended assignments. Grounded within qualitative phenomenological research, our study documents the lived classroom experiences of international students and how they interpret social learning exchanges. Based on semi-structured individual interviews, the findings reflected three main themes. First, international students faced challenges with deciphering the English language of local students and teachers. Also, they struggled with the quick response time needed for classroom discussions. Second, many international students were frustrated with mandated group work. Many students felt discriminated against by their group members; other students experienced unbalanced workloads when completing collaborative assignments. Finally, students experienced a steep learning curve regarding the Westernize student-centric approach to learning. For example, many students were intimidated by creative assignments and the associated lack of direction provided by the instructor. The findings of this research are analyzed via Bandura’s social cognitive theory, which dictates that effective learning is dependent upon personal agency (one’s actions), proxy agency (the environmental resources), and collective agency (group dynamics). Currently worldwide, burgeoning numbers of international students are streaming into Western postsecondary institutions accentuating the need for this research. These institutions have an ethical and financial obligation to supply high quality education to international students. However, to provide a supportive learning environment, instructors, administrators, and educational policymakers need to be knowledgeable of the learning experiences of international students and adjust their institutional culture and pedagogical tendencies to best suit the needs of these students.

A Pilot Study of Drayton Valley’s Zero-Fee Tuition Program

ABSTRACT This qualitative pilot study introduces and reflects on early development and implementation of the Zero Fee Tuition (ZFT) program in the rural, oil and gas town of Drayton Valley, Alberta, Canada. This innovative, primarily municipally funded program, implemented in 2019, provides local students with up to $5,000 in free tuition for select post-secondary programs. Here we situate ZFT within higher education funding debates and other publicly funded tuition assistance programs in North America. ZFT is then put into conversation with a typology of tuition assistance Promise programs in the United States, framing ZFT as a last dollar, place-based, and universal program. Implications for such programs are explored in the context of Canadian post-secondary education. We conclude by drawing implications from our pilot examination of ZFT.

The Perils and Strains of Teaching Race and Racism to Predominantly White Teacher Candidates

This paper examines the overt and covert racism Black professors experience within the context of mainstream university teacher education programs. Informed by literature from Canadian sources and the authors’ personal experiences, the paper challenges the perception that Canadian postsecondary teacher education is amenable to honest, open and civil debates regarding racism. The common view of Canada as an inclusive and welcoming society needs re-examining given the degree of resistance encountered by racialized professors while teaching controversial topics, including racism and antiracism. A call is made for teacher education programs to revamp their curricula and to embed critical race and antiracist literature in all courses, in addition to recruiting, mentoring and retaining Black professors, senior administrators, staff and students.

How do International Students Reconstruct their Identity as Readers when they Transition into Canadian Post-Secondary Education?

Recognizing the cultural transitions Chinese international students undergo as readers in the Canadian higher education system, this study explores the difficulties encountered by four Chinese students and uncovers how they experienced, responded to, and transformed in a new cultural reading environment. Focusing on the notion of a reader’s identity, this study uses narrative inquiry to show how participants’ readers identities are reconstructed in a new cultural reading environment. It concludes that readers’ identities reflect readers’ different cultural memberships. As international students crossing cultural boundaries, their identities as readers shape how they interpret and understand the meaning of reading materials.

Ideal Types and Ideal(ized) students in Internationalized Post-secondary Pedagogy

This article explores the relevance of Weber’s sociocultural concept of ideal types in the context of modern Canadian post-secondary education. Ideal types are simplified or distilled representations of socio-cultural values, with relevance to various social (Prandy, 2002) and educational (Hayhoe, 2007; Hayhoe & Li, 2017; Wong & Chiu, 2021) analyses. This article builds upon Hayhoe and Li’s (2007) comparison of Confucian and Western ideal types, focusing on implications for internationalized education and implicit values within. The article explores the caveats of reductive thinking regarding cultures, particularly considering culture as a proxy for race where values differ. It revisits research exploring Western students studying in an East Asian context and East Asian students studying in a Western context (Chen, 2014; Maton & Chen, 2020), using ideal types as an analytical lens for underlying values and gaps in expectations. Specifically, it considers the pedagogical implications of the differing educational cultures and values as represented by Western and Confucian ideal types, and how a broader appreciation might supplement teaching approaches founded on either type to be more inclusive and beneficial for the various learners in Canadian higher education.

Leveraging Kindness in Canadian Post-Secondary Education: A Conceptual Paper

Positive academic climates are critical to helping students thrive, and kindness innovations might enhance these climates. This conceptual paper’s purpose is to share insights from a consensus building event focused on fostering relationships and knowledge-sharing among an international group of multidisciplinary students, faculty, and staff who explored ways to bring a kindness framework into post-secondary education. Participants underscored kindness as critical for students’ experiences and university culture, and identified several levels of influence requiring intervention focus. Ideas and strategies emerging from the event might serve to encourage student-led kindness initiatives and prompt university personnel to integrate kindness into post-secondary institutions.

Appraising the decision-making process concerning COVID-19 policy in postsecondary education in Canada: A critical scoping review protocol.

Responses to COVID-19 in Canadian postsecondary education have overhauled usual norms and practices, with policies of unclear rationale implemented under the pressure of a reported public health emergency. To critically appraise the decision-making process informing COVID-19 policy in the postsecondary education sector. Our scoping review will draw from macro and micro theories of public policy, specifically the critical tradition exemplified by Carol Bacchi's approach "What is the problem represented to be" and will be guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework for scoping reviews and the team-based approach of Levan and colleagues. Data will include diverse and publicly available documents to capture multiple stakeholders' perspectives on the phenomenon of interest and will be retrieved from university newsletters and legal websites using combinations of search terms adapted to specific data types. Two reviewers will independently screen, chart, analyze and synthesize the data. Disagreements will be resolved through full team discussion. Despite the unprecedented nature of the mass medical mandates implemented in the postsecondary sector and their dramatic impact on millions of lives-students, faculty, staff and their families, friends and communities-the decision-making process leading to them has not been documented or appraised. By identifying, summarizing and appraising the evidence, our review should inform practices that can contribute to effective and equitable public health policies in postsecondary institutions moving forward.

Culturally responsive postsecondary performance measurement: amplifying student perceptions of success

Student success has multiple meanings; however, the quantitative bias prevalent in the northwest American and Western Canadian postsecondary education sector restricts how student success is defined and measured. Standardised measures of student success assume that the student experience is homogeneous and risk the implementation of policies and programmes based on insufficient information. Findings from several small student focus groups suggest that unless new evaluation approaches are adopted, it is unlikely postsecondary institutions will generate the knowledge and wisdom needed to serve the goals of a diverse array of students. This article presents findings from three small student focus groups (n = 14), in an attempt to understand how students themselves define student success and how it should be measured. The results contributed to the development of five principles for culturally responsive postsecondary performance measurement that include participatory, emergent and appreciative processes and qualitative evaluation methodologies.

Correction to: Outdoor education in Canadian post-secondary education: common philosophies, goals, and activities

Correction to: Outdoor education in Canadian post-secondary education: common philosophies, goals, and activities

Outdoor education in Canadian post-secondary education: common philosophies, goals, and activities

Canada has a long history of outdoor education (OE) in sectors including summer camps, K-12, and post-secondary education (PSE). However, previous research has demonstrated that OE is sometimes poorly understood in the PSE sector leading to program closures and limited program development. As a result, scholars have called for national and international collaboration to promote the value of OE including identifying common OE learning outcomes and the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings guiding OE practices. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify common philosophies, learning goals, and characteristics of PSE OE in Canada. Results reported here are part of a larger three-phase, exploratory sequential mixed-method project and used a convenience sample of PSE outdoor educators recruited from across Canada. Findings indicate that PSE OE in Canada is influenced by six common philosophies and includes five common learning goals. Overall, this study demonstrates that OE is well aligned with the common goals and missions of PSE in Canada.

An Analysis of Trends and Themes in Canadian Student Services Articles

Student services professionals have emerged as significant supportive collaborators in the construction ofvenvironments that encourage student success within Canadian post-secondary education (Hardy-Cox & Strange, 2010). In Canada, literature pertaining to student services is evolving and research from other contexts is therefore often used to inform student affairs practices in this context. Yet, without a comprehensive understanding of research that is focused on Canadian student services specifically, those working in post-secondary education are left with a scope of understanding that may not always apply to the unique contexts in which they work. The purpose of this research study is to begin mapping the landscape of re-search on Canadian student services. We review articles pertaining to student success, the student experience, and student services, that have been published in national (Canadian Journal of Higher Education) and international (Journal of College Student Development; Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice; Journal of College Student Psychotherapy; Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice; and Student Success) student services and post-secondary education journals. This scoping review documents Canadian academic research published within the student services field and describes contributing authors and their affiliations, graduate student and post-doctoral fellow involvement, provincial and territorial research clusters, research movements over the decades, institutional research contexts, and research participants’ level of education and communities/populations, as well as contextual trends and themes.

Canadian Transfer Research: Past Achievements, Current Challenges, and Future Directions

The study of transfer in Canadian post-secondary education (PSE) is a fractured terrain, with vast inter-provincial differences and deep schisms between participating communities. At the time of writing, there exists no comprehensive review of the vast, fragmented literature examining the predictors and outcomes of Canadian transfer students, thus complicating the advancement of this subfield. Through this piece, we provide a bird’s eye view of a diverse group of 100+ academic articles, policy and institutional research reports on this topic, published from 1968-2020. We use this review to trace the evolution of this complex sub-field in Canada, outlining the major findings, methodological approaches, gaps, and future challenges that Canadian researchers will face as they attempt to improve our understanding of transfer. Drawing on examples from the American and European contexts, we illustrate the need for more robust administrative data sources and methodological sophistication in Canadian transfer research. We also cite inclusive inter-sector collaboration as a key strategy to improve research in this field.

Most Canadian Universities and Colleges Outside of Quebec Rely on Fair Dealing Rather than Access Copyright

A Review of: Henderson, S., McGreal, R., & Vladimirschi, V. (2018). Access Copyright and fair dealing guidelines in higher educational institutions in Canada: A survey. Partnership: The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research, 13(2), 1-37. https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v13i2.4147 Abstract Objective – To investigate the interpretations of fair dealing applied across Canadian post-secondary educational institutions outside of Quebec and to determine whether such institutions have a licence with Access Copyright. Design – Descriptive/quantitative study. Setting – Canadian post-secondary education sector, excluding Quebec. Subjects – A total of 159 Canadian post-secondary institutions outside of Quebec, including 75 universities and 84 colleges. Methods – A list of Canadian post-secondary educational institutions outside of Quebec was compiled. Data from participants relating to the research objective—reliance on an Access Copyright licence or use and interpretation of fair dealing—was collected via internet searches or, if unavailable online, via direct telephone communication with participants. Main Results – A majority of Canadian post-secondary educational institutions outside of Quebec, approximately 78% (124 institutions), did not have a licence with Access Copyright. The smaller the institution, the likelier it was to have an Access Copyright licence. This was in part linked to the fact that smaller institutions typically do not have staff specializing in copyright; savings from terminating Access Copyright licences (charged on a per student basis) would not justify the creation of such positions. Regarding fair dealing, 18% of study participants based their approach on the Supreme Court of Canada’s six-factor test (29 institutions), while 53% applied the fair dealing guidelines created by Universities Canada (85 institutions). Conclusion – Most of the institutions studied did not have Access Copyright licences and were relying on fair dealing instead, suggesting a bellwether for the copyright climate in the Canadian higher education sector towards fair dealing. Institutions may benefit from a future national consensus regarding interpretations of fair dealing concepts.

Mapping the Field of Nonprofit Management and Philanthropic Studies in Canada: Cross-Country Comparison of Curricular Offerings

This paper provides the most comprehensive mapping to date of the current state of nonprofit management and philanthropic studies (NMPS) education programs in Canada. One of the more significant findings of this study is both the number and types of Canadian NMPS programs offered in the historically French-speaking province of Quebec, versus the predominantly English-speaking parts of the rest of Canada. We hypothesize that differences in the structure of civil society between English- and French-speaking parts of the country may have led to a differentiation in both the number and types of NMPS programs offered in the two regions. Canada is an apparent hybrid of the “welfare partnership” model found in many “continental European” countries, such as France, and the Anglo-Saxon model predominantly found in the United States, the United Kingdom, and some other members of the British Commonwealth. Given this hybridity, we compare the course offerings of French and English-speaking Canadian NMPS programs with those of other member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OCED) employing Esping-Anderson’s regime types as a comparative framework. This comparison reveals no strong correlations between these regime types and the nature of their NMPS curricular offerings. We follow this analysis with a more comprehensive comparison of American and Canadian NMPS education and offer a brief historical overview of the latter. We found significant differences in the NMPS education between these two countries, both qualitative and quantitative. Most significantly, a much larger proportion of Canadian post-secondary education institutions have programs that include at least some NMPS curricula, whereas there is a much larger proportion of programs in American institutions with NMPS as their primary focus. We then conclude by suggesting two potential paths of development lie ahead for Canadian NMPS programs: one follows the current status quo, dispersing programs among many programs and actors, the other sees the establishment of more centres specializing in NMPS education in a few select institutions, and also possible consolidation in programs for which it is a more peripheral concern.

White like Me? Reading the Room at Mikinaakominis/TransCanadas 2017

At the Mikinaakominis/TransCanadas conference held at the University of Toronto in May 2017, Rinaldo Walcott described Canadian literature as being as white then as it was when Insomniac Press published his Black like Who? twenty years prior. This essay responds to Walcott’s critique with a personal ethnography that describes Canadian literature as a field of study, that pays particular attention to the internal fractures that belie the field’s whiteness, and that considers students’s self-governance within neo-liberal universities. Beyond Canadian post-secondary education’s anti-Black structural barriers, graduate-level studies in the humanities depend on students’ access to financial and social credit. In turn, credit limits who can afford to study Canadian literature. Academic labour’s growing precarity further redlines non-professional fields of study, intensifying racial divisions within Canadian post-secondary education.

The Impact of Quality Assurance Policies on Curriculum Development in Ontario Postsecondary Education

Two trends in the evolution of quality assurance in Canadian postsecondary education have been the emergence of outcomes-based quality standards and the demand for balancing accountability and improvement. Using a realist, process-based approach to impact analysis, this study examined four quality assurance events at two universities and two colleges in Ontario to identify how system-wide quality assurance policies have impacted the curriculum development process of academic programs within postsecondary institutions. The study revealed different approaches that postsecondary institutions chose to use in response to quality assurance policies and the mechanisms that may account for different experiences. These mechanisms include endeavours to balance accountability and continuous improvement, leadership support, and the emerging quality assurance function of teaching and learning centres. These findings will help address the challenges in quality assurance policy implementation within Canadian postsecondary education and enrich international discussions on the accountability-improvement dichotomy in the context of quality assurance.

Mentoring.ca: types of mentoring programs featured on Canadian postsecondary education websites

PurposeNo research to date has explored mentoring programs on Canadian postsecondary institution websites or the kinds of mentoring programs, if any, that are present online. This study examined 96 unique Canadian postsecondary institutional websites and the online presence of 420 unique postsecondary mentoring programs.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers employed content analysis and emergent coding strategies to evaluate mentoring program information published on Canadian postsecondary websites.FindingsThe findings suggest that most mentoring programs with an online presence were peer (student-to-student or faculty-to-faculty) programs, followed by community member-to-student programs. Further, few programs (16) were student-to-faculty oriented, indicating that students could struggle to seek faculty mentorship if they desired it. However, of the 420 programs with an online presence, dozens of programs lacked enough information for the researchers to determine the stakeholders or purpose of the programs.Originality/valueAs the first study of its kind to evaluate mentoring program communication on Canadian postsecondary websites, this work informs mentoring program administrators on how to better communicate what their programs offer. Certain Canadian postsecondary institutions had an online presence for many more programs than did other institutions; for example, the University of Waterloo shared information on their website about 21 unique mentoring programs on its campus, whereas MacEwan University shared information about just two unique programs. This chasm represents a great deal of future research into the practice of how professionals communicate mentoring programs on postsecondary websites.

The Impact of Quality Assurance Policies on Curriculum Development in Ontario Postsecondary Education

Two trends in the evolution of quality assurance in Canadian postsecondary education have been the emergence of outcomes-based quality standards and the demand for balancing accountability and improvement. Using a realist, process-based approach to impact analysis, this study examined four quality assurance events at two universities and two colleges in Ontario to identify how system-wide quality assurance policies have impacted the curriculum development process of academic programs within postsecondary institutions. The study revealed different approaches that postsecondary institutions chose to use in response to quality assurance policies and the mechanisms that may account for different experiences. These mechanisms include endeavours to balance accountability and continuous improvement, leadership support, and the emerging quality assurance function of teaching and learning centres. These findings will help address the challenges in quality assurance policy implementation within Canadian postsecondary education and enrich international discussions on the accountability-improvement dichotomy in the context of quality assurance.

Institutional mission statements: discursive construction of organizational identity in Canadian post-secondary education

Para navegar nas páginas de instituições educacionais quando escolhendo onde estudar, futuros alunos precisam ter altos níveis de letramento para entender como tais organizações se representam para o mundo. Este estudo examina a construção discursiva da identidade organizacional nas declarações de missão de instituições Canadenses pós-secundária selecionadas por meio da aplicação do procedimento de análise de gêneros (SWALES, 1990) o Inglês para Fins Específicos de movimentos e passos e análise léxico-gramatical (HYON, 2018) para entender a organização retórica das declarações de missão e padrões gramaticais e lexicais que caracterizam cada movimento individual. Os resultados das análises de um pequeno corpus de 14 declarações de missões mostram que todas as amostras de declaração de missão incluem ‘comprometimentos’ como o movimento obrigatório; entretanto, os comprometimentos primários das declarações de missão da universidade diferenciam-se daqueles de faculdades, portanto refletindo diferenças em propósitos institucionais e funções de dois tipos de instituições educacionais pós-secundária. Implicações práticas e pedagógicas do estudo são discutidos.