Ontario Universities Research Articles

Time to act: Mental health and desired university supports among graduate students

ABSTRACT Research on university student well-being often fails to differentiate between graduate and undergraduate students or overlooks graduate students entirely. The different characteristics of graduate (vs. undergraduate) students may contribute to unique mental health needs in this population; hence research is needed to specifically address their psychological functioning. Thus, the goals of the present study were to report on: (1) the mental health profile of a large sample of Canadian graduate students; and (2) graduate students’ recommendations for what their university could do to improve their well-being. We used an online survey administered from September 2021 to October 2022. Participants included 648 graduate students from a university in Southwestern Ontario, Canada (response rate = 20.6%; M age = 27.9; 73.1% women; 65.1% White). We examined mental health variables and perceived university supportiveness; and conducted an inductive content analysis of recommendations to improve university-provided support. Graduate students reported alarming rates of ill-being across various domains. Advisor support was associated with better graduate student mental health across multiple indicators. Most frequently, graduate students requested increased financial support to improve well-being. Taken together, these results punctuate the need for action to support graduate students and provide suggestions for meaningful change.

The Actualities of Public Relations Practice at an Eastern Ontario University: A Quasi-ethnographic Study

Although various studies have used ethnographic techniques to examine different concepts, contexts, and practices in public relations (Sriramesh, 2000; Daymon & Hodges, 2009), none of these studies ethnographically examined the culture within which public relations is practiced, and discourse is produced in a college or university context. This quasi-ethnographic study aims to: (1) produce an account of the core aspects of the culture within which public relations is practiced at a university in Eastern Ontario and (2) identify what PR model best represents the PR practice there. To collect data for this study, I conducted e-mail interviews with five public relations participants at the university under investigation to collect data for this study. The data collected was about the groups’ routines, practices, and behaviors that shape their experience and facilitate producing relevant discourse. I also collected some genres and documents. The findings showed that (1) collaboration characterized the culture within which PR performs its duties and activities and produces relevant discourse, and (2) the two-way asymmetrical model best represents the PR practice in the university examined. Besides filling the gap identified here, the study contributes to theory and practice in the field. It benefits those who teach public relations writing and the institution itself as it evaluates how excellent the PR practice in that institution is.

Outreach as Research Activism: Using STEM Outreach as a bridge to Social Change

The STEM Explorers outreach project, headed by a Faculty of Education at a University in Ontario, Canada, brings free, hands-on, and in-community science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach events to children and their families from groups under-represented in STEM education and careers. The project provides pre-service teachers with experience facilitating inclusive approaches to STEM education and also creates a context to explore their conceptions of activism. The purpose of this phenomenographic research is to describe the experiences of these aspiring teachers to better understand the ways that outreach initiatives can impact their role as STEM education activists. Findings suggest that a positive STEM educator identity, a program of integrated and student-centered STEM learning, and possessing an activist sense of purpose, contribute to the degree to which pre-service teachers regard themselves as STEM education activists.

Strategies for Liberation: A Conversation with Katherine McKittrick

Abstract: This is an interview with Katherine McKittrick, Canada Research Chair in Black Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists program. McKittrick discusses Demonic Grounds , her pathbreaking study of Black women’s geographies, on the advent of the twentieth anniversary of its publication.

Fostering Students as Partners: A Faculty-wide Examination of Science Undergraduate and Graduate Students’ Perspectives of Pedagogical Partnerships

There has been a growing discourse within higher education to engage with students as partners and harness the strength of students and faculty working together. Engaging in student-faculty partnerships activities offers benefits to both students and faculty, yet there is less research on these practices within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The purpose of this study was to conduct a Faculty-wide investigation to identify the benefits and challenges of engaging in student-faculty partnerships activities within a Faculty of Science at a mid-sized university in Ontario, Canada. Using a mixed-method approach of surveys and semi-structured interviews with undergraduate and graduate students, we examined the types of student partnership activities existing within a Faculty of Science as well as gathered insights into students’ perspectives of the benefits and challenges they experience engaging in these activities. Collaborating with faculty on research projects, teaching assistantships, being a student leader in an organization with faculty guidance, and co-authoring manuscripts with faculty members were considered the most impactful partnerships activities. Students reported social, personal, and career development benefits from their involvement in student-faculty partnership activities. Common barriers included difficulties finding opportunities to engage in partnership activities, social barriers (e.g., financial stability), power imbalances, difficult working environments, and personal challenges. Implications for supporting student engagement and collaboration through advantageous student-faculty partnerships are discussed.

Ontario college media professor careers across five decades

ABSTRACT This exploratory research analyses the careers, teaching practices, and self-assessments of Ontario college media teachers in three parts of the Province and three time periods (those hired in the 1970s and 1980s, 1990–2007, and 2007–2022). I interviewed 15 retired media teachers and academic managers; also, 42 current instructors and academic managers answered a survey about their professional experiences. My analysis uses a feminist model of closure theory from the neo-Weberian sociology of professions (Witz, 1992) along with intersectional writing on identity to explain the gendered and racialised nature of the labour market in these geographically and historically specific areas and eras. At the beginning of the first period, privileged white middle-class men with connections to education and industry experience founded the programmes, eventually hiring privileged white women with relevant credentials, all teaching full-time. In the 1990s, the neoliberal practice of hiring substantial cohorts of non-fulltime (NFT) teachers, and a demand for graduate university credentials can be linked to the advent of joint university-college media programmes and an increase in hiring of administrative staff (Mackay, 2014). In the programmes themselves, I found that the institutionalised apprenticeship model of the early college changed to a skills-based curriculum, the current emphasis in all college programmes. In hiring, gender parity for white heterosexual women has been achieved in the central hub, and consciousness of race has grown over time. However, media teachers still do not match the intersectional diversity of their students due to credentialist and legislative professional closure in hiring and promotion among fulltimers. I theorise that this closure operates by requiring credentials for full-time positions that are not available to all, depending on intersectional class, race, sexuality, disability, neurodiversity, and age.

Voices and Visions: An Appreciative Inquiry into International Master's Students' Ideal Learning Experience at a Southern Ontario University

Voices and Visions: An Appreciative Inquiry into International Master's Students' Ideal Learning Experience at a Southern Ontario University

Disability and the stratification of post-secondary pathways: Evidence from a large administrative linkage.

Research has linked disability to differential experiences and outcomes for students at multiple levels of education. To date, however, available data sources have prevented comprehensive analyses of the statistical relationship between disability and the pathways traveled by students through Ontario post-secondary education (PSE). Through this study, we examine this topic by leveraging a large multifaceted linkage that brings together rich administrative data from the Toronto District School Board (Grades 9-12), Ontario college and university enrollment records (2009-2018), as well as government student loans and tax records. We use these data to statistically model differences in the PSE pathways traveled by more than 33,000 TDSB students. Our analyses identify statistically significant differences in the likelihood that students with/without disabilities will travel certain PSE pathways. However, such differences shrink drastically once we control for high school-level factors (e.g., academic performance, absenteeism). We elaborate on the importance of these findings for both social stratification researchers and policymakers.

Shaping Inclusive Learning: A Comparative Study Of UDL Engagement Pre- And Post-Pandemic In One Ontario College

The universal design for learning framework aims to remove barriers from the learning environment so that as many students as possible can fully participate in it. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about additional challenges in higher education, but in many cases, it has also provided a unique opportunity to examine change. This study investigated students’ and faculty’s perceptions of how frequently various elements of universal design for learning were used in the classroom as well as how useful these elements were perceived to be for student learning. Different groups of students and faculty responded to an online survey pre-pandemic and then again approximately one year into the pandemic. The findings indicated consistently robust correlations between the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods. However, the pandemic initiated certain shifts, notably an uptick in faculty incorporating specific UDL elements, such as recording lectures. Additionally, students perceive a greater number of UDL elements as advantageous for their learning compared to the faculty perspective.

Using retrospective reports to develop profiles of harmful versus playful teasing experiences.

The current investigation's central goal was to elucidate the complex features of peer teasing episodes that individuals use to interpret teasing as harmful versus playful. In 2022-2023, we used semistructured interviews to gather retrospective reports of K-12 peer teasing experiences from a sample of 27 students from a university in southern Ontario, Canada (18-25 years old, 63% female, 78% White). Content analysis revealed the multifaceted nature of teasing, with participants defining teasing as harmful, playful, or including elements of both harm and pleasure. Harmful teasing experiences often included content that was sensitive to the target, occurred between both friends and nonfriends, and often included a power differential with the teasing perpetrator having more power than the target. Targets recalled negative emotional responses, with behavioral responses to mitigate the situation and reduce further teasing. In contrast, playful teasing often occurred between friends or close friends, was often motivated by positive interpersonal motives (e.g., for encouragement), and had positive impacts on the relationship between perpetrator and target. However, despite benign intent, some playful teasing was marked by negative emotional responses and feelings of harm. Results have implications for uncovering the nuanced and complex nature of teasing, and provide a preliminary profile of harmful versus playful teasing interactions.

Re-Imagining Higher Education: Time, Learning, and Risk

This article recommends institutional changes to higher education related to time, learning, and risk that would better serve the contemporary student population and increase opportunities for life-long and interdisciplinary learning. To begin, the changing demographic of university students will be outlined, along with suggestions about how traditional institutional arrangements are no longer conducive to optimal learning environments. Next, a review of the history of the academic year will be provided, that will show a snapshot of post-secondary academic calendars in Canada. Relatedly, a discussion of the potential drawbacks and benefits to accelerated courses will be deliberated, as well as the role of risk in terms of how this shapes students’ course selection. Finally, an example of a pilot program at McMaster University, a large research-intensive university in Ontario, Canada, which is specifically designed to account for the pitfalls outlined above, will be discussed. Taken together, it will be argued that having full-course offerings on a year-round basis, providing various options for course lengths, and adjusting evaluations to reduce students’ conceptions of ‘risk’ will better adapt institutes of higher education for the twenty-first century.

The effects of supplemental instruction derived from peer leaders on student outcomes in undergraduate human anatomy.

Supplemental instruction (SI) confers student success, as represented by grades, knowledge retention, and student engagement. However, studies often report professional, not undergraduate, program findings. To measure these effects, students studying human anatomy at a university in Ontario, Canada, attended structured (peer-assisted) or unstructured (nonpeer-assisted) SI sessions and completed a pre-/post-survey. Fifty-eight learners (39 systems (SYS) and 19 musculoskeletal (MSK) anatomy) completed both surveys and had responses analyzed. Both cohorts, maintained initial perceptions across pre-/post-analyses (MSK p = 0.1376 and SYS p = 0.3521). Resource usage was similar across both cohorts with discrepancies in skeletal model and textbook use. No MSK learner ranked any labresourcesas "not at all useful." MSK learners felt more prepared to write a graded assessment (p = 0.0269), whereas SYS learners did not (p = 0.0680). Stratification of learners in MSK and SYS revealed learners spending between 30 and 60 min in SI sessions during the study period had the highest grades compared to students who spent less than 30 (p = 0.0286) or more than 60 (p = 0.0286) min attending SI sessions, respectively. Most learners in MSK (89.4%) and SYS (66%) concluded that they preferred structured over unstructured SI. Sentiment/thematic analysis using a generative AI-driven large language model revealed learners held positive perceptions of SI, emphasizing structured learning, resources, personalized learning, and support offered as the most prevalent themes surrounding SI. Ultimately, this study provides evidence that supports SI for improving student outcomes related to perceived preparedness for completing assessments and preferred teaching/learning styles in undergraduate human anatomy.

Examining the Virtual Leadership of Leaders in Higher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study

<p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, student services leaders needed to adapt to working entirely virtually, find creative solutions to adjust their service delivery, and change how they engaged with their teams. Before COVID-19, studies of virtual leadership focused on virtual teams developed because of the geographical distance between team members. This qualitative study investigated virtual leadership and virtual teams developed because of the move to virtual work during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examined how student services leaders changed their leadership behaviours in response to moving to the virtual work environment. Using data gathered through a questionnaire, interviews, and documentation, four themes reflecting how leaders changed their behaviours and practices were identified: reimagining communication, reconstructing work using technology, reframing team support, and reorienting toward hybrid work. Understanding how these leaders managed their virtual teams at a midsized university in southern Ontario provides insight into what practices might be helpful for teams that continue exclusively virtual work and those that transition to a hybrid work approach.</p>

Embrace

Laura Wood is an Ottawa-based artist who paints with gestural strokes to create elegant abstract compositions. Her paintings are evocative and emotive as she uses paint and colour to represent, as Wood describes, “what otherwise cannot be expressed with words.” Her process is intuitive as she is guided by the paint & chance happenings with colour mixing and form. Intentionality happens as she pauses between strokes. This dance back and forth between pure expression and thoughtful mark-making is how her works are created. Originally from Aurora, Ontario, Woods even at a young age had a rich interior life and art gave her a place to fully express all aspects of her internal experience. Her family’s encouragement led her to pursue her passions and she went on to study and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Canada. She is currently represented in Ottawa, ON at Koyman Galleries.

Caitlin Vincent, Digital Scenography in the Twenty-First Century, Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera - Caitlin Vincent, Digital Scenography in the Twenty-First Century, Ashgate Interdisciplinary Studies in Opera Abingdon: Routledge, 2022. 212 pp. ISBN 9780367553920 (hard cover). DOI: 10.4324/9781003093305 (ebook)

It is June 2022 and the premiere of R.U.R. Torrent of Light, a multimedia opera, in Toronto is enthralling audiences. Inspired by Karel Čapek’s play that introduced the word ‘robot’ into 20th-century vocabulary, composer Nicole Lizée and librettist and playwright Nicholas Billon have conceived a science-fiction opera for our current fascination with AI (artificial intelligence). The production by Toronto’s Tapestry Opera Theatre is in partnership with the research and creation of new technologies at the Social Body Lab and the Digital Futures Initiatives at Ontario College of Art & Design University. It has been conceived to embed technologies into the scenographic dramaturgy as projections, wearable art and spatialisation of sound and light through the costuming and neologisms in instrumentation to create a ‘unique electronica-classical sound’ of the neo-futurist worlding. After the hiatus of the last two years, this live performance highlights our growing recognition of scenographic vocabularies of programmable performance affecting behaviours, as well as expanded definitions of sound and digital integration as contemporary opera. Such interdisciplinarity has often brought the spectator into fresh relationships with opera in performance, thereby activating the event of spectatorship.

Leveraging Space-Flown Technologies to Deliver Healthcare with Holographic Physical Examinations.

INTRODUCTION: Musculoskeletal injuries are one of the more common injuries in spaceflight. Physical assessment of an injury is essential for diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, when musculoskeletal injuries occur in space, the flight surgeon is limited to two-dimensional videoconferencing and, potentially, observations made by the crew medical officer. To address these limitations, we investigated the feasibility of performing physical examinations on a three-dimensional augmented reality projection using a mixed-reality headset, specifically evaluating a standard shoulder examination.METHODS: A simulated patient interaction was set up between Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, and Huntsville, AL, United States. The exam was performed by a medical student, and a healthy adult man volunteered to enable the physical exam.RESULTS: All parts of the standard shoulder physical examination according to the Bates Guide to the Physical Exam were performed with holoportation. Adaptation was required for the palpation and some special tests.DISCUSSION: All parts of the physical exam were able to be completed. The true to anatomical size of the holograms permitted improved inspection of the anatomy compared to traditional videoconferencing. Palpation was completed by instructing the patient to palpate themselves and comment on relevant findings asked by the examiner. Range of motion and special tests for specific pathologies were also able to be completed with some modifications due to the examiner not being present to provide resistance. Future work should aim to improve the graphics, physician communication, and haptic feedback during holoportation.Levschuk A, Whittal J, Trejos AL, Sirek A. Leveraging space-flown technologies to deliver healthcare with holographic physical examinations. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2024; 95(4):214-218.

Managing quality assurance at community colleges in Ontario, Canada: experiences and perspectives of front-line quality managers

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the roles of quality managers at community colleges, their experiences balancing accountability and improvement and their insights into the future of quality assurance.Design/methodology/approachThis phenomenological, qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with eight community college quality managers to investigate their roles, experiences and perspectives. A reflexive thematic approach was used to analyze the interview data.FindingsFour themes were identified from participant responses: quality managers frame and enable program quality, quality managers drive program change, quality managers cultivate a culture of quality and quality managers seek system change. The findings illustrate the roles played by quality managers as they work to improve college education at program, institution and system-wide levels.Research limitations/implicationsThe decision of participants to accept the recruitment invitation might reflect particular attitudes, perspectives or experiences.Practical implicationsQuality assurance has emerged as a key mechanism for ensuring postsecondary programs are current, relevant and meeting the evolving needs of students and employers. This study advances the understanding of how quality assurance processes play out at the operational level and explores the experiences of quality managers as they navigate various quality tensions.Originality/valueQuality managers play key roles in leading, evaluating and influencing quality assurance processes in postsecondary education yet they are underrepresented in the literature. The findings of this study shed new light on the aspirational and influential roles they play in advancing quality assurance.

Sense of Belonging in Engineering - a Survey of Engineering Students at a Large Comprehensive Ontario University

Despite efforts to diversify the student body in engineering, the field continues to be predominantly white and male. Two surveys were developed to investigate factors that impact the sense of belonging of undergraduate and graduate engineering students. Questions were chosen to highlight implicit biases that are present in these populations with a focus on the perceptions of different genders. Other factors included year and program of study. The 10-15 minute survey received 288 undergraduate student responses and 111 graduate student responses with responses reflecting a similar ratio of men to women as the student population. The survey found that there were clear differences between men and women’s experiences as engineering students. Notably, women are more likely to think there are more challenges for women, visible minorities and members of the LGBTQ+ community, illustrating that their male peers are less aware of challenges experienced by women and other minority groups.

Healthy Singing Practices: An Analysis of Body Mapping Education on Undergraduate Vocalists

Abstract: Singers are unique among musicians because their instrument is their body. Undergraduate singers studying at Ontario universities participated in a study investigating the effectiveness of Body Mapping education for undergraduate-level voice students, in the belief that an understanding of the body aids a deeper understanding of singing, leading to enhanced performances, heightened personal discoveries, and reduced instances of injury. This article describes key findings of the study, including students’ experiences of greater ease and improved vocal function following Body Mapping, while panelists’ bias and their ability to rate students objectively was also observed. The article ends with the author’s observations of lessons learned as a new researcher.

Meso-Foundations of Experiential Education in Ontario Universities: A Content Analysis of the Province’s Strategic Mandate Agreements

Experiential education, the process of providing students with applied learning opportunities within and outside the classroom, is rife with organizational complexity. This article examines Ontario’s Strategic Mandate Agreements using qualitative content analysis to see how conceptions and communications of experiential learning have changed over time, and how universities have responded to government pressure to foster experiential learning. Drawing on frame analysis, findings reveal that universities have developed a considerable amount of institutional infrastructure and initiatives to support the expansion of experiential learning, and these efforts have been framed in relation to current discourse about graduate skill readiness. However, these outward signalling responses are not necessarily aligned with internal organizational processes (i.e., expansion of co-curricular learning). These mandate agreements represent official accounts of institutional priorities, which leave the door open for future research to examine micro-foundations of experiential learning through the perspectives of the faculty and staff inhabiting these institutions.