RSS 1.0Educational Studies
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Global Trends in Generative Artificial Intelligence AdoptionThis presentation reports on the research study, which was an empirical investigation of the extent of General Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) usage, particularly technologies like ChatGPT, among postsecondary education (PSE) students at universities and colleges across the globe. Preliminary findings indicate a higher-than-expected adoption rate, challenging prevailing assumptions in the field and differences based on gender. Other connections (across levels of study and English as a primary language) are also presented, and their implications are discussed.
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Macro-Challenges of Environmental and Sustainability Education in Teacher Education Research: A Philosophical Approach To Mature The Field [CSSE-CATE]Current teacher education (TE) practices at higher educational institutes are moving toward inclusion of climate change considerations. Most notable is the call for Climate Change Education (CCE) to be part and parcel of TE programs across Canada. CCE is new nomenclature to an already diversified field of monikers. Nomenclature is complex as geopolitical and sociocultural nuances guide specific meaning to a name. For instance, alongside Australia, Canada has followed the moniker of ESE-TE to promote “Environmental and Sustainability Education in Teacher Education.” The UN chose to forego subtle differences by adopting a standardised and uniforming nomenclature of “Environment and Sustainable Development”12 (ESD). Ultimately, the issue of nomenclature is at the heart of rhetoric and academic tensions in the subfield of ESE-TE, including how we represent research. Casting a comprehensive net, paying due diligence to what is in a name, and utilising new technology for visualising data as trends, we are able to reveal exciting trends-as-patterns in ESE-TE research. Our conceptual approach discerns subtle distinctions of shallow and deep challenges to the maturity of the field—challenges we term “micro-” and “macro-” respectively. Our research suggests new research potentialities concerning macro-challenges can utilise “abstractions of abstractions” as a philosophical basis for ESE-TE.
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Environmental and Sustainability Education in Teacher Education Research: An International Scoping Review of the Literature [CSSE-SERG]As we reach halfway into the United Nations sustainable development goals timeline, we deemed fruitful an injunction into current teacher education (TE) practices at higher educational institutes (HEIs). Our spatiotemporal study adopted a scoping review as an investigative tool to probe current research trends on environmental education and sustainability education in teacher education (ESE-TE) with respect to thematic research topics and research methodologies. Our scoping literature review also utilised all known English nomenclature interrelating to environment, sustainability, development, and education as regards TE. Our aim was to elucidate a grander picture of the trends-as-patterns of ESE-TE research in HEIs and potential contributions to come. We screened 2,142 research articles spanning five decades, 152 journals, and 96 countries . Of the 788 articles deemed eligible, data from 638 studies have been included in our study. We identified comprehensive trends in the international literature through the Flourish software that gave rise to geographical patterns visible through time. Research topics and methodologies were subsequently analysed exposing gaps and macro-challenges in the history of ESE-TE research which hinders the maturity the of the subfield. Macro-challenges, we argue, is addressed by theoretical and philosophical research outlining abstractions of abstractions in the ESE-TE field of inquiry.
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Science curriculum-making for the Anthropocene: perspectives and possibilitiesThis paper illuminates how science curriculum-making can be reinvigorated to address urgent local and global socioscientific issues that centres place as an interconnected part of larger socio-ecological and socio-technical systems. Given how industrial and capitalistic extractive practices have pushed the planet beyond its complex life-sustaining limits, we draw on theoretical perspectives that recognize schools as complex systems, nested within local, regional, and global social-ecological-technological systems. Science curriculum-making in these systems prompt dialogue regarding knowledge and competencies required to address planetary sustainability, as well as ontological questions connected to systems, relations, and responsibility. Consequently, schools are important places for curriculum enactment practices. Furthermore, teachers, students, administrators, and school community members are enmeshed with local ecologies that are constituted in the cultural, material, and social arrangements found in or brought to a school and its local community. In our work, we draw on a curriculum commonplaces perspective to investigate curriculum-making practices. Specifically, we use empirical data from two cases of elementary and secondary science teachers developing and enacting curriculum and adopt a philosophical-empirical deductive approach illustrative of how to apply complexity theory, systems thinking, and associated ontological and epistemological views to practical reasoning of science curriculum-making for schools.
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Environmental and sustainability education in teacher education research: an international scoping review of the literaturePurpose – As we reach halfway into the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs) timeline, we deemed fruitful an injunction into current teacher education (TE) practices at higher educational institutes (HEIs). Our scoping literature review utilised all known English nomenclature interrelating to environment, sustainability, development, and education as regards TE. We explicated and modelled the data through timelines favourable to UN initiatives within a spatiotemporal metric. Thematic research topics and research methodologies strictly pertaining to TE were rigorously researched and delineated. Our aim was to elucidate a grander picture of the trends-as-patterns of ESE- TE research in HEI and potential contributions to come. Design/methodology/approach – Our spatiotemporal study adopts a scoping review as an investigative tool to probe current research trends on ESE-TE in the academic literature with respect to thematic research topics and research methodologies midway through the SDGs. Findings – 2,142 research articles spanning five decades, 152 journals, and 96 countries were screened equally by 2 researchers. Of the 788 articles deemed eligible (i.e., English-language, peer-reviewed, pre-service/in-service teacher education that explicitly mentioned ESE-TE research), data from 638 studies have been included in the Authors’ study. Originality/value – Comprehensive trends in the international literature of all known environmental and sustainable education nomenclature specific to international ESE-TE research throughout the time period (1974 – 2021) were identified. Value is accrued by illuminating international trends in research topics and methodologies, exposing gaps in the history of the subfield, and predicting future trends for Agenda 2030 (e.g., SDG 4–Education) to mature the field.
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Preserving Academic Integrity in Ontario High Schools: Emerging ChallengesThe qualitative study explores the challenges and issues faced by secondary school teachers in Ontario due to the proliferation of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in education. The study employed a semi-structured interview format with volunteered teachers, recorded and transcribed using AI technology, and analyzed using thematic analysis. The preliminary results suggest that teachers face significant challenges in adapting to the changing educational landscape, including the need for administrative support and the development of coping mechanisms. The discussion is focused on supporting secondary school teachers as we march towards postplagiarism.
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Scoping Review of Environmental and Sustainability Education in Teacher Education: Historical Context of Research and Preliminary ResultsTo identify the international trends in environmental and sustainability education in teacher education (ESE-TE) research, we (Doug and Susan) report research from a scoping literature review. Different from international literature reviews in ESE that have examined policy issues, sustainability pedagogies, and how ESE is embedded in TE curriculum, our study focuses on all aspects of ESE relevant to TE. We screened 2,142 research articles spanning over five decades and 81 countries. Of the 788 articles deemed eligible (i.e., English-language, peer-reviewed, pre-service/in-service teacher education that explicitly mentioned ESE-TE research), data from 637 studies have been included in this study. Our research analysis included quantifying the geographic, temporal, and methodological trends, and a qualitative exploration of the research problems/context themes. While 82% of the research articles we examined were empirical, the most prevalent problems investigated across all of the studies centred on the themes of TE commonplaces (34%), competencies and literacy (20%), and awareness (16%). While no definite conclusions may be drawn until the complete data set has been analysed (a forthcoming paper), preliminary findings suggest a disparity of ESE-TE research in Asia, South and Central America, and Africa. Preliminary results also suggest that more research in the context of TE praxis is needed.
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Beyond plagiarism: ChatGPT and the future of AINetworking Event by Graduate students at the CSSHE conference at York University, ON, Canada (May 30, 2023)
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How do collective agreements stack up: Implications for academic freedomThe principle of academic freedom is officially articulated in the enforceable language in the collective agreements between universities and the respective faculty unions. Collective agreements are often the artefacts of previous dilemmas at institutions and tracing the language they contain will show the chronology and subtleties embedded in these documents that circumscribe faculty freedoms. This study analysed collective agreements from over 40 different Canadian institutions using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and Term Frequency Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) to reveal anticipated issues.
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Rethinking the university: a case studyPurpose This study aims to describe and illuminate the ways in which Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) – an urban, undergraduate institution with a strong focus on teaching, learning and related research and scholarship, and a substantial international student population – adapted to pandemic conditions in 2020 in an effort to meet community and pedagogical priorities, institutional/legal responsibilities and strategic goals. Design/methodology/approach Three institutional leaders at KPU draw together their respective insights and experiences, reflecting on how governance, pedagogy and operations were impacted by COVID-19. Findings After two years of continuous operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the strong support of its learners and the faculty, KPU has undergone significant pedagogical and technological shifts to become a multi-modal university for study, teaching and administration. Research limitations/implications This is a “practitioner paper” with a practical focus on institutional leadership and adaptation in a period of rapid adjustment. It is more of an accounting and reflection piece than a critical analysis. Practical implications It offers post-secondary leaders’ insights into ways in which institutional values and community needs inform policy-making, operations and innovation in education. Social implications KPU’s domestic and international student constituencies are complex and required unconventional post-secondary strategies regarding faculty autonomy and growth, de-colonization and inclusion. Originality/value KPU has a distinctive mandate in British Columbia and its commitment to experiential learning – typically associated with hands-on education – presented unusual challenges for delivery. While research-and-teaching universities were tested by COVID-19, their tests were largely alike. KPU’s experience illustrates what practical- and teaching-focused institutions confronted.
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Who Wrote This? The Use of Artificial Intelligence in the AcademyArtificial technology has improved in many spheres, including large language models (LLM). It seems that text generated by LLMs might be indistinguishable from the human-written text. This research study reports on how accurately participants can identify whether a text composition is written by a human being or by a computer. Implications for teachers, assessment scholars, policymakers, and administrators are discussed.
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The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on early career researcher activity, development, career, and well-being: the state of the artDESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH. This is a systematic literature review of English-language peer-reviewed studies published 2020–2021, which provided empirical evidence of the impact of the pandemic on early career researcher (ECR) activity and development. The search strategy involved (a) online databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and Overton); (b) well-established higher education journals (based on Scopus classification), and (c) references in the retained articles (snowballing). The final sample included 11 papers. PURPOSE. The aim of this paper is to identify the documented effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on ECR activity, development, career prospects, and well-being. FINDINGS. The evidence shows that ECRs have been affected in terms of (a) research activity, (b) researcher development, (c) career prospects, and (d) well-being. Although many negative consequences were identified, some promising learning practices have arisen; however, these opportunities were not always fully realised. The results raise questions about differential effects across fields and possible long-term consequences where some fields and some scholars may be worse off due to priorities established as societies struggle to recover. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS. There is a need for revised institutional and national policies to ensure that sufficient measures are implemented to support ECRs' research work in a situation where new duties and chores were added during the pandemic. ORIGINALITY/VALUE. This paper provides insights into the impacts of the initial societal challenges of the pandemic on ECRs across disciplines that may have long-lasting effects on their academic development and well-being.
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A shared cabin in the woods: The presence and presents of writing in residential academic writing retreatsIn this paper, we investigated a model of academic development based upon a recurring residential academic writing retreat combining individual writing times, workshops, work-in-progress groups and one-on-one consultations with shared meals and informal gatherings in a natural environment. Using a case study research approach, we analysed data accumulated from seven annual residential writing retreats for education scholars. Participants included 39 academics, administrative staff, senior doctoral students and community partners from multiple institutions. We found evidence that the retreats enhanced participants’ knowledge of writing and publishing processes, advanced their academic careers, built scholarly capacity at their institutions and strengthened writing pedagogy. The data indicated that the presence of writing and writers at the residential academic writing retreats generated presents (i.e., gifts) for the participants. The presence of writing time, writing goals and writing activities in the company of other writers were key to the retreat pedagogy. Participants appreciated gifts of time and physical space and described giving and receiving peer feedback and emotional support as forms of gift exchange within the community. The resulting writing strategies, competencies and identities provided the gift of sustainability. The analysis confirmed that this ongoing, immersive, cross-institutional, cross-rank, institutionally funded model of academic development was effective and responsive to the needs of individual scholars.
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Fast Professors, Research Funding, and the Figured Worlds of Mid-Career Ontario AcademicsHeightened pressures to publish prolifically and secure external funding stand in stark contrast to the slow scholarship movement. This article explores ways in which research funding expectations permeate the “figured worlds” of 16 mid-career academics in education, social work, sociology, and geography in seven universities in Ontario, Canada. Participants demonstrated a steady record of research accomplishment and a commitment to social justice in their work. The analysis identified three themes related to the competing pressures these academics described in their day-to-day lives: funding, challenges, and the fast professor. Participants spoke about their research funding achievements and struggles. In some cases, they explained how their positioning, including gender and race, might have affected their research production, compared to colleagues positioned differently. Their social justice research is funded, but some suspect at a lower level than colleagues studying conventional topics. Challenges might be located in the backstage (personal and home lives) or the frontstage (university or funding agency policies or embedded in the research itself). In aiming for the impossible standards of a continuously successful research record, these individuals worked “all the time.” Advocates claim that slow scholarship is not really about going slower but rather about maintaining quality and caring in one’s work; yet, participants’ accounts suggest they perceive few options other than to perform as “fast professors.” At mid-career, they question whether and how they can keep up this aspect of their figured worlds for 20 or more years.
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Remote doctoral supervision experiences: Challenges and affordancesThe global pandemic has forced academics to engage in remote doctoral supervision, and the need to understand this activity is greater than ever before. This contribution involved a cross-field review on remote supervision pertinent in the context of a global pandemic. We have utilised the results of an earlier study bringing a supervision model into a pandemic-perspective integrating studies published about and during the pandemic. We identified themes central to remote supervision along five theory-informed dimensions, namely intellectual/cognitive, instrumental, professional/technical, personal/emotional and ontological dimensions, and elaborate these in the light of the new reality of remote supervision.
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Living in Two Cultures: Chinese Canadians’ Perspectives on HealthOBJECTIVES: Chinese people have distinctive perspectives on health and illness that are largely unrecognized in Western society. The purpose of this descriptive study was to develop a profile of Chinese immigrants’ beliefs and practices related to diet, mental and social health, and sexual health. METHODS: A quantitative survey with descriptive and correlational analyses was employed to examine 100 first-generation Chinese immigrants living in four urban centres across Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, Halifax, and St. Catharines). RESULTS: Although most Chinese immigrants preferred a Chinese diet, where they resided affected the groceries they bought and the meals they ate. Almost all participants reported their mental health was important to them and most felt comfortable discussing mental health issues with others. However, only a third would see a psychiatrist if they believed they had a mental health problem. Most participants believed social relationships were important for their health. Only a small number of participants, however, preferred making friends with mainstream Caucasian Canadians. More men than women believed sexuality contributed to health and were comfortable talking about sexual health. CONCLUSION: Chinese immigrants should be encouraged to be more engaged in the larger community in order to fully integrate themselves into Canadian society while still being encouraged to retain their healthy practices. These findings may help educators and practitioners enhance their understandings of Chinese immigrants’ perspectives on health and develop culturally competent education and services in health care and health promotion.
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Professors in Canada: Experiences of academic life—A special issueThis is an editorial introduction to a special issue of the journal, Brock Education. The article presents an overview of the current context for Canadian professors and the existing data about their work lives and practices. Short descriptions are provided for each of the six articles that comprise the special issue.
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Critical thinking education and debiasingAbstract: There are empirical grounds to doubt the effectiveness of a common and intuitive approach to teaching debiasing strategies in critical thinking courses. We summarize some of the grounds before suggesting a broader taxonomy of debiasing strategies. This four-level taxonomy enables a useful diagnosis of biasing factors and situations, and illuminates more strategies for more effective bias mitigation located in the shaping of situational factors and reasoning infrastructure—sometimes called “nudges” in the literature. The question, we contend, then becomes how best to teach the construction and use of such infrastructures. Résumé: Des données empiriques nous permettent de douter de l'efficacité d'une approche commune et intuitive pour enseigner des stratégies de correction de biais cognitifs dans les cours de pensée critique. Nous résumons certains de ces résultats empiriques avant de suggérer une taxonomie plus étendue de ces stratégies de correction de biais. Cette taxonomie à quatre niveaux permet un diagnostic utile de facteurs causant les biais et elle met en évidence davantage de stratégies permettant la correction plus efficace de biais, stratégies situées dans des mesures modifiant les infrastructures et les environnements cognitifs ("nudge" dans la littérature). Nous soutenons que la question porte dès lors sur les meilleures façons d'enseigner la construction et l'utilisation de ces infrastructures.
