S H OW C A S E 20 17 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity T ERR ITORIA L ACK NOWLE DG E M E N T Camosun College campuses are located on the traditional territories of the Lkwungen and W SÁNEĆ peoples. We acknowledge their welcome and graciousness to the students who seek knowledge here. TABLE OF C ONTENTS MESSAGE FROM Sherri Bell �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 4 Sybil Harrison ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5 SCHOOL OF ACCESS Bruce McCormack ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 6 Heather del Villano & Tony Vernon ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 8 CENTRE FOR INDIGENOUS EDUCATION & COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Todd Ormiston �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10 SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCE Jodi Lundgren �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12 Laurie Elmquist ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 13 James Nemec ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 14 SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Janet Stark ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16 CENTRE FOR SPORT & EXERCISE EDUCATION Nevin Harper ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 17 SCHOOL OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Mary Harber ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 18 Enid Elliot ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 20 Val Montague ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 21 SCHOOL OF TRADES & TECHNOLOGY Joyce van de Vegte �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22 Kathy Tarnai-Lokhorst ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 24 Gilbert Noussitou ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 25 Ryan Williams �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 26 LEARNING SERVICES Sue Doner ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 28 STUDENT SERVICES Chris Balmer ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 29 MES SAG E FROM Sherri Bell President Learning is a continuous process; one that we build on throughout our lives. The success of Camosun’s students depends on their opportunity to learn in ways that actively inspire, encourage, engage and challenge them. How do we accomplish that? By committing to continually enhance our own education and knowledge base in order to improve on and propel our student-centred teaching practices. Innovation, discovery, growth, transformation—these are all benefits of professional development learning opportunities. These opportunities not only prepare us for ever-changing classrooms, they provide us with a rich opportunity to steadily evolve and hone our teaching skills and body of knowledge for the benefit of our students, and ultimately our communities. Camosun College is truly a dynamic place of learning and the ripple effects of education are endless. I am very proud of the exceptional learning experiences Camosun faculty members foster every day throughout our programs, and of the outstanding body of work, passion and commitment represented here in this year’s professional development showcase. Congratulations to all! Sherri Bell President 4 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity MES SAGE FROM Sybil Harrison Director of Learning Services I’m thrilled to see the first Camosun Showcase in print! I have long recognized the tremendous efforts our instructors put into their professional development and their scholarly and creative endeavours, and wondered how we might best celebrate and share some of this work. In the fall of 2016, Elizabeth West (School of Access) approached me expressing a similar interest and suggested using her scheduled development time to work on a project highlighting some of her colleagues’ work. We brainstormed various ideas, and agreed that publishing a book would be the best way to tell the stories. Elizabeth reached out across her wide network and curated this collection featuring instructors from every corner of Camosun. The college values lifelong learning and faculty development. The faculty stories in this collection also highlight how the college enables development through scheduled development time, professional development funds, innovation and creativity grants and the supports provided by the Centre of Excellence for Teaching and Learning. My hope is that this anthology of creativity and innovation will stimulate collaboration, inspire new projects, encourage fresh approaches to teaching and motivate others to share their stories next year. Congratulations! Sybil Harrison Director, Learning Services Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 5 S C H OOL OF AC C ESS Bruce McCormack English Language Development Department BIOGRAPHY BRUCE MCCORMACK AND CLAUDIA ESTIMA, BRAZIL As a life-long educator who has taught in B.C., Quebec, the U.K., Iran, Japan and Brazil, Bruce McCormack has developed a firm belief in the magic of intercultural exchange. When ‘the other’ becomes known, the divisiveness of ‘us and them’ starts to dissipate and give way to the power of ‘us’. Together, we are stronger and can work more effectively for the common good. Cláudia Estima teaches English as a Foreign Language in Brazil at the Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS) for technical and undergraduate-level students. Since 2013, she has been engaged in the Film Project/Camosun-IFRS with Bruce McCormack in order to narrow distances between cultures. Professor Estima believes that learning must go beyond the geographical and cultural walls of everyday classrooms, offering students an opportunity to shape and express their beliefs and to learn about others’ points of view. An Intercultural and International Exchange: Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil and Camosun College, Canada Technology has made Marshall Mcluhan’s ‘global village’ and – by extension – the ‘global classroom’ an everyday reality. It has recently led to my professional involvement with two Brazilian post-secondary institutions. On 15 occasions since 2013, my advanced second-language students at Camosun College in Victoria, B.C. and I have worked online in real time with 6 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity the students of Professor Claudia Estima—who teaches at the Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (IFRS)—in Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil. Together, we have watched entire films or clips from films such as ‘Gandhi’ which engage students with themes such as racism or civil disobedience. The students have then listened to a follow-up lecture— given by an instructor in Canada or in Brazil—and participated in a question / answer discussion. The upshot is that students from upwards of 15 different countries of origin have taken part in international discussions in English—their lingua franca—learning to converse on challenging topics and extending their intercultural competence while situated in two classrooms that are over 11,000 kilometres apart! Simply put, this multicultural and transcontinental learning environment is something our grandparents could not have imagined. In addition to working with Professor Estima on this film project, I have also been part of a ‘voice narration’ project, working with a small team of Camosun colleagues in collaboration with a team from another Brazilian college in Pelotas, the Instituto Federal SulRio-Grandense (IFSul), also in southern Brazil. Our Canadian team has provided English-speaking ‘voices’ for animated cartoon characters in ESL scripts written and produced with animation in Brazil, for the purpose of teaching English to Brazilian college students. Clearly, Marshall Mucluhan was right—we now live in a global village, and our 21st century students fully understand this. Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 7 S C H OOL OF AC C ESS Heather del Villano & Tony Vernon English Language Development Department Doctorate Research in TESL: Anaheim University, California Heather and Tony have recently wrapped up two years of coursework and have just completed their comprehensive exams, qualifying them as doctoral candidates. They have also embarked on their dissertations, which they are aiming to complete within the next year.Throughout their coursework, they completed a number of research projects. For Tony, notable projects included a case study into discourse analysis of monologic and dialogic performances on speaking tasks. Analysis covered complexity, accuracy, fluency and formulaic sequences. BIOGRAPHY Heather del Villano and Tony Vernon are instructors in the English Language Development (ELD) Department in the School of Access. Heather currently holds the role of chair for Career and Academic Preparation in the department, while Tony teaches in the Basic English as a Second Language Programme. Both faculty members have been working on a Doctorate in Education (EdD) in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) since January 2015. Heather’s interests include motivation, pragmatics, and leadership while Tony’s lie in materials development and task-based language teaching (TBLT). 8 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity Heather examined the impact of self-assessment on task engagement and subsequent language production. Other areas included materials development, curriculum design, teacher training, technology in language learning, research methodology, learner differences and leadership in English Language Teaching. They are both appreciative to have had the opportunity to pursue these studies in order to benefit not only their department but also instructional delivery. They are also grateful for faculty scheduled development and PD long-term funding support for helping them realize their ambition. CENTRE FO R I N DI G E N O U S E DU CAT I ON & COMMUN ITY C ONNECTI O N S Todd Ormiston BIOGRAPHY Todd is Northern Tutchone/Tlingit from Yukon/ Alaska, and has been a visitor in the territory of the Songhees/Esquimalt peoples of the Coast Salish Nation since 1996. “I acknowledge the Songhees, Esquimalt and W  SÁNEĆ peoples whose shared territory Camosun College is situated on. It is an honor and privilege to live and work as a visitor in Coast Salish Territory.” His journey within academia over many years has earned him a Doctorate in Education, Masters of Public Administration (UVIC), A Bachelor of Social Work (UVIC), and a diploma in Criminal Justice (Douglas College). As part of his Doctorate, he wrote on Indigenous Leadership Pedagogies in higher education and focused his dissertation on the numerous Indigenous teachings provided at Camosun College and the University of Victoria. Over the years, Todd has also worked in various community social welfare organizations including the Boys and Girls Club as a bail supervisor for youth corrections. “I see learning as a lifelong process and I am constantly engaging in new learning. I also believe that as instructors, we have an important role to play in ensuring that learning is not just an obligation but a form of liberation towards walking in a good way throughout our lives. My belief is we are all teachers and we are all learners.” 10 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity S’TENISTLOW Conference: August 23-25, 2017 Within Camosun College, Indigenous resurgence, centering Indigenous ways of knowing and doing, is very important and becoming infused throughout the institution. The College’s Strategic, Indigenization and Education Plans attest to the crucial role of indigenization and reconcilation. In his work, Todd Ormiston is committed to the importance of indigenizing post-secondary institutions across the nation. Post-secondary institutions now have a responsibility, through the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to prepare non-indigenous faculty and administration to better understand and co-exist with the first peoples of this land. The themes around “being” involve relationships and connections between educators, communities, students, cultures and lands. The conference themes for “being” are Practicing Indigenization and Strengthening Alliances. Conference participants will gather at the Songhees Wellness Centre for a cultural pre-conference, in partnership with the local Songhees Nation on August 23. Activities will include a community tour, canoeing, introduction to the LKwungen language, introduction to ceremony, and plant identification. Participants will complete the day with a welcome dinner and Keynote by Dr. Gregory Cajete, Tewa educator and author. Todd’s recent and ongoing professional development, the organization and leadership of the S’TENISTOLW Conference, has grown out of this vision. The third S’TENISTOLW conference will be held at Lansdowne Campus this summer. S’TENISTOLW is a SENĆOŦEN term referencing the concept of ‘moving forward’. This conference will focus on both the “doing” and “being” of Indigenous education. “Doing” involves pedagogies (teaching methods) and the day-to-day practices of Indigenous educators in classrooms. The themes around “doing” for this conference are Land and Community-Based Experiential Learning, as well as Supporting Learner Engagement. “Being” involves relationality, connections amongst educators, communities, students, cultures and lands and involves living our collective values. Conference sessions will include workshops, presentations and wellness and arts sessions. In addition to Dr. Gregory Cajete, keynote speakers include Linda Tuhiwai Smith, a Māori educator and author; her partner Graham Hingangaroa Smith, a Māori Indigenous education advocate; and Kathy Absolon (Minogiizhigokwe), an Anishnaabe author and educator. The themes of the conference include: 1. Indigenous Pedagogies 2. Land and Community-Based Experiential Learning 3. Supporting Learner Engagement 4. Relationality/Living Our Collective Values 5. Practicing Indigenization 6. Strengthening Alliances Further information on the conference, August 23-25, 2017 can be found at the following link: http://camosun.ca/stenistolw Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 11 S C H OOL OF ARTS & SCIE N C E Jodi Lundgren English Department BIOGRAPHY Jodi Lundgren earned a PhD in English from the University of Washington before joining the faculty at Camosun College, where she teaches English and Creative Writing. She has previously published scholarly articles in Canadian Literature, Essays on Canadian Writing, Canadian Journal of Native Studies, and Journal of Teaching Writing. Her novels include Touched (Anvil) as well as titles for young adults, most recently Gone Wild (Lorimer). With Brandi May, she co-created Tardy in Teal, a handmade art book of collage, poetry, and flash fiction. She is currently working with students in Creative Writing 159: Editing and Publishing. Photo by Mike Davies Two Publications: “Roll with It’: Structures of Feeling and Sexual Abuse in the Writings of Joy Kagawa” and Gone Wild Lundgren, Jodi. “`Roll with It’: Structures of Feeling and Sexual Abuse in the Writings of Joy Kogawa.” Studies in Canadian Literature 41.2 (2017). Using Raymond Williams’s concept of “structure of feeling,” this paper examines Joy Kogawa’s work in the context of the 2015 apology given by the Anglican Church to those sexually victimized by Kogawa’s late father, Goichi Gordon Nakayama. While Kogawa’s novels Obasan and Itsuka depict the internment of Japanese Canadians and the subsequent fight for redress, the narrator’s (Naomi’s) experience of sexual abuse disrupts a singular focus on the internment as source of suffering. In the first two novels, Naomi’s traumatized sexuality constitutes, in Williams’s terms, a condition “not yet recognized as social but taken to be private, idiosyncratic, and even isolating.” In the major revision of Itsuka titled Emily Kato, 12 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity the private pain that is a structure of feeling in Itsuka begins to crystallize into a collective discourse of domestic violence and sexual abuse—a discourse that would later subtend calls for an apology from the Anglican Church to Nakayama’s victims. Both contexts (fictional and experiential) suggest that to heal from multiple traumas may involve claiming membership in more than one community. Lundgren, Jodi. Gone Wild. Toronto: Lorimer, 2017. US distribution: Lerner Publishing Group. Published in Canada as part of the Lorimer SideStreets series for reluctant readers, Gone Wild is being re-released in the US in 2017 as a hardcover, stand-alone novel. Synopsis: Whether at home or in the wild, it’s all about survival on your own terms. Seth can’t stand it at home any more, so he escapes to the wilds of Vancouver Island. But his best chance of survival turns out to be Brooke, who is running from problems of her own. Two teens in the wilderness—can they survive the challenges of the untamed environment and their own troubled lives? S C H OOL OF ARTS & SCIE N C E Laurie Elmquist English Department Writers’ Camp, Manitoulin Island, Ontario In July 2016, I attended a five day fiction workshop on Manitoulin Island, Ontario led by Canadian writer, Gail Anderson Dargatz, author of The Spawning Grounds. One of the best ways to learn about writing is to gather in a farmhouse around a table with a superb mentor and four other serious writers. Providence Bay Writers’ Camp included coffee, pastries, three hours of instruction each day, and a gorgeous natural landscape. BIOGRAPHY Laurie Elmquist holds a BA in Literature from McMaster University, a BEd from the University of Toronto, and an MA in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor. She enjoys writing for children and is the author of an illustrated board book, Beach Baby (Orca 2016) and Forest Baby (Orca 2018). Laurie is currently working on a series of books for young readers ages 7-12, beginning with Where’s Burgess? (Orca 2018). She has taught creative writing for fifteen years at Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia. She teaches fiction, creative nonfiction, and writing fiction for children. It is her life’s passion to encourage new writers and help them craft their stories and find their unique voice. Writing is a deeply rewarding career and a lifelong journey that takes people in directions they would never have imagined. The friendships writers Gail Dargatz began our first session by asking us to brainstorm all the things that get in the way of writing. These became our topics to address over the week, everything from feelings of doubt about our books in progress, to plots that sagged in the middle, to settings that were too restrictive because we were trying to stick to the real thing. “Everyone, including serious writers of award-winning novels make the same mistakes,” said Dargatz. Rather than look at these things as problems, we decided to accept them as a part of the creative process. By the end of the week, we went back to the list we created that first morning, and realized we had tackled all of the topics. While mornings were filled with instruction and the critique of participants’ work, afternoons were spent writing, talking to other writers, and exploring the community of Providence Bay. I took everything I’d gained during the week and used it to refresh my curriculum for Intro to Fiction (CRWR 154), an online course I’m honoured to teach at Camosun College. build with others in their community are one of the greatest rewards. Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 13 S C H OOL OF ARTS & SCIE N C E James Nemec Department of Physics & Astronomy BIOGRAPHY Since 2009 Dr. James Nemec has been using Kepler/K2 photometry, and spectroscopy acquired with large groundbased telescopes located in Hawaii, New Mexico and Chile, to investigate some of the oldest known variable stars in our Galaxy. His work on RR Lyrae and SX Phoenecis stars has been published in the Astrophysical Journal and in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and the results have been presented at conferences in Colorado, Hungary, France and Denmark. 14 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity Research on Variable Stars Thirty years ago the only known planets were those orbiting the Sun; moreover, time-series photometry of stars was sporadic and of relatively low precision. Today, thanks in large part to the Kepler 1.4-m space telescope (https:// kepler.nasa.gov), several thousand extra-solar planets have been observed in transit, some of which are Earthlike and in the habitable zones of the parent stars (e.g, Kepler-452b). The search for exoplanets is the main purpose of the Kepler mission, but the telescope is also revolutionizing the study of stellar interiors and atmospheres by making very-highprecision, nearly-continuous photometric brightness measurements of hundreds of thousands of individual stars, measurements that are ideal for asteroseismology. Starting in 2009, when the telescope was launched, a single star field was observed for almost four years. Three years ago, after the failure of the second of its four reaction wheels, the mission was ingeniously saved by harnessing the solar wind so that the telescope could continue to function as the Kepler/K2 Mission, whose purpose is to observe many thousands of planets, stars and galaxies in the Ecliptic Plane. PDF files of some of Dr. Nemec’s recent research papers can be downloaded from the following links: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90000922/2011_Nemec_ MNRAS_417_1022_nonBL.pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent. com/u/90000922/2012_MNRAS_Search_for_SX.pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90000922/Nemec_2013_ ApJ_773_181.pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90000922/MNRAS-2015Moskalik-2348-66.pdf https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90000922/2017_MNRAS_ MRSX.pdf Funding for this research has been provided, in part, by CCFA Long and Short Term Professional Development Funds. Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 15 S C H OOL OF B U SINESS Janet Stark Marketing Department BIOGRAPHY Janet Stark has been teaching in the School of Business for the past ten years and has become aware of both the benefits and challenges of students working in teams on a project. In 2015/16, a research team was formed through an Innovation project, to consider both faculty and student perceptions about their experience with student teams. Changes in approach and practice are still rippling out from the results of this research. Research on Experiences with Student Team Projects “I think some skills are transferable but what I’m taking away from the group projects at Camosun is more of an idea of how not to do group projects.” (student quote from focus group). “And so how I feel is uncomfortable. I feel frustrated, and I feel uncertain around the best way to approach that group work” (faculty quote from interview). Apparently, we have some work to do to improve both the quality of our students’ learning experiences and the sense of competence and confidence of our faculty in relation to student teams. As a result of an extensive literature review, six student focus groups and six faculty interviews conducted across the college, new resources are available for faculty on a Team Learning Resources (TLR) share point site. Ideas on how to form teams, create a team charter, build team cohesion, and conduct both formative and summative assessments are available. The 5 C’s of team work: communication, commitment, contribution, 16 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity collaboration and content are used to assess and assign credit for both individual contribution as well as team effectiveness. In addition, a Community of Practice and workshops on working effectively with student teams are available to support faculty. Writing articles for publication, presenting at a conference, and looking at various forms of technology to assist with the student team process are in the works for this year. Please contact Janet Stark stark@camosun.ca for more information, or to contribute to the faculty resources on the share point site. C E NT R E F OR SPORT & EXE RC I S E E DU CAT I ON Nevin Harper Sport & Exercise Education BIOGRAPHY Nevin Harper is an Associate Professor in the School of Child & Youth Care at the University of Victoria. He is a past faculty member, program leader and chair in the Centre for Sport & Exercise Education where he developed the Post-degree Diploma in Adventure Education. Bolivia Field Schools 2014-2016 Schedule Development Research Projects Ecological awareness, spirituality, personal growth and development are identified as areas in which outdoor adventure education can influence participants although programs do not always promote these objectives explicitly. I have been intrigued by these ‘hidden curriculums’ and sought to better articulate them empirically. To investigate these areas, two 3-week field schools to the Bolivia Andes, during Scheduled Development in 2014 and 2016, were undertaken to better understand participant experiences. The first study aimed to identify and articulate impacts across physical, emotional, and social domains of students during a challenging international adventurebased field school. Nineteen students participated in the first field school. The field school design optimized student learning through cross-disciplinary curriculum & experiential activity. Written journal assignments, data from physiological and psychological measures and researcher observations were included in analysis. Findings support the literature suggesting that altering environmental circumstances and applying ‘real world conditions’ can promote student growth and learning across developmental domains. The results of this study are published in the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning by myself and Camosun colleague Tony Webster (2016). The second study utilized the theoretical argument that through experience of place, and over time, one’s sense of place will become more integrated with one’s sense of self. Primary research questions centered on elucidating meaning, from student thoughts and feelings, about place, in an effort to better understand student experience of, and adjust to, a new place. Further, the researcher aimed to identify shifts in participant values and attitudes over time and identify components which contribute positively to the experience. Analysis of journal entries and researcher observations led to four emergent themes: multiplicity of meaning, personal growth and development, gratitude and global perspective, and a taste for more. A manuscript of this study is currently under review with Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad. Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 17 S C H OOL OF HEA LTH & H U M AN S E RVI C E S Mary Harber Community Support & Education Assistant Program BIOGRAPHY Mary Harber MSW has worked in a variety of areas during her social work career over the last 30 years. She has supported children, youth and families in the context of child welfare, substance use treatment and prevention, sexual abuse, trauma, healthy sexuality and teaching. Specific areas of work have included the field of disabilities, parent support, high risk Light Refreshments youth, group facilitation, social skill development, curriculum development, FASD and women and substance use. Mary was teaching previously with Thompson Rivers University, and is currently the program leader for the Community Support Free Admission Education Assistant Program here at Camosun College. She has a passion for the use of creative methods for building connection and support. She is Interactive Theatre and Social Justice committed to the use of activities based in drama, art and expressive writing to support learning and holds the belief that community is where real change happens. Voice Up Drama Project A group of enthusiastic students and faculty came together to address issues of social justice and oppression through Voice Up. The purpose of the group was to learn about social justice issues, use interactive theatre and our skills as educators, actors, activists, and campus leaders to influence change while having fun and being creative! 18 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity Tuesday April 5th 2:30pm - 3:45pm Wilna Thomas 234 Thursday April 7th 5:30pm - 6:45pm Fisher 100 During the semester the group met weekly for 2 hour sessions. We built community through the use of connecting theatre games and activities and shared stories and experiences of times when we felt powerless in the face of oppression such as sexism, racism and homophobia. We examined our disagreements and places of privilege and social location and learned about ways in which this contributes to the dominant discourse of power ‘over’. We became aware that we all contribute to the elements of oppression when we represent those that are dominant. When exploring various themes, the group decided to look at sexism within the service industry and subsequently wrote three short scenes to perform for the larger Camosun audience. Forum theater as a method of Theatre of the Oppressed ensures that the audience is active in trying to respond to or solve the issue of oppression, in this case sexism, that shows up in the scene. Audience members are invited to interrupt the scene and take the place of a character to try and respond and change the outcome. This type of experience lends itself to learning to speak up and have a voice when we either experience oppression or when we see others in a similar situation and want to be an ally. Forum theatre is based on the work of Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal. “Thanks for work shopping us through a transformative process with passion. It’s a wonderful thing to be a part of. I love it!” In Voice Up students built a sense of community and felt that they were making a difference by engaging in an interactive solution focused dialogue with their peers and colleagues. They felt that this was an important venue in which to have courageous conversations in a way that was non-threatening, thoughtful and led to ‘shifts’ in thinking and behaving. Thanks to: Jennifer Benner, Yvonne Mason, Stefanie Tennant Riley Vaskic, Bryanna MacLaren, Marcel Duruisseau, Keenan Andrew, Faculty: Mary Harber, Martha McAlister, Robin Fast, Andy Chen… And to Camosun Innovation Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 19 S C H OOL OF HEA LTH & H U M AN S E RVI C E S Enid Elliot Early Learning & Care Program BIOGRAPHY Enid Elliot has been an early childhood educator for over thirty years. Currently she is on faculty at Camosun College in the Early Learning and Care program and is also an adjunct professor at University of Victoria. She says, “Over the years I have been continually surprised, intrigued and delighted by the babies, children, families and early childhood educators with whom I have worked, played and loved. Over the years I experienced the positive influence that natural settings have on young children and so it was natural that I became involved in helping develop and implement the Nature Kindergarten in the Sooke School District, which opened in September 2012. This program is one of the first in the public school system in Canada. For the past four years I have spent one day a week learning and listening with the children and educators outside.” Research: Children’s Experience in the Royal Roads University Forest With this research I am documenting the children’s experience in the Royal Roads University Forest, as well as investigating the pedagogy that has emerged over the first four years. A teacher and early childhood educator work and learn together with 22 children each morning in the forest. They go out every day whatever the weather. It was a privilege to hear their thinking, watch the growth of their confidence and witness their developing understanding of the natural world. I had no idea it would be such a powerful experience, but the children’s enthusiasm for the program, their willingness to engage deeply and their tremendous abilities to learn and to teach left me with even more respect for the abilities of 20 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity five year olds. Outside each day the children learned to become a community of learners, of thinkers and of nurturers. They learned about worms and cedar, how to support a friend, to recognize invasive species; they thought about why a tree has grown crookedly, how to climb onto a tall log; they cared for worms and wood bugs, worried about the animals in “their forest.” They learned from elders, naturalists, and other educators, such as the Aboriginal support worker. Having children outside for half the day each day during the school year is a wonderful concept, but I did not realize that it is really a wonderful concept. The power of the fresh air, the breeze in the trees, the movement of branches, the smell of the damp earth all invite the children to engage totally. And they do! They learn through their bodies, their senses and their minds. I saw each child benefit by this experience. This is an experience from which many children could benefit. During the past four years I have been writing, speaking and thinking about a pedagogy that supports educators’ and children’s teaching/learning in natural settings and their relationships to the wider community of land, trees, air. S C H OOL OF HEA LTH & H U M AN S E RVI C E S Val Montague Continuing Education BIOGRAPHY Since 2008, Val Montague has designed and managed continuing education credentials and professional development courses in health and helping professions. Since 2014 she has been a member of the Integrated Curriculum Committee, representing the School of Health and Human Services. In 2016 she was elected as a member of the CCFA Executive. My foundational years as the daughter of immigrant educators exposed me to diverse groups and experiences, and shaped how I see the world. As an adult, I have studied languages, movement, leadership, and computer systems. To further my professional development, I chose to complete my Masters of Arts in Integrated Studies through Athabasca University. I chose this program because I was drawn to the concept of seeking multiple perspectives and thinking creatively. I completed the program in December 2016. As an Interdisciplinarian, I notice how disciplines interact with each other and with ideas. I observe their assumptions, biases and approaches to seek common ground and highlight new insights. The goal for my capstone paper was to support interdisciplinarity in a college environment. There is significant opportunity for Camosun to develop interdisciplinary programming and I want to contribute to that work. For my final paper, I was encouraged to use my strengths of critical analysis and creative thought to new areas of curiosity - neuroscience and fine arts. Research in Interdisciplinary Education For decades, institutional allegiance to Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives has driven the broad use of learning outcomes to develop curriculum. This paper questions Bloom’s typology against a) current neuroscience about executive functioning, sensory and perception abilities and the social-emotional facets of learning; and b) cognitive science that supports inclusion of visual literacy skills to help learners create lasting representations and communicate complex ideas. Adoption of these insights is especially pertinent to the design of interdisciplinary education (IDE), which requires students to draw from multiple perspectives. Drawing on identified correctives to Bloom’s work, I introduce an alternative model for teaching and learning that meets postsecondary institutional curriculum expectations while respecting the flexible ways students learn in IDE programs. The model is tested against three IDE syllabi. My goal is to shift institutional loyalty towards a student-centered, evidence-based framework that supports learning in an interdisciplinary landscape. Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 21 S C H OOL OF TRA DES & TE C HN O LO GY Joyce van de Vegte Electronics & Computer Engineering Technology Department Publication: Intercultural Engineering Online: Shining the Light on Humanitarian Engineering BIOGRAPHY Joyce van de Vegte is an instructor in the Electronics & Computer Engineering Technology department. Her teaching areas include: intercultural engineering; renewable energy; system dynamics; discrete structures in engineering; digital signal processing; and signal and system analysis. Joyce’s recent publications include Digital Music Math: Technology as a STEM Teaching Tool for Aboriginal Students, Bridging the divide with a three-way handshake, Renewable Energy Revives Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology, and Fundamentals of Digital Signal Processing. Her paper, Intercultural engineering online: Shining the light on humanitarian engineering, will be presented at the 2017 IEEE International Humanitarian Technology conference. 22 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity Multicultural environments are the norm for technology and engineering workplaces, both domestically and internationally. Yet most technologists and engineers do not receive any formal preparation to help them navigate the often complex communication and interaction issues that so materially affect the success of technical projects. A fully online course, Intercultural Engineering, was developed to address this deficit for technologists and engineers of all disciplines. The course examines cultural differences and how to respond to them; guidelines for oral and written technical communication that improve comprehension; engineering standards as they relate to the global transmission of technology; appropriate technologies; humanitarian engineering and social responsibility for technologists and engineers; sustainable development goals; praxis; and social entrepreneurship. Numerous engineering case studies illustrating intercultural failure modes are analyzed. The course activities are wide-ranging. Students consider their own cultures and compare to unfamiliar cultures. They learn a phrase or two of a new language. They watch a video of an office meeting and analyze it from the perspectives of the multicultural participants. The students communicate online with engineering students from another country and discuss the role of language and culture in the exchange. They identify the features that make a technology “appropriate.” They research the details of an engineering development project and consider their peers’ analyses. They analyze the reasons why a development project fails. Finally they decompose failed engineering projects and suggest modifications that might improve chances for success. The object of the course is to introduce students to the many nontechnical considerations that can affect the outcomes of engineering projects. The online format makes the course available to a wide audience. Preand post-assessments for a cohort of students reveal several statistically significant trends that suggest the course has efficacy in shifting students’ intercultural perspectives. S C H OOL OF TRA DES & TE C HN O LO GY Kathy Tarnai-Lokhorst Mechanical Engineering Department BIOGRAPHY Kathy Tarnai-Lokhorst, a Professional Engineer in BC, began instructing in mechanical engineering at Camosun College in 1994. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with her bachelor degree in Applied Science in 1987 and from the University of Phoenix with her Masters in Business Administration in 2007; Kathy specialized in aerodynamic design, manufacturing and leadership. Kathy launched her doctoral research at Royal Roads University in 2013. Her research explores the perceptions of gendered careers in high school with the goal of increasing gender diversity in engineering. Kathy is an elected Councilor of APEGBC (apeg. bc.ca), has served on several academic and corporate governance committees, and is a Fellow of Engineers Canada, recognition for her years of exemplary service and commitment to the profession of engineering. Research: Gender Diversity in Engineering Almost 15 years ago, I experienced a serious set-back in my engineering career. Although I am certain it was unintended, others in the organization at that time and during the intervening years convinced me that implicit bias against women in traditionally male roles formed the root cause of the conflict. Since that time, I have actively worked towards promoting gender diversity in engineering. This doctoral research addresses the stereotypical social perceptions embedded in education systems. Literature surveys and preliminary research conducted early in the program revealed that girls are participating almost equally in grade 11 physics classes in British Columbia. Yet in spite of their clear aptitude they continue to make gendered career choices, reportedly influenced by the pervasive yet unintended sexism that persists in our school systems. 24 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity My research questions whether female (and male) students with an aptitude for physics will more often choose careers in physical applied sciences (like mechanical engineering) if they experience the engineering design process in their Physics 11 classes, discovering for themselves how engineering benefits society and serves the public good. Many employers have made inroads into forging truly diverse professional workplaces; despite this progress, feminist issues pervade industry and academia. I firmly believe these challenges are rooted in society’s subconscious beliefs about gendered careers, unintentionally perpetuated by our educational systems. My research brought me into Physics 11 classrooms in the Greater Victoria region to conduct student surveys and administer an innovative exploratory laboratory activity, which was co-designed with Physics 11 teachers on the participatory action research team. Preliminary findings indicate an immediate increase in student engagement and interest when they apply physics concepts to improve their own experiences. The data analysis may indicate whether embedding engineering design principles into high school curriculum can be the elegant solution to dispelling gender-based career choices. S C H OOL OF TRA DES & TE C HN O LO GY Gilbert Noussitou Culinary Arts Department BIOGRAPHY A graduate of L’École Hôtelière Des Pyrénées in Toulouse, France, Gilbert has been practicing his trade for over 40 years in some of the finest establishments of France, England, and Canada. His extensive and varied experience includes owning a restaurant and a catering company and winning many national and international awards. Gilbert joined Camosun College in 1987. He is Red Seal certified, a diplomed Instructor, and has attained the Certified Chef de Cuisine designation. He is a key player in the development and delivery of the awardwinning online cook e-pprenticeship program. Over the past years, Gilbert has often taken a leadership role in many committees and community events including Night of the Stars, Bite of Victoria, FoodSafe Council, Industry Advisory Committees, Culinary Competitions, Chocolate Fest, BC Summer Games Foodservices, BC Senior’s games, and numerous fundraisers. In recognition of his professional involvement and dedication, he was recently inducted as a member of the Honour Society of the Canadian Culinary Federation of Chefs and Cooks. Gilbert is involved in a variety of other professional activities: BC Restaurant and Foodservices, Association, Vice-Chair & past Chair, BC Agri-Tourism Alliance Founding Director, Canadian Culinary Federation Member, and Society of Vocational Instructors of BC Member. Online Cook e-pprenticeship Program. Learners are adopting online learning for various reasons with flexibility being the predominant reason. Competing priorities in their life may prevent them from participating in traditional face-2-face programs. Over the past six years Camosun Culinary Arts has developed and delivered an online version of the technical training for first and second year Professional Cook apprenticeship. Following the success of this e-pprenticeship program, Camosun Culinary Arts, with funding from the Industry Training Authority, is now developing the third year professional cook e-pprenticeship leading to Red Seal certification. Professional Cook apprentices are now able to obtain the entire technical training online, eliminating the need to leave work to get the mandatory face-2-face training. This innovative e-pprenticeship training, believed to be a world premiere, will open a new training market by offering professional training and certification to participants that would not have been able to participate in regular face-2-face training. Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 25 S C H OOL OF TRA DES & TE C HN O LO GY Ryan Williams Welding Department BIOGRAPHY Ryan Williams was born and raised on Vancouver Island but worked mainly for the oil and gas industry in Northern British Columbia. He is a red seal pressure welder who is passionate about helping his students to become highly skilled in the trade. Ry’s main hobbies are surfing, hiking, traveling, canoeing and creating music. Welding Project: Dinosaur Armature for Othnielosaurus When I decided to become a welder I could have never imagined the opportunities the trade would give me. Getting to design and build the armature for some of the most fascinating creatures that ever lived on planet earth has been amazing. Handling 150 million year old bones and seeing the detail is shocking; you start imagining the creature alive and what it went through to survive. There are broken bones that have healed 26 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity and this tells a vivid story of the creature’s life and death. When I am creating the armature I am trying to simplify and hide my work as much as possible. If I do a good job the focus should be 100 percent on the bones and not on how they are held up. Beyond Bones “5 Reasons Why Our New Dinosaur is Amazing” An article in Beyond Bones, “5 Reasons Why Our New Dinosaur is Amazing,” by Chris Wells (November 16, 2016) describes the Othnielosaurus skeleton and Ryan Williams’ welded armature for the display of the Othnielosaurus at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston, Texas. Below is a brief excerpt describing the armature: This is the first ever dinosaur mounted using magnets! … the bones are held in place by chunky steel armatures and supported by heavy beams. Although hidden as skillfully as possible, these supports are readily apparent. Right now, this is the only way to display the fossils in three dimensions, without drilling into them and altering their scientific value. But our new Othnielosuarus is blazing the trail to a better method of display. Magnets have been carefully glued to the bones and skillfully set on a metal armature. Although a steel “skeleton” is still present, there is no metal wrapped around the bone. And besides the better visual quality provided by this method, the new system also allows a much more dynamic posture to be obtained with the mount. For the full article and many pictures, go to the following link: http://blog.hmns.org/2016/11/5-reasons-whyour-new-dinosaur-is-amazing/ Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 27 L EAR NING SERV IC ES Sue Doner Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL) may have registered with the Disability Resource Centre (DRC) for accommodations. Accommodations provide individualized adaptations of a learning environment, but the process requires students to seek this support for every course they take and to disclose personal information about themselves over and over again. This is a process we should put students through mindfully, and not by default. Similarly, not all students who have challenges accessing course components qualify for DRC accommodations—e.g. ESL, aging eyes and ears, etc. BIOGRAPHY Sue Doner (MA) is an instructional designer with the eLearning group in CETL. Key areas of interest for Sue in course design and delivery are accessibility in online learning and practical applications of the principles and guidelines of Universal Design for Learning. In 2015, Sue worked with BCcampus and CAPER-BC to develop the BC Open Textbook Accessibility Toolkit; in 2016, the same team1 co-created “Redesign or Accommodation?2” a CC-licensed activity that is now available as an appendix to the Toolkit. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) At its core, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is about proactively designing “barrier-free” learning opportunities for students. UDL recognizes that we cannot design learning experiences for a singular type of student and that it’s critical for instructors to provide learners with multiple methods of Representation, Expression and Engagement3. Through the application of UDL principles, courses can be designed to support many types of learners from “Day 1”, including those students who, due to physical or cognitive disabilities, 28 Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity The “Redesign or Accommodation?” activity is grounded in the student-centeredness of UDL and incorporates the humanizing-element of student “Personas” that were also part of the Accessibility Toolkit.4 Each participant adopts a Persona and advocates from that student’s perspective when presented with a Scenario that is based on common or recurring components of course delivery. In facilitated discussions, participants identify any potential barriers that the Scenario presents for their Persona-selves, consider what accommodations to address the barrier would look like—and if their Persona would even qualify, and then determine if the barrier/s could be avoided entirely by applying a UDL-based redesign to the course components in question. This Activity can be scaled up or down to suit the number of participants, and provides a framework that can be used for assessing “real-life” scenarios outside the ones that have been developed for the Activity to date. 1 With thanks to Jennifer LeVecque and Eleanor Woodward in the DRC for their input and suggestions. 2 Both the Toolkit and the Activity are available for re-use and adaptation through: https://opentextbc.ca/accessibilitytoolkit/ 3 Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.0, from CAST (2011). Wakefield, MA. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter. org/aboutudl/udlguidelines 4 Horton, Sarah & Quesenbery, Whitney (2014). A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences. Rosenfeld Media STUD ENT SERV IC ES Chris Balmer Counselling Centre Student Mental Health and Well-being Camosun’s Senior Leadership Council endorsed this broad scope, campus-wide Student Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy with a five-year mandate, identifying priority goals to be undertaken in the first year of its implementation. These goals span categories including: Policy review and development, mental health literacy training, classroom well-being strategies, a review of the College’s Safety Net student-at-risk processes, student engagement initiatives, and government and professional community liaison involvement. BIOGRAPHY MA Counselling Psychology Chris has worked as a counsellor at Camosun College since 1987. In 2007, his interest in student and employee well-being led to the development of a framework for student mental health at Camosun, which included the formation of a cross campus advisory group called Camosun Healthy Minds. In 2015 Chris was seconded to lead the development of Camosun’s Student Mental Health and Well-Being Strategy, which was completed and launched in January 2016. Chris has developed three levels of mental health literacy training which have been offered to Camosun employees regularly since May 2016. A comprehensive student mental health and well-being website has been developed explaining the categories and goals of the Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy and providing links to services and resources for students, faculty, staff, and parents. He has co-facilitated a workshop for faculty on bringing student well-being strategies into the classroom and written a bulletin to the Faculty Association members promoting faculty resources for student well-being. Chris has consulted with a multi-ministerial committee of the B.C. Provincial Government to develop a mental health strategy for government public services and participated in Provincial mental health summits and on an inter-provincial educational webinar on implementing post-secondary mental health strategies. Throughout the fall 2016 semester, Chris moderated a student engagement project entitled “Living in Our Shoes”, highlighting students lived experience with learning disabilities, anxiety and depression, which will include a Forum Theatre style presentation on substance use in 2017. Professional, Scholarly & Creative Activity 29 AC K N OW L E D G E M E N TS : Sybil Harrison: Director, Library and Learning Services Elizabeth West: Project Coordinator Allan Shook: Photographer, Audio and Visual Services Camosun Graphic Services: Graphic Design and Layout Camosun Printshop: Printing