Browsing by Author "Friesen, Sharon L."

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    Addressing Skills Gap: A Systemic Reframe and Redesign of Capstone using Design-Based Research
    (2024-08-12) Johnston, Sonja Lynne; Jacobsen, Michele D. M.; Clark, Douglas B.; Friesen, Sharon L.
    A growing number of reports identify the skills gap between graduate competencies and employer expectations, especially for business school graduates. The added impact of economics, the pandemic, and the advancement of generative artificial intelligence is resulting in a further shift of workplace-necessary skills and the future of jobs. Post-secondary education is under pressure to prepare graduates for changing futures. If the skills gap is viewed as a systems problem instead of a student problem, how can reframed designs and course-based interventions be used in a systems approach to improve student learning experiences and create stronger workplace readiness? This design-based research study, comprised of three research cycles, explores research for, on, and through intervention, and investigates reframing and redesign in the context of an undergraduate Business Capstone course in a western Canadian polytechnic institute. Situated at the end of a degree pathway, the Capstone is an opportunity to consider the most effective conditions for students and instructors to best prepare for workplace futures beyond the post-secondary credential. Through the analysis of previous course iterations and stakeholder perspectives, the reframing, design, and implementation of an intervention as course design is engaged with two instructor-participants. Theoretical and practice implications are offered for approaching skills gap differently that focuses on coaching pedagogy and student development. Through this study, an alternative conceptual model to the Triple Helix is offered, using the 4M Framework (based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory) to orient interconnections and interrelations between stakeholders involved in Capstone, with student-centered reframing. A model is offered that proposes nine course-level considerations for design to support learner agency, autonomy, and development. Although the context of this research was business education in a post-secondary institution focused on applied learning, the insights gained are of interdisciplinary relevance and anchored in social constructivist learning theories that support transferability. As educators and students are faced with navigating ever-changing ecosystems, employers are seeking new perspectives and orientations to problem solving and innovation. This work explores the impact of reframing and redesign of conditions for learning, even within system bounded contexts, and directly effects surrounding businesses, communities, and society.
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    Building Educational Practice and Culture in Infection Prevention and Control: A Design-Based Research Study
    (2017) Meyers, Gwyneth Louise; Jacobsen, Michele DM; Henderson, Elizabeth Ann; Friesen, Sharon L.; Lock, Jennifer Vivian; Seneviratne, Cydnee Christine; Reeves, Thomas Charles
    Emerging antibiotic resistant organisms and diseases such as Ebola pose significant public health threats. Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) programs are charged with educating healthcare workers (HCWs) to prevent the spread of such microorganisms and infections. Despite ongoing education by Infection Control Professionals (ICPs), HCWs’ adherence to IPAC practice remains low. While education is an expected core competency for ICPs, they are not prepared for this educator role and opportunities for educational professional development are limited. This gap leads to a narrow conceptualization of education, limited application of theory, and research challenges. Relying on conventional teaching methods, ICPs are frustrated with the poor results and are disengaged from their educational efforts. Using Design-based research as an interventional change methodology, the purpose of this research was to begin addressing these problems by designing, developing and implementing an innovative professional development experience in education for a group of ICPs in the Alberta Health Services IPAC program. This professional development experience was situated in the context of a community of learning (CoL) located in the ICPs’ workplace practice. Learning in the CoL was mediated through use of collaborative teaching and learning activities over a one year timeframe. The core interventionist strategy was to have the ICPs create a flipped learning experience the ICPs could use to teach HCWs. Drawing on contemporary constructivist concepts and principles from the Learning Sciences, this research resulted in the creation of an innovative design framework for the educational professional development of ICPs that successfully changed ICPs educational understanding and practice by building their pedagogical expertise and developing their identity as educators through the acquisition of knowledge, language and experience with which to reflect on and explore their teaching and learning practices. This study demonstrated the value of using DBR to explore teaching and learning in the context of a healthcare workplace setting where the focus is on the production and delivery of activities other than teaching and learning. The application of DBR to IPAC practice, whose focus is often to create change, suggests that DBR has potential use beyond the design and improvement of teaching and learning environments.
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    Improving Forensic Clinical Practice: Leveraging Concepts from Counselling and Counselling Psychology
    (2023-07-24) Pasyk, Victoria Summer; Domene, José F.; Cornell, Dewey G.; Friesen, Sharon L.
    The purpose of this research is to improve the practices of mental health professionals engaged in forensic practice by leveraging ideas and perspectives from counselling and counselling psychology. Counselling and counselling psychology are defined by their holistic, strength-based, and multiculturally competent ways of addressing mental health concerns and facilitating change. Despite both professions offering unique benefits for a variety of populations and needs, clinicians from these areas of practice are under-represented in a number of mental health work settings, one, in particular, being forensic. Additionally, there is also very limited research on how the practice of counselling and counselling psychology can benefit or enhance the area of forensic psychology. This knowledge gap is particularly evident in the areas of supervision, assessment, and psychotherapy. In this dissertation, I close some of these gaps by contributing three manuscripts that leverage ideas and perspectives from these related disciplines. Specifically, Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the potential benefits that counselling and counselling psychology could offer to the field of forensic mental health practice. Chapter 2/Manuscript 1 examines readiness to change as a key component to the working alliance with clients who have offended. The working alliance is a construct elaborated on by a counselling psychologist and is related to successful outcomes for both community and correctional populations. Chapter 3/Manuscript 2 draws upon existing literature from the field to provide recommendations to improve clinical supervision in forensic practice. Chapter 4/Manuscript 3 is a data-based research project that examines the application of a counselling perspective to forensic practice. Chapter 5 integrates themes across the three manuscripts and provides suggestions for forensic clinical practice. This chapter also considers the state of current forensic practice in Canada and its implications for counselling psychologists.
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    The Role of the Business Dean in Comprehensive Community Colleges in Alberta
    (2021-06-14) Mitchell, Glenn Francis Dion; Friesen, Sharon L.; Scott, Shelley Ann; Simmons, Marlon
    The purpose of this case study was to explore the role of the dean of business in Comprehensive Community Colleges (CCCs) in Alberta. While there is an abundance of literature on the dean’s role in large, research-based institutions and a modest body of literature on the role in the college context, there appears to be a dearth of literature on the Alberta CCC business dean role. Within the available literature, the responsibilities and expectations for the decanal position remain unclear. The main research question was, “Is there clarity in the purpose of the role, tasks, and how the Dean of Business is assessed across the system in the province?” Perspectives on the role were examined through two different lenses, Vice Presidents, Academic (VPAs) and business deans working in an Alberta CCC at the time of the study. Participants responded to questions via two electronic questionnaires. Six deans and six VPAs participated in this study. This study found the following: • the dean’s ability to build trusting relationships is key to success; • the clarity of the term entrepreneurship, as it pertains to the decanal role, would reduce ambiguity of role; • deans do not always have portfolios entirely within their area of expertise; • further clarification of the dean’s role for stakeholders would support the dean’s success; • further clarity is required around decanal assessment; and • a common set of assessment criteria would be beneficial for deans and aspiring deans. A conclusion that can be drawn is that while currently there is a significant ambiguity surrounding the role of the Dean of Business in the Alberta CCC, there are processes and procedures that could be initiated in each of the diverse community colleges across Alberta to clarify the dean’s portfolio and establish performance criteria surrounding the role of the Dean of Business in the Alberta CCC. Keywords: comprehensive community college, regional stewardship, higher education
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    The Impact of the Office of Superintendent of Schools on the Personal Lives of Superintendents
    (2016-04) Parsons, Dennis George; Brandon, Dr. James Edward; Friesen, Sharon L.; Jacobsen, D. Michelle; Roy, Dr. Sylvie; Anderson, Dr. Kirk David
    Abstract The purpose of this study was to gain deeper understanding of the work lives of Canadian school superintendents by investigating the impact their work lives have on their personal/family lives. Residing at the apex of the K–12 public education system, superintendents serve a unique role as the chief executive officer and as the chief education officer in the school district. The study used qualitative case-study methodology and involved six participant superintendents in semi-structured interviews, two from each of western, Atlantic and northern Canada who had held the position of superintendent for a period of 5 or more years. The findings of this inquiry revealed work life significantly impacted personal and family life. Participant superintendents provided in-depth personal accounts of how the complex and demanding work lives of superintendents made having family lives outside the role challenging. In this study, the participant superintendents, regardless of location or size of school district, all described an all-consuming work life: rampant with political agendas, conflict, public scrutiny, unreasonable expectations, and one where technology has left superintendents even more exposed to the whims of the disenfranchised. The inquiry also revealed, while superintendents recognized student learning was the important work they needed to do, they were clearly hindered across all selected jurisdictions by troublesome and disruptive elements present in their work role. The pervasiveness and extent of the personal toll taken on superintendents and their families by the work role is revealed in clear and explicit detail by the individual narratives from participant superintendents. The evidence is so compelling it calls into question the current system of elected school board governance and forces consideration of how the system can better support school superintendents.
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    The Influence of Co-teaching on Marginalized Elementary Students’ Mathematics Performance
    (2024-01-12) Papoff, L R Ruth; Koh, Kim; Friesen, Sharon L.; Brown, Barbara
    This single case study explores the influence of co-teaching on marginalized elementary student performance in mathematics. Marginalized communities historically perform poorly on standardized tests. There is a need for an intervention model that responds to the diverse needs of marginalized populated classrooms. Co-teaching is a model of teaching that supports a greater ability to personalize learning and support complex diverse classrooms. Whilst co-teaching has been shown to be effective, there is little research on how co-teaching influences students’ learning. When assessing students, authentic assessment has been shown to support the learning and sensemaking process for learners, as opposed to a standardized test. Thus, it is important that this study integrated understanding student success within a co-taught classroom by incorporating authentic assessment compared to a standardized test. The study explored the instructional processes that linked co-teaching to students’ mathematics performance using qualitative and quantitative data. To gain an in-depth understanding of the complex dynamics of a co-taught classroom, the Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was utilized to guide data analyses. The CHAT framework encapsulates a sociocultural constructivist understanding which corresponds to the diverse marginalized population within the co-taught classroom. The analysis established from these methods offered a comprehensive insight of co-teaching mathematics processes that directly influenced students’ mathematics learning and performance. The findings from this exploratory case study highlight three major themes. The first thematic finding was that co-teaching allowed for flexible group work to personalize learning. The second thematic finding was that time and space were shared between co-teaching and assessment, allowing for more formative assessment that was in real-time and ongoing. This led to the co-teachers’ perceived professional learning in assessment practices. The final thematic finding was that although there were low expectations from the co-teachers, student participants achieved a higher level of mathematics performance. The higher level of mathematics performance amongst marginalized students compared to the low expectations of their teachers may attribute to the co-taught environment that enabled flexible group work and formative assessment.
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    The Integration of Community Service Learning and Reflection in a Post-Secondary Chemistry Lab
    (2023-06) Ho, Karen; Clark, Douglas B.; Bohac-Clarke, Veronika Elizabeth; Friesen, Sharon L.; Koh, Kim Hong; McCollum, Brett
    This manuscript-based dissertation was prompted by first and second-year university students' challenges in learning chemistry due to the traditional focus of chemistry labs on recalling information rather than applying critical thinking. The three manuscripts (Chapters 2 to 4) in this dissertation explore the possibility of supporting students’ meaningful learning through the integration of Community Service Learning (CSL) and Reflection in the Analytical Chemistry II lab. This multi-year project analyzes three different cohorts of students. Chapter 2 (Manuscript 1) focuses on the CSL design intervention and students’ attitudes toward the service learning activity. Post-instructional surveys were completed, and the data was analyzed using a mixed methodological approach. All learners self-reported favourable engagement, attitudes, and higher self-confidence after the CSL activity. Chapter 3 (Manuscript 2) builds on the previous chapter by exploring how intentional reflection enhances students’ conscious awareness of their learning. A series of reflective essays were assigned at the beginning, during, and after the CSL activity. Reflective essays, focus group interviews, and student observations were collected from fourteen students using a case study methodology. Students articulated their learning progression across three phases: (a) connection with and contribution to the world, (b) identification of areas that are missing and development of reasoning abilities, and (c) integration in learning. Students reported liking the reflective essays because they enhanced their abilities to develop self-competency in learning. Chapter 4 (Manuscript 3) further extends this research by exploring students' attitudes toward a range of different reflective strategies. Content analysis was selected as both methodology and method to analyze the data from reflective writings, reflective discussions, and scrapbook reflections. The combination of reflective exercises supported students in recognizing the interconnections between the ideas they were learning. In addition, the step-by-step process of teaching reflection increased students’ comfort level and willingness to learn Chemistry. Chapter 5 concludes that the integration of CSL and Reflection can serve an important role in students’ academic enhancement, personal growth, and civic engagement while supporting practical skills and intellectual stimulation in the laboratory.
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    Understanding the Meaning of the Nonprofit Organizational Mission through Informal Learning in the Workplace: An Interpretive Case Study
    (2016-02-05) Henning, Barbara; Kawalilak, Colleen; Donlevy, James Kent; Friesen, Sharon L.; Brandon, James Edward; Ledger, Susan F.
    The purpose of this research is to examine how employees working at two nonprofit organizations negotiate their understanding and conceptualize the meaning of the organizational mission through informal learning in their day-to-day interactions and practices. A qualitative interpretive case study was employed as methodology. Symbolic interactionism, a theory that studies the process of interaction in the formation of meaning for individuals (Blumer, 1969), provided a theoretical lens through which to interpret and analyse the data. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document analysis were the chosen methods for data collection. Three major themes with sub-themes emerged from this study. The findings of the study show that: (1) informal learning played a key role in how participant learned, negotiated and conceptualized the meaning of the mission; (2) there is evidence of a strong presence for a client-centered mission in a nonprofit organization that is reproduced through employees’ interactions and actions; (3) specific management practices can support a client-centered mission; (4) leaders should rethink the elements the mission statement to include and define employee behaviour. This study is the attempt to provide leaders and managers with ideas to improve and enhance nonprofit organizations ability to be mission-focused.