PRISM :: Browsing by Author "Guo, Shibao"

Browsing by Author "Guo, Shibao"

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Open Access
Beyond multiculturalism: revisioning a model of pandemic anti-racism education in post-Covid-19 Canada
(2022-01-28) Lei, Ling; Guo, Shibao
Abstract Canada was the first country in the world to establish multiculturalism as its official policy for the governance of diversity. Canadian multiculturalism has gained much popularity in political and public discourses in the past 50 years, and it has also received no less criticism as to its effectiveness in addressing issues of racism. There have also been ambiguities over the meaning and intention of multiculturalism, leading to divergent understandings of multiculturalism as an ideal of inclusion and equity, on the one hand, and a mere political rhetoric, on the other. On the occasion of celebrating the 50th anniversary of Canada’s official multiculturalism policy, this article re-visits Canada’s multiculturalism by reviewing its history and ethos and critically examining its actual effects as manifested during the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada. The rise of anti-Asian racism, anti-Black racism, and anti-Indigenous racism incidents in the pandemic reveals that multiculturalism has in effect, sustained a racist and unequal society of Canada with racism entrenched in its history and ingrained in every aspect of its social structure. Multiculturalism tolerates cultural difference but does not challenge an unjust society premised on white supremacy. The anti-racism movement mobilized by racialized communities in Canada indicates that multiculturalism has failed to respond to racialized communities’ pressing demand for social change and action for social justice. The article concludes with a proposed alternative framework to multiculturalism, that is, pandemic anti-racism education model, to centre the issue of race and racism in an action-oriented, inclusive, and empowering approach toward a future of a just society.
Open Access
Career Change of Skilled Immigrants in Canada: A Qualitative Case Study of Immigrants Career Change and Self-Directed Learning
(2022-02) Barjesteh, Vida; Guo, Shibao; Simmons, Marlon; Domene, Jose
This qualitative case study explores the learning experience of skilled immigrants whose careers were negatively impacted by uncertainty or unprecedented changes associated with their careers. While career change is a new norm in the age of digital transformation, individuals must utilize skills that help them adapt to a new environment and pivot their careers once needed. Skilled immigrants are significant contributors to the Canadian economy; therefore, it is essential to understand how they navigate their careers during an economic crisis in Canada. While most literature focuses on the career change of skilled immigrants for the first job in Canada, few studies explore a career change of skilled immigrants who have already established a career but still struggle to pivot their career once needed. This study was done from the lens of adult learning by applying two theoretical frameworks of self-directed learning and transformative learning. By applying a qualitative case study, this study explores the learning experience of twelve skilled immigrants that occurred during the transition period of a career change in Canada. The finding of this study confirms that participants self-designed their learning while they acquired new knowledge and skills for a new career. Additionally, these skilled immigrants illustrated that during the period of a career change, they developed positive characteristics that are attributed to self-directed learners. Moreover, exploration of these participants’ stories demonstrates that their perspective toward the notion of career development has transformed significantly.
Open Access
Community College Instructors and Race: Learning about Teaching a Dimension of Diversity
(2016) Cooper, John Edward Charles; Jubas, Kaela; Guo, Shibao; Lund, Darren; Simmons, Marlon; Brigham, Susan Mary
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine community college teachers’ perceptions of racial diversity through their day-to-day interactions with students, other faculty, and the school administration. As the researcher and a part-time faculty member of a community college, I conducted interviews with seven participants from the college where I am employed, and also asked participants to engage in six weeks of journaling. Additional research included a document review of more than 550 course outlines, researching them for inclusion of racial diversity components, as well as keeping my own personal journal. My research questions focused on defining and understanding racial diversity, challenges within the classroom, addressing issues of racial diversity in a learning environment and the development and delivery of diversity-focused curriculum. Based on my data analysis, four key findings emerged: racial diversity in the classroom is difficult to define and embrace; addressing racial diversity issues is challenging for educators; faculty need administrative support to embrace diversity; and the development and delivery of a more diversity-focused curriculum is necessary. I concluded that educators are challenged by racial diversity in the classroom environment, resources to understand and embrace racial diversity are not always present or accessible, and more action must be taken to support faculty in the development and delivery of diversity-focused curriculum.
Open Access
Discourses on Internationally-Educated Tradespeople in Calgary
(2018-09-18) Hilman, Brianna Irene; Roy, Sylvie; Lund, Darren E.; Guo, Shibao; Brandon, Jim; Abu-Laban, Yasmeen
My goal is to examine the ideologies and discourses on internationally educated workers, that is, what people say and how what they say influences the lives of tradespeople in particular, as well as others. What are the ideologies represented and recreated in discourse that surround internationally-educated tradespeople in Calgary, Alberta? How do these ideologies and discourses affect how they are treated in the workplace? To explore these questions, I conducted semi-structured interviews of 36 construction workers and management personnel and used critical discourse analysis on a case study viewed through the lens of difference politics.
Open Access
Experiences of Parents of Emergent Bilingual Children Facing Autism Inquiry
(2024-05-07) Chen, Yao; Guo, Shibao; Roy, Sylvie; Zhao, Xu
Parents are unique experts on their children and their developmental environment. This is especially the case of emergent bilingual children’s parents, who are promising untapped sources of knowledge and wisdom about their children’s language learning, social communication, and development. Emergent bilingual children from immigrant families are in the process of becoming bilinguals when taking the language assessment (Garcia, 2009). The immigrant parents co-construct their children’s bilingual and bicultural experiences. Social communication/interaction (SC/I) deficits are the main diagnostic criteria of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Parents’ perspectives on their children’s SC/I, including language skills, were rarely considered in the ASD evaluation. Informed by sociocultural theory (Vygotsky,1993), translanguaging (Garcia, 2009), and the middle-range theory (Merton, 1968), this research explores how immigrant parents describe their emergent bilingual children’s diagnosis of ASD. Data for the study were collected through semi-structured interviews and artifacts with 12 immigrant parents of 13 emergent bilingual children, documenting the nature and extent of immigrant children’s social communication and development, and interaction with the environment. Thematic and moment analysis (Wei, 2011) were used for data analysis. Results of the study revealed that, from the parents’ perspectives, the current ASD assessment tools and procedures marginalized emergent bilingual children. First, this study showed that the assessors in autism diagnosis often failed to recognize emergent bilingual children’s translanguaging practices and other social communication development features. Secondly, the cultural bias and expected SC/I development milestones in ASD assessment tools disadvantaged emergent bilingual children. Thirdly, the current ASD diagnosis often overlooks immigrant parent knowledge. The study suggested that immigrant parent knowledge could expand bilingual children’s SC/I evaluation. It hopes to inspire academics and communities to the interpretive paradigm (Vasilachis de Gialdino, 2009) on SC/I evaluation of emergent bilingual children in the ASD diagnostic process.
Open Access
Experiences of Racism and Race-Based Traumatic Stress Symptoms Among People of Chinese heritage in Canada: The Moderating Role of Resilience
(2024-07-09) Guo, Zixin; Jin, Ling; Zhao, Xu; Guo, Shibao
People of Chinese heritage in Canada face historical and ongoing racism, which has been exacerbated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Theories suggest that experiences of racism may lead to race-based traumatic stress symptoms; however, this association has not been examined among Chinese people in Canada. Furthermore, most research has focused on the adverse effect of racism on poor mental health symptoms, little is known about protective factors in the link between racism and race-based traumatic stress symptoms. To this end, I aim to explore the protective role of resilience from both aspects of individual resilience (i.e., an individual’s characteristics that enable them to bounce back from adversities) and collective resilience (i.e., the availability of practical and emotional support from the community). The purpose of this thesis is to explore how resilience protects against the adverse effect of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms among people of Chinese heritage in Canada. A sample of 367 adults who self-identified as of Chinese heritage in Canada (e.g., 46.59% women; Mage = 33.9) completed self-report questionnaires. I adopted SPSS PROCESS Model 1 to examine the moderating effect of individual/collective resilience on the relationship between experienced racism and race-based traumatic stress symptoms. The results showed that more experiences of racism were significantly related to increased race-based traumatic stress symptoms. Collective resilience buffered the adverse effects of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms, while individual resilience did not moderate this association. These findings suggest that collective resilience, rather than individual resilience, mitigates the negative impacts of racism on race-based traumatic stress symptoms. This study highlights the necessity of recognizing the experiences of racism and its adverse impacts on the mental health of Chinese people in Canada. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of fostering collective resilience and community-based support systems among people of Chinese heritage in Canada.
Open Access
From Intellectual Mobility to Transnational Professional Space: Experiences of Internationally Educated Chinese Academic Returnees
(2018-07-05) Lei, Ling; Guo, Shibao; Roessingh, Hetty; Jubas, Kaela; Koh, Kim H.
Transnational migration brings to the fore the various connections migrants maintain with their home and sojourn countries. This study explores, within the transnational professional space, how internationally educated Chinese academic returnees maintain transnational professional ties and networks with their host countries of doctoral studies for their academic growth, and the impacts of such networks. This study employs the methodology of a qualitative case study of 12 internationally educated Chinese academics from the social sciences and humanities within three higher education institutions in Beijing, China. It confirms the significance of meso-level institutions, communities and networks in shaping returnee teachers’ academic growth, highlighting issues of access to multiple transnational communities of practice, the quality of the institutional platform and the availability of occupational space. It concludes that Chinese academic returnees have formed a virtual transnational diaspora, and contributed to strengthening the inter-dependence of academics across borders in academic and research collaboration.
Open Access
Homo Emigraturus: Exploring the Collective Yearning for Migration, The Case of Iran
(2024-03-12) Asayesh, Omid; Kazemipur, Abdie; Lightman, Naomi; Guo, Shibao
This study addresses the implications of unrealized international migration aspirations for the lives of various groups in a population, including those who want to migrate, those who prefer to stay, emigrants, and return migrants. The central argument of the study is that the unique combination of a high desire for migration and a low chance of its realization of actual migration reshapes the social landscape in profound ways. This impact extends to the lifestyles, social engagements, political attitudes, and behaviours of individuals in any of the four above-mentioned groups. Some of the concepts that have emerged out of empirical data of this study include the Homo Emigraturus (those ‘about to leave’) who experience ‘imagined migration’; the Anti-Emigraturus (those decidedly avoiding migration) and their ‘anti-migration narrative’; a high-migration-desire society and its ‘culture of migration.’ In this multimethod study, I have utilized two sets of data: a) semi-structured in-depth interviews and b) an analysis of the contents of the online data from the social media debates among Iranians on the issue of migration on Twitter, as well as the Google Trends data. The former is based on 71 interviews with Iranian adults, and the latter is based on a thematic analysis of more than 200,000 tweets in Farsi utilizing recent developments in Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques. The findings demonstrate how a culture of migration in a mobility-restricted population society can significantly reorientate its sociopolitical and cultural landscape, economic dynamics, and civic engagements. The study provides valuable insights into the changing landscape of international migration in a world where the longing to migrate is a prevailing force, even in the absence of substantial actual emigration.
Open Access
Immigrants as Settlement Workers: An Inquiry into their Experiences of Work and Workplace Learning at Immigrant Service Agencies in Canada
(2020-04-22) Liu, Jingzhou; Guo, Shibao; Groen, Janet Elizabeth; Simmons, Marlon
My research investigates the transition to work and workplace learning experiences of immigrant settlement workers (ISWs) at immigrant service agencies (ISAs) in Canada. Informed by intersectionality and institutional ethnography (IE), I investigate how ISWs’ labour market integration and learning at work are constructed in institutional relations, organizing and shaping the coordination of individuals’ standpoint at local sites. In examining ISWs’ transition to work, I first trace the trajectory of immigrants becoming ISWs and then analyze how race, gender, and class intersect and shape their experiences of seeking employment in institutional complexes between governmental organizations, employment institutions, and ISAs. In exploring ISWs’ workplace learning in ISAs, I analyze ISWs’ emerging learning opportunities in formal and non-formal settings and how their learning can be situated in cultural and relational contexts. More importantly, my research scrutinizes how textual ruling power is translocally developed and distributed to mould ISWs’ daily practices in the workplace. Eighteen ISWs were interviewed from three different ISAs in Western Canada. Based on findings from life history interviews and analysis of various governmental and organizational documents, my investigation reveals three major components of ISWs’ transition to work and workplace learning experiences. First, in deconstructing the institutional complexes, I found that credential assessment organizations deny and devalue immigrants’ qualifications and work skills as irrelevant, filterable, and neglectable. Moreover, labour market hiring acts as a second filtering mechanism that strains immigrant’s previous credentials and professional skills as different, deficient, or dubious. These institutional complexes are perpetuated by the intersectional identities of race, gender, and class and hooked into translocal social relations that coordinate and shape immigrant’s daily practices of labour market integration in the local setting. Second, in adopting the concept of workplace subjectivity, I identified three kinds of ISW subjectivity in the workplace. First, constructive subjectivity emphasizes how immigrants’ life histories and their prior learning and working are deemed to be social assets that enrich and enhance ISAs’ services to newcomers. Professional subjectivity integrates ISWs’ subjective knowledge from formal, non-formal, and informal learning into their personal histories with objective knowledge, constructing individualized knowledge acquisition and creation. And Cultural subjectivity is the negotiated sense of self that emerges through ISWs’ workplace interactions with colleagues and clients from different cultural backgrounds. My analysis of cultural subjectivity reveals the importance of power relations in the ISA workplace and the effect of those relations on ISWs in terms of their yielding aspects of their own self-culture in order to assume Canadian normative workplace values, on the one hand, and imposing cultural discrimination against certain social groups, on the other. Third, by unpacking the idea of outcomes measurement in the ISA workplace—with a focus on the key concepts of IE and Foucault’s governmentality—I find that outcomes measurement has become a technology of power, an essential workplace knowledge that produces ideal ISWs, who are self-caring, self-regulated, self-accountable, adaptable, and productive. This production process manifests textual ruling relations in workers’ pedagogical learning, textual-mediated learning, and relational learning, thus establishing in them certain ways of thinking, doing, and acting. Participating in, interacting with, and practicing the textual objectives of outcomes measurement legitimizes ISAs as an apparatus for the reinforcement of governmental ruling power, neglecting ISWs’ learning intentionality and autonomy in the workplace.
Open Access
Learning Through Engaging in Women in Trades Introductory Programs
(2022-11-10) Skulmoski, Lukas Kane; Jubas, Kaela; Guo, Shibao; Simmons, Marlon
Framed by my interest in gender and work-related learning as viewed through a critical realist lens, and using a theoretical framework rooted in the sociological theorizing of Pierre Bourdieu, the case study described in this document examines what 13 participants in a women in trades introductory program (WiTIP) learned through their engagement in the program, and how they related that learning to their prior learning experiences. Analysis of participants’ descriptions of their WiTIP experiences, collected via semi-structured interviews, provides insights into why WiTIPs attendees rarely go on to enroll in apprenticeships upon program completion. Findings indicate that participants found themselves in an adult education program that turned out to be quite unlike what they had hoped for, yet one that still saw them learn a great deal. Though they reported being segregated from the real-life apprenticeship practices going on around them, which reinforced in them the longstanding social idea or, in Bourdieu’s terms, doxa, that women do not, and cannot, embody a skilled trades vocational habitus, their stories also indicate that the emotions elicited by their experiences in the program, many of which were negative, helped them learn a great deal about themselves, adult educational programming, and the broader social world.
Open Access
"Live and Learn": Journey of Lifelong Learning of Retired Older Adults in Contemporary China
(2015-02-03) Shan, Wei; Guo, Shibao
This research examines the role of lifelong learning in facilitating successful aging among Chinese older adults. A life history research is adopted to conduct the study. By analyzing narratives of four research participants’ learning stories, the study explores the provision of lifelong learning programs, Chinese perspectives on successful aging, and contributions of lifelong learning to successful aging and active citizenship among Chinese retired older adults. The study shows that the Chinese perspective on successful aging is closely connected to Chinese culture and traditions. Learning contributes to successful aging by bringing out older adults who are healthier, independent, open-minded and socially active. The rich descriptions of historical and political events, Chinese traditions, moralities and social values, contribute to the understanding of Chinese older adults’ pursuit of lifelong learning and perspectives on successful aging. The detailed discussion of the motives and activities of older adults volunteering advances our extant knowledge about Chinese older adults’ volunteerism.
Open Access
Lost in Translation: The (Unseen) Experiences of International Graduate Students and Families
(2021-09-24) Ramos Fandino, Isabel; Banerjee, Pallavi; Lightman, Naomi; Guo, Shibao
Despite the regular inflow of international graduate students (IGS), who contribute 21 billion dollars annually to the Canadian economy (Government of Canada, 2019), most research on migration in Canada focuses primarily on economic immigrants and refugees. Little to no research explores the lives of graduate students who exist in a liminal space between immigrants and visitors while having fewer rights and opportunities than students with Canadian citizenship. Even more invisible are the experiences of family lives of graduate students. My research fills this gap by qualitatively examining the experiences of 26 IGS and the experiences of 12 spouses of IGS at the University of Calgary. To gain a better understanding of how this population is supported on-campus, I also interviewed university staff who directly support international students. Considering how gender, race, citizenship, and family composition affect these experiences, I analyze potential singularities in the international student experience that include students’ and spouses’ access to networks, (re)division of labour in the household, and changes in the family. I also analyze the impact of race and citizenship status on IGS’s ability to achieve what I have termed in my thesis as substantive legal positionality. I argue that IGS and the families of IGS experience gendered and racialized effects at the individual and institutional level, that prevent them from accessing full membership within the university and greater community. I also utilize the concept of the ideal worker to understand how IGS and their families are impacted by the ideal-student worker notion,
Open Access
Migrant Social Workers' Experiences of Professional Adaptation in Alberta Canada: A Comparative Gender Analysis
(2016) Fulton, Amy Elizabeth; Walsh, Christine; Graham, John R.; Brown, Marion; Pullen Sansfacon, Annie; Bhuyan, Rupaleem; Guo, Shibao
There is limited global research addressing the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in general, and a dearth of scholarship specific to the unique context in Alberta, Canada. While academic attention on the broad topic of professional migration of social workers has gained some traction over the past decade, the emerging literature has so far lacked a comparative gender analysis of the experiences of professional migration among social workers. The purpose of the present study was to develop enhanced understanding of the experiences of professional adaptation of migrant social workers in the Albertan context through a comparative gender analysis. This dissertation emerged from my involvement as a research assistant on a national study on the professional adaptation of migrant social workers in Canada. While coordinating data collection for the Alberta site of the national study, I conducted in-depth interviews with 17 male and female migrant social workers that had migrated to Alberta, Canada within the past decade. From these 17 interviews, 10 transcripts of interviews were selected as cases for secondary analysis in order to answer the question: How do female and male migrant social workers in Alberta experience their professional adaptation to practice in their new context? The research method employed in the secondary study was interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), a form of qualitative inquiry that examines how people make sense of significant lived experiences. Intersectionality theory and postcolonial feminisms provided the theoretical framework for the study, facilitating attention to both the macro-level factors that structure lived experiences and interactions, and the micro-level processes and interpretations that shape social identities. Engaging with the detailed personal accounts of the participants provided new understandings of how male and female migrant social workers both similarly and differentially interpret and make meaning out of their experiences of professional adaptation. The study makes an important contribution to existing knowledge about professional adaptation in the context of transnational labour mobility. Notably, it is among the first studies to explore the professional adaptation processes of migrant social workers in Alberta, as well as among the earliest works to engage in a qualitative comparative gender analysis that explores these experiences.
Open Access
Negotiating individual space: an inquiry into the experiences of Chinese return migrants from Canada
(2010) Ding, Yueya; Guo, Shibao
Open Access
Newcomer Women: Emerging Adults’ Experiences of Postsecondary Education in Canada
(2022-12-01) Herzog, Andrea; Domene, José; Guo, Shibao; Thannhauser, Jennifer
The aim of this qualitative study was to gain insight into the experiences of newcomer women as they navigate emerging adulthood, migration, and the transition into undergraduate degree programs at Canadian universities by addressing the research question: What are the lived experiences of emerging adult newcomer women pursuing an undergraduate university degree in Canada? Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six emerging adult newcomer women, aged 18-21, who were recruited from five postsecondary institutions across Canada. The four overarching themes that were constructed from the data were: (a) sense of belonging; (b) sources of support; (c) transition to adulthood; and (d) impacts of COVID-19. The themes and subthemes within these four overarching themes provided in-depth understanding of newcomer women's experiences with university in Canada and suggested several directions for future research. Keywords: newcomer, refugee, immigrant, postsecondary, career development, qualitative research, emerging adulthood, IPA
Open Access
Pathways to Success: A Narrative Inquiry into the Settlement and Integration Experiences of Refugees from Ethiopia in Canada
(2024-04-26) Cherinet, Abinet; Guo, Shibao; Jubas, Kaela; Simmons, Marlon; Wong, Lloyd; Entigar, Katherine E.
This study explored pathways to success through a narrative inquiry into the settlement and integration experiences of refugees from Ethiopia living in Canada. The study filled an important gap in information that accounted for success by refugees, although there was ample evidence regarding the structural challenges faced by all groups of newcomers in Canada. The end-goal was to develop a deeper understanding into how adult learning could be tailored to meet the needs of refugees and possibly other groups of newcomers. The theoretical frameworks that guided this study included insights about the role of agency, structure, and lifelong learning primarily through the scholarly contributions by Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, and Peter Jarvis. Additionally, the study included insights by multiple scholars who explored the settlement and integration experiences of newcomers in Canada. The narrative data was collected through conversational interviews with the participants. Afterwards, the data was transcribed, analyzed, and stored in consideration of ethical practices. The study revealed multiple perspectives on the meaning of success based on insights shared by the participants. Notably, all of the participants attributed their agency as the primary factor in pathways to success, despite multiple structural barriers throughout settlement and integration in Canada. Still, the participants acknowledged the merits of structural and social support. Conclusively, lifelong learning played a key role to enhance agency.
Open Access
Perspectives of Heritage Language and Learning Experiences: A Case Study on Young Adult Chinese-Canadians
(2020-07-07) Liu, Liping; Roy, Sylvie; Dressler, Roswita; Guo, Shibao
This qualitative multiple-case study, which focuses on the perception of five young adult Chinese-Canadians, explores how individuals from diasporic backgrounds perceive themselves, their heritage languages, and their Chinese language learning journeys. Drawing on a framework of investment model (Darvin & Norton, 2015) and apply it to the heritage language learning context, I report and interpret the interview data through cross-case analysis. Findings show that the participants embrace their hybrid and fluid identities. Both Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking participants show shifting attitudes toward Chinese as a heritage language (CHL) learning and generally from reluctance to enjoyment. What and how they invest in CHL learning are primarily mediated by the imagined communities among which they desire to be a part, and how the capital they possess is valued by the knowledge authorities. This study carries implications for immigrant family language policies, CHL classroom experiences, and suggests possible further longitudinal research.
Open Access
Riding the Waves of Flux: Newcomer Narratives on Their Lived Experiences Inside and Out of the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Program
(2024-07-18) Vergara, Oscar Michael; Guo, Shibao; Okoko, Janet; Zaidi, Rahat; McDermott, Mairi; Scott, Shelleyann
Abstract This research was aimed at studying the stories of nine former newcomers in the Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) program which is offered across Canada. The study of multiple individual stories is naturally qualitative in scope. It set out to explore nine individual stories and to learn from the perceptions of former newcomers previously in the LINC program and its effects/influences on their lives inside and out of language instruction classes. The study employed Narrative Inquiry to ensure a holistic picture of each individual’s life’s story was included as part of the data. The sources of data include (a) focus groups sessions, (b) semi-structured interviews, and (c) manual coding with reflective notes. The findings indicated several influences on the nine individuals of coming to Canada including the overall satisfaction with LINC, and its effect on their future pathways. In addition, this study’s newcomer-participants point to a variety of feedback that could be applied to future LINC participants’ learning and general programming. The various stakeholders, including policy makers, administrators, practitioners, and researchers, that work with LINC programs, may find the findings and recommendations particularly useful in extending and expanding on the flexibility that existing LINC programming already offers. Keywords: LINC, PBLA, multiculturalism, newcomers, narratives, flux
Open Access
The Effects of Time and Space on Developing Lifelong Learners in One Short-Term Travel Study Program
(2016) Stowe, Lisa; Guo, Shibao; Jubas, Kaela; Kawalilak, Colleen; Reid, Leslie
Short term travel study programs of six weeks or less are the fastest growing study abroad programs in Canada but the least researched. The research that does exist offers little in the way of understanding how the role of the compression of time and the expansion of space, two characteristics of the shorter term programs, affect student learning. This dissertation is a qualitative interpretive case study exploring the unique learning that took place in one University of Calgary short term program, 2011 Food Culture in Spain. Through one to one open ended interviews with 12 participants, focus groups with those same participants, document analysis, key informant interviews and a personal observation journal, my research concludes that the emphasis on group dynamics affects the way students see themselves as learners. In this particular short term program interpersonal culture shock as a form of disjuncture encouraged students to see themselves as lifelong learners in a complex and globalized world. The results from this case study can help educators understand how emotional and holistic learning can help develop lifelong learning characteristics amongst 21st century post-secondary undergraduates.
Open Access
Toward an Understanding of Global-Mindedness: Perceptions and Engagement of Faculty of Internationalization in a Post-Secondary Institution
(2017) Heath, Pamela; Guo, Shibao; Groen, Janet; Kim, Beaumie; Roy, Sylvie; Shultz, Lynette
Internationalization has become central to many post-secondary institutions. Strategies around internationalization tend to focus on recruiting international learners, developing partnerships, and expanding study abroad programs. Less attention has been paid to components, such as teaching practices, that can often be Eurocentric in their worldview. With changing demographics, and the desire of many post-secondary institutions to recruit more international learners to campuses, it is necessary to structure internationalization in a way that is ethical and promotes the engagement of faculty in order to create a globally-minded teaching and learning environment. Faculty engagement has been identified as an essential enabler for successful internationalization, yet their perceptions of internationalization and global-mindedness are not well documented. This single case study investigated the perceptions faculty have of internationalization and global-mindedness, and how these views influence their teaching practice and engagement in internationalization. The study was composed of 16 faculty from one post-secondary institution in Alberta. The data collection methods of one-on-one interviews, journaling and focus groups were used. The data were coded and organized into the topics of perceptions of internationalization, perceptions of global-mindedness, the role of faculty in internationalization, fostering global-mindedness in teaching practice and institutional readiness. This research revealed that faculty are not considering their role within a diverse classroom. The research also revealed that the institution has done little to provide direction to faculty either through institutional messaging, or training and support. This has left faculty to decide what they will, or will not, do. The lack of institutional direction is a barrier and is leading to frustration with, and resentment of, international learners by faculty. Recommendations are offered for institutional leadership, faculty and for further research possibilities. Given that the institution has a plan to recruit more international learners, the recommendations should be considered in order to ensure that both the institution and faculty are prepared for the opportunities and challenges internationalization will present.