Browsing by Author "Lund, Darren"
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- ItemOpen AccessAn Appreciative Inquiry into the Leadership Development of Zulu Male Youth in a South African Township(2017) Bremner, Dawn; Schwartz, Kelly; Arthur, Nancy; Lund, Darren; Fellner, Karlee; Harker Martin, Brittany; Ebersöhn, LieselThis study involved a research collaboration between the researcher and a community-based organization located in a South African township. The purpose of this research was to learn about the experiences of Zulu youth who were demonstrating leadership in their own community. Specifically, this study sought to answer the following research questions: (1) What factors do male youth in a South African context perceive to contribute to the development of leadership skills?; and (2) How do the perspectives of male youth inform how future leaders can be created and supported? Despite efforts to develop leaders in the country, a review of the literature showed that research is lacking about how to effectively foster youth leadership development in township communities. Appreciative inquiry was the methodological framework that guided data collection and analysis, due to its emphasis on strengths and participation. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted and the researcher guided participants through a process in which they identified the findings of the study. The inclusion of Zulu males living in a township who were serving as leaders in their community offered a unique perspective about leadership development that has been absent in the research literature. Results of this study strongly support the need for specific programs aimed at developing young leaders. Consistent with the published research, participants reported that learning new skills/concepts and having opportunities to practice and apply these skills was critical to their own leadership development. Participants shared that understanding that they have a choice or a sense of control over their own lives allowed them to see that they could be leaders. Community and relationships also facilitated leadership development before, during, and after participation in a leadership program. Participants identified increased access to leadership programming, having choices, access to education, and developing communities as priorities for developing future leaders.
- ItemOpen AccessCanadian cosmopolitanism: youth perspectives of citizenship for the postmodern era(2007) Hildebrand, Leanne Jayne; Lund, Darren
- ItemOpen AccessChanging directions in development: the emergence of global social justice in the social studies classrooms of Alberta schools(2010) Malcolm, Gary; Lund, Darren
- ItemOpen AccessChristian Privilege and Oppression in Canadian Public Schools(2017) Knowler, Stephanie; Lund, Darren; Burwell, Catherine; Roy, SylvieThere is evidence that the Christian religion has privilege in Canadian public schools. This is problematic in a multicultural country where people of various faiths reside. This research ex-plores the manner in which Christian privilege exists and promotes a certain message in public schools. Thirty-two individuals were interviewed, including students, parents, educators and administrators in an effort to access many experiences. Using thematic analysis, specific themes emerged and were examined and categorized. Findings support that there is a place for religion in public schools, but not when it marginalizes or inflicts specific beliefs onto anyone, particularly students. Instead, teaching about religion from a non-biased perspective should be included as meaningful and purposeful instruction. A multicultural model of education is pro-posed in order to create safe schools grounded on inclusion, and offer meaningful instruction where many world views are embraced, challenged and celebrated in order to create informed global citizens.
- ItemOpen AccessCommunity 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 MaryThe 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.
- ItemOpen AccessEngaging Aboriginal Perspectives in the Alberta Social Studies Classroom: A Sociocultural Investigation Into Conceptual Possibilities and Teacher Beliefs(2016) Scott, David; Lund, Darren; Field, James; Ottmann, Jacqueline; Lowan-Trudeau, Gregory; Ng-A-Fook, NicholasThis doctoral thesis offers a sociocultural investigation into how one male Euro-Canadian social studies teacher interpreted and pedagogically responded to the curricular directive in Alberta to address Aboriginal perspectives, including the history of residential schools, treaties, and Aboriginal peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions to Canada. Employing case study methodology, the teacher’s practice was examined during a 10-2 social studies unit in which he was actively attempting to take up Aboriginal perspectives with his students. Data were collected from several channels including classroom observations, field journal notes, classroom documents, as well as ongoing semistructured interviews. Of note, the research participant avoided a number of resistances to engaging with Aboriginal perspectives that prior research had identified. Drawing on resources that honoured the voice of Indigenous peoples in ways that were not filtered through Euro-Canadian lenses, the teacher offered viable possibilities for engaging Aboriginal perspectives. Despite these positive developments, an overreliance on transmission-based pedagogies tied to the officially mandated textbook inhibited this teacher’s ability to sustain this work in his classroom. Further, a multicultural discourse where Aboriginal peoples are afforded opportunities to become benevolently integrated into the Canadian nation caused the research participant to significantly misrecognize the nature of Indigenous philosophies and hindered his ability to faithfully represent these perspectives to his students. Noting that these same tensions have been present in other studies, I argue that Canadian educators will be unable to engage with Aboriginal perspectives in qualitatively different ways without an alternative model or story to understand Aboriginal–Canadian relations. Drawing on insights from the work of Dwayne Donald, throughout the thesis I advance a number of relational possibilities for reconceptualizing Aboriginal–Canadian relations that draw inspiration from the Haudenosaunee Gus-Wen-Tah, or two-row wampum, as well as Cree understandings of the treaties. However, due to the First Nations–centric nature of these relational models, I ultimately argue that the purpose may not be to try to agree on one particular understanding of the relationship, but rather to place the nature of Aboriginal–Canadian relations at the centre of classroom deliberations.
- ItemOpen AccessExperiences and Perceptions of Immigrant Parents: Understanding Explanations for Children’s Participation in Out-of-School Activities(2014-05-02) Zhu, Wenbei; Lund, DarrenGuided by an ecological framework, this study has made an attempt to gain a thorough understanding of how Chinese immigrant parents think of and arrange their children’s out-of-school time (OST) activities in the context of their perceptive and experiential world before and after immigration. Based on the rich and thoughtful data I sought through interviews with my 12 respondents, this study revealed an interactive dynamic of operations at different levels. Namely, my findings have suggested from in-depth to surface at least three interrelated levels of operations: the process of multiple stages that these parents have gone through resulted in the movements and shifts in their mind and life; the exemplified influence on childrearing from in-depth level on OST associated understanding, choice of patterns, and multi-functions of OST activities; and subsequently, the required premises and conditions for OST participation on the surface level. An obvious gap was detected between parents’ understanding of competencies in the Canadian context and their actual choice of out-of-school time activities for children. Eventually, all the effort these immigrant parents made direct to the ultimate goal of creating an enjoyable, fulfilled, and “normal life” for their children and preparing them for their future in the adult world, which is essentially a part of their adaptation task in the Canadian context. I suggest that how parents make what decisions with regard to their children’s OST participation cannot be understood in an isolated way without looking at the sources of constant influences coming from broader and deeper ecological systems.
- ItemOpen AccessHonouring the resistance: understanding single mothers' pursuit of postsecondary education(2007) Green, Suzzanne; Lund, Darren
- ItemOpen AccessNothing about them without them: creating a framework of inclusive programming for persons with disabilities in Alberta parks and protected areas(2007) Carruthers Den Hoed, Donald; Lund, Darren
- ItemOpen AccessParticipatory development and education: participant perspectives and experiences(2009) Hare, Courtney Margarete; Lund, DarrenDrawing from constructivist and critical traditions, this case study explored participatory development in education, a philosophy that is widely embraced and promoted. Participant viewpoints, specifically from stakeholders, have traditionally been marginalized within development discourses. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to illuminate participatory development in practice, particularly via the perspectives and experiences of project participants. Project documents, public documents and participant interviews provided data for this study. The research question was: In what ways was participatory development enacted through the Devnia Education Development Project? The Devnia Education Development Project focused on teacher training and leadership development. Six prominent themes surrounding participatory development emerged which contribute to our understanding of participatory development. These themes were participation, relationships, local ownership, reciprocity, equity and empowerment. Freirean critical theory served as a framework for an interpretation of the findings.
- ItemOpen AccessParticipatory video as radical incrementalism: exploring the right to love among adults with developmental disabilities(2012) Sitter, Kathleen; Lund, DarrenThis research project involved working collaboratively with a disability advocacy group on an action research project aimed at exploring participatory video as a form of radical incrementalism through three interrelated areas: method, voice, and advocacy. The research involved 12 participants (co-filmmakers) co-creating a series of films about the dimensions of sexual rights as experienced and understood by people with developmental disabilities. The participants subsequently uploaded their videos onto digital platforms, and took on the roles of community educators and incorporated their videos into their larger advocacy campaign. The impact of the research process was documented with multiple data that were analyzed using an approach that drew on critical disability theory and Freirean pedagogy. Through this collaborative method evolved seven stages of production that integrated distribution as core phase of the research process. Findings suggested that a complex interplay between barriers and supports play a critical role in sexual rights, sexual health, and healthy sexuality. In the area of self-advocacy, themes suggested that the process also contributed to: a) disability pride, b) building community bridges, and c) collaborative social action. These findings were critically examined with respect to participatory video as a form of radical incrementalism. Findings suggested that the integration of distribution afforded a more comprehensive understanding of potential strengths, tensions, and ethical considerations of multi-media technologies in advocacy efforts in the context of community development and adult learning practices. Further, it provided insight into the dimensions of disability and sexual rights from the perspective of persons with developmental disabilities living in Western Canada. Suggestions for future research include attention to the authorship/ownership issues in participatory video projects, and exploring meaningful ways of addressing potential tensions of distribution in research contexts.
- ItemOpen AccessPathways of Change Agents: A Pedagogical Possibility for Critical Consciousness Development in Youth(2021-09-20) Cho, Suyeon; Lund, Darren; Takeuchi, Miwa; Field, JamesIn a society stratified by race, gender, religion, disability, and many other social positions, people have differential and unequal life opportunities. A pluralistic multicultural approach fails to recognize this systemic injustice and even contributes to perpetuating it by not addressing this problem. Therefore, acknowledging and challenging the structural factors that oppress the marginalized and minoritized people is imperative to achieving a more just and better society. This qualitative case study aimed to understand how to promote critical consciousness through an educational practice at schools. Accordingly, I examined a junior-high elective in Calgary, the Agents of Change, in which students identified a social problem that affected their communities and took action against it, with the focus on how this course facilitated the development of critical consciousness in youth. I interviewed the teacher and two students who engaged in the course for the 2019-2020 school year and investigated the course-related documents created by the participants. The findings demonstrate the development of critical consciousness in the students, which include: gaining a more contextual understanding of social problems; establishing a specific concept of activism based on their own life experiences and expertise; obtaining a stronger sense of self-confidence to bring about positive social changes; and acknowledging more social justice communities around them. How the teacher strove to facilitate the students’ growth and what contextual factors around the school and the curriculum were considered are also discussed in detail.
- ItemOpen AccessPedagogy for Justice: An Intersectional Dialogue Exploring Critical Conversations Involving Pre-Service Teachers and Youth Social Justice Activists(University of Calgary, 2014-05) Latremouille, Jodi; Lee, Lianne; Shergill, Shashi; Lund, Darren; Werklund School of EducationTwo duoethnographic research projects come together to explore critically conscious education; one resides within the context of teacher education programs, and the other mainly within school-based youth activist groups. The authors fashion a dialogue between these interrelated studies in order to inform the work of teacher and teacher educators around a pedagogy for social justice in schools.
- ItemOpen AccessPerceptions of the principal's role in facilitating and promoting social justice education in school(2008) Bruccoleri, Claudette; Anderson, Kirk; Lund, Darren
- ItemOpen AccessPreventative Education for Indigenous Girls Vulnerable to the Sex Trade(2016) Louie, Dustin; Ottmann, Jacqueline; Lund, Darren; Steeves, Phyllis; Brandon, JimIndigenous women in Canada are drastically overrepresented in the sex trade (Cler-Cunningham & Christensen, 2001; NWAC, 2014; Saewyc, MacKay, Anderson & Drozda; Sethi, 2005; Totten, 2009), while the phenomenon is simultaneously overlooked in academia. This dissertation investigated the potential of formal education systems in preventative education for Indigenous girls vulnerable to the sex trade. Five Indigenous sex trade survivors and nineteen service providers from a partner organization in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, participated in individual unstructured interviews to collaborate in unearthing the life experiences creating vulnerability, methods of recruitment, and preventative education recommendations. The case study methods of this dissertation are steeped in the principles of Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s Decolonizing Methodologies (1999). Based on interviews, organizational documents, and scant academic literature, the life experiences creating vulnerability to the sex trade for Indigenous girls were found to be: sexual abuse, transition from reserves, prison systems, violentization, substance abuse, family disorganization/out of home placements, family in the sex trade, poverty, and poor relationship with services. Indigenous girls are recruited into the sex trade by: gang recruitment, boyfriends, female recruitment, family recruitment, meeting basic needs, substance abuse, social media, and reserve recruitment. Prevention education will be targeted to Indigenous girls from 7-13 years old in on-reserve schools. A combination of teachers, female community members, elders, role models, and service providers could teach preventative education using love, engagement, patience, and understanding. Entire families should be included in the education process as much as possible, which should apply local cultural education and ways of knowing as much as possible.
- ItemOpen AccessPromoting the Social Inclusion of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder via Mobile Technologies(2021-10) Pira, Rahim; Lund, Darren; Brown, Barbara; McDermott, MairiAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the most commonly diagnosed neurodevelopment disorder in Canada, and approximately 1 out of 66 children is identified with ASD in Canada. Children with autism demonstrate impairments in language, communication skills, and social interactions; hence, these children have difficulties with communicating and interacting socially with their peers, educators, and parents. One of the latest interventions is the use of mobile technologies in assisting children with ASD in developing their social, communication, language, and other educational skills required for their academic success. However, social inclusion of these students in the classroom is still challenging. Hence, there is a need to determine effective ways of integrating mobile technologies in the classroom in order to promote the social inclusion of students with ASD. Using case study research, this mixed method study explored how students with ASD are socially included in the learning activities using mobile technologies and the impact on educators and parents. Educators, other education professionals, and parents participated in surveys and one-on-one interviews to provide further insights about their experiences in meeting students’ communication, social, language, and educational needs via mobile technologies. Analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data resulted into four emerging themes: (a) a balanced learning model where social inclusion of students with ASD is supported through the balance between mobile technologies and personal interaction; (b) resources and supports such as open educational resources, funding to support mobile technologies, evidence-based knowledge on mobile technologies, and training for all stakeholders are necessary in creating a socially inclusive environment for students with ASD; (c) goal oriented and needs-based usage where mobile technologies are used for addressing the needs of students with ASD and for achieving a particular goal or purpose in education; and (d) a team oriented approach that involves collaboration among students, parents, school administrators, educators, other education professionals, and various stakeholders in promoting the social inclusion via mobile technologies. The findings from this research study indicated various aspects (promoters) that are important in promoting the social inclusion of students with ASD via mobile technologies. Through these promoters, effective levels of social inclusion can be achieved where students’ communication, social, language, and educational needs are addressed sufficiently.
- ItemOpen AccessRestorying one's life(2009) Musk, Tara Rogerson; Lund, DarrenMuch immigrant youth research focuses on language acquisition but other factors are important contributors to immigrant youth success, including utilizing ontological narrative and resilience strategies. Ontological narrative is the process of storying one's life, providing coherence and continuity to one's experience. Recent resilience research emphasizes the unique negotiation of tensions such as access to material resources, relationships, identity, power and control, cultural adherence, social justice and cohesion. Collectively, these strategies enable immigrant youth to address more effectively the barriers and challenges typically associated with the immigrant experience. Recommendations include that English as an Additional Language (EAL) curriculum must provide space and voice for personal narrative. Second, similar to other transformative programs, an archetypal template needs to be created to guide immigrant students through the transformative process. Through the compiling and sharing of a series of authentic, local immigrant stories, both of these recommendations can be accomplished.
- ItemOpen AccessTacit Teaching and the Educative Context: Bringing Intentionality to the Hidden Curriculum(2015-09-01) Hiebert, Matthew; Lund, DarrenEducation, as conventionally practiced and colloquially understood, focuses on students’ learning of knowledge and skills. Yet the ambitions of most educational programs also include deeper aspects of learning and development—those related to students’ character, attitudes, and dispositions. This is particularly the case in specialized programs with goals related to social development (democracy education, environmental education etc.). This type of learning is associated with the “hidden curriculum,” which refers to the tacit learning that takes place through students’ daily immersion in the schooling context. However, the hidden curriculum is usually characterized negatively, as a hegemonic force. Literature on the hidden curriculum tends to focus on un-hiding it, and offers little guidance on how to counteract or reorient it. To partially address this, the idea of “tacit teaching” has been introduced as a way of discussing how non-explicit activities of the teacher can contribute to students’ deep learning. This research attempts determine a more comprehensive and systematic approach to bringing intentionality to the hidden curriculum, by expanding the notion of tacit teaching to include a broader range of factors that contribute to students’ daily experiences. The research introduces the term "educative context" to refer to these factors collectively, as the mechanism by which the hidden curriculum is taught and learned. The research draws on data generated in three alternative schools with strong philosophies related, respectively, to: democracy and autonomy; sustainability and sense of place; and bioregionalism. The methodology blends critical ethnographic and case study approaches, and included approximately 200 hours of immersion across the three sites, interviews with 33 students and staff, and a review of documents and artifacts from the schools. The data analysis identifies 110 different contextual factors across the three schools. These factors are clustered to develop a model for the educative context consisting of four categories: social, physical, institutional, and content-related. The factors are further classified according to the level of the education system they are associated with. The research concludes with an argument in favor of a broad conceptualization of teaching and learning that takes full account of the educative context.
- ItemOpen AccessTransformative learning of white North American educators in Rwanda: participant perspectives on sojourning and racialized identity(2011) Grain, Kari May; Lund, Darren
- ItemOpen AccessVisible Strengths: Older Women’s Resilience in the Context of Age Related Adversity(2017) Gulbrandsen, Carolyn; Walsh, Christine; Hewson, Jennifer; Lund, Darren; Marlett, Nancy; O'Connor, DeborahThe objective of the qualitative study was to describe older women’s resilience according to women’s interpretations of their experiences and their understandings of resilience and adversity. The study combined constructivist grounded theory methodology and feminist PAR to create new knowledge about older women’s resilience. Both qualitative methodologies contributed to the study in unique, yet equally important ways. Constructivist grounded theory involved the use of systematic data collection and analysis methods to construct a theory about older women’s resilience and FPAR provided a framework of ethical principles and bridged the construction of new knowledge with social justice oriented action. Drawing from researcher reflexivity, this study explains how every aspect of the research process, including the implementation of constructivist grounded theory methods, was guided by FPAR principles. The constructivist grounded theory created from the researcher’s interpretations of participants’ experiences and the recommendations women formulated during the interviews and focus groups informed the action component of this study that is essential in FPAR. Constructivist grounded theory methodology guided the collection and analysis of data from interviews with 25 women ages 55-73 and from two focus groups. Intersectionality and critical feminist gerontology served as theoretical frameworks for examining the diversity of women’s experiences. The researcher interpreted women’s reflections on their experiences and identified a core category and a constellation of distinct yet interrelated categories, sub-categories and themes. The core category that described the experiences of the women in the study and their understanding of resilience was learning and cultivating wisdom in response to change. Study findings represented women’s diverse experiences and interpretations of change. Women in the study described how their resilience was related to distinct types of change, including identity related change, crisis, loss and significant experiences, how their learning has transformed into wisdom over the course of their lives, and how their resilience is bolstered by sources of scaffolding. The implications for practice described in the study are informed by participants’ recommendations and include valuing the significance of the meaning older women ascribe to their experiences and developing programs that provide sources of scaffolding identified by women in the study.