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The opinions of BC’s public fishers on open net-pen salmon farms
No full textIn British Columbia (BC), there are 176,819 active resident anglers in the jurisdiction of BC’s Tidal Waters, the sport fishing industry creates revenues of $1.1 billion and employs 9,000 workers (BC Stats, 2018; Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2019b). The objective of my research study was to uncover the values, opinions, and beliefs this prominent stakeholder group holds about the future of salmon aquaculture-related policies and industry-related decisions impacting BC’s coastal tidal waters. Using a sequential mixed-method design and purposeful sampling, my study focused on surveying and interviewing members of the Sport Fishing Institute of BC (SFI). The results reveal that the respondents are concerned about potential health risks to wild salmon due to disease and pathogen transfer from open net-pen salmon farm design, but they would support a move for BC’s aquaculture industry to move to land-based tank operations
Morphology as a literacy intervention for secondary students: case study research to explore improving supports on morphology instruction to secondary educators
No full textThis case study research investigates the impacts of supporting teachers via improved support for literacy instruction in secondary classrooms. The study engaged educators as active participants over a six-week period through collaborative meetings and implementing a morphology-based intervention in their Humanities practice. Findings underscore the role of integrating morphology instruction into educators' pedagogical approaches, demonstrating that teachers experience heightened confidence in fostering students' reading comprehension and vocabulary development within secondary education settings
Walk with me: A community-engaged research response to the drug poisoning crisis
No full textIn reframing the drug poisoning crisis as a symptom of a broken socio-economic system, Walk With Me recognizes any viable solution to the drug poisoning crisis to lie not solely in the domain of ‘public health’, but also in that of community development and regeneration. In what follows, readers are asked to consider the multiplicity of ways in which ‘regenerative research’ is practiced within this project; and to sit within the uncomfortable provocations these offer to a system premised widely on biomedically-informed notions of research that are rooted in passive understandings of ‘knowledge procurement and dissemination’
Leadership and administration in Canadian higher education: Case studies
No full textThis book is intended for faculty, administrators, leaders, and students in the Canadian higher-education sector interested in using case studies as a resource in education or professional development. It offers a collection of 11 case studies, each based on factual events and lived experiences. Cases include teaching notes, suggested readings, and key discussion questions. Cases are copyright of the authors but can be used and distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. See https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Evaluating a custom address locator built from public data to improve geocoding results
Get PDFIn addressing the limitations of online geocoding services, particularly in rural, remote, and newly developed areas, this study focused on developing and evaluating a custom address locator using public data for British Columbia, Canada. The study was proposed to achieve three objectives: Identify and evaluate suitable data sources from various levels of government and Statistics Canada to create an address locator. The evaluation criteria focused on public availability, essential attributes, currency, and supported formats. Build a custom address locator to improve geocoding results. The custom locator was built using multiple datasets with different geometry types, allowing for a single locator that can search for address point locations, interpolated street locations, and points of interest. Evaluate the quality of the geocoding results from the custom locator and Google Maps, focusing on match rate and spatial accuracy in various geographical settings, including urban and rural areas. The custom locator performed well compared to Google Geocoding API in match rate and spatial accuracy, particularly in rural areas. In urban settings, the custom locator maintained a competitive accuracy level, suggesting its broad applicability across different geographical contexts. These results highlight the potential of locally tailored geocoding solutions, leveraging public datasets, to surpass conventional online services in accuracy and reliability. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of geocoding processes and underscores the value of custom geocoding tools in improving geocoding services within British Columbia and potentially other similar regions
Engaging not for profit leadership : community change in environmental sustainability
No full textThe following study is an action-oriented research project completed in partnership with a small not-for-profit organization in southern Alberta. Using a framework of constructivist ontology, two research methods, survey and focus group, were employed to create a community narrative. This information was analyzed and then used to inform a set of findings, conclusions, and recommendations that the organization used to establish its future goals, activities and focus areas as it generates its next strategic plan. All research associated with this project was completed in adherence to the Royal Roads University Research Ethics Policy
Supporting self-efficacy and confidence in numeracy skills for secondary students
No full textMath is a challenging subject that is often fraught with anxiety. It is important for everyday life and a variety of key occupations. There is a paucity of literature on how to best support vulnerable math learners who are generally enrolled in Workplace Math over an academic stream at the secondary level. This case study examines the effectiveness of a newly-implemented Workplace Math model. The model is based on a UDL approach to learning that utilizes a blended learning model to create a self-paced course for students. Using student surveys, administrator interviews and a researcher reflective journal, this study explores the following research question: How can a newly implemented individualized Workplace Math model, as outlined above, influence learner satisfaction and positive perception of math, math anxiety, course completion? The study found a statistically significant improvement in learner positive perception of math. No statistically significant difference in math anxiety was noted; however, there was a qualitative improvement based on researcher reflective journal observation. Qualitatively, course completion rates improved. This study validates the use of the new Workplace Math model as an intervention to increase learner positive perception of math and course completion Further research is needed to determine its effectiveness on math anxiety and to see how the increased learner perception of math impacts their achievement. Further research is also needed on the cost effectiveness of the new model.https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/27251/Abrioux.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=
Emergency Shelters During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploration into the Needs of Women Fleeing Intimate Partner Violence
Get PDF2023Public Health Emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic give rise to distinctive and complex stressors which can increase intimate partner violence. This violence can lead to women fleeing their homes and into emergency shelters where specific needs are expressed. This study utilized a qualitative approach to explore what changes women’s shelter organizations have observed in the needs of women, how they have addressed these needs during the pandemic, and what impact these changes have had on the women. The findings highlighted the unique challenges organizations faced throughout the pandemic and how these organizations adapted to these challenges. The study illustrated that the circumstances surrounding the pandemic have required organizations to adopt and implement updated policies and procedures to increase opportunities for women to access their services and concludes with four recommendations for women’s shelters
Teacher perceptions of factors associated with diverse classroom compositions
No full textClassroom compositions have been dramatically shifting to include a wider range of cultural, linguistic, and developmental diversity. Research surrounding the professional learning sought by teachers to work in diverse classrooms has been international in scope and primarily focused on initial teacher training programs, in-service and professional development, and teacher turnover. Studies from Australia, Eastern Asia, North America and Western Europe outline the comfort and preparedness level of teachers worldwide, consistently identifying a correlation between classroom compositions and challenges teachers experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of British Columbia public school teachers, specifically, as they relate to the contemporary dynamic classroom compositions. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was implemented here whereby quantitative data, collected using an online survey was used to identify themes for further exploration in a qualitative focus group discussion. Perceptions identified in this study were based on thematic identification through convergent and divergent analysis. This research revealed that teachers, though feeling mostly comfortable to meet the needs of their students, often feel ill-prepared and not supported with their work in diverse classrooms. To determine the preparedness of educators, teachers were asked specifically about their initial teacher training, in-service opportunities, and impactful professional learning. To gain more insight into supports necessary to assist teachers in meeting the needs of their students, participants were queried about their access to resources, consistency of specialists within the district and EA allocation. This paper elaborates on these findings and how they were determined. The significance and limitations of this paper are also established while providing recommendations for further research.https://viurrspace.ca/bitstream/handle/10613/26355/Ferguson.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=
The themes and peculiarities of the Islamic State’s propaganda
No full textThe propaganda of the Islamic State utilizes a number of complex themes in order to radicalize and recruit adherents to the organization which has been demonstrably unique compared to other ostensibly similar extremist groups. In a content analysis, the primary sources of the Islamic State’s publications were studied to determine the nature of the major themes and the frequency of this use. Once identified, interviews were conducted with professionals involved in de-radicalization or counterterrorism efforts to ascertain the impact on individuals from those overarching themes. Further, Coalition Information-Related Capabilities doctrine was used as an analytical framework to analyze the Islamic State’s implementation of propaganda, as well as to help feed recommendations to counter Islamic State narratives. This study’s findings suggest that while there are numerous factors that can lead to radicalization from the Islamic State’s propaganda, there are a number of pathways to mitigate the efficacy of the identified themes.
Keywords: Islamic State, propaganda, radicalization, violent extremis