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Deciding what kind of course to take: Factors that influence modality selection in accounting continuing professional development
Full text linkThis study used a cross sectional sample created by self-selection from a researchers' email invitation to accountants in Canada to determine which modalities accountants preferred when selecting Continuing Professional Development (CPD), and the selection factors they used in making those choices. The survey contacted 32,000 accountants in Canada and a total of 428 accountants from across Canada completed the online survey. Live seminars and live webinars were the highest ranked and accountants preferred synchronous over asynchronous courses. The factors most important to accountants are content, cost and CPD hour requirements. The ranking of selection factors for synchronous courses in general did not differ from those for asynchronous courses with the exception of self-paced courses where the selection factors of “pace” and “time away from work” were ranked higher than for other courses. The results of the study indicate a continuing need for providers to ensure that courses are relevant and accessible to accountants. Further research is suggested into the differences noted between genders as well as other categorical differences. Work-life balance was a recurring theme that should also be explored further. Pedagogical use in the design of modalities is a further avenue for future research
ALBA and UNASUR – The Emergence of Counter-hegemonic Regional Associations in Latin America and the Caribbean
Full text linkIn June of this year, I had the privilege of being able to facilitate a speaking tour for two senior Cuban scholars. Dr. Concepción Nieves Ayús is Dean Institute of Philosophy of Havana, and Dr. Hugo Pons is Vice President Cuban Society of Economists. Working with me on this project, was Dr. Nchamah Miller who I knew as a scholar at York University in Toronto, and is now Visiting Research Professor, Institute of Philosophy, Havana, Cuba. The four of us presented papers on the theme, “Contours of anti-neoliberalism in Latin America and the Caribbean: Case studies from Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and ALBA”.
The principal venue for the presentation of this research, was at Congress 2012, Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS), which this year took place in Waterloo, Ontario, using both the campuses of Wilfrid Laurier University, and the University of Waterloo. The response to the panel was quite positive. It was co-sponsored by two scholarly associations – Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID/ACÉDI), and Society for Socialist Studies (SSS-SÉS), had a very good turnout, and sparked a lively discussion.
To take advantage of the visit to Canada by the scholars from Cuba, two other events were organized. An informal, Spanish language event in Toronto, where members of the Hispanic community in the city were able to meet with and discuss with our guests issues relevant to both Cuba and Canada, as well as an additional presentation of the Congress panel at the University of Toronto, organized by Ideas Left Out. Both of these events were also well attended and well received.
One of the challenges with these kinds of cross-border exchanges is, of course, that of language. In both Waterloo and Toronto, we were able to get the assistance of extremely professional translators, who provided English translations for the oral presentation of Dr. Nieves Ayús, and provided a wonderful written translation of her text (Dr. Pons both wrote and delivered his paper in English).
The panel’s focus was on the challenges facing small Caribbean countries in the context of neoliberalism. There were three different aspects to the discussion. Dr. Pons and Dr. Nieves Ayús provided fascinating, in-depth insights into the complex evolution of economics and politics in contemporary Cuba. Dr. Miller provided an outline and analysis of relations between Colombia and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. My paper focused on the impact in the region of the emergence of two new regional organizations, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
In the discussions which occurred during these presentations, there was considerable interest in developing some of these papers into articles for publication, contact from a publisher interested in a book project, and discussions about how some of this material could be the basis for the development of online courses. All told, it was an extremely fruitful experience.Latin America and the Caribbean have been victims of more than 500-years of colonialism and imperialism. A key component of both colonialism and imperialism has been the denial of and/or distortion of sovereignty throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Neoliberalism has been but the most recent frame within which to continue this project. The FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) was to have consolidated neoliberalism across the hemisphere, under U.S. hegemony. But the rise of massive social movements throughout the region, prevented the launch of the FTAA in 2005. This has not stopped the attempt to institutionalize neoliberalism. Both the U.S. and Canada have turned to bilateral deals as an alternative to the FTAA. However, we have also seen the creation of regional trade and investment associations independent of the United States and Canada. This paper will examine two of these – ALBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas) and UNASUR (the Union of South American Nations) – and assess their impact as counter-hegemonic projects. The paper builds on earlier research published in New Political Science and forthcoming in The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization
Mapping the Social Economy in British Columbia and Alberta: Final Report
Full text linkThis report begins to paint an interesting portrait of the social economy in BC and Alberta. It was created through the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA). This alliance was initially started as a 5 year project in March 2006 funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and then later extended to 2012. The purpose of this alliance was to build a better understanding of the social economy sector in Alberta and BC. The Mapping and Portraiture team, in particular, implemented a survey to better describe the size and scope of the social economy in these provinces. Development of the mapping program began in September 2006, and the survey was launched in January 2008. This report is the culmination of that work.This report has been produced as part of the research program of the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA). Financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is gratefully acknowledged
Pop culture in the classroom: Inspiring students to take action against intimate partner violence
No full textAn engaging discussion followed the presentation of the paper; questions were posed by those in attendance. I received positive feedback informally, from individuals attending the conference after the presentation of the paper.Working with families is fraught with complexity, including dealing with issues such as intimate partner violence. Faculty teaching within a family-newborn course with undergraduate nursing students sought innovative strategies to engage and support students to broach this difficult topic with families in acute care and community settings. Faculty noted that students in clinical experiences reported that nurses were not accurately assessing and consistently screening for intimate partner violence. However, assessing and screening for violence is part of the role of all nurses and falls within the standards of practice for community health nurses. The purpose of this presentation is to share several innovative teaching strategies undertaken by faculty working with undergraduate nursing students to explore and examine intimate partner violence.
Faculty employed teaching strategies integrating popular culture as a medium to explore intimate partner violence through relevant music videos and you tube clips. These strategies were followed by large group discussion surrounding the messages around gender and violence imbedded in the words and images shown. With the students engaged by the popular culture references, theory and evidence-based practice regarding assessment, screening, and intervention around intimate partner violence was offered. The foundation of these innovative teaching strategies is to invite undergraduate nursing students to: (1) examine their personal values, beliefs and assumptions around gender and violence; (2) consider the contexts for assessment and screening of families for intimate partner violence across community health nursing practice settings.
The key learning outcomes for this presentation are:
1) influencing undergraduate nursing students to situate their nursing practice in the context of their values, beliefs and assumptions
2) influencing nursing educators to consider innovative teaching strategies using popular culture to engage and inform undergraduate nursing students
3) inspiring the current and future generation of nurses to accurately assess and consistently screen for intimate partner violence across community health settings.
The target audience for this presentation includes: nursing educators, nursing students, and all public health and home health nurses curious about accurately assessing and screening for intimate partner violence across community health settings.
Subtheme: CHN Capacity: Innovations and technology to advance excellence in educational preparation and workforce developmen
Sharpest Knives in the Drawer: Culture at the Intersection of Oil and State
No full textThe paper presented, “’Sharpest Knives in the Drawer’: Culture at the Intersection of Oil and State”, is an expanded version of a chapter written for a book collection on Oil and Democracy currently under review with AUP (Eds. L Stefanick and M. Shrivasteva). The presentation also drew on previous work in the area of Alberta cultural history, and visual arts in particular. The text was supplemented for the presentation with slides of historical and contemporary works created with the oil industry as subject matter and as context of production. Compilation of this visual presentation helped to develop some of the ideas behind the theoretical framework and supplemented discussion to expand upon ideas. These ideas will be developed further in subsequent work on the topic. Conference participation was valuable in allowing new perspectives on the theme of the panel and on my own paper from an audience composed mainly of political scientists, which is not usually a primary area of my own research. Two of the audience members also approached me later with instances of oil industry visual culture that they had collected or remarked upon, which I will acquire for my project.The infusion of the petroleum industry into the social and cultural imaginary goes deep in Alberta, where the oil economy and provincial governments have together shaped discourses of prosperity, identity and citizenship for generations. Cultural production and consumption is deeply implicated in these processes, and art has been instrumental as well as oppositional in the shaping of meanings around environment, natural resources, and extractive industries. This paper considers the potentially paradoxical role of the visual arts in practices of democratic dissent and social change in the context of oil capitalism
Fashion, Freedom, and Female Agency: Iranian Women’s Deconstruction of Identity in Citizen Journalism
No full textI had the opportunity to meet colleagues with similar research interests at the ACLA Conference. We exchanged ideas and discussed possibilities to publish our papers together. This is one of the many advantages of having completed this A&PDF activity. The outcome of this research and other scholarly activities associated with it reflect positively on AU and raise the profile of the institution.For close to a century in Iran, the female body has been the site for authorities to assert and exercise their political and ideological control over half of the population. Our paper explores how women in the Islamic Republic of Iran imagine and enforce their agency in the virtual space and redefine their identity by creating distinctively individualized styles in garments in the 21st century. While the representation of women and outfits used in photographs in the virtual space do not always take up the dress code boundaries formulated by the Islamic government, they are deliberately depicted in the Internet to contest the image of the Muslim woman that was preferred and propagated by theologians. Iranian women’s deconstruction of dress codes and recreation of an individualized fashion is a reactive ideological tool. The reconstructed image challenges the state sponsored depiction of the Muslim Iranian women, wrapped up from head to toe in the quintessentially Shi’a, Iranian fashion statement, the black chador, as devoted and modest. The modified fashion also contests the homogenized narratives of suppression and muteness reinforced by the veil as used by Western media to portray Iranian, Muslim, and Middle Eastern women
Learning and sharing on projects through relational dynamics.
No full textPaper presented at the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Calgary, ABIn the traditional sense, project reviews and communities of practice were considered cornerstones for lessons learned. Although advantageous, both mechanisms have limitations. This study develops an understanding of how individuals learned and shared their project knowledge. We interviewed 15 project managers from various industries and analyzed the data using grounded theory methodology. The primary mechanism for sharing lessons learned was based on relational dynamics. Mutual caring emerged as the basic social psychological process used to address the main concern of habituation through which individuals used spinning, pushing and resisting practices. Awareness was necessary to enable them to transition from habituation towards the core variable of mutual caring. In mutual caring, individuals gain traction through comfortable conversations with trusted advisors (experts in project management), sharing and engaging in discussions, developing self-confidence and contributing to the wisdom pool – all in the context of sharing project management learning and knowledge. The study findings relate to the concept of care in management
The Political Economy of Monetary and Financial System Changes to Support Societal Sustainability
Full text linkThis paper was developed for a course in sustainable development at Athabasca University taught by Dr. Michael Gismondi.The political economy of the current financial system is the context out of which alternatives are being forged. Changes to the privatized debt-based monetary system, expansion of co-operative and publicly owned finance institutions and fostering of diverse currencies and credit structures are the main categories of reform being advocated. The most significant issue with progressive proposals is not the accuracy of the underlying analysis, nor the efficacy of the proposed changes, but the obstacles to their implementation within the currently constructed human societies. Understanding this context is fundamental to advancing alternatives to the current financial system. This version of the paper includes highlighting of specific sections done by Michael Lewis of the BC-Alberta Social Economy Research Alliance (BALTA).Athabasca Universit
From Gatekeeping to Gate Opening: An Evolving Role for Academic Libraries
Full text linkIn the past the academic library has focused its energy on building collections and developing mechanisms to provide access to content. Library services developed around the role of being the gatekeeper to the content, be it access services, acquiring and organizing the content, leveraging ever more sophisticated technologies to help community members connect to the content, marketing the content and educating students and faculty how to get to and use the content. In a future information landscape where it will be easier to acquire the content, and perhaps even bypass the library in getting to it, what will be the role of the academic librarian? In this session, Steven Bell, Associate University Librarian at Temple University, will share his vision for how the role of the academic librarian could evolve to be more of a gate opener, in which the emphasis is on the experience that community members have in interaction with the library and librarians, that helps them to make effective use of content for learning and academic success.
Watch the recording at https://connect.athabascau.ca/p96752424
Uses of published research: An exploratory case study
Full text linkAcademic publications are too often ignored by other researchers. There are various reasons: researchers know that conclusions may eventually be proved wrong; publications are sometimes retracted; effects may decline when studied later; researchers occasionally don’t seem to know about papers they have allegedly authored; there are even accusations of fraud (Cohen, 2011). In this exploratory case study, ten papers were examined to determine the various ways they were used by others, whether there were cases of reported effects declining, and whether, among those who referenced the papers, there were suggestions that anything in the papers ought to be retracted. Findings showed that all the papers had been referenced by others (337 user publications were found, containing a total of 868 references). Other findings: single references were far more common than multiple references; applications/replications were the least common type of usage (23 occurrences), followed by contrasts/elaborations (34), and quotations (65); unlike reports regarding publications in the sciences, whether the paper was solo- or co-authored did not affect usage; appearance in a non-prestige journal was actually associated with more usage of some kinds; and well over eighty percent of uses were in heavily scrutinized sources (journal articles, or theses/dissertations). The paper concludes with recommendations to writers about how to avoid producing publications that are ignored