University of Windsor, Ontario: Open Journal Systems
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Backward Design in Pre-Service Teacher Education to Enhance Curriculum Knowledge
No full textThis action research aimed to enhance the curriculum knowledge of 37 pre-service teachers in early-childhood education through backward design (BD) as an innovative framework. Participants enrolled in an online curriculum development course focusing on curriculum elements and underwent BD-based instruction for five weeks. Multiple data collection tools were employed, including pre- and post-achievement tests and curriculum literacy scales, digital learning journals, performance tasks, course observations, and interviews. The results showed a significant improvement in the curriculum knowledge of the pre-service teachers. This was evidenced by a notable increase in curriculum literacy scores, a moderate improvement in achievement test scores, and positive performance task outcomes. These findings highlight the effectiveness of BD-based instruction in enhancing the curriculum knowledge of pre-service teachers. This study provides valuable insights for teacher educators to effectively tailor their instructional approaches. Further research is needed to validate these results and advance instructional practices in pre-service teacher education
Deficit to Asset Thinking: An Exploration of Incorporating Community Cultural Wealth on Preservice Teachers’ Mindsets
No full textThis qualitative inquiry examined how using Yosso’s community cultural wealth (2005) model as a framework in a 16-week teacher-education course focused on home, schools, and communities which supported the development of 24 preservice teachers’ equity mindsets in relation to these spaces. To examine the nature of preservice teachers’ viewpoints, the following data sources were collected: a researcher-developed survey with open-ended questions based on Yosso’s model used as a pre- and post- survey, reflection assignments, and semi-structured interviews. These data were analyzed using priori coding based on the Equity Mindset Framework (Nadelson et al., 2019). Analysis revealed that Yosso’s community cultural wealth model provided a framework for preservice teachers to develop all eight attributes of an equity mindset to some degree, but three of those attributes were developed at a higher level: development of culturally relevant practices and thinking, the importance of understanding and knowing student populations, and taking responsibility for student success. This research has implications for teacher educators, as it provides guidance for a practical way to enhance preservice teachers’ equity mindset
Equity, Technology, and Teaching
No full textIn this issue, we focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in our teaching practice, how technology is affecting teaching and learning during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, and trends in pre-service and in-service teaching
Promoting Discussions About Diversity in the Language Classroom: Digital Storytelling as an Exploratory Case Study
No full textDigital storytelling is a narrative technique that combines audio, video and animation elements. It can be used to provide opportunities for the promotion of cultural understanding in the university language classroom. In this study, pedagogy that combines digital storytelling techniques and computational technologies are explored, as part of language studies that can allow instructors to create an intercultural experience. The outcomes of an undergraduate learning exercise have been evaluated, along with this researcher’s experience as an instructor who used digital storytelling in a French-as-a-second-language classroom, and includes these students’ solicited feedback. In this case study, a group of students conducted internet research to explore the online cultural diversity and cultural differences of Francophone culture. They then created digital stories to represent this diversity. The findings have been analysed to evaluate the potential place of inclusivity and diversity tools in French-as-a-second-language learning, and to share the potential of this practical pedagogy approach for other university educators
Urban Pre-Service English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Teachers’ Challenges During Teaching Practicum in Rural Schools: A Photovoice Phenomenological Approach
No full textWhile many previous studies focused on English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers’ teaching practices in urban schools, little study has been indulged regarding pre-service English teachers’ (PSTs) challenges and experiences to practice teaching in a rural school. This study aimed to explore various difficulties encountered by urban PSTs during teaching practicum (TP) in rural schools. A total of seven PSTs enrolled in urban universities were voluntarily involved in a study that involves people’s senses and perceptions, rather than scientific evidence, also known as a phenomenological study. Data were collected through multiple semi-structured interviews, followed by a photovoice approach through which the participants were asked to take emotional photos. The results revealed that the PSTs encountered four main challenges during TP in rural schools, including changes in teacher identity construction, intercultural sensitivity barriers, a lack of supporting resources, and limited teacher professional development. Each challenge was accomplished by photographs representing PSTs’ emotions and feelings, such as a collection of dolls, natural scenery, old-printed books, and blank paper. In conclusion, integrating emotional photos into descriptive exploration is paramount evidence of how the challenges were encountered, managed, and solved for better future teaching and learning practices.
Swimming Up Niagara Falls! The Battle to Get Disability Rights Added to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
No full textThis is the personal memoir of blind lawyer and volunteer disability rights advocate David Lepofsky. It describes his involvement in and perspectives on the successful fight from 1980 to 1982 to get Canada’s proposed Charter of Rights amended to guarantee equal rights for people with disabilities. It includes a foreword by the Hon. Rosalie Abella, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. This memoir recounts the little-known saga of the disability amendment to the Charter. Few know that equality for people with disabilities was the only constitutional right added to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms during the widely publicized eighteen-month battle over the patriation of Canada’s Constitution, from October 1980 to April 1982. It is aimed at anyone interested in disability rights, human rights, Canadian political or legal history, social justice advocacy, and Canadian constitutional law. It provides a mix of legal and legislative history, personal autobiography, grassroots advocacy strategy and reflective commentary on lessons learned. It compares social justice advocacy techniques in 1980 to those practiced in the disability rights arena four decades later.L’auteur de cet article, David Lepofsky, avocat non-voyant et militant bénévole pour les droits des personnes handicapées, nous présente ses mémoires personnelles. Celles-ci illustrent son point de vue et son rôle dans la bataille victorieuse menée de 1980 à 1982 pour modifier la Charte des droits et libertés proposée par le Canada afin qu’y soit reconnue l’égalité des droits des personnes handicapées. Préfacées par madame Rosalie Abella, ancienne juge à la Cour suprême du Canada, elles racontent l’histoire méconnue des modifications qui ont été apportées à la Charte à l’égard des droits des personnes handicapées. En effet, très peu de gens savent que l’égalité des personnes handicapées est le seul droit constitutionnel qui a été ajouté à la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés pendant le bras de fer ultramédiatisé pour le rapatriement de la constitution canadienne qui s’est étiré pendant dix-huit mois, soit d’octobre 1980 à avril 1982. Ce texte s’adresse à quiconque cultive un intérêt pour les droits des personnes handicapées, les droits de la personne, l’histoire politique et législative du Canada, la défense de la justice sociale et le droit constitutionnel canadien. Il combine à la fois histoire juridique et législative, autobiographie intime et stratégies de militantisme communautaire, et contient des commentaires et des réflexions sur les leçons que nous avons pu en tirer. Les mémoires comparent également un éventail de techniques de défense de la justice sociale pour les personnes handicapées au fil de quatre décennies, soit de 1980 à aujourd’hui
Examining the Foundation: Scaffolding “soft” skills from entry to graduation in an undergraduate business program
No full textCritical thinking, creativity, communication, teamwork, emotional intelligence, problem-solving, empathy, resilience, ambition, grit, innovation... (Heckman & Kautz, 2012). These skills, known as a contentious four-letter “S” word (soft), are considered a requirement for employment and advancement for the 21st-century graduate (Carnevale & Smith, 2013). Within a School of Business, in an environment highly regarded for technical skill achievement in diploma and degree graduates, faculty set out to investigate the contentiousness and inclusion of human skills in curriculum outcomes. While not directly built into the curriculum, there is an institutional understanding that human skill development is innately a part of the programs. The intention is that human skills (LeBusque, 2020), or power skills (PMI, 2022) naturally occur during course delivery, creating a commonality across foundational courses to reinforce the skill sets identified, developed, and refined as students complete their credentials. However, industry reports (Lapointe & Turner, 2020; RBC, 2019) and the authors’ own institutional data collected from new graduates and employers indicated room for improvement in these skills.
To gain a better understanding, the authors undertook a critical examination through a document analysis of all common core courses that form the program foundation. This involved 24 common courses, comprising 1,442-course objectives or outcomes, resulting in a range of 134 Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs. In this paper, the authors begin the first phase of this comprehensive study with a return to the course foundations. Through this analysis, the authors present a framework to better understand and strengthen the learning foundation, to proceed with realignment and strategic scaffolding of both technical and human skills from entry through graduation.
Keywords: business education, skill development, course objectives, Bloom\u27s Taxonomy, 21st-century graduate, document analysi
Step 1: How to do a podcast
No full textIn this episode, two University of Windsor Outstanding Scholars Students Grace Taylor and Krishali Kumar interview Anne Rudzinski and Tim Brunet about how to plan a podcast. The UWill Discover Podcast is a University of Windsor initiative of the UWill Discover Sustainable Futures project. UWill Discover is a year-long program where University of Windsor undergraduate and graduate students share their experiences in doing creative and research work. Students can participate in:
a week-long conference
writing workshops
a writing retreat
a STEMx Policython (like a hackathon for policymaking)
publishing the UWill Discover Journal
The UWill Discover publications are archived through the wonderful work of the Leddy
Library at Scholarship at UWindsor.
Learn more about the project at the UWill Discover Sustainable Futures website
Society, Suspicion, and the Supernatural: The Factors Behind the Salem Witch Trials
No full textThe Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 evolved out of the factors of religious fanaticism controlling Massachusetts society, patriarchal constructs that negatively impacted the views of and the actions of women, white North American constructs of race and ethnicity, interpersonal and societal tensions, and the aftermath of King Philip’s War. Religious domination of Salem life espoused conformity, the supernatural as an explanation for negative events, and the dangers of secularism. Samuel Parris played upon these factors of the Puritan religion, along with the tensions between Salem Village and Salem Town, to spur the start of the witch trials, as he was personally affected by a supernatural bewitching. Puritan women, whether afflicted or accused, were subject to extreme notions of conformity and religious doctrine that maintained the inherent sinfulness of women but found avenues of power through accusing others of witchcraft or behaving as an afflicted. Parris’ slave, Tituba, represents the racial and ethnic outsider, whose Native American heritage cast her as the propagator of Salem’s demonic activity, but who was able to find power by upending the racial hierarchy the community had created. Economic tensions between Salem Town and Salem Village were highlighted in the witchcraft accusations and were exacerbated by religious differences and climate conditions. King Philip’s War impacted Salem’s concepts of Native Americans as demonic witches, highlighted the existence of religious enemies, diminished the authority of government, and increased Puritan awareness of sin