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Using Inquiry, Data, and Evidence-Informed Practice to Build a Responsive and Reflexive Learning Environment
Get PDFMeeting the needs of every student is a significant challenge, and this challenge is amplified in rural contexts where students tend to have fewer opportunities and as a result, tend to have decreased academic success. Programs and plans that are developed and successful one year, may not have the same impact the next. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) puts forth a data driven, evidenced informed inquiry-based model of professional learning that is reflexive to the needs of the student body. Built off of Senge’s Learning Organization, it posits that for students to be successful schools need to be continuously improving so that the diverse needs of the student body can be met and that contextual issues can be addressed. The inquiry model uses a variety of data sources to intentionally interrupt thinking at the school level and asks school staff to generate potential hypothesises for what is happening. A Professional Learning Community (PLC) model is also integrated to find evidence-based solutions and develop potential action plans to address stretches in student learning and the overall structures of the organization. Utilizing a transformative leadership perspective, the change implementation plan recognizes that inequities exist in all contexts and that the only way to overcome these inequities is to confront them from our position of influence and to erase the opportunity gap. This OIP also explores the challenges of teaching and learning in a rural context and the importance of building a network of support for school staff to draw upon so that they can continue to improve their practice
Critical Education: Increasing Student Achievement through Formative Assessments
Get PDFThis Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) supports the use of formative assessment practices within the business department at School X. This organization is a public high school situated in an urban school board in Ontario. Bayside School Board mandates that teachers provide all students with equitable assessment practices and student-centred learning opportunities. Transformational leadership, through a critical lens, will propel a change plan to inform teachers about the oppressive nature of using summative assessments. Through Freire’s (2002) concept of critical pedagogy, a case is made to implement more opportunities for using formative assessments, which allow students to feel empowered. Formative assessments can allow students to become critical thinkers and become inspired to change their community. To help diagnose the organization’s willingness to change, I use Cawsey et al.’s (2016) change readiness questionnaire in conjunction with a force field analysis. Once a critical organizational analysis is conducted, Duck’s (2001) five-stage Change Curve will be used to provide a framework for implementing change. Gentile’s (2010) Giving Voice to Values (GVV) leadership approach is used to propel change by empowering teachers and encouraging them to use formative assessment to help empower students. In addition, a campaign to inform the school about critical pedagogy will be the starting step to ignite change in teachers’ assessment practices. Teacher collaboration, empowerment, and resource sharing will enable the creation of an educational community that views formative assessments as an optional approach to promote social justice within School X
Improving Faculty’s Educational Technology Adoption
Get PDFThe purpose of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is to assist higher education leaders in dealing with challenges related to faculty’s technology adoption and improve educational technology practices in teaching. This OIP investigates the current problem of practice (PoP) at Hall University which is based on the concerns related to faculty’s resistance towards using technology in teaching and in attending the existing educational technology training. This OIP has been analyzed through the lens of neoliberalism theory and its influence on higher education in terms of corporatization of education. This theory provides a holistic understanding of the complex nature of higher education practices and culture. Reinforced by the principles of collaborative and malleable behaviors, adaptive and distributed leadership approaches are proposed to influence relevant changes that assist in improving faculty’s technology adoption. The premise of this OIP is to provide opportunities of collaboration for faculty to engage in learning about educational technology tools and approaches. The change implementation and communication plan of the proposed changes is guided by the Kotter Eight Step Model (1996). As for measuring the change outcomes, the PDSA cycle is used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the change process. Upon implementation, it is predicted that the outcomes of this OIP will improve faculty’s engagement towards educational technology implementations in higher education
Case 3 : Coming Together to Promote Change: Best Practices to Prevent, Treat, and Manage Type 2 Diabetes in Indigenous Communities in Canada
Get PDFMarie is a nurse and a member of the Bull Rapids First Nation. She is frustrated that there are no resources to help Indigenous people cope with the issue of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, which is a major health issue in this community. Marie knows something needs to be done, so she undertakes research to determine whether there are any interventions that can help her community prevent, treat, and manage type 2 diabetes. During her research, she discovers Diabetes Alliance and the quality improvement strategy they have developed to empower Indigenous communities to create their own plans to combat diabetes. The purpose of this case is to give a brief overview of the colonial practices and the proximal, intermediate and distal determinants of health that have caused many of the health issues that occur today in Indigenous communities. It will also provide an opportunity for students to think critically about how chronic diseases can be addressed and what can be done to help improve the situation in Indigenous communities in Canada. This case gives students a chance to explore the concept of traditional knowledge, its importance to Indigenous communities, and how it can and should be incorporated into interventions. After reading this case, students will understand the historical events that have created the current health predicament in these communities. If students understand the issues that have caused the problem, it can help dispel any negative preconceptions that students may have of Indigenous people. This case provides an avenue for Indigenous students to discuss issues that actually impact them, their families and communities
Case 9 : A Knot of Contradictions: Systems of Intersectionality and Muslim LGBTQ+ Mental Health Programs
Get PDFThe case involves the protagonist, Yasmin Baytar, a queer Muslim woman who returns from the 2019 Women Deliver conference with the goal of implementing a community mental health program focusing on the LGBTQ+ Muslim population in Ottawa. She has extensive Sex- and Gender-Based Analysis Plus training and knowledge about intersectionality that she can use to develop a program that embraces true equality. However, she also needs to figure out how to obtain funding for her program and collaborate with different stakeholders while making sure she is keeping her population of interest involved and at the centre of her work. Students must use systems thinking approaches and recognize the importance of intersectionality when building the community mental health program. Incorporating an element of cultural sensitivity/competency into the program will show the students’ ability to critically think about an issue while taking intersecting identity factors into account. Furthermore, recognizing the importance of various levels of intervention, students will use the Social Ecological Model to ensure a multipronged, multileveled approach is included as the program is built. Students will be able to collaborate with a variety of experts/stakeholders to ensure the success of the intervention
