DTheses (Athabasca University)
Not a member yet
487 research outputs found
Sort by
The Creation of Social Capital Across Different Types of Canadian Business Incubators
Get PDFSocial capital plays a prominent role in economic and business literature, but to date,
limited research has focused on social capital within a business incubation environment.
My research investigates two business incubator models, nonprofit economic
development business incubators (NEDBIs) and university business incubators (UBIs),
and how they create social capital for the start-ups residing within them. As expected,
both types of business incubators proved to be well suited to the creation of social capital,
by providing access to their network, building trust among the members of the business
incubators and encouraging knowledge sharing among business incubator members. The
difference between the two business incubator models was the outcome or resources
accessed through the social capital. Eighty-three per cent of startups located in UBIs were
successful in securing grant funding, while only 6% of startups located in NEDBIs
secured grant funding. University business incubator startups were also more successful
in job creation with 83% reporting full time staff compared to only 38% of startups in
NEDBIs reporting full time staff. In terms of revenue generation 56% non-profit startups
reported revenues, while only 17% of university business incubator startups reported
revenues. There were also some additional themes that emerged from the interviews that
provide interesting insights into Canada’s entrepreneurial culture.2021-0
THE EFFECTS OF RESPIRATORY MOTION ON THE IGRT PROCESS IN ESOPHAGEAL RADIOTHERAPY
Get PDFRadiotherapy treatment for esophageal cancer requires a daily cone-beam CT (CBCT) scan to ensure target accuracy for treatment. Respiratory motion is known to cause movement of the diaphragm, leading to challenges during image guidance radiation therapy (IGRT). This study quantified the displacement of the diaphragm during daily treatment to reference target displacement, as well as time taken to perform IGRT. Other IGRT factors were assessed. Results show a mean displacement of -0.9 (SD -0.6) cm in the y plane with no significant displacement in x or z. There was no correlation between displacement and IGRT duration, however males were associated with larger displacement in x (p=0.019), and non-smokers were associated with larger displacements in y and z (p<0.001). Future studies investigating respiratory motion reduction strategies are needed to identify the best approach moving forward.2020-1
Activity Levels and Healthcare Utilization: Associations in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes
Get PDFBackground: This study’s objective was to examine cross-sectional associations of device-measured physical activity with healthcare utilization among adults with Type 2 Diabetes. Methods: Healthcare utilization data included number of physician claims, type of physician service, number of emergency department visits, number of ambulatory care visits, and number of hospitalizations. Device-based physical activity and sedentary time were assessed using the ActiGraph® GT3X+ accelerometer. Results: For moderate vigorous physical activity and sedentary time, no statistically significant associations were found with healthcare utilization. For daily steps, ANOVA suggested higher step counts were associated with fewer physician claims and emergency department visits. Conclusion: Device-based MVPA and sedentary time were not associated with healthcare utilization. Daily steps was found to be significantly associated with physician claims and emergency department visits. Increasing walking may help reduce healthcare utilization in adults with T2D.2021-Jun
Student’s perception of teaching presence and failure in online learning
Get PDFCanadian post-secondary institutions have made strides in assessing and evaluating the contributing factors to an effective online learning environment that engenders student success. Central to this effort, is the role of the instructor and the importance of teaching presence in an online learning environment.
This mixed methods study explores the students’ perspective of teaching presence and how it impacts their online learning experience, primarily where the student has experienced a failed grade. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) teaching presence instrument was utilized in conducting a survey with a post-secondary level online student population.
The study’s results indicated that there was a perceived relationship between teaching presence and failure in online learning and therefore, it is vital for teaching presence to be incorporated into the instructional design and delivery of online learning.2021-0
Social sustainability disclosure and engagement of local communities by North American Class I Railways
Get PDFThis study explores the nature of relationships between North American Class I railways (NACI) and local communities (LCs). The objectives of the research include the following: 1) assessing the extent and quality of sustainability disclosure by NACI; 2) determining the techniques of stakeholder engagement, with a focus on infrastructure projects; and 3) highlighting better practices from other countries and industries.
The scope of the investigations spans the 10-year period following the global financial crisis, as civil society and investors increased their expectations for non-financial sustainability reporting. In responding to this charge of information asymmetry and justice within balanced NACI-LC relationships, the implication for this work from the strategic management perspective involves examination of firm-specific sustainability behaviours within a multiple case study methodology; while a complementary economic sociologist approach looks at industry-wide trends or aspects of institutionalism that are pervasive within the railways of North America.
This exploratory study used only documents found in the public domain, such as: sustainability/CSR/corporate responsibility reports, subject matter expert reports, rating agencies’ databases, industry association documents, government reports, company web pages regarding sustainability activities, and other company documents, such as financial reports and securities commissions documents.
Findings both consistent and divergent with academic and grey literature point to the inadequacy of NACI sustainability reports for several reasons. The following key findings were revealed through the analysis: 1) asymmetry between what is reported to local communities and actual performance on investigated variables of social sustainability; 2) the complexity of understanding the NACI-LC relationship from sustainability reports; 3) the future challenges inherent in building the capacity needed to develop sustainable communities and resilient infrastructure in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, 2030; and 4) the difficulty of determining the efficacy of novel approaches and techniques of stakeholder engagement to advance sustainability. Better practices are drawn from global standards and guidelines as interpreted by three Eurasian networks. Suggestions are made as to how to improve both the quality of relationship with NACI stakeholders and reporting with an emphasis that they be projectized. Future research ideas and recommendations for practitioners and decision-makers are also provided.2021-0
INFORMING AN INUIT ONLINE MODULE USING TYPE-2 DIABETES MELLITUS AS AN EXEMPLAR
Get PDFInuit have long-held concepts of self-preservation that directly relate to individual and collective well-being. However, there has been little research conducted to reveal how Inuit culture and history gained from community sources could benefit the development of an Inuit health curriculum in medical training for non-Inuit physicians. A culturally relevant medical education curriculum for non-Inuit physicians requires an in-depth syllabus that describes present-day Inuit experiences and contains perspectives that originate from Inuit healing systems is crucial. To help provide a solution, this research study was conducted using a storytelling methodological framework to inform the development of an Inuit online module for the provision of cultural safety, using type-2 diabetes (DM2) as an exemplar. The conversational method was employed to engage Inuit Elders and community members to share stories and inform the design of an online module that incorporates Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit/ ᐃᓄᐃᑦ ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᑐᖃᖏᑦ (traditional knowledge). The study goals were to create an online module and also, a process of engagement that can be useful for other decolonizing education projects that address Inuit health, wellness, and approaches for community partnerships with medical teaching and research institutions.2021-0
POINT OF CARE ULTRASOUND: DISTANCE EDUCATION FOR POCKET ULTRASOUND DEVICES
Get PDFThis interpretive case study, framed in mixed methods inquiry, explored the effectiveness of distance education methodologies for hands-on practical skills training in the use of pocket ultrasound devices (PUDs) in a simulated point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) environment. Research participants who met pre-specified inclusion criteria (non-probability purposive sampling) were recruited from the School of Health and Life Sciences at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), a sample representing faculty from the allied health sector.
Participants included twenty ultrasound naïve learners from different professions spanning eight allied health disciplines, and two instructors from the diagnostic medical sonography profession (ultrasound). Instructional activities were created to encompass e-learning outcomes in knowledge and PUD skill acquisition in thoracic, cardiac, abdominal, and pelvic ultrasound (sonographic) imaging, according to the Extended Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (EFAST) protocol, including relevant professional behaviors. Over a training period of four to six calendar weeks, learner participants accessed instructor-facilitated, asynchronous theory learning in a learning management system (Moodle). The theory component was
followed by three one-hour sessions of synchronous practical skills training in EFAST with live
models: learners were remotely connected to an instructor participant, one-on-one in real-time, utilizing the Philips Lumify PUD integrated with the Remote Education, Augmented Communication, Training and Supervision (REACTS®) distance education (DE) tele-ultrasound platform. In addition, learner participants were engaged in pre, mid, and end-study online questionnaires, and instructor participants completed electronic field notes. Learning outcomes were assessed with three consecutive objective structured competency-based examinations (OSCEs) in face-to-face EFAST simulated environments, over a one-hour testing time frame,
with ultrasound models behaving as standardized patients, and one assessor assigned per OSCE station. Study results indicate a successful training intervention for learners (sixteen of twenty) and instructor participants and provide educational contributions towards an emerging body of knowledge on POCUS DE approaches, techniques, and tools. Recommendations from research findings inform standardization and consistency of DE POCUS training for medical educational communities, including allied health personnel who use PUDs (or other portable ultrasound devices) in their POCUS scopes of practice.2021-0
Understanding Childhood Adversity and Resilience: Perspectives of Autistic Adults
Get PDFThe purpose of this thesis project was to better understand the effects of childhood adversity on autistic individuals and the role of resilience in mitigating those effects. A review of the literature indicated that, despite vast research on these phenomena in the general population, little is known about their influence on the well-being of individuals on the autism spectrum. To understand these phenomena better, I employed interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), integrating participatory methods to ensure the research question, design, and analysis were congruent with the wishes and perspectives of the autistic community. Four autistic adults volunteered for this study and, through semi-structured interviews, described their experiences of adversity and resilience in childhood and adolescence. Adversity had long-term negative effects on the well-being of participants, while resilience meant an improvement in well-being in young adulthood. Autism/autistic characteristics interacted with both adversity and resilience to contribute to the well-being of participants.2021 0
MULTIPLE REALITIES: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR ONLINE CONTINGENT FACULTY IN CANADIAN STRATEGY AND PRACTICE
Get PDFThe growth of contingent faculty and the growth of online education over the first two decades of the 21st century have generated an emergent but overlooked subgroup of faculty – online contingent faculty. These twin dynamics have placed the professional development of online faculty in a strategically important position for Canadian postsecondary institutions to mature online education and enhance instructional effectiveness. This two-phase multimethod research study employs Ursula Franklin’s technology as practice (1990) as its theoretical orientation to explore the following research questions: How are online faculty and their professional development represented in current Canadian postsecondary academic plans? How are the professional development needs of contingent online faculty being served by Canadian teaching and learning centres? What gaps, if any, exist between the projected reality of academic plans and the extended reality of teaching and learning centres in Canada? Phase one consists of a document analysis of 17 academic plans from Canadian colleges and institutes covering the current period and immediate future to reveal how faculty development is described and prioritized in academic strategy (the projected reality of the future). The document analysis highlights important strategic purposes of professional development, such as Indigenization and internationalization, but also shows that part-time and online faculty are marginally represented. Email interviews with 12 directors of Canadian teaching and learning centres comprise phase two (the extended reality of experience), and they illuminate the contested space of providing educational development services to online contingent faculty. The findings reveal formidable barriers to providing professional development opportunities to part-time faculty who teach online, but also innovative solutions to meet the needs of part-time online educators in Canada.2021-0
TRUTH, RECONCILIATION, AND UNSETTLING SETTLER SPACES AND PLACES: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHY
Get PDFIn late 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on Indian Residential Schools in Canada released its Final Report and 94 Calls to Action. The TRC laid out how Canada has enacted ongoing policies and practices of cultural genocide against Aboriginal peoples and communities. In a 2014 book outlining a proposed research agenda for online distance education, long-time researchers in the field, Zawacki-Richter and Anderson argued that social justice is always at the forefront for individual educators and institutions engaged in the field. The purpose of this critical qualitative inquiry was to test and reflect upon this argument, as well as reflect on my personal position within this frame.
To do that, this study has been conducted through critical self-reflection upon my own privileges (white, male, Settler, etc.) framed by my experiences completing an online distance education doctoral program, in turn, interfacing these with my reading of the TRC reports and Calls to Action. This study was framed and conducted in this way, in order to examine whether social justice aspirations, such as for example the TRC Calls to Action, are at the forefront of educators and institutions engaged in online distance education, and not just glossy aspirational statements, otherwise referred to as bullshit (à la Frankfurt, 2005). The process and outcome of this study was guided by the narrative method of autoethnography, which is recognized as both process and product. This dissertation highlights some of that process, and the results represent the product.
This autoethnographic research is based on one practitioner’s experiences – mine, a non-Indigenous, white, Settler, able-bodied, male in the geographic area currently called Canada. This is intermeshed with my experiences within online distance education, and more specifically the doctoral program that I have participated in since 2015, which specializes in the field of online education. This dissertation explores and reflects upon various tensioned interfaces through interrogating my white Settler privileges, along with broader Setter responsibilities and response-abilities articulated within the TRC Calls to Action and related processes. These include interfaces with the Indigenous-informed concepts of cultural safety, ethical space of engagement, and cultural interface.March 15, 202