DTheses (Athabasca University)
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EXPLORING THE COMPLEXITY OF OPEN PEDAGOGY IN DIGITAL-DISTANCE UNDERGRADUATE NURSING EDUCATION
Full text linkOpen pedagogy, rooted in distance education, shows promise in increasing access to education through principles of relational practice, use of a critical lens, student-centred practices, valuing the scholarship of teaching and learning, and open knowledge practices. Characteristics of open pedagogy align well with nursing practice ethics. Open pedagogy has the potential to make nursing education more effective, meaningful, and socially just, particularly in the digital-distance environment. Nurse educators often lack exposure to the digital-distance realm and, like many teachers in the post secondary system, lack formal pedagogical education. Open pedagogy provides a promising avenue for digital-distance nurse educator development.
This dissertation reports on an exploratory qualitative study that focused on the complex nature of the links between open pedagogy, undergraduate nursing education, and digital-distance learning. I framed the study within a critical realist research paradigm. I explored how open pedagogy operates in digital-distance undergraduate nursing education and investigated what nurtures and challenges it.
I employed social complexity theory, as developed by Brian Castellani and Frederic Hafferty (2009), to conceptualize and design the research study. Using a two-phase, stepwise approach, I first explored institutional documents from Athabasca University, a Canadian open digital-distance institution that offers an undergraduate nursing education program. I analyzed documents for open pedagogical characteristics using an applied thematic analysis technique to gain a holistic sense of the system. In the second phase, I interviewed four digital-distance nurse educators from the institution using the same applied thematic analysis to develop a more detailed understanding of the complex social system under study. Finally, I built a working model of how open pedagogy operationalizes, is nurtured, and is challenged within Athabasca University’s open digital-distance undergraduate nursing education program. Findings from this research contribute to the fields of digital-distance nursing education, the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education, and open pedagogy in digital-distance higher education.2023-0
ANTICIPATORY GRIEF IN PARENTS WHOSE CHILD HAS A NON-MALIGNANT LIFE-LIMITING CONDITION
Full text linkParents who have a child with a non-malignant life-limiting condition (NMLLC) universally experience anticipatory grief (AG), which is grief prior to death. While there are numerous studies on post-death grief, research on AG in parents who have lost a children with a NMLLC is scarce. This qualitative study used an interpretive description approach and semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents who have a child with a NMLLC recruited through a children’s hospice. The data illuminates the complex challenges experienced by these parents. Participants learned to navigate uncertainty while grieving ongoing losses. They experienced varying degrees of sadness, but also found joy in creating memories. Maintaining their parental role empowered them and helped them cope with grief. Parents often mentioned the importance of empathy and transparency when communicating with health care providers. The benefits of holistic care of the whole family by a specialized pediatric palliative care team were also highlighted.2024-0
It Varies! Blended Educational Support for Rural Registered Nurses' Just-In-Time Learning Activities
Full text linkJust-in-time learning using blended educational resources has become a challenging norm for registered nurses (RNs) working in the rural hospital workplace. Consistent change and lack of adequate in-house educational supports in the rural hospital context have contributed to the creation of a complex and increasingly chaotic workplace of unanticipated elements and unknowns. In this context, and typically with only their ingenuity to support them, RNs often quickly and in-the-moment self-determine their learning needs and the blended educational resources needed to meet these needs. This type of learning, conceptualized as just-in-time learning, is frequently used by rural RNs to maintain the generalist practice expertise needed to provide capable, safe patient care. However, there is a paucity of research about this phenomenon. Thus, using a constructivist interpretive description research design, I explored the extent to which RNs in the rural hospital workplace perceive that blended educational resources support their just-in-time learning activities. Understanding this phenomenon through this exploration has assisted me in generating recommendations to inform rural hospital educational, organizational, and policy initiatives aimed at the just-in-time learning activities of rural RNs, and in turn, can support these RNs in confidently providing capable, safe patient care.2024-0
TRAUMA-INFORMED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: A CORE COMPETENCY FOR K-12 TEACHERS IN SASKATCHEWAN
Full text linkTeachers play a significant role in the development of children. Not only do they help to shape their academics, but they also play an important part in helping them develop socially. Teachers are tasked to stay abreast with new methods of teaching, with new technologies, and stay current with best practices in teaching. Professional development for teachers is an important part of their profession, as it allows them to stay current in teaching practices. Hilton and Hilton (2017) state that teachers have the responsibility to extend their professional knowledge through reflective practice and ongoing professional development throughout their careers. For some teachers, professional development is imposed by the division or region they work for, while others can have choice regarding areas that they wish to increase their knowledge and skills. Regardless of what professional development educators participate in, the desired outcome is to ensure all students learn and grow in a caring environment. Many students experience trauma outside of school that affects their academics, their behaviour and how they function in their learning environment. Teachers need to be aware of the effects of trauma and how trauma can manifest in students, so they can best meet their students’ academic, emotional and behavioural needs. This study uses a practitioner action research approach that encourages self-reflection and allows the “systematic and inquiry into practice” (Dinkelman, 2003, p.6). By using this approach, the researcher shows how trauma-informed professional development can provide assistance to educators to better support students who experience trauma.2023-0
EXPLORATION IN HERMENEUTICS OF DEDICATED OER POLICIES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS
No full textThis exploratory study, framed in an interpretivist paradigm and hermeneutic approach, examined a world-wide collection of 28 dedicated open educational resources (OER) policy documents published on the Internet from post-secondary institutions. The guiding research question was how to understand OER in a dedicated OER policy corpus, that was answered through an interpretation of the policy texts. Thus, a rich picture of post-secondary institutional dedicated OER policies developed with close and distant readings that revealed emergent patterns, control patterns, and key terms such as liability. Emergent patterns in the dedicated OER policy corpus were: branding, Creative Commons, liability, licenses, metadata, OER definition, preamble, and roles. Emergent patterns of the corpus texts and institutional OER policy templates illuminated differences in consistency, commitment, and comprehensiveness of the policy texts for how OER was expressed within the dedicated OER policy corpus. Patterns of control for institutional entities in production, support, collaboration, and voluntariness revealed inequalities in student production, support, and collaboration. An interpretation of dedicated OER policy is that it is more about institutional organization than OER material. The utility and opportunities of the findings suggest that institutional dedicated OER policy could evolve with consideration for, but not limited to, standardisation, engagement of academic community, role modelling free and open source software (FOSS), liability for OER stakeholders, and students as primary stakeholders for development and implementation of dedicated OER policy. OER activities, such as online open etextbook publishing, could benefit from a supportive dedicated OER policy for guidance, promotion, development, and sustainability of OER.2024-0
TRANSGENDER AND GENDER DIVERSE CURRICULUM IN MEDICAL IMAGING PROGRAMS: A CASE STUDY
Full text linkTransgender and gender diverse (TGD) patients face a multitude of barriers when accessing healthcare. There is limited time spent on TGD specific topics in medical imaging programs, which leads to graduates having limited awareness and knowledge of this marginalized community. There is a need for educational programs and institutions to prioritize inclusive teaching practices as faculty members face the demands of updating course curriculum to meet current profession specific competency profiles. The purpose of this thesis is to gain an understanding of how various influences impact faculty members in creating and delivering TGD content in their courses. While focusing on the impacts on the educator’s abilities to create inclusive teaching practices, this thesis explores both the role of the institution and the role of individual faculty members.2023-0
THE COMPARATIVE ORIGINS OF OPEN UNIVERSITIES IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES
Full text linkThis historical comparative study analyzes the political, social, and economic origins of eight open online non-profit English-speaking universities established during the 1970s and 1990s in Canada and the United States. This research project also identifies and compares their institutional antecedents, purposes of learning, and educational characteristics. Canada and the United States are widely recognized in the 21st century for higher education excellence. Their experiences with open online non-profit universities are part of that story. However, American institutions are not often referenced in the literature about open universities. Whereas the two nations share similar historical developments in higher education and distance education specifically, the origins of their open universities have yet to be compared. This study adds a missing piece to the history of distance education while simultaneously contributing to UNESCO’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by identifying the converging and diverging contextual factors that influenced the origins of these open universities. Open universities are viable and attractive models within the higher education landscape in the context of the 21st-century knowledge society and the economic constraints dominated by neoliberal policies. This research will help higher education policymakers consider establishing, transforming, or expanding their open universities, perhaps even more pressing, given the current need to retool workforce segments due to the economic pressures of a knowledge society and the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Documenting and analyzing the institutional origins gives the higher education community more knowledge about these open online non-profit higher education options.2023-0
PERINATAL SUICIDALITY: MOTHERS’ EXPERIENCES OF RECOVERY FOLLOWING COUNSELLING
Full text linkThe purpose of this thesis was to better understand mothers’ experiences of perinatal suicidality and recovery following counselling. Eight Canadian mothers participated in semi-structured Zoom interviews, which were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to identify how their recovery from perinatal suicidality following counselling was experienced. The analysis revealed a key finding and three personal experiential themes. The key finding was that feeling like a failure as a mother directly contributed to suicidality for all participants. The personal experiential themes included: (1) Connection with Counsellor as a Catalyst for Change; (2) Connection with Self Minimized Suicidality; and (3) Connection with Extra-Therapeutic Factors Important in Recovery.2023-0
INDIGENOUS PERCEPTIONS OF THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM
Full text linkCanada has a long history of apprehending Indigenous children. These apprehensions continue today, causing severe disconnection from familial relations, culture, land, and language. The current literature has identified several barriers that Indigenous families experience within the child welfare system. One of the most influential factors that determines a child’s placement is
the outcome of a psychometric test called the Parental Capacity Assessment (Choate &
McKenzie, 2015). This Netnography study highlights the experiences of Indigenous family members involved in child welfare to examine the relationship between non-inclusive practices and high apprehension rates among Indigenous children. The findings reveal stories of injustice and hardship, while illuminating the strength and self-determination that family members harnessed on their journey to heal.2023-0
COMPLEXITY LEADERSHIP THEORY IN EDUCATION REFORM: ILLUMINATING LEADERSHIP STRATEGY THROUGH VALUE-CREATION STORIES
Full text linkEven educational leaders that advocate and support systemic change are limited by their own individual agency. Embracing this paradox, founded on complexity leadership theory (CLT), this doctoral dissertation used value-creation stories to illuminate the personalization inherent in leadership strategy, bringing voice to the experience of human agents, all to increase our understanding of enabling leadership for the purpose of supporting education reform. Rich descriptions of the six enabling leadership practices were generated from the participants who were actively living meaningful reform through the construction and implementation of a blended learning framework project at a Canadian polytechnic institution during COVID-19. Three types of memory, retained information that influenced future actions, were revealed: inside memory, outside memory, and absent memory. How each of these types of memories behave as either an inhibitor or a catalyst to information flows is demonstrated throughout this case study. How understanding behaves as a strange attractor was another significant finding. These case study findings should be used by practitioners from any educational setting to support successful education reform and to improve the effectiveness of their own enabling leadership practice.2023-0