Journals @ Ontario Tech
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"But the Bumpies Hurt!": Autism and the Importance of Identity-first Language
No full textThrough the lens of personal experience, the author recounts her experiences with identity-first and person-first language as a late-diagnosed Autistic woman. She discusses shifts in the diagnostic criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder, the capitalization of A/autism, and the context within which person-first language emerged. Next, she explores the dangers of a society that forces Autistic people to mask, arguing that person-first language encourages a masking mindset, and uses this context to confront the language the medical, social, complex embodiment, and political/relational models prompt us to use. Ultimately, the author calls for 1) language use that places the preferences of Disabled individuals before the preferences of non-Disabled people and 2) greater use of identity-first language as a strategy for confronting ableism
Call for Contributions
No full textPlease submit your contribution for consideration for this special issue of Including Disability no later than May 31, 2022 (and sooner if you would like) to our email inbox: [email protected]
The Experiences of Students with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) in College: A Strengths-Based Approach to Managing Autoimmune Disease
No full textType 1 diabetes (T1D) is a rapidly growing autoimmune disease. 1.6 Americans live with T1D, with over 64,000 people diagnosed every year in the United States. Nearly 8,000 freshmen with T1D enter college each year. The transition to post-secondary education is a time marked by increased independence, curiosity and experimentation, and often a less regular, balanced schedule. All of these things are made more complicated by type 1 diabetes, but these elements can also make controlling and managing type 1 diabetes overwhelming. It is crucial that there are resources and support in place on college campuses to specifically support students with diabetes, particularly since the consequences of uncontrolled diabetes can be lethal. Though many teenagers take responsibility for their own diabetes management, many still require parental support for various treatment needs. College-aged adults have the highest A1c levels compared to other age groups, making them particularly vulnerable to life-threatening conditions like diabetic keto-acidosis. This qualitative study seeks to understand the experiences of students with T1D as they transition to college, how their T1D impacted their college experience, and the resources that helped them effectively manage their T1D. This study also seeks to understand how college students might construe their T1D as a ‘superpower’ and what institutions can do to foster a strong T1D identity in students. How might naming disability as a superpower impact how students navigate their autoimmune disease management? 
Youth English Language Learners’ Learning Outcomes and Experiences of Digital Technology-Based Writing Instruction: A Literature Review of Key Empirical Evidence
No full textA growing body of research has revealed that the use of digital technology, including digital media, for writing instruction positively impacts English language learners’(ELLs’) learning and engagement; however, little is known about how this instruction impacts the development of ELLs’ writing skills. This scoping literature review is comprised of empirical evidence from 32 studies published between 2010 and 2020 that reported on the impact of digital technology-supported writing instruction on youth ELL’s writing skills. Although the types of digital technology media that were used varied across the studies, the results revealed that all 32 studies found a positive or perceived positive impact of digital technology-supported writing instruction on ELLs’ writing skills in areas of grammar, language mechanics, metalinguistic awareness, organization, sentence/paragraph structure, and/or word choice/language use. Specifically, 29 articles reported positive outcomes or perceived positive outcomes, while three showed mixed results in which certain areas improved but not others. Pedagogical implications, and recommendations are provided to language educators and youth ELLs
Effects of Simulation Fidelity on Learning Transfer
No full textAbstract
This paper examines, via literature review, the relationship between simulation fidelity and transfer of learning to the operational environment. This paper focuses on the application of simulation to medical, maritime and aviation training. The literature showed that, contrary to intuition, novice learners derived little benefit from high-fidelity simulation. There were even some indications that high-fidelity simulation could impair transfer for novice learners. The literature showed that expert, or near expert, learners required high-fidelity simulation for effective transfer. The literature also showed strong evidence that cognitive skill transfer required high levels of cognitive fidelity, but was mostly unrelated to physical and functional fidelity. There was little information regarding the link between psychomotor and procedural skill transfer and cognitive fidelity.
Keywords: Simulation, fidelity, learning transfer, skill transfe
Internationalization in Ontario Colleges: Patterns and Policies
No full text Internationalization of Ontario colleges is a strategic mandate from both the federal and provincial governments to address declining domestic enrollment, labour market shortages, and the evolving needs of 21st century post-secondary students. The growth in numbers of international students in Ontario colleges has been particularly rapid over the past five years, and existing literature on internationalization and Ontario colleges was limited. Therefore, a careful review and analysis of policy at both the federal and provincial level can help Ontario colleges understand what policy has done to create the current environment for internationalization, anticipate how policy will impact the future of internationalization, and support decision making as colleges try to find success in this continuously changing landscape. The results of this review and analysis of policy surrounding internationalization in the Ontario College system indicate a probable need for additional research, funding, training, and policy changes to ensure a sustainable future.
Keywords: internationalization, international students, Ontario colleges, higher education polic
Social Presence in Virtual Professional Learning
No full textOur Participatory Action Research (PAR) study explored the development and facilitation of an innovative virtual maker professional learning (PL) program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included four researchers and educators from a university in southern Ontario. Findings indicate that social presence plays a particularly important role in virtual maker PL for participant engagement and learning. Virtual maker educators may experience moments of isolation, doubt and frustration which can be alleviated by making and learning in a community of practice in order to feel supported and sustained in the process
Developing Coding Structures For Becoming Affect-Savy in the Fully Online Community Model
No full textThis study aims to provide support for the efficacy of the Fully Online Learning Community (FOLC) Model by examining communication between participants within a series of recorded online focus groups and by investigating the behaviours that are undertaken by participants. A coding system based on body language expressions is proposed as an outcome of this study and the affective domain of the participants is analyzed through facial expressions, body language and content (words) employed. Findings suggest that affects (emotions) have a preeminent role in the social presence in FOLC environments. Positive emotions are easier to detect as individuals exhibit them without masking, with some possible exceptions arising from personal dispositions and cultural inferences. Negative emotions can also be detected through a combination of facial expressions and body language coding. However, findings were not consistent for determining sadness and surprise states and further studies will have to explore ways to differentiate these affects from others. The instigations set forward by the participants and affective responses to the behaviours of instigators provided support for the empirical study about the efficacy of facilitation and interactions within fully online learning environments
The COVID-19 Pandemic: On the Everyday Mechanisms of Social Murder
No full textThe goal of this commentary is to explore and reflect upon some of the everyday normalized mechanisms of social murder operating in the Covid-19 pandemic. Although social murder is activated in a complex and hidden process, it is nonetheless put in place by actual policymakers in the course of their actual everyday lives. Drawing on Engels’ original writings about social murder, and the work of contemporary authors such as Chernomas and Hudson, Birn, Grover, and Hodkinson, I explore the relentlessness of social murder – a deeply entrenched historical repetition of lethal, public policy-induced disease and illness. Using the cycle of oppression (stereotype, prejudice, discrimination, oppression) I illustrate in more granular detail how some of these mechanisms play themselves out in the social murder of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although oppression and social murder are somewhat abstract concepts, they are (re)envisioned and (re)enacted in the material world we live in, by actual people, especially those who operate in the public policy realm. I conclude with Scambler’s greedy bastards hypothesis (GBH), underscoring that the perpetrators are known, as are the policy-based solutions