Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education
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Partnering with an Aboriginal Community for Health and Education
No full textCultural awareness is a concept that is gaining much attention in health and education settings across North America. This article describes how the concepts of cultural awareness shaped the process and the curriculum of an online health education project called Interprofessional Collaboration: Culturally-informed Aboriginal Health Care. The exploration focuses on the interactions among faculty members and educational developers from Laurentian University, Elders of the Anishinabek tradition, and members of the Anishinabek community known as the North Shore, an area approximately two hours northwest of Sudbury. The project\u27s curriculum is driven by choices made by the Anishinabek Elders, with support from their cultural community and the local university. The online module developed for this project provides health-care students at Laurentian University,
with access to traditional knowledge, including the teachings of the Medicine Wheel and the Seven Grandfathers. Ideally, these teachings will lead to an increase in culturally informed care for Anishinabek clients and their families in northern Ontario. The process used by the university-based team with the Elders and the larger community of the North Shore is recommended as a possible template for university-based teams working with Aboriginal partners. Finally, the Anishinabeks of the North Shore are recognized as a cultural exemplar of a community that appreciates the intersection and potential of traditional knowledge and contemporary health education practices and technologies
Non-Formal Adult Learning Programs at Canadian Post-Secondary Institutions: Trends, Issues, and Practices
No full textA number of recent policy reports have suggested that Canadian universities and community colleges should play a more significant role in response to the adult education and training needs of Canada’s workforce. This article discusses the results of a study that examined investment trends and the characteristics of non-formal adult learner programming at Canadian postsecondary institutions. Public universities and community colleges were surveyed, and a purposive sample of key informants, representing the broad spectrum of postsecondary education in Canada, was interviewed. The results indicated that institutional investments in non-formal programs for adult learners have trended upward over the past decade. Colleges reported larger average annual institutional expenditures on and larger enrolments in non-formal adult learner programs. However, adult learners comprise only a small minority of the overall student population at post-secondary institutions. Financial barriers at both the institutional and individual levels were identified as key barriers to increasing access and participation. Limited operational funding at the institutional level has influenced the nature and scope of offerings and, for many institutions, has resulted in program offerings that do not necessarily target the needs of nontraditional and disadvantaged adult learner groups. The study findings have important public-policy implications for improving access and participation in non-formal adult learning, including the need for greater incentives for individuals (e.g., tax incentives) and increased support for disadvantaged learners to enhance basic-skills training
Teaching Philosophy: Moving from Face-to-Face to Online Classrooms
No full textThis article explores the similarities and differences between Canadian and Australian university teachers’ face-to-face and online teaching approaches and philosophies. It presents perspectives on teaching face-to-face and online in two comparable Canadian and Australian universities, both of which offer instruction in these two modes. The key research question was to determine if moving from face-to-face instruction to on-line teaching results in new teaching approaches or in a creative blend of those developed within each teaching modality. Qualitative data were collected using an open-ended survey, which asked participants for their thoughts on their face-to-face (f2f) and online teaching experiences. Quantitative data were collected using the “Teaching Perspectives Inventory,” which assessed participants’ teaching approaches and philosophies in terms of their beliefs, intentions, and actions. The authors’ conclusions address the issue of assisting teachers to successfully make the transition from traditional teacher-centred to newly emerging learner-centred teaching approaches in distributed classrooms
Problem-Based Learning in Canadian Undergraduate and Continuing Medical Education
No full textThis article provides an overview of problem-based learning (PBL) in Canadian undergraduate medical education and continuing medical education (CME) programs. The CME field in Canada is described, and the major professional associations that require physicians to take annual courses and programs are noted. A brief history of PBL in undergraduate medical education is presented, along with definitions of PBL and a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. Problem-based learning in CME has been adapted, in some cases, to suit its special circumstances; this is demonstrated by examples of how the CME departments of three universities have implemented PBL. Finally, the future of research in this field is reviewed
About Us: Reflection and Dialogue on the Purpose of University Continuing Education in Canada
No full textThis article is a response to Scott McLean’s (2007) CJUCE Forum article “About Us,” which set out the claims that university continuing education (UCE) units make about themselves on their websites. Using the activities of the Legal Studies Program of the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta as a reference point, this article suggests that the activities of UCE units may not be as bland as their purpose statements suggest. The ability of those statements to represent the visions of UCE units is questioned, as is the adequacy of the processes by which such statements are generated. In doing so, the author exposes the need to catalogue what UCE units are actually doing and reflect on why we seem to need to downplay some of those activities. The article concludes with the suggestion that in presenting a synthesis of the units’ purpose statements, McLean takes UCE units full circle to the debate he set to the side: What should UCE units do
