Enhancing Teaching & Learning through Knowledge Mobilization

1. Knowledge Mobilization for Exemplary Teaching and Learning: a Research Program of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario Denise Stockley (Queen’s University) Tom Carey (HEQCO)

2. Knowledge Mobilization for Exemplary Teaching and Learning: a Research Program of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario Denise Stockley (Queen’s University) Tom Carey (HEQCO) • Opportunities for professional/faculty development: • Support for faculty collaborations across Ontario colleges to develop • knowledge and capabilities in teaching and learning • Option to partner on national collaborations • Support for your collaborations to develop faculty capabilities in teaching

3. Outline • Overview of the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario • Highlights of the upcoming Research Program • Discussion of opportunities and next steps

4. HEQCO Mandate • HEQCO is an independent agency funded by the Government of Ontario. • Its mandate is to conduct research and give policy advice to the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities on all aspects of postsecondary education in Ontario. • Influence change by providing evidence-based advice to institutions on best practices • Visit our website at www.heqco.ca

5. HEQCO Mandate cont’d • The Council has been asked by the Ontario government to do the following: • provide leadership in creating a quality framework for the postsecondary education sector • monitor and report on accessibility to the government and Ontarians • encourage inter-institutional transfer • advise on system planning and interjurisdictional competitiveness

6. Priority Research Areas • 4 priority research areas: • Participation (including accessibility) • Educational quality • Accountability • System design

7. Research Program in Knowledge Mobilization for Exemplary Teaching and Learning • Goal: • “to identify and promote exemplary teaching practices” • Model for change: • engage discipline communities of practice • raise the norm for quality of teaching: • from exemplary ‘on my hallway’ to ‘in Ontario’ +++

8. Why Knowledge Mobilization? • Few faculty are ready to conduct research on teaching & learning • Growing body of knowledge available: • Wisdom of expert teachers • Insights from emerging scholarship on teaching and learning • Knowledge embedded in open educational resources • Faculty as exemplars of “moving knowledge into active service”

9. Components of the KMETL Research Program • Collaborative projects to address • challenges in teaching & learning • Teams across multiple institutions • 6-12 projects planned • + support from HEQCO research staff • (learning experts seconded from Ontario institutions)

10. Components of the KMETL Research Program • Primary goal for each project: • improve learning experience • & student success • Secondary goal: “develop ways for groups to work together • to produce and share knowledge collaboratively” • Improve faculty capability for knowledge mobilization • Create legacy of knowledge products to inform/inspire colleagues • Foster ongoing knowledge exchange networks for teaching

11. Components of the KMETL Research Program • Pilot projects to illustrate collaborations • (& develop HEQCO team and processes) • Colleges: Developmental Math course redesign • Universities: undergraduate degree level expectations • Collaborative projects to address • challenges in teaching & learning

12. Components of the KMETL Research Program Pilot projects to illustrate collaborations • Collaborative projects to address • challenges in teaching & learning • Working group on platforms for knowledge exchange networks

13. Discussion of Opportunities and Next Steps • Potential high priority areas for knowledge mobilization for • teaching and learning - Ontario and national teams? • Priority areas for collaboration for knowledge mobilization • on professional development projects (with faculty as learners)? • Next steps toward collaborative projects? • kmetl.heqco.ca, tcarey@heqco.ca • KMETL press release at www.heqco.ca

14. 2009 Pilot Project for Collaborative Research on Developmental Math course design • Developmental Math chosen as focus with Colleges Ontario • Colleges invited through college Math Heads • Six colleges currently participating: • Conestoga, George Brown, Georgian, • Humber, Mohawk, Niagara • Links to parallel projects in the California State University • and California Community Colleges

15. What the Project Team Will Do “…Faculty on the project team will be working on redesign of a course at their own college, with a shared team focus (e.g., a Math I course). Team members contribute expertise to the collaborative effort by choosing specific areas to explore in more depth in Spring 09, either through redesigning aspects of the whole course or in specific topics or methods, such as video games to develop understanding of fractions or using “clickers” in the Math classroom. As course redesigns – local to each college, not a common course! – are implemented and evaluated, the team will continue to share their results to support further course redesign.”

16. Components of the KMETL Research Program • Deliver working prototype to support • collaboration and knowledge products • Plan for cooperative infrastructure: • Not: build it and they will come • Build “it” so it comes to them • (at the point of need) • Working group on platforms for knowledge exchange networks

17. Websites and Contact Info • CSU pilot studies of multi-campus collaborations • http://groups.google.com/group/csu-transform-dev-math-teams • Context: http://www.calstate.edu/ats/transforming_course_design/ • FACCTS for Developmental Math in the California community colleges • http://facctsdevmath.edublogs.org/ • Context: http://www.cccbsi.org/ • Knowledge Mobilization for Exemplary Teaching and Learning • http://kmetl.heqco.ca • tcarey@heqco.ca