Browsing by Author "Parchoma, Gale"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Boundary Crossing and MOOC Design
    (2017) Bradshaw, Kathlyn; Parchoma, Gale; Lock, Jennifer
    This case study examined instructional designers’ perceptions of opportunities for formal and informal learning in a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) design. Cultural, historical, and technological influences interact within activity systems in which we teach and learn (Engeström, 2009a). Synthesis, analysis, and reflection upon findings resulted in answers to the central research question of how instructional designers perceive learners’ opportunities for boundary crossing between formal and informal learning within a specific MOOC design. Thus, this research study was conceptualized to inform a deeper understanding of design considerations that may be able to support both formal and informal learning opportunities in MOOCs. The research, a case study using mixed methods procedures, was conducted over three phases: a survey (Phase I), focus group interviews using a semi-structured protocol allowing the research to build on survey results (Phase II), and individual interviews to build on both the results of the survey and focus groups (Phase III). Findings identified key factors that influenced participants’ perceptions of opportunities for formal and informal learning, and boundary crossing within the MOOC design. The findings suggest participants perceived both formal and informal learning as activity systems. Designer-participant perceptions of the potential for boundary crossing between formal and informal activity systems identified tensions and contradictions in relation to the course structure and navigation, learning objectives (as known, unknown and unknowable), and designing for prescriptive and self-directed learning. Participants’ perceptions of opportunities for formal and informal learning, and boundary crossing within the MOOC design were influenced by prior formal instructional design experiences. The study surfaced implications for MOOC design that may support instructional design efforts for future MOOCs. A cultural, historical, and technological approach to design (Engeström, 2009a) may provide a framework to innovate, experiment, prototype, and analyze in order to augment e-learning -- particularly MOOC --success, create synergies between research and design activities, and intentionally factor informal learning integration into contemporary design and development.
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    Clinical Simulation-Based Assessment in Respiratory Therapy Education
    (2017) West, Andrew; Parchoma, Gale; Koh, Kim; Kim, Beaumie; Sharma, Nishan
    The manuscripts that comprise this dissertation collectively investigate clinical simulation-based assessment in respiratory therapy education. Clinical simulation, characterized by debriefing that engages learners in self- and collaborative peer-assessment in addition to formative instructor assessment, is a well-established set of practices in respiratory therapy education. Contextual factors within the profession of respiratory therapy in Canada, in particular its regulatory environment, are prompting a move from using formative debriefing sessions that support learning in simulation, to employing high-stakes testing intended to assess entry-to-practice competencies. There exists a need for the profession to consider how environmental factors, including externally derived requirements, may ultimately impact the effectiveness of simulation-based learning environments. It is proposed that several important social elements of the clinical simulation-based learning environment, including trust, ontological security, and fidelity, may be at risk in the face of the evolving assessment practices in health professions education. As an at once undertheorized yet highly technologically enhanced and connected approach to learning, a shift towards socio-cultural perspectives on clinical simulation assessment, research, and practice is needed to better understand the social phenomena inherent in clinical simulation. This shift can benefit from the adoption of networked learning theory to encourage deeper understanding of the interrelationships that exist among sociomaterial dimensions of clinical simulation. The findings of a qualitative case study are presented, examining the experiences of respiratory therapy students in clinical simulation learning environments where comparable instructional designs are characterized by differences between two important assessment approaches used in the field: formative debriefing for learning and summative debriefing for high-stakes testing. The findings indicate that social aspects of participants’ experiences in clinical simulation are characterized by: their comfort levels, their senses of ontological security, and their degrees of immersion in the simulation. Each of these experiential dimensions were impacted in some manner by the assessment design, a phenomenon that was further modulated by individuals’ self-reflexive capacity. These phenomena appear to coalesce to impact learners’ perceptions of their own performance in the clinical simulation context, which was also related to the approach to assessment built into in the instructional design.
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    Comparative Perspectives on Chemistry Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
    (University of Calgary, 2015-06) Bhola, Shaily; Parchoma, Gale; Werklund School of Education
    Science learning in higher education has been examined in light of the cognitivist and constructivist theories of learning and ways in which these theories can inform teaching practices. Science teaching practices have been studied from developmental and pedagogical content knowledge perspectives. This paper provides a review of seminal and recent literature on research advances in chemistry education, and the application of constructivist learning theories to teaching and learning.
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    Creative Problem Solving (CPS) in Practice: A Case Study
    (2017) Zidulka, Amy Diane; Groen, Janet; Parchoma, Gale; Kenny, Natasha; Drefs, Michelle; Butterwick, Shauna
    Creative Problem Solving (CPS) is a structured process for navigating complex, open-ended problems and achieving creative results (Puccio, Murdock, & Mance, 2011). Although CPS has been the subject of significant scholarly attention (e.g. Parnes, 1987; Puccio et al., 2006; Isaksen & Treffinger, 2004; Puccio & Cabra, 2010), there is a paucity of research exploring the multiple outcomes that might emerge from a CPS. There is also a dearth of research that considers the context in which a CPS session occurs. This study addresses these gaps. This study is guided by the question, “What happens when employees operating within an organizational setting engage in CPS?” It draws its theoretical foundation from workplace learning theory and practice theory. Methodologically, it uses a single, interpretive case. Generating data through onsite observation, interviews, and document analysis, the researcher considered what happened before, during, and after a vice president in a global, publicly traded aviation company facilitated a CPS session for other members of the company’s executive team. The study found that the facilitator faced multiple struggles in introducing CPS; that participants adapted and innovated the process; that participants assessed the success of the CPS session based on criteria other than whether it achieved creative outcomes; and that contextual factors influenced what was deemed a successful solution. This study suggests that those responsible for guiding employees in introducing and facilitating CPS should consider the following: • Practitioner resources should further emphasize the political skills needed to introduce and facilitate CPS. • Proponents of CPS should highlight its multiple potential benefits—as opposed to focusing on the achievement of creative results. • Proponents should consider linking CPS to the process of strategic planning, since the two practices are compatible. • CPS-focused scholars should develop a version of CPS that might be more easily integrated into existing organizational practices. This study contributes to academic knowledge by pioneering a new methodological approach to studying CPS, advancing the empirical application of practice theory, and providing empirical substantiation for theoretical scholarly discussions around the strengths and limitations of community of practice (CoP) theories.
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    Deconstructing the Graduate Seminar
    (University of Calgary, 2015-06) Parchoma, Gale; Power, Michael; Werklund School of Education
    Talent development through innovative graduate education is a primary focus of national and international governments and their university funding agencies, and a contested construct. This ethnographic study examines current Canadian English- and French-language graduate seminar design and teaching practices in faculties of education. A series of interconnected discernible characteristics of graduate seminar design and teaching practices are illustrated on a Cartesian plane, where the (x) axis provides a continuum from professor-led to student-led activities and the (y) axis provides a continuum from knowledge advancement to knowledge application. Implications for talent development through innovative graduate education are discussed.
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    Designing for Knowledge Building: An Action Research Study in an Elementary Classroom
    (2018-01-12) Parker, Robin Jayne; Jacobsen, Michele; Parchoma, Gale; Friesen, Sharon
    This study sought to better understand knowledge building as defined by Scardamalia and Bereiter (2003) as “the production and continual improvement of ideas of value to a community, through means that increase the likelihood that what the community accomplishes will be greater than the sum of individual contributions and part of broader cultural efforts” (p. 1370). This study, which was carried out in a grade three and four classroom, was bound by the following research question: What learning designs enable a class of students to engage in knowledge building? I employed practitioner action research as a methodological approach to examine, critically question, and transform my understandings of my practice, how I conduct my practice and the conditions under which I practice (Kemmis et al., 2014). Sources of evidence included samples of computer supported collaborative work, documents, observations and journals. Designs for knowledge building included the use of hooks to elicit real ideas and authentic questions from students, ongoing reference to knowledge building principles as defined by Scardamalia (2002), scaffolds to support student discourse, both face-to-face and online, and the use of Google Applications for Education (GAFE) as a networked space to support sharing and feedback for improving ideas. The outcomes of this research suggested that students did, with the support of scaffolds, engage with knowledge building principles, worked as a community to improve ideas of value to the community and used GAFE in support of the work of knowledge building. Findings of this study support an ongoing understanding of how both a teacher and a group of students new to knowledge building advance in their effort to continually improve ideas as a community. Recommendations for further research include: 1) how a culture for knowledge building might continue to shift in a classroom over time; 2) how those students with some experience in knowledge building might support those new to knowledge building; and 3) how the Social Infrastructure Framework (Bielaczyc, 2006, 2013) can support in the design for knowledge building.
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    Designing for Student Engagement in an Online Doctoral Research Method Course
    (University of Calgary, 2016-05) Simmons, Marlon; Parchoma, Gale; Jacobsen, Michele; Nelson, Dorothea; Bhola, Shaily; Werklund School of Education
    This paper is a report on preliminary findings of a scholarship of teaching and learning inquiry into a redesign of an online doctoral research course to include purposefully designed cycles of less formal auditory synchronous discussions with more formal text-based asynchronous discussions. The research design includes thematic analyses of archived auditory and text-based student engagements with learning resources, and with peers and the instructor, as well as student feedback via focus groups and individual interviews. The research design, data collection and data analysis procedures are explained and preliminary findings discussed. Recommendations for practice are shared.
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    Examining Interprofessional Team Decision Making through a Distributed Cognition Lens
    (2020-01) Green, Gordon; Lock, Jennifer V.; Parchoma, Gale; Friesen, Sharon; Lockyer, Jocelyn M.; Goldsworthy, Sandra; Curran, Vernon R.
    This study explores interprofessional healthcare team interactions and decision making from a distributed cognition perspective. The practice of patient care continues to increase in complexity requiring healthcare teams to assume roles that were traditionally the realm of the individual practitioner. While interprofessional teams are increasingly necessary, communication and decision making within healthcare teams have been identified as common sources of medical errors and these have been difficult to address despite considerable efforts. Research regarding interprofessional team performance has focused on individual team member abilities, as well as human interactions in achieving patient care outcomes. These approaches do not fully address the inherent complexities involved in team-based patient care. This qualitative research used a case study methodology to explore the socio-material aspects of interprofessional healthcare team communication and decision making through direct observation and video review of team-based acute care simulation, along with post-simulation participant interviews. A distributed cognition theoretical framework was used to study the interactions between team members, as well as those involving mediating artifacts, and relate these to expected performance measures to better understand how team communication, decision making and collaborative activities affect patient outcomes. This research identified the impact that the physical environment and mediating artifacts can have on the identification, communication, and interpretation of patient related information and ultimately on patient care decisions within interprofessional healthcare teams. This study reported contributions to team cognition, awareness, and decision making that have not previously been described in acute care interprofessional team assessment, and that effectively contributed to patient care outcomes.
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    New Mobile Technologies in a Rural, Alternate School: A Case Study
    (2016) McKay, Jennifer; Lock, Jennifer; Parchoma, Gale; Friesen, Sharon; Lock, Jennifer
    The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of special education teachers and child and youth care workers’ (CYCWs) individual and collective experiences integrating new mobile (iPad) technologies into their daily practices in a rural, alternate educational setting in British Columbia, Canada. The research used an exploratory, holistic, single-case study framed by Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory. Data was collected using six procedures: open-ended technology and iPad technology questionnaires; semi-structured focus group interviews; semi-structured individual interviews; observations; reflective memos; and reflective journals. Preliminary exploratory analysis; inductive data analysis; constant comparative methods of analysis; descriptive tables; concept mapping; and thematic charting were the qualitative data analysis techniques used to develop a coding system, to draw out key themes, and to interpret the findings. This study identified key factors influencing participants’ readiness to use iPads, current practices with these devices, conditions that enabled the use of iPads, and barriers to the use of these devices in alternate educational settings. The findings suggest that with ongoing, targeted professional development for educators that teaches them how to use technologies to support their teaching practices within their subject area, and regular opportunities and time to participate in collaborative conversations about technology integration, iPads could be integrated into classrooms in a sustainable way that enhances instruction and student learning. Additional research needs to address the gap between theory and practice, which suggests that teachers do not know how to effectively use iPads with students in ways that enhance students’ learning experiences and provide authentic, engaging learning activities.