In this paper, we report on the design and implementation of a state of the art Student Information System (SIS) being developed in a moderate size Alberta, Canada school jurisdiction. The SIS design is premised upon transparency, balanced, comprehensive, and multi-method assessments that links qualitative and quantitative data in support of…

The need to further integrate SoTL into college and university cultures has been discussed relatively frequently in recent teaching and learning literature. While a number of useful strategies to assist in this task have been advanced, one especially promising suggestion is the development of organized, institutionally-recognized scholarship…

This study was conducted as part of the OER for Skills Development project of COL, supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The objective of the study was to collect baseline data from Commonwealth institutions with respect to the development, use and reuse of OER; the availability of support; and challenges faced in fostering the…

As more children are growing up in cities than ever before, cities are investigating new ways to become more child-friendly, and to measure their progress towards this goal. Data dashboards are one tool that can help a city set policy priorities, monitor progress, encourage collaboration, inform decisions, increase accountability, and strengthen…

Although student involvement in research and inquiry can advance undergraduate learning, there are limited opportunities for undergraduate students to be directly involved in social science research. Social science faculty members typically work outside of laboratory settings, with the limited research assistance work being completed by graduate…

In 2011, CASE founded the Center for Community College Advancement to provide training and resources to help community colleges build and sustain effective fundraising, alumni relations and communications and marketing programs. This white paper summarizes the results of a groundbreaking survey on alumni relations programs at community colleges…

Several recent studies have shown that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are less physically active than their typically developing peers and are thus at risk of health problems associated with inactivity (e.g., obesity or diabetes). There is a need to examine the effectiveness of interventions such as swimming that are aimed at…

This pan Canadian participatory action research project involved faculty and managers in twelve Canadian colleges and institutes, nine employers, and 1300 students and workers in examining exemplary practice in essential skills as a way of catalyzing system change. Multiple sources of data were used in the three year project and key findings…

Technological innovations and the prevalence of the computer as a means of producing and engaging with texts have dramatically transformed how literacy is defined and developed in modern society. This rise in digital writing practices has led to a growing number of tools and methods that can be used to explore second language (L2) writing…

In the past few decades, especially since the 2008-09 economic downturn, the faculty of American colleges and universities has undergone a far-reaching transformation. Multiple factors, mainly extraneous to the campus itself, are reshaping higher education, and as a result a reprioritizing of the internal allocation of resources is occurring. The…

Cooperative and Work-integrated Education (CWIE) programs have been widely accepted as educational programs that can effectively connect what students are learning to the world of work through placements. Because a global quality standards framework could be a very valuable resource and guide to establishing, developing, and accrediting quality…

In the spring of 2015, the Centre for Academic Communication (CAC) at the University of Victoria began a series of projects aimed at understanding the needs of undergraduate and graduate students with English as additional language (EAL), with the goal of increasing the effectiveness of the Centre's programming. The first project, detailed in this…

When yes/no or multiple-choice answers do not suffice--when a qualitative understanding of a topic rather than a quantitative head count is needed--it is time to consider focus groups. They work well when learning why, how, and what for is more important than measuring how many. Focus groups are primarily an open-ended form of inquiry, enabling…

This backward-looking reflection, which stems from experiences of an action research project with teachers, begins with an overview of current perspectives on action research in education settings. Significant details of the project are described to provide context for identification and discussion of the strengths and weaknesses relating to…

Objective: U.S. and Canadian data demonstrate decreasing inpatient days, increasing nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits, and short supply of child psychiatrists. Our study aims to determine whether aftercare reduces ED visits and/or readmission in adolescents with first psychiatric hospitalization. Method: We conducted a population-based…