In the Winter of 2020, my introductory Canadian politics class started to develop its own online, collaboratively-built, open-access, introductory "textbook" on Canadian politics. Drawing on the principles of critical pedagogy, the assignment engages students in group work to generate plain-language primers that can connect with an…

When we give meanings to a physical space, we engage in place-making. With technologies, the place-making activities can be extended to virtual and hybrid spaces. In games, actual or virtual space can gain narrative and meaning transforming into a playce (i.e., a place for play). We suggest that playce-making (i.e., transforming a space into a…

This paper presents the results of an inquiry into a creative, whole-school integrative learning project that started with posing a 'big question'. Data were generated to deepen understanding regarding the effects of implementing creative project-based learning Hi on student lived experience and student attitudes toward learning. Research on…

The paper documents the final project in an undergraduate seminar on multilingualism at the University of Toronto from a pedagogical perspective. The multimodal and multimedia project -- centered on the idea of a fictitious festival of popular music, the Mondovision Song Contest -- uses the genre of pseudo-documentary as a channel for…

This article delves into moments of affect, puncturing the exchanges between an early career 2SLGBTQ+ researcher and a group of Canadian adolescents, mostly composed of girls, who developed a ClayMation video to take the pulse of emerging vibrancies in maker literacies. Among these dynamisms came the matter of gender in the research project.…

This action research investigates DigiPen, an innovative locally developed secondary school course where students are actively engaged in project-based learning while studying how to work effectively in teams focused on digital game design. Students apply art, math, physics, and computer science knowledge and learn important life skills. DigiPen…

This study describes the literacies practices of three bi/multilingual fifth-grade students attending a French-language school in an urban community in Canada during a digital-physical Maker activity that included three phases: Plan Making, Instrument Making and Multimodal Making. Framed by theories of new literacies and embodied/sensory…

In a case study of a Canadian urban high school, with mainly Aboriginal students that were non-traditional learners, teachers reported that student-centered learning within a culturally-responsive atmosphere contributed to educational success. The school and teachers provided wholistic, experiential, and relational instruction, deeply-steeped in…

This paper tests a new theoretical framework for engaging students by evaluating two project-and-design-based pedagogies: "Arts Integrated Collective Creation (AICC) and Educational Social Enterprise (ESE)." Findings provide statistical support for benefits with middle school students when instruction is designed around Socially…

How do ideas evolve in the context of collaborative design? This research explores the framing strategies and tools involved in the co-construction of a shared understanding in the early stages of a design project. We observed a team of four industrial design students working to design a pop-up shop. We found that, while the key design elements of…

While educators value wikis' potential, wikis may fail to support collaborative constructive learning without careful scaffolding. This article proposes literature-based instructional methods, revised based on two expert instructors' input, presents the collected empirical evidence on the effects of these methods and proposes directions for future…

This article discusses transformation of passive knowledge receptivity into experiences of deep learning in a lecture-based music theory course at the second-year undergraduate level through implementation of collaborative projects that evoke natural critical learning environments. It presents an example of such a project, addresses key features…

Requiring students to complete their course assignments in partnership and in collaboration with students from other institutions is not commonplace teaching pedagogy. Even less so when they transcend disciplines and international borders. This paper presents a brief account of an ongoing collaborative effort between Ryerson University, Coventry…

In this article we present an integrated curricular model for addressing the transition from the intermediate to the advanced language level through peer-assisted learning activities in the post-secondary German classroom. In a series of group projects between students in second- and third-year conversation courses, we employed a learner-centered…

Purpose: Problem/project-based-learning (PBL) approaches have traditionally been shown to be effective for learning within many professional programs that are directly related to the students' future career. The PBL approach has been adopted for over four decades in such fields as medicine and engineering and studies have demonstrated that…