Institute for scholarship of
teaching and learning

Annual Report
2012-13

Gaining new insights into
university teaching and learning
by integrating knowledge and
collaborating across academic
disciplines and contexts
Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISoTL)
Mount Royal University
4825 Mount Royal Gate SW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
T3E 6K6
mtroyal.ca/isotl

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Table of contents
About the Institute ………..……………………………………. 2
Staff and Associates ………..……………………..…………..... 3
Nexen Scholars Program …...……………..……………………. 4
Making a Difference to Teaching and Learning .………………….. 5
Nexen Going Public Awards ..………………………..…….…… 6
Gone Public: More Nexen Project Dissemination …..…….....….. 7
SoTL Symposium ………………………………………………. 8
Financial Summary ……………………………………………... 9
Looking Forward ……………………………………………… 10

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Engaging in the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning
authentically means to be
motivated by a duty and
commitment to serve the
important interests of students
- Kreber, 2013

About the Institute
The Institute for Scholarship of

The Institute supports rigorous,

The Institute for Scholarship of

Teaching and Learning seeks to

systematic, evidence-based study of

Teaching and Learning operates as a

encourage, facilitate and support the

teaching and learning which is focused

engagement of Mount Royal University

on student learning, grounded in

* nexus for communication and

faculty in teaching-learning related

context, and methodologically sound.

collaboration, providing resources and

scholarship, and to advance the existing

It is inclusive and unified by potential to

coordinating initiatives locally,

body of research in this area.

have impact in the classroom, and to

regionally, nationally, and beyond,

… DIVERSE … APPLIED … PRACTICE-BASED …
RESEARCH ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

* community of scholars advancing
the existing body of knowledge about
teaching and learning, while building a
culture of inquiry,

Our goals are to build a culture of

contribute to the study of teaching and

scholarship related to teaching and

learning and the production of

* research centre encouraging,

learning, cultivate communities of

knowledge. It is diverse in discipline,

facilitating, and supporting

practice, and encourage

theory, methodology, and method.

investigation leading to deeper

interdisciplinary collaboration in this

understanding of and sustained

area, and to assume a leadership role in

improvement in student learning.

building the profile of the scholarship of
teaching and learning provincially and
nationally.

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STAFF and associates
Janice Miller-Young, P.Eng, PhD
Director (effective July 2013)
2013 Nexen Scholars Program Facilitator
jmyoung@mtroyal.ca

Anne Johnston
Administrative Co-ordinator
ajohnston@mtroyal.ca

Deb Bennett, Dept of General Education
2012-13 Nexen Scholars Program Co-ordinator and Facilitator

Miriam Carey, Academic Development Centre
2013 Nexen Scholars Program Facilitator

Ron MacDonald, Dept of Journalism
2013 Nexen Scholars Program Facilitator

Karen Manarin, Depts of English and General Education
2012-13 Writing Workshop Facilitator and Consultant

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2013 Scholars and their projects
Investigating the connections
between technology, student
perceptions, and student learning,
Brett McCollum, Chemistry
Theory and Practice: Placing Field
Experience at the Center of the
Teacher Education Program, Kevin
O’Connor, Education and Schooling
Communities of Practice: Students’
experiences within an introductory
education course, Gladys Sterenberg,
Education and Schooling

NEXEN Scholars program

“This whole experience has been
really productive for me.

A generous donation from Nexen Inc.

inquiry projects, conduct research that

The group is really supportive —

supports the Nexen Scholars Program,

sheds new light on a significant aspect

when we found things that

an annual research development

of student learning, share evidence and

challenged our

program designed to encourage and

findings publicly in an effort to

assumptions about education, we

support faculty committed to

influence practice in the field, and help

could talk through different issues.”

systematic scholarly inquiry into

build a culture of teaching and learning

Karen Manarin, 2009 Nexen Scholar

student learning.

scholarship at Mount Royal

2012 Writing Residency
Participants

Since 2009, the Nexen Scholars
from a range of academic disciplines

participate in three multi‐day off‐site

How Term Projects Help Students to
Connect Theory with Practice, Israel
Dunmade, 2010 Nexen Scholar

committed to investigating and

residencies, and engage in monthly

documenting significant issues and

collaborative activities during the time

challenges in teaching and learning.

that they develop and conduct their

Students’ Experience of Learning
Disciplinary Thinking in a First Year
Physics Course, Qasim Syed, 2010 Nexen
Scholar

Over 40 Mount Royal faculty have

inquiry.

Student Evidence of Change in
Themselves as Learners When They
Take a Course That is Intended to
Enhance Their Learning
Effectiveness, Lee Wertzler, 2010 Nexen
Scholar

Program has brought together faculty

participated in the Nexen Scholars
program, representing all of 6 Mount
Royal’s academic faculties, and 23 of
its academic departments.

University. Nexen Scholars are
selected for a one‐year term,

The Nexen donation also supports
Going Public Awards for scholars to
present their work at conferences, and
an annual writing residency to assist

The central work of the Nexen

them in preparing an article for

Scholars is to develop course-based

publication.

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Making a difference to teaching and
learning
How do new technologies
affect student learning?
In a previous study, Associate
Professor and Apple Distinguished
Educator Brett McCollum discovered
that iPads greatly increase students’
ability to visualize molecules — an
essential skill for chemists, and one
that poses significant challenges for
many students. As a result of his
findings, the Department of Chemistry
has been able to acquire a set of iPads
to use in the classroom.
Brett already uses this technology in
various ways in his teaching. In his
Nexen-sponsored project, Brett will
be investigating the connections
between technology, student
perceptions, and student learning
using a think-aloud protocol where
chemistry students will describe their
thought processes as they try to match
physical or visual chemical
representations to the correct
symbolic representation of various
molecules.
“What we’re really doing here is
taking a traditional teaching model
and modernizing it for technology
available today that students are
well-adapted to use.”
-Brett McCollum, 2013 Nexen
Scholar

How do one-on-one
interactions with instructors
impact student
performance?
Assistant Professor April McGrath
knew that even though many of her
students struggled with statistics,
they did not come to her for help —
so she decided to explore the effects
of mandatory office hours on student
performance.
For one semester, April met with
every student one-on-one for a
“learning check up”. Beyond helping
students with specific course
content, she guided them in
developing strategies to improve
their study habits. Not only did
students’ test scores improve, but
April also found she gained a deeper
understanding of the difficulties and
anxieties her students experience —
enabling her to modify her teaching
to address those issues.
“I have a much better
understanding of my students
now. I know what concepts they
struggle with, and how their
attitude is affecting their study
habits. And I can help them
work through those challenges.”
-April McGrath, 2012 Nexen
Scholar

How can we help students
apply what they are learning
in the classroom to the
workplace and to their
everyday lives?
Faculty Development Consultant
Miriam Carey, PhD, wanted to know
how instructors could help students
understand the connections between
their studies and the world around
them.
“Students tend to treat their courses as
though they’re separate from each
other and don’t apply to anything else.
I want to show them how what they’re
learning in one class can be applied to
other classes, the workforce and their
own lives.”
Miriam used non-traditional teaching
methods, such as journaling, small
group work and reflective papers to
inspire integrative learning, analyzing
the students’ journals to determine the
efficacy of her methods. While her
study confirmed her assumption that
these non-traditional methods inspire
deeper learning, she was surprised by
the strength and self-awareness
students displayed in their writing.
“I used to ask myself, ‘How can I
teach what’s in the textbook?’
Now I ask, ‘What do students really
need to learn? And how can I help
them learn it?’”
-Miriam Carey, 2009 Nexen Scholar

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NEXEN 2012-13
GOING PUBLIC AWARDS
Spatial Cognition, a Threshold
Concept Everywhere!, 4th Biennial
Threshold Concepts Conference & 6th
NAIRTL Annual Conference/June
2012/Cork, Ireland/Katherine Boggs,
Earth Sciences, 2009 Nexen Scholar
Millennial Generation
Perceptions of Web Source
Credibility: Adventures in
Objectivity, Improving Student
Learning Through Research and
Scholarship: 20 Years of ISL/August
2012/Lund, Sweden/Patrick
Carmichael, General Education, 2011
Nexen Scholar
Does Term Project Format Affect
its Effectiveness in Helping
Students’ to Connect Theory with
Practice or Not? 2012 ISSOTL
Conference/October 2012/Hamilton,
Ontario/Israel Dunmade, Earth Sciences,
2010 Nexen Scholar
Re-engineering Resilience:
Assessing Student Responses to
Race and Class in Courtney
Hunt's Frozen River, London Film
and Media Conference 2012: The End
of Representation/June 2012/London,
England/Kelly Hewson, English, 2011
Nexen Scholar

Science and Math Anxiety and Its
Influence on Student Learning,
2012 Symposium on Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning/November
2012/Banff, Alberta/Melanie Rathburn,
General Education & Biology, 2010 Nexen
Scholar
Mentoring: A Study in Studio
Pedagogy, as it Relates to Voice
Training for Classical Singers at
the Undergraduate Level, 2012
ISSOTL Conference/October
2012/Hamilton, Ontario/Reid Spencer,
Theatre, Speech and Music Performance,
2011 Nexen Scholar
A qualitative analysis of
journalism students' reflections
of value making in social
research methods, World
Journalism Education Congress /July
2013/ Mechelen, Belgium/Maria
Victoria Guglietti, Journalism, 2012 Nexen
Scholar

Investigating How Digital
Technologies Can Support a
Triad-Approach for Student
Assessment in Higher
Education, E-LEARN 2012 World Conference on E-Learning
in Corporate, Government,
Healthcare & Higher
Education/October 2012/
Montreal, Quebec/Norm
Vaughan, Education and Schooling,
2009 Nexen Scholar
Data in Dialogue: Students’
Evidence of Student
Learning, 2012 ISSOTL
Conference/October
2012/Hamilton, Ontario/Lee
Wertzler, Psychology and
Undergraduate Studies, 2010 Nexen
Scholar

Designing Curriculum to
Foster Creativity:
Adapting Class Design to
Student Demographic,
OBTC Teaching Conference for
Management Educators/June
2013/Asheville, USA/Amy
Zidulka, School of Business, Royal
Roads University, 2011 Nexen
Scholar

My participation in the 3rd World Journalism Congress was rewarding at many levels. First, it allowed me to discuss my project with scholars
engaged in my discipline, many facing similar challenges. Second, I had the chance to network with scholars engaged in similar projects. Third, I
was exposed to new concerns and challenges in journalism education that are related to my own interest in value making, such as the rapid change
in journalism professional identity. If students value knowledge by making connections to, among other things, a learned view of their profession,
how is value making affected by contrasting definitions of journalism skills and knowledge? This is a question that I am looking forward to address
in a follow-up research project in the near future. – Maria Victoria Guglietti

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Gone public:
More nexen project dissemination
MRU SOTL-in-PROGRESS Series

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

What Connections Can Students
Make With Scholarly Articles When
Explicitly Encouraged To Do
So/February 2013/Margy MacMillan,
2012 Nexen Scholar

The use of guided reflection as a
SoTL methodology to explore fluid
processes: An exploration of value
making and professional identity
development as manifested in
reflection activities, MRU SoTL
Symposium/November 2012/Banff,
Alberta/Maria Victoria Guglietti, Journalism,
2012 Nexen Scholar

Just Checking In: The Effect of an
Office Hour Meeting and Learning
Reflection in an Introductory
Statistics Course/February 2013/April
McGrath, Psychology, 2012 Nexen Scholar
The Impacts of Student-Authored
Learning Plans in a Senior
Journalism Production
Course/March 2013/Sally Haney,
Journalism, 2012 Nexen Scholar
Exploring the Student Voice in the
Use of Case Studies/April 2013/Joanne
Bouma, 2011 Nexen Scholar
Are Research Methods Worth
Studying: A Description of
Journalism Students' Value Making
of Social Research Methods
Skills/May 2013/Maria Victoria Guglietti,
Journalism, 2012 Nexen Scholar

This past year, Nexen Scholars presented
their research at national and
international conferences in Canada, the
United States and Europe. A selection is
presented here. Of note, at the 2012
conference of the International Society for
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning –
the largest annual gathering of SoTL
Scholars in the world – Mount Royal
faculty delivered 16 presentations, the
largest number of presentations by any
university in Canada other than the host
university McMaster.

Are social research literacy skills
worth knowing? A qualitative
analysis of journalism students’
value making in a social research
methods class, Canadian
Communication Association
Conferece/June 2013/Victoria, BC/Maria
Victoria Guglietti, Journalism, 2012 Nexen
Scholar
Invigorate Your Accounting
Classroom: Using Group Activities
to Enhance Learning, Wiley Faculty
Network Accounting Workshop/
February 2013/Toronto, ON/Valerie
Kinnear, Accounting, 2011 Nexen Scholar
Students’ Experiences Learning
Statistics, Society for Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education/June 2013/
Sydney NS/April McGrath, Psychology, 2013
Nexen Scholar
The Role of Student-authored
Learning Plans in a Senior
Journalism Production Course,
International Society for the Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning/Oct
2012/Hamilton, ON/Sally Haney,
Journalism, 2013 Nexen Scholar

What would you do for a
double-wide?: Rendering the
invisible visible in a
introductory film studies class,
Canada, Culture and the US Border
Conference/June 2013/Sault Ste.
Marie, ON/Kelly Hewson, English,
2011 Nexen Scholar
Developing professional
identity in journalism
education: A qualitative
exploration of third year
students’ learning about
research literacy skills, Canadian
Association of Communications
Annual Meeting/ June
2013/Victoria, BC/Andrea Williams,
Journalism, 2013 Nexen Scholar

PUBLICATIONS
Calculations and Expectations:
How engineering students
describe three-dimensional
forces, Canadian Journal for the
Scholarship of Teaching and
Learning, 4(1)/Janice Miller-Young,
Math, Physics & Engineering, 2009

Nexen Scholar
Formative Assessment and
Syntheses in Reflection
Journals, Transformative Dialogues
6(3)/Jodi Nickel, Education &
Schooling, 2010 Nexen Scholar
Have you, my little serpents, a
new skin? Collected Essays in
Teaching and Learning, 5/Kelly
Hewson, English, 2011 Nexen Scholar

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SoTL Symposium
http://isotlsymposium.mtroyal.ca/2012Symposium/index.html
The Institute for Scholarship of

research projects, and building an

Teaching and Learning hosted our

extended scholarly community. The

third annual Symposium on

goals of this event included

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning,

understanding and improving student

November 8 – 10, 2012 in Banff,

learning through systematic scholarly

Alberta with pre-symposium

inquiry and building collective

workshops offered on the first

knowledge for the future. There were

afternoon. This gathering of

more than 100 participants at the

teacher/scholars was a “practitioners

Symposium, (approximately 34 from

conference” dedicated to developing

Mount Royal University) from more

individual and collaborative teaching

than 30 institutions. The Symposium

and learning scholarship, sharing

offered over fifty concurrent sessions

nascent data and findings, going public

and also featured four keynote

with compelling results of completed

presentations.

Workshops
Prior to the Symposium Opening Reception and Banquet on Thursday, November
8 2012, the Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning sponsored a series of
Pre-Symposium Workshops. These workshops were designed to be hands-on,
collaborative, and practical, focusing on three areas of import for those engaged in
and supportive of the scholarship of teaching and learning.
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning & Faculty Development: A
Collaborative Conversation. Facilitators: Marg Wilson (Norquest College) and
Richard A. Gale (MRU)
Casting a Wider Net, Fishing in New (Data) Streams: Finding the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Wherever it Might be Hiding.
Facilitator: Margy MacMillan, MRU Library, 2012 Nexen Scholar
Qualitative Methods of Data Collection & Analysis in Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning. Facilitator: Deb Bennett, MRU General Education, 2009
Nexen Scholar

Keynotes
We were pleased and honored to have four
distinguished keynote speakers for the
2012 Symposium on Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning.
Carol Geary Schneider, President of
the Association of American Colleges and
Universities (AAC&U), spoke at our
Opening Banquet on Thursday night,
November 8.
Jennifer Murphy, Manager of the Irish
National Academy for Integration of
Research, Teaching and Learning
(NAIRTL) spoke on Friday afternoon,
November 9.
Carmen Werder, Director of the
Teaching-Learning Academy at Western
Washington University, joined Erik
Skogsberg on the role of student voice in
scholarship of teaching and learning on
Saturday afternoon, November 10.
Erik Skogsberg, a doctoral student in
the College of Education at Michigan State
University, joined Carmen Werder to
speak about his experience as a an
undergraduate and graduate student
scholar of teaching and learning on
Saturday afternoon, November 10.

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Financial summary

Revenue

Nexen Donation

166,645

Symposium Registrations

63,309

TOTAL REVENUE

229,954

Labour Costs
(including benefits)

Non-Salary Expenses

Director's Honorarium

7,733

Administration

63,981

Students

600

Faculty Facilitators and Collaborators

8,016

Office of Research Services Support

10,000

TOTAL LABOUR

90,330

General Operating

10,766

Scholars Program including Writer's Residency

59,189

Symposium

69,669

TOTAL DIRECT EXPENDITURES

139,624

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Annual
report

2012-13

Looking forward
As incoming Director, I’d like to thank the previous Directors of this Institute, Drs. Richard
Gale and Jim Zimmer, under whose stewardship we developed interest and momentum in the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at Mount Royal University, and also received our two
major donations to date.
I have been involved with the Institute since its inception in 2008. I was one of the original
scholars in the Nexen Scholars Program, where I developed a project entitled “Calculations
and Expectations: How Engineering Students Describe Three-dimensional Forces.” This
project was a pivotal experience for me: I found a community of scholars who are interested
in engaging in scholarship about teaching and learning as a valuable and intellectual activity, it
changed my perspective about what makes good teaching, and it strengthened my assertion
that the scholarship of teaching and learning is an effective way for instructors to question
their assumptions about what is happening in their classroom, gain new insights about student
learning, and assess the effectiveness of the innovative pedagogies they are developing.
In order to make the transition from engineering to teaching and learning-related research, I
have sought out opportunities to learn and practice a wide range of research and teaching
methodologies, such as facilitating subsequent cohorts of Nexen Scholars, sitting on the
Human Research Ethics Board, and working for the Academic Development Centre. These
roles have exposed me to many of the innovative teaching and learning activities and
scholarship already happening at Mount Royal University. From this strong foundation, the
Institute will continue to work to build capacity for this type of scholarship, begin to support
collaborations across academic disciplines and contexts, and further involve students — with
the ultimate goal of developing a deeper understanding of and sustained improvement in
student learning.
Janice Miller-Young, PhD

Institute for the Scholarship of teaching and learning
Mount Royal University
4825 Mount Royal Gate SW
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
T3E 6K6