Decoding	
  	
  
Across	
  the	
  Disciplines	
  
at	
  
Mount	
  Royal	
  University	
  
Janice Miller-Young and Michelle Yeo
on behalf of
Genevieve Currie, Janice Miller-Young,
Jennifer Boman, Michelle Yeo, Ron
MacDonald, and Stephanie Zettel

Middendorf & Pace (2004). Image from http://www.iub.edu/~hlp/model.html

Informing	
  Practice	
  
O1. Informing the decoding interview process
O2. Curriculum and pedagogical applications

at Mount Royal University

Informing	
  the	
  Decoding	
  
interview	
  process	
  	
  
O Faculty Learning Community
O Interviews with 7 faculty members from a

variety of disciplines
O Transcripts analyzed
O inductively; and
O from hermeneutic,

O phenomenological (embodiment), and
O narrative identity lenses

The	
  Bottlenecks	
  
O cognitive (thinking processes): 4
O engineering, nursing/biology, journalism,

theatre
O epistemological (nature of knowledge): 1
O journalism

O ontological (being and becoming): 2
O nursing

Inductive	
  Analysis:	
  
Common	
  themes	
  
O 7 common themes identified
O ways of thinking
O deconstructing/reconstructing; recognizing

patterns
O ways of practicing
O valuing provisionality; expanding thinking;

attending to the world; taking agency

O ways of being
O being ethical/authentic

Theme:	
  Attentiveness	
  to	
  the	
  
world	
  
O participants spoke about a natural

curiosity and attentiveness to their
environments

Theme:	
  Attentiveness	
  to	
  the	
  
world	
  
O “One of the questions I ask myself all the

time is, ‘What else do I want to know about
this patient? What else will help me take
care of him?’…. A lot of it is being
observant… I think that has really helped me
in terms of understanding and gathering all
the information that I need.”
-Louisa, nursing

Theme:	
  Attentiveness	
  to	
  the	
  
world	
  
O “I am keenly conscious of how some structures

that are used in journalism come across as very
authoritative, and thus reinforce whatever truth
they are delivering, and I am conscious of voice in
journalism… I am very conscious of the machinery
and the process by which the journalism is
produced and that is where a true critique of any
piece of writing has to start, with an
understanding of the conditions of production of
it.”
-Juan Carlos, journalism

Theme:	
  Attentiveness	
  to	
  the	
  
world	
  
O “If they decide to work in acute care and

when they keep seeing the same person or
the same issues again and again… they will
ask what are we doing in the environment
that predisposes people for not being
successful? They will think ‘Back it up, back
it up’ and look upstream and say ‘How did
this happen?’”
-Wendy, nursing

cognitive
1
thinking

Deconstructing/
reconstructing

Recognizing patterns

practicing

Valuing provisionality
Expanding thinking
Attending to the world
Taking agency

being

Being ethical/authentic

2

3

epis.
4

1

ont.
1

2

Considerations	
  for	
  our	
  
teaching	
  
O how can we help students integrate knowing,

practicing, and being?
O do we decontextualize knowledge from the
practice to which it relates?
O do we prioritize content and ‘efficiency’ over
deep understanding?
O do we focus on epistemology at the expense
of ontology?

Application	
  -­‐	
  CSL	
  
O multidisciplinary faculty self-study
O data: decoding interviews, individual

reflections on the interview; individual and
group reflections on the self-study process
O findings: Decoding interview played a key
role in generating learning and in fostering a
climate of trust; multidisciplinary nature of
our group was important
Miller-Young et al. (2015) Decoding Ourselves: An Inquiry into Faculty
Learning About Reciprocity in Service-Learning. Michigan Journal of
Community Service Learning, 22(1).

Application	
  –	
  Athletic	
  
Therapy	
  
O program-wide curriculum project; moving

from a deductive model to a ‘clinical
presentation model’
O findings:

ODecoding interviews played an important role

in building a community of practice
O Decoding interviews helped some participants
realize that the bottleneck for students was
something other than what they originally
thought it was

Thank	
  you!	
  
O For reference list or more information about

this presentation, please contact
jmyoung@mtroyal.ca