SRS 2019

The third annual Student Research Symposium (SRS) took place yesterday. This was our biggest event to date with participation from nearly 100 graduating students from across the university.

While the entire day was bursting with interesting and provocative ideas, I was particularly pleased to have chaired a panel featuring students from Communications, Liberal Studies, and Motion Picture Arts. When my colleagues and I banded together three years ago to organize the first SRS, we imagined an event that gave students from across campus an opportunity to share their research findings with each other and other interested internal and external audiences. The delight that the panelists took in each other’s work and the collaborative way in which they tackled the thoughtful questions posed by the audience who had filled the classroom was inspiring.

My pleasure in the day only increased at the second session of the day when I had opportunity to hear Alex Levy, Liberal Studies and 2019 President’s Medal winner, deliver her research findings. I first met Alex when she was a second year student taking LBST 200 – our qualitative methods class. Even then she was interested in the topic of student homelessness and shocking number of students who find themselves precariously housed. Her survey of more than 250 Capilano students produced findings that have now caught the attention of Institutional Research and President Paul Dangerfield. Congratulations Alex!

I am already looking forward to April 2020!

CIRCLe 2018

Yesterday I attended CIRCLe 2018, a one-day symposium on ePortfolios hosted by the Faculty of Arts at UBC in collaboration with the UBC Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. In addition to having the pleasure of giving the lunch address with Christina Schulz, Liberal Studies 2018 and one of our outgoing peer mentors, we heard from Tracy Penny Light (TRU and AAEEBL Board Chair),  Thomas Lewis (Microsoft), and many inspiring UBC students and faculty.

I left with a sense that we are on the right track with our ePortfolio initiative here at Capilano University. We are striving to navigate the terrain between learning and career portfolios with care. We are foregrounding the importance of reflection and process in portfolio development. And we are setting out to cultivate a student-centred portfolio culture.

I left with new ideas for ways of moving forward. And I am excited by the possibilities for cross-campus collaborations that could emerge as ever more campuses explore the potential for portfolios to bridge academic learning and professional identities.

A warm thank you to Heidi May (Faculty of Arts, Office of the Dean & Arts ISIT) and Julie Walchi (Arts Co-op) for the invitation to join you yesterday.

AAEEBL’s Annual Conference / Portland OR

AAEEBL’s annual conference is being hosted by Portland State University from July 24-27. The conference theme is “Making the Case for Authentic, Experiential, and Evidence-Based Learning”.

Early bird registration closes May 31. This should be an exciting gathering of the ePortfolio community in a walkable and highly convivial city.

I am even more pleased to going now that my paper proposals have been officially accepted. See you there!

SRS 2017 / Student Research

One month to go!

Our inaugural Student Research Symposium is  an opportunity for Capilano undergraduates completing research projects or capstone projects to share their findings with their peers, faculty, family, friends, and the wider university community.

Graduating Liberal Studies students will be presenting alongside their peers from the Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Applied Behaviour Analysis, Bachelor of Communication Studies, and Bachelor of Early Childhood Care and Education.

We are working on the program right now!