Overview
Leadership One of my responsibilities as a Faculty Developer (MDP program, Leadership coaching) is in supporting and empowering leaders at the college. At the moment I am overseeing the Manager Development Program at NorQuest, a seven module online learning experience developed by Mildred Richardson that helps new and continuing leaders at NorQuest understand their roles, responsibilities, and the processes and procedures that might enhance their performance and engender healthy working relationships.
Instructional Leadership Instructional Leadership was the focus of my doctoral dissertation. I was most interested in studying how informal instructional leaders (consultants, coaches, team leaders) negotiate and navigate their roles as they try to effect educational change. I continue to work with Academic Leaders (Deans, Chairs and Associate Chairs) through talking circles, one-on-one visits, and structured support opportunities.
NQ Service In the past five years I have served NorQuest College by
Community Service In addition to my service at NorQuest I have also provided leadership and service to several other organizations:
Special Projects I have been privileged to work on three special projects in the past four years:
On this page you will find overviews of role I played in these three major NQ projects.
Instructional Leadership Instructional Leadership was the focus of my doctoral dissertation. I was most interested in studying how informal instructional leaders (consultants, coaches, team leaders) negotiate and navigate their roles as they try to effect educational change. I continue to work with Academic Leaders (Deans, Chairs and Associate Chairs) through talking circles, one-on-one visits, and structured support opportunities.
NQ Service In the past five years I have served NorQuest College by
- conducting research for the NorQuest Research department and completing the WATSON project (see research page) (2015)
- taking a regular turn as a mentor and coach at The Lighthouse, a lunch hour drop-in for students.
- taking a lead role in organizing the annual Teaching and Learning Day (2017-2020)
- taking a lead role on the Week of Welcome planning committee (2018-2020)
- serving on the NorQuest Digital Literacy Project committee and also on the Virtual Learning and Collaborative Space Project (2020)
Community Service In addition to my service at NorQuest I have also provided leadership and service to several other organizations:
- I continue to serve as a board member (Past President) of the University of Alberta chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, an fraternity of educators from the Edmonton area that are dedicated to leadership, service and research. I was privileged to serve as president from 2014-2018 and as vice president from 2012-2014.
- I served my church as an elder (associate pastor) from 2017-2020 and completed my term in June of this past year.
Special Projects I have been privileged to work on three special projects in the past four years:
- writing curricula, piloting a remedial course, providing instructional coaching and writing up the final report for ISTEP 13 a CICan international project (2016-2019)
- conducting research and presenting findings on Leadership at NQ as a Culture Champion (2018-2019)
- sharing Futurist scenarios and eliciting feedback from Faculty as a NorQuest Futurist (2020)
On this page you will find overviews of role I played in these three major NQ projects.
NorQuest Futurists
The latest project I have been involved with was the Reimagining Higher Education project. In this project NorQuest Futurists shared possible visions and scenarios of what teaching and learning might look like in 2030 at the college. What would the role of the instructor be? How would students take courses, complete assignments, show competence? What would be the effect of improvements in online learning, virtual reality, micro credentials, hyflex learning formats and other trends in education. I was part of a small team that presented the "Future of Faculty". You can read more about our work by clicking on the blog entries below.
ISTEP 13
The central focus of the ISTEP 13 work at VETA Mwanza was the development of a remedial course for trainees accepted to the college for vocational studies who had challenges in literacy, organization, or subject-specific competency. The course intended to help trainees:
In all the ISTEP 13 Remedial Course involved eight missions, countless skype meetings and the development of a raft of lesson plans and resources. I was fortunate to be an integral part of five missions (more than any other Canadian participant was). I helped to formulate the curricula (Mwanza - mission 2), host the Tanzanian administrative officials and Mwanzan faculty team (Canada - missions 3 and 4) implement the first pilot in Mwanza (Mwanza - mission 5) and facilitate the debrief and compile recommendations for VETA (Vocational Education and Training Authority of Tanzania).
Although I wrote a number of reports for NorQuest and for CICan, I have decided to share only one, a personal reflection that I wrote for Sarah Apedaile as part of my intercultural training. It is, by far, the most interesting of the reports I compiled and the only one I feel I have a right to share. I wrote this report shortly after my second visit to Tanzania for mission #5 - the pilot. I also included the slide show that I used to do the presentation on the same topic. And, if you click on the button below, you can read the blog I kept when Jeanne Ratzlaff and I went to Tanzania in 2017 on Mission #2 - to work on writing the curricula for the remedial course.
- Develop confidence in their ability to learn new or challenging concepts,
- Become self-advocates of their own learning,
- Develop English language competencies and conversational skills,
- Develop effective habits of mind and study skills,
- Make real world connections for Mathematics and Science concepts,
- Address gaps in prior learning, and
- Explore career linkages.
In all the ISTEP 13 Remedial Course involved eight missions, countless skype meetings and the development of a raft of lesson plans and resources. I was fortunate to be an integral part of five missions (more than any other Canadian participant was). I helped to formulate the curricula (Mwanza - mission 2), host the Tanzanian administrative officials and Mwanzan faculty team (Canada - missions 3 and 4) implement the first pilot in Mwanza (Mwanza - mission 5) and facilitate the debrief and compile recommendations for VETA (Vocational Education and Training Authority of Tanzania).
Although I wrote a number of reports for NorQuest and for CICan, I have decided to share only one, a personal reflection that I wrote for Sarah Apedaile as part of my intercultural training. It is, by far, the most interesting of the reports I compiled and the only one I feel I have a right to share. I wrote this report shortly after my second visit to Tanzania for mission #5 - the pilot. I also included the slide show that I used to do the presentation on the same topic. And, if you click on the button below, you can read the blog I kept when Jeanne Ratzlaff and I went to Tanzania in 2017 on Mission #2 - to work on writing the curricula for the remedial course.
Culture Champions
In 2019 I was part of the Culture Champions team. Along with Heidi Schlack and Kristen Ouellet I was involved in gathering data about leadership and peer to peer power. This involved conducting a series of interviews with NorQuest employees, identifying themes and presenting these themes and suggestions for improvement in the larger report. I've included a picture of the larger Culture Champion team, an image with the ten elements that have been suggested as pivotal for adaptive cultures and an excerpt from the first report with the quotes, observations and recommendations from Heidi, Kristen and myself.