

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Professional Learning Groups and Courses
Communications Development Team
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Develop marketing strategies and communication tools for our Centre's website
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Design, create and edit website
Scholarly Writing Group (Vancouver Island University, 2013-2015)
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Member of an interdisciplinary writing group facilitated by VIU’s writing centre
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Members encourage and support one another’s writing projects through constructive feedback, critique and editing
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Meet monthly
Learning to be Together: Indigenous Knowledge and the Academy (Vancouer Island University, 2013-2015)
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Member of a full-year interdisciplinary cohort investigating what Indigenous knowledge in higher education
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Using the Anishinaabek way of knowing, participants considered various theories, case studies, histories, oral traditions and teachings related to Indigenous knowledge in the academy
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The course combined readings, lectures, discussions, outings and personal reflection to encourage participants to think critically about the place of Indigenous knowledge and the academy in a contemporary context
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Participated in off-campus events that connected participants to some of the sacred places and sacred teachings of the First Nations groups whose land our institution occupies and neighbours
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Presented my key learnings and reflections in a year-end witnessing held at VIU’s Shq’apthut (Gathering Place)
Facilitating Online Learning (FLO), BC Campus (Fall, 2015)
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Participant in Facilitating Learning Online (FLO) course
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The course introduces research-based adult and online learning concepts, principles and strategies that can make online facilitating fun and effective.
As a student in this course I:
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co-facilitated, a learning activity on a pre-assigned topic;
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integrated adult and online learning theories and principles into activities I facilitated;
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experimented with a variety of learning-facilitation techniques and strategies;
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gave and received constructive feedback;
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worked in online teams;
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reflected on, and planned how to apply, what you have learned to other courses and contexts.
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Earned two badges: “Active Learner” and “Reflective Facilitator”
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Earned FLO certificate
Essential Communication Skills in Conflict (Facilitated by Donna Soules, 2015)
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This 2-day course explored how we give and receive messages that can create conflict. It looked at the dynamics of anger, examining listening habits in conflict situations, and discovering the difference between collaborative, judgemental, and defensive responses. Through practice situations and role-playing, we developed essential communication skills of acknowledging, probing, asserting and balancing assertiveness with understanding.
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Certificate earned
Speaker series and Guest Lectures
The W5 of Academic Research (VIU Scholarly Speaker Series, Sping, 2014)
(Invited Speaker)
Title: "What would happen if I did...this?" Exploring improvements to teaching practice through action research
Blurb: In this session, Kathleen contextualizes both action research and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) through a discussion of two research projects. One project investigated how redesigning an undergraduate course to include a prominent community-based experience affected learning experiences for students, community partners, and the instructor. The second research project is investigating how a blended approach (using both online and face-to-face environments for learning) can be applied to faculty development programs here at VIU. Both projects use a practitioner-based action research methodology, and are driven by reflective and collaborative inquiry. This session outlines the process of coming to these research projects, discusses the methodologies involved, and touches a little on the findings in order to inform a holistic understanding of a scholarly approach to inquiry into one’s own practice.
Guest Lecture, VIU Faculty of Education, MEDL 550, Summer, 2014 (Research in Education, Dr. Paige Fisher)
(Invited Speaker)
Title: Action-Research: Inquiry into teaching
Blurb:This session discusses an action research project that was situated in a teacher education course centered on issues of diversity in education. During this talk, I will discuss how I came to engage in a reflective inquiry into my own teaching; illustrate how I crafted my inquiry question, look at how data was collected and analyzed using a qualitative, open-coding approach. I will also discuss the findings and how I represented my data through writing.
Guest Lecture, VIU Faculty of Nursing, Fall, 2013 (Nursing 100: Health and Healing, Barbara Metcalf and Maureen O’Connor)
I was invited to two nursing classes to assist the instructors in facilitating a calibrated peer review project. My role was to help explain calibrated peer review, as well as work with students to understand rules of APA formatting.
Guest Speaker, Shanghai Instructor’s Workshop, Spring, 2014
Title: Teaching and Learning at VIU
I spoke to a group of Shanghai instructors who were participating in a one-week intensive teaching and learning course offered through VIU’s International Education program. My talk highlighted the role of VIU’s teaching and learning centre, outlining the variety of programs and support we offer.
List of Professional Organization Memberships
Educational Developers Caucus (EDC)
Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE)
Canadian Society for the Studies of Education (CSSE)
Canadian Association of Teacher Education (CATE)
Canadian Association of Curriculum Studies (CACS)
Canadian Association for the Studies of Women in Education (CASWE)
Service
Reviewer
The Journal of Community Engagement in Higher Education
Grant Writer
Parent Advisor Council, Ladysmith Primary School (LPS)
I volunteer to assist Ladysmith Primary School by writing grant applications. These grant applications are intended to support the school in acquiring much needed learning technologies.