UNews - Amy von Heyking

Curriculum Design Challenge Day Inspires Innovation Among Master of Education Students

caroline.zentner — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 20:17:36 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Master of Education in Curriculum and Assessment Program held its first annual Curriculum Design Challenge Day on Wednesday, July 15, 2015. The event, co-hosted by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge AGILITY Program, challenged participants to propose a new vision for the curriculum of the first professional semester (PSI) in the Faculty of Education.

Dr. David Slomp and Dr. Amy von Heyking (Faculty of Education) organized the Challenge Day with the intention of providing participants the opportunity to propose new solutions to a specific and real-world curriculum challenge. Partnering with the U of L AGILITY Program, which focuses on providing innovative and entrepreneurial learning experiences for students, the Curriculum Design exercise allowed 45 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge master's students to apply their knowledge and experience to offer creative and innovative solutions for post-secondary curriculum.

“The enthusiasm was infectious and the students shared creative and inspiring solutions for the problem presented,” says Dr. Lesley Brown, Vice-Provost & Associate VP Academic. “The event reinforced that opportunities for innovation span many disciplines, and that students are well-equipped to bring unique, varied ideas to the table in a real-world approach.”

Aaron Stout was one of 45 master's students to participate in the Curriculum Design Challenge.

The idea behind Challenge Day and the Inspiring Education initiative isn’t radical.

“In many ways, the event focused on answering perennial questions about how to make education relevant for kids, and how we are connecting with learners so they see that there are authentic ways to demonstrate what they have learned and why it matters,” says von Heyking.

The panel of judges for the event was selected based on their expertise and involvement in developing education:

· Dr. Lesley Brown, Vice-Provost & Associate Vice-President (Academic), ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

· Amber Darroch, Associate Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Horizon School Division

· Dr. Dawn Burleigh, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

· Melissa Gough, Education Undergraduate Student Association Executive Committee Member, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge

Challenge Day participants commented on how the biggest challenge of the day, besides the five-hour time limit, was throwing away preconceived ideas and structures that the Faculty of Education has for students entering their PSI.

“For me, it was interesting to think about what is education, what is its purpose and from that, what should a teacher look like. It was cool to just throw away everything that you know already and just create a whole new vision,” says Calvin de Haan, first year Master of Education in Curriculum and Assessment student.

Participants were encouraged to use their personal experiences to propose changes to the current PSI structure based on problems that they encountered as student teachers and as current education professionals mentoring student teachers.

“One of the things that stood out to me was that our opinions were being valued. I really felt that they were interested in what we had to say,” says Lisa Paton, first year Master of Education in Curriculum and Assessment student.

The winning team of Curriculum Design Challenge Day consisted of Sara Jans, Heidi Paterson, Bob Vanderbeek, Josie Hammond, Fleur Sweetman, Kaeli New and Morgan Schaufele. Their solution to innovating PSI was to develop competent education professionals by focusing on relational intelligence, self-awareness and regulation, and sensitivity to context and situation.

The ideas and visions generated from the event will be presented to faculty members to provide different perspectives on how U of L Faculty of Education Professional Semesters will be done in the future.

Building on curriculum and assessment

darcy.tamayose — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 20:17:50 +0000

In 2013, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Education launched the master’s in education program focusing on curriculum and assessment.

Dr. David Slomp works with Curriculum and Assessment MEd students during Graduate Studies Summer School 2014.

“By 2016 Alberta expects to have brand new curriculum in every subject area,” says Dr. David Slomp. This program is designed to promote teacher leadership in curriculum and assessment redesign that is taking place across Canada.

“Rather than being subject-specific,” says Dr. Amy von Heyking, who co-developed the MEd program with Dr. Slomp, “the radically changed curriculum is framed around competencies, such as critical thinking, innovation, creativity, collaboration, and problem solving.”

“Outcomes for these core competencies are hard to assess using standard practices,” says Slomp. “Changes in curriculum have to be paralleled by changes in assessment. The two need to be integrated, not just practically, but theoretically and intellectually. When you build a curriculum that works at this level you need locally developed, high-quality assessments to capture the competencies.”

“Traditionally, questions of curriculum and assessment have been separated,” says von Heyking. “This program brings them together, forcing a dialogue that asks students to develop new theoretical models for both.” Students examine the way curriculum is changing and the way assessment questions need to change in response – then they build assessment tools that reflect those changes.

“We get each of them to identify an assessment need in their classroom, school or district,” says Slomp. He cites the example of one educator who is teaching Biology, Chemistry and Math together as part of the redesign. “We will work with her on how to measure those core competencies in that kind of a packaged science course.”

“We ask them to think differently,” says von Heyking. “They come to understand the history of the system and what we can learn from past innovations. We challenge them to be able to defend what they believe education is for. Fundamentally, these are philosophical issues.”

The three-year program consists of campus-based courses each July, one online course each fall, and another each spring.

“The first year is setting a foundation for understanding curriculum and assessment,” says von Heyking; “the second is research-focused, looking at innovative initiatives and having the opportunity to work specifically on their own practice; the final year puts it together, synthesizing what they’ve learned and how it reshapes our understanding of curriculum and assessment.”

The current cohort, with participants from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon, shares information and exchanges ideas in a collaborative environment, taking back to districts, schools and classrooms groundbreaking theories and practices.

“Students taking this course are emerging in their schools and districts as leaders,” says Slomp. “They’re able to design more local curricula and work in much more creative ways with school structure,” adds von Heyking.

Childhood studies the basis for new research institute

trevor.kenney — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:06:50 +0000

The study of childhood issues from a multi-disciplinary perspective is at the essence of a new research institute established by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

The Institute for Child and Youth Studies will bring together researchers from several disciplines who are increasingly adding child and youth studies projects to their research portfolios. The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Board of Governors approved the new research institute at its October 11, 2012 meeting.

The Institute for Child and Youth Studies (I-CYS) formalizes a concept developed by a multi-disciplinary group of faculty members who hosted the successful Childhoods Conference at the U of L in May 2011.

Their efforts attracted researchers, professional practitioners and guests from around the world to consider the state of child studies. This was the start of a number of discussions, research partnerships and joint projects that eventually led to the establishment of I-CYS.

"Virtually every academic discipline touches on children and youth, but the information and the expertise is not often connected," says Dr. Janay Nugent, a history researcher and one of the six U of L faculty members involved in the process to launch the institute.

"We are aiming to bring people together for research collaborations, and to contribute to the broader community through partnerships with local agencies and policy-making organizations," Nugent adds.

"Our long-term plans include establishing a multi-disciplinary workshop series and a triennial conference devoted to understanding the role of children and youth in society, developing undergraduate and graduate degrees in Child and Youth Studies, as well as encouraging post-doctoral research."

This is the ninth Research Institute to be established at the U of L. David Hill, the U of L's recently-appointed Director of Centres and Institutes, says the Child and Youth Studies group will be a welcome addition to the cross-campus collaborations that are already taking place.

"In order to grow our research profile and move new ideas forward, we are encouraging our people to work together in different ways. There are many positive outcomes I see in bringing this group – and the people they attract – into the U of L family to further research in this very critical area, and I look forward to working with them to establish this institute."

An advisory committee is also to be established, with input from researchers, community agencies, First Nations, Metis and Inuit groups as well as undergraduate and graduate students. There is also a provision in the organizational structure for affiliate researchers from other universities in Canada, international scholars and professional practitioners working with children and youth.

Six U of L researchers from the U of L will form the initial directorate. They include: Dr. Louise Barrett, Psychology; Dr. Elizabeth Galway, English; Dr. Heidi Macdonald, History; Dr. Jan Newberry, Anthropology; Dr. Janay Nugent, History; Dr. Amy von Heyking, Education.

An opportunity to honour faculty achievement

trevor.kenney — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:52:13 +0000

Following is a list of those receiving awards, and the books they authored.

2011 Book Award Recipients
Pamela Adams, The Essential Equation
Yale D. Belanger, ed. Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada
Yale D. Belanger, Ways of Knowing
Reginald W. Bibby, The Emerging Millennials
Glenda Tibe Bonifacio, ed. Gender, Religion, and Migration
Bryson Brown, ed. On Preserving
Michael Campbell, Field Recordings of Icebergs Melting
Cynthia M. Chambers, Life Writing and Literary Métissage as an Ethos for Our Times
Andrea M. Cuéllar, The Quijos Chiefdoms
Dayna B. Daniels, Polygendered and Ponytailed
Alexander Darku, Empirical Essays in Open Economy Macroeconomics
Richard G. Delisle, Les Philosophies du Néo-Darwinisme
Elizabeth A. Galway, From Nursery Rhymes to Nationhood
Trudy Govier, A Practical Study of Argument
Geoffrey Hale, ed. Borders and Bridges
John S. Harding, Introduction to the Study of Religion
John S. Harding, Mahāyāna Phoenix
John S. Harding, ed. Wild Geese
Trevor W. Harrison, 21st Century Japan
Erika Hasebe-Ludt, Life Writing and Literary Métissage as an Ethos for Our Times
David J. Hay, The Military Leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046-1115
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Handbook of Research on Information Management and the Global Landscape
M. Gordon Hunter, Little Empires
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Selected Readings on Strategic Information Systems
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Strategic Information Systems
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Technological Advancement in Developed and Developing Countries
Dan Johnson, Grasshopper Identification & Control Methods
Edward Jurkowski, ed. Eduard Tubin
Dan Kazakoff, Little Empires
Abdie Kazemipur, Social Capital and Diversity
Abdie Kazemipur, The Generation X
Lynn Kennedy, Born Southern
Bryan Kolb, Introduction to Brain & Behavior
Igor Kovalchuk, ed. Genome Instability and Transgenerational Effects
Igor Kovalchuk, ed. Plant Epigenetics
Olga Kovalchuk, ed. Genome Instability and Transgenerational Effects
Christopher J. Kukucha, The Provinces and Canadian Foreign Trade Policy
James R. Linville, Amos and the Cosmic Imagination
Claudia Malacrida, ed. Sociology of the Body
Jennifer Mather, Octopus
Ian McAdam, Magic and Masculinity in Early Modern English Drama
Susan A. McDaniel, ed. Ageing: Key Issues for the Twenty-First Century
Susan A. McDaniel, Close Relations
Kevin M. McGeough, ed. American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Reports
Kevin M. McGeough, The Romans: An Introduction
Sheila McManus, ed. One Step Over the Line
Craig Monk, Writing the Lost Generation
Dave Witte Morris, Ergodic Theory, Groups, and Geometry
Richard E. Mueller, ed. Pursuing Higher Education in Canada
Richard E. Mueller, ed. Who Goes? Who Stays? What Matters?
Maria N. Ng, Pilgrimages
Janay Nugent, ed. Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland
Kent A. Peacock, The Quantum Revolution
Sergio Pellis, The Playful Brain
Sergio Pellis, Sex Differences
Adriana Predoi-Cross, ed. Infrared Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Accelerator Based Sources
Janice Rahn, ed. Viewfinding
Thomas A. Robinson, Ignatius of Antioch and the Parting of the Ways
Hillary Rodrigues, Introduction to the Study of Religion
Deborah Saucier, Psychology
Shelley Scott, Nightwood Theatre
Jonathan P. Seldin, Lambda-Calculus and Combinators
Gongbing Shan, Arts Biomechanics
Amy J. Shaw, Crisis of Conscience
Alan Siaroff, Comparing Political Regimes
Michael Stingl, ed. The Price of Compassion
James Thomas, Production of High Quality Fenugreek
Brian Titley, The Indian Commissioners
David Townsend, The Essential Equation
Peter Visentin, Arts Biomechanics
Amy von Heyking, Teaching with Dear Canada
John von Heyking, ed. Civil Religion in Political Thought
John von Heyking, ed. Friendship & Politics
Judith Whitehead, Development and Dispossession in the Narmada Valley
Ian Q. Whishaw, Introduction to Brain & Behavior
Patrick C. Wilson, ed. Editing Eden
Pamela J.T. Winsor, The Language Experience Approach to Literacy for Children Learning English
Margret A. Winzer, Children with Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms
Margret A. Winzer, From Integration to Inclusion
Walter Wymer, ed. The Routledge Companion to Nonprofit Marketing

For a look at the March issue of the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ celebrates faculty authors

trevor.kenney — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:33:47 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge is celebrating the achievements of faculty members who authored books in the past two years with the 2011 Book Awards.

A public reception will be held in the Markin Hall Atrium on Wednesday, Mar. 16, beginning at 3 p.m.

Following is a list of those receiving awards, and the books they authored.

2011 Book Award Recipients

Pamela Adams, The Essential Equation
Yale D. Belanger, ed. Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada
Yale D. Belanger, Ways of Knowing
Reginald W. Bibby, The Emerging Millennials
Glenda Tibe Bonifacio, ed. Gender, Religion, and Migration
Bryson Brown, ed. On Preserving
Michael Campbell, Field Recordings of Icebergs Melting
Cynthia M. Chambers, Life Writing and Literary Métissage as an Ethos for Our Times
Andrea M. Cuéllar, The Quijos Chiefdoms
Dayna B. Daniels, Polygendered and Ponytailed
Alexander Darku, Empirical Essays in Open Economy Macroeconomics
Richard G. Delisle, Les Philosophies du Néo-Darwinisme
Elizabeth A. Galway, From Nursery Rhymes to Nationhood
Trudy Govier, A Practical Study of Argument
Geoffrey Hale, ed. Borders and Bridges
John S. Harding, Introduction to the Study of Religion
John S. Harding, Mahāyāna Phoenix
John S. Harding, ed. Wild Geese
Trevor W. Harrison, 21st Century Japan
Erika Hasebe-Ludt, Life Writing and Literary Métissage as an Ethos for Our Times
David J. Hay, The Military Leadership of Matilda of Canossa, 1046-1115
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Handbook of Research on Information Management and the Global Landscape
M. Gordon Hunter, Little Empires
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Selected Readings on Strategic Information Systems
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Strategic Information Systems
M. Gordon Hunter, ed. Technological Advancement in Developed and Developing Countries
Dan Johnson, Grasshopper Identification & Control Methods
Edward Jurkowski, ed. Eduard Tubin
Dan Kazakoff, Little Empires
Abdie Kazemipur, Social Capital and Diversity
Abdie Kazemipur, The Generation X
Lynn Kennedy, Born Southern
Bryan Kolb, Introduction to Brain & Behavior
Igor Kovalchuk, ed. Genome Instability and Transgenerational Effects
Igor Kovalchuk, ed. Plant Epigenetics
Olga Kovalchuk, ed. Genome Instability and Transgenerational Effects
Christopher J. Kukucha, The Provinces and Canadian Foreign Trade Policy
James R. Linville, Amos and the Cosmic Imagination
Claudia Malacrida, ed. Sociology of the Body
Jennifer Mather, Octopus
Ian McAdam, Magic and Masculinity in Early Modern English Drama
Susan A. McDaniel, ed. Ageing: Key Issues for the Twenty-First Century
Susan A. McDaniel, Close Relations
Kevin M. McGeough, ed. American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Reports
Kevin M. McGeough, The Romans: An Introduction
Sheila McManus, ed. One Step Over the Line
Craig Monk, Writing the Lost Generation
Dave Witte Morris, Ergodic Theory, Groups, and Geometry
Richard E. Mueller, ed. Pursuing Higher Education in Canada
Richard E. Mueller, ed. Who Goes? Who Stays? What Matters?
Maria N. Ng, Pilgrimages
Janay Nugent, ed. Finding the Family in Medieval and Early Modern Scotland
Kent A. Peacock, The Quantum Revolution
Sergio Pellis, The Playful Brain
Sergio Pellis, Sex Differences
Adriana Predoi-Cross, ed. Infrared Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Accelerator Based Sources
Janice Rahn, ed. Viewfinding
Thomas A. Robinson, Ignatius of Antioch and the Parting of the Ways
Hillary Rodrigues, Introduction to the Study of Religion
Deborah Saucier, Psychology
Shelley Scott, Nightwood Theatre
Jonathan P. Seldin, Lambda-Calculus and Combinators
Gongbing Shan, Arts Biomechanics
Amy J. Shaw, Crisis of Conscience
Alan Siaroff, Comparing Political Regimes
Michael Stingl, ed. The Price of Compassion
James Thomas, Production of High Quality Fenugreek
Brian Titley, The Indian Commissioners
David Townsend, The Essential Equation
Peter Visentin, Arts Biomechanics
Amy von Heyking, Teaching with Dear Canada
John von Heyking, ed. Civil Religion in Political Thought
John von Heyking, ed. Friendship & Politics
Judith Whitehead, Development and Dispossession in the Narmada Valley
Ian Q. Whishaw, Introduction to Brain & Behavior
Patrick C. Wilson, ed. Editing Eden
Pamela J.T. Winsor, The Language Experience Approach to Literacy for Children Learning English
Margret A. Winzer, Children with Exceptionalities in Canadian Classrooms
Margret A. Winzer, From Integration to Inclusion
Walter Wymer, ed. The Routledge Companion to Nonprofit Marketing

Examining faith-based education

trevor.kenney — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 23:13:56 +0000

What contribution does faith-informed education make to a liberal democracy? Are there multiple, educational models that need to be considered? Most definitely, and Alberta is a fertile province for ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ interested in researching citizenship education.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Dr. Amy von Heyking, an educational historian and associate professor in the Faculty of Education, is one of those interested in documenting the institutional histories of faith-informed schools that have made the shift from independent to public systems. She looks to record stakeholders' perceptions of what they have gained or lost in the process.

Dr. Amy von Heyking is using her ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar research grant to take a closer look at Alberta's educational model.

In addition to being one of the few provinces that has retained its publicly-funded separate Roman Catholic school system, Alberta is the only province to fund its charter schools with public monies. Numerous faith-informed programs and schools have also been integrated into the public system, as fully-funded alternative programs.

"Clearly, what we have is a willingness to identify and promote alternative educational models within our province," says von Heyking.

In other parts of Canada, movements to extend public funding to faith-informed schools have typically been met with resistance.

"In public or politicized debates about the issue, religious instruction is often associated with a lack of tolerance and narrow-mindedness," says von Heyking. "We need judicious scholarship that explores the impact of religious faith on the nature of schooling and, more specifically, the ability of schools to meet the civic education outcomes as defined by the province of Alberta."

Her two-year ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar research grant, recently awarded by the Office of the Vice-President (Academic), will allow her to make a substantial contribution to this body of knowledge.

In conjunction with her research partner, Dr. Lance Grigg, von Heyking has already conducted an exploratory study examining the impact that faith-based curricula has on citizenship outcomes in one school in southern Alberta. As a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar she is able to devote additional time to research and will continue exploring the relationship between citizenship and religious education in a range of publicly funded faith-informed schools around the province.

This story originally appeared in the December issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue of the December Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

The future of Canadian history

trevor.kenney — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:08:56 +0000

Are we becoming a historically illiterate nation or are we already there? What teaching strategies would pique the interest of today's techno-generation?

These are a few of the types of questions U of L education professor Dr. Amy von Heyking and her colleagues from The History Education Network/Histoire et Education en Reseau (THEN/HiER) are investigating.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) recently awarded the collaborative network $2.1 million to study ways in which teaching Canadian history in the K-12 setting can be made more relevant.

"Children are not being given the opportunity to think http://www.uleth.ca/newsstand/fiat/sites/all/themes/zen/fiat/images/spac... says von Heyking. "Clarifying the skills that historians use – collecting data, interpreting primary documents, assessing evidence, exploring the perspectives of people in the past – all are valuable in helping us improve the curriculum in the K-12 education system."

Through research, von Heyking and THEN/HiER intend to promote historical consciousness, heighten understanding of collective heritage and improve communication between teachers and historians.

Their collaboration extends to various public institutions and the education system – they dialogue with historians, educators, graduate students, heritage agencies and others from across the diverse field of Canadian history.

THEN/HiER works on an international level with history networks based in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. In this region, von Heyking will partner with teachers in classroom settings and work directly with education programmers at local museums and heritage sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

"The goal of THEN/HiER is to encourage history education research that is informed by practice, and practice that is informed by research. We will continue to try and find ways to help teachers and public institutions to work together to build links," says von Heyking.

UNews - Amy von Heyking

Curriculum Design Challenge Day Inspires Innovation Among Master of Education Students

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Building on curriculum and assessment

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Childhood studies the basis for new research institute

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Examining faith-based education

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��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ celebrates faculty authors