Week 16
Date: Tuesday, August 23
Event/Activity: Graduate Speaker Series - Education
Capacity: Student
Found: Grad House newsletter
Host: Grad House
Link: https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/currentstudents/Pages/Graduate-Speaker-Series.aspx
Description:
Beyhan Farhadi, PhD candidate (Human Geography) - Department of Geography & Planning: E-Learning, Social Differentiation, and Student Identity in the Toronto District School Board
The re-emergence of competency-based education as a model promising students access to 21st-century skills through the power of technology is belied by the intensification of educational inequality reflected in the provision of electronically delivered instruction (e-Learning) in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). In this presentation, I draw on ethnographic data informed by multiple interviews with 20 e-Learning students in the TDSB to set up the ideological assumptions which produce these digital spaces. Within these spaces, the concept of competence and the practice of differentiation are central.
Phylicia Davis, M.Ed. (Adult Education and Community Development) - Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE: Adult Literacy on the Margins: The KGO Adult Literacy Program
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current adult literacy policies and practices in Ontario and how they affect adult learners in this province. Particular focus is paid to the Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park (KGO) Adult Literacy Program, an outlier in current adult literacy policy. Using an autoethnographic approach, the paper analyzes and discusses adult literacy on the margins through three themes: literacy is personal, by the community and for the community, and an act of resistance.
Chizoba Imoka, PhD candidate - Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE: Educating for Colonial and Divisive Leadership - The Case of Nigerian Secondary Schools
My research responds to the longstanding call to create and advance an African education system that develops a new generation of democratic African leaders. Focusing on Nigeria, my study investigates how Nigerian secondary schools are preparing and equipping Nigerian students to contribute to the development of their communities in a culturally grounded, just, and inclusive way.
Experience:
What I learned:
-M
Event/Activity: Graduate Speaker Series - Education
Capacity: Student
Found: Grad House newsletter
Host: Grad House
Link: https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/currentstudents/Pages/Graduate-Speaker-Series.aspx
Description:
Beyhan Farhadi, PhD candidate (Human Geography) - Department of Geography & Planning: E-Learning, Social Differentiation, and Student Identity in the Toronto District School Board
The re-emergence of competency-based education as a model promising students access to 21st-century skills through the power of technology is belied by the intensification of educational inequality reflected in the provision of electronically delivered instruction (e-Learning) in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). In this presentation, I draw on ethnographic data informed by multiple interviews with 20 e-Learning students in the TDSB to set up the ideological assumptions which produce these digital spaces. Within these spaces, the concept of competence and the practice of differentiation are central.
Phylicia Davis, M.Ed. (Adult Education and Community Development) - Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE: Adult Literacy on the Margins: The KGO Adult Literacy Program
The purpose of this paper is to examine the current adult literacy policies and practices in Ontario and how they affect adult learners in this province. Particular focus is paid to the Kingston-Galloway-Orton Park (KGO) Adult Literacy Program, an outlier in current adult literacy policy. Using an autoethnographic approach, the paper analyzes and discusses adult literacy on the margins through three themes: literacy is personal, by the community and for the community, and an act of resistance.
Chizoba Imoka, PhD candidate - Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE: Educating for Colonial and Divisive Leadership - The Case of Nigerian Secondary Schools
My research responds to the longstanding call to create and advance an African education system that develops a new generation of democratic African leaders. Focusing on Nigeria, my study investigates how Nigerian secondary schools are preparing and equipping Nigerian students to contribute to the development of their communities in a culturally grounded, just, and inclusive way.
Experience:
- For some reason I always end up being late to these events; I had to sit in the first row and didn't manage to get pizza
- I also had to leave early *sigh* but I really enjoyed this one
- All summer I felt like I was going to these speaker sessions just to fill in my 52 weeks, so I promised myself this would be my last one; and boy am I glad I went! (I mean, I guess I study in the field of education so it makes sense; that being said, there are very few opportunities offered for grad students which is an issue)
- This session was pretty much full and it was great; the speakers were amazing, and each presentation in my opinion hit home closer and closer
What I learned:
- There was a lot of really interesting information being shared
- Importance of community and the nature of a community in creating a community centered program
- The issue with assuming something is "open" and "accessible" just because it's been taken online (eg. e-courses); but the realities of limitations and the irony of the course offerings (for the most part University streamed courses)
- The biggest take away for me was around EDI and systems of education - EDI has been a big theme for me the past half year; it's related to everything I do
- The final presentation in this session really brought that home for me; the researcher talked about Nigeria, and how the education system has impacted the political system and how the country perceives itself
- Colonialism has impacted the education system, so much so that english and french are the main languages, and the history taught in the classroom only begins after colonization
- In order for the country to change, the entire education system needs to be torn apart and built up again from scratch
- One person brought up an amazing point: for indigenous peoples, education (residential schools) was the destructive tool which caused the problem, but ironically is also the solution to the problem
- Education is so incredibly powerful which is why issues of EDI plays such a large role in my world; it's 100% a part of every aspect of higher education no matter how uncomfortable it may be
- Globally, institutions need to change (eg. western requirements for admission) before the education systems can
- Education plays a massive role in identity
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-M