Congress 2012

This weekend I am headed off to Wilfrid Laurier and the University of Waterloo for Congress, the annual convention of the social sciences and humanities in Canada. I will be attending meetings and conference proceedings for the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE) and the Canadian Sociological Association (CSA). I will be part of a panel discussion for graduate students on publishing, presenting a poster on graduate student transitions, and giving a presentation on access and retention in higher education.

Student Diversity in Higher Education: Conflicting Realities

This week I am in Amsterdam for the European Access Network's 20th Anniversary Conference. I am looking forward to the paper sessions; in particular a presentation about widening assess and opportunities for graduate students, and plenary panel speaker Dr. Michael Nettles of Educational Testing Services in the U.S.

Congress 2011

I am currently in Fredericton, New Brunswick attending Congress, the annual gathering of scholars affiliated with the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. I presented yesterday for the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education on behalf of my research team that included Dr. Dale Kirby, Dr. Dennis Sharpe, and fellow graduate research assistants, Nicholas Morine, Jonathan Ricketts and Monique Bourgeois. The title of my talk was "Matriculating Eastward: An Examination of Factors Influencing the Inter-Provincial Migration of Maritime Students to Newfoundland and Labrador." There is a good graduate student presence here and I have attended a number of interesting talks on doctoral student transitions and development.

I would also like to extend my congratulations to Dale Kirby and Morgan Gardner, who have won the Canadian Educational Researchers' Association's R. W. B. Jackson Award for their paper, entitled "The schooling they need: Voicing student perspectives on their fourth year in senior high school". I am accepting the award today on their behalf.

Student Retention

Today I will be presenting with my research colleagues at First Year in Focus: Maximizing Student Retention- Everyones Responsibility, McGraw Hill Ryerson's 38th National Teaching and Learning Conference, hosted by Memorial University's and College of the North Atlantic. The title of our talk is "Participation and Retention of High School Online Learners in Post-Secondary Education." Dr. Vincent Tinto of Syracuse University, who has written extensively on student persistence at the undergraduate and doctoral levels, will be speaking on student success. More info can be found here.

Graduate Student Teaching and Skills Development

This week I am traveling to the University of Toronto for a conference entitled, "Navigating your PATH: Teaching Assistant and Graduate Student Development." This is the first national conference focusing on teaching assistant and skills development in graduate students to take place in Canada. More information can be found here.

Aldrich Interdisciplinary Conference

Next week (Feb.21-23) the Graduate Student's Union of Memorial University will be holding the Aldrich Interdisciplinary Conference. Presentations will be centered around the following themes: socio-economic impact of research, pedagogy, and sustainability. For the first time, this year's conference will be open to student and faculty at a national level. More information about the conference can be found here.

E-Learning: The Horizon and Beyond

This week I attended and presented at Edge Conference 2010, an international conference on the use of technologies in K-12 and Post-Secondary Education. The event was hosted by Memorial University. My presentation focused on the impact of high school distance e‐learning experience on post‐secondary participation and perception of distance education. I presented on behalf of our research team which also included lead researchers Dr. Dale Kirby and Dr. Dennis Sharpe; fellow Ph.D. student, Monique Bourgeois.