I Am Woke

This praxis-based chapter explores advocacy in the English language teaching (ELT) field. The chapter introduces a new conceptualization of advocacy, the Critical Advocacy Framework, informed by Freire's critical consciousness (conscientização), Fanon's race (Black) consciousness, and Crenshaw's intersectionality paradigms. For critical advocacy praxis, this chapter integrates the “iron triangle” model from the American politics and public policy fields to highlight patron-client relationships between multilingual learners (MLs) advocates and stakeholders. This chapter highlights how the racially mixed author, a trained political scientist and newcomer to the ELT field, leveraged her Blackness, experiential and organizational knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in a Machiavellian sense, to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) throughout a TESOL state affiliate. The chapter provides evidence-based practices and learning activities for MATESOL program administrators, pre-service, and in-service English teachers.

Demystifying Critical Thinking through the Exploration of Social Media

Critical thinking is a term used to describe one of the aims of higher education programs around the world. As an example, the Council of Writing Program Administrators (2011) clearly lists critical thinking as one of five inherently desirable educational outcomes in post-secondary writing in the United States. However, the definition of critical thinking is complicated by a large variety of philosophical concepts and a lack of clarity as to what students should actually learn and do (Moore, 2013). Too often, university courses impose unclear expectations on students, which adds unnecessary difficulty, particularly for multilingual, multicultural, and international students, who might not be socialized into the use of critical thinking in academic work. (Robertson, et al., 2000; Tran, 2011). Even university instructors themselves admit to a lack of comprehensive understanding of critical thinking and how it can be taught (Hang, 2011). In so far as standards for critical thinking in academic work will be imposed on students, there is a need for a clarification of critical thinking, leading to practical directions for classroom instruction. In this chapter, I propose a pedagogically focused definition for critical thinking and illustrate how this definition can be applied to a teaching approach involving the exploration and presentation of information on social media. It begins with an explanation to students regarding the epistemology of critical thinking, dispositions that support or deter its practice, and integrated skills. Adhering to this framework of critical thinking, students then explore a variety of comments on social media in order to deepen their understanding of social issues and of society itself. This approach to teaching critical thinking also provides a structure for academic presentations or written assignments that may serve as final products of the learning experience. The nature of student perspectives with regards to this approach to teaching critical thinking is also discussed.

Gaps in the System: Supporting People Living With Dementia and Their Caregivers

As individuals are living longer, the prevalence of older adults living with dementia and other complex health and social care needs is on the rise (Alzheimer’s Association, 2020; CIHI, 2020). Correspondingly, efforts to develop supportive programming and policies for persons living with dementia (PLWDs) are of paramount importance (CIHR, 2019). The challenges faced by PLWDs and other complex health and social needs are widely known (CIHR, 2019), however, a systematic understanding of how and if current and long-standing efforts are adequately meeting the needs of these individuals remains elusive. This research sought to understand how program administrators, decision makers, PLWD, and caregivers across five North American jurisdictions (British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, New York State, and Vermont) perceived specific dementia care programs and support services within their respective jurisdictions. We performed an inductive analysis of semi-structured interviews (N=37) and identified on-going care gaps experienced by participants. We present three main gaps: 1) disconnected and uncoordinated system infrastructure, 2) lack of comprehensive services to meet the diverse needs of PLWD and their caregivers, and 3) inconsistency in how dementia is understood; with associated perceived remedies. The results suggest that even when attempts to address the needs of PLWD and their caregivers are put in place there remains significant limitations of systems. The perspectives of decision makers, program administrators and individuals with lived experience offer unique insight into how these experiences may be improved to better support the complex needs of PLWD and their caregivers.

P.177 The Effect of the COVID 19 Pandemic on theTraining of Surgical Residents in Canada. A Survey of Residents and Program Directors.

Background: The coronavirus 2019 pandemic has led to restructuring of health care systems and has subsequently had secondary effects on medical education. This study examines the impact on training of surgical residents in Canada. Methods: The study consisted of a 25-question survey for residents and a 22-question survey for program directors, which were distributed electronically through program administrators on July 3rd- July 11th, 2020. Questions sought to elicit residents’ current experiences and gain insight into methods by which to enhance future training. Results: 108 residents and 21 program directors, from various surgical specialties across Canada, completed the survey. Operative exposures were reported to be reduced by 25-100% and 39% of residents were redeployed. However, 89% of residents reported accessing academic half days virtually and 57% had additional online modules. Despite lost time, 100% of program directors confirmed that residents did not require training extensions. Concerns regarding training, personal health, employability and fellowships were raised. 55-70% of residents and program directors advocated for alternative educational courses, increasing elective time, utilizing simulation for assessment and flexibility in crediting different training experiences. Conclusions: Canadian surgical residents had a significant reduction in operative experiences during the pandemic. Moving forward, it will be important to find alternative educational experiences.

Critical Assessment and Reflection on Experience Form: A Novel Approach to Clinical Assessment

Context There is a clear need for quality improvement in health care. The 2020 Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education Standards for Professional Athletic Training Programs require students to apply concepts of quality improvement to provide athletic training care and deliver excellent patient outcomes. As such, programs may be looking for strategies to view students' clinical experiences through a lens of quality improvement. Objective To introduce the Critical Assessment and Reflection on Experience (CARE) form, which is a novel clinical education tool that assesses student clinical skills using critical reflection and quality improvement concepts. Background Historically, students have demonstrated achievement by comparing their skill performance with a competency checklist. Typically, the skills assessed, and the level of achievement expected progress to allow learning over time. However, current athletic training clinical education literature has shifted to promote experiential learning, critical thinking, and active reflection to develop competence. Description Students complete the CARE form after patient encounters or other clinical experiences. The form requires students to practice documentation and communication skills, but also to critically reflect on performance by applying quality improvement, patient safety, and evidence-based practice concepts. Clinical Advantage(s) The form holds advantages for multiple stakeholders, including students, preceptors, and program administrators. The CARE form encourages students to engage in authentic patient interactions rather than relying on contrived learning experiences. By encouraging live patient encounters, this tool results in less burden on preceptors to create additional opportunities for students. Program administrators can use the tool to incorporate quality improvement standards meaningfully into the curriculum. Additionally, the CARE form creates opportunity to document program assessment. Conclusion(s) Professional programs should consider implementing the CARE form as a clinical experience assessment tool to develop students' quality improvement and critical thinking skills when providing athletic training services.

A Scoping Review of the Health Benefits of Nature-Based Physical Activity

The health benefits of physical activity and spending time in nature are well established. However, children and adults in the United States are not participating in sufficient levels of physical activity and are not spending much time outdoors. Recently, increased access to nature for the health and wellness of all populations has seen growing public health attention, though a specific focus on nature-based physical activity has been limited. The purpose of this scoping review is to operationalize the health benefits of nature-based physical activity to provide guidance to program administrators, advocates, and researchers for nature-based physical activity to facilitate collaborations. Peer-reviewed literature was searched in PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and Google Scholar as well as in published reviews of the literature. The literature was divided into three categories of: 1) amount and location of nature-based components and physical activity; 2) added health benefits of exposure to nature-based components and physical activity; and 3) nature-based components and physical activity effect on non-white, marginalized, and vulnerable populations. This review supports and encourages multiple strategies to increase nature-based physical activity as this provides even greater benefit to health and wellness than exposure to nature or physical activity alone. Although many of the physical and mental health benefits of nature and physical activity are well established, additional research is needed to better understand the relationship between exposure to nature and nature-based physical activity. However, the existing information justifies the promotion of nature-based physical activities in public health initiatives.

Learning to Collaborate from Diverse Interactions in Project-Based Sustainability Courses

Project-based sustainability courses require and facilitate diverse interactions among students, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors. Most project-based courses take an instrumental approach to these interactions, so that they support the overall project deliverables. However, as courses primarily intend to build students’ key competencies in sustainability, including the competence to collaborate in teams and with stakeholders, there are opportunities to utilize these interactions more directly to build students’ interpersonal competence. This study offers insights from project-based sustainability courses at universities in Germany, the U.S., Switzerland, and Spain to empirically explore such opportunities. We investigate how students develop interpersonal competence by learning from (rather than through) their interactions with peers, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors. The findings can be used by course instructors, curriculum designers, and program administrators to more deliberately use the interactions with peers, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors in project-based sustainability courses for developing students’ competence to successfully collaborate in teams and with stakeholders.

Revisiting Native Speakerism in ELT: Viewpoints of Chinese EFL Program Administrators on the Recruitment and Workplace Situations of Foreign English Teachers

This article reports on a case study that explores the views of four EFL program administrators of a university located in central China about the hiring and workplace situations of foreign English teachers. It was found that the administrators as a whole buy into the conventional pro-nativeness ideology with regard to hiring foreign English teachers, though one of them displays critical awareness to some extent. The four administrators, except one, consider it natural and reasonable to grant more favor to foreign English teachers in payment and workload, and fail to see an academic apartheid for foreign teachers in relation to teaching task allocation and engagement in academic activities. All these findings suggest the continuity and tenacity of native speakerism among most ELT administrators, in addition to critical awareness on the part of some administrators. Moreover, this study proposes that native speakerism should be seen as an ideology against both NESTs and NNESTs, though the former still enjoy more privileges.  

Pricing of higher education: The case of top-ranked MBA programs

Tuition fees of full-time MBA programs with similar structure can vary greatly from around USD $20,000 to USD $220,000. This paper explores the effects of post-graduation salary, reputation, and their interaction on such high discrepancy in MBA tuition. Using a unique dataset of international MBA programs, we found that program value is positively correlated with post-graduation salary. This relationship is stronger for more prestigious programs whose values are impacted more by graduate outcomes. In addition, this relationship is greater for North American programs, but smaller for European programs, suggesting a geographical effect. These results provide managerial implications for program administrators and universities offering professional business programs. These insights can be extended to other industries of intangible experience goods.

Advancing Social Equity: Examining the Impact of Gender, Place, and Race on Criminal Justice Administration in Alabama

This article explores how the intersections of gender, place, and race impact the socially equitable application of criminal justice administration in Alabama. Specifically, most re-entry programs fail to address the varied and unique post-carceral needs of Black women. As such, this work examines the obstacles and opportunities for non-profit re-entry program administrators who seek to uphold the civil and human rights of Black women and highlights best practices in providing meaningful re-entry and reintegration services to women from historically under-resourced communities. Using social equity’s theoretical principles in criminal justice, this article spotlights Alabama’s re-entry programs and explores what occurs at the juncture of social equity, community-based criminal justice administration, and recidivism; this article also illustrates the interconnectedness of these three concepts.