Schedule

Schedule

Friday May 13, 2011
8:30 – 9:00	Registration check-in & coffee
9:00 – 10:30	Introduction to the first national conference for the LSAC Keynote speaker: Dr Joy Mighty [Room E2-229]
10:30 – 11:00	Coffee & mingle [E2-229]
11:00 – Noon	Concurrent Session 1 – [see below for rooms] click for options
Noon – 1:30	Lunch [E2-229]
1:30 – 2:30	Concurrent Session 2 - [see below for rooms] click for options
2:30 – 3:00	Coffee & mingle [E2-229]
3:00 – 4:00	AGM [E2-229]
4:00 – 5:00	Regional groups breakout
6:00 – 7:00	No-host bar [Marshall McLuhan Hall - 204 University Centre]
7:00 – 9:00	Banquet [Marchall McLuhan Hall]
Saturday May 14, 2011
9:00 – 9:30	Coffee & mingle [E2-229]
9:30 – 10:30	Concurrent Session 3 - [see below for rooms] click for options
10:40 – 11:40	Concurrent Session 4 - [see below for rooms] click for options
11:40 – 12:40	Lunch [E2-229]
12:45 – 1:45	Concurrent Session 5 -[see below for rooms] click for options
2:00 – 3:00	Concurrent Session 6 -[see below for rooms] click for options

Friday, May 13

Concurrent Session 1

Assessment, Research-based Practice, and Professional Development: Exploring the Connections
Presenter: Maryann Kope (Manager, Learning Services, University of Guelph)

Assessment, research-based practice, and professional development are key concerns for many learning support professionals.  Learning Services at the University of Guelph has developed a model of service delivery based on the intersection of these three areas and utilizing the Scholarship of Learning as a framework. [E2-365]

Information Structuring: Real Help for Students in the ‘Tough’ Courses
Presenters: Richard “Zack” Zajchowski (Camosun College) and Karen Kovach (University of Alberta)

Often students who are hard workers and have good ‘standard’ learning skills such as time management and note-taking still struggle with conceptually demanding courses such as math, biology, and physics.   Why is this? And what can we do to help these students cope more effectively with the learning demands of these courses? In this session we will both outline the important role that structuring information plays in the successful learning of conceptually demanding content and present ways you can help your students structure such content more effectively. [E2-125]

Working and Learning through Disability: Promising Practices from the Field
Presenter: Susan Ferguson (Ontario College of Art & Design University)

In this session, we will consider how learning professionals and other educators can work through disability as a site of desirable difference within a variety of learning contexts. The workshop will first introduce the social model of disability and examine how disability is typically understood and addressed within higher education. Participants will then explore pedagogical practices and strategies for service delivery, which can facilitate access and equity in education for disabled students. This will be a participatory session which brings current disability studies scholarship together with our own experiences of working creatively through disability and difference – please join the conversation! [E2-223]

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Concurrent Session 2

A Performance Coaching Model in the Learning Centre
Presenters: Lyn Benn (Director) and Dave Saunders (Learning Centres Coordinator, Student Development and Success, Kwantlen Polytechnic University)

Find out what Learning Centre staff and faculty and their director learned about the value of asking the right questions and about working with each other during coaching training at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Lyn Benn, Director, Student Development and Success, and Dave Saunders, Learning Centres Coordinator, weigh the challenges and the benefits of using a professional coach to help colleagues in our Learning Centres and other Student Services at Kwantlen explore and then implement a coaching model for team building, for goal setting, for mentoring, and as a means for evaluating our service priorities. [E2-365]

Universal Design – Learning Disabilities and Assistive Technology
Presenter: Craig Nieneber (Aroga Assistive Technology)

Universal Design (UD) is commonly thought of in terms of physical accessibility for the widest variety of abilities.  Similarly, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) applies the same principle and goes beyond the physical access to include cognitive access.  By providing a variety of means of representation, expression and engagement; curriculum can be adapted to ensure that all learners can participate and achieve to their potential.  This session will focus on how Assistive Technology can be used to accomplish cognitive access for individuals with Learning Disabilities. [E2-125]

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Saturday, May 14

Concurrent Session 3

“Going for Gold”: Inter-university Collaboration in the Creation of Athlete Academic Programs
Presenters: Coleen Dalton (University of Western Ontario), and Michael Lisetto-Smith (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Academic support programs for student athletes have become more popular at Canadian universities in recent years. Through inter-university collaboration, McMaster University, the University of Western Ontario, and Wilfrid Laurier University have all successfully created such programs for their athletes. This session will provide an overview of how inter-university collaboration has resulted in the successful creation of various styles of academic programming for student athlete; how academic programming needs to be adjusted for the average student athlete; and, how through collaboration, post-secondary institutions can quickly develop quality programming. [E2-365]

Tailoring Online Resources in Response to Diverse Student Populations
Presenter: Margaret Groombridge, Brock University

The focus of this session is share initiatives, successes, and challenges with other educators interested in integrating technology to support diverse student populations to increase student success, engagement, and retention. The session will include a presentation of Brock Learning Skills’ online development initiatives in writing and numeracy to support students transitioning to postsecondary education. Our team created Academic-Zone, an online collection of resources, to support large numbers of students in an environment that is cost-effective and self-directed. Presenters will share the Academic-Zone story: its development, challenges, and future. [E2-125]

Discovering Pre-Flight: Summer Transition Program for Students with Learning Disabilities
Presenter: Tania Green (Advisor, Centre for Students with Disabilities, University of Guelph)

In its 9th year, Pre-Flight is a summer transition program, which takes place at the University of Guelph, for students with learning disabilities who will be starting post-secondary education in the Fall.   Modeled after a week at university, it is a jam packed program geared to give students the skills and information they need to be successful at University and ease the transition from High-school to post-secondary.  This session will explore the details of the program including programming, funding, success rates and the successes and challenges of the Pre-Flight program. [E2-229]

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Concurrent Session 4

Learning Skills for Problem-solving Courses
Presenter: Richard “Zack” Zajchowski (Camosun College)

Mandatory problem-solving courses like statistics, calculus and physics pose some unique and challenging learning demands.  Many students struggle with these courses because they have not developed the specific learning skills needed to meet these demands.  In my work over the years as both a physics instructor and learning skills counsellor the particular area of learning skills specific to problem-solving courses has always been of interest to me. I will present some of the research, strategies and resources I have assembled over the years to help students improve their learning skills for problem-solving courses.  (A background in problem-solving courses not required) [E2-125]

Working with Multilingual Writers: A Tutor Training Module
Presenter: Kathy Block (Writing Tutor Program Coordinator, Learning Assistance Centre, University of Manitoba)

This workshop is intended for individuals with an interest in training peer writing tutors. The workshop focuses on training peer tutors to work effectively with multilingual writers who are building advanced academic literacy for the Canadian context. A tutor-training module that was developed by the Learning Assistance Centre at the University of Manitoba over the past year will be presented. The module allows for delivery online or in a blended learning environment. The workshop will provide opportunities for participants to discuss the module and the types of training that they have developed for tutors working with multilingual writers. [E2-365]

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Concurrent Session 5

Exploring Online Reading Strategies: Highlighting and Annotating Text
Presenter: Tim Podolsky (Study Skills Instructor, Learning Assistance Centre, University of Manitoba)

This presentation will explore how students are currently working with online readings. It will also explore some of the research findings that compare both traditional textbook reading habits and online reading habits. Finally, it will discuss some useful resources that exist in order to facilitate digital highlighting and annotation strategies. [E2-365]

The Learning Specialist Bookshelf
Presenters: Michael Lisetto-Smith (WLU) [facilitator]; Sheilagh Grills (Brandon U), Reed Hilton-Eddy (Ryerson U) [reviewers]

It is essential for learning specialists to keep to date on the latest studies, theories, and literature that affect their everyday practise. Budgets are tight though, and books are plenty. In this session, learning specialists from across Canada will offer their reviews about some of the literature they have read and either recommend it or trash it. Please join us for this informal session and leave with a list of resources to help focus your book budget and expand your professional knowledge; and if you have a literary resource to share, please bring it along and tell us about it. [E2-125]

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Concurrent Session 6

Intentionality and Model Defining: 1 Step Back, 3 Steps Forward
Presenters: Aileen Smyth and Amy Yoshida (Writing and Learning Strategists, Student Learning Services, Mount Royal University)

In 2009, Student Learning Services at Mount Royal University completed an extensive review of our practice.  The process involved research into what we had done, what we currently do, and what the body of literature considers as best practice.  The outcome of the program review was an advancement plan: an overview of where we should be going.  Now, two years and many challenges later, we are continuing to wrestle our dream into a practical reality.  We have found intentionality to be a guiding principle in this process of creating and offering a professional service delivery model.  We will share our journey in this presentation – from development of outcomes rooted in theory and practice, to the identification of the challenges impeding our progress, to the building of a framework/model of delivery, to the assessment of the various levels of service delivery our model comprises.  As we are sharing while “in process,” our goal through this presentation is to learn from others while outlining what we’re learning on the journey of offering our undergraduates the best possible writing and learning support. [E2-365]

Using Google Apps for Appointments, Advertising, and Data Gathering
Presenters: David Ehren, Becky Graham, and Julie Lucking ( MAX Centre – Macalester College)

Our office (Macalester College Excellence (MAX) Center) has finally transitioned from our three-ring binder system of appointments to an online version that we could afford. This move also led to a variety of other advantages in advertising, communications and data gathering. The objectives for this session are to share our specific methodology, including the different views for clients, staff and tutors; discuss how the technology has helped and hindered our data gathering; and to discuss possibilities with the attendees for specializing it to other schools or expanding our own services. [E2-125]

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