Teaching, Learning, Scholarship & Research Symposium 2017

Teaching & Learning Symposium Poster.jpg

 

KPU's Inaugural Teaching, Learning, Scholarship & Research Symposium

Symposium Dates: Wednesday, June 7 to Friday, June 9, 2017
Location: KPU Surrey and other venues (for field trips) 
 

Program Overview

KPU’s first Teaching, Learning, Scholarship & Research Symposium celebrated the extensive experiences of KPU community members. This was an opportunity for faculty members, instructors, students, staff and administrators to learn more about the KPU Community's teaching practices, scholarly inquiry, and research and learning experiences. The Symposium’s workshops, sessions and panels revolved around the theme, “Where thought meets action.”

PROGRAM OVERVIEW  |  DETAILED PROGRAM 

 

Opening Plenary: Alex Usher on, "Polytechnic education & skills for the future"

Alex Usher is President of Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA), a consulting firm which advises governments, institutions and corporations in the higher education sector on policy and strategy. Much of Alex’s work has focused specifically on access and student loans, providing assistance to Canadian governments as well as to governments and non-profits in Senegal, Uganda, Tanzania, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands.  He has also written a number of global comparative works on cost-sharing in higher education, most notably with Dominic Orr and Johannes Wespel titled, Do Changes in Cost-Sharing Have an Impact on the Behaviour of Students and Higher Education Institutions? Evidence From Nine Country Case-Studies was published in June 2014 by the European Commission. 
 
In addition to his work on student assistance, Mr. Usher has also worked extensively in the field of rankings, quality measurement and performance indicators.  For six years, he partnered with the Toronto Globe and Mail of its “Canadian University Report” Rankings and in 2012 published Canada’s first-ever field-normalized research rankings. He was a founding Board Member of the International Rankings Expert Group and is a member of the Advisory Committee for the Academic Rankings of World Universities.  He works frequently for the World Bank and other development agencies in Asia and Africa, and regularly partners with international companies such as Interbrand and Ernst & Young on higher education projects.  He also writes a popular daily commentary on Canadian higher education called, One Thought to Start Your Day. He is based in Toronto, Canada.

 

With Special Thanks to our Program Planning Committee

  • Celia Brinkerhoff (Library)
  • Mark Diotte (Academic and Career Preparation)
  • Ruth Fraser (Students with Disabilities)
  • Meg Goodine (Teaching & Learning Commons)
  • Rebecca Harbut (Sustainable Horticulture)
  • June Kaminski (Nursing)
  • Leanne McKenzie (Co-op)
  • Victor Martinez (Wilson School of Design)
  • Don Mathewson (Physics)
  • Larissa Petrillo (Anthropology and Teaching & Learning Commons)
  • Shoaib Nasier (Applied Communications)
  • Tom Westgate (Appliance & Servicing)
  • Catherine Parlee (Office of Research & Scholarship, Symposium Coordinator)
  • Hannah Mapanoo (Office of Research & Scholarship)
  • Katherine BoIeszczuk (Teaching & Learning Commons)
  • Stephanie T.L. Chu (Vice Provost, Teaching & Learning/Interim, AVP, Research, Symposium Chair)