Newsletter October 2011 - Bow Valley College

Capacity Development through Internal Grants
Much of Applied Research’s focus on capacity development is through the allocation of internal grants. All of the College’s faculty and staff are
offered the opportunity to apply for grants up to $3,000. The examples below show the range, scope and diversity of topics, as well as the range
of departments that have participated.
Kakoli Mitra (Human Resources)
Trends in Employment of Highly Educated
Immigrant Women in Alberta: Calgary and
Edmonton—A Literature Review 2000-2008
Trevor McIvor and Aggie Legaspi
(Business and Industry and Learning
Resource Services) Valuing Contrary
Opinions in the Classroom
Hana Taleb Imai and Diane Hardy (ESL)
Language for Work
LEad RESEaRchER
Dr. Aggie Legaspi
alegaspi@bowvalleycollege.ca
403-410-1553
aPPLIEd RESEaRch OffIcER
Scottie Ray
sray@bowvalleycollge.ca
403-410-1481
RESEaRch EThIcS BOaRd
Liz O’Shea, Chair
loshea@bowvalleycollege.ca
403-410-1692
Rob Black Hana Taleb Imai
Din Ladak Mauri Loyer
Margaret Toye Melissa Wheeler
Colleen Kawalilak
(advisor to the committee)
INTERNaL GRaNT
REVIEw cOmmITTEE
Dr. Aggie Legaspi, Chair Brett Bergie
Linda O’Donoghue Karen Fiege
Brent Novodvorski Val Millar
Trevor McIvor
TELL US YOUR STORY
As research is expanding across departments
at Bow Valley College, the Office of Applied
Research and Innovation would like to
request that they be informed of research
activities occurring within the college. This
way, research project information can be
entered into the research database, and give
the researchers well-deserved recognition at
upcoming research events and showcases.
For more information, contact Scottie Ray,
Applied Research Officer, at
sray@bowvalleycollege.ca
Brent Novodvorski (Academic
Foundations) Social and Academic Sign
Language: Bridging Classroom Experience
into Communities
Pam Lammiman (Health and
Community Care) Medication
Administration Project for Practical
Nursing Students
Brett Bergie (The President’s Office)
Reaching Out: Access to Adult Education and
Training in the Calgary Regional Communities
Au revoir but not goodbye to Dean Of Applied Research
Bow Valley College bids farewell to the Dean
of Applied Research, Dr. Rena Shimoni, who is
retiring to pursue extensive travel and other
endeavours. Rena’s passion for research, her
energy, and her commitment have been
instrumental in the growth and development
of Applied Research at Bow Valley College.
Previously Rena served as the Dean of Health
and Community Care, developing new
programs and creating the platform for a
range of certificate and diploma programs in
Health and Human Services.
In her role as Dean of Applied Research, she
developed institutional capacity by preparing
the College for eligibility for NSERC, SSHRC, and
CIHR funding, by obtaining large grants for
Liz O’Shea and Ruth Ayer (Learner
Success Services) Using a Reflective Rating
Scale to Asses Peer Training in the Psycho-
Educational Assessment of Deaf Adults
Alisa Foreman (TOWES)
YWCA and TOWES
Research Ethics Board
welcomes Din Ladak
Din Ladak has joined the Research Ethics
Board (REB) as an external consultant. Din has
been the Chief Executive Officer at Immigrant
Services Calgary since May 2008. He has over
30 years of experience in the social services
sector, a B.Sc. in Psychology, a Bachelor of
Social Work, and a Masters in Social Work with
specialization in Ethnicity and Family Therapy.
Noel Price and Lynne Thorimbert
(Learning Resource Services) Building
Social Capital: Community Arts Projects
He has taught at the University of Calgary
as well as at Mount Royal College (now
Mount Royal University) and has been a
recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award
at the University of Calgary. BVC would like
to extend a big welcome to Din. The REB is
looking forward to drawing on his extensive
experience and knowledge.
research in health and teaching and learning,
by developing a number of partnerships for
research, and by mentoring both experienced
and novice researchers.
Personally and on behalf of her many
colleagues, I would like to thank Rena for
her many significant contributions and her
unwavering energy and commitment to the
evolution of a culture of research at Bow Valley
College. While we will miss her leadership
in her current capacity, Rena will be staying
with the College as a research associate, and
is pleased to provide continued support to
applied research.
Anna Kae Todd
Vice-President, Learning
Produced in-house by BVC Marketing & Communications | September 2011 | 300
EVENTS
EVENTS
Applied Research
NEWSLETTER
Bow Valley College contributes to health workforce planning through applied research
Bow Valley College is implementing a major
study related to effective utilization of the
health workforce. Funded by Alberta Health
and Wellness, in partnership with the College
of Licensed Practical Nurses of Alberta,
the study will provide objective, researchbased
evidence which focuses on LPNs in
live settings, and evaluates their impact on
quality patient care.
The Principal Investigators in the study are
Dr. Rena Shimoni, Dean of Applied Research,
and Dr. Gail Barrington of Barrington Research
Group. The research team includes Sarah
VanDusen, Researcher, Nikki Gorembalem,
student, and Project Manager Vi Smith.
The research will entail six case studies that
examine in depth the roles of Licensed
Practical Nurses, and their impact on the
quality of patient care. A multi-method
approach to data collection will be used,
including surveys, interviews with LPNs
and managers, and focus groups with
multidisciplinary teams. The findings of the
study will be able to inform decision makers
in health, managers and educators and will
ultimately impact the quality of patient care
within the Alberta Health System.
This research project will begin to address a serious gap in the evidence related to staffing models in health care.
The CLPNA is grateful to BVC for its commitment to quality patient care in the province of Alberta and for the
research expertise BVC brings to this important project. – Linda Stanger, Executive Director, CLPNA
The fruits of three years of research to be unveiled
Distributed and online learners face many
challenges not experienced by on-campus
students. Believing that all students should
have equitable service benefits, Dr. Rena
Shimoni, Russ Wilde, and their research
team are intent on changing this.
At an upcoming meeting of the Vice-
Presidents and SSAOs of the Alberta
Association of Colleges and Technical
Institutes, Bow Valley College will have the
opportunity to launch an electronic toolkit and
a policy manual for e-learning, a product of
two research studies led by Dr. Rena Shimoni,
Dean of Applied Research and Innovation, Russ
Wilde, Director, Learning Resource Services at
Bow Valley College, and Dr. Gail Barrington of
Barrington Research Group.
Research Showcase Event Oct. 6, 2011
Call for Proposals for Internal Grants March 2012
How to Write a Proposal Workshop April 2012
Funded by eCampusAlberta and Advanced
Education and Technology, these studies
provided an in-depth understanding of both
the needs of diverse learners with respect to
distributed learning, as well as the practices of
the post-secondary institutions in supporting
these learners. Seven post-secondary
institutions partnered with BVC in these
EVENTS Watch for the following events hosted by Applied Research
studies: Olds College, NAIT, NorQuest College,
Northern Lakes College, Red Deer College,
Lethbridge College, and Portage College.
A key deliverable of the research project
was the development of an electronic
toolkit (or e-toolkit) that can be used by
post-secondary institutions across Alberta to
enhance the service they provide to learners.
The e-toolkit can be viewed at http://
etoolkit.ecampusalberta.ca/ A related policy
study identified gaps and recommended
changes in policies to ensure equitable
support for online learners. Policies were
either revised or new policies created. The
policy development from this study will be
incorporated into the e-toolkit. This phase of
the study was led by Dr. Dean Wood.
Research Ethics Workshop June 2012
Qualitative Software Training Workshop TBA
Quantitative Software Training Workshop TBA
EVENTS Taking the temperature of nursing care in Alberta

A Profile of Dr. Aggie Legaspi
Evaluation Facilitator becomes
Bow Valley College’s Research Lead
Known to most of us as the fellow
heading the team responsible for program
evaluations and the learner experience
feedback, Dr. Aggie Legaspi oversees
program and course evaluations. He also
provides support for program accreditation
and projects upon request. Utilizing
Aggie's rich background in research will
bring BVC to the next level in its applied
research capacity development.
Aggie has a B.Sc. in Psych, a MA in Social
Psych (University of the Philippines) and a
PhD in Ecological-Community Psychology
(Michigan State University). He is no stranger
to research. Before he came to BVC he
was involved in a wide range of research
related to self-help, health service provision,
community health, and church communities.
All of these projects involved different
populations and settings including both
urban and rural settings in the Philippines,
Michigan, Alaska, and Calgary.
Aggie has taught both graduate and
undergraduate students, and conducted
research at the University of the Philippines
and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Required courses on research methods,
statistics, and measurement during his
undergrad studies ended up piquing Aggie’s
interest in the field of research. Fascinated with
knowing how we know, and how we make
sense of our world, Aggie found research a
natural niche.
“As much as I gravitate towards research, I
strongly appreciate other ways of revealing
our nature–especially the visual and
performance arts, spirituality and religion,
design, traditions, and legends/folklore,”
Aggie says.
Here at BVC, Aggie has been instrumental
in the development of the Research Ethics
Board and his participation in capacity
development activities has been paramount
to their success. His wide range of research,
evaluation, and teaching at the College
and university levels, and his work with the
not-for-profit sector, made him the ideal
candidate to be BVC’s new lead researcher.
Aggie sees his new role as increasing the
capacity of BVC employees to conduct
research at different levels.
“It is that curiosity on which research grows
and with which applied research wants to
work with you,” he says. “Let us work together
on satisfying and building on that curiosity.”
The evolution of a model for
applied research at Bow Valley College
The recognition that colleges have a vital
role to play in applied research has been
received with enthusiasm by College
executives and faculty. The adoption and
integration of applied research throughout
the colleges has been an interesting and
by no means uniform process. Unlike
universities that are founded upon
research, colleges had to “home grow”
their own visions for how research would
fit their institutions.
At Bow Valley College we started by recognizing
that a good deal of research had been
occurring for years before it was part of the
official mandate. For example, TOWES has a
decade-long record of applied research and
the successful development of an assessment
tool known nationally and internationally.
The goals of the Office of Applied Research
and Innovation (initiated three years ago
by the Vice-President, Learning, and led
by the Dean of Applied Research) were
to: enhance Bow Valley College’s applied
research capacity amongst learners, faculty,
staff and communities; expand strategic
partnerships; benefit industry, government,
and community; and enhance the reputation
of Bow Valley College as a leader in applied
research and innovation.
Work towards meeting these goals
involved: leading applied research that is
relevant to BVC’s mission and mandate;
grant development; capacity development
activities; and the development of policies
and procedures such as the amendment of
policies in compliance with the revised Tri
Council Policy, and as required for NSERC,
CIHR and SSHRC eligibility.
Capacity development activities included
workshops on a variety of topics such
as: writing a research proposal, an ethics
application, and a literature review; how to
get an article published; interviewing for
qualitative research; survey development; and
participating in classroom-based research.
Drop-in activities were also available, where
the lead researcher held regular office hours
for drop-in support to BVC staff who were at
various stages of engagement in research.
The Evolution of Applied Research
Anna Kae Todd Rena Shimoni
Vice-President, Learning Dean, Applied Research and Innovation
One of the key challenges facing BVC is
balancing our strong desire to promote and
engage in research, with our concern that our
core business remain focused on teaching
students. Further, most of our faculty lack
the experience required to be independent
researchers, yet they are in the best position
to provide insight into where the gaps are in
practice knowledge.
One of the strategies that has proven
successful in achieving this balance is to
have the research questions generated by
the frontline people, and then hire research
experts to design and either implement,
or guide the implementation of the study.
By using a collaborative model of research
between external researchers and our own
staff, we can be competitive in accessing
major research grants, develop our internal
research capacity, and still maintain our
commitment to learners.
The best way to describe the existing
model of applied research is at BVC
“centralized-decentralized.” We wanted to
make certain that engagement in applied
research remained the responsibility of each
department in the College.
Where a department had a desire for research
but not the capacity, the Dean of Applied
Research would work with the department to
develop and conduct the research, involving
the department according to its ability.
Where the department had the capacity, the
Office of Applied Research and Innovation
would provide support, but the bulk of the
work would be internal to the department.
The role of the Office of Applied Research
and Innovation became, in this case, more of
a support service and ensured that policies
related to research were being adhered to.
After three years of working in this model
we have seen an enhanced commitment to
research amongst the College leadership.
Today, each department either has
developed a research agenda, or is in the
process of doing so. Therefore, the Office
of Applied Research will continue to exist
as a support and information service for
College researchers, while the responsibility
for conducting research will be within the
various College departments. The capacity
has been developed sufficiently for this
autonomy to be successful.