A Theoretical Model for Examining the Link between Governance and Philosophy in Higher Education

Nearly all of the literature and research surrounding the idea of a university attempts to define and explain the role of the university in our current times. One area of burgeoning interest in this field is the precarious relationship among the provincial governments, the private sector, and the universities. As these stakeholders develop more involved relationships, university administrators must clearly define that institution's academic philosophy so that they can maintain a distinction between internal educational objectives and external socio-political and economic mandates. In order to accomplish this, it is essential that university administrators clearly understand the link between educational philosophy and administrative practice. This paper develops a theoretical model which describes the importance of recognizing the link between philosophy and administrative practice in university institutions.     

Durable Research,Portable Findings: Rhetorical Methods in Case Study Research

ABSTRACT

Case studies have been a central methodology employed by scholars working in the rhetoric of science and technical communication. However, concerns have been raised about how cases are constructed and collected, and what they convey. The authors reflect on how rhetoricians of science and technical communication researchers can – and do – construct a variety of case-based mixed-methods studies in ways that may make our research more portable and durable without undercutting the important and central role of case-based analysis.     

Flattened Hierarchy Through Drama-Based Pedagogy: A Graduate Student Instructor and Two Undergraduates Partner on Classroom Research

In this paper, the authors describe their journey from a teacher-student relationship to that of research partners and co-authors, thus providing a case study situated within the literature on students as partners. The instructor's use of drama-based pedagogy organically facilitated this journey both by flattening the hierarchy between teacher and students, and by being the subject under study. As a research group, the authors designed and collaborated on a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project. They analyzed existing classroom data to study the effects of drama-based pedagogy on their classroom environment and presented findings at conferences and through publication. This collaboration between a graduate student instructor and her undergraduate learners benefited all parties from both research and professionalization perspectives, which mirrors positive outcomes in the students as partners literature. The partnership can thus serve as a model for similar partnerships with minimal institutional infrastructure. Graduate students become research mentors and gain greater access to their students' classroom experiences, while undergraduate students explore the next step of an academic career track by conducting and disseminating original research as equal partners. The authors highlight reciprocity in their collaboration and call on institutions to facilitate this kind of partnership with funding and institutional support.     

Conceptualizing minimalist footwear: an objective definition

Running has been plagued with an alarmingly high incidence of injury, which has resulted in the exploration of interventions aimed at reducing the risk of running-related injury. One such intervention is the introduction of footwear that mimics barefoot running. These have been termed minimalist shoes.

Minimalist footwear aims to reduce the risk of injury by promoting adaptations in running biomechanics that have been linked to a reduction in both impact and joint forces. However, some studies have found that minimalist footwear may be beneficial to the runner as they promote favourable biomechanical adaptations, whilst other studies have found the opposite to be true.

Reasons for these conflicting results could be attributed to the lack of a definition for minimalist footwear. The aim of this review article is to provide a structural definition for minimalist footwear based on studies that have examined the influence of footwear on biomechanical variables during running.

Based on current literature, we define minimalist footwear as a shoe with a highly flexible sole and upper that weighs 200g or less, has a heel stack height of 20mm or less and a heel-toe differential of 7mm or less.