Today@Dal

Guest speaker, Dr. Pierre Boulos, Chair of the Research Ethics Board at the University of Windsor and Special Advisor Research Ethics Education and Internationalization, is leading a workshop on May 20 on Ethics in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Time: 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Location: Killam Library, Room B400

Registration: http://stay.dal.ca/KxRegistration_CLT/Pierre_Boulos

Abstract
SoTL investigates the effects of teaching and learning practices, with the aim of refining higher education over time. Much SoTL involves the use of students as research participants. In fact, some argue that SoTL has made insufficient use of students, for it relies too much on teachers' perceptions and other proxies that cannot be linked reliably to student learning. Certainly, many argue, if student learning is the phenomenon we are most interested in investigating, we must study the students themselves.

Yet, a variety of ethical issues arise when students participate in SoTL research. Some of these are handled by local Research Ethics Boards (REB), some are not. In every study, researchers must bring an array of values, principles, reasoning, and duties to bear on the ethical issues involved -- if they notice or anticipate them. When issues go unnoticed, of course, the ethical resources one may use to deal with them are irrelevant.

Can we make justifiable and useful claims in SoTL without using our students as research participants? If so, given the ethical issues involved in such use -- including potential harm/benefit, justice, and human dignity -- do we have a responsibility or obligation to conduct only SoTL research that does not use students as research participants? Furthermore, do the same considerations imply an obligation to conduct only research that is likely to benefit students?

The session will use a case-study to challenge participants to think through the beliefs and values underlying their practices as SoTL researchers, tease out complications and implications, and dig through surface issues to the deeper problems beneath. The conclusions reached through this dialogue cannot be known in advance, though the value of the journey, wherever it may end, could be substantial. That said, we anticipate that by the end of this session attendees will be able to:

•    Apply principles of research ethics to their work as SoTL researchers;
•    Surface and discuss ethical issues and implications of SoTL research practices;
•    Articulate their underlying beliefs and values as researchers.

Biography of Presenter
I recently completed six years as Chair of the Research Ethics Board at the University of Windsor and now serve as Special Advisor Research Ethics Education and internationalization. During the past 17 years I have been a faculty member in the School of Computer Science at Windsor. However, since 2008 I have taught graduate courses in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in the Faculty of Education and Academic Development at UWindsor. These courses were centred in UWindsor’s internationally (SEDA) accredited University Teaching Certificate. I hold science and philosophy degrees and a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Western Ontario. My research focused on Newton and Newton's own methodological pronouncements regarding scientific success. I have also published in Logic, Artificial Intelligence, and a book in computer ethics, Understanding Cyber Ethics in a Cyber World. I am currently completing an STLHE Green Guide in Researc! h Ethics and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2015). I have also committed to completing a book on Newton and Ciphering to be part of a Springer series on the history of ciphering.