Read about the research IAS faculty are undertaking with the COVID-19 Rapid Research Response Grants.
In response to COVID-19, Carleton University swiftly developed an internal funding opportunity to provide seed funding for individuals or teams of researchers for original, innovative, and time-sensitive research to propose solutions to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, or to apply to external research grant competitions targeting the COVID-19 pandemic. The research had to have the potential to contribute to the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, or to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and/or its negative consequences on people and communities. The grant was open to all full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members. The response was unprecedented and we are very proud to announce the successful proposals.
Attending (to) Class: An Intersectional Study of COVID-19 Adaptation in Universities in Canada and Africa
Dr. Doris Buss and Dr. Blair Rutherford
With universities across the globe rapidly moving their curriculums online, this pilot study examines the gendered, socio-economic, racialized, and rural/urban contexts that shape access and participation in distance education for women and men students. Focused on one university in each of Canada, Kenya, and Sierra Leone, this project will examine access and use of the technology (phones, computers, internet) needed for distance education, and the differences in class, race, and rural/urban locations, alongside other obligations, including caring roles, that women and men students navigate when undertaking their studies. The four lead researchers, Professors Aisha Ibrahim (University of Sierra Leone), Sarah Kinyanjui (University of Nairobi), Blair Rutherford and Doris Buss (Carleton University), together with student researchers from each university, will conduct interviews and focus group discussions with students and university administrators at each institution. The resulting data on intersecting inequalities and student access to distance learning will inform ongoing COVID-19 responses.
Pandemic Pedagogies: Using Writing as a Tool to Develop the Citizen Scholar
Dr. David J. Hornsby
COVID-19 has forced universities around the world to move their learning online to ensure teaching and learning continue. This shift provides an opportune time to rethink pedagogical practices in the academy. Thus, as we shift to online learning at universities in three different socio-economic contexts (Durban, Johannesburg, and Ottawa), this study investigates how faculty members are enabled and constrained to implement evidence-informed pedagogy that effectively introduces their students to the tacit knowledge and communication practices in their disciplines. Students’ continuing struggles to employ these tacit practices, which will only be exacerbated in these new online learning contexts, will prevent them from gaining membership to their disciplinary communities and will also result in low rates of graduation. Guided by these findings, we will determine if and how faculty development practices, particularly in online teaching, can be implemented to ensure faculty are explicitly teaching their students how knowledge is constructed and communicated in their disciplines of study.
The full list of grant winners and their research can be viewed here https://carleton.ca/coris/cu-covid-19-rapid-research-response-grants-2/