A
Season ends
2003-2004
CSEW*
Speakers' Series
Were
you there... ?
April 21
"What
is Work?"
with Margrit Eichler
and Ann Matthews
March
31
"Towards a Theory of Schooling: Contributions and Perspectives"
with Newton
Duarte and David Olson
February
6
"Contingent Faculty in Higher and Adult Education"
with Joe Berry and Vicky Smallman
February
5
"Activity Theory: A Model for Education
on Labour Issues" with
Helena
Worthen
January
30
"Resisting Computer Culture" with Ellen
Rose
January
21
"Schooling and the Dialectical
Reproducation of Knowledge from the Perspective of Activity Theory"
with
Newton
Duarte
December
4
"Does work
organization matter?
A study of workers in American Hospitals" with
Ann
Frost
October
31
"Learning
as Competence Development" with
Knud
Illeris
September
30
"The Role of Social Capital in the Learning
Process:
A Study of Low Wage Workers" with
Anil
Verma & Sara Mann
Wednesday,
April 21 4:00-6:00
Room 12-274
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, OISE
University of Toronto, 252 Bloor Street West
(TTC:
St George subway stop)
What
is Work?
with
Margrit Eichler
& Ann Matthews
To
read notes from this presentation, click here.
For
a long time, work was defined as a paid activity. Due to feminist
pressure, work is now understood to include unpaid work. This
inclusion was achieved by stressing the parallels between paid
and unpaid work. But unpaid housework is an area of work that
has (historically) continued to be viewed through that lens of
“paid work”.
In
this talk, we will be making an innovative switch to instead view
all work through the lens of unpaid housework. Reviewing the results
of 300 questionnaires and 11 focus groups (having equitably approached
both men and women from various ethnic groups as well as socially
challenged groups) we have identified 5 different definitions
of work, as well as an answer to the question of what one would
define as "not-work". After sharing these, we will speculate
on the questions “What new insights can we derive through
such scholarship?” and “How might policies be affected
if we were to adopt one of the alternative definitions of work?"
Audience
participation encouraged during the presentation and beyond the
discussion period.
About
the presenters:
Margrit
and Ann are working together on the Housework and Carework project
(go)
of WALL
Margrit
Eichler (Professor, SESE, OISE/UT) teacher and researcher
in family policy, reproductive and genetic technologies, feminist
methodology, and an integrative approach to social in/equity that
understands the issue of sustainability to be part of social stratification.
Ann
Matthews is a doctoral student working as a research
assistant with Margrit Eichler on the unpaid work and learning
project. Her background is in adult and postsecondary education
where she focused on equity issues in classroom pedagogy. Her
current interests are in the learning aspects of unpaid work.
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to top
Wednesday,
March 31, 2004 4:00-6:00
Room
12-274
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education - University
of Toronto: OISE
- 252 Bloor Street West
"Towards
a Theory of Schooling: Contributions and Perspectives"
with
Newton Duarte and David Olson
Read
Newton's summaries in PDF: Summary
& Rebuttal
...addressing
current interpretations of pedagogical ideas of Vygotsky, Dewey
and Piaget.
In
what promises to be an exciting and eye-opening debate,
Newton
Duarte, professor of education at UNESP in Brazil and visting
scholar at OISE/UT (Centre for the Study of Education and Work,
and the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education),
with David
Olson, professor emeritis in Human Development and Applied
Psychology, will be challenging each others' views on the topic
of Activity Theory as influenced by the principles and theories
of contrasting philosophers
Vygotsky
and Dewey.
Co-sponsored
by the CSEW,
SESE,
CACS
and HDAP
(OISE/UT)
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Thursday,
February 5, 2004
12:00-2:00
Room 12-199
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education,
University
of Toronto:
OISE 252
Bloor Street West
"Activity Theory:
A Model for Education in Labour Issues"
with
Helena Worthen
Activity
theory offers an opportunity for labour educators to bring social
theory into their approach to education. Workplace environments
are complex on various levels (communication, conflict, history,
etc.), and since labour education means changing consciousness
as well as representing a collective, it is reassuring to know
that there is place for practice where Activity Theory is concerned.
In
her talk, Helena Worthen will discuss how the key concepts of
Activity Theory can be applied in the world of labour education.
She will then follow up with a real case-study situation, in interaction
with the public.
To
view a longer statement by Helena about this topic click
here.
About
the Presenter:
Helena Worthen is Assistant Professor of Labor Education
in the Chicago Labor Education Program of the Institute for Labor
and Industrial Relations of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
U.S. A. Her research focus is the social and political aspects
of education for work, including work opportunities funded through
the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. Currently she is preparing
a study of how women and minorities experience the process of
applying to construction trades union apprenticeship programs.
She has a Ph.D. in Education from the Univesrity of California
at Berkeley. Author of two novels, she is currently Chair of the
Chicago chapter of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981.
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Friday,
February 6, 2004
12:00-2:00
Room 12-199
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education
University
of Toronto:
OISE
252 Bloor Street West
"Contingent
Faculty in Higher
and Adult Education"
with
Joe Berry and Vicky Smallman
Contingent
faculty, whether called adjuncts, sessionals, teaching assistants
or a hundred other labels, are now the majority of teaching faculty
in higher education in both the US and Canada (and Mexico as well).
Though there are differences between countries, in general they
labour without job security (tenure) or the benefits or perquisites
that are traditional in colleges and universities. In response
to this situation, a movement has grown up from the grassroots,
in relationship with the established unions in higher education,
to fight against these inequities and to protect the entire enterprise
of higher education from further corporate-style degradation,
both for faculty and students.
Smallman
and Berry will discuss the outlines of this movement in both countries
and its prospects for the future. Of particular interest are the
innovative organizing techniques, such as Campus Equity Week/Fair
Employment Week (CEW/FEW) and the Coalition of Contingent Academic
Labor conferences that have occurred across organizational and
national lines. These, and other creative organizing strategies,
may hold lessons for organizing other workers, especially contingents
&/or professionals.
About
the Presenter:
Joe Berry is a contingent (non-tenure
track) faculty member in both history and labor education at a
number of Chicago area colleges, including Roosevelt University,
where he is part of the leadership of the Roosevelt Adjunct Faculty
Organization, the union there. He is also the Chair of the Chicago
chapter of the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL)
and the chair of the upcoming North American (US, Canada and Mexico)
COCAL VI conference to be held in Chicago, August 6-8, 2004. His
Ph.D. dissertation from the Union Institute and University (Cincinnati,
OH, USA) was about organizing strategies for contingent faculty.
He is also on the Coordinating Committee of the North American
Alliance For Fair Employment, the network of contingent worker
groups in the US and Canada.
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Friday,
January 30, 2004 12:00-2:00
7th
Floor, Department of Adult Education
University of Toronto:
OISE 252 Bloor Street West
"Resisting
Computer Culture"
with
Ellen Rose
User
Error exposes how we surrender decision-making power to personal
and workplace computers.
Ellen Rose shows that there is no technological bandwagon, no
titanic conspiracy to overwhelm us. User Error offers up-to-date
insights and strategies of resistance to general readers, technology
professionals, students, and scholars alike.
Read
an interview
with the author
About
the Presenter:
Ellen Rose holds the McCain/Aliant-Telecom
Chair in Education and Multimedia at the University of New Brunswick,
Fredrickton. She directs a graduate programme in instructional
design. In addition to numerous journal articles on media, technology,
and pedagogy, she has published Hyper Texts: The Language and
Culture of Educational Computing.
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Wednesday,
January 21, 2004 12:00-2:00
12-274OISE/UT,
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education
"Schooling
and the Dialectical Reproduction of Knowledge from the Perspective
of Activity Theory"
View slide presentation in PDF
format
with
Newton Duarte
"What
is the school-process of learning? What relationship exists between
the historical processes of the (re)production of knowledge by
society and the appropriation of knowledge by individuals in school
education? Is a pedagogical approach possible in which intellectual
autonomy, critical thinking and transformative activity are promoted
by the intentional and systematic transmission of knowledge?
"Based
in studies that have been developing for more the ten years, Newton
Duarte will present an investigative approach to these questions
about schooling in contemporary society, exposing contributions
from a Marxist Pedagogy that are found in the works of the classical
authors of Activity Theory:
Vygotsky,
Leontyev
and Luria."
About
the Presenter:
http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/depts/sese/duarte.htm
Newton
Duarte is an associate professor at Universidade Estadual Paulista
(University of Sao Paulo State), Brazil. He is the leader of a
Brazilian research group named "Estudos Marxistas em Educação"
(Marxist Studies in Education) and is the author of an extensive
number of books, chapters and papers published in Brazil and other
countries in South America on a Marxist Theory of Education.
From
August 2003 to July 2004 Newton Duarte is visiting scholar at
the CSEW
and Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education.
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Thursday,
December 4, 2003 12:00-2:00
12-274OISE/UT,
Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education
"Does
work organization matter?
A study of workers
in American hospitals"
with
Anne
Frost
http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/faculty/Ann_Frost.html
Low
Wage, Low Skill Work and
Organizational Commitment:
Much
has been made of the notion of commitment as a mechanism by which
high performance models of work organization produce superior
performance outcomes. However, much of this research has been
conducted in the manufacturing sector. In this paper, we examine
the notion of organizational commitment in the context of low
wage, low skill service sector employment. Using data from a large-scale
study of nursing assistants, housekeepers, and food service workers
in American hospitals, we investigate whether work organization
has any impact on worker commitment.
Click
to read a paper on this topic:
"The Effects
of Work Restructuring on Low-Wage, Low-Skill Workers in U.S. Hospitals"
Appelbam, Berg, Frost and Preuss.
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Friday,
October 31, 2003 12:00-2:00
ROOM
7-162 Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology,
OISE/UT ( 252 Bloor St West, Toronto)
"Learning
as Competence Development"
with
Professor Knud Illeris
Roskilde University (Denmark)
Synopsis:
In his presentation, Professor Knud Illeris gave an overview of
an understanding of learning matching the modern concept of competence
development, including three main points:
1.
The processes and dimensions of learning
2. Different types of learning
3. Mental processes that block or distort possible learning
In
his recent book The Three Dimensions of Learning (NIACE 2002),
Professor Knud Illeris develops an overall understanding of learning
matching the modern concept of competence development covering
three main areas of inquiry: processes and dimensions of learning;
different types of learning; and mental processes that block or
distort possible learning. Illeris offers one of the broadest
and most comprehensive visions currently available on the relations
between learning and social sciences opening new pathways to thought,
discussion and investigation of the topic.
Illeris’ book, which has sold more than 20, 000 copies in
the Scandinavian countries and now has been published in English,
comes highly recommended by leading scholars Jack Mezirow and
Peter Jarvis. The author’s recent article in the International
Journal of Lifelong Education, Vol.22(4)details his argument.
“This book is written by an author who really knows what
learning is about” - Chris Argyris.
About the Presenter:
Knud Illeris holds a Ph.D. in Psychology and is a professor
of Educational Research at Roskilde University, Denmark. He is
also the Research Director of the Learning Lab Denmark consortium
for research on Workplace Learning. He has been the author, co-author
or editor of more than 70 books and 300 articles on topics such
as learning, motivation, educational planning and practice, theory
of qualification and competence development, vocational training,
workplace learning, and adult and youth education from the perspective
of the learners.
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Click
here to access original slides from this presentation
Tuesday,
September 30, 2004 12:00-2:00
ROOM 12-274 Dept of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education
University of Toronto: OISE 252 Bloor St West, Toronto
"The
Role of Social Capital in the Learning Process: A Study of Low
Wage Workers"
with
Anil Verma and Sara Mann
Synopsis:
This first seminar in a new series of research seminars will present
the theory and research design behind a WALL study of learning
among low-wage earners.
Learning is critical to an individual’s career progression
and job security. However, not all individuals are given the same
opportunities to participate in learning activities. The amount
of learning, both formal and informal, that an individual partakes
in depends upon many factors. Social Learning Theory explains
some of those factors, including an individual’s self-efficacy
and outcome expectancies. Equally important are the resources
available to the individual. An individual’s access to learning,
self-efficacy and outcome expectancies are dependent on the demographics
and characteristics of the organization, the job, and the individual
himself/herself. This presentation proposes that the effect of
these demographics on self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, access
to resources, and subsequently on learning, is moderated by the
individual’s level of social capital.
The
research design involves interviews, focus groups and a questionnaire-based
survey. A group of USWA locals in the healthcare, manufacturing
and steel industries are being sought for participating in the
study. The USWA is a community partner in this study.
About
the Presenters:
Dr.
Anil Verma is Professor of Industrial Relations and Human Resource
Management at the University of Toronto where he holds a joint
appointment at the Rotman School of Management and the Centre
for Industrial Relations. His co-edited book, Unions in the 21st
Century: An International Perspective, will be published in 2004
by Palgrave Macmillan (UK). He leads a study of learning among
low-wage earners within the WALL research project.
Sara Mann is a doctoral candidate in organizational behaviour
and human resource management at the Rotman School of Management.
She earned an MBA degree from McMaster University. Sara’s
research interests include learning, performance stability, leadership
and performance management.
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*
Centre for the Study of Education and Work
go
to site
* * To be Announced
Contact
WALL RESEARCH
NETWORK
252 Bloor Street
West, Office 12-254,
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1V6
Tel.
416.978.0015 Fax. 416.926.4751
E-mail:
wallnetwork@oise.utoronto.ca
