Schedule

Joe Boyd, Research Liaison, Applied Research Liaison Office

An overview of various BCIT internal funding programs: Institute Research Funds, Instructional Development, International Mobility Fund, and short introduction to each: purpose, $$$, deadlines, tips for success, School and department liaisons.

Morgan Westcott, Associate Dean, Marketing Management, School of Business + Media

Join Morgan Westcott for an overview of her doctoral research, which was conducted using BCIT as a site of practice. Her study centres on the role of instructors as first responders to students in distress. Learn more about her methodology, process, initial findings, and help brainstorm ideas for sharing this work with various communities at BCIT, and potential future projects that could leverage this initial study.

• Jasica Munday, BSN Faculty, School of Health Sciences
• Amanda Egert, Manager Experiential Learning Team, SoHS
• Robert (Ho-Sup) Kim, Experiential Learning Team Coordinator, BSN Faculty
• Heather Epp, SoHS Simulation Educator
• Joyce Law, Experiential Learning Team, BSN Faculty
• Harjot Randhawa, Student BSN
• Emily Yang, Student BSN

Research at polytechnic institutions can present unique challenges, particularly due to limited resources and competing priorities for both faculty and students. At BCIT, balancing teaching responsibilities with research activities in a large undergraduate nursing program requires creative approaches and strong collaboration. This pilot study aimed to assess the impact of providing standardized simulation debriefing feedback to BSN instructors on student perceived simulation satisfaction. The purpose of this presentation is to share insights into the research process, from conception to execution, highlighting a few of the challenges and lessons learned along the way.

• Deidre Grace, Librarian, Library Services
• Ian Linkletter, Librarian, Library Services
• Michele Bridge, Instructional Development Consultant, Learning & Teaching Centre

In this Lightning Session we’ll discuss the origin story of the Food for Thought series, how it has evolved, the range of presentations delivered, and the benefits for both presenters and attendees.

Bridget McClarty, Faculty, Fish, Wildlife, and Recreation, School of Construction and the Environment

The intent of this study was to identify what it means to have a meaningful or spiritual connection to nature and the role of awe in such a connection. Participants were recent graduates of a university outdoor recreation program. The study used a phenomenological approach and photo-elicitation methods. Thematic analysis of the data revealed six prominent themes: connection to self, connection to others, connection to place (presence), connection to the universe (spiritual), awe, and well-being. The results indicated that awe facilitates feelings of connection, and feelings of awe and connection increase our (spiritual) well-being.

• Michelle House-Kokan, Faculty Development Lead , Specialty Nursing Department, School of Health Sciences
• Farah Jetha, Specialty Nursing Department Faculty Development & Perinatal Program Head, SoHS
• Tara Hodgson, Pediatric and Pediatric Intensive Care Program Head, Specialty Nursing, SoHS
• Lauren Schutte , Instructional Development Consultant, Learning and Teaching Centre

The complexity of the health care environment and patient situations requires skill in clinical decision-making. Various clinical decision-making theoretical frameworks to support nursing education exist in the literature, however operationalizing these frameworks can be challenging in the context of clinical practice education, especially for novice clinical instructors.

In this presentation, we share and demonstrate our practical Critical Thinking Tools designed to support both the learner and instructor in clinical education. Developed from the Situated Clinical Decision Making Framework (Gillespie & Paterson, 2009) and grounded in a nursing clinical judgment model (Tanner, 2006) and situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 2003), these Thinking Tools can be used in a variety of easy-to-apply ways in clinical education to break down complex aspects of clinical decision-making in order to assess and support underlying critical thinking processes, and promote reflective thinking and reflective practice. Our intent is to share our work and start conversations with other educators also interested in supporting clinical educators in promoting critical thinking and clinical decision making in practice education.

Joe Boyd, Research Liaison, Applied Research Liaison Office
School Research Committee Chairs

Come and find out about the role of the Research Committees at BCIT and hear from the panel about their work.

Anna Lary, Faculty, Electrical Apprenticeship, Electrical Department, School of Construction and the Environment

I’m conducting research on the experiences of women and gender-diverse trades students at BCIT. I want to identify pathways into technical training and apprenticeship, points of failure and friction and interventions and processes that contribute to successful outcomes.

Adrienne Olszewski, Faculty, Emergency Specialty Nursing, School of Health Science

This presentation focuses on a quality improvement initiative aimed at enhancing the BCIT Clinical Skills Medical Forensic Examination Workshop for forensic nurse examiners. Recognizing the critical need for effective responses to interpersonal violence in British Columbia, this initiative seeks to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. This presentation will outline the workshop’s design, key learning outcomes, and the anticipated impact on both nursing practice and patient outcomes in the context of interpersonal violence.

Cindy McLellan, Librarian & Archivist, Library Services

The Institutional Repository Librarian, Cindy McLellan, will introduce exciting changes coming to BCIT’s Institutional Repository (IR) as we migrate to a new platform before 2025. McLellan will also briefly go over what materials (student, faculty & staff) are accepted and published on the IR. By the end of the session, you will know how to submit works for publication and some of the benefits of publishing on BCIT’s Institutional Repository.

• Michelle House-Kokan, Faculty, Faculty Development Lead , Specialty Nursing Department
• Farah Jetha, Faculty, Specialty Nursing Department Faculty Development & Perinatal Program Head

Strong clinical judgement development is imperative at all levels of nursing education to make effective, safe, and ethical clinical decisions. Yet clinical judgement is difficult to measure in clinical practice education due to its multidimensionality and complexity. The purpose of this presentation is to showcase this Clinical Evaluation Tool and Process, and present preliminary results of an in-process qualitative study exploring learners’ and instructors’ experiences with its use and how it impacts learners’ perceived clinical judgement and clinical decision making.

Naveen Jit, Faculty, School of Transportation, with students from the School of Energy and the School of Transportation

This session will explore an initiative that brings students from across programs and disciplines to work on capstone projects. Issues explored will be:

• Overcoming challenges to working with other schools and departments. What are some scheduling challenges, staffing challenges and how to navigate various policies around working in non-program areas?
• What would make it easier for students to connect with other students and educators from other BCIT areas?
• How are the projects funded and are there some additional opportunities?

Alok Dhungana, Faculty, Power Engineering, School of Energy

Building materials make up a significant volume of urban waste and contribute significantly to the ‘Green House Gas’ (GHG) emission. Mushroom composite is an innovative green material that can be grown on-site from raw materials like agricultural waste or even organic waste. This class A fire-resistant material can replace Styrofoam in other sectors like manufacturing and automotive industry.

Come to the session to learn more.

• Kathy Siedlaczek, Dean, Academic Planning and Quality Assessment
• BCIT School Deans

In this facilitated panel, BCIT School Deans will discuss the issues, challenges and successes of enabling scholarly activity at BCIT.

• Deidre Grace, Librarian, Library Services
• Jeff Verbeem, Librarian, Library Services
• Elly Habibullah, Marketing & Social Media Specialist, Library Services

This project aims to showcase published authors in the BCIT community with short social videos. In their own words, authors discuss one of their works and perhaps their writing/research process. This session will cover what we hope to achieve, possible extensions and will feature a sample video.

Michelle House-Kokan, Faculty, Faculty Development Lead , Specialty Nursing Department, School of Health Sciences

In post-secondary education contexts, it is not unusual for expert practitioners of a particular discipline undertake the teaching of their specific profession to aspiring students. However, it is common for instructors to have little or no training in educational pedagogy. In this lightening round presentation, one of the primary findings of a doctoral dissertation investigating the processes by which specialty nurse educators learn to teach is presented, along with implications for other practice disciplines that rely on professional expertise rather than pedagogy to teach new practitioners of the discipline.

• Emily Tang, Virtual Simulation Lead / Faculty, Specialty Nursing Emergency, School of Health Sciences
• Harroop Sharda, Faculty, BSN Scholarship Capacity Lead, School of Health Sciences

We will present a collaborative research project between BCIT’s polytechnic nursing program and Providence Health Authority. Our research seeks to address a critical issue in healthcare: the integration of Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) into high-acuity settings such as Emergency Departments (EDs). Our presentation will showcase the early stages of this research project, including insights gained during the early stages of this research project. We aim to generate discussion on innovative staffing models and contribute to the growing body of research on the integration of LPNs into high-acuity settings. This study represents a significant step towards strengthening collaboration between academic institutions and clinical research teams, fostering a more resilient and adaptable nursing workforce.

Adrienne Olszewski

Over the past two years, the BC Ministry of Health has collaborated with sexual assault forensic nurse experts to create internationally recognized, evidence-based provincial guidelines aimed at improving health outcomes for patients who report an experience of sexual violence.  This specialized practice must integrate medical, nursing, forensic sciences, and Canadian legal knowledge. The complexity of this integration highlights the need for quality assurance through the provision of accessible and standardized specialized care. As there is an increasing incidence of strangulation co-occurring within events of interpersonal violence, a practice gap which exists among current Forensic Nursing Services procedures is proper and timely strangulation assessment. This session will present the background rationale, methodology and expected outcomes to describe this current quality improvement endeavor within BC Forensic Healthcare in Emergency Departments across the province.

• Deidre Grace, Librarian, Library Services
• Alison Griffin, Librarian, Library Services

This short session will introduce the benefits and ease of using a citation manager to organize your secondary research, keep track of your sources and build a library of resources for future use.

• Carol Wenzel, Faculty, Biotechnology, School of Health Sciences
• David Holloway, Faculty, Mathematics, School of Computing and Academic Studies

Carol Wenzel from the Biotechnology Department and David Holloway from the Mathematics Department have been research collaborators for over eight years (The vein network in plant leaves: Clues for adaptation to a warming world?). They’ll talk about their experiences in doing research at BCIT: some of their scientific findings; how to fund the work; and the benefits of training students on research projects.

BCIT Scholarly Activity Committee:

• Joe Boyd, Research Liaison, Applied Research
• Kathy Siedlaczek, Dean, Academic Planning & Quality Assurance,
• Naveen Jit, Faculty, School of Transportation
• Terry Suen, Faculty, Program Head, Technology Management, School of Transportation
• Shan Satoglu, Faculty, Program Head, Healthcare Management, School of Health Sciences
• Alok Dhungana, Faculty, Power Engineering, School of Energy

Drawing from the week of community sharing, members of BCIT’s Scholarly Committee will  recount their observations and reflections as well as what we can take forward as we work to grow scholarly activity at BCIT.