Almost 10 years ago, Bell launched “Let’s Talk”, an initiative to promote awareness and positive change in the mental health of Canadians.

UBC Okanagan experts are available to comment on several areas of mental health research. Bell Let’s Talk Day takes place Wednesday, January 29.

Happiness and canine therapy

John-Tyler Binfet

Associate professor, Okanagan School of Education

• How students are kind; kindness in school; dog therapy; stress reduction in college students.

General psychology

Shirley Hutchinson

Lecturer, psychology department, Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences

• General psychology; child development; adult development and aging; special topics: psychology of motivation; anxiety, fear, and uncertainty in intergroup relations.

Health psychology

Shelly Ben-David

Assistant professor, School of Social Work

• Youth mental health including clinical high-risk to psychosis, first-episode psychosis, anxiety and depression; early intervention in mental health; identity in the early stages of psychosis; digital divide among youth; mental health service use decision making; mental health service use engagement interventions; implementation research; youth engagement in research.

Karen Ragoonaden

Professor, Okanagan School of Education

• Mindfulness and well-being, Stress Management and Resiliency Techniques (SMART) education.

Sally Willis Stewart

Senior instructor, School of Health and Exercise Sciences
Director, Nutrition Education Centre

• Nutrition and physical activity; obesity and eating disorder prevention; student well-being, mental well-being and resiliency, HEAL100 instructor.

Indigenous health, effects of climate change

Nelly Oelke

Associate professor, School of Nursing

• Mental health and wellness in rural communities with adults aged 50 and over; impacts of climate change and climate change events on mental health and well-being; mental wellness in urban Indigenous adults aged 50 and over.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca

Currently there are more than 1,600 active research projects underway at UBCO.

UBCO stories you may have missed in 2019

UBCO Okanagan has grown to a student population of more than 10,000. With this growth, has come new research opportunities—currently there are more than 1,600 active projects. UBCO researchers are challenging established assumptions, innovating solutions and creating new knowledge that will have broad impacts on our society. Here are some of the accomplishments reached in 2019.

Promoting resilient environments

UBCO biologists have discovered a new source of carbon dioxide in lake water that is used for irrigation. Their findings have practical applications for agriculture-based communities in arid regions. For more

Ecologists from UBCO and the University of Alberta have developed non-invasive methods for tracking animals, using DNA found in their feces, saliva and hair. These approaches will provide improved understanding of wildlife migration and population trends. For more

Supporting healthy people

UBCO has joined with international partners to determine how the human heart has adapted to engage in endurance physical activities. The findings will bring new insights to the international effort to reduce hypertensive heart disease—one of the most common causes of illness and death in the developed world. For more

UBCO researchers partnered with an international research team to complete 15 major scientific studies in Peru’s Cerro de Pasco to better understand how high altitude affects newcomers and Indigenous populations. This research is relevant for people who suffer from low oxygen health conditions including those with lung or heart disease. For more

A new Faculty of Medicine Research Centre, the first such facility outside the Lower Mainland, was established at UBC Okanagan. The Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management will serve as a provincial leader for research, knowledge translation and exchange in the urgent research field of chronic diseases. For more

Developing emerging technologies

UBC Okanagan researchers have discovered a new class of anti-ice surface coatings. These low interfacial toughness (LIT) materials ease the force required to remove ice from large areas, such as car windshields. For more

Researchers at UBC Okanagan’s School of Engineering have developed a low-cost sensor that can be interlaced into textiles and composite materials. While the research is still ongoing, it may pave the way for smart clothing that can monitor human movement. For more

Building thriving communities

UBCO researchers were involved in an international study which found that people are more charitable if allowed to quickly claim tax credits for their donations. Their findings showed that changing the deadline for donations so they land close to tax time increased contributions by nine per cent. For more

Thanks to a visiting international fellowship, a UBCO professor is collaborating with the University of Exeter to promote and disseminate environmental humanities research. This field speaks to the interconnectedness of climate change, factory farming and human health. For more

Two-day leadership session open to the public

What: Safe is Not Enough: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Education and Leadership course
Who: UBCO Summer Institute participants, members of the public
When: July 4 and 5, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Participants will be notified of the location via email
Cost: $150 for both days

UBC Okanagan is hosting a two-day Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Education and Leadership course on July 4.

Organized by UBCO's School of Education’s Summer Institute, the two-day session—called Safe is Not Enough—is open to the public. Participants will develop and present inclusive educational approaches that recognize, intervene and transform the impacts of systemic discrimination towards sexual and gender minorities.

Co-facilitators Steve Mulligan, teacher education coordinator with the UBCV Faculty of Education, and Kristie Keyworth Janzen, a Spanish, French and social justice teacher for the Central Okanagan School District with the Central Okanagan School District, will provide ready-to-use resources, hands-on activities and group discussion in a supportive atmosphere. Community-based guest speakers will also share lived experiences and inclusive strategies.

Participants will take part in robust discussions as they brainstorm and tackle some of the most common SOGI scenarios that arise in schools and other youth-focused environments.

“The goal of the course is to provide participants with the tools, resources and confidence to create environments where students feel safe, included and empowered,” says Mulligan. “Educational leaders across BC and Canada are recognizing that SOGI-inclusive policies and practices benefit all people by creating a more positive and accepting school climate from kindergarten through to university.“

The participant fee is $150. Register online at education.ok.ubc.ca/programs/sie under Summer Institute by Monday, June 17.

About UBC's Okanagan campus

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning in the heart of British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. Ranked among the top 20 public universities in the world, UBC is home to bold thinking and discoveries that make a difference. Established in 2005, the Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world.

To find out more, visit: ok.ubc.ca.

Assistant Professor of Education Christopher Martin

Teachers are empowered to have a strong influence on children, who in turn play a role in shaping society. But with this empowerment comes responsibility.

In a study recently published in the journal Ethics and Education, Assistant Professor of Education Christopher Martin is arguing that teacher-education programs can and should aim to empower teachers to communicate the reasons behind their decisions.

He thinks that educating teachers in this way could serve as a more beneficial form of teacher accountability than what’s currently being done.

Q: Describe the influence teachers have on students.

Christopher Martin: Teachers can play a tremendously positive role in the lives of students. They can help to shape the way students think, feel and relate to others. However, this involves a much greater degree of influence than we grant to others. In order for this arrangement to work, the public must be able to put a trust in teachers to carry out this role ethically and responsibly.

Q: How can teachers work to promote public trust?

CM: One obvious way is to respect codes of professional conduct and ethical norms. I think that teachers have a proactive, perhaps even educational, role to play in promoting public trust, and one of those ways is through their ability to communicate the value of what they do and why they do it. This requires time and opportunity for teacher candidates to engage in serious thinking and reflection on the nature and value of education.

This is where teacher education plays an important role.

When someone gets an education in teaching they should acquire not just an understanding of what they will be teaching but develop an informed sense of why what they are teaching is worthwhile. 

Q: In your article, you argue that teachers should be able to give reasons for some of the decisions they make. Why is this important?

CM: There is a growing sense that certain approaches to teacher accountability that we see internationally, such as standardized testing, classroom inspections or pay for performance, do not serve teachers or students especially well. Nor do they do much to inspire public trust. When teachers are able to account for their decisions in the public sphere, the trustworthiness of the profession increases. This should support the case for the professional autonomy and independence teachers need in order to excel at their work.

Q: How can teachers learn to communicate their practice to the public? 

CM: If teacher-education programs see part of their responsibility as enabling students to cultivate a deep understanding of the values of education—part of which would require discussion and debate about those values—students will acquire the ability to communicate along the way.

Being able to communicate the reasons behind your decisions is not necessarily about persuading others to agree. It is about promoting understanding. What people are often looking for is a sense that there is a certain degree of fair-mindedness and care that goes into educational decision-making. Teachers may know this to be the case, but it makes a real difference if the profession is equipped to communicate this fact to the same people that are asked to place trust in them.

—30—

The post UBC professor says teacher education programs should teach for public accountability appeared first on UBC's Okanagan News.

What: Coding workshop for teachers
Who: Hosted by UBC’s Innovative Learning Centre, delivered by Lighthouse Labs and Kids Code Jeunesse
When: Tuesday, January 24, from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Where: Room 1123, Engineering, Management and Education building, UBC Okanagan campus

Teachers from across the Okanagan Valley will spend a day participating in an interactive coding activity on UBC’s Okanagan campus. Computer coding is the digital language used to program websites, and is a part of the Applied Design, Skills and Technologies curriculum, launched in September 2015.

Kelowna-Mission MLA Steve Thomson, on behalf of Education Minister Mike Bernier, will join teachers from around the Okanagan for a professional development workshop delivered by Lighthouse Labs and Kids Code Jeunesse.

The event is hosted by the Innovative Learning Centre, a research centre housed within the Faculty of Education at UBC’s Okanagan campus.

The workshop will focus on how to teach basic coding and computational thinking to students.  Elementary and secondary school teachers will be part of the intensive two-day workshop.

–30–

The post UBC Okanagan hosts coding workshop for teachers appeared first on UBC's Okanagan News.