Congratulations to Drs. Joyline Makani (Dalhousie Libraries and Dalhousie Faculty of Management) and Martine Durier-Copp, (Dalhousie Faculty of Management), who were recently awarded a SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant!

Drs. Makani and Durier-Copp will be conducting a review of evidence to address “What new ways of learning, particularly in higher education, will Canadians need to thrive in an evolving society and labour market?”

Their project is titledStrengthening Deeper Learning through Virtual Teams in E-Learning: A Synthesis of Determinants and Best Practices, and will focus on

• A systematic search of the literature
• An interpretive synthesis of current research
• The development of a framework of key determinants of effective e-learning
• The development of an open website in which key stakeholders will provide commentary
• The organization of a colloquium to validate findings, and presentation of a paper at a major international conference on e-learning.

“E- learning has transformed traditional way of learning in higher education, however Canada is trailing behind other countries in this respect”, says Dr. Joyline Makani. “We expect that our project will strengthen planning and delivery within Canadian centres involved in e-learning.”

The topic that Drs. Makani and Durier-Copp will be working on is one of six future challenge areas identified in SSHRC’s Imagining Canada’s Future initiative. These issues reflect key challenges that Canada is likely to face in an evolving global context over the coming decades, and to which the social sciences and humanities research community can contribute its knowledge, talent and expertise.

The knowledge synthesis grants will foster a deeper understanding of the knowledge, delivery mechanisms and learning outcomes necessary for the Canadian education system to support and sustain an innovative, resilient and diverse society. They will also help to identify the roles that the public, private and not-for-profit sectors may play in creating and sustaining new ways of learning, and teaching and pave the way for developing robust policies, practices and tools.