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Teaching Praxis
Pedagogy & Praxis
In the classroom, and the extended learning environment, Kelsey has three priorities: interdisciplinary content, interactive teaching, and experiential learning. She strives to create an environment where students develop critical thinking skills and discipline and career-specific writing and presentation skills, while engaging in theoretical, and applied learning through Problem-Based Learning, Community Service Learning (CSL) projects, and field trips.
Kelsey uses in-class activities and a Socratic teaching method to provoke discussion that examines how social and political forces shape the construction and use of knowledge and to inspire critical thinking. She include guest speakers from across the community, industry, and academy to support student learning across the curriculum while preparing for and making meaningful connection to future employment opportunities.
Kelsey places importance on decolonizing the curriculum of the courses she teach, and on ensuring inclusive content. She accomplishes this, in part, through her own lectures which include global industry case studies and a curated and representative selection of international films and documentaries, by inviting Elders to lecture, and by assigning readings written by diverse scholars.
Comprehensive In-Class Activities
Comprehensive in-class activities provide students with opportunities to apply theory to practices, in a simulated environment.
Prior comprehensive in-class activities have included: reverse engineer your research paradigm guided activity, mock trials, mock townhall meetings, etc.
Problem-Based Learning
Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a student-centered approach to in-class learning that enables students to learn about a subject, theory or application through the experience of solving an open-ended problem through individual and group-based work guided by structured materials.
Previous PBL assignments have included: Therapeutic recreation case studies, sustainable nature-based tourism development scenarios tied to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and accompanying Sustainable Development Goals, etc.
Describe your image
Describe your image
Integrated Curriculum Design
Integrated Curriculum Design (ICD) is an overarching framework that consists of a three-phased approach to curriculum design whereby instructors design, develop and deliver a holistic and innovative curriculum of benefit to learners, industry and economy. The ICD Framework was developed from a sound pedagogical evidence-base and encompasses the three dimensions of curriculum design of Knowing, Doing and Being (Barnett and Coate, 2005).
Examples of ICD use include: a joint community-based research project and educational initiative based on collaboration with two courses offered by the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo and three (3) Ontario Trails organizations which was offered during the Winter 2021 semester. You can learn more about the Ontario Trails ICD Projects, and read the student outputs here.
Community Service Learning
Community Service Learning (CSL) projects provide opportunities for students to connect theory to practice, gain real world, and employment ready skills, and network within their intended employment sector(s) while having a positive impact on the wider community.
Past CSL Projects have included: partnerships with local organizations to design and delivery recreation and leisure programming based on specific organizational needs, and therapeutic recreation placements with community organizations aimed at meeting specific outcomes identified by the organization (e.g. designing new interventions, revising risk management planning, creating new staff training manuals), etc.
Guest Speakers
Guest Speakers bring their subject area expertise, and lived and / or professional experiences to the classroom, enriching students experiences where field trips may not be appropriate or in ways that are not supported by site visits. Guest speakers have facilitated experiential learning experiences for students, including teaching therapeutic recreation interventions, and discussed their tourism and agricultural businesses.
Previous guest speakers have included: Leigh Ann McLennan (Manitoba Development Centre and Rec Connections Manitoba Therapeutic Recreation Coordinator), Dr. Charles Levkoe (Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems), Dr. Christopher Mushquash (Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Mental Health and Addiction), Sean Murray (Norwester Maple Syrup), Erin May (Body Mind Centre), etc.
Extended Classroom & Field Trips
Field trips and the extended classroom environment are used to expand the learning environment into the wider University campus and community. This enable students to build relationships across campus and within the community fostering a greater understanding of various local actors within the leisure, recreation and tourism industry (SMEs, large-scale tourism operators, government and industry policy makers, NGOs and non-profits, therapeutic and occupational therapy service providers and / or organizations, etc.). These experiences also provide opportunities for local case study analysis, through the application of tourism product development and marketing theory, evidence-based practice in therapeutic recreation, and policy analysis related to inclusive and adaptive physical activity an leisure.
Examples of the extended classroom environment include: the University of Manitoba Campus gardens, Lakehead University's Lake Tamblyn Fire pit and the Nanabijou Childcare Centre at Lakehead University.
Prior field trips have included: Fort Whyte Alive!, Thunder Bay Therapeutic Riding Association, and the Hogarth Riverview Manor Therapeutic Garden, among others.
