Dorothea Nelson, PhD
Professional Experience
I taught for 25 years in primary school and high school and at Lethbridge College for over a year. As a PhD student, I was a TA in Collaboratory of Practice: Leadership (Online) and in Special Topics in Educational Leadership (Issues in Educ Management II). As a teacher, my workload includes all aspects of preparing for teaching, delivering the curriculum, evaluating students and supporting their success. I also taught a composition course at the University of the West Indies.
I have served in education for over 30 years, first as a primary school teacher, next as a high school English Language and English Literature teacher, then as a Library director. Now, I teach composition and work as a faculty advisor -in online pedagogy.
While at the University of Calgary, I worked in various research projects. My duties included working with the research teams in planning, organizing, and conducting interview sessions, transcribing and synthesizing notes from interview sessions, data coding and analysis, writing the literature review, data coding and analysis, assisting with the mapping of the Werklund School of Education teacher education curriculum, exploring whether each curriculum is indigenized, and making recommendations for improvement, and actively participating in research team meetings. My research interests include teaching in online environments, Community of Inquiry, instructional design, participatory action research, Third Space, indigenizing/decolonizing research and course design.
Education
PhD Education Educational Research -Technology specialization, 2020
MScEcon Management of Libraries and Information Services, 2001
BA English (Hons.) University of the West Indies, 1994
QM Certified Higher Education Peer Reviewer Teacher Education, University of the West Indies, 1981
Parchoma, G., Simmons, M., Jacobsen, M. M., Nelson, D. & Bhola, S. (2020). Traces of embodiment and engagement in an online doctoral research methodology course: A virtual ethnographic study. The Finest Blend: Graduate Education in Canada. Edmonton, AB, Athabasca University Press.
Parchoma, G., Koole, M., Morrison, D., Nelson, D. & Dreaver-Charles, K. (2019). Designing for learning in the Yellow House: a comparison of instructional and learning design origins and practices, Higher Education Research & Development. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2019.1704693 https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2019.1704693
Nelson, D. & Parchoma, G. (2018). Toward theorizing spatial-cultural ‘othering’ in networked learning and teaching practices. Paper presented at the Eleventh International Conference on Networked Learning 2018: A research-based conference on networked learning in higher education, lifelong learning & professional development. Zagreb, Croatia May 14-16. https://www.networkedlearningconference.org.uk/abstracts/papers/nelson_01.pdf
Nelson, D. & Parchoma, G. (2018). Indigenizing Curriculum Development and Online Course Design: A Caribbean Study. TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, 62(4), 375-382. https://www.learntechlib.org/p/190382/.
Nelson, D., Jurkova, S., Groen, J., Aljarrah, A., Mace, F., Wu, X., & Roy, S. (2017). Transcultural perspective development: Implications for cultivating our well-being as emerging academics. Journal of Educational Thought, 50(2 & 3), 98-116.
Nelson, D. (2015). Researching the design of a culturally sensitive library science course. In P. Preciado & M. Takeuchi (Eds.), Proceedings of the IDEAS: Rising to Challenge Conference, Werklund School of the Education, University of Calgary.
Nelson, D. (2014). Using the community of inquiry framework for library science course design: An Eastern Caribbean example. In M. Simonson (ed.), 37th Annual Proceedings of the Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology: Vol. 2. Selected papers on the Practice of Educational Communications and Technology (pp. 332-343) Jacksonville, Fl. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED562048.pdf
Nelson, D. (2018). Working in Third Space to Decolonize Curriculum Design. The 6th World Curriculum Studies Conference. Melbourne, Australia, Dec 9-12. (accepted)
Nelson, D. & Parchoma, G. (2018). Toward theorizing spatial-cultural ‘othering’ in networked learning and teaching practices. Paper presented at the Eleventh International Conference on Networked Learning 2018: A research-based conference on networked learning in higher education, lifelong learning & professional development. Zagreb, Croatia, May 14-16.
Freeman,W., Lock, J., Cleveland-Innes, M., Childs, E., Gauvreau, S., Kumar, V., Lakhal, S., Nelson, D., Ould Moulaye, C., Paulson, E., Sharif., A, Snow, K., Taylor, M., Vaughan, N., Veletsianos, G., & Waddington, L. (2018, May). A Developing Research Agenda for Higher Education Reform through Blended and Online Learning, Symposium presented at Congress 2018: Canadian Society for Studies in Higher Education, Regina, Saskatchewan.
Nelson, D. & Parchoma, G. (2017). From Theory to Practice: Working in Third Space to indigenize research. Presented at the COHERE conference Meeting Future Challenges: Next Steps for 21st Century Blended and Online Higher Education. Toronto, Canada, Oct. 20 Nelson, D. & Parchoma, G. (2017). Indigenizing Course design: A Caribbean example. Paper presented at the 2017 University of Calgary Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching: Creating a Learning Culture: Conversations that Matter, Calgary, AB, May 2-3
Simmons, M., Parchoma, G. Nelson, D. and Bhola, S. (2016). Enhancing Student Engagement in an Online Doctoral Research Methods Course. Paper presented at the 2016 University of Calgary Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching: Exploring Creativity in Postsecondary Learning and Teaching, May 10-11
Nelson, D. (2015). Researching the design of a culturally sensitive library science course. Paper presented at the 2015 IDEAS Conference: Designing Responsive Pedagogy, Calgary, AB, April 30-May 1.
Nelson, D. (2014) Using the community of inquiry framework for library science course design: An Eastern Caribbean example. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the AECT, Sponsored by the Research and Theory Division, Jacksonville, FL., November 4-8.