2008-2009 Educational Development Caucus (EDC) Grants 
Grant Update Report

Title of Project:  Focusing Your Pathway to the Profession of Educational Development

Section A: Applicant Information

Principal
•	Jeanette McDonald | Manager: Educational Development | Teaching Support Services | Wilfrid Laurier University | Canada | jmcdonald@wlu.ca

Co-Applicant
•	Denise Stockley | Educational Developer | Centre for Teaching and Learning | Queen’s University Canada |  stockley@queensu.ca  

Partners
•	Adam Caron | B.A.C. Consulting | Canada | adam.caron@gmail.com 
•	Debra Dawson | Director | Teaching Support Centre | University of Western Ontario | Canada | dldawson@uwo.ca 
•	David Gosling | Higher Education Consultant | Visiting Research Fellow | University of Plymouth | UK | david.gosling@plymouth.ac.uk
•	Ray Land | Professor of Higher Education and Director of Centre for Academic Practice and Learning Enhancement | University of Strathclyde | UK | ray.land@strath.ac.uk
•	Karron Lewis | Associate Director | Instructional Consultation & Research Division of The University of Texas at Austin | USA | kglewis@mail.utexas.edu
•	Joy Mighty | Director | Centre for Teaching and Learning | Queen’s University | Canada | mighty@queensu.ca   
•	Mathew L. Ouellett | Director | The Centre for Teaching | University of Massachusetts | USA | mlo@acad.umass.edu
•	Mary Deane Sorcinelli | Associate Provost for Faculty Development | The Centre for Teaching | University of Massachusetts | USA | msorcinelli@acad.umass.edu 
•	Lynn Taylor | Director | Centre for Learning and Teaching | Dalhousie University | Canada | Lynn.Taylor@dal.ca 

Section B: Project Goals
-	better understand why people become involved in educational development activities
-	identify what enables (or inhibits) some individuals to enter into and progress within the field of educational development
-	determine what enables (or inhibits) some individuals to commit to a primary appointment in educational development
-	identify regional differences and similarities in practitioner pathways
-	provide (or contribute to) a baseline on which other research can build upon toward advancing the profession and supporting educational developers
-	further an international, cross-cultural pathways research agenda with international colleagues
-	contribute to the scholarship of ED by presenting and publishing at / in peer reviewed conferences and journals

Section C: Educational Findings/Outcomes

a.	What did the EDC Grant enable you to do (that perhaps you could not otherwise have done)?

So far, the grant has enabled us to hire two research assistants. To date they have performed a number of tasks, including the following. 
-	co-conduct focus groups 
-	record/sort/transcribe focus group data
-	prepare a literature review
-	identify potential contacts to coordinate inter/national focus group
-	identify conferences (and proposal deadlines) at which to disseminate/share findings 
-	identify potential avenues for publication 

Once all the data has been collected (approximately June 2009), the primary research assistant will complete coding and analysis, and prepare a preliminary summary of findings.

The grant has further enabled us to bring together an international team of educational developers to promote the Pathways agenda as well as coordinate and conduct focus groups either on our own or in collaboration with developer colleagues. To date we have conducted six focus groups – two in the United Kingdom and four in Canada. The latter includes both college and university developers. One additional focus group with educational developers from Belgium has been confirmed, while four or five others are being explored in Sweden, Japan, eastern Canada and the United States. 

All focus groups conducted to date have taken place face-to-face. The majority have been, or will be conducted in conjunction with existing events (e.g., societal conferences, network/association meetings) in order to minimize expense and maximize face-to-face data collection. At least one of the future focus groups will likely take place using Skype and the aid of an onsite colleague to conduct the focus group. With one exception, all focus groups have been conducted by the project applicants and partners as part of their in-kind contributions. 

b.	Were there any unexpected outcomes? Surprises, delights, pitfalls... If so, describe briefly.

None to date. We are delighted to have the support of so many colleagues and partners to participate in and help run/set-up focus groups with college and university developers around the world.

c.	How did you share your findings with others? List any URLs, conference presentations etc. where you presented your findings, particularly in a peer-reviewed context.

We have not yet reached the point of sharing findings.  Once we are finished data collection, coding, and analysis, we plan to disseminate our findings through conference presentations (e.g., EDC, STLHE, ICED), scholarly journals (e.g., IJAD), and written summary reports (e.g., via EDC Listserv). To date we have submitted a proposal to the STLHE 2009 conference at the University of New Brunswick to share preliminary findings.

Section D: Budget

a.	What was the amount of your original award?  $2499.00

b.	How was it spent? 

To date we have used the project funds to support the hiring of two research assistants (RAs). These RAs have completed a variety of tasks. A sampling is listed above in Section C.
 
c.	If you have any funds remaining, describe your plans to make use of them.

Given the qualitative nature of this study, we doubt there will be any funds leftover. Every dollar will be used to hire RA support. 

d.	What other funds/resources are supporting this project?

So far, in-kind dollars and support have been donated to this project to cover various expenditures and research tasks. Examples include the following.
-	travel (e.g., mileage and parking)
-	conference/meeting registration at which to promote the project and conduct focus groups
-	printing (e.g., letter of information, consent forms)
-	communications (e.g., long-distance teleconferences; Internet access)
-	office support (e.g., tracking/documenting project expenses)
-	time (e.g., conducting/coordinating focus groups; summarizing data)