Nasim Peikazadi | University of British Columbia (original) (raw)

Papers by Nasim Peikazadi

Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Dec 19, 2016

The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice

This chapter examines the topic of community service‐learning (CSL) with social justice aims. It ... more This chapter examines the topic of community service‐learning (CSL) with social justice aims. It begins by considering how different approaches to CSL are described in the academic literature about service‐learning and the tensions in these approaches, for example, between a charity and social justice approach. Authors in the academic CSL literature use the term social justice, often without defining what they mean and acknowledging the complexity of social justice work. Exploring the various conceptions of social justice developed in academic writing over time helps us understand tensions around the concept within the CSL literature as well as its complexity. We argue that borrowing from writings about cognitive justice and an ecology of knowledges, which focus on expanding the kinds and forms of knowledge seen as valuable in universities and beyond, extends our thinking about social justice to focus more directly on questions around knowledge and to embrace complexity and unpredictability. We conclude with a discussion of some of the changes required in universities to facilitate CSL with social justice aims.

Table of Contents Main messages Executive summary KEY FINDINGS 1. CONTEXT Definitions of service ... more Table of Contents Main messages Executive summary KEY FINDINGS 1. CONTEXT Definitions of service learning Overview of CSL in the US Overview of CSL in Canada Conceptual thinking about CSL 2. IMPLICATIONS 3. APPROACH General overview of service learning literature: Keyword analysis Selection of literature for this report 4. RESULTS A.

Studies in the Education of Adults

Abstract Employment training services are provided for immigrants to integrate them into the Cana... more Abstract Employment training services are provided for immigrants to integrate them into the Canadian labour market. Evaluated on short-term labour market outcomes, these programs typically focus on enhancing individuals’ employability, while risking naturalizing and reproducing the dominant social and cultural order. Entry to Hospitality Careers for Women is a government-funded program based on a partnership between a community organization and a community college specialised in vocational training. Uniquely, this program aims to expand immigrant and refugee women’s employment skills as well as their social and cultural spaces. A community-based partnership research project was conducted to explore how the program worked towards these goals. It finds that the program contributed to the personal development of the women, expanded their social space and enhanced their social and economic opportunities to varying degrees. It also points to a set of women-centered pedagogical and programming practices that were conductive to women’s learning through the program. Firstly, as a partnership, the program leveraged the resources and expertise accrued in both the community organization and the community college. Secondly, while navigating institutional mandate, the program was oriented towards the needs of the women. Finally, the women-centered and care-based pedagogy was found to be of immediate influence on the program participants. Theoretically, this paper adds to feminist pedagogy by grounding it in the actual work of immigrant service workers, which defies any abstract attempt to fix it within the binary frame of social reproduction and transformation.

International Review of Education

Diversity work is an area of growing interest for organisations in both the private and public se... more Diversity work is an area of growing interest for organisations in both the private and public sectors. In a nutshell, the term refers to the work conducted within an organisation that promotes inclusive and equitable engagement with people and communities across social differences such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and religion. Related research has generated relatively more knowledge about the challenges and problems of diversity initiatives than about effective practices that genuinely foster social equity and inclusion. This article contributes to the latter with a partnership case study involving the United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society (S.U.C.C.E.S.S.), a large non-profit immigrant services organisation headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Specifically, the study presented here focuses on the organisational practices that are constitutive of frontline workers' engagement with diversity work and learning. It shows that (1) building a diverse and inclusive organisation, (2) supporting continuous learning opportunities at work, and (3) providing diversity training, both directive and generative, form the organisation's diversity "curriculum". This study also demonstrates that the strength of this workplace curriculum is that it has the potential to challenge the boundary between instrumentalism (harnessing diversity work to business success) and equity activism (prioritising diversity work in its own right), and that it creates space for collective reflection in the presence of others. Conceptually drawing on the practice turn in social sciences, particularly Steven Billet and Jennifer Newton's learning practice, and what David Boud terms "the reflective turn", this article positions diversity work as a reflective and iterative process of lifelong learning for both organisations and individual workers.

The quality of graduate student- supervisor relationships is important because it impacts student... more The quality of graduate student- supervisor relationships is important because it impacts students’ learning experience as well as their future career opportunities. Indeed, it often influences the course of students’ research, their identity as future scholars, and their motivation to pursue and complete a graduate degree. Though student-supervisory relationships form a great part of the graduate student experiences and professional growth, explorations of this topic from a graduate student perspective are scarce. This participatory action research workshop presented by graduate students in the Faculty of Education at The University of British Columbia seeks to contribute to filling that gap. It addresses the importance of having a continuous and open dialogue about the expectations and experiences of graduate students and supervisors in regard to this key aspect of graduate students’ life. We warmly invite early career scholars, current graduate students, and experienced and novic...

Community Service-Learning in Canadian Higher Education, 2015

Curricular community service-learning (CSL) integrates learning through service in the community... more Curricular community service-learning (CSL) integrates learning through service in the community with intentional course-based learning activities. While CSL programs have been part of higher education in the US since the early 1970s, most of the growth in Canadian programs has taken place since the 1990s. Like the US, CSL programs in Canada have diverse aims and approaches. They tend to include a mix of experiential education, action research, critical theory, progressive education, adult education, social justice education, constructivism, community-based research, multicultural education, and undergraduate research. How can service learning enhance student engagement and outcomes? The literature discusses elements to consider in designing CSL activities, including the quantity and quality of reflective activities, duration and intensity of service, diversity of service, meaningful integration of classroom and community learning, involvement of community partners in designing student activities/projects, and preparation of students for these projects. But importantly, CSL design is related to aims of programs, which vary from “technical” goals to more “transformative” goals. Therefore, clarity about aims as well as about differences in the learning theories underpinning particular approaches to CSL is important. Further, developing reciprocal relationships between university and community means responding to community priorities too. How does CSL contribute to new ways of learning? Writers tend to agree that CSL initiatives can promote critical thinking and civic responsibility if they are carefully organized, have clarity of purpose, are relevant to students’ professional futures, address the emotional dimensions of students’ learning, and provide guided reflection. The complexity of university-community partnerships must also be acknowledged. Innovative approaches discussed in studies include establishing interdisciplinary student teams, using art and poetry to promote learning, promoting dialogical relationships with community, and adopting asset-based approaches in community. What are promising practices to addressing student diversity through CSL? Existing literature suggests that CSL instructors need to recognize student diversity, particularly the positions of students in relation to community members. Acknowledging diversity can help educators engage students from various backgrounds and circulate healthy, safe dialogues that bridge classroom theory with CSL praxis. What institutional structures and supports are necessary for CSL to flourish? CSL requires visionary leadership at all levels, resources, and coordination. It is important for those involved to consider how organizational structures impact the ability of service learning to meet educational goals; and how the work of CSL is to be organized and implemented. Our review of the literature suggests more Canadian research on CSL in higher education is needed to inform the design of CSL programs and activities.

The Wiley International Handbook of Service‐Learning for Social Justice, 2017

Canadian Journal of Higher Education

This chapter explores the possibilities, benefits, and difficulties of developing game-like virtu... more This chapter explores the possibilities, benefits, and difficulties of developing game-like virtual environments for education. The goal of this paper is to review the background of game-like environment and
impact of game-like environment on learning, discuss the differences on teacher-free and teacher-leading virtual learning environment, and provide examples of game-like environment in the virtual world for
education. Finally, this chapter also provides suggestions to readers who would like to create game-like virtual environments for education.

Creating Teacher Immediacy in Online Learning Environments, 2000

The current ideas of development regarding international Adult Education in today’s globalized wo... more The current ideas of development regarding international Adult Education in today’s globalized world have resulted in unequal relations between the so-called “West” and the “non-West.” Adult education is being used as a tool to reach economic development goals (OECD, 2000), rather than striving for equity and social change. In this paper, we argue that the western institutions, due to their virtue of being powerful, are implementing their own, often exploitative, definitions of education in an increasingly globalized world. As a result, unequal power relations between the “West” and the “non-West” are being entrenched (Hall, 1996).
We will interpret images individually, using visual methodology combined with theoretical frameworks, to acknowledge our individual positions as researchers and its impact on our interpretations.