Laura D'Amico Adjunct Professor   Faculty of Education Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6 CANADA   ldamico@sfu.ca   SFU | Faculty of Education   (last updated: May 2023)

 

EDUCATION

·       Ph.D. (June 1999), Learning Sciences program, School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University

·       B.S. Education-Mathematics (May 1990), School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Investigation of systems to support educational improvement and reform, including: assessment infrastructures; learning technologies; professional development systems for teachers, principals and university faculty; and relationships between researchers and practioners.

 

 

TEACHING AT SFU

 

Currently

EDUC 891: Learning Design in Technology-Mediated Environments

 

In the past

EDUC 260: Learning and Teaching through Technology

EDUC 325: Assessment for Classroom Teaching

EDUC 482: Designs for Learning – Information Technology

EDUC 864: Research Designs in Education

 

 

CURRENT PROJECTS

 

Beyond Lip­service: Investigating Teacher Educators’ Pursuit of Inclusive Practice during COVID­19

SSHRC funded study of the impact of pandemic emergency teaching on teacher educators’ awareness of student needs generally, the impact of this awareness on their instructional design choices, and the effect of those choices on their students’ understanding of inclusive teaching practice. Data collection includes instructor questionnaires, student questionnaires and interviews with selected instructors to craft a multiple-case analysis of exemplary practice. (Co-PI, September 2021 – Present)

 

 

Understanding Students’ Choice of Course Modality in Changing Times

Questionnaire study of the factors that affect student choices between enrolling in online or in person courses. Builds upon work conducted prior to COVID-19 to both explore the impact of pandemic remote teaching on these choices as well as incorporate new items to capture pedagogical preferences associated with online or in person teaching and logistical constraints on course choice. (Research collaborator, March 2021 – present)

 

PREVIOUS PROJECTS

 

Indigenous Art Practices: A Professional Development Series

Work with SFU colleagues Sara Florence Davidson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, Ashley Edwards, Indigenous Initiatives and Instruction Librarian, Library, Courtney Vance, Graduate student, sociology and Bryan Myles, Associate Director, Bill Reid Centre on the design and facilitation of a three-part professional development series provide via teleconferencing for educators across British Columbia interested in respectfully engaging their students with Indigenous art. (Consultant, July 2022 – March 2023)

 

·       Archival website

 

RESPECT Program

Provide instructional design support for the creation of learning materials for RESPECT, a professional development program for SFU employees that encourages cultural safety and anti-racism through deeper knowledge about Indigenous peoples and the historical and on-going impact of colonialism.  (Consultant, May 2022 – August 2022)

 

·       RESPECT Program

 

Unpacking Colonialism in Science Program for SFU’s Dean of Science Office

Design and facilitate six-session introductory program that explores the impact of colonialism on science and science education for Dean of Science Office staff, administrators and faculty. (Consultant, May 2022 – August 2022)

 

 

CODE Transition Project and Online Learning Hub Pilot for SFU Faculty of Education

Help design and provide a program for members of the Faculty of Education transitioning online courses from a model run by the Center for Online and Distance Education (CODE), to faculty led and run courses or who wish to design new online and blended courses. Facilitate and evaluate a pilot Online Learning Hub within the Faculty. (Limited term lecturer, February 2019 – April 2023)

 

 

Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching:  An Integrated Seminar Series and Grants Program

Support lead facilitator, Dolores van der Wey, with the design, implementation and evaluation of the Disrupting Colonialism through Teaching program run by the Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines for SFU faculty members.  (February 2018 – June 2020)

 

 

Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines at SFU (ISTLD, now TILT)

Help design and facilitate programs in which faculty members support one another to improve teaching and learning in their courses at SFU. Provide research support to faculty members conducting in teaching and learning inquiries in their courses. Conduct on-going evaluation of ISTLD’s programs for faculty members. (University Research Associate, 2015-2019)

 

·       Amundsen, C. & D’Amico, L. (2019). Using Theory of Change to evaluate socially-situated, inquiry-based academic professional development. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 61, 196–208.

·       D’Amico, L., Fabian, S. & Amundsen, C. (2018). Learning Theory and Design Elements Underlying ISTLD’s Programs. Unpublished report submitted to the AVP-Learning and Teaching on behalf of the Institute for the Study of Teaching and Learning in the Disciplines (ISTLD), Simon Fraser University.

 

 

Review of Admissions Procedures for the Teacher Education Program of the Faculty of Education at SFU

Professional Programs in the Faculty of Education is currently undergoing a period of envisioning and rethinking its teacher education programs.  As part of that larger work, they are reflecting upon their current admissions practices and exploring admissions procedures at other institutions and in other professional fields. This reflection and exploration supports their work to improve the clarity, transparency and technical robustness of their admissions procedures.  (Writer, research and development consultant, 2014-2017)

 

 

Task Force for Teacher Education in the 21^st Century, SFU Faculty of Education

SFUճ Task Force for Teacher Education in the 21^st Century (TEF21) was charged with considering how teaching and learning might change in the 21^st century and to explore what teacher education practices might best prepare our teaching force for these shifting conditions. (Research consultant and writer, 2012-2013)

 

·       D’Amico, L., Neufeld, P., Chinnery, A. & Bryne, R. (2013).  Phase 3 Report:  Thought-Provoking Practices in Teacher Education. Unpublished technical report for the Task force for Teacher Education in the 21st Century.  Burnaby, BC:  Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, March 13, 2013.

 

 

Manifestations of Religion and Accommodation Practices in the BC Public Education System
Through interviews with key administrators and practioners and review of documents, this project explored existing guidelines (policies, rules, procedures, etc.) pertaining to the inclusion of religious diversity in school in order to better understand how school districts address issues related to cultural/religious values or beliefs, which may conflict with existing educational values. (Research consultant, 2009-2013)

 

·       Jacquet, M. & D’Amico, L. (2016). Religious Identity and Inclusion: Policy and Accommodation Practices in British Columbian Secular Schools System. Canadian Journal of Education, 39(2), 1-25.

 

 

A Sociocultural Investigation of Literacy Instruction for Children Learning English as a Second Language (SILICLE)
SILICLE was a three year longitudinal study (2006-2009) of English langauge learners as they moved through grades 4, 5 and 6. The project team investigated the first language and English literacy practices of these students at home and in school and the ways in which they participated in those practices, the ways in which school literacy instruction based on sociocultural learning theories might provide those students with access to school literacy practices, and the extent to which theoretical models of and/or practical research on sociocultural approaches to literacy instruction for second language learners might be helpful to teachers working in multilingual classrooms. (Research Associate, 2006-2008)

 

 

Current Trends in the Evolution of School Personnel in Canadian Elementary and Secondary Schools
The School Personnel Study was a five year investigation (2002-2007) involving researchers across Canada in an effort to understand the effects of budget cuts, class sizes, curriculum changes, exanding diversity and technological and educational reforms on teaching and learning conditions in Canadian public schools. I worked with a team based at Simon Fraser University to investigate these conditions in schools and classrooms in the greater Vancouver area. (Research Associate, 2003-2008)

 

·       Grimmett, P. P. & D’Amico, L. (2008). Do British Columbiaճ recent education policy changes enhance professionalism among teachers. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, (78), 1-35.

·       Grimmett, P. P., Dagenais, D., Jacquet, M., D’Amico, L., Ilieva, R. & Waldern, B. (2008). The contrasting discourses in the professional lives of educators in Vancouver, British Columbia. Journal of Educational Change, 9(2), 101-121.

 

 

Case study of LeTUS for the Research Network on Teaching and Learning Meta-Study
The Meta-Study investigated strategies for improving educational research to make it more useful and usable to educational practioners and policy makers" by "systematically investigating qualities of recent projets that reconceptualized and reorganized the role of research vis-a-vis practice in ways that may have led to improved practice and increased student learning outcomes." As part of this endeavor, I wrote a case study of the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schoos (LeTUS). (Research consultant, 2003-2005)

 

·       D’Amico, L. LeTUS: (2010) The Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools: Evolving relationships in design-based research. In Colburn, C. E. & Stein, M. K. (Eds.) Research and practice in education: Building alliances, bridging the divide. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 37-52.

·       Final full case study of LeTUS — full interpretive case (116 pages, 1.85MB)
[Note: The full case was initially made available in July, 2005. Full typo cleaned version released on May 2006.]

·       Initial due diligence report on LeTUS — description of history and basic strategies (37 pages, 56K)

 

 

Assessment and Technology Study
Development of a questionnaire to capture the ways in which technology use affects teachers assessment practices. This questionnaire was used as part of program evaluation efforts by the Integrating Strategies and Technology in Education Practice (InSTEP) Project of the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, West Virginia in Summer 2003. InSTEP was a multi-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Education focused on training West Virginia teachers in problem-based/inquiry learning and effective integration of technology into teaching and leanring. (Research consultant, 2003).

 

 

The High Performance Learning Communities Project (HPLC)
Based out of the Learning Research and Development Center of the University of Pittsburgh, HPLC investigated the efforts of New York City's Community School District #2 in Manhattan to produce district wide improvements in teaching and learning in literacy and mathematics. (Research Associate, 1997-2001)

 

·       Stein, M. K. & D'Amico, L. (2002).  The District as a Professional Learning Laboratory. In A. M. Hightower, M. S. Knapp, J. A. Marsh & M. W. McLaughlin (Eds.), School Districts and Instructional Renewal. New York: Teachers College Press, p. 61-75.

·       Stein, M. K. & D'Amico, L. (2002).  Inquiry at the Crossroads of Policy and Learning: A Study of a District-Wide Literacy Initiative.  Teachers College Record, 104(7).

 

 

The Learning through Collaborative Visualization Project (CoVis)
Run out of Northwestern University, CoVis was a collaboration between researchers and nearly 150 teachers in 40 schools across the country to implement project based science supported by computing and telecommunications technology into earth and environmental science classes. Research papers and teaching materials available at the CoVis website. (Graduate Student, 1992-1997)

 

·       D'Amico, L. (April, 1999). The implications of project-based pedagogy for the classroom assessment infrastructures of science teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April 19-23, 1999, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (This paper is a rough summary of my dissertation. [132K]).

·       D'Amico, L. (1999). The role of classroom assessment infrastructures in crafting project based science classrooms. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL (main document [420K]; appendices [188K]).