MEd student garners award

Congratulations to master of education student Michael Bondclegg, who has earned a Recognition Award from the Canadian Association for Teacher Education (CATE) for his recently completed Master's thesis, The potential influence of YouTube as a means of disseminating the findings of research to millennial-aged teachers.The Award will be presented at the CATE annual general meeting on May 30 at Ryerson University.
Bondclegg successfully defended his thesis on March 20. Dr. Nancy Maynes was his thesis supervisor and Dr. John Allison was the second reader for Bondclegg’s work.Here is an abstract on Bondclegg’s thesis:
This study sought to examine YouTube as a potential resource for disseminating the findings of educational research. The literature shows that teachers’ attitudes towards peer-reviewed research are typically not positive. Further to this, novice teachers feel especially alienated by the length and academic nature of peer-reviewed research. Taking this into account, along with millennial-aged peoples’ tendencies to access digital media in order to acquire information, a group of 23 novice (within the first five years of their career), millennial-aged (born between 1983-2004) teachers were exposed to a peer-reviewed study, in either its original written format, or in the format of a YouTube video. Participants expressed an overwhelming preference towards information shared via YouTube, however more research is required to determine the tendencies of teachers to put this type of professional learning effectively into practice.
The CATE awards serve to promote teacher education research and scholarship in pre-service education, in-service education, and professional development, showing evidence of connecting and contributing to the body of literature in any one or combinations of these areas.
For a thesis or dissertation to be considered for a Recognition award, the study must directly address the field of teacher education not only in the conclusion, but throughout the research. The study must also connect to one or more of the following topics: (1) Teacher education and societal issues, (2) The study of teacher education practice, and (3) Challenges and possibilities for teacher education.