Teaching

“Serving as a supervisor, mentor and guide for the learning and development of talented new scholars in my discipline and profession is the most satisfying part of being a professor in education.”

– Michele Jacobsen, PhD

Michele Jacobsen’s graduate supervision practice is sharply focused on developing relational trust (Jacobsen, Friesen & Becker, 2021) and sponsoring student success as researchers and teachers. The quality of Jacobsen’s supervision and mentorship has been recognized with several Teaching Excellence Awards for Graduate Supervision, Teaching and Leadership. She brings advanced experience and expertise in supporting graduate students’ engagement in a range of educational research methodologies, techniques & theories, from change oriented design-based research, to interpretive-hermeneutic inquiry, to experimental and correlational designs, to using action research and case study research methodologies. As part of her funded program of research, Jacobsen mentors graduate students in diverse research methods (i.e., analysis and exploration, collaborative design and implementation, classroom observations, interviews, online survey development, testing, data analysis, report writing, presentation skills, and so on), and in co-authoring peer reviewed publications and book chapters, and co-presenting conference papers and presentations. Jacobsen supports her students in attracting competitive funding, awards and distinctions that further their own career goals and also bring distinction to the School and the University.

Mentoring Students for Diverse Career Paths. Jacobsen’s mentoring relationships and support of graduate students’ research and career trajectories extends well past convocation. Graduate students bring diverse aspirations and career goals; some want to pursue academic careers in post-secondary, and others aim for professional and research careers in health care, libraries, and the education system. In all cases, Michele cultivates strong research focused relationships with students to understand their goals and aspirations, and to inform and tailor her graduate supervision and mentoring approach to align with their diverse needs. Given their advanced skills as researchers and teachers, Jacobsen’s former doctoral students have been hired as academic staff at several post-secondary institutions. Diverse career paths taken by my doctoral and masters student graduates:

Jacobsen is leading online professional development and an online community of practice aimed at improving the quality of graduate supervision and practice in Canada (QGS MOOC).

Jacobsen’s design of learning experiences and teaching of graduate and undergraduate courses is directly informed by her research on learning and technology.  Jacobsen’s design-based and case study research on learning, whether carried out in a middle school, high school or in post-secondary, is directly related to her on-campus / blended / online course designs and teaching in the B.Ed. program as well as her graduate teaching in educational technology and the learning sciences. In creating conditions for learning, Jacobsen’s emphasis is on knowledge building and intellectual engagement, participatory pedagogies and collaborative design work in the discipline.