Deborah Butler, University of British Columbia
Professor
Special Education
Vancouver, British Columbia
deborah.butler@ubc.ca
Office:
(604) 822-5513
Bio/Research
Understanding and Fostering Effective, Strategic, and Self-Regulated Learning. This research characterizes the kinds of difficulties learners experience when self-regulating approaches to academic work and the qualities of learning environments (e.g., mediation, collaboration, tasks, formative as...
Click to Expand >>
Click to Expand >>
Bio/Research
Understanding and Fostering Effective, Strategic, and Self-Regulated Learning. This research characterizes the kinds of difficulties learners experience when self-regulating approaches to academic work and the qualities of learning environments (e.g., mediation, collaboration, tasks, formative assessments for learning) that promote successful self-regulated learning. I am particularly interested in characterizing qualities of individuals' engagement in academic work as situated in context, and how learning is co-regulated/mediated within situated learning communities. (SSHRC funded research).
Educational Practices that Support Adolescents and Adults with Learning Disabilities. This research examines theoretical and practical issues related to the development of strategic approaches to learning by adolescents and adults with learning disabilities in secondary and post-secondary settings. I focus particular attention on students who struggle with reading and writing at the intermediate, secondary, and post-secondary levels. (Research funded by SSHRC and through my work as the Chris Spencer Professor in Dyslexia 1998-2005).
The Strategic Content Approach to Fostering Strategic Learning and Inquiry. “Strategic Content Learning” (SCL) is a theoretically-grounded instructional approach designed to support the needs of adolescents and adults with learning disabilities. SCL promotes academic success by assisting students to learn how to develop personalized strategies for completing important academic tasks (e.g., reading, writing, math problem-solving). I have conducted a series of studies investigating SCL when used to support students with learning disabilities in secondary and postsecondary settings.
Collaboration and Co-Regulation in Teachers' Professional Development. I am working with teachers to develop and document collaborative, inquiry-based models of professional development that promote meaningful shifts in teachers' understandings about teaching and learning and, correspondingly, their decision making in practice. My most recent project focuses on how working with teachers to co-construct situated literacy assessments provides profiles of students' engagement in "learning through reading" that extend understanding about important instructional targets, support teachers' planning, enacting, and monitoring of targeted instructional practices, and fuel teachers' participation in on-going cycles of professional learning (SSHRC funded research).
Click to Shrink <<
Educational Practices that Support Adolescents and Adults with Learning Disabilities. This research examines theoretical and practical issues related to the development of strategic approaches to learning by adolescents and adults with learning disabilities in secondary and post-secondary settings. I focus particular attention on students who struggle with reading and writing at the intermediate, secondary, and post-secondary levels. (Research funded by SSHRC and through my work as the Chris Spencer Professor in Dyslexia 1998-2005).
The Strategic Content Approach to Fostering Strategic Learning and Inquiry. “Strategic Content Learning” (SCL) is a theoretically-grounded instructional approach designed to support the needs of adolescents and adults with learning disabilities. SCL promotes academic success by assisting students to learn how to develop personalized strategies for completing important academic tasks (e.g., reading, writing, math problem-solving). I have conducted a series of studies investigating SCL when used to support students with learning disabilities in secondary and postsecondary settings.
Collaboration and Co-Regulation in Teachers' Professional Development. I am working with teachers to develop and document collaborative, inquiry-based models of professional development that promote meaningful shifts in teachers' understandings about teaching and learning and, correspondingly, their decision making in practice. My most recent project focuses on how working with teachers to co-construct situated literacy assessments provides profiles of students' engagement in "learning through reading" that extend understanding about important instructional targets, support teachers' planning, enacting, and monitoring of targeted instructional practices, and fuel teachers' participation in on-going cycles of professional learning (SSHRC funded research).
Click to Shrink <<