Teaching

My teaching interests align with my research interests in information access and use. Primary areas are: information and data sources and services, information behavior, and information retrieval. My approach to teaching is grounded in openness, dialogue and self-directed learning. I recognize the value of diverse cultures and epistemologies and focus on the individual strengths of students by offering flexible learning options. I treat assignments as opportunities to develop bridging knowledge by applying theoretical and conceptual knowledge to real world problems and scenarios.

Current Courses

INFO 303 – Search Engines and Society (new course for Minor in Informatics) – Public Syllabus and Reading List
LIBR 557 – Information Retrieval Concepts and Practice – description
LIBR 504 – Management of Information Organizations – description

Formerly Taught:

LIBR 530 – Subject-Based Information Services – description
LIBR 539J – Data Sources in the Public Domain – description
LIBR 610 – Theoretical and Research Foundations – description

Scholarship of Teaching Grants

UBC Advancing Education Renewal Program: Re-envisioning the First Nations Curriculum Concentration (2021-22) (Co-Applicant)
NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience – Designing for People Graduate Training (2017-2022) (Co-Applicant)

Graduate Supervision

I am currently seeking graduate students interested in climate crisis informatics and sensemaking and Generative AI search systems and use. Students with demonstrated research abilities and research interests that align with these areas are welcome to contact me. Note that as of 2024, my administrative and leadership duties as Director will limit my ability to accept new doctoral students.

Doctoral Students

Daniel Hackborn, 2024-continuting – (Supervisor)
Yifan Liu, 2022-continuing – (Supervisor)
Alice Li, 2022-continuing – (Supervisor)
Samuel Dodson, completed 2021 – (Co-Supervisor with Dr. Rick Kopak)
- Becoming Engineers: How Students Leverage Relationships between Documents and Learning Activities
Sarah Gilbert, completed 2018 – (Co-Supervisor)
- Motivations for participating in online initiatives : exploring motivations across initiative types
Colleen Addison, completed 2017 – (Supervisor)
- The issue of avoidance : information avoidance in the context of personal health concerns
Jean McKendry, completed 2013 (Co-Supervisor)
- Reading the landscape of public libraries as place : experiences of homeless men in public libraries in Vancouver, BC

Masters Student (thesis option)

Yifan Liu, completed 2022 (Supervisor)
Eleanor Ren, completed 2021 (Supervisor)
Winnie (Ak Wai) Li, completed 2019 (Supervisor)
- Exploring learning opportunities in open data use across data literacy levels
Billy Augustine, completed 2018 (Supervisor)
- Design of a geographical visualization-based interface for a community academic knowledge exchange
Bonnie Paige, completed 2017 (Supervisor)
- Open data portals in northern New England states
Blake Hawkins, completed 2017 – (Co-Supervisor)
- Let’s map it out : the everyday health information seeking behaviours of LGBTQ youth in Prince George, BC
Samuel Dodson, completed 2016 (Co-Supervisor)
- The role of pre-existing highlights in reader–text interactions and outcomes
Kristoff Kessler, completed 2013 (Supervisor)
- Task-type-specific use of facets in discovering online content