Seneca faculty member receives George L. Geis Award for best dissertation in Canadian higher education

Toronto, May 26, 2009 --- Tonight in Ottawa, Valerie Lopes will be accepting the George L. Geis Award for her winning dissertation.

Valerie, the Academic e-Learning Liaison for Seneca’s Systems Development and Innovation and a Professor in the School of English and Liberal studies, was named the recipient of the George L. Geis Dissertation Award for 2009 for her dissertation on The Efficacy of a Course Management System in Learning: Perceptions of Students and Faculty in One Ontario College.

Each year, the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education presents the award for the best dissertation published in Canadian higher education. Dissertations focus on topics in post-secondary education, including the societal context, access, governance, teaching and learning, institutional studies, and education and employment.

Valerie’s research explored the efficacy and the impact of course management systems on learning from the perspectives of both the first year business school students and faculty members who teach in the business school. Her research also identified the features of the system that impacted student learning as well as how faculty members used these systems.

The findings from this study are important to the field of Higher Education to-day more than ever, since most institutions are looking for ways to engage the ‘millennial’ student who is comfortable with on-line learning while, at the same time, looking for ways of teaching students more effectively.

“I am thrilled, honoured and humbled by this important recognition of my research, and I hope this will exemplify the quality of research currently taking place in Ontario’s college system,” says Valerie Lopes. “I had the great privilege of studying under an outstanding scholar, Dr. Dan Lang, a Professor and the Senior Adviser to the President at the University of Toronto and it would not have been possible to complete this study without his guidance and the support of and assistance from my colleagues at Seneca College.”

“Seneca congratulates Valerie on this outstanding recognition,” says Seneca College President Dr. Rick Miner. “We are very proud of her achievement and hope it shines a light on the outstanding caliber of academic scholarship taking place at Ontario’s colleges.”

The Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE) was founded in 1970 to provide a means of communication among those persons conducting or using research in postsecondary education. The CSSHE adopted as its purpose "the advancement of knowledge of postsecondary education through the dissemination through publication and learned meetings." The mission of the CSSHE is to facilitate and promote, by means of comprehensive partnerships and programs, the creation, dissemination and application of research of exemplary quality in postsecondary education in Canada.

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