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Theme Description

The title of this year’s conference is “Between the Tides”. It is a metaphor for the conference theme of dilemmas. We will explore the various tensions and debates that pull instructors, faculty and administrators in different directions. 

The title fits with our location – here in New Brunswick we experience the highest tides in the world in the Bay of Fundy. The power of the tides can be seen clearly where fishing boats can sit on the floor of the bay, and then be raised 40 feet higher as tides rush in. This powerful tide even reverses a waterfall in Saint John from falling downstream at low tide, to falling upstream at high tide.

Just as the tides are powerful forces, pulling one way then the other, dilemmas create pushes and pulls that we experience in the post-secondary education system. We’ll examine the tension created between the ‘high tide and the low tide’ marks of dilemmas as we try to understand, reframe, manage through, resolve, and transcend the dilemmas that confound us.

Alex Lowy will be our opening plenary speaker, helping us to develop a framework and method for grappling with those thorny dilemmas we face as educators. An expert as dealing in the dilemma tension zone, he is an international author, consultant, and speaker. "the flip side of every dilemma is the opportunity for insight, regeneration and transformation." (Lowy, 2007)

We will explore the following four dilemmas from the points-of-view of many stakeholders including government, community, administrators, faculty, and students.

• disciplinary education vs. liberal education
• physical environment vs. virtual environment
• curricular learning vs. extra-curricular learning
• institutional/professional autonomy vs. public accountability

Presentations, debates, workshops, round table discussions, and posters will take place over the three days, to reveal the nature and dimensions of these dilemmas, provide critical analysis of them, and stimulate discussion.

Unique for this conference are the four dilemma teams, comprised of stakeholders from across the country who will reflect upon, synthesize, and report at the closing plenary a conference conclusion for each dilemma.