Dr. Marc Spooner
Research Interests
Dr. Marc Spooner is a professor in the Faculty of Education, University of Regina. He specializes in qualitative and participatory action research at the intersections of theory and action-on-the-ground. His interests include: homelessness & poverty, "audit culture" & the effects of neoliberalization & corporatization on higher education, and social justice, activism, & participatory democracy. He has published in a variety of venues including peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, government reports, and popularizations. He is recognized by the Canadian Senate as an expert in homelessness and has been the principal investigator for several research studies on homelessness funded by federal and municipal governments.
Academic Qualifications
PhD (Education) University of Ottawa Exploring the processes that lead young adults to channel their creativity in various fields and degrees of social acceptance: An interactionist grounded theory study
External Examiner: Dr. Mark A. Runco, Editor, Creativity Research Journal
MA (Education), Psychopedagogy [Educational Psychology]
BEd [Primary/Junior/Intermediate/Senior (English)]
BA (Hon) Psychology Carleton University
Courses taught in the past
In the Bachelor of Education Program
- Assessing Student Learning in the Early Years (ECS 410)
In the Graduate Program
- Introduction to Research (ED 800)
- Creativity and the Learning Process (EPSY 837)
- Social Justice and Globalisation from an Educational Perspective (ED 808)
- Action Research: Theory and Practice (ED 815)
- Advanced Studies in Educational Research (ED 910)
Publications, Research projects and interests
Research projects and interests
See two examples of my work:
- "listening to the homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless in Regina" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvTZ3kklAAw
- "homelessness in Regina from the viewpoint of the experts" https://youtu.be/MDuMm7zzDKs
Publications, research reports, and presentations
Books
Spooner, M., & McNinch, J. (Eds.) (2018). Dissident Knowledge in Higher Education. University of Regina Press.
Avail. for purchase or free download: https://uofrpress.ca/Books/D/Dissident-Knowledge-in-Higher-Education
Book Chapters
Spooner, M. (2018). Pushing boundaries: Academic de-institutionalization and our radical imagination VS ourselves and audit culture. In N. K. Denzin, & M. D. Giardina (Eds.), Qualitative Inquiry In The Public Shpere, pp. 25-37. NY: Routledge.
Spooner, M. (2018). Qualitative research and global audit culture: The politics of productivity, accountability, & possibility. In N. K. Denzin, & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (5th ed.), pp. 894-914. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Spooner, M. (in press). A life history of place: A future place for life hisotries?. Qualitative Inquiry.
Spooner, M. (2015). The deleterious personal and societal effects of the "audit culture" and a domesticated academy: Another way is possible. International Review of Qualitative Research. Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer 2015), pp. 212-228.Spooner, M., & Orlowski, P. (Fall, 2013). Standardized testing (almost) comes to Saskatchewan: How being proactive can lead to positive results (for now...). Our Schools, Our Selves, 23, 1, 26-29. [reviewed by editor]
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National%20Office/2013/11/osos113_StandardizedTestingComesToSK.pdf
Spooner, M. (2013). Footsteps: Places, knowledge, people. Of Land & Living Skies: A Community Journal on Place, Land, and Learning, 1, 1. [reviewed by editor]
Government Reports
Couros, A., Spooner, M., & Hildebrandt, K. (March 2014). Final Technology Report: NORTEP-NORPAC. Regina, SK: Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit (SIDRU).Spooner, M. (2009). Taking Stock, Taking Action: A Mid-Term Assessment of, and formative reply to, the 2007 Regina Community Plan Phase III. Regina, SK: Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit [SIDRU] and Homelessness Partnering Strategy [HRSDC]. 24pp.
Potter, G. & Spooner, M. (2009). Taking Stock, Taking Action: A Mid-Term Assessment of, and formative reply to, the 2007 Regina Community Plan Phase III. Appendix I Regina Housing and Homelessness Profile Update 2009 Adaptation and update to the Regina Housing Profile 2007. Regina, SK: Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit [SIDRU] and Homelessness Partnering Strategy [HRSDC]. 25pp.
Campbell, C. & Spooner, M. (2009). Taking Stock, Taking Action: A Mid-Term Assessment of, and formative reply to, the 2007 Regina Community Plan Phase III. Appendix II Talking with homeless service providers and service users from a First Nations Perspective. Regina, SK: Saskatchewan Instructional Development and Research Unit [SIDRU] and Homelessness Partnering Strategy [HRSDC]. 16pp.
Popularisations
Spooner, M. (Sept/Oct., 2015). Higher Education’s Silent Killer. Briarpatch Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 5. pp. 4-7.http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/higher-educations-silent-killer
Academic Presentations
Harry Crowe Foundation February 2016"Academic Freedom in the Managed University: Controversy, Conflict, and Control"
Invited Panelist
Toronto
American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2015 April 2015
"Public engagement, alternative metrics, and the politics of evidence: How 'audit culture' harms us all"
Chicago, IL
American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2013 April 2013
"No Accounting for Action: How the present pervasive 'audit culture' is domesticating the academy."
San Francisco, CA
North American Association of Environmental Educators (NAAEE) 2012 October 2012
"Places of Activism in Education: Place as a Pedagogical Tool to Address Socioecological Issues'
Oakland, CA
International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (Seventh ed.) May 2011
"Confidentiality, member checks, lack of generalisability: Questioning accepted practices in qualitative research"
Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA
The Discourse, Power, Resistance conference [DRP 10] Apr 2011
"No Accounting for Action: How the present pervasive audit culture is domesticating the academy"
Plymouth, UK
Canadian Society for the Study of Education Annual Meeting May 2010
"The Neo-Liberal Agenda in Public Education"
Invited Panelist, Montreal, QC
Community Service
Former Chair for the Carmichael Outreach.
The Regina Survival Guide and Map v.5 (1.24 MB)
was released in July 2015.
On 16 March 2011 on the steps of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building I spoke on issues regarding rent control, homelessness and affordable housing in Regina: