2024 Military Psychology and Leadership Cyclical Program Review Implementation Plan Update of Cycle 1

 

The department of Military Psychology and Leadership has been progressing well in implementing many of the recommendations. Facilities have been upgraded to permit better teaching and the possibility of testing 1 or 2 participants in a controlled environment. Research engagement is increasing in terms of faculty productivity as well as finding ways to engage students in more research. Courses have been modified and courses have been created to increase laboratory experiences for cadets. Monthly departmental meetings are part of the regular practice of the department to encourage the sharing of information and decision-making. MPL faculty have reached out to various levels of the college (students, faculty, training wing) to increase engagement and now are involved in multiple initiatives. MPL faculty have created graduate courses for War Studies and delivered them in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024, increasing faculty exposure to graduate teaching. Areas that have not been addressed or have advanced in a limited fashion, often are out of control of the department, such as workload, class sizes, and larger laboratory space to test large numbers of participants. Overall, MPL is showing progress in multiple domains.

Implementation Update Plan

Recommendation Proposed Follow-up and Resource Implications Responsibility for Leading Follow-up Timeline for Addressing Recommendation
1. The Committee recommends that the MPL department continue adapting Hewitt House in order to be able to fit in the modern equipment as it comes necessary for the research and pedagogical needs of today.
  1. Contact Registrar’s office and CIS for updating equipment in Hewett house                                                   
  2. Division of offices will be  assessed once needs of faculty have been clearly identified                                 
  3. Develop a common lab space.
  1. Dept head
  2. Dept head
  3. Dept head and Dean
  1. Resolved: All three classrooms have been renovated. New monitors that are directly hooked up to laptops have been put in the classrooms (no more projector units), new podiums have been purchased and installed. The classroom on the second floor in Hewett house has been converted to a dual-delivery classroom.

    The basement has been renovated and can be used
    to test 1-2 participants.
     
  2. Resolved: Faculty have adequate offices. Those with required labs have been given labs.
     
  3. In Progress: MPL wrote a plan to create a multi-use laboratory space that has been submitted to senior management. This space would encourage greater, controlled, experimental research. There has been no progress in the last AY regarding this request.
2. The Committee recommends an increase in published and peer-reviewed research output.
  1. Discussion with the Dean of Social Sciences and  Humanities to work at reducing teaching load.                 
  2. Timetable discussion to ensure each faculty member has a research day.                                     
  3. Stronger research culture within MPL needs to be encouraged.

 
  1. Dept head
  2. Time table co-ordinator
  3. Dept head
  1. In progress: 2019 and on – Workload will be examined as part of the joint workload committee established between management and
    the faculty association. The head is ensuring that instructors who need TAs because of large class sizes are getting them. This was partly made possible by greater recruitment efforts from the DL-co-ordinator, and because instructors do not require TAs to have security clearance. More MPL faculty are embracing the hiring of TAs.
     
  2. This is a strong desire that remains in the hands of the registrar’s timetable co-ordinator.
     
  3. We have created, and are working at maintaining a strong research culture within MPL:
    1. New indeterminate faculty hires with strong, peer-reviewed publications have been hired. This is obtained by requesting applicants have publications in peer- reviewed journals in the last 5 years.
    2. One indeterminate professor has left MPL after only 1 year to go to the Université de Montréal. She will serve as an adjunct faculty and will co-supervise 2 honours students for AY 24/25.
    3. Faculty are being encouraged to work together to publish material. This has been achieved and is in progress (more collaborations in conducting research)
    4. Faculty are being encouraged to work with faculty of other departments. In 2024, two professors published a book chapter.
    5. The Resilience Plus initiative under the leadership of a professor in the psychology department is collaborating on numerous research projects with another professor –renowned international researcher- and the le VIA Institute on Character (international research collaboration).
    6. Members of Resilience Plus, under the leadership of a professor in the psychology department were invited to publish a series of research articles in the peer-reviewed Canadian Military Journal.
    7. Cadets conducting honours research are being encouraged to work on their supervisor’s research in order to facilitate publication by collecting data more quickly and hopefully getting cadets published, as well. Two students have published their work under the supervision of a professor in the psychology department in 2024.
    8. Cadets are being encouraged to present their research at conferences (see point 8 below).
    9. The first page of 3 faculty members’ published work are framed and mounted in Hewett to showcase MPL research to cadets and peers. These works are updated two times a year.
    10. In monthly meetings, faculty are encouraged to highlight the positive changes/outcomes of their research.
    11. Brownbag sessions have been utilized successfully in MPL, particularly because 3 job competitions have been held in recent years. Two of the 3 hired faculty have left for other institutions, resulting in the ongoing need for hiring and selection processes.

 
3. The Committee recommends that the MPL researchers have access to more important scientific journals in psychology. Discussion with the librarian and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities. Cost is often a barrier. MPL library rep, Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities and Chief Librarian. Ongoing

Presently, the resources are adequate as faculty are accessing articles via alternate means. Library resources are limited.

Cost is sometimes a barrier.
4. The committee recommends that the changing interests of the MPL staff (faculty members) need to be regularly monitored at the departmental level and their needs passed on to the Faculty administrators Discussions with faculty members Dept head and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities Completed

The department head holds monthly meetings. She also seeks input from members outside those meetings, when required. Almost all decisions
(e.g., development of new courses, changes of courses, program issues, hiring issues) are now discussed at the department level and consensus
on decisions are obtained.

The Dean of SSH holds weekly or monthly meetings and shares the notes with heads which has subsequently been promulgated to MPL faculty. The head of MPL shares department faculty concerns at these meetings.
5. The Committee recommends allocating at least one lab per staff member. This is not necessary. The faculty requested a multifunction laboratory. Dept head and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities Ongoing

The basement has been renovated and can be used to test 1-2 participants

MPL has written a plan to create a multi-use laboratory space that has been submitted to senior management. The plan is to incorporate it in the swing space and that other departments will also have access to it. This is in management’s hands.
6. The committee recommends the MPL staff devote some of their departmental meeting time to reflect once again on the issues of class size (noting that some professors do not mind teaching large classes whilst some course subjects seem to need a small class venue) and the multiple versions of some of their courses, in particular the number of Introduction to psychology courses offered to the various RMC programs. MPL discussed this as a department and with the Registrar’s office Dept head Ongoing

Due to budget cuts for Fall 2024, the number of sections for PSE 103 and 301 have been reduced which will result in larger class sizes. Classrooms have not yet been assigned, so we do not yet know if RMC infrastructure is able to support these changes.
7. The ERC Committee recommends looking at the way courses are scheduled across campus. The MPL Department recognizes that scheduling courses in the College timetable is often a challenge. Most recently, a new system has been implemented to avoid timetable course conflicts which allows for a better distribution of mandatory and elective courses over a given semester. Dept head and timetable committee and Registrar’s office Ongoing. The timetable committee, which includes a member of the MPL Department, is very engaged in finding ways to improve the timetable structure. The new method of pre-registration is still being improved upon by the College.

Pre-registration has resulted in more work for faculty who now have to deal with student pre- registrations (note, registrations, add/drops, academic advising are not dealt with at the Registrar’s office, but by faculty within the department. Our faculty would prefer not to do this task but we have not been given any choice) and with errors that arise when transferring pre- registration teaching plot to a format that the timetable rep wishes to have. Any changes to the teaching plot requires gaining approval from the principal’s office for changes to the staffing plan, and requires informing the timetable rep (the latter is sometimes omitted and because the timetable rep is not automatically informed of staffing plan changes, when a department undergoes a lot of changes, errors are made). Finally, timetable rep requires grouping of courses after pre-registration, when students are registered in multiple different electives, for instance, our department becomes responsible for overseeing the process of groupingelectives and attempting to create as few conflicts as possible. This is not ideal. MPL recommends
dropping the pre-registration component of this process and just have registration as pre-registration serves no benefit for a department that has a large number of students.
8. The Committee recommends creating venues to present research results of students and staff. The MPL Department discussed this and will continue to search for options. A faculty member will be working at organizing a brownbag for members to present their research to the college. Dept head

Completed

2021, 2022, 2023, 2024:

a) The 3rd year Honours student with the top grade gets identified as the Canadian Psychological Association Campus rep. This provides the cadet with leadership  opportunities to encourage students to embrace research and to co-ordinate faculty - student events. They are involved, along with an MPL subcommittee, in the review of Honours’ students theses, to identify the best theses for CPA Programme of Certificates of Academic Excellence that acknowledges our department’s top thesis students at the Honours level. This exposes them to 4th year research projects.

2022:

b) Honours students were encouraged to present their research at the I@Q undergraduate thesis conference (https://www.queensu.ca/iatq/home). This is an interdisciplinary  conference. Students submit in February (around the 20th) and present in March (early to mid March). They have 10-12 minute oral presentations or poster presentations. Three students presented their work in 2022.

2023:

c) The department head, along with the executive of the Military Psychology section of the Canadian Psychological Association developed an online conference for students who have conducted research relevant to the military. This was hosted for the first time in April 2022. There were 10 presenters, 4 students presented their research conducted at RMC. A total of 40 individuals were at the virtual event. Similarly, in 2023, 9 students from across Canada presented their work, 2 of those students were from RMC. The event was cancelled in 2024 due to only 2 submissions being received by the deadline.

d) Depending upon the location: AOPUTC: usually end of April, beginning May. Supervisors and PSE/F424 instructor will support honours students attending and presenting, depending upon the location.
9. The Committee recommends that the MPL members should be better “utilised” by RMC and researchers from other disciplines We agree it is important to provide service to the college, but a balance is required between offering services and dedicating time to research activities. Dept head and faculty members

Ongoing

A professor in the psychology department has been offering a resilience plus program :

  • The education component (workshops and webinars), Resilience Plus program resources and its 10 initiatives and coaching have been offered to RMC and RMC Saint- Jean staff, faculty and Cadet members since 2019.
  • A customized Resiliency Plus education program was offered in 2021 and 2022 to Cadets enrolled in ILOY.
  • A customized Resilience Plus education program will be offered to the College's Cadet Sentinels in 2022-2023 (FAC collaboration).
  • Other faculty members of the MPL department are involved in the various Resilience Plus initiatives (intra- departmental collaboration: research + mentoring of cadet program of ambassadors).
  • CAF Alumni are involved in Resilience Plus (external collaboration).
  • Resilience Plus has received internal funding (RBF) and external funding (Bell Let's Talk + College Alumni Association) and they intend to continue their efforts to apply for external funding.
  • Interdepartmental collaboration: member of the Language Center is involved in Resilience Plus.

Most Milfac have been involved in the Athena network

A Milfac in the psychology department co-ordinated the focus group for 4th year officer cadets in 2021 and 2022 on
Professional Conduct and Culture. Several MPL faculty were involved.

A Milfac in the psychology department co-ordinated with the training wing MPL offering guidance/training /workshops for CFLs in August 2021, January 2022. Another Milfac did the same in August 2022 and January 2023. Several MPL faculty were involved. This is ongoing for 2024/25.

A Milfac in the psychology department, in the past, and professor is presently co-ordinating with the training wing. MPL offering focus group discussions with training wing staff in 2022 and 2023. Several MPL faculty are involved.

MPL faculty provided PD for the Joint Task Force X starting in 2022

Two professors in the psychology department have been offering the 360 leadership development for the Canadian Forces College for over 10 years. Another has joined them in 2023

Brownbags hosting external faculty presenting their research (entire college is invited) are offered by MPL

A professor in the psychology department hosted a leadership reading group where research articles are discussed (entire college is invited) (2021-2023)

A professor in the psychology department was editor of CDA Press in 2020-2021

Interdepartmental collaborations (see point 2 above)

A professor in the psychology department met with the COO of the sexual misconduct group and organized a group of individuals to meet with her team to discuss past experiences at RMC with our harassment workshops with cadets.
10. The Committee recommends the implementation of a graduate programme. A new program proposal as per our IQAP for the MA degree is in progress Dept head and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities

Ongoing

We added three new graduate courses to War Studies in an effort to gain experience teaching graduate level courses online. Two of the three will be taught for the first time in 2022-2023. The courses are:

WS 557 Psychology of Peace and Conflict,

WS 557 Leadership principles and Theories,

The third one: WS514 Emotional Systems Involved in Warfare, will be taught in the fall of 2023

A professor in the psychology department was tasked with writing the IQAP for the new Master’s in Military Psychology. This project has been delayed because MPL does not have sufficient indeterminate faculty to deliver a Masters program and a hiring freeze impedes our ability to address this situation.
11. The Committee recommends including an important research activity to the Major in Psychology. This requires faculty resources that we do not presently have. All psychology students get research experience in PSE/F211 and PSE/F236 Dept head

Completed

We have conducted a review of our stats and research methods courses and have incorporated changes to ensure more diverse research-related experiences.

PSE211 will ensure diverse laboratory experiences as this is included in the course description.

PSE213 ensures learning APA format of results. We will be including excel as this is a useful tool in the CAF and civilian domain.

PSE352 will incorporate more advanced stats.

PSE350 course description reflects more laboratory work

Further improvements:

We have included more courses that will provide a broader scope of psychology for cadets, relevant material specific to the CAF, and additional laboratory experiences in PSE416, PSE422, and PSE493. Two of our students have taken PSE493 and have conducted research that has been submitted to journals (one was published).

New courses:
PSE230 Sensemaking in the Information Age
PSE345 The Psychological Science of Fear
PSE348 Psychology of Creativity and Innovation
PSE349 Music and Psychological Science
PSE394 Special Topics in Psychology
PSE493 Directed Research in Psychology
PSE422 Laboratory on the Psychology of Environmental Sustainability
PSE416 Laboratory on Prejudice: From Attitudes to Action
PSE440 Forensic Psychology
PSE451 Survival Psychology
PSE484 The Psychology of Gender in the Military
PSE493 Directed Research in Psychology
12. The Committee recommends a fair, comparable and equitable teaching workload for all MPL professors. These involve ongoing discussions with faculty members Dept head and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities and Joint Workload Committee Ongoing. This will be examined as part of the joint workload committee established between management and the faculty association.
13. The Committee recommends that every staff member should be involved in supervising undergraduate students and be pedagogically active at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Faculty members agree. MA programme has been discussed as well as the development of more courses for War Studies that more MPL faculty can teach. Dept head

In progress

All civilian faculty now have experience supervising honours theses.

Milfac are being encouraged to supervise or co- supervise honours theses if they feel uncomfortable supervising on their own. Milfac have experience now in this domain.

We added three new graduate courses to War Studies in an effort to gain experience teaching graduate level courses online and increase our visibility in War Studies (and increase requests to supervise students). Three courses were taught for the first time in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The courses are:

WS 505 Psychology of Peace and Conflict,
WS 503 Leadership principles and Theories,
WS514 Emotional Systems Involved in Warfare.

We are open to reopen our efforts on the IQAP for a Master’s in Military Psychology degree when staffing reaches a level that could support this effort.
14. The Committee recommends an incentive for each MPL staff member participating in the new graduate programme; supervising one undergraduate honours ‘thesis and/or undergraduate major student’s research project per academic year. MPL faculty agree Dept head and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities See point 12 and 13 above.
15. The Committee recommends regular departmental meetings. Regular meetings will be held by the department head or the deputy head every month Dept head or Deputy head

Completed

The department head holds a meeting once a month for the department.

 

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