A Brock Canada Research Chair whose work looks at 21st-century learning and the use of technology in classrooms has received government funding to support her research.

Jennifer Rowsell, Faculty of Education, has received $47,005 for the Centre for Research in Multiliteracies she oversees at the University. The funding is part of yesterday’s Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) national announcement of awards under the Leaders Opportunity Fund.

Jennifer Rowsell

The Leaders Opportunity Fund helps universities attract and retain top researchers. With this program, universities put together competitive packages of research support that are essential to attract today’s best research talent. This funding enables the Brock centre to become one of the first specialized hubs of its kind in Canada.

“These funds will help to establish Brock as a leading university for the study of digital teaching and learning,” Rowsell said. “The funds will be used to renovate the centre to equip it to carry out research on the effects of new technologies in the classroom.”

This includes:

• a digital reading centre
• laptops for a digital writing lab
• a video game centre to study thinking and learning patterns of gamers
• an interactive white board to investigate new teaching and learning strategies.

There will also be a suite of iPads and iTouch technologies to research the impact of tablets and mobile devices on learner processes while communicating, reading and writing. There will also be space for graduate and post-doctoral students, visiting scholars, and a video-conferencing room.

Yesterday’s CFI funding announcement saw more than $53-million handed out to support 207 projects at 42 institutions across Canada.

As for Brock, it “continues to lead the way in innovative projects that attract the best and brightest to our community,” said Rick Dykstra, MP for St. Catharines.

The CFI invests in facilities and equipment at universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit institutions to build Canada’s capacity to undertake world-class research and technology development.