TakingITGlobal

35 With TakingTIGlobal membership surpassing 500,000 in 2013, TakingITGlobal's members are actively conveying insights about their issues of greatest concern, the actions that are most often taken online, and the kinds of conversations in which they are keen to participate. In an effort to understand how this landscape is evolving, TIG has been working to learn from existing research, evolve our approach to 'listening' through in-person consultations, and improve the rigour of our capacity to 'ask' through academic partnerships. These key initiatives, taken together, are working to refine our evidence-based approach to project and program development, issues identification within the community and monitoring and evaluation in reporting. ACADEMIC ENGAGEMENT: YORK UNIVERSITY, OTTAWA U & SSHRC University of Ottawa Creating opportunities to learn more about the dynamics of on- and offline civic engagement behaviors is at the core of TakingITGlobal's research goals. TIG Director of Research, Sean Keith, presented a closing keynote at the University of Ottawa Graduate Students' Research Conference focusing on Transformational Research Methods. Building on past academic collaborations with MIT (2010) and CIRCLE at Tufts (2008), students engaged in a collaborative discussion exploring challenges in defining and quantifying relationships between on- and offline measures of civic engagement. York University: Department of Psychology Beyond the theoretical discussion, TIG Research and Michaela Hynie, Associate Director of York University's Health Research Department studied relationships between males and females related to volunteerism, social and political involvement and leadership activities between North American and North African/Middle Eastern TIG members. This relationship represents an effective partnership model bridging opportunities between the Academic and non-profit sectors through youth-led civic engagement and psychology research as part of an ongoing collaboration moving into 2014. Research York University: Faculty of Health TakingITGlobal is a partner in a new undergraduate course at York University's Faculty of Health, Agents of Change in a Global World. The course, developed collaboratively by Jennifer Corriero, Leslie Begrie, and Harvey Skinner, will focus on embedding the TakingITGlobal platform within the graduate student educational experience. The course references TIG's 2012 research publication, "Global Education as a Catalyst for Social Change", as core material. The program will engage an initial cohort of students beginning in the fall of 2013. Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada In 2013, TIG Research actively helped to influence the final synthesis of a year-long national consultation, reaching more than 30,000 individuals, undertaken by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). These efforts resulted in a funding agenda for the "Imagining Canada's Future" project. Jennifer Corriero participated in the launch panel at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs. COBURN VENTURES: MONUMENTAL CHANGE Facilitating connections and opportunities for dialogue between young people and leaders across sectors is central to the mandate of TIG Research. In 2013, TIG convened delegations of young people from Canada and the US together with our partners at Coburn Ventures to create an immersive two-day discussion on values, consumption and the future of global markets. TakingITGlobal's Director of Operations helped to facilitate the event, with a focus on infusing youth insights into discussions of monumental change, as part of ongoing efforts to develop sustainable partnerships. FUTURE FRIENDLY SCHOOLS New survey tools were developed for student and educator surveys after a consultation and qualitative research (thematic analysis) process to ensure that the proposed metrics were aligned to the concerns of the educators. These tools will serve as the foundation for the evaluation process that identifies strengths and opportunities for schools participating in the program.

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