Sandra J. Weber, PhD

Dr. Sandra Weber is a Professor in the Department of Education and a Fellow of the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University, Montreal. The courses she teaches usually focus on one or more of the following areas: popular culture and the technology of childhood, second language issues in elementary schools; issues concerning language, gender, and identity; curriculum theory and schooling, self-study and professional development. Dr. Weber is particularly interested in interdisciplinary forms of qualitative inquiry and alternative forms of representation of academic knowledge. Currently, she is directing two SSHRC-funded team research projects. The first one is an interdisciplinary project that uses narrative forms of inquiry, critical memory work, and image-based techniques to explore dress, body, and identity. The second project involves participatory research, video, on-line forums, and ethnographic methods to examine girls' leisure time (and often private) uses of digital technology, focusing on Canadian, South African and British pre-teen and teenage girls' computer play on and off the Internet.

Dr. Weber is the co-founder of the Image and Identity Research Collective (IIRC) www.iirc.mcgill.ca . The collaborators of IIRC share an interest in developing interdisciplinary, image-based research methodologies and artistic forms of representation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. In their individual and collective projects, they variously use video, film, art installations, photography, performance, and literary methods to research questions relating to gender, age, body, popular culture, schooling, and/or identity. Many of the projects involve self-study and collective inquiry.

For more details about her work, read more..

Educaton

PhD (Teacher Education), University of Alberta, 1985
MEd, (Special Education), McGill University, 1975
Graduate Diploma (Education), McGill University, 1970 (teaching license)
BA (Psychology), McGill, 1969

Professional experience

Fellow at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University, 2000-Present
Professor of Education, Concordia University, 1996-Present
Associate Professor of Education, Concordia University, 1990-96
Associate Professor of Education, University of Alberta, 1987-90
Assistant Professor of Education, University of Alberta, 1981-87
Assistant Professor of Education, Université de Montréal, 1978-81
Lecturer (ETA, full-time), Université de Montréal, 1976-78

Current projects

DRESS, BODY AND IDENTITY | Weber, S. & Mitchell, C. (2002-2005). Embodied minds, mindful bodies: Investigating dress, body, and identity in education. SSHRC. Does it matter what teachers and students wear? What does it mean to learn or teach through our bodies? How do we dress, treat, experience, use, and interpret our bodies as we go about our professional lives? How might a careful consideration of the clothed body be used to make sense of contemporary experiences of education or be used to critique it? This interdisciplinary program of research will re-formulate questions of clothes and embodiment in concrete terms and demonstrate how these much neglected topics could inform research, curricula, and self-study in Education.


CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND TECHNOLOGY | Weber, S. et al. (2003-2006). Girls, digital technology, and popular culture: From play to policy. SSHRC(INE) This study examines the knowledge of digital technology that Canadian, South African and British pre-teen and teenage girls are acquiring through computer play on and off the Internet. We will consider – and contest – the “digital gender divide” that is said to exist and examine girls’ voluntary engagement with technology. We are particularly interested in mapping out the emergence of a particular digital literacy that includes technical knowledge, social uses of technology, and moral and ethical decision-making. The implications for social and educational policy and curriculum will be far reaching.

Courses taught

Graduate:
CHST 675 Researching popular culture in education
CHST 665E Gender issues in childhood
EDCI 690 Research issues in teacher education
Humanities PHD Directed study: Narrative forms of inquiry
Humanities PHD Directed study: Theorizing the body: Research issues
Humanities PHD Directed study: Identity: Gender, dress, the body, & representation
Humanities PHD Directed study: Sex, gender & schooling
ETEC 691 Directed study: Research Issues regarding how Children use Computers
ETEC 680 Directed study: Children and technology: Issues of gender and identity
ETEC 843 Directed study: Image and art-based qualitative research
CUST 565 Memory, photography and autobiography
CHST 680 Directed study: Girls and their bodies: research issues
CHST 675J The popular culture of childhood and youth
CHST 675T Image-based qualitative research
CHST 601 Curriculum and instruction
CHST 612 Language acquisition and development
CHST 616 Children and technology
CHST 680 Diversity in the classroom
CHST 680 Home daycare: Issues & philosophy
CHST 680 TV and children
CHST 680 Directed study: Social class and disadvantage
CHST 680 Directed study: Issues in parent education
CHST 695 Internship in child studies
EDTEC 693 Educational technology and popular cultur
ADIP 550 Reflective practice in nursing and adult education

Undergraduate:
EDUC 321 Sex role socialization in the school
ADED 440 Gender issues in adult education
EDUC 498 The popular culture of childhood
EDUC 398 Aesthetics and education
EDUC 271 Practicum 1: Early childhood teaching
EDUC 272 Early childhood teaching seminar
EDUC 380 Language arts 1
EDUC 385 Teaching a second language to elementary school children
EDUC 400 Teaching across the curriculum
EDUC 405 Media Literacy

Professional activities

Video Productions: Weber, S. J., & Mitchell, C. A. (2004). Digital girls. Part One: Just Julia. A 24 minute DV CAM video. Directed by S. Weber & M. Mak,. Based on research conducted by S. Weber. Taffeta Productions, Montreal.

Mak, M.and Doran, B (In Progress). Score! (Trans. Coup Franc!). Youth and HIV/AIDS in South Africa. A 46 minute video, co-produced by C. Mitchell and S. Weber with R. Hart.

Weber, S.J. & Mitchell, C. (2002). Canadian pie. Documentary digital video. Directed by S. Weber, based on research conducted by S. Weber and C. Mitchell. An Image and Identity Research Collective Production. Concordia University, Montreal.

Weber, S.J. (2002). What can a researcher do with a video camera? Documentary digital video. Directed by S. Weber, based on research conducted by S. Weber, C. Mitchell, & C. Tardif. An Image and Identity Research Collective Production. Concordia University, Montreal.

Plays and Other Academic Performances: Weber, S. J. & Mitchell, C. A. (January 17, 2003). Accessorizing death: A monologue for two voices. Play written, directed & performed by S. J. Weber & C. Mitchell. Cazalet Studio Concrodia University, Montreal, Quebec.

Weber, S. J. & Mitchell, C. (August 6. 2002). When the shoe doesn't fit: Death of a salesman. Play written, directed & performed by S. J. Weber & C. Mitchell. The Fourth International Conference on Self Study of Teacher Education Practices. Herstmonceux Castle, East Sussex, England.

Weber, S. J. (July 3, 2002). Robe to robe: Dressing the academic body. Play written, directed & performed by S. J.

Weber, S. J., & Mitchell, C. A. (May 28, 2002). Knowing Bodies: An academic performance. Play written, directed & performed by S. J.

Art installations: Weber, S. J. & Cloutier, S. (2005). Prom dress #1: I am a women now(material latex and fabric) Featured during [SIC} Representations of Illness, a community-oriented art exhibition challenging representations of HIV/AIDS. VAV Gallery. Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.

Weber, S. J. & Cloutier, S. (2003). Prom dress #1: I am a women now(material latex and fabric). Featured during S. Weber, Dresses: The Dance of Identity. Lecture at The Dress Show, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec.

Books

Mitchell, C., & Weber, S., & O'Reilly-Scanlon, K. (Eds.) (2005). Just who do we think we are? Arts-based methodologies for self-study. London: Routledge Falmer.

Weber, S.J. & Mitchell, C. (Eds.) (2004) Not Just Any Dress: Narratives of memory, body, and identity. New York: Peter Lang.

Mitchell, C. & Weber, S. J. (1999). Reinventing ourselves as teachers: Beyond nostalgia. London: Falmer Press.

Weber, S. J. & Mitchell, C. (1995). That's funny you don't look like a teacher! Interrogating images and identity in popular culture. London: Falmer Press

Refereed journals

Weber, S. J. (2005). My book, her book: Memories, symbols & relationships. Canadian Children’s Literature, 9(2), 123-129.

Weber, S. (2004).  Doing/ writing autobiographic self-study: Some comments and guidelines. Quebec Association for Adult Learning: Links for Learning. 21 (2), 3-4.

Weber, S.J. & Mitchell (2003). Collaboration and Co-authorship: Reflections from the inside.  Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies 1(1), 83-91

Weber, S. J. & Brody, M. H. (2002). Books against television? Making an issue of television in early childhood education. The Canadian Journal of Research in Early Childhood Education, 9(2), 123-129.

Academic book chapters

Mitchell, C. & Weber S. J. (2005). Just who de we think we are… and how do we know this?: Revisioning pedagogical spaces for studying our teaching selves. In . Mitchell, C., & Weber, S., & O’Reilly-Scanlon,  K. (Eds.),  Just who do we think we are: Methodologies for self-study (pp.1-9). London & New York: RoutledgeFalmer

Weber S. J. (2005). The pedagogy of shoes: Clothing and the body in self-study. Mitchell, C., & Weber, S., & O’Reilly-Scanlon, K., Just who do we think we are: methodologies for self-study (pp.13-21). London & New York: Routledge Falmer.

Weber, S. J. & Mitchell, C. A. (2004). Using visual and artistic modes of representation for self-study. In J. Loughran, M. Hamilton, V. LaBoskey, & T. Russell (Eds.), International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education practices (pp. 979-1037). Kluwer Press

Weber, S. J. (2004). Boxed in: School uniforms. In S. J. Weber & C. Mitchell (Eds.), Not Just Any Dress: Narratives of Memory, Body, and identity (pp. 61-65). Amsterdam: Peter Lang.