Teaching Faculty
Ph.D, M.Sc., M.A., B.Ed, E.C.E. Diploma, Registered Psychologist (AB)
Karin brings to this work her experience in educational systems, teaching and learning, and mental health in support of graduate students pursuing a career in counselling. Karin has been with City University since 2018, starting by serving as an associate faculty, in 2019 she became an associate program director with a portfolio primarily responsible for teaching and learning, and became the Program Director in 2020.
Research
Currently Dr. Coles is engaged in a joint research project with members of the Calgary team on our experiences in developing a mental health clinic affiliated with our campus and the Master of Counseling Program. Additionally, she is completing a research project on the development of a peer mentorship program within a graduate level counselling program. Dr. Coles’ predominant research interests include self-efficacy beliefs, neurodiverse learners and educational environments, and academic self-efficacy beliefs. She is a qualitative researcher and issues of social justice and diversity are central to her areas of interest.
Publication
Coles, K. (2021). Mentorship within Teaching and Learning Environments. Psymposium (June 2021)Psychologists’ Association of Alberta
Teaching
Dr. Coles’ teaching philosophy is developmental in nature. She believes that each learner, and teacher, is on a continuum of development and at any point it is important to view a learner as such. The act of teaching is an act of education and as such it is both an art and a science, and a complex ethical endeavour.
Courses
Dr. Coles provides direct instruction in courses such as counselling theories, ethics, assessment, qualitative research, research methods and design, child and adolescent counselling, capstone research projects, children’s mental health studies, and independent learning studies.