Brandon Dickson
Profile
PhD, Global Governance (Balsillie: University of Waterloo)
MA, Global Governance (Balsillie: University of Waterloo)
BEd, Intermediate/Senior History and English and International Education (Western University)
BA, Political Science and English (Huron University)
Brandon has nearly a decade of experience in educational research, educational development, digital teaching and learning, and institutional quality assurance. He holds a PhD in Global Governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs (University of Waterloo) focused on universities' responses to global sustainability agendas.
Previously, Brandon worked in the Integrated Teaching Support Unit (formerly the Centre for Teaching Excellence) at the University of Waterloo where he supported the design and facilitation of workshops for instructors, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars on topics such as AI in assessment, inclusive teaching, effective feedback, and interactive lectures. He has also taught undergraduate and graduate courses in both online and in-person formats at Western University, Cape Breton University and St. Clair College.
In addition to his teaching work, Brandon has contributed to curriculum and program development, including supporting graduate program proposals and cyclical program reviews at Western’s Faculty of Education. His scholarship focuses on teaching and learning, digital pedagogy, and assessment which has been widely published and presented in peer-reviewed venues.
In his current role, Brandon supports instructors in the design of online and blended courses, the thoughtful use of eLearning tools, and the effective integration of Brightspace to support teaching goals.
Selected Higher Education Publications
Dickson, B. A., Woolford, D., Samuels, B. & Kotsopoulos, D. (In Press) Assessing written communication in statistics and data science education through the use of rubrics. In G. B. Skar, P. Rogers, & J. M. Marine (Eds.) Writing Research Across Borders. WAC Clearinghouse.
Dickson, B. A. (Accepted). Professional communication development in the sciences. In C. Eaton (Ed) Multimodal Knowledge Making for a Digital World. University of Toronto Press.
Dickson, B. A., Kotsopoulos, D. & Lyle, E. (2026). Should I stay or should I go? Rural international students face housing, job crunch. The Conversation. https://doi.org/10.64628/AAM.xs6xnhjhu
Kotsopoulos, D., McKee, J., Goebel, T., Dickson, B. A., Groen, J., Savas, R. & Nitsotolis, J., (2025). A review of the external processes related to assessing quality of new undergraduate academic programming in Canadian universities. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 207, 82-100.
Dickson, B. A., Woolford, D., Kotsopoulos, D., & Samuels, B. (2025). Active learning in post-secondary statistics and data sciences teaching: Lesson-level moments and course-level alternative models. Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/26939169.2025.2539237
Dickson, C., Ramani, S., Kotsopoulos, D., Henne, D., & Dickson, B. (2024). Divesting the University of Alberta’s Endowment. International Journal of Case Studies in Management, 22(2). ID: 9 100 2024
Al-Areibi, I., Dickson, B. A. & Kotsopoulos, D. (2022). An analysis of synchronous and asynchronous online undergraduate learning during the covid pandemic. International Journal of E-Learning and Distance Education, 37(1) https://doi.org/10.55667/ijede.2022.v37.i1.1213
Selected Presentations
Riggin, B., Dickson, B., Nitsotolis, J., Kotsopoulos, D., & Samuels, B. (2026). Keeping the Human in the Loop: OER Co-Creation and Reflective Assessment in an AI-Rich University. University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference. Waterloo, ON.
Biggart, K., Chen T., Clement, F., Dickson, B., Hock, K., Shoaib, H., Rotolo, B., Kaburia, J., Odinotski, S., & Brown, K. (2026, April). TAs’ Experiences with AI: Friend, Foe, or Frenemy? Panel discussion at the University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning Conference. Waterloo, ON.
Kotsopoulos, D., McKee, J., Goebel, T., Groen, T. & Dickson, B. A. How Can Data Help us Understand What Programs Cost. Higher Education Strategy Associates Re:University Conference, Ottawa, Canada. (January 29-30, 2026).
Riggin, B., Dickson, B. A., Kotsopoulos, D., Samuels, B. & Nitsotolis, J. Open Educational Resource Implementation and Evaluation for SCORM Development in Recreation and Leisure Studies. University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning (UWTL) Conference. Waterloo, Canada. (April 30-May 1, 2025).
Groen, J., Kotsopoulos, D., Dickson, B. A., Nitsotolis, J. Chyn, S., Goebel, T., McKee, J. Quality Assurance Best Practices from Across Canada. Faculty of Education Research Partner Day, London, Canada (April 25, 2025).
Riggin, B., Dickson, B. A., Kotsopoulos, D., Samuels, B. & Nitsotolis, J. OERS and UDL in recreation studies: A careful waltz or freestyling jive. University of Waterloo Teaching and Learning (UWTL) Conference. Waterloo, Canada. (May 1-2, 2024).
Dickson, B. A., Woolford, D., Kotsopoulos, D. & Samuels, B. Pedagogical considerations for teaching data translators. Poster Presented at International Association for Statistical Education (IASE) Satellite conference. Toronto, Ontario (July 11-13, 2023).
Dickson, B. A., Woolford, D., Kotsopoulos, D. & Samuels, B. Active learning as inclusive teaching: A data science literature review. American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference. Chicago, Illinois (April 13-16, 2023).
Dickson, B. A., Woolford, D., Kotsopoulos, D. & Samuels, B. Data translation: Writing assessment tools for data science & statistics education. Writing Research Across Borders (WRAB) Conference. NTNU University; Trondheim, Norway (February, 2023).
Dickson, B. A., Woolford, D., Kotsopoulos, D. & Samuels, B. Summarizing and comparing effective active learning pedagogies for post-secondary data science education. Canadian Society for Studies in Higher Education (CSSHE). Virtual Conference (May, 2022).
Dickson, B. A., Johnson, K. & Kotsopoulos, D. Governance structures in Canadian universities’ faculties of education. Canadian Society for Studies in Higher Education (CSSHE). Virtual Conference (May, 2022).
