Winter 2026 Sessions Cancelled
2026-01-27
Dear parents, I regret to announce that I have cancelled the Winter 2026 sessions (Jan-Mar, 2026) due to necessary commitments for my PhD research project in February and March. I hope to return for the Spring 2026 (Apr-Jun, 2026) and will update in late March.
Why are you cancelling the Winter session?
As many of you know, I am in the midst of completing a PhD in educational technology at Simon Fraser University (SFU) that I started in Fall 2023. This past November (2025), I successfully completed my PhD candidature examination and following that I began collaborating with a colleague at SFU to conduct my first PhD research study. Unfortunately, the study will take place in February and March (2026) and is situated in Burnaby at the SFU campus, resulting in the cancellation of this term.
Will you return for Spring 2026 (Apr-Jun)?
My research project is expected to run into March, and if that is successful, it is possible that I can return to run my Spring 2026 programs. I hope to return to run my programs, but since this is my first research project with a significant number of participants, I cannot commit to my after-school programs until the study work is completed. This study is the start of the research stage of my PhD, which puts me on a path toward my thesis and completion of my program. So, I hope to return for Spring (and beyond) but need to shift my immediate focus to get my research started.
Will you be studying children (like your master's)?
I had originally planned to work with children during my PhD, as I had for my master's, but for practical purposes this initial study will be with first-year undergraduate students, looking at how they learn programming in the face of generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT). Working with kids is still one of the primary goals of pursing my graduate studies, and in fact it is why I started down this path in the first place. However, working with children (minors), schools (school boards), parents, and teachers is a significantly more complex and slower process that would delay my ability to even start my research. So, I do hope to continue to study kids and programming, but for my first study I will be working with older students.