Education Commons^™

Informing Teacher Education Through Cross-Cultural Teaching And Learning: Dialogic Inquiry Into Japanese And Canadian School Experiences, Mitsuyo Sakamoto, Elaine Chan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This article examines the hermeneutic, narrative, and social co-construction of cultural understanding as two educators shared their teaching and learning experiences in Japanese and Canadian schools. Our dialogic inquiry reveals how perceptions of practices in one culture—including curricula in non-core, academic subjects, stances on student assessment, and attitudes toward extracurricular activities—were shaped by our prior school experiences. The study reveals that reconstruction of previous overseas experience and co-construction of meaning from this reconstruction can serve as a powerful means of enhancing understanding of cross-cultural issues. The reconstruction process also offers a means of engaging those who do not have international, …

Teaching Courses Online: A Review Of The Research, Mary K. Tallent-Runnels, Julie A. Thomas, William Y. Lan, Sandi Cooper, Terence C. Ahern, Shana M. Shaw, Xiaoming Liu

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This literature review summarizes research on online teaching and learning. It is organized into four topics: course environment, learners’ outcomes, learners’ characteristics, and institutional and administrative factors. The authors found little consistency of terminology, discovered some conclusive guidelines, and identified developing lines of inquiry. The conclusions overall suggest that most of the studies reviewed were descriptive and exploratory, that most online students are nontraditional and Anglo American, and that few universities have written policies, guidelines, or technical support for faculty members or students. Asynchronous communication seemed to facilitate in-depth communication (but not more than in traditional classes), students liked to …

Laughter-Piece Theatre: Humor As A Systematic Teaching Tool, Ronald A. Berk

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Humor can be used to bring students and deadly boring content to life. It can hook your students, engage their emotions, and focus their minds and eyeballs on learning.

Leveling The Field: Using Rubrics To Achieve Greater Equity In Teaching And Grading, Dannelle D. Stevens, Antonia Levi

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Rubrics can be used to assure greater consistency in grading and as a teaching tool to promote greater equity, especially with students who are first generation and /or non-native speakers of English.

Student Teams, Teaching, And Technology, Ruth Federman Stein, Sandra N. Hurd

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Using student teams in the classroom actively involves students in the learning process. This essay describes the planning necessary for effective use of teams and the impact of technology on the team learning environment.

Practice Tests: A Practical Teaching Method, Margaret K. Snooks

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Learn about the development, implementation and evaluation of short daily practice tests. Student response is overwhelmingly positive, and learning improvement is evidenced by higher semester averages.

Using Student-Centered Assessment To Enhance Learning, Joseph "Mick" Lalopa

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Student-centered assessment allows students to participate in their growth as learners and helps build valuable self-assessment skills.

From Passive To Active Learning: Helping Students Make The Shift, Marilla Svinicki

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Being active and self-directed as a learner makes for better learning and retention, but what does that mean for students and for instruction?

Assessing Students’ Online Learning: Strategies And Resources, Patricia Comeaux

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Explore key strategies used by experienced online instructors, and learn about the wealth of resources for designing assessment instruments integral to online learning.

2006 Guide For Weed Management In Nebraska, Mark L. Bernards

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

2006 Guide for Weed Management in Nebraska. Includes special sections on weed control in corn, soybean, wheat, other small grains, sorghum, turfgrass, and alternative crops. Also includes sections on integrated weed management, classificationof herbicides by mode and site of action and chemical family, herbicide application and sprayer recommendations, weed response ratings to specific herbicides, herbicide hazards, herbicide safety and herbicide resistance, weed management in herbicide-resistant crops and Nebraska noxious weeds.

Ec06-783 Watermark Granular Matrix Sensor To Measure Soil Matric Potential For Irrigation Management, Suat Irmak, Jose O. Payero, Dean E. Eisenhauer, William L. Kranz, Derrel Martin, Gary L. Zoubek, Jennifer M. Rees, Brandy Vandewalle, Andrew P. Christiansen, Dan Leininger

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This 2006 Extension Circular defines soil matric potential and describes principles and operational characteristics of one of the electrical resistance type soil moisture sensors for irrigation management. Examples show how soil matric potential can be used for irrigation management.

G06-1634 Stevia, Georgia Jones

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

The leaves of one species of stevia plants have naturally occurring sweetness. This 2006 NebGuide discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using stevia, also known as sweet leaf, as a sugar substitute.

Ec06-103 Fall Seed Guide, 2007, Lenis Alton Nelson, Robert N. Klein, Bruce Anderson, P. Stephen Baenziger, Jerry Nachtman

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This circular is a progress report of variety trials conducted by personnel of the Agronomy Department, West Central and Panhandle Research and Extension Centers and their associated agricultural laboratories and the South Central Ag Laboratory. Conduct of experiments and publications of results is a joint effort of the Agricultural Research Division and the Cooperative Extension Service.

G06-1622 Soybean Inoculation: Applying The Facts To Your Fields (Part Two Of A Two-Part Series), Lori J. Abendroth, Roger Wesley Elmore, Richard B. Ferguson

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Why is it that we see soybean yield responses from inoculating with Bradyrhizobia japonicum in some cases but not others?

This publication explains how to distinguish which fields will likely respond to inoculation with B. japonicum from those that will not. Fields are designated as either "new" or "old" based on how often soybean is grown. This designation is one criterion among many in deciding when to inoculate. In general, research trials across multiple locations in Nebraska have shown no yield advantage to re-inoculation.

G06-806 Chinch Bug Management, Robert J. Wright, Barbara P. Ogg, Stephen D. Danielson

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

The life cycle and control of the chinch bug is discussed with descriptions of possible management options in the 2006 NebGuide.

2006 Nebraska Swine Report, Duane E. Reese

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This publication was prepared by the staff in Animal Science and cooperating Departments for use in Extension, Teaching and Research programs. It deals with the results that were done in reproduction, breeding, health, nutrition, genetics, economics and housing of swine.

2006 Nebraska Farm Custom Rates - Part I, H. Douglas Jose

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Every two years a survey of custom operators is conducted to determine the current rates charged for specific machinery operations. The survey is divided into two parts: Part I includes spring and summer operations, including planting and small grains harvest, and in Part II information about fall and miscellaneous operations.

Teaching Portfolios For Graduate Students: Process, Content, Product, And Benefits, Laura L. B. Border

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

The graduate student teaching portfolio is an excellent tool to guide graduate students in their development and success as they begin to clarify who they are, what they want to teach, and where they want to teach.

An Electronic Advice Column To Foster Teaching Culture Change, Donna M. Qualters, Thomas C. Sheahan, Jacqueline A. Isaacs

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

First-year engineering students receive most of their teaching from instructors outside of engineering. As a result, these instructors are typically not a teaching community with a shared commitment to engineering student learning. Retention of engineering students is strongly tied to the quality of teaching, thus addressing collective teaching quality is important. This chapter describes the development of a carefully crafted, electronically distributed advice column on teaching developed by an interdisciplinary editorial team, written under the pseudonym Jonas Chalk. Surveys of Chalk Talk readers indicate that this is an effective means to promote teaching culture change.

Introduction. Volume 24 (2006), Sandra Chadwick Blossey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Introduction to volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Sandra Chadwick Blossey of Rollins College.

Helping Faculty Learn To Teach Better And “Smarter” Through Sequenced Activities, Barbara J. Millis

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty developers can help faculty learn to intentionally sequence assignments and activities to promote greater learning when they understand the convergent research—with its practical implications for teaching—on how people learn, on deep learning, and on cooperative learning. Such a sequence includes a motivating out-of-class assignment (homework), in-class “processing” that includes active learning and student interactions, and feedback and assessment, often given in multiple ways. This approach is modeled through two examples using graphic organizers.

Learning Communities For First–Year Faculty: Transition, Acculturation, And Transformation, Harriet Fayne, Alice Ortquist-Ahrens

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

To enhance new faculty members’ chances for teaching and career success, Otterbein College piloted a yearlong learning community program and encouraged first-year faculty to participate. Four new faculty members took part in opportunities designed to enhance their teaching, to orient them more fully to a new institution and student body, to foster collegial community, to encourage reflective practice, and to introduce them to the scholarship of teaching and learning. This qualitative case study tracks their developmental trajectory, which led them from an initial concern with self and survival to an eventual focus on student learning.

Practicing What We Preach: Transforming The Ta Orientation, Patricia Armstrong, Peter Felten, Jeffrey Johnston, Allison Pingree

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Brookfield (1995), Schön (1983), and others articulate the necessity and complexity of being critically reflective in our work. Indeed, the value of critical reflection is inherent to educational development as a field in that we frequently encourage such thinking in our consultations with instructors. But practicing what we preach can be difficult. This chapter reflects on an experiment in the transformation of a teaching assistant orientation, a central event of our teaching center. We not only describe and assess the process of revising this orientation, but we also reflect on the implicatiom of this case for broader programming issues in …

Exploring The Application Of Best Practices To Ta Awards: One University's Approach, Laurel Willingham-Mclain, Deborah L. Pollack

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter explores how to adapt best practices from the general literature on teaching awards in higher education to graduate student teaching assistant (TA) awards. Although most criteria apply, they must be fitted to the career stage and aspirations of TAs. The Duquesne University Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching serves as a case study demonstrating how these practices can be modified to both recognize excellent teaching and promote the professional development of graduate student instructors.

Preface, Volume 24 (2006), Sandra Chadwick Blossey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Sandra Chadwick Blossey of Rollins College.

About The Authors, Volume 24 (2006)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

About the editors and authors of volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

A Different Way To Approach The Future: Using Chaos Theory To Improve Planning, Marc Cutright

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Strategic planning is a good idea that gets a bad name from dubious efforts carrying the title. Much of this rap comes from half-hearted exercises, but some of it comes from efforts that founder due to faulty or limited conceptions of how the future “works.” Chaos theory is an alternative approach and metaphor with potential to let us see the future and its dynamics in new ways. Cognizance of chaos’s nature and underlying structure might help us do planning in new, nonintuitive, and more successful ways.

A Theory–Based Integrative Model For Learning And Motivation In Higher Education, Chantal S. Levesque, G. Roger Sell, James A. Zimmerman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The shared mission of higher education institutions is to develop educated persons who are able to make connections and build on knowledge acquired across disciplines and fields and through various life experiences. This chapter offers a theory-based model that can be used by researchers and practitioners to enhance academic learning and motivation. Educators can create learning environments that move students from external regulation to self-determined forms of motivation. This model is used to describe conditions that enhance/restrict learning. It also has the potential to be used to interpret research on teaching and learning in higher education.

Promoting Intellectual Community And Professional Growth For A Diverse Faculty, Dorothe J. Bach, Marva A. Barnett, José D. Fuentes, Sherwood C. Frey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Minority faculty retention is key to increasing faculty diversity at most colleges and universities. Because retention depends on individual faculty choice and administrative tenure decisions, institutions need to help junior faculty develop a tenurable profile and enhance their desire to remain at their institution. This chapter examines a fellows program that supports beginning faculty in developing successful long-term careers, taking into account research on helping diverse faculty members thrive. It also presents strategies for establishing viable peer support networks and partnerships with senior consultants and for creating programming that ensures new faculty successfully transition into teaching, research, and the university …

Monster At The Foot Of The Bed: Surviving The Challenge Of Marketplace Forces On Higher Education, Raoul A. Arreola

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The impact of technology on society has caused a paradigm shift in the basic support for higher education. Where higher education was traditionally supported as a function of government, the knowledge explosion and global economy resulting from the impact of computer and other technologies is moving the underlying support of higher education to the marketplace. There is evidence that traditional academic strategies and practices that were successful under the old paradigm may no longer be working. Twelve suggestions are offered for revolutionary changes that the academy must make in order to survive, even thrive, in the new paradigm.