Education Commons^™

Integrated Concept Mapping As A Method For Democratically Evaluating A Teacher Preparation Program In The Area Of Classroom Assessment Proficiency, Carrie Elizabeth Ashcraft

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation reviews current policies regarding Teacher Preparation Program (TPP) evaluation and addresses “accountability era” influences which often minimize factors related to equity and promote a limited view of teacher and school “effectiveness.” Integrated concept mapping is proposed as an alternative method of evaluation because of its democratic framework for accountability. Using this method, a TPP in the Mountain West was evaluated in the area of classroom assessment.

Changes In Obstacles To Learning During The Covid-19 Pandemic For University Students And Recommended Solutions, Becky Williams, Sunshine L. Brosi

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruptions to student learning from K–12 to universities and continues to manifest negative effects on students. To better understand the challenges our students face and how those obstacles have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we surveyed our undergraduate ecology students who ranked obstacles to learning they experience in technology, learning environment, and economic security. The majority of respondents report conditions have worsened since the onset of the pandemic. Surveys identified the largest challenges on average were being unfamiliar with technology, using a smartphone or tablet for …

Student Stories Of Online Learning, Carrie Lewis Miller, Michael Manderfeld

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Instructional designers at a Midwest university piloted a survey based on the Quality Matters general standards asking students about their online course experience prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students were asked to indicate whether they experienced a specific course design element and whether they considered that element to be important to their learning experience. Follow-up interviews with some participants were also held. Data from the survey indicated students perceive their online course experience to be good based on course design elements they encountered. Implications for providing additional faculty development programming based …

Reflection Impacts Preservice Teachers Instruction And Planning, Joanna C. Weaver, Cynthia Bertelsen, Kaylani Othman

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Creating a habit of reflective practice promotes ongoing and sustainable instructional improvement for preservice teachers. Furthermore, reflection enables teachers to strengthen their instruction through critical analysis of student learning and engagement. While reflection may be intuitive for an in-service teacher, preservice teachers need this experience to develop intentional and automatic reflective practice. Adopted from the field of medicine, Subjective, Observation, Assessment, Planning (SOAP) Notes is a reflective strategy that allows educators to critically reflect on the lessons they have taught. SOAP Notes promote critical reflection on planning and student learning and …

Jete Fall 2022 Introduction, Jason Olsen

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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An introduction to the Fall 2022 issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 6, Issue 2, Fall 2022

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length Fall 2022 issue (Volume 6, Issue 2) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version (with downloadable EPUB format) here.

The Fall 2022 issue presents research and guidance on topics related to reflective practice and learning. The first article examines the impact of the SOAP Notes tool on teaching, learning, and instructor reflection. The second article provides guidance for faculty on how to collect, explain, and showcase their efforts in a teaching portfolio. Article three shares the findings of a student survey to identify students' experience with the design elements found in the Quality …

An Investigation Of Active Learning On Students' Understanding Of Infinite Series Convergence, Zachary Coverstone

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Many students encounter infinite series for the first time as part of their single-variable calculus coursework. As part of this initial engagement with infinite series convergence, students grapple with infinity in ways that they haven't had to before. For instance, the fact that summing infinitely many terms sometimes yields a finite value, but at other times diverges, poses significant conceptual challenges.

I recently designed and implemented a curriculum for second-semester calculus centered in doing problems to help students develop ideas surrounding infinite series convergence, rather than using direct instruction. The unit design was patterned after a workshop at the Park …

Recognizing And Reducing Ambiguity In Mathematics Curriculum And Relations Of Θ-Functions In Genus One And Two: A Geometric Perspective, Shantel Spatig

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Anxiety and mathematics come hand in hand for many individuals. This is due, in
part, to the fact that the only experience they have with mathematics is what some
mathematics educators refer to as "schoolmath," which uses a somewhat different
language than real mathematics. The language of schoolmath can cause individu-
als to have confusion and develop misconceptions related to several mathematical
concepts. One such concept is a fraction. In chapter one of this report, one possible
reason for this is discussed and a possible solution is purposed.
In chapter three of this report, genus-two curves admitting an elliptic involution …

Myside Bias Shifting In The Written Arguments Of First Year Composition Students, Lezlie Christensen-Branum

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation reports on research conducted to better understand how college student writers learned to work against their own biases as they researched and wrote arguments. I conducted a review of former studies to design a curriculum that would help students avoid bias and increase their ability to write arguments tailored to specific readers in ways that accomplish their goals. This review also informed the kinds of data to be collected and analyzed in order to accomplish the research goal, which was to understand whether and how each of seven students enrolled in a composition course reduced their biases. I …

Create Better Health Curriculum, Casey Coombs, Jaqueline Neid

All Current Publications

CBH is a comprehensive nutrition curriculum designed to teach adult SNAP-Ed participants how to eat well and be active on a budget. CBH combines nutrition and physical activity recommendations from United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Each lesson has three components: a nutrition topic based on the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a physical activity discussion based on USDA recommendations, and a Create recipe demonstration and sample. The components are woven together in eight lessons that are designed to keep participants engaged, while actively learning the skills needed to create a healthier lifestyle.

Introduction, Jason Olsen

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this introduction here.

An introduction to the Spring 2022 issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Book Review Of 99 Tips For Creating Simple And Sustainable Educational Videos By Karen Costa, Jason Olsen

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Book review of Costa, K. (2020). 99 Tips for Creating Simple and Sustainable Educational Videos. Stylus Publishing. This article discusses Costa’s book from the perspective of both experienced asynchronous instructors and those thrust into different delivery methods due to education challenges created by the pandemic.

Transforming Curriculum: A Process For Implementing Problem-Based Learning In A College-Level Course, Morgan Robertson, Marla K. Robertson

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Transforming curriculum by implementing Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in the college-level classroom helps students internalize the concepts of a course, improve their critical and reflective thinking skills, learn to problem-solve using questioning, and ultimately construct a better understanding of course concepts in a personally relevant way. This article introduces a process for implementing PBL in a college-level course. Each of the four main ideas in PBL, motivation, collaboration, reflection, and facilitation, are addressed with a particular focus on the role of the educator in designing and implementing PBL in the classroom. An …

Checking In: Learner Perceptions Of The Value Of Language Study In College, Julian Ledford, Tijá Odoms

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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An understanding of the products that Generation Z students value the most from their college-level language study is essential for instructors who must effectively unpack second language theories within the context of their classroom instruction. This preliminary study examines the value system regarding language study as revealed in the language-learning perceptions of a group of current language learners (n = 53) and recent college graduates (n = 49) at a small, private, liberal arts college in the southeast. Through qualitative analysis of student responses, the following emerged as language-learning …

Technology In Teacher Education: Student Perceptions Of Instructional Technology In The Classroom, Jennifer Zakrzewski, Brianne Newton

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Instructional technology continues to become more prevalent in classrooms around the globe. However, it is unclear whether teachers are prepared and have the self-efficacy to incorporate instructional technology into the classroom. This study reviews an instructional technology course for preservice teachers and whether student comfort increased with instructional technology throughout the course. In addition, data were collected regarding preferences pertaining to instructional technology. The data shows preservice teachers’ comfort increased throughout this course in terms of instructional technology. In addition, the data show preservice teachers are more comfortable working with instructional …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 6, Issue 1, Spring 2022

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length 2022 Special Issue (Volume 5, Issue 3) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version (with downloadable EPUB format) here.

The Spring 2022 issue begins with research that explores the perceptions of pre-service teachers relative to learning mathematics and science, with suggestions for how findings can impact curriculum and further research. The focus on pre-service teachers continues with research into their sense of self-efficacy with instructional technologies and whether specific techniques increase comfort level with technologies. Next, researchers explore the products that Generation Z students value most in their learning of a second language, …

Student Centered Language Teaching: A Focus On Student Identity, Rachel Mano

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of essays that describe what the writer has come to see as essential topics in second language acquisition. It begins with a professional environment piece, and then a teaching philosophy statement focused on student identity and interaction in the classroom. This is followed by an essay on observations of teaching. The next two sections focus on pragmatic resistance among advanced learners and the importance of preparing learners for peer interaction. The portfolio concludes with an annotated bibliography outlining the main concepts associated with Communicative Language Teaching, a method that is commonly employed in second language …

Authorial Agency: Investigating Composition Pedagogies Under A New Lens, Tyler Hurst

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This essay considers the work of three prominent composition scholars through the lens of authorial agency, which I define as a form of agency that focuses on the individual voice and self-determination of students in the writing space. Though the concept of agency has been previously considered by composition scholars, this contribution might aid in understanding various pedagogical approaches by analyzing how authorial agency is already being engaged within composition pedagogies and investigating how authorial agency aids teachers in understanding their pedagogy so that students learn to take back control of their own authoritative voice and self-determination. By re-investigating …

Investigating Student Learning About Disease Spread And Prevention In The Context Of Agent-Based Computational Modeling, Siyu Wu

Student Research Symposium

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a need to help students learn about public health issues, including the transmission of disease and methods for the prevention of epidemics. This study presents data from a project aimed at developing a computational modeling microworld to help middle school students learn about the spread of disease. The microworld is meant to help students model and test their ideas about how a disease spreads through a population and how an epidemic can be prevented. I employed a lab-based case study approach to conduct one-on-one 1.5-hour interviews through Zoom with four middle school students (ages 12-14). …

Esports Course Design: Balancing Multiplayer Gameplay Within Structured Curriculum, Daelynn Hunter

Student Research Symposium

There is a noticeably large interest growing across the globe for Esports expansion. Esports has grown to become an affinity space for competitive ambition/growth and a discipline of enormously varied learning techniques. Techniques to build esports into education often follow a 3 credit format, where esports can be studied in various areas (e.g., business, psychology, media/production). However, there’s been an absence in courses that are focused solely in gameplay. Traditionally, gaming has been observed to be a distraction over opportunity for growth. The course is currently centered to target said assumptions by utilizing student discipline techniques. Assignments are centered around …

Applying Cognitive Load Theory To Video Materials To Increase Metacognition And Improve Academic Performance Of Structured Query Language Course, Kyle Lam

Student Research Symposium

Structured Query Language (SQL) is a standardized programming language used to manage relational databases and perform various operations on the data in them.This course was highly technical for the undergraduate students, to make the learning more effective, the teacher must assess the intrinsic cognitive load on the learner and adjust the extraneous cognitive load when creating video materials.This study applied cognitive load theory (CLT) to remove split attention and redundancy effects; offer suitable worked examples and segmentation to decrease the cognitive load demand of learners.This study tries to address the relationship between cognitive load level and metacognition, and clarify how …

Computational Thinking And Professional Learning For Paraprofessionals, Aubrey Rogowski

Student Research Symposium

In the past decade, there has been increasing emphasis on preparing K-12 students for the workforce, including an increased emphasis on science, technology, engineering, math, and computing (STEM + C). One way in which this is reflected is in K-12 computer science (CS) standards that have been adopted by many states. However, many current teachers lack sufficient skills and knowledge to teach CS. In addition, there is a lack of time in the school day for teachers to teach the CS curriculum. To address this issue, many school districts throughout Utah have delegated the teaching of the CS curriculum, which …

Challenges In Integrating Computer Science Into K-12 Education And How We Approach It, Mengying Jiang

Student Research Symposium

A promising approach to make sure all students have opportunities to learn about computing is to integrate computer science (CS) into existing disciplines such as math and science. This project aims to integrate CS into Montana schools while also offering content that aligns with the Indian Education for All Act (IEFA). We are developing elementary and middle school units and teacher training materials that integrate CS, Indian Education, and other K-12 standards in Science, Language Arts, and Visual Arts. Our approach to curriculum design is through Research-Practice Partnership and a three-level strategy framework that supports students’ CS and disciplinary learning.

Curricular Adaptations By Paraprofessionals During Their Computer Lab Instruction Using Block-Based Coding, Prasina Parameswaran

Student Research Symposium

Classroom adaptation is one of the key elements in filling the gap between understanding and application of knowledge in the real world. Our work emphasizes upon the classroom adaptations in the Math classroom. We are studying 5th grade students and computer science (CS) paraprofessionals in the Western United States. Paraprofessionals are provided professional development (PD) to familiarize them with CS and Scratch. Scratch is a block based coding program which uses visual interface and is used for making animations, games, digital stories etc. As paraprofessionals are not certified teachers, this PD works towards helping them understand the Math content and …

Understanding Cultural Competence Training With Trauma-Informed Clinicians, Emily Slater, Brayden Gulso

Student Research Symposium

Our USU research team partnered with the Intensive Outpatient Clinic (IOC) at the U of U. The IOC is a multi-disciplinary clinic serving diverse, and vulnerable patients. The IOC identified a need for ongoing cultural training in their organization, and the medical field more broadly. We worked with the IOC to co-develop a cultural competence training with both online and in-person components. Currently, the IOC has completed the training course, and our research is in the data collection phase. We will shared the story of our partnership work, research design, anticipated findings, and next steps. Acknowledgement: This research is supported …

The 6 Levels Of Gamification: Introducing A New Organization Structure To Game-Based Learning, Treion Muller

Student Research Symposium

Gamification has become a popular buzzword and learning strategy in educational settings from K-12 to Higher Education, and to business learning and development (L & D) teams. Since the term 'gamification' was first coined there has been a significant increase of research on the topic as it relates to training and education, as well as a rapid rise of many new commercially sold gamification and learning technologies, tools, and platforms. However, what's lacking is a formal definition, theoretical approach, and taxonomy. The purpose of this study is to identify and organize the core gamification taxonomies, theoretical frameworks, and design elements …

Implementation Of Humanized Elements In Online Courses And User Testing Feedback, Roxie Christensen

Student Research Symposium

Online courses in higher education often lack key elements that invite students into a course. The absence of these elements may make the course lack social presence and connectedness. Students can experience a sense of aloneness the course which can cause disengagement and loss of motivation. However, the implementation of humanized elements in a course can facilitate engagement and motivation. This study facilitated the implementation of humanized elements in order to make online courses more inclusive for minoritized students by focusing on social presence and connectedness. During the pilot course, humanized elements were implemented and user testing was conducted at …

I'M Telling You, It Just Won't Work, Bonni Jones

Student Research Symposium

Science teachers feel pressure to align with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), embrace innovative methods and technology tools with their supporting pedagogies, yet daily classroom practices rarely incorporate them. Investigations of this phenomenon include professional development (PD) effectiveness, teacher learning, beliefs, views, and resistance to change. Investigation findings have not uncovered how to reverse the trend. A search to understand the tensions and barriers that outweigh the pressures mentioned above is one aim of this study. Tensions surface when teachers and students are expected to replace lectures, worksheets, teacher-led labs, and tests with the following: asking questions, defining problems, …

Improving Performance Through Strategic Teaching Documentation: The Continued Importance Of Seldin, Miller & Seldin’S "The Teaching Portfolio" In The Face Of A New Reality, Antje Graul

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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Book Review

Seldin, P., Miller, J. E., & and Seldin, C. A. (2010) The teaching portfolio: A practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions. John Wiley & Sons.

416 pages. Available in hardback ($), paperback and digital format ($)

Keywords: teaching, teaching documentation, teaching portfolio, tenure, promotion

Editorial: We're Going Remote!?! A University's Tale Of Two Cities, Robert Wagner

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

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The COVID-19 global pandemic created a dichotomous construct for higher education between delivery formats and maintaining quality pedagogy. The variables and obstacles seemed, at times, insurmountable but, Utah State University's team rose to the occasion. In this op-ed, Robert Wagner discusses the resilience and commitment shown by USU's instructors, staff, and students as they navigated, and continue to navigate, this unprecedented event.