Education Commons^™

Extreme Poverty Affects Many College Students., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the most painful realities of higher education in the 21st century – and one that gets very little attention – is the fact that some college students live in extreme poverty, oftentimes sleeping in libraries, cars, or temporarily with friends. Despite the extreme conditions under which they live, or in many cases because of them, these students still seek the education and training needed to be able to get a job and move out of poverty. Some colleges and universities are taking steps to help.

Study Abroad Scholarships A Good Use Of Taxes., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

There is little doubt that an international experience

is one of the most life-changing events for a college student.

That is what one hears from students when they

return, particularly from those who have never even

been abroad in their lives. Cost is usually mentioned

as the major barrier for Americans to have such an

experience. And this barrier can be particularly high for

minority and first-generation college students.

Yet, there is a little known but very successful federal

program known as The Benjamin A. Gilman International

Scholarship Program that serves to help U.S. college students

interested in going abroad.

Scandals Are Threatening Higher Education., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Among the unfortunate curses affecting the

image of higher education are the scandals taking

place with unrelenting regularity. Whether

they have to do with athletics, sexual assaults,

murders, cheating, hazing, or corruption, the

media are echoing those scandals, sometimes

in excruciating detail. In some cases, like the

“Sandusky affair” that made headlines for

months and tarnished the reputation of Penn

State University and its renowned football coach

Joe Paterno, these scandals have a lasting effect

on public opinion.

We in academia have always been worried

about the effect of these scandals on an issue

very important to colleges and universities …

Review: Posner, Richard A. Divergent Paths: The Academy And The Judiciary. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Legal education in the United States has been controversial in the last few years

due to its cost, decreasing enrollments, and doubts about its practical value. Until

the mid-nineteenth century legal training was essentially technical in nature. At

that time many lawyers—like Abraham Lincoln—could afford to study the law by

themselves without even attending law school and then, by passing the bar exam,

were admitted in the legal profession.

Review: The New Celebrity Scientists. Out Of The Lab And Into The Limelight. Fahy, Declan. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In the last couple of decades, we have seen the widespread ascendancy of the

phenomenon of celebrity in society. Celebrities as a cultural manifestation are not

necessarily something new. We saw that notion in the twentieth century being

exploited by Hollywood through their “star system” as well as by sports teams

hungry to increase their revenues. Now that phenomenon has expanded into areas

that we would not have imagined decades ago, and one of them is in the field of

science. With the advent of social media and the relaxation of social views

regarding stereotypes, we have seen the rise …

Distance Education More Expensive Than Thought., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Cost is one of the big issues facing higher education.

Diminishing government funding has spiraled

the expense of attending public colleges and

universities, which, in turn, has increased the debt

burden on students to more than a trillion dollars.

Facing this issue has become a national concern

for many politicians. State legislators and governors,

as well as executives of some for-profit

education companies, have been pushing distance

education (mostly in the form of on-line courses)

as the solution.

Apps In Higher Education: Criteria And Evaluation, Rebecca Arzola, Stefanie Havelka

Publications and Research

In this article, the authors will consider different evaluation methods for mobile applications. A closer look is taken at app criteria and benchmarks by librarians, by topic, accessibility, and rubrics.

Overcoming The Model Minority Myth: Experiences Of Filipino American Graduate Students, Kevin L. Nadal, Stephanie T. Pituc, Marc P. Johnston, Theresa Esparrago

Publications and Research

Filipino Americans are one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States and the second largest Asian American/Pacific Islander ethnic group. However, there is little research focusing on the unique experiences of this group, particularly in higher education. This paper presents a qualitative exploration of the experiences of Filipino American graduate students utilizing consensual qualitative research methodology. Results were categorized into domains and themes, with an example of a domain being "deficiencies and lack of resources" and an example of a theme being "Filipino Americans as different from Asian Americans." Implications for higher education administrators and researchers are discussed.

Increasing Student-Teacher Interactions At An Urban Commuter Campus Through Instant Messaging And Online Office Hours, Nathan H. Lents, Oscar E. Cifuentes

Publications and Research

Encouraging first year undergraduate students in large lecture-hall classes to seek out and actively engage their professors is a perennial problem in science education. This problem is especially acute for commuter and minority populations. Thus, because personal relationships between students and professors are well known to promote student learning and academic success, fostering new ways to connect students and faculty is essential for reducing attrition at inner-city colleges. In the current study, we demonstrate that the use of instant messaging (IM) is highly effective in fostering student-teacher interactions in the lecture-hall setting of an introductory major-level biology course at John …

Fostering Liberatory Teaching: A Proposal For Revising Instructional Assessment Practices, Jane E. Hindman

Publications and Research

Appraises the assumptions that drive standard evaluation methods and compares them to those assumptions that undergird more critical approaches to teaching. Presents an alternative teacher evaluation instrument and explains how it more accurately measures what is said and believed to be effective teaching. Offers statistical evidence supporting the instrument and suggests further steps to foster teaching practices