Education Commons^™

Moving Beyond Free: A College Affordability Compact For The Next Generation, David H. Feldman, Christopher R. Marsicano

Arts & Sciences Articles

"Free college programs have proliferated at the state and local levels over the past decade, focused primarily on the nation’s community colleges. President Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan includes funding to make community college tuition free for participating states, and the idea of federally supported tuition-free four-year public college education is also back in the spotlight. It is easy to see why: “free college” fits on a bumper sticker, and it offers a simple message that signals to low-income families and first-generation students that achieving a valuable postsecondary credential is possible for them. This can lead families to prioritize …

A Virtual Internship To Prepare High School Students For Civic And Political Action, Jason A. Chen, Jeremy D. Stoddard

School of Education Articles

We explored the impact of participating in a Virtual Internship (VI) computer-supported collaborative learning simulation, on high school students’ (n = 43) development of knowledge and skills for critiquing the political media with which they engage. Second, we evaluated the effect of this intervention on students’ self-efficacy for using specific media strategies to take political action. Finally, we explored the epistemic (knowledge-seeking) and non-epistemic aims that students set for themselves while participating within our VI, which was designed specifically to address students’ epistemic cognition. Analyses of both the quantitative and qualitative data revealed that students: (1) evinced gains in knowledge …

Task Force On Textbook Affordability Final Report, Marian Taliaferro, Paul D. Heideman, Asia Randolph

W&M Libraries Publications

Costs of textbooks and course materials for undergraduates are estimated nationally at up to $1200 per student per year. With that estimate, the aggregate costs for William & Mary’s 6250 undergraduates may approach $7.5 million per year; graduate students may add $1-2 million to that total. Course books and materials increase costs of college attendance, and for some students are barriers to success. The Textbook Affordability Taskforce (TATF) composed of W&M faculty, staff, and students was formed in August 2019. The TATF was charged with examining the issue of textbook affordability and with developing and delivering near-term and long-term recommendations …

W&M Student Textbook Survey Executive Summary, Marian Taliaferro, Asia Randolph, Jessica Ramey

W&M Libraries Publications

Presents key findings from the textbook survey. The main objectives for issuing the textbook survey in fall 2019 were to understand the textbook spending practices as well as related preferences of W&M students so that the campus administrators would have information useful for programs designed to increase course materials affordability. Specifically, survey objectives were to:

• Understand current costs of textbooks and course materials for W&M students

• Understand methods W&M students take to lower textbook costs

• Understand the viability of implementing an “inclusive access” textbook pilot

• Identify student suggestions for reducing textbook costs

William & Mary Faculty Listening Tour Executive Summary, Marian Taliaferro, Asia Randolph, Jessica Ramey

W&M Libraries Publications

In fall 2019, William & Mary Libraries embarked on a concerted effort to learn more about course materials adopted on its campus. In order to perform an environmental scan, staff from the libraries participated in several activities: administering a student survey, conducting a series of faculty focus groups and running a cross-campus task force on textbook affordability. This document explains the faculty focus group activity known as the “textbook listening tour.”

The listening tour was structured largely based on an earlier effort that took place at Temple University Libraries. Bell & Johnson (2019) used the tour as an opportunity to …

William & Mary Student Textbook Survey, Marian Taliaferro, Asia Randolph, Jessica Ramey

W&M Libraries Publications

In Fall, 2019 W&M libraries disseminated a survey to all W&M students in order to understand their textbook spending practices so that the campus administrators would have information useful for programs designed to increase course materials affordability. The objectives of the survey were as follows.

Objective 1: Understand current costs of textbooks for W&M students.

Objective 2: Understand methods W&M students take to lower textbook costs.

Objective 3: Understand potential impact of implementing cost saving measures.

Objective 4: Understand options that W&M students might consider to lower the cost of textbooks.

The W&M Anglo-Saxon Club, Terry L. Meyers

Arts & Sciences Articles

"In my 2008 article “A First Look at the Worst,” I mentioned (p. 1158) the apparent existence at William and Mary of an Anglo-Saxon Club, a unit of a white supremacist organization, the Anglo-Saxon Clubs of America. That outfit had been established in Richmond in 1922 with the aid of John Powell, at once a distinguished musician and a deep racist (he managed to include his racist views in his compositions). Among his accomplishments was help in drafting and passing Virginia’s notorious Racial Integrity Act of 1924; the Anglo-Saxon Clubs were accessories to that effort..."

Revised June 3, 2023

Implicit Gender Bias, Engagement, And Protective Factors In Stem Faculty, Cheryl L. Dickter, Catherine A. Forestell, Jennifer A. Stevens, Pamela S. Hunt, Christine Porter

Arts & Sciences Articles

The present study assessed implicit gender bias and job engagement among STEM faculty at a mid-size liberal arts university. Forty-nine faculty in each of the departments of natural and social sciences were assessed for implicit gender bias and job engagement. We found that men had greater implicit gender bias than women in the natural sciences. In addition, women in natural science departments felt marginally less engaged than women in social science departments. Women’s disengagement was positively associated with imposter phenomenon and perceived lack of control in departmental decisions. However, women who actively participated in a women’s organization or had an …

Faculty Writing Retreats In The Library: Creative Approaches To Relationship Building, Lisa T. Nickel, Tami Back

W&M Libraries Publications

Have you ever thought, “If I had some uninterrupted time to write, I could get so much done!”?

At William & Mary Libraries, we often feel this way, and we hear from our teaching faculty colleagues that they feel the same. But can this common challenge present a unique opportunity? Can we, as a library, fill this need, and in turn, accomplish our goals of building relationships and connections with faculty? We determined that we can. As we consider time-intensive library events, partnerships, and outreach, we have learned that focusing on high-impact relationship-building opportunities is the best way …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of A Motivational Interviewing Group Intervention On Academic Motivation, Daniel Gutierrez, Sejal P. Foxx, Elvita Kondili

Arts & Sciences Articles

This randomized controlled trial examines the effectiveness of a motivational interviewing (MI) group on the academic motivation of students at an alternative school (N = 43). Findings demonstrated that MI groups are effective in increasing extrinsic motivation, whereas both the waiting list control and study skills comparison group did not demonstrate statistical significance. The findings of this study have several implications for school-based motivation enhancement interventions.

Educational Technology Leadership And Practice In Higher Education: The Emergence Of Threshold Concepts, Adam Barger

W&M Libraries Publications

Navigating the world of educational technology in higher education environments is an increasingly rewarding, yet challenging, endeavor. What must leaders know in order to thrive in the ever-changing space of educational technology? How can leaders and practitioners alike excel in cultivating and utilizing powerful educational technology applications, tools, and resources? In this blog, I explore these questions through the lens of threshold concepts as applied to technology in higher education teaching and learning. I propose three threshold concepts in our field, discuss their prevalence at the 2017 ELI Annual Meeting, and suggest their implications for leadership and practice.

Young People's Response To The Response: The Impact Of Political Diversity And Media Framing On Discussions Of Combatant Tribunals, Jeremy Stoddard, Jason Chen

Articles

This article presents results of a study of the impact of political dynamics on group deliberations of issues presented in the short film The Response. We selected four groups of 18-22 year-old participants based on political views, engagement, and efficacy (liberal, conservative, and two mixed groups), and asked them to view and discuss issues presented in The Response related to the combatant status review tribunals held at Guantanamo Bay. We found the groups with mixed political views had higher quality discussions of the issues and a better understanding of the issues post-discussion – in particular the tension between national …

Implicit Theories Of Ability Of Grade 6 Science Students: Relation To Epistemological Beliefs And Academic Motivation And Achievement In Science, Jason Chen, Frank Pajares

Articles

We investigated (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N = 508). Path analysis revealed that an incremental view of ability had direct and indirect effects on adaptive motivational factors, whereas fixed entity views had direct and indirect effects on maladaptive factors. Epistemological beliefs mediated the influence of implicit theories of ability on achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science achievement. Results …

Economic Returns To Early Education For Disadvantaged Children: Lessons From The Highscope Perry Preschool Program (In Russian), James Heckman, Seong Moon, Rodrigo Pinto, Peter A. Savelyev, Adam Yavitz

Arts & Sciences Articles

No abstract provided.

African American Women At Historically Black Colleges During The Civil Rights Movement, Eddie R. Cole

Articles

The African American Civil Rights Movement is a series of intentional occurrences in America that protested the legal segregation of African Americans and Whites. Inequality in the use of public spaces and the unequal opportunities for advancement of African Americans were the core reasons for this movement. This historical essay uses primary and secondary documents, as well as contemporary sources from non-educational fields, to assert that African American women were instrumental in the Civil Rights movement and that historically Black institutions can be credited, in large part, for preparing these women for their roles.

Hot Off The Presses: Podcasting For The Economics Classroom, Colleen Call, Kathleen Owings Swan, Mark J. Hofer

Articles

Despite the recent interest and production of quality podcasts freely available online, there are relatively few podcasts available for K-12 teachers of economics. We see this as a missed opportunity given the real-time and real-world nature of economics. We have created the Econocast (http://econocast.org) website to help spark teachers’ imaginations to leverage podcasting in the economics classroom and to help make the publication process easier. In this article, we offer a definition of podcasting, discuss how podcasting might support the economics curriculum, and present a case study of a teacher's development of an “iReport” economics podcast for her ninth grade …