Education Commons^™

From Combat Zones To The Classroom: Transitional Adjustment In Oef/Oif Student Veterans, Lorrie Kato, Jeremy D. Jinkerson, Sarah C. Holland, Henry V. Soper

The Qualitative Report

With 600,000 veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom enrolled in higher education with the Post-9/11 GI Bill, recognizing and responding to their predictable adjustment issues is imperative. Existing qualitative research has identified some transitional issues encountered by small groups of veterans. Because of qualitative research’s limited generalizability, however, themes may be viewed as more generalizable when corroborated by student veterans in different regions. In order to provide an in-depth description of the themes related to the post-deployment adjustment process, the first author conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 student veterans from a Southwestern community college who were returning to …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 25, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Dick, Jacob. Sigma Alpha Epsilon Suspended One Year for Alcohol Violations
• Sandefur, Alex. Strive for Success – Geo International High School, Refugees
• Collins, Emma. WKU Files Suit Against State Retirement System
• Kast, Monica. Greek Affairs Adviser Removed After Twitter Post – Alexandria Kennedy
• Alvey, Rebekah. List of Campus Safe Spaces Available Online
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: End of Semester
• Dimeo, Chris. Smokey Bones Is Back At It Again
• Beauchamp, Kijana. Educate Yourself Following Election
• Huff, Taylor. Taking a Look Back a the Barak Obama …

What's In An Ally? Closing Gaps In Lgbtq+ Support, Laura Gentner

Journal of Research, Assessment, and Practice in Higher Education

This study will explore the relationship between LGBTQ+ identifying students’ expectations of and experiences with allies, and their perceptions of campus climate. LGBTQ+ ally training programs and visibility of LGBTQ+ allies contribute to both campus climate and LGBTQ+ students’ perceptions of that climate, leading to more positive and healthy college experiences. However, it is not clear that current practice in training and educating allies truly reflects the needs of LGBTQ+ identifying students.

While research is available for the design and implementation of ally training programs, there is little to no research on what LGBTQ+ identifying students expect of allies, nor …

From The Voices Of California Female High School Principals: Examining Barriers And Support Systems In A New Era Of Educational Reform Through The Lens Of Activity Theory, Janice M. Jones

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the perceived barriers and support systems female high school principals experienced, through the lens of activity theory, while attaining and serving in their current position during the newest era of educational reform in a specific geographical region.

Methodology: Semistructured interviews were conducted with current female high school principals to gather data on the barriers and support systems they experienced. The theoretical framework of activity theory was used to analyze the subjects’ interaction with their environment as they sought the outcome of becoming and serving as high school principals. …

Instructional Motivations: What Can We Learn From Homeschooling Families?, Jesse Thomas

The Qualitative Report

Some educational theorists have believed that the beneficial aspects of home education will eventually find their way into mainstream educational contexts. The purpose of this paper was to extract the motivations behind homeschooling instructional decisions. This study was built on surveys and interviews from over 1000 homeschooling parents across the United States. Participants were asked about the reason for their instructional routines. Instructional motivations reported included a child’s particular learning style, a parent’s personal preference, a child’s interests, community resources, experience, faith, family reasons, special goals, and special needs. These motivations may also represent those of public school parents, thus …

An Indictment Of The System, Jonathan Petrie

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

This past week, the nation was hit by a shock wave. Donald Trump, the former host of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” was elected president of the United States. People are wondering, “how could this be?” This is a man who openly used race-baiting rhetoric, endorsed xenophobic policies, insulted disabled reporters and performed so many more ridiculous acts I probably could not fit them into this piece. So how could this guy have possibly won?

Bare Minimums In Activism Do Nothing For A Cause, Sam Tracy

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Your safety pins don’t matter. There has been a recent rise in a silent protest to Donald Trump’s racist, xenophobic, sexist and homophobic rhetoric that involve spinning a safety pin onto your shirt. It started off as a gesture of kindness and a message to the marginalized people, saying: “hey, we’re here and we’re not with them. ”By pinning your shirt, you have a quiet way to show you do not support Trump’s harmful messages and you are a safe person to talk with.

Whitewashing In Hollywood Silently Affects Our Children, Sam Tracy

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The reaction to the 2016 Oscars, which birthed the trending topic #OscarsSoWhite on Twitter, highlights a serious problem in our country — a lack of representation for non-white communities. Watching a movie in the 1950s is still somehow reminiscent of today. We have put an end to blackface, the practice of coloring a white person’s face with paint to fill the role of a historically non-white character without hiring an accurate representative. Yet major blockbuster films did not commonly hire non-white characters for major roles until just recently. Our movies now typically feature a white cast, with the exception of …

Editorial : Decency Must Remain Following A Tumultuous Election, Sarah Allisot

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

There is no doubt that the presidential campaigns this year were equal parts passionate and hateful. News stories have often done little to serve the real issues and insults became a stand-in for policy talk during officiated discussions. Following Election Day, nearly one half of the country is left with feelings of hopelessness, fear and disbelief — none of which are invalid.

Qualitative Evaluation Of A Service Leadership Subject In A Chinese Context, Daniel T. L. Shek, Jing Wu, Li Lin, Emma X. P. Pu

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Adopting a qualitative methodology, views of the students on a subject on service leadership were examined. Students taking the subject (n=153) were invited to use descriptors and metaphors to describe their experiences about the subject. Regarding the descriptors given by the students, most of them were positive in nature. Similar positive findings were obtained for the metaphors. The findings are generally consistent with those studies using the same methodology reported in the literature. In conjunction with other evaluation findings, the present findings suggest that students had positive experiences about taking the subject and regarded the subject to be able to …

A Note From A Naive, Soft-Hearted Liberal, Katia Rubinstein

SURGE

“I’m voting for Trump,” my step-dad announced this summer. Through and through he is Republican, but his backing of Trump still shocked me.

When I asked him why, he said that he thought Trump could bring change while Clinton would only bring the status quo. He wanted, in fewer words, to “Make America Great Again.”

When I provided him with Hitler’s speeches and Goebbels’s propaganda, comparing the threats made to the Jews with those made to undocumented immigrants today, he brushed it off. “It’ll never happen,” he said with a shrug. When I replied with the sentiment of concern, explaining …

Transitioning From High School To College: Examining The Sources And Influences Of Social Capital For A First-Generation Latina Student, Randall F. Clemens

The Qualitative Report

This paper uses the life history method to narrate the experiences of Camilla, a 19-year-old, first-year student at a four-year university. Camilla emigrated with her mother from El Salvador to the United States during her freshman year of high school. Based on two years of data collection, the author presents Camilla’s experiences at different stages, including her childhood in El Salvador, first and last year in high school, and her first year in college. The paper explores the sources and influences of social capital for a low-income, first-generation student and highlights its dynamic and contextual nature. The author argues that …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 24, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Collins, Emma. PolitiFact Staffers Visit WKU
• Perry, Natalie. International Dialogue Informs Students About Recent Political Events
• Keltner, Bryson. Bowling Green Black Lives Matter Hosts Action Meeting
• Miller, Callie. Associate Provost Plans Awareness of Research – Cheryl Davis
• Carlson, Kylie. Student’s Work Prompts Proclamation Signing – Antibiotic Awareness Week
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: Nutrition Labels
• Burgess, Kelly. Three Major Keys to Nutrition
• Kaufkins, Barry. Standing with My Muslim Students
• Johnson, Kalyn. Coming to Understand Why People Protest
• Disalvo, Ann. Bowling Green Beauties – Miss Bowling …

Growing Up With Hunters: An Insider's Perspective, Sudie Hofmann

Human Relations and Multicultural Education Faculty Publications

Many of us who care about animals go about our lives while immersed in a world that is either not aligned with, or is even openly hostile to, our respect for animals. Sudie Hofmann is one of many people who grew up in a family that didn’t share her respect and compassion for animals. She shares her experience of what it’s like to grow up in a family of hunters.

Barriers, Motivations, And Preferences For Physical Activity Among Female African American Older Adults, Neha P. Gothe, Bradley J. Kendall

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 11% of adults more than the age of 65 meet the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Among minority populations, only 5% of non-Hispanic Black older adults met the guidelines. Given our limited understanding of psychosocial and environmental factors that affect physical activity participation in these groups, the purpose of our focus groups was to investigate barriers, motivators, and preferences of physical activity for community-dwelling African American older adults. Three focus groups were conducted with female African American older adults (N = 20). Questions posed to each focus group …

The Presidential Election Affects Sports, Griffin Stockford

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Athletes have always played a significant role in politics. They often appear at campaign events for politicians, in hopes of helping to sway voters by showing their support for a candidate. Athletes’ political actions, such as Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling protests, become national news because of players’ notoriety and thus the influence they have. Just last week, Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were being forced to address allegations that they expressed to Donald Trump their support for his presidency. Donald Trump’s presidency likely won’t affect the sports industry as a whole. It’s simply too large and too wealthy. But his presidency …

‘When I Am Being Rushed It Slows Down My Brain’: Constructing Self-Understandings As A Mathematics Learner, Rachel Lambert

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding learning disabilities (LDs) as constructed through multiple cultural practices including discourse, this paper focuses on a Latino middle school student with a LD named Elijah. This study documents both the discourses and practices used to position Elijah as a mathematics learner, as well as his use of similar discourses as he constructs a complex set of self-understandings as a mathematics learner. Elijah is positioned by discourses that prioritise speed as an indicator of mathematical ability, as well as discourses that construct students with LD as having both intelligence and differences such as processing speed. An analysis of interview and …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 23, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Kast, Monica. Two School of Journalism & Broadcasting Majors to Move Schools – Advertising, Public Relations
• Collins, Emma. Tension – Donald Trump
• Williams, Jamie. Andre Dowell – Elections
• Carlson, Kylie. Jacob Karaglanis – Elections
• Kast, Monica. eSports Team Moves Into Permanent Space
• Miller, Callie. Sophomore, International Enrollment Declines
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon: Echo Chambers
• Build Bridges: Understanding Protests, Understanding Each Other – Elections
• Carter, Brandon. There is Much Work to be Done After Election
• Chism, Kalee. Luncheon Opens Discussion on Gender – Genderations
• Austin, Emma. …

Black Women's Search For Meaning: An Existential Portraiture Study On How Black Women Experience The 4 Existential Givens, Tamiko Lemberger-Truelove

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

The purpose of the phenomenological, qualitative study was to explore how select Black women experience the four ultimate concerns of existence, including freedom, isolation, meaninglessness, and death. Existential psychology, from which the four existential givens emerge, is deeply grounded in existential philosophy, which rarely connects key principles and tenets of existentialism to the experiences of Black women. The existential givens have been posited as a universal framework and yet because Black women are faced with multiple forms of marginalization the current study operates from the assumption that universal experiences are filtered through patently Black experiences. To explore how the existential …

Acculturation Stress, Psychological And Sociocultural Adjustment, And Development Of American Adolescents: A Qualitative Study Of Newton High School Exchange Students In China, Binbin Zhu

Doctoral Dissertations

Theories from the extant acculturation literature functioned to categorize international students’ adaptation experiences and predict their acculturation outcomes. Also, relevant studies focused mainly on students at the tertiary level. For adolescent students seeking self-development toward independence and autonomy, how they negotiated their identity challenges and tensions in a cross-cultural context, and how surrounding others in their socialization impacted on their psychosocial adjustment process and transformative experiences have not been actively explored. This qualitative study approached adolescent students’ acculturation as an integrated development and learning process to explore the effects of developmental and cultural factors on their cross-cultural adaptation, especially examined …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 92, No. 22, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Archives Records

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Dick, Jacob. WKU Professor to Elect President – Scott Lasley
• Kast, Monica. Students Encounter Polling Confusion – Brian Wiech, Brandon Killian
• Williams, Jamie. Gary Ransdell Casts Vote at Big Red Precinct
• Dimeo, Chris. Voters Disappointed, Unable to Vote in City
• Ziesig, Kathryn. Students Protest Presidential Election Results
• Collins, Emma. University Faculty, Staff Lacks Diversity
• King, Jennifer. Editorial Cartoon re: Election 2016
• Huff, Taylor. Sauteed Selection: After the Election, Where Do We Go From Here?
• Henderson, Andrew. A Failed Press, Other Disappointments of the Election
• Joyner, …

Teaching In Circles: Learning To Harmonize As A Co-Teacher Of Gifted Education, Steve Haberlin

The Qualitative Report

In this autoethnography, I explored my daily challenges and frustrations working as a teacher of gifted students in inclusion classrooms in an elementary public school. Inquiring about how I coped with these challenges and eventually thrived in the position, I journaled weekly about my teaching experiences during a six-month period and collected e-mails to teachers and parents. I employed constant comparative analysis and five themes emerged: frustration, isolation, advocacy, collaboration, and influence. I discussed the themes within the greater social and cultural context, drawing upon psychology and educational theories.

The Moral Call To Learn: A Qualitative Investigation Of Encounters With Unfamiliarity In Everyday Life, Jonathan S. Spackman, Stephen C. Yanchar, Edwin E. Gantt

The Qualitative Report

This qualitative study explored the moral aspects of learners’ “encounters with unfamiliarity” in their everyday experiences. The encounter with unfamiliarity, as a basic phenomenon within the conceptual framework of embodied familiarization, was investigated using a multiple case study approach (Stake, 2006). Findings from this study are presented first as brief case narratives and second as themes based on a cross-case analysis. Themes of the study point to the nature and significance of the encounter as a part of learning, often as an invitation with a kind of moral significance that called participants to learn, or not learn, in particular ways. …

What Can Social Networks Tell Us About Learning Ecologies?, Caroline A. Haythornthwaite

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

The ecology metaphor is drawn from the biological sciences and refers to the “scientific study of the distribution, abundance and dynamics of organisms, their interactions with other organisms and with their physical environment” (British Ecological Society, 2016). In recent decades, the metaphor has become useful for tackling the complexity of new information and learning environments, particularly as driven by the increasing quantity of information, the growing number of available media and means of communicating, the extended reach of information technologies, and the new practices arising from these configurations. This paper brings to the discussion of learning ecologies the research and …

Understanding Student Evaluations : A Black Faculty Perspective., Armon R. Perry, Sherri L. Wallace, Sharon E. Moore, Gwendolyn D. Perry-Burney

Sharon E. Moore

Student evaluations of faculty teaching are critical components to the evaluation of faculty performance. These evaluations are used to determine teaching effectiveness and they influence tenure and promotion decisions. Although they are designed as objective assessments of teaching performance, extraneous factors, including the instructors’ race, can affect the composition and educational atmosphere at colleges and universities. In this reflection, we briefly review some literature on the use and utility of student evaluations and present narratives from social work faculty in which students’ evaluation contained perceived racial bias.

Inclusive Teaching Circles : Mechanisms For Creating Welcoming Classrooms., Sharon E. Moore, Sherri L. Wallace, Gina Schack, M. Shelley Thomas, Linda Lewis, Linda Wilson, Shawnise Miller, Joan D'Antoni

Sharon E. Moore

This essay examines the Inclusive Teaching Circle (ITC) as a mechanism for faculty development in creating instructional tools that embrace an inclusive pedagogy reflecting diversity, cultural competence and social justice. We describe one group’s year-long participation in an ITC at a large, metropolitan research university in the south. Next, we share several members’ strategies for promoting more inclusive and equitable learning for students in our classrooms. Finally, we consider the implications of ITCs for its group participants and the professorate at large.

Inclusive Teaching Circles : Mechanisms For Creating Welcoming Classrooms., Sharon E. Moore, Sherri L. Wallace, Gina Schack, M. Shelley Thomas, Linda Lewis, Linda Wilson, Shawnise Miller, Joan D'Antoni

Sherri L. Wallace

This essay examines the Inclusive Teaching Circle (ITC) as a mechanism for faculty development in creating instructional tools that embrace an inclusive pedagogy reflecting diversity, cultural competence and social justice. We describe one group’s year-long participation in an ITC at a large, metropolitan research university in the south. Next, we share several members’ strategies for promoting more inclusive and equitable learning for students in our classrooms. Finally, we consider the implications of ITCs for its group participants and the professorate at large.

Understanding Student Evaluations : A Black Faculty Perspective., Armon R. Perry, Sherri L. Wallace, Sharon E. Moore, Gwendolyn D. Perry-Burney

Sherri L. Wallace

Student evaluations of faculty teaching are critical components to the evaluation of faculty performance. These evaluations are used to determine teaching effectiveness and they influence tenure and promotion decisions. Although they are designed as objective assessments of teaching performance, extraneous factors, including the instructors’ race, can affect the composition and educational atmosphere at colleges and universities. In this reflection, we briefly review some literature on the use and utility of student evaluations and present narratives from social work faculty in which students’ evaluation contained perceived racial bias.

Social Equities That Don't Exist Yet., Project Lets, Risd Archives

Racial Justice

Poster for Social Equities that Don't Exists Yet, an unbiased conversation sponsored by the RISD chapter of Project LETS (Let's Erase The Stigma). Project LETS is a mental health advocacy group as well as a peer support network, dedicated to erasing the stigma around mental health and talking about mental health issues, especially as it relates to the RISD experience.

How Do Latino Students Fare In Massachusetts Charter Schools?: An Analysis Of Student Outcomes, Enrollment, Teacher Preparation, And Discipline Across 10 Districts, Michael Berardino, Lorna Rivera, Trevor Mattos

Gastón Institute Publications

The objective of the research was to better understand the experiences and outcomes of Latino students in Massachusetts charter schools. To reflect the diversity of the Latino population in Massachusetts, this research is built on comparisons of demographics and student outcomes between traditional public school districts and the charter schools that serve each school district.