Education Commons^™

Building Positive Student-Instructor Interactions: Engaging Students Through Caring Leadership In The Classroom, Oscar J. Solis, Windi D. Turner

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

When instructing and managing classrooms in university settings, instructors face numerous challenges such as student disengagement and managing course expectations. In this article, we offer new and revised techniques and strategies to engage students through the art of caring leadership. We accomplish this through three defining characteristics: knowing students’ names, managing course expectations, and the use of technology. These intentional strategies create positive student-instructor interactions in both small and large classrooms which in turn enhances student learning and engagement.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 1, Issue 1

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

For our inaugural issue, we reviewed the feedback from our 2016 ETE faculty conference—an event for USU faculty hosted every August on the USU main campus. We identified several of the presenters who received high marks in post-session surveys and invited them to submit a proceedings paper for their presentation. Many responded, and their papers now comprise the majority of this issue. Because most of the articles began as stand-up presentations for a conference, several adopt a first-person narrative style in which the authors share examples of things they have tried in their teaching that have worked. In the process …

In “Kahoots” With Student Engagement In The Classroom, Kim Nehls

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

In a recent classroom survey, 95 percent of my students recommended additional use of Kahoot. One student remarked that he was more likely to complete the reading in advance and participate in class if he was going to be part of a friendly competition. Kahoot is an exciting and fun way to utilize the cell phones and tablets already in play in the classroom.

The Impact Of The Summarization/Paraphrasing Strategy, Frayer Model, And Student Engagement On Reading Comprehension, Yolanda Janiece Reilly

Education Dissertations and Projects

This mixed-methods research examined student achievement in reading comprehension as measured by the North Carolina End-of-Grade Test for Reading Comprehension, and specific reading strategies (Frayer Model & Summarization/Paraphrasing strategy) in Grades 6–8 classrooms. The purpose of this research was to determine if a difference exists in student reading comprehension achievement between students instructed using the Frayer Model and students instructed using the Summarizing/Paraphrasing strategy, when used with fidelity, and which reading strategy students found to be more engaging between the Frayer Model and Summarization/Paraphrasing strategy. Engagement is a major factor in education that impacts achievement in the classroom as well …

An Examination Of The Impact Of Induction On Teacher Efficacy, Julie Anne Stanley

Education Dissertations and Projects

States have turned to effective induction programs in response to rising teacher attrition rates and a widening student achievement gap. Comprehensive induction programs that develop highly efficacious teachers report a decline in teacher attrition, an increase in job satisfaction, and a rise in student achievement. The intent of this research was to assess the level of the perceived self-efficacy of fourth-year teachers across the domains of instructional strategies, student engagement, and classroom management following the completion of the county’s induction program. The study explored the induction program’s structure in a large, urban North Carolina county to evaluate the extent of …

How Master Teachers Conceptualize Student Engagement: A Comparison Of Theoretical And Practitioner Perspectives, Andrew D. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past twenty years, an increasing amount of research has been devoted to the study of student engagement within the field of educational psychology. This led to a growing body of research touting the benefits of engaged learning—from increased student achievement to more positive school experiences for learners. However, the literature is characterized by competing theoretical frameworks and multiple definitions of the construct of student engagement. Additionally, few works seek to capitalized on the expertise of classroom teachers to hone and develop what is known about engagement from the theoretical perspective.

The current study used qualitative methodology to observe …

Faculty Perceptions Of Instructional Strategies That Foster Student Engagement In Online Courses, Sharon M. Hope

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Developing online instructional strategies for increasing student engagement and success is significant locally and nationally due to growth in the online field, advances in technology, and the need for colleges to maximize student success. This study stemmed from the desire of administrators at an upstate New York private college to discover additional ways to design and deliver effective online instruction. The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to discover faculty perceptions of and experiences with instructional strategies that they used to foster student engagement in online learning. Kearsley and Shneiderman's engagement theory formed the study's conceptual framework. Ten …

Discussion In The College Classroom: Getting Your Students Engaged And Participating In Person And Online. Jay R. Howard, 2015, Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, 224 Pp., $38.00 (Hardcover)., Tiffany Flowers

Journal of Research Initiatives

Discussion in the college classroom is an important and timely book for college level instructors who want to improve, revise, and deliver engaging courses across disciplines. The purpose of this work is to help college instructors understand the purpose behind fostering classroom discussions. Issues related to participation, classroom management, and class facilitation is discussed within this work. College instructors who teach face-to-face and online courses will find the content of this book useful. In the next section of this review, the reviewer provides a detailed overview of each chapter in the book and discusses the importance of this body of …

The Adolescent Brain: Leaving Childhood Behind, Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

There isn't a more profound scene in the film Inside Out than the death of Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend. As the main character approaches her 12th birthday, her brain is beginning to develop in ways that leave her imagination behind. This is the time when children between the ages of 10 and 14 begin dying to their childhoods to be born into their adolescence.

Contagious Emotions And Responding To Stress, Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

Neuroscience research suggests that emotions are contagious. Our brains are social organs, and we are wired for relationships. When we encounter or experience intense emotions from another individual, we feel those feelings as if they were our own. Mirror neurons in our brains are responsible for empathy, happiness, and the contagious anger, sadness, or anxiety that we feel when another person is experiencing these same feelings.

Brain Labs: A Place To Enliven Learning, Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

Although emotion and cognition originate in different parts of the brain, they interact and play a powerful role in learning and memory. According to neuroscientists like Eric Jensen, priming the brain for particular states of engagement -- such as curiosity, intrigue, surprise, suspense, a bit of confusion, skepticism, and the feeling of safety -- prepares the mind to learn. Furthermore, incorporating emotion into our instruction and content supports long-term memory. This might not be news to teachers, but not enough students know how to optimize their brain for learning. That's why every child should have the opportunity to explore …

3 Things Students Desire To Hear From Teachers, Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels

A year and a half ago, I decided that I needed to return to the K-12 classrooms and really experience ground-level teaching, testing, core standards, differentiating, and emotionally connecting with children and adolescents in ways I had not for many years. I have been and still am an assistant professor in the school of education at Marian University, but the environments, experiences, and my own learning have grown and changed immensely from returning to the classroom 18 months ago.

I asked the university for a course release, taking the lectures, research, and strategies into the early adolescent grades. And three …

The Stem Teacher Enrichment Academy : Evaluating Teachers’ Approaches To Implementing Stem Education In Secondary School Contexts, Judy Anderson

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Amidst calls for a greater focus on STEM education in schools, attention is inevitably drawn to the quality of teaching and to appropriate means of supporting the teaching workforce so that more young people are engaged and interested in STEM subjects. This presentation describes the development and implementation of a STEM Teacher Enrichment Academy at the University of Sydney, and presents some of the outcomes from teachers’ efforts to implement STEM education across a variety of school systems. The findings draw on survey and interview data from two cohorts of participant teachers and their STEM mentors as they progressed through …

Factors Influencing Student Engagement, Maria Devito

EDL Sixth Year Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess and outline major factors influencing student engagement in the middle school context. In order to contribute to the existing body of research and to benefit students by outlining the particular aspects of learning experience that are related to engagement, a case study has been carried out, which sought to analyze the students’ schooling experience as a source of valuable data. Qualitative methods of data collection were applied during the study. The survey, focus-group interview, and observations allowed classifying the factors influencing the levels of engagement among the study participants into five major …

A Correlational Study Of Teacher Efficacy And Culturally Responsive Teaching Techniques In A Southeastern Urban School District, Roberta F. Callaway

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the level of personal and general teacher efficacy of teachers from three high schools within a southeastern urban school district. Additional research questions focused on correlational relationships between teacher efficacy and culturally responsive teaching, instructional strategies, student engagement, and classroom management as measured by the Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES), Culturally Responsive Teaching Techniques (CRTT) Scale, and Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES).

This study was conducted in a large urban school district located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States; three of the five high schools in the district participated. The CRTT Scale and TSES were …

College Student Engagement Patterns In Small Group Learning Activities Conducted In Courses Organized Using A Flipped Learning Instructional Pedagogy, John Creighton Cummins

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine student engagement patterns in smallgroup learning activities conducted in courses organized using a Flipped Learning Instructional Pedagogy (FLIP) at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK). A literature search on FLIP revealed no papers that examined student engagement at a fine-grained level. Classrooms were examined using an observational tool developed specifically for the examination of fine-grained student engagement. In order to observe overt engagement patterns of students during active learning in small groups, an observation tool was designed by combining an engagement framework with an in-class activity inventory.The Complex Level of Overt …

The Adolescent Brain: Leaving Childhood Behind, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

There isn't a more profound scene in the film Inside Out than the death of Bing Bong, Riley’s imaginary friend. As the main character approaches her 12th birthday, her brain is beginning to develop in ways that leave her imagination behind. This is the time when children between the ages of 10 and 14 begin dying to their childhoods to be born into their adolescence.

Contagious Emotions And Responding To Stress, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Neuroscience research suggests that emotions are contagious. Our brains are social organs, and we are wired for relationships. When we encounter or experience intense emotions from another individual, we feel those feelings as if they were our own. Mirror neurons in our brains are responsible for empathy, happiness, and the contagious anger, sadness, or anxiety that we feel when another person is experiencing these same feelings.

Creating Core Memories In The Classroom, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

We all create core memories. When we encounter an experience with heightened emotion, our memory systems remember the experiences because of the intense emotions associated with the event. We know that memories can become diluted or distorted with time and distance. When we remember an event from our past, our brains secrete the same chemicals from the same neurotransmitters called forth when the experience happened, creating the same feelings.

The Effect Of New Literacies And Technology On Student Engagement And Transforming The Literacy Block, Allison M. Schlupp

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate, track, and measure the effect of technology and new literacies on student engagement and the language arts block. Data was kept over a four-week period and tracked through student interviews, informal observations, and student work samples. Throughout the study, students showed growth in their ability to interact with technology and one another through the repeated use of technology and the use of new literacies. Data also showed increased student engagement through the independent work time of the literacy block.

Energy And Calm: Change It Up And Calm It Down!, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Unlike the sequels to movies, I hope that part two of last year's Energy and Calm post will continue to strengthen your understanding of how our brains naturally learn, think, and behave. So let's return to the calming yet energizing zone of focused attention practices and brain breaks, a place that would greatly benefit students -- and their teachers -- when revisited frequently.

Engaging Students Into Lifelong Learning Using Social Media, Allison Gibson

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

We’ve all seen it: Students distracted in class checking their phones under a desk or with Facebook pulled up on their laptops. Social media can often serve as a distraction for students’ education, but when implemented carefully social media can also serve as an effective tool to bringing the “real world” into the classroom. This presentation will review current research and pedagogy on the use of social media in the classroom. The presenter will share practices utilized in preparing and implementing different social media tools as well as specific concerns and challenges that can be problematic in implementing such educational …

Gamification To Improve First Year Engagement, John Colleran, Aoife Lloyd Mckernan, Julie Ann Naughton, Brian Vaughan

Practitioner Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to examine the role of Gamification in increasing first year student engagement within the third level educational setting. A literature review was carried out in order to explore the teaching philosophy behind gamification in education and review the quantitative and qualitative evidence regarding its use. Gamification can be broadly described as the application of gaming methods and elements in non-gaming contexts in order to improve user engagement and user experience (Deterding et al., 2011). Qualitative analysis suggests these factors result in beneficial emotional and social impacts on students, particularly in the area of increasing …

Grit, Student Engagement, And Academic Performance At A Historically Black Community College, Sharonica Marie Nelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obtaining a college degree benefits individuals and society, yet only 20% of students are graduating from community colleges. At many institutions, graduation rates have decreased over the last 5 years, including one historically Black community college in the southern United States. To explore possible causes of low graduation rates at this unique and understudied type of college, this correlational study examined the relationships among student engagement, academic performance, and grit-persistence and passion toward long-term goals. Tinto's theory of student persistence served as the theoretical framework for this study. The convenience sample included 116 college students who already had a first-year …

Brain Labs: A Place To Enliven Learning, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Although emotion and cognition originate in different parts of the brain, they interact and play a powerful role in learning and memory. According to neuroscientists like Eric Jensen, priming the brain for particular states of engagement -- such as curiosity, intrigue, surprise, suspense, a bit of confusion, skepticism, and the feeling of safety -- prepares the mind to learn. Furthermore, incorporating emotion into our instruction and content supports long-term memory. This might not be news to teachers, but not enough students know how to optimize their brain for learning. That's why every child should have the opportunity to explore …

What Can Jesus Teach Us About Student Engagement?, Glenn James, Elda Martinez, Sherry Herbers

Journal of Catholic Education

This article examines Jesus’s teaching methods as described in the four Gospels, highlighting the ways in which He led listeners to participate actively in their learning. We identify similarities between many of Jesus’s techniques and current practices in the field of student engagement, with a focus on applications for instructors in higher education. Several of His approaches, most notably storytelling and the use of analogies, point to recommendations for improving teaching practice by increasing student engagement in the learning process.

Qu'est-ce que Jésus peut nous apprendre sur l'engagement des élèves?

Cet article examine la manière dont les méthodes d'enseignement de …

Teacher Morale, Student Engagement, And Student Achievement Growth In Reading: A Correlational Study, Jenny T. Sabin

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

This research study explored the current state of teacher morale in fourth and fifth grade classrooms in three low socio-economic schools in North Carolina. Additional research questions address correlational relationships among the variables of teacher morale, student engagement, and student achievement growth as measured by the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey, Van Amburg Active Learning Inventory Tool, and the NC End of Grade reading tests, respectively. This study found no significant relationships among the primary variables of teacher morale, student engagement, and student achievement growth. However, significant relationships were found between increasing student engagement and an increase in the number …

Creating Safe, Strength-Based Classrooms, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

Schools are not machines. Schools are a network of human beings who feel, think, behave, and function within a human system that is alive and never static. Inside living systems, we need to feel safe and felt. This system is wired to thrive, even through difficult times. We're here for deep learning, which is profoundly relational, and connection to one another is a prerequisite for our collective emotional, social, spiritual, and cognitive growth and development.

3 Things Students Desire To Hear From Teachers, Lori Desautels

Scholarship and Professional Work – Education

A year and a half ago, I decided that I needed to return to the K-12 classrooms and really experience ground-level teaching, testing, core standards, differentiating, and emotionally connecting with children and adolescents in ways I had not for many years. I have been and still am an assistant professor in the school of education at Marian University, but the environments, experiences, and my own learning have grown and changed immensely from returning to the classroom 18 months ago.

I asked the university for a course release, taking the lectures, research, and strategies into the early adolescent grades. And three …

The Effects Of Service-Learning Courses And Traditional Lecture Courses On Students' Academic Achievement And Level Of Course Engagement, Jamie Rife

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this ex-post facto research was to examine the theory of Experiential Learning in the context of service-learning and its relationship at a university to the academic achievement and student level of course engagement in service-learning courses as compared to traditional lecture courses. An ex post facto research design was utilized to examine the relationship between participation in a service-learning or traditional lecture course on the course grade of the students and level of course engagement as measured by the Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (SCEQ). The study determined that participation in either a service-learning course or traditional lecture …