Education Commons^™

The Utility Of Table-Top Exercises In Teaching Nuclear Security, Christopher Hobbs, Luca Lentini, Matthew Moran

International Journal of Nuclear Security

In the emerging field of nuclear security, those responsible for education and training are constantly seeking to identify and engage with tools and approaches that provide for a constructive learning environment. In this context, this paper explores the nature and value of Tabletop exercises (TTX) and how they can be applied in the nuclear security context. On the one hand, the paper dissects the key components of the TTX and considers the broader pedagogical benefits of this teaching method. On the other hand, the paper draws lessons from the authors’ experience of running TTXs as part of nuclear security professional …

The Effects Of Community-Building On Achievement, Motivation, And Engagement In Undergraduate Mathematics, Hannak Keith

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

This 2 x 2 quasi-experimental study examined the effects of pedagogical method (i.e., direct instruction vs. 5E inquiry) and intentional community-building (i.e., absence or presence) on undergraduate student (N = 103) motivation, engagement, and achievement in mathematics. Conditions were randomly assigned to one of four different College Algebra classes with a one-time occurrence and taught by a trained expert teacher. Findings indicated that intentional community-building – regardless of pedagogical method – had the strongest effects on students’ motivation, engagement, and achievement. Although no differing pedagogical effects were discovered (most likely due to the one-time implementation of the lesson formats), …

“Mommy, Is Being Brown Bad?” : Critical Race Parenting In A Post-Race Era, Cheryl E. Matias Ph.D.

Race and Pedagogy Journal: Teaching and Learning for Justice

This article looks at the counter-pedagogical processes that may disrupt how children learn about race by positing a pedagogical process called Critical Race Parenting. By drawing upon counterstories of parenting I posit how Critical Race Parenting (CRP) becomes an educational praxis that can engage both parent and child in a mutual process of teaching and learning about race, especially ones that debunk dominant messages about race. And, in doing so, both parents and children have a deeper commitment to racial realism that does not allow for colorblind rhetoric to reign supreme.

Habits Of Mind In The Classroom: Threshold Concepts, Instructional Philosophy, And Sotl, Alicia S. Hansen, Brad Petitfils Ph.D.

Staff publications

Students performing research in higher education, especially at the undergraduate level, is a progressively dazzling task in the universe of digital and print resources. Using sound pedagogy to create student confidence in approaching research, hand in hand with creating scholarship, is a challenge tackled well by librarians and teaching faculty together.

We will discuss three theories and their place in research methods, using ACRL’sFramework for Information Literacy as context. First, Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory. Second, Perry’s Epistemology of Learning: moving a student’s absolute belief in all things defined by authority toward a belief in his own values and …

Promoting Global Empathy And Engagement Through Real-Time Problem-Based Simulations: Outcomes From A Policymaking Simulation Set In Post-Earthquake Haiti, Chad Raymond, Tina Zappile, Daniel J. Beers

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

We introduce a real-time problem-based simulation in which students are tasked with drafting policy to address the challenge of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in post-earthquake Haiti from a variety of stakeholder perspectives. Students who participated in the simulation completed a quantitative survey as a pretest/posttest on global empathy, political awareness, and civic engagement, and provided qualitative data through post-simulation focus groups. The simulation was run in four courses across three campuses in a variety of instructional settings from 2013 to 2015. An analysis of the data reveals that scores on several survey items measuring global empathy and political/civic engagement increased …

Are We Teaching Them Anything?: A Model For Measuring Methodology Skills In The Political Science Major, Christi Siver, Seth W. Greenfest, G. Claire Haeg

Political Science Faculty Publications

While the literature emphasizes the importance of teaching political science students methods skills, there currently exists little guidance for how to assess student learning over the course of their time in the major. To address this gap, we develop a model set of assessment tools that may be adopted and adapted by political science departments to evaluate the effect of their own methods instruction. The model includes a syllabi analysis, evaluation of capstone (senior) papers, and a transcript analysis. We apply these assessment tools to our own department to examine whether students demonstrate a range of basic-to-advanced methodological skills. Our …

Communication Practices In Technology Companies., Ruth Casey, Marc Gallagher

Teaching Fellowships

It is contended that the skills or competencies that are required of business graduates by technology companies, range from the ability to communicate complex information about global issues in ways that are accessible to and connect with the general public, to problem-solving and project-based interaction. This represents a shift in the type of communication practice that now characterises the technology company, with its main focus on “agile” frameworks of teamwork. This report examines the context for this development, and explores the role of assessment and pedagogy in preparing the student for these communication competencies, from the perspective of the technology …

Effective Teaching Practices In Online Higher Education, Kim Mcmurtry

CCE Theses and Dissertations

In the context of continuing growth in online higher education in the United States, students are struggling to succeed, as evidenced by lower course outcomes and lower retention rates in online courses in comparison with face-to-face courses. The problem identified for investigation is how university instructors can ensure that effective teaching and learning is happening in their online courses. The research questions were:

1. What are the best practices of effective online teaching in higher education according to current research?
2. How do exemplary online instructors enact teaching presence in higher education?
3. What are the best practices of effective online teaching in …

Teaching Presence And Intellectual Climate In A Structured Online Learning Environment, Janice Marie Orcutt

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Teaching presence and its implications for the intellectual climate of an online classroom cannot be fully understood unless explored from the perspective of the instructors who experience it. Framed in the theoretical perspective of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model, this collective case study investigated the actions, intentions and perceptions of instructors with the intent of developing an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon of teaching presence as it was established in a structured online learning environment.

The experiences of selected successful instructors in this specific online context were explored to gain insight on how pedagogical choices influenced the establishment of …

Contextualizing Generic Pedagogical Knowledge Through Tension-Focused Reflection: A Self-Study, Zhu Chen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A major concern in recent decades is that teachers are equipped with pedagogical knowledge through pre-service teacher education programs but know nothing about how to put pedagogical knowledge into their own teaching scenarios. Hence, an increasing attention has been attached to teachers’ contextualized understanding of pedagogical knowledge for effective teaching. Reflection has often been recommended as an instrument for constructing teachers’ context-specific knowledge of teaching. This self-study has identified an approach of reflection by which I, as a beginning Chinese language teacher-researcher, employed to develop contextualized understanding of a generic pedagogical model known as Quality Teaching (QT). The essence of …

‘Knowing Your Students’ In The Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Classroom, Robyn Moloney, David Saltmarsh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The population movement of globalization brings greater cultural and linguistic diversity (CALD) to communities and education systems. To address the growing diversity in school classrooms, beginning teachers need an expanded set of skills and attitudes to support effective learning. It is an expectation today that teachers know their students and how the students learn. It follows that lecturers and tutors should also know something of the cultural and linguistic profile of their pre-service teacher education students. This article reports a study in a university which examined its teacher education practice in this light. It assessed the curriculum provision of material …

Comm 286: Business And Professional Communication—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Katherine M. Castle

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This instructional portfolio is an inquiry into the a large, multi-section standardized course at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This course was recently flipped into a hybrid design in order to improve consistency in learning objectives across course sections, streamline assessment processes, provide a better student educational experience, and to manage continued growth in the course. This inquiry examines the effectiveness of the course in meeting stakeholder needs, reducing communication apprehension, improving student confidence to communicate effectively in professional environments, and in teaching professional communication competencies. It is a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of the course to include student, GTA, …