Education Commons^™

Does Play Belong In The Primary School Classroom?, Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Rachel Parker

2021-2030 ACER Research Conferences

Learning through play has emerged as an important strategy to promote student engagement, inclusion, and holistic skills development beyond the preschool years. If we want to build an education system preparing children for lifelong learning, we can use these strategies and achieve a balance of academic growth, holistic skills and a joy of learning. This presentation addresses the disconnect between policy, research, and practice, by summarising 5 key findings from international studies and 4 challenges to connect policy and practice. The evidence that play supports learning is considerable, and a new framework can create continuity between the early years learning …

Building Relationship-Rich Opportunities Online, Shirley P. O'Brien, Kelli Spayd

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Mentoring is an important process in building rich relationships in learning. The use of e-mentoring as an innovative strategy to promote a relationship rich experience for faculty and students is described. Data collected reinforces learner-centered professional value in the promotion of student engagement.

Personal Volcanoes And The Pedagogy Of People: Perspectives On Navigating Turbulent Times, Kristen M. Platt, Lydia Strattan, Colleen Bodnar, April Hatcher

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The year 2020 brought about more unexpected turbulent times than anyone could have imagined in the years prior. At the University level, students and faculty were sent home from campus as rates of COVID-19 soared around the world. This turbulent, life-changing eruption disturbed the status quo for everyone on the planet in ways not anticipated, and the effects will linger for years to come. This manuscript discusses four perspectives on navigating the pandemic that can translate to future preparedness plans for students and faculty alike.

Using Video Technology For Discussion Forums: Building An Engaged Online Community, Shirley P. O'Brien, Steven Shisley Dr.

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Faculty used various multimedia technology delivery methods within higher education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instructors were urged to be more agile when considering tools to promote student engagement within the forced, online environment. Video technology is a mainstay in both online and hybrid education as well as in the workforce. Flipgrid, an agile learning tool, promotes asynchronous class discussions to reinforce higher levels of thinking in Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. Data collected from three courses suggests that Flipgrid promotes student engagement in a learner-centered approach. Implications are suggested for online learning.

Focus On Relationships And Strengths: Engaging International Learners Online, Candy Ho

Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Diverse International Students in Open or Online Learning Environments: A Research Symposium

The shift to online courses during the global COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that teaching and learning online is an evolving practice for both students and educators. Notably, for international students, challenges with learning online can be more pronounced, as they are also adapting to cultures of their host country and expectations from their post-secondary institutions, while attempting to forge connections with their domestic peers. This paper describes several notable pedagogical interventions implemented by the author in her Canadian-based, online, asynchronous courses that have a high number of international students. These include repurposing office hours, reporting on student feedback, and incorporating Indigenous …

Effective Instructional Practices For Students With Mild Disabilities: Cognitive And Meta-Cognitive Strategies, Crystal Roberts, Andrea Scandrett, Jessika Washington

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

General Education Teachers, Special Education Teachers, and School Administrators will be able to gain information needed to support students suspected of or identified as experiencing learning disabilities. The presenters will discuss cognitive and meta-cognitive high leverage instructional practices that can be used to improve student engagement and academic achievement by strengthening executive functioning skills to enhance memory, attention and self-regulation.

I Just Need Two Credits: Looking At Motivation When Redesigning An Online Credit-Bearing Information Literacy Course, Jane Hammons, Hanna Primeau, Diana Ramey, Stacey Mckenna

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Although a 2-credit hour information literacy course had high enrollment, with multiple sections offered each year across several campuses, course completion rates were not as high as hoped. Originally designed for freshman or sophomores, many upper-level students were enrolling in the course because they needed the credit hours, not because of interest in the course content, and overall engagement with the course material was low. With these concerns in mind, we undertook a team project to redesign the course. In this presentation, we will highlight the significant changes we made to course focus and content that were intended to increase …

A Warm Welcome: Restructuring Reference Services With New Library Faculty, Sara M. Whisnant, Evan Schmoll

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

East Tennessee State University, located in Johnson City, Tennessee, serves a growing number of students from various backgrounds. Sherrod Library serves as the main campus library and is located at the heart of campus. The library contains other services such as Information Technology Services, tutoring, and is the temporary home of numerous university support services. This past Fall, Sherrod repurposed a first-floor space to serve as walk-in reference. This new service model is staffed by two new faculty librarians, Evan Schmoll and Sara Maeve Whisnant, both with prior reference experience at other institutions.

Prior to Fall 2019, Sherrod Library did …

A Collaborative Approach To Blended Learning Design And Activities To Engage Students: A Case Study, Tulay Girard, Lori Lysiak

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

Connecting Bullying And School Drop Out, June Jenkins, Jan Urbanski

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

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Examining Student Engagement In The Learning Process, Marigona Sefedini

UBT International Conference

Becoming skilled readers, writers, speakers, listeners, and thinkers requires ample opportunity for practice, authentic reasons for communicating, and effective instructional support (Marzano, 1992). To achieve competence in literacy, students must be motivated to engage with literacy tasks and to improve their proficiency as readers and writers. Instruction and practice then provide the coaching and feedback necessary to gain competence. Increased competence inspires continued motivation to engage (Irvin, 2007). This paper researches three levels on student engagement and how those levels can be enhanced. It first discovers behavioral engagement from students to reveal if behaviors have an influence in the learning …

Scalable Scaffolding For Information Literacy Instruction: A Tale Of Two Frameworks Collaboratively Applied, Jessy Polzer, Sylvia Tiala

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Novice researchers experience significant cognitive load to perform research tasks. Entrenched in linear research processes, beginning students struggle to move beyond shallow engagement with information. Teaching research and information literacy skills based on past paradigms are inadequate given the immersive nature and lightning-fast development of the information eco-system. The ACRL Framework for Information Literacy (2015) articulates what was previously implicit – the threshold concepts underpinning a flexible and nuanced information consumer ready for engaged professionalism and citizenship. In practice, we are still wrestling to design and scaffold dynamic yet digestible learning experiences while also satisfying bloated instructional mandates. Searching for …

Teaching Practices That Improve Performance, Attainment And Engagement: Results From A Longitudinal Study Of High School Students In Nsw, Ian Mccarthy, Brianna Mccourt, Victoria Ikutegbe, Jin Zhou

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

This report builds on a body of evidence showing the positive effect of teaching and classroom practices on engagement, wellbeing and academic outcomes. Using two student cohorts in NSW government schools, Years 7 to 9 and Years 10 to 12, we have quantified the effects of quality instruction and other effective classroom practices as drivers of student outcomes (see Figure 1, p. 54). A common theme across both cohorts was the positive impact on key academic outcomes of teachers having high expectations and appropriately challenging all their students (as measured through the NAPLAN tests and Year 12 completion). Modelling also …

Evidence-Based Approaches To School Improvement: The Kimberley Schools Project, Bill Louden

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Despite a great deal of goodwill, effort and funding, student achievement in the Kimberley region of Western Australia has shown little improvement in the last decade. Governments have intervened in a range of ways: tying funding to evidence that schools are closing the gap; improving conditions for teachers and principals working with remote communities; funding a bewildering range of attendance and engagement strategies; and supporting cultural relevance though a range of short-term skill and enrichment programs. This paper describes the Kimberley Schools Project, which is an alternative approach funded by the Western Australian Government through the Royalties for Regions program. …

Science Of Learning Network Of Schools: The Science Of Communities Of Practice, Andrew Jones, Frank Vetere

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Frameworks referencing synthesised bodies of prominent research adorn education improvement policy like curiously named pieces of Ikea furniture—peculiar in their assemblage, ostensibly contemporary, and striking in their modular convenience. Amid this, most pundits still agree that we have an education advancement issue in this country. Despite significant increases in funding from successive federal and state governments, we simply haven’t been able to shift the needle. What we can ascertain is that compliance-based improvement approaches don’t work. They are unable to influence the cognitive maps, beliefs and understandings of the educator to the extent necessary to effectively improve outcomes for students …

Principals As Literacy Leaders: A Strategy For Improving Reading Engagement And Achievement In Australian Schools, Tony Townsend

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

By the end of 2017, approximately 1500 school leaders from all states and territories in Australia will have undertaken the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) program. This program was first funded in 2010 for 60 primary principals of disadvantaged schools by a Commonwealth Government grant under the Closing the Gap strategy. Since that time, additional cohorts of school leaders have been funded by state departments of education, professional associations and individual schools. Many of the programs were associated with research looking at various outcomes of the learning gained from the PALL program. To date, there have been six published studies, …

Stronger Smarter: A Sustained And Enduring Approach To Indigenous Education (Whether Education Researchers Know It Or Not!), Chris Sarra

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

In 1988, Professor Sarra commenced his career as an educator. After a very personal revelation about how he as an Aboriginal student had been ‘sold short’ by schooling, he became determined to change expectations of Aboriginal children in schools throughout Australia. It was a lofty career ambition, but one he feels he has achieved: the stronger smarter approach, which he developed and now shares with an army of hardworking and courageous educators, has had success – despite the questionable efforts of education researchers with little or no insight into the profound complexities of such an undertaking. This paper will reflect …

Supporting Service-Learning In An Existing Curriculum, Kim Hawkins, Julie Rabun, Jeff Knox

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

This group presentation is interactive and provides a solution-based approach to service-learning. Participants may be involved in a variety of ways such as taking part in small-group activities, role playing, case studies, simulations, problem solving or other hands-on instructional activities and will leave with service-learning ideas for their course(s).

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 …

Drawing To Learn In Stem, Russell Tytler

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Scientists, mathematicians and engineers draw and model to create knowledge. This presentation will describe a guided inquiry approach to teaching and learning science that involves students actively creating visual and other representations to reason and explain as they explore the material world. The approach has been successfully used in a number of major professional learning initiatives in Victoria and NSW. Evidence will be presented of increased student engagement and quality learning flowing from the approach, which aligns classroom processes more authentically with processes of imaginative scientific discovery. Examples of activities and student drawings and model construction will be used to …

Acer Research Conference Proceedings (2016), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

The focus of ACER’s Research Conference 2016 will be on what we are learning from research about ways of improving levels of STEM learning. Australia faces significant challenges in promoting improved science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning in our schools. Research Conference 2016 will showcase research into what it will take to address these challenges, which include: the decline in Australian students’ mathematical and scientific ‘literacy’; the decline in STEM study in senior school; a shortage of highly qualified STEM subject teachers, and curriculum challenges. You will hear from researchers who work with teachers to engage students in studying …

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 …

Seven Steps To Engaging At-Risk Students With Text, Jelani Jabari Ph.D.

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Diminishing student engagement with text remains a colossal challenge with children at-risk. In this highly interactive session, participants will explore a seven-step process for engaging students with text as well as techniques for presenting highly engaging literacy lessons. Attendees will walk away with names, reading level, descriptions (and actual samples) of several engaging texts.

Complex Adaptive Systems And Quantitative Reasoning In An Interdisciplinary Stem Mathematics Classroom, Robert L. Mayes, Kania Greer

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019)

In this presentation we will share outcomes from the Real STEM project, which provides professional development for rural teachers in the Georgia Coastal Plains supporting implementation of interdisciplinary STEM courses as well as STEM modules in mathematics and science courses. Real STEM includes a number of innovative student-active strategies for teaching including: Understanding by Design (UbD) approaches to teaching for understanding, problem-based learning (PBL), place-based education (PBE), complex adaptive systems (CAS) thinking, and quantitative reasoning (QR). QR is the mathematical underpinning of the projects. The projects are ongoing so we will report our results on impact on teacher practice and …

Information Literacy And Student Engagement: Cultivating Student Learning Through Critical Pedagogy And Critical Reflection, Deana Greenfield Ma, Mslis, Rob Morrison Ed.D.

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

See presentation description.

Teacher Professional Development: Using Local Resources To Engage Teachers And Students In Learning, Missy M. Bennett, Heather Scott

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019)

Do your students or teachers suffer from “nature deficit disorder”? Engage and interest students and teachers in the study of ecology and other content through the use of place-based resources to teach national and state standards. This presentation shares preliminary data and engaging strategies from professional development activities which engage secondary teachers in the investigation of local natural resources and encourage the development of ecology lessons and activities using local resources.