Education Commons^™

Dreams Of A Motley Graduation Cap: A Proposal For Stand-Up Comedy In Higher Education, David Patterson

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

It is said that the most valuable tool an education at a liberal arts university is how it produces well rounded people with a better understanding of themselves and the world around them. To produce people not only aware of current issues, but with the toolbelt needed to assess them and shed new light. If this is true, then I propose that the goals of liberal arts university are synonymous with the goals of a comedian.

In this thesis, I mean to draw ties to the world of stand up comedy and within the world of liberal arts academia. I …

Internationalization, Internalization, And Intersectionality Of Identity: A Critical Race Feminist Re-Images Curriculum, Theodorea Regina Berry

Faculty Publications

This poetry/paper article is a re-accounting, a poetic counterstory in curriculum, of the praxis of an African American female teacher-educator working against internalized notions of curriculum as standards by re-imagining curriculum through the lives of third grade students and her teacher education colleagues. Using critical race feminism (Berry, 2010; Berry & Mizelle, 2006; Wing, 2003) as her framework, the author will describe how she moves curriculum from internalized to connected, collective, and introspective. The author will provide her rationale for the necessity of such movements in curriculum and will conclude the paper with a discussion about the possibilities that exist …

Reforming High School American History Curricula: What Publicized Student Intolerance Can Teach Policymakers, Douglas E. Abrams

Faculty Publications

This article concerns the way public high schools teach American history under curricula and standards mandated by state law. “We’re raising young people who are, by and large, historically illiterate,” says David McCullough, the dean of American historians.

The article describes three recent nationally publicized incidents in which high school students belittled lynching and the Trail of Tears, evidently without appreciating the episodes’ legal and historical significance to African Americans and Native Americans respectively. Standards and textbooks typically recognize diversity and multiculturalism, but research and surveys indicate that classroom teachers frequently sanitize or avoid discomforting topics that might trigger complaints, …

Politics Are Crushing The Standards, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

The recent news that Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a bill to, in the parlance of the times, "repeal and replace" the common-core standards in her state was surprising, to say the least, notwithstanding a legal challenge to the repeal filed in the Oklahoma Supreme Court by parents, teachers, and state board of education members on June 25. Before Gov. Fallin was against the standards, she supported them. [excerpt]

Ethical Reasoning Development In Project-Based Learning, Elizabeth Pluskwik, Puteri S. Megat Hamari

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

This paper will describe the method of ethics instruction in a specific project-based learning program with the aim to improve the current level of moral reasoning skills in the engineering students enrolled in the program. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) have endorsed efforts to improve the teaching of ethics in the engineering curriculum. Criterion 3-f of the ABET outcomes,specifically calls for student attainment of an understanding of ethical and professional responsibility. In response, engineering educators seek to develop curriculum to improve moral reasoning skills, which should lead to increased …

Blogging Beyond Blackboard For Deeper Learning, Marie A. Hulme, Pilar Munday

English Faculty Publications

Presentation by Marie Hulme and Pilar Munday at the Fairfield University Center for Academic Excellence Annual Conference on Innovative Pedagogy & Course Redesign May 29-30, 2014.

Preparing Librarians To Be Campus Leaders Through Mapping And Integrating Information Literacy Into Curriculum, Sharon A. Weiner, Li Wang

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Curriculum mapping is a process by which curricula are methodically examined to determine where information literacy (IL) capabilities are, or should be taught during formal coursework. Curriculum integration is the process of intentionally integrating IL capability at the points in coursework when students need to master those capabilities and competencies. During this session, librarians will develop an understanding of curriculum mapping and how to integrate IL in curricula. This knowledge prepares librarians for campus leadership, since the curriculum is the primary focus of teaching and learning and affects the entire campus.

The curriculum in higher education can be viewed as: …

Selected Bibliography: Institutional Repositories As Gamified Environments To Stimulate Student Agency And Faculty Impact, Jeanne Price, David Mcclure

Bibliographies

Selected bibliography of articles and books prepared in connection with the presentation by Professors Jeanne Price and David McClure on “Institutional Repositories as Gamified Environments to Stimulate Student Agency and Faculty Impact,” which was delivered at the Nevada Conference on Digital Learning held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on April 11-13, 2014.

Assessment And Curriculum Modification For Grade 1 Students With Disabilities In Tanzania: A Pilot Study, Angi Stone-Macdonald

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The purpose of this study was: 1) to analyze aggregated student assessment data from grade 1 students at a public government primary school in Northern Tanzania to determine the efficacy of a curriculum based screen tool, and 2)to examine current practices of inclusion for Tanzanian children in the early grades.

Currere And The Beauty Of Soulful Classroom Moments, Jessica Sierk

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

Drawing on Pinar’s (1975, 2011) work on currere and the author’s own experience as an educator both in the K-12 and higher education arenas, the author argues that curriculum is a living entity and should therefore be allowed to deviate from the “plan” that most people think of when the topic of curriculum arises. Gaudelli & Hewitt’s (2010) idea of “the beauty of soulful moments” is also used to illustrate the utility of such deviations. Dewey’s (1934, 1938) themes of improvisation, participation, communication, and experience, as well as the idea of “the unexpected turn” also serve as backdrops to discussing …

Case Study Of A Successful Educational Partnership: University Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign And The Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy, Dave Devol

Faculty Publications & Research

This article describes partnerships between an NCSSSMST member institution and a research university and the use of student-generated survey data as a means of both professional self-reflection and asking further questions. As a chemist, I have been trained to write in the style of scientists, and in fact I teach a course at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy on the methods of science and scientific writing. This article is intentionally not written in a scientific style; rather is written to convey a story of how a partnership between institutions naturally progressed into my current area of research into motivational …

Planning And Enacting Mathematical Tasks Of High Cognitive Demand In The Primary Classroom, Kelly Georgius

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study offers an examination of two primary-grades teachers as they learn to transfer knowledge from professional development into their classrooms. I engaged in planning sessions with each teacher to help plan tasks of high cognitive demand, including anticipating and planning for classroom discourse that would occur around the task. A detailed description of the planning and teaching that took place during the study provides information about how a teacher can learn and what a teacher learns to consider in order to plan and implement meaningful mathematical lessons. This design experiment describes the work of two teachers who participated in …

A Broadly Implementable Research Course In Phage Discovery And Genomics For First-Year Undergraduate Students, Tuajuanda C. Jordan, Sandra H. Burnett, Susan Carson, Steven M. Caruso, Kari Clase, Randall J. Dejong, John J. Dennehy, Dee R. Denver, David Dunbar, Sarah C. R. Elgin, Ann M. Findley, Chris R. Gissendanner, Urszula P. Golebiewska, Nancy Guild, Grant A. Hartzog, Wendy H. Grillo, Gail P. Hollowell, Lee E. Hughes, Allison Johnson, Rodney A. King, Lynn O. Lewis, Wei Li, Frank Rosenzweig, Michael R. Rubin, Margaret S. Saha, James Sandoz, Christopher D. Shaffer, Barbara Taylor, Louise Temple, Edwin Vazquez, Vassie C. Ware, Lucia P. Barker, Kevin W. Bradley, Deborah Jacobs-Sera, Welkin H. Pope, Daniel A. Russell, Steven G. Cresawn, David Lopatto, Cherly P. Bailey, Graham F. Hatfull

Publications and Research

Engaging large numbers of undergraduates in authentic scientific discovery is desirable but difficult to achieve. We have developed a general model in which faculty and teaching assistants from diverse academic institutions are trained to teach a research course for first-year undergraduate students focused on bacteriophage discovery and genomics. The course is situated within a broader scientific context aimed at understanding viral diversity, such that faculty and students are collaborators with established researchers in the field. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Science Education Alliance Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (SEA-PHAGES) course has been widely implemented and has been …

Perceptions Of Health Educators And Supervisors About Their Preparation In Alexandria, Egypt (How Well They Believe Their Training And Preparation Prepared Them To Work As Health Educators), Elshaymaa Ahmed

Master's Capstone Projects

Health educators have many responsibilities, including community education, assessment program development, evaluation, research, health policy and grant writing. Health educators in Egypt do not participate in all these activities, but they mostly do participate in essential activities such as community education. The health educators in Egypt get training and preparation on topics such as addiction, women’s health, chronic diseases, and the skills needed for teaching.

This study investigated the perceptions of health educators and their supervisors about how well they believe their training and preparation has prepared them to work with health clients in Alexandria, Egypt. The study includes interviews …

Searching For French Civilization: Reflections On Situating Information Literacy Skills In An Undergraduate French Curriculum, Carmel O'Reilly

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Increasing Access And Success In The Stem Disciplines: A Model For Supporting The Transition Of High School Students With Disabilities Into Stem-Related Postsecondary Education, Martie Kendrick, Marnie Bragdon-Morneault, Janet May, Alan Kurtz

Transition-Age Resources

This publication (191-page PDF) contains a package of evidenced-based transition supports that can be used by educators or instructors with high school students with disabilities who are interested in pursuing STEM-related postsecondary education and careers. The publication contains information and instructional activities related to the following: self-advocacy and self-determination; exploring STEM careers; disability disclosure; the accommodations process in college; identifying assistive technology; mentoring relationships and internships; and using student- and family-centered planning to prepare for college.

Teaching Information Fluency: How To Teach Students To Be Efficient, Ethical, And Critical Information Consumers, Carl Heine, Dennis O'Connor

Publications & Research

Searching is becoming easier than thinking. Enter a query in a search engine, and the searcher is instantly flooded with results. Information has never been easier to retrieve and consume. At the same time, determining the quality of the results remains a daunting task. Despite the attempts to make search tools "brain dead easy"¹ to use, searching that reduces the need to think invites problems. Machines cannot reliably predict what each individual is hunting for, machines cannot determine what is credible, yet that is the direction search engine development is headed.

Imsa 2014 Profile, Office Of College And Academic Counseling

IMSA Profile

The internationally recognized Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy ® (IMSA) develops creative, ethical leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As a teaching and learning laboratory created by the State of Illinois, IMSA enrolls academically talented Illinois students (grades 10-12) in its advanced, residential college preparatory program, and it serves thousands of educators and students in Illinois and beyond through innovative instructional programs that foster imagination and inquiry. IMSA also advances education through research, groundbreaking ventures and strategic partnerships. (www.imsa.edu) IMSA employs 56 full-time teaching faculty members, all of whom have advanced degrees, with 44% holding doctorate degrees. In addition, …

The New York City Doe/Cuny Library Collaborative: Bridging The Gap Between High School And College, Curtis L. Kendrick, Leanne Ellis, Lisa Castillo Richmond, Sharae D. Brown, Robert Farrell, Alison Lehner-Quam, Nathan Mickelson, Mehgann Walk

Library Scholarship

This white paper presents the progression and the processes of the New York Collaborative Curriculum Revision Project (CCRP), a collaborative of high school teachers, college faculty, and librarians, formed to build upon the new Common Core State Standards designed to help students develop and become more adept at reading critically, conducting rigorous research, and being better prepared for postsecondary success. This paper presents CCRP as a model to be replicated, modified and strengthened. The DOE/CUNY Library Collaborative is central to the development of the model and shares its successes and hard-learned lessons in its steps to recruit, engage, and facilitate …

Producing “Society-Ready” Foresters: A Research-Based Process To Revise The Bachelor Of Science In Forestry Curriculum At Stephen F. Austin State University, Steven H. Bullard, Pat Stephens Williams, Theresa Coble, Dean W. Coble, Ray Darville, Laurie Rogers

Faculty Publications

“Society-ready” foresters are capable of dealing effectively with the complex economic, ecological, and social issues involving forestry in the 21st century. To assess the knowledge areas, skill sets, abilities, and behaviors needed by society-ready, entry-level foresters today, we surveyed 800 forestry employers and forestry alumni from Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU), and we also conducted focus group sessions with a total of 58 forestry employers. Important areas of knowledge on emerging issues for society-ready Bachelor of Science in Forestry (BSF) graduates included climate change, water availability and quality, and dealing with invasive plants, pathogens, and insects. However, the skill …

Teaching Undergraduates How To Analyze, Ryan Andrew Nivens, Rosalind Raymond Gann

ETSU Faculty Works

Analysis is typically listed in taxonomies of higher order thinking. Academics consider these taxonomies worthwhile, but they are hard to teach and we are apt to ignore them. Today higher education is criticized for “dumbing down” curriculum or lowering standards. To rectify this, many policies at the state or national level are requiring higher education institutions to change. In K-12 education, Race to the Top and Common Core requirements are placing new demands on K-12 teacher preparation, which include evaluation of the analysis skills of pre-service teachers. But professors do not always view their disciplines as the proper place for …

An Account Of The Inner Workings Of Standards, Judgement And Moderation : A Previously Untold Evidence-Based Narrative, Claire Wyatt-Smith, Peta Colbert

Queensland Review of Senior Assessment and Tertiary Entrance

This paper was commissioned to inform the Review of Queensland Senior Assessment and School Reporting and Tertiary Entrance Processes undertaken by Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). Specifically, the lead Investigator was tasked to address the hypothesis that the Queensland Studies Authority’s (QSA, also referred to as system) approach to specifying assessment criteria and standards remains dominant and salient across disciplines. It was also to consider the holistic and analytic judgement models that operate in District and State review panels. The original aims were therefore to consider the nature and function of standards in informing teacher judgements as reported through …

Narrative Understandings Of A School Policy: Intersecting Student, Teacher, Parent And Administrator Perspectives, Elaine Chan, Vicki Ross

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In this article, we examine one school’s experience with policy, as a means of shedding light on the intersection of factors contributing to challenges of implementing policies to support the academic achievement and social adaptation of immigrant and minority students in their school context. We begin with the presentation of a ‘big fight’ between two students of different ethnic and racial backgrounds, and consider multiple perspectives of how the disagreement was addressed by teachers and administrators, to offer insight into how issues of race and policy might have been understood by members of the school community. We use a narrative …

Teaching With Poetic Insight: A Practitioner Reflection And Dream Of Possibility, Dorothy Marie Bossman

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

This reflection focuses on the case of a student who failed my English class when I was concurrently a PhD student and a middle school teacher. The pedagogical insight imbedded in the story of our time together adds to the literature on teacher content knowledge Shulman (1986) called the missing paradigm. The piece takes an unorthodox approach to a case study based on the twofold identity of the author as a researcher intrigued by the complexity of teacher thinking and an educator driven by concern for a particular student. This case reflects back on my experiences teaching this young man, …

What Impact Would A Change To The Curriculum On Vocational Beauty Therapy Courses In The Dochas Centre (Mountjoy Prison) Have On Teachers And Prisoner-Learners: An Action Research Study, Carina Brereton

Theses

This action research study is an interpretive inquiry into the impact of curriculum design on female prisoner learners at the Dóchas Education Centre, Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. The objective was to understand prisoner learner experiences of vocational training courses in the discipline of beauty therapy. In particular, it aimed to understand the motivation for participation in the beauty therapy course and the effect of the course structure and assessment approach on learner perceptions of the training experience. The research design is qualitative and interpretivist in nature. The data was gathered via a series of semi-structured interviews, with prisoner-learners and teaching staff. …

A 5-Year Review Of Aahperd Poster Presentations In The Area Of Sport Education, David C. Barney, Brad Strand

Faculty Publications

One desired outcome of k-12 physical education is that all students will have positive experiences during their classes. If students have positive experiences in physical education, they will physically likely be physically active throughout their lives (Barney & Strand, 2008). Unfortunately, for some students the physical education experience has been boring, unnecessary, a waste of time, or just not cool (Rice, 1988). One tool physical educators can manipulate to ensure that student's have positive experiences in physical education, is the curriculum. Barney and Deutsch (2009) found that the curriculum used in a middle school program played a major role in …

Voices At The Table: Collaboration And Intertextuality, Sue C. Kimmel, Kathryn Kennedy (Ed.), Lucy Santos Green (Ed.)

STEMPS Faculty Publications

While we often associate reading aloud with children and particularly younger children, the practice of reading aloud has historically been a way for a community to share texts for information and enjoyment. Findings from a year-long study of a school librarian collaborating with a team of second grade teachers demonstrates the value of reading aloud in building background knowledge and vocabulary, modeling, understanding curriculum, creating common texts, and reading for enjoyment. Reading aloud brought other voices to the table in a clear example of intertextuality. Implications are shared for school librarians interested in similar practices as well as future research …

Studying The Effects Of An Efl Curriculum For Young Adults In Brazil, Nancy E. Dubetz

Publications and Research

The ability to speak English offers young adults in Brazil opportunities to prepare for the global job market and promotes cross cultural understanding, which are national curriculum goals for public education. The study reported in this article documents the implementation of the Empregabilidade, Tecnologia e Inglescurriculum, which was designed to expand educational and economic opportunity for young adults attending public schoolsin Salvador, Brazil by providing them with basic communicative proficiency in spoken English. The results of a mixed method curriculum study demonstrate that the published curriculum was implemented differently than intended. Results of the study of the relationship between the …

Design-Driven Innovation As Seen In A Worldwide, Values-Based Curriculum, Camey Andersen Hadlock, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

While instructional design’s technological roots have given it many approaches for process and product improvement, in most cases designers still rely on instructional forms that do not allow them to develop instruction of a quality consistent with that expressed by the field’s visionary leaders. As a result, often the teachers and students using instructional products remain confined by equally limiting views of instruction and learning that cannot help them achieve the outcomes the designer originally envisioned. In this paper we discuss how a relatively new design approach, design-driven innovation, can give instructional designers additional tools to shape the meaning …

Ensuring The Development Of Digital Literacy In Higher Education Curricula, Mark T. Mcmahon

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Digital Literacy is widely considered to be an essential attribute for both academic and professional success. In an increasingly regulated and standards -based higher education environment, however, there is a lack of clear guidance as to what constitutes the nature of appropriate level of Digital Literacy that graduates need to demonstrate. This paper argues for the application of a Digital Literacy Taxonomy to articulate the dimensions inherent in it, which can then be applied to student activities and curricula. This process can be used to assist academics in identifying the literacy requirements of their courses, their own opportunities for professional …