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Full-Text Articles in Education

Teaching Students How To Make Their Dreams Come True: An Autoethnography Of Developing And Teaching The Dream Research Methods Course, E. James Baesler Dec 2017

Teaching Students How To Make Their Dreams Come True: An Autoethnography Of Developing And Teaching The Dream Research Methods Course, E. James Baesler

The Qualitative Report

How to make students’ dreams come true is the central focus of this autoethnography that chronicles the story of the transformation of a traditional undergraduate communication research methods course into a new and creative dream research methods course. Pedagogical and institutional issues in teaching the traditional methods course join personal influences in my life story to birth the new dream research methods course. The content and format of the new course are described chronologically using personal stories, student perspectives, advice to teachers, and reflection questions. I encourage teachers, by experimenting with the ideas in the dream research methods course, to …


Material Forms: What Is Really Going On? Shaping Who We Are And What We Do, Vicky J. Grube Nov 2017

Material Forms: What Is Really Going On? Shaping Who We Are And What We Do, Vicky J. Grube

The Qualitative Report

Using visual and ethnographic methods the author forms a connection between materiality and the memories of childhood. The researcher begins by asking the question, “Can a studio environment create encounters between a researcher and preschool children that deepen understanding of culture?” To this end, the researcher engaged in sensory research practices through ethnographic methods in a preschool art studio. Through free choice art making, children were found expressing their emotions and demonstrating an awareness of adult culture. In particular, the researcher’s encounter with four-year old George was enriched through sensory participation and triggered embodied and empathetic knowing. As it happens, …


Friend Or Foe? A Case Study Of Ipad Usage During Small Group Reading Instruction, Terry Husband 7078260, Roland K. Schendel Nov 2017

Friend Or Foe? A Case Study Of Ipad Usage During Small Group Reading Instruction, Terry Husband 7078260, Roland K. Schendel

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this case study is to examine how two early childhood teachers in one university laboratory school utilize the iPad in their reading practices. Data collection involved: (a) observations, (b) audio recordings, and (c) researcher journal. Findings indicate that the teachers had a continuum of purposeful uses for the iPad and the associated applications during their small group reading instruction. In addition, the teachers had mixed overall perceptions toward using the iPad as an effective literacy tool. Implications for practice are presented.


Qualitative Delphi Method: A Four Round Process With A Worked Example, Dia Sekayi, Arleen Kennedy Oct 2017

Qualitative Delphi Method: A Four Round Process With A Worked Example, Dia Sekayi, Arleen Kennedy

The Qualitative Report

The Delphi Method was originally designed to collect data from a panel of experts to aid in decision making in government settings. Delphi has been described as a qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approach. The anonymous collection of narrative group opinion coupled with the tightly structured nature of the process and quantitatively described results renders the approach difficult to situate in a methodological category. The purpose of this article is not to settle the debate. Rather, the aim is twofold: to present a modification of Delphi that is definitively qualitative, and to provide a worked example to demonstrate the proposed method.


Learning And Changing: The Shaping Of A Teacher’S Identity Through Time, Across Spaces And In Different Contexts, Nikolaos Bogiannidis, Jane Southcott, Maria Gindidis Sep 2017

Learning And Changing: The Shaping Of A Teacher’S Identity Through Time, Across Spaces And In Different Contexts, Nikolaos Bogiannidis, Jane Southcott, Maria Gindidis

The Qualitative Report

This research paper explores the confluence of significant events in my life that shaped my identity as a teacher and researcher. I employed autoethnography to explore my personal life journey across time, space and context, in order to identify and to analyse the significant moments of epiphany that impacted on my decision to become a teacher. The findings of this study reveal a number of universal qualities of good teachers across three continents who, independently and unbeknown to each other, acted as role models in shaping my identity and my desire to become a teacher in order to serve the …


Nine Potential Solutions To Abate Grade Inflation At Regionally Accredited Online U.S. Universities: An Intrinsic Case Study, David Blum Sep 2017

Nine Potential Solutions To Abate Grade Inflation At Regionally Accredited Online U.S. Universities: An Intrinsic Case Study, David Blum

The Qualitative Report

Grade inflation must be abated. The effect of grade inflation weakens academic standards to the point where accurately assessing levels of competency and student knowledge is difficult to determine. Using intrinsic case study design, I contacted 411 online instructors in the United States exploring potential solutions to abate grade inflation. Of 411 faculty members contacted via personal e-mail, 27 instructors at three regionally accredited online universities in the United States agreed to be interviewed by the use of an interview protocol and recorded via Skype. The research question guiding the study was “What are potential solutions to abate grade inflation?” …


The Chameleon Characteristics: A Phenomenological Study Of Instructional Designer, Faculty, And Administrator Perceptions Of Collaborative Instructional Design Environments, Papia Bawa, Sunnie Watson Sep 2017

The Chameleon Characteristics: A Phenomenological Study Of Instructional Designer, Faculty, And Administrator Perceptions Of Collaborative Instructional Design Environments, Papia Bawa, Sunnie Watson

The Qualitative Report

While several professionals, organizations and departments may be a part of the instructional designing process usually faculty, instructional designers, and administrators are key stakeholders and collaborators. Although there are some studies related to the process of instructional designing, there is little by way of research that has investigated the stakeholders’ perceptions of the key characteristics of effective collaboration within instructional designing projects. Thus, there is a gap in our understanding of the phenomenon of instructional designing project collaboration. This hermeneutic phenomenological study seeks to add to the literature by sharing the perceptions of seven stakeholders in different roles, who have …


Facilitating The Transition From Military Instructor To Academic Educator: Cognitive Apprenticeship In Teacher Induction At The United States Air Force Academy, Thomas T. Swaim Aug 2017

Facilitating The Transition From Military Instructor To Academic Educator: Cognitive Apprenticeship In Teacher Induction At The United States Air Force Academy, Thomas T. Swaim

The Qualitative Report

This article examines teacher induction in the military undergraduate education context. The U.S. Air Force Academy relies on approximately 520 military and civilian instructors to educate nearly 4000 future military officers each year. These educators must be highly skilled and unquestionably capable in their abilities to teach these future leaders. Many of these instructors derive from highly technical active duty operational career fields (such as pilot, missile operator, etc.). This article reveals how Collins’, Brown’s, and Newman’s (1989) theory of cognitive apprenticeship is manifested within teacher induction experiences at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Using a qualitative multiple-case study approach, …


Between Paradigms: Becoming A Pathological Optimist, Carol Isaac Aug 2017

Between Paradigms: Becoming A Pathological Optimist, Carol Isaac

The Qualitative Report

Using an autoethnographic poststructural lens, I examined my academic journey in becoming a qualitative methodologist. I integrated my mentor’s maxims such as, “the institution will not love you back,” “prisoner of your words,” “make plans; if they don’t work, make new plans,” “one has mentors and tormentors and both help shape us,” “ever the opportunist,” “strategic groveling,” “a mosaic approach to mentoring” and “just get naked.” Despite paradigmatic contradictions between my doctoral and postdoctoral experiences, I gained much from working between the polarities of the social science and biomedical discourse. In time, I became a “pathological optimist,” one of the …


How Do Former Undergraduate Mentors Evaluate Their Mentoring Experience 3-Years Post-Mentoring: A Phenomenological Study, Kari L. Nelson, Christine E. Cutucache Jul 2017

How Do Former Undergraduate Mentors Evaluate Their Mentoring Experience 3-Years Post-Mentoring: A Phenomenological Study, Kari L. Nelson, Christine E. Cutucache

The Qualitative Report

This phenomenological study involves a unique, longitudinal assessment of the lived experiences of former undergraduate mentors (n=7) in light of their current experiences (i.e., career or advanced schooling). The objective of a phenomenological study is to engage in in-depth probing of a representative number of participants. Specifically, we followed up with graduates of the Nebraska STEM 4U (NE STEM 4U) intervention 3 years post-program, with the overall goal of describing the mentors’ experiences using the lens of their current experiences. This type of longitudinal perspective of mentoring is greatly lacking in the current literature. At the time of the interviews, …


A Teacher’S Personal-Emotional Identity And Its Reflection Upon The Development Of His Professional Identity, Gustavo González-Calvo, Marta Arias-Carballal Jun 2017

A Teacher’S Personal-Emotional Identity And Its Reflection Upon The Development Of His Professional Identity, Gustavo González-Calvo, Marta Arias-Carballal

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study was to show how the professional identity of a teacher is built upon personal and emotional traits. Those traits determine his willingness to blur the emotional distance between teacher and student, thus shaping school as a fuller environment. The study revolves around three issues: (a) knowing and acknowledging students; (b) sensitivity towards the use of students’ proper names; and (c) positive sense of humour in the classroom. On the understanding that teaching identities may be interpreted from a narrative approach, autobiographical research will support our study. The conclusion is that a teacher’s professional identity is …


Always Loved But Never Entitled: Professor Intentions To Promote Leadership In Women, Daniel R. Conn, Roslyn J.F. Billy May 2017

Always Loved But Never Entitled: Professor Intentions To Promote Leadership In Women, Daniel R. Conn, Roslyn J.F. Billy

The Qualitative Report

This article focuses on three professors from Midwestern University and how their intentions to encourage women to see themselves as leaders play out in their respective classrooms. Through educational connoisseurship and criticism we describe and interpret the ecological impacts of professor intentions in promoting women as leaders. To this end, we find the professors realize these intentions by the way in which they care for their students. In caring for their students, the professors take an “always loved by never entitled” approach, where they balance building a sense of support and confidence among their students with an understanding that leaders …


Revitalizing The Hero Within Teachers: An Analysis Of The Effects Of The Psycap Development Training, Mahmut Kalman, M. Semih Summak Mar 2017

Revitalizing The Hero Within Teachers: An Analysis Of The Effects Of The Psycap Development Training, Mahmut Kalman, M. Semih Summak

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of the study was to investigate middle school teachers’ perceptions of the effects of a teacher-targeted intervention, that is, Psychological Capital Development Training Intervention (PCDTI), aiming at enhancing positive psychological capacities of teachers. The PCDTI was prepared and implemented by the researchers at a state university in a large city in Turkey during the academic year of 2014-2015. The implementation of the PCDTI lasted for 2 months, once in a week, and after completing the training intervention, interviews were conducted with twelve teachers who were the participants in the experimental group. Data were gathered through one-on-one interviews and …


Ideas: A Qualitative Inquiry Into Project-Based Learning, James G. Laprad, Andrea M. Hyde Feb 2017

Ideas: A Qualitative Inquiry Into Project-Based Learning, James G. Laprad, Andrea M. Hyde

The Qualitative Report

As waves of the Global Educational Reform Movement, what Sahlberg (2015) identifies as GERM, still ripple around the world pushing for competition, standardization, the focus on the core subjects, and test-based accountability some schools like IDEAS choose what Hargreaves and Shirley (2012) call The Forth Way towards inspiration and innovation with their project-based learning pedagogy. IDEAS is a small public high school in Sheboygan, Wisconsin and a member of Ted Sizer’s Coalition of Essential Schools (CES). Our qualitative inquiry explores the implications of project-based learning on IDEAS’ students, teachers, academic program and school community. Data came from direct observation, interviews, …


Academic Problem-Solving And Students’ Identities As Engineers, Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, Elliot P. Douglas, Nathan J. Mcneill, David J. Therriault, Christine S. Lee, Zaria Malcolm Feb 2017

Academic Problem-Solving And Students’ Identities As Engineers, Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, Elliot P. Douglas, Nathan J. Mcneill, David J. Therriault, Christine S. Lee, Zaria Malcolm

The Qualitative Report

Socially constructed identities and language practices influence the ways students perceive themselves as learners, problem solvers, and future professionals. While research has been conducted on individuals’ identity as engineers, less has been written about how the language used during engineering problem solving influences students’ perceptions and their construction of identities as learners and future engineers. This study investigated engineering students’ identities as reflected in their use of language and discourses while engaged in an engineering problem solving activity. We conducted interviews with eight engineering students at a large southeastern university about their approaches to open and closed-ended materials engineering problems. …


Empowering Belizean Youth Through Photovoice, Daniel Chase Jan 2017

Empowering Belizean Youth Through Photovoice, Daniel Chase

The Qualitative Report

Today's youth are faced with a number of different "roadblocks" on their way to becoming successful adults. Navigating adolescence is often difficult in its own right, but many youths have to deal with issues such as, poverty, unsafe neighborhoods and schools, drug/alcohol addiction, and disjointed homes to name a few. Although not all youth are faced with the same obstacles, these abovementioned obstacles can detract youth from becoming socially productive. Using Photovoice, a process by which participants identify, represent and enhance their community using a specific photographic technique, this study connected Belizean youth to their community through the process of …


Teaching Moral Literacy Through Critical Pedagogical Bricolage: A Co-Constructed Auto-Ethnography Of An Educational Leadership Program, Chetanath Gautam, Charles L. Lowery Jan 2017

Teaching Moral Literacy Through Critical Pedagogical Bricolage: A Co-Constructed Auto-Ethnography Of An Educational Leadership Program, Chetanath Gautam, Charles L. Lowery

The Qualitative Report

In this collaborative auto-ethnographical inquiry, two developing scholar–practitioner educational leaders explore the notion of moral literacy through a lens of critical pedagogical bricolage. This study aims to reveal certain experiences of two doctoral candidates engaged in an educational doctorate, contemplating their identities as emergent leaders from diverse backgrounds. By approaching this inquiry from a qualitative and strictly post-positivist understanding of research, we aim to present critical components of our program and the literature presented in that program that led to our understanding of moral literacy’s role in theoretical and pragmatic provinces of educational leadership. Our analysis is presented in three …