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Innovations And Critical Issues In Teaching And Learning, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2020

Innovations and Critical Issues in Teaching and Learning

Complete text of Innovations and Critical Issues In Teaching and Learning, Volume 1, Issue 2, 2020.

The Effect Of Drama Based Instruction On Reading Comprehension, Janee Udalla

Innovations and Critical Issues in Teaching and Learning

Educators might believe that classroom drama is comparable to putting on a theatrical production and might avoid it because they fear it will involve time-consuming planning, use of props, and expensive scripts (McMaster, 1998). Unfortunately, this view can discourage educators from using an important teaching tool that can improve students’ reading comprehension skills. However, educators should explore the use of drama-based instruction and the benefits it may provide to their students. The methods teachers implement in the classroom greatly affect the attitudes and learning of their students (Author, 2008). Therefore, the purpose of this article is to identify the benefits …

Law School News: Rwu Law Dean Seeking To Build On Culture Of Service, Innovation 12/09/2020, Barry Bridges, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Curriculum Design And Instructional Practices : A Case Study Use Of Theory In Accelerated Adult Learning Programs, Lorraine V. Beach

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This is a qualitative case study that examined four institutions of higher education in New York to assess how well they have done at implementing a quality standard established by the Commission on Accelerated Programs (CAP) in 2011 and 2019 calling for accelerated adult programs to incorporate adult learning theory within their curricula and instructional practices. Data collection consisted of interviews with faculty and staff, documentation reviews, and classroom observations. Through iterative case review processes, the author used this data to: a) clarify organizational policy and practices at each of the colleges/universities; and then b) to identify the impact of …

Empower: An Adaptable Writing Intervention, Carly Dinnes

The Nebraska Educator: A Student-Led Journal

EmPOWER is a six-stage writing intervention designed by speech-language pathologists to improve the expository writings of school-aged children with language learning and executive function disabilities. The intervention uses scaffolded instruction to transform struggling students into independent and self-regulating writers by training the students to use a variety of supports (e.g., graphic organizers, checklists) and strategies (e.g., referring back to the writing prompt) throughout the writing process. Many key features of the EmPOWER approach to writing instruction directly support components described in cognitive models of writing, which indicates that EmPOWER is a theory-guided writing intervention that may benefit a wide range …

Using Understanding By Design To Create A University Orientation Class Grounded In Information Literacy, Jennifer Joe, Wade Lee

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy

This article describes the process of redesigning UC1130: Information Literacy for College Research, a class taught at the University of Toledo, in Toledo, Ohio. This redesign was conducted by Jennifer Joe and Wade Lee-Smith, librarians at the university, and facilitated by the University of Toledo’s University Teaching Center, Denise Bartell, the Associate Vice Provost for Student Success, and Thomas Atwood, the Associate Dean of University Libraries, who was the creator of the original curriculum for UC1130. The course redesign was motivated by two factors: incorporation of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education, and the class’s inclusion in …

Accidental Information Literacy Instruction: The Work A Link Landing Page Can Do, Elizabeth Pickard, Michelle R. Desilets

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy

This article reports on a surprise finding from a larger, long-term study that explores ways to provide effective information literacy instruction (ILI) in asynchronous, online-only courses. The finding occurred during a term in which students participating in the study received no formal ILI. However, these students did not turn to the web at large when doing independent research as some literature might predict. Instead, analysis of their final research project bibliographies suggests students modeled the search scopes of select prior assignments from that same course. This finding has potential to inform parameters for adapting pedagogy for asynchronous, online-only instruction as …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Use Of Humor As A Teaching Tool By Middle And High School Teachers, Chad Michael Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand perceptions of instructional classroom humor used to help students learn and master new material, among teachers at middle and high schools in rural Appalachia districts. Using humor in the classroom is generally defined as deliberate planning and utilization of subject relevant humor in an attempt to improve students’ learning outcomes. Rural Appalachia was defined as the area geographically located in or near the Appalachian Mountain range, and the dominant socioeconomic culture found there. The theories guiding this study were (a) Bandura’s social learning theory, as it describes the way students …

Sharing Stories: Reflections Of Professors’ Literacy Identities And Beliefs, Christy M. Howard, Ran Hu, Johna Faulconer

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

Teacher identities and beliefs influence instructional practices. In order to explore this process, this self-study was conducted by three literacy professors from different ethnic backgrounds including one African-American professor, one Chinese national professor and one White professor. The purpose of this study was to examine how professors' literacy identities are shaped and how sharing these identities, experiences and beliefs in meaningful professional dialogues influences instructional practice. We examined the role of our identities and beliefs on our instructional practices using multiple forms of qualitative data such as journal entries, digital stories, and critical group discussions. Despite the range of differences …

Information Behaviors And Pedagogies Of Teaching Faculty, L. Katherine Glaeser

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Rapid development in the information landscape (IL) has placed increased pressure on educational institutions to ensure that students are equipped with the skills needed to succeed. In order to overcome these challenges and transfer the necessary IL skills to students, faculty instructors must model the required skills in their own information dissemination practices, and adopt instructional methods that reinforce those skills and increase students’ opportunities to practice them. To achieve this goal, we must first understand the perspectives of the faculty, and the contexts in which information seeking and teaching occurs.

This study aims to learn what approaches teaching faculty …

Exploring Teachers’ Experiences Navigating The Inclusion Of Women In World History Situated Through A Professional Learning Community, Autumn Magliocca

Doctoral Dissertations

While the importance of including women’s history in the social studies curriculum has been examined, several scholars have identified potential reasons for the continued underrepresentation of women’s history. Few studies have explored the ways in which the reasons identified by scholars have manifested in teacher decision-making and classroom practice. This study sought to examine factors that influenced teacher curricular-instructional choices with regard to historical female perspectives paying particular attention to the qualities of a professional learning community and the role of personal teacher efficacy. This embedded case study investigated the experiences of four sixth grade world history teachers who participated …

Differentiating Literacy Instruction Through Guided Reading, Emily Clare Ringquist

Culminating Experience Projects

Research reiterates how instilling a strong reading foundation in young students is vital to their growth in the future. Today, students need more support and individualized education to meet the diverse needs students enter school with. Whole group reading instruction does not benefit students in comparison to differentiated instruction. In order to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of the students as well as provide scaffolds to enhance literacy, teachers must incorporate small group instruction such as guided reading groups.

Guided reading are groups of students around the same developmental level that showcase similar learning needs exploring books. Teachers work …

Effects Of Embedded Tacting Trials And Systematic Prompting On Intraverbal Skill Acquisition, Sarah Ilana Katz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

For all students, the ability to communicate is the most fundamental educational outcome leading to academic success (Kearns et al., 2011). Students with autism (ASD), however, demonstrate particular difficulty with spontaneous communication and use of functional language throughout a variety of settings (CDC, 2018), including academic contexts. The framework of verbal behavior and training of tacting and intraverbal responses has been widely used to increase the language for students with autism (Sundberg & Michael, 2001), but these skills do not begin in or generalize to academic contexts, particularly during reading instruction. Embedded instruction (Jimenez & Kamei, 2015) and systematic prompting …

Threshold Concepts And Transfer: A Curriculum Mapping Tool For First-Year Writing, Kerry Smith

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Writing scholars Adler-Kassner and Wardle, Beaufort, and Devet have placed pragmatic learning goals of transfer at the core of education’s purpose. This thesis shares the assumption of pragmatic learning goals for education and examines these goals for transfer through Meyer and Land’s theory of threshold concepts in the context of first-year composition courses. Covering Meyer and Land’s foundational work on threshold concepts and Thorndike and Woodworth’s groundbreaking research that later informed Perkins and Salomon’s work in transfer, this thesis aims to contextualize this literature within and operationalize it for first-year writing programs’ curriculum course design through the creation and testing …

A Study Of Incarcerated Youth: How Does Interest Affect Comprehension And Engagement, Grace Mutti

Honors Projects

Current research explores the relationship between high-interest reading material and comprehension in classrooms as well as the impact of literacy on recidivism; however, there is a shortage of research on effective instructional reading practices for incarcerated youth. This qualitative study examines the experience of five white, male incarcerated youth as they experience one-on-one reading instruction from five of BGSU’s pre-service teachers. Instructional strategies used in the study were modeled off of an online program called A-Z Reading and focused on developing students’ fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. The study initially aimed to examine the impact of high-interest materials on the …

Implementing Decision-Based Learning In A Peruvian University, Christopher Cardenas

Theses and Dissertations

Decision-based learning (DBL; Plummer, Swan, & Lush, 2017) addresses the difficulty that professors may have when teaching their expertise to their students. The purpose of this study was to understand the perspectives of professors and students implementing DBL in a Peruvian university. Professors at a Peruvian university implemented the DBL pedagogy in their classes. The research questions were (a) how effectively can professors in a Peruvian university implement DBL, (b) what benefits and challenges do professors perceive from implementing DBL, and (c) how did using DBL as a homework strategy affect student learning? We collected 74 implementation videos, 42 professor …

Teachers Bridging The Digital Divide In Rural Schools With 1:1 Computing, Jillian R Powers, Ann T. Musgrove, Bryan H Nichols

The Rural Educator

This article shares the findings of a mixed method study about the implementation of 1:1 computing in a small rural Florida school district. Researchers used multiple regression analyses to examine whether Davis’ (1989) Technology Acceptance Model helped explain teachers’ adoption of 1:1. The results indicated that the rural teachers’ perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of 1:1 were significant predictors of both whole class and individualized instructions with 1:1. The qualitative phase of the study explored the ways in which the teachers integrated 1:1 into their instructional practices and what factors motivated them to do so. The analysis showed …

A Qualitative Study Into Teacher Instruction And Advocacy Of Social Justice In International Kindergarten To Grade 2 Classrooms, Victoria Elizabeth Atha

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative intrinsic case study examined how teachers instructed and advocated for social justice in the international Kindergarten to Grade 2 classroom. Social justice is an important topic for discussion and exploration for children of any age, yet the research revealed much of the focus on social justice in education was focused on older students, as some theorists felt younger children could not understand the complexities of the concept. Data were collected through focus groups, semistructured interviews, and the evaluation of values-based lesson plans. It was analyzed with the intent of gaining greater understanding of how teachers’ perspectives regarding social …

Impact Of Phonics Instruction For Readers At Risk, Erin Driesen

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This action research study investigated the impact of phonics instruction for readers who are considered to be at risk in their reading performance. For six weeks, the researcher implemented phonics instruction to two 2nd grade students. This instruction was completed in a small-group setting in the resource room. At the beginning of the week, the students were given assessments to see which phonics skills they were missing, then they received instruction based on those skills. Quantitative data was collected at the beginning, middle, and end of the six weeks. This information was collected by using a Diagnostic Decoding Survey and …

Organizing And Promoting Campus-Wide Workshops For Digital Badges, Victor Dominguez Baeza

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Academic libraries exist in large part to support learning experiences at the university. The range of services and resources available to graduate students continues to grow in number and in format as various departments on campus develop their graduate support activities. A growing trend at universities is to create programs such as digital badges to capture the “soft skills” students gain outside of the classroom. The digital badges can be offered from the school, a department like the graduate college, or through support services like the writing center, career services, or the library. Libraries, as a department already in contact …

Getting It Published: Transforming The Publishing Activities Of Stem Graduate Students Through A Collaborative Workshop Series, Brittany Wofford, Sarah Park

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Writing and publishing are essential activities for young researchers, yet many newly arrived graduate students struggle to learn both foundational writing skills and the knowledge necessary to navigate an increasingly complex publishing landscape. To help students make informed decisions through their writing publishing journey, science and engineering librarians at Duke University Libraries partnered with the Pratt School of Engineering in summer 2019 to organize a series of workshops on the publishing life cycle for STEM graduate students. This collaboration was especially unique as it was the first time that the library has collaborated with a school to share expertise with …

Students’ Perspective Of Self-Guided Simulation Training On Process In The Initial Phase Of Private Pilot Flight Training: A Preliminary Review, Samantha Harrison, Gary A. Carter, Nicola M. O'Toole, Robert Thomas Ph.D.

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

As the demand for flight training increases, self-guided training methods for students can be explored to determine their effect on environment for learning. A series of self-guided simulation training scenarios, aimed at assisting initial private pilot students, were created to be used on Advanced Aviation Training Devices (AATD). A pilot study was conducted where participants, using an AATD, followed a lesson plan with detailed instructions and then were evaluated by an instructor. In addition to evaluation scores, participants were given surveys on their perceptions of the experience overall and how prepared they felt for each evaluation. This preliminary study was …

The Influence Of Principal Leadership On Literate Practices And Instruction In A Middle School, Travis W. Duncan

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This case study uses Nicholls’s (1987) meta, macro, and micro levels of leadership merged with Dowell, Bickmore, and Hoewing (2012) and other literacy leadership research (Conley, 1989; Hall, Burns, & Edwards, 2011; Irvin, Meltzer, & Duke, 2007; Marks & Printy, 2003) to analyze the influence of a principal’s leadership on literacy instruction. The findings are similar to the integrated leadership approach emphasized in Marks and Printy (2003) but add additional evidence of cultural and human resource leadership. Strategies and structures that built culture around literate practices were evident. Teacher empowerment and building trust in school culture were important components.

1:1 Ipads And Student Achievement, Shawn Goos

Graduate Teacher Education

Abstract

Technology in education is continuously changing and having various effects on both teaching and students' academics. It is essential to understand how both teachers and students are impacted by technology and to learn what research suggests. The topic explored throughout this paper is how professional educators utilize 1:1 iPads in elementary school positively impact students’ academic achievement. In order to examine existing research on this topic, it was important to utilize both quantitative and qualitative research which helped to identify various factors about how the use of 1:1 iPads in the elementary classroom can have positive effects on students' …

How To Make Services Sustainable Without Losing Friends Or Making Enemies, Jennifer Stout

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The Teaching Librarians at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries have traditionally offered in-person library instruction to all sections of UNIV 112 and UNIV 200, two writing and research intensive courses all students are required to take which are taught out of the Department of Focused Inquiry (FI). In Spring 2018, we realized that our teaching load had become unsustainable and, with the blessing of FI leadership, made the difficult decision to end in-person instruction for UNIV 112.

In this presentation, I will cover how we handled this transformation of services without jeopardizing the immensely positive relationship we have with FI. Over …

Seeking Symbiosis: Designing Libguides That Bring User-Centered Design And Learner-Centered Practice Into Harmony, Vanessa Garofalo, Adrienne Button, Anne Le-Huu Pineault, S. Paige Crowl

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Libraries around the world use LibGuides to create research guides for students. But is the user-centered approach often employed by libraries when creating these guides enough to meet the needs of today’s learners? A small task force of librarians at Oxford College of Emory University set out to answer this question. After studying the literature, it was found that very few studies focus on instructional design principles in the creation of LibGuides. Furthermore, an examination of their own library’s LibGuides revealed that while the guides addressed many issues of usability, learner-centered design was often absent.

(25 minutes) The first portion …

Insights Into Nature Of Science And Evolution Education, Lawrence C. Scharmann

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

While the public misunderstanding of evolution is in part due to religious and political motives, it is also a result of didactic teaching. Dr Lawrence C. Scharmann, Professor of Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specialises in science teacher education. He has been working with non-major biology and science teacher students developing strategies to enhance the teaching and learning of science theories, and in particular, evolution. Many secondary school students and undergraduates hold a dualistic worldview. This leads them to create dichotomies, albeit false ones, such as right vs wrong and science vs religion. These can obstruct their learning science …

The Hunter Lesson Plan Format And Other Teaching Recipes, Andrew P. Johnson

Elementary and Literacy Education Department Publications

The Madeline Hunter lesson plan format was popular in the late 1970's and 1980's and is still being used today (Hunter, 1982; Hunter, 2004). Hunter's original purpose here was to provide a platform that would enable educators to have conversations about effective teaching. However, it quickly moved away from being a conversational platform to becoming a teaching recipe. Schools and teacher preparation programs began to use the seven elements described in Hunter’s model of instruction to observe and evaluate teachers.

This is an except from the author's 2019 book, Essential Learning Theories and Their Applications (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield).

Teaching & Learning During Covid-19: Alternative Instructional Activities Through Individualized Learning Plans, Kerry Weir, Michelle Wohlman-Izakson, Lina Gilic

Experiential Learning & Teaching in Higher Education

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, 75 teacher candidates from SUNY Old Westbury were engaged in their Applied Learning Practicum in public schools across Long Island. Of those students, 18 were in the Exceptional Education and Learning Department. When the first teacher candidate was asked to leave her placement, faculty in the Exceptional Education and Learning Department pivoted to design an individualized learning plan for each teacher candidate to augment their clinical placement experience.

Appreciative Inquiry Impact On University Instructor's Nonverbal Immediacy, Aviva Gordon

Wayne State University Dissertations

The impact of Appreciative Inquiry on university instructor’s Nonverbal Immediacy was explored. Nonverbal Immediacy has been investigated extensively through the perception of students and rarely used as an instructional strategy or to enhance Appreciative Inquiry. Self-determination Theory informed this research with the constructs competence, relatedness, and autonomy inherent in Nonverbal Immediacy and Appreciative Inquiry. An adapted instrument collected data from Communication courses, twice during one semester. The Coronavirus interrupted research, so the second survey was modified for online. The research question could not be answered conclusively. However, both instruments were found reliable, valid and replicable. The recent online nonverbal immediacy …