Education Commons^™

Linguicide In The Digital Age: Problems And Possible Solutions, Michael Adelson

French Summer Fellows

This project aims to assess the relative success of revitalization efforts for seven languages: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Hopi, Navajo, Breton, and Occitan. The success of linguistic revitalization is determined through comparative analysis of minority languages in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France as seen through each country’s history, melting pot experiences, traditions, language protection laws, education system, in addition to the differing levels of diffusion via the Internet. A key point of analysis is the strength of language protection laws in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Language is the most primordial expression of …

Linguicide In The Digital Age: Problems And Possible Solutions, Michael Adelson

Modern Languages Presentations

This project aims to assess the relative success of revitalization efforts for seven languages: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish, Hopi, Navajo, Breton, and Occitan. The success of linguistic revitalization is determined through comparative analysis of minority languages in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France as seen through each country’s history, melting pot experiences, traditions, language protection laws, education system, in addition to the differing levels of diffusion via the Internet. A key point of analysis is the strength of language protection laws in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. Language is the most primordial expression of …

Inequity In Montgomery County Public High Schools, Alex Wagoner, Carli Heimann

Media and Communication Studies Presentations

Public education is an integral part in the upbringing of American children and teenagers. While it is a right for all U.S. citizens, the quality of public education can vary greatly from school to school and from district to district. In fall of 2020, a group of students in a journalism course at Ursinus were tasked with finding and interviewing Montgomery County High School students to record their experiences at several schools in the county and highlight some of the inequities inherent in the American public schooling system. This presentation will detail two stories and a video that encapsulated our …

Talking About Race In The College Classroom: An Analysis Of Facework, Katelyn Doherty

Media and Communication Studies Presentations

A review of research on talking about race in the college classroom revealed that scholars have focused on identifying students’ struggles and considering the impact of intense discussions have on students. Specifically, Miller and Harris (2005) found that White students struggled with feeling that their opinion on racial issues mattered and with learning to accept their privilege, and Sue et al. (2009) found that Black students struggled to feel understood and with the pressures they felt were placed on them by students and instructors. Because these discussions have been found to involve conflict, disagreement, and discomfort, this study seeks to …

Rancière’S Equality And James’S Pragmatism: Renewing Our Democratic Republic Through A Revised View Of Intelligence, Matthew Schmitz

Educational Studies Summer Fellows

The prevailing theory of intelligence in American society encourages restrictive treatment of others and endorses a dull impression of human capabilities. In the process of poking at their domestic opponents, modern Democrats and Republicans combine to expose our collective shortcomings on this front. Our discourse too often focuses on jockeying for position and too rarely focuses on the rich intellectual community we inhabit. Through an analysis of William James’s Pragmatism and Jacques Rancière’s The Ignorant Schoolmaster, I look to recapture a liberating view of intelligence that enables us to revise our interpretation of citizenship in an American democratic republic. …

Digital Liberal Arts Fellows, Tiffini Eckenrod

Library Presentations

This poster describes recent activities of the Digital Liberal Arts (DLA) Fellows at Ursinus College, including workshops and supported technologies.

Mo’ Money Less Problems: Personal Factors That Correlate With Post-Baccalaureate Attainment, Zachary Goss

Business and Economics Presentations

From the years 1960 to 1997, Bachelor’s Degrees in the United States tripled. More interestingly though, that same time period saw both Master’s and Doctorate degrees in fields such as business, medicine and law quadruple with about a third of students having graduate degrees by 1997. With upwards of 3 million students to enroll in post-baccalaureate programs in 2017, this paper aims to look at personal factors such as: the number of children someone has, the ages of those children, whether or not the employer is paying for the student to attend graduate school, whether the student is married, and …

Understanding The American Subaltern: An Exploration Of Complex Literary Characters Through Socio-Cultural Lenses, Sophie Gioffre

English Summer Fellows

This project involves the analysis of three novels — Stephen Crane’s Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Ann Petry’s The Street, and Toni Morrison’s Sula — featuring main characters who are forced to navigate realistic socio-economic environments rooted in racist, sexist, and classist systems of oppression in the United States of America. Through the process of completing close-readings of the novels, conducting extensive secondary research on historical contexts, and examining other scholarly criticisms and interpretations of these novels, I develop new insights into the main characters’ plights. To transfer this conceptual understanding into a more personal and empathetic …

A Mile In My Shoes: A Website For First-Generation Immigrants, Chelsey Thomas

International Relations Summer Fellows

What are the most important variables to consider when applying for college? What really makes a school worth it? This project looks to tackle questions such as these by analyzing Pell grant rates, graduation and admission rates, and default rates among colleges as well as their social and cultural pros and cons. The overall goal of this is a push for transparency as well as bridging the gap between higher education and students.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Final Performance Report, Appendix F: Outcomes & Indicators For Student Performance, Jessame Ferguson

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This document is an appendix to the Final Performance Report for the IMLS Sparks Ignite IL Framework Cooperative project. It contains the four outcomes and the performance indicators for each outcome.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Final Performance Report, Appendix D: Focus Group Report, Joel M. Wright, Jessame Ferguson

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This appendix to the Final Performance Report for the IMLS Sparks IL Cooperative Project grant is the report on the focus groups. The focus group research summarized herein represents a segment of the overall IMLS grant proposal process, and should be viewed not as a separate endeavor, but rather as an integrated approach to the overall research questions in the grant proposal. In conjunction with the pre-test/post-test survey driven component, the findings from the focus group research help to strengthen the case for the value of librarian-driven pedagogy in positively impacting the academic and intellectual growth of all students, and …

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Final Performance Report, Jessame Ferguson

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This is the Final Performance Report for the SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At‐Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges. Through a partnership of five institutions led by McDaniel College, we developed new best practices for ensuring information literacy education programs at smaller institutions support success and persistence of at‐risk students in their critical first‐year. We used the newly adopted Association of College & Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to develop and test new assessment methodologies and engaging educational experiences for first‐year students. The project took place in 2017. The report summarizes our successes, challenges …

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Mapped Learning Activities, Outcomes & Indicators, Jessica Barbera, Jim Huff, Christine Iannicelli, Marianne Sade, Samantha Martin

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This spreadsheet was used to collect learning activities, map learning activities to outcomes and indicators, and identify which outcomes and indicators would have the greatest impact. We invite others to review this map and use, modify, and/or add to this list. Please share your new creations with us, too.

• Key:
  • Learning activities that we identified as potentially impactful have blue text
  • Learning activities that we used in our final instruction plan are highlighted in pale yellow
  • “X” shows indicators that were addressed directly by the learning activity
  • “/” shows indicators that were indirectly addressed by the learning activity
  • Green indicators …

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Teaching Materials: Scaffolded Learning Activities, Jessica Barbera, Jim Huff, Christine Iannicelli, Marianne Sade, Samantha Martin

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This document shows the scaffolding used to develop the educational materials used for the instruction sessions.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Pre-Test Qualtrics File (Mcdaniel College), Jessame Ferguson

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This is the Qualtrics file containing the information literacy skills Pre-Test that was used by McDaniel College.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Post-Test Qualtrics File (Mcdaniel College), Jessame Ferguson

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This is the Qualtrics file containing the information literacy skills post-test that was used at McDaniel College.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Pre-Test, Jessame Ferguson, Diane Skorina, Ronalee Ciocco, April Cunningham

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This is a pdf file of the pre-test that was administered to students before they received any information literacy instruction. The pre-test contains all the questions that were in the post-test, plus several extra that were only asked on the pre-test.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Teaching Materials: Scholarly Vs. Popular, Jessica Barbera, Jim Huff, Christine Iannicelli, Marianne Sade, Samantha Martin

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This handout was used as part of the instructional materials for the project.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Teaching Materials: Slide Presentation Template, Jessica Barbera, Jim Huff, Christine Iannicelli, Marianne Sade, Samantha Martin

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This slide presentation, adapted from Google Slides to PowerPoint, was used as a template by our cohort for the instructional sessions that were part of the information literacy grant project.

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Teaching Materials: Powerpoint Presentation (Ursinus College), Jessica Barbera, Jim Huff, Christine Iannicelli, Marianne L. Sade, Samantha Martin

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This is the PowerPoint presentation used by Ursinus College for the instructional sessions that were part of the information literacy grant project.

Talk About Race In The Undergraduate Classroom: A Discourse Analysis, Leighnah L. Perkins

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

As researchers have noted, many people are afraid to talk about race (Alexander, 2010; Miller & Harris, 2005). Given the race-related events and tragedies occurring in the U.S. today, people need to find ways to move past this fear in order to work together to solve societal problems. Harris (2003) suggested that the undergraduate classroom is a key place to engage in discussions about race. This research project examined the ways that college students talk about race and race-related problems in the classroom. The data collected for this project included observations and audio recordings of three sections of a seminar …

Have You Counted The Ingredients On Your Child's Lunch Tray?: An Economic Analysis Of Sustainability Initiatives Within The School Lunch Program, Vanessa R. Scalora

Business and Economics Summer Fellows

In 2010, President Obama signed the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act, establishing a monetary incentive for schools that served meals following a more rigorous nutritional requirement than standard guidelines. This act is a step in the right direction towards placing more importance on school lunches, however America’s lunchroom practices continue to be environmentally unsustainable, and students absorb this message. The production and transportation of processed cafeteria food contributes to climate change, its packaging is polluting, and its consumption contributes to obesity. The use of premade foods and sales from vending machines increase as lunch times grow ever shorter. In addition, …

Imls Sparks Ignite Il Framework Cooperative Project Grant Proposal, Jessame Ferguson

IMLS SPARKS Ignite IL Framework Cooperative Project for At-Risk Student Success in Smaller Colleges

This is the narrative written for the IMLS Sparks IL Framework Cooperative Project grant proposal. Through a partnership of five institutions led by McDaniel College, including Goucher College, Ursinus College, Washington College, and Washington & Jefferson College, we propose to develop best practices for ensuring information literacy education programs at smaller institutions support success and persistence of at-risk students in their critical first-year. We will use the newly adopted Association of College & Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education to develop and test new assessment methodologies and engaging educational experiences for first-year students. The project will take …

Treasure Hunt Without A Map: Archival Research At The University Of Pennsylvania, Meghan Strong

English Independent Study Projects

Under the supervision of Meredith Goldsmith in the English Department, I spent this semester developing archival research projects for lower level students in the humanities. My project corresponded with the aims of the Council for Undergraduate Research, which works to develop undergraduate research skills throughout the disciplines. The Kislak Center is a nearby resource that has the potential to provide students with opportunities to develop crucial research skills while discovering little pieces of history that are hidden away in the archives. The final exercises presented here focus on the subjects of Walt Whitman, Marian Anderson, and Michel de Montaigne.

The Impact Of Honor Codes And Perceptions Of Cheating On Academic Cheating Behaviors, Especially For Mba Bound Undergraduates, Heather M. O'Neill, Christian A. Pfeiffer

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

Researchers studying academic dishonesty in college often focus on demographic characteristics of cheaters and discuss changes in cheating trends over time. To predict cheating behavior, some researchers examine the costs and benefits of academic cheating, while others view campus culture and the role which honor codes play in affecting behavior. This paper develops a model of academic cheating based on three sets of incentives - moral, social and economic—and how they affect cheating behaviors. An on-line survey comprising 61 questions was administered to students from three liberal arts colleges in the USA in spring 2008, yielding 700 responses, with half …

Gender-Separate Education: The Effects On Student Achievement & Self-Esteem On Economically Disadvantaged Public Middle School Students In Philadelphia, Heather M. O'Neill, Allison Guerin

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

In 2003, three Philadelphia middle schools with similar demographics and failing student achievement levels were taken over by an educational management organization. Two were transformed into distinct single-sex academies within the original school buildings and a third remained coeducational. Students did not have the option where to attend, eliminating selection bias. Through funding from a Spencer Foundation grant, data was collected on 1,000 students for 2002-03 through 2004-05 to examine impacts of gender-segregation. We find students in single sex schools witness greater improvements in standardized test scores, with boys gaining the most, and no differences on Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale.

The Impact Of Honor Codes On Academic Cheating Within Liberal Arts Colleges, Heather M. O'Neill, Christian A. Pfeiffer

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

Many researchers study the subject of collegiate cheating by focusing on demographic characteristics of cheaters at schools of varying sizes. Other researchers examine whether collegiate honor codes can abate rampant cheating. A third group studies whether perceptions of what students believe to be cheating behaviors affects actual cheating. This paper incorporates previous research and develops a model of academic cheating based on three sets of incentives - moral, social and economic – and how they affect self-reported cheating behaviors at liberal arts colleges. An on-line survey was administered to students from three liberal arts colleges in spring 2008. The nearly …

Art, Sport And The Sweet Spot, John Strassburger

Publications

This is the seventh in a series of occasional papers about the challenges confronting students and what Ursinus is doing to help them enter adult life.

Strivers And Underachievers: Effects On First Year College Grades And Retention, Heather M. O'Neill

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

In 1999, the Educational Testing Service created a Strivers Index where students who scored 200 points higher than expected on the SAT exam, based on their socioeconomic background, were called Strivers. Similarly, an Underachiever is a student who scores 200 below expected on the SAT. The presumption is that tagging a student as Striver or Underachiever will assist admissions offices in selecting the students. How Strivers and Underachievers perform in their first year academically and their college persistence patterns are examined in this paper.

Who Owns Our Values? Back To School, John Strassburger

Publications

This is the sixth in a series of occasional papers about the challenges confronting students and what Ursinus is doing to help them enter adult life.