Education Commons^™

Visualization And Analysis Of Environmental Data, Sean Macdonald

Publications and Research

The virtual exploration of place has been employed in a variety of learning environments across many disciplines, creatively expanding upon the experience of place. This chapter explores the value of mapping environmental data as a tool that can enhance students’ virtual exploration of place as they investigate local environmental policies and problems within their own urban surroundings. This visualization project engages students in making meaningful connections between the theoretical study of local and global environmental problems and the “observation” and investigation of these data using mapped data. The virtual learning environment is viewed as one that is interactive, exploring how …

“Technology Is Great, But It’S Really Time-Consuming:” Understanding Students’ Digital Academic Lives, Mariana Regalado, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

Digital technology has become integral to higher education, incorporated by colleges and universities into teaching, student support and operations. We know that undergraduates lead busy lives, especially those attending commuter universities, and that they bring their prior experiences with technology with them into their college careers. However, while technology access and use in our everyday lives and workplaces has increased in the past few decades, it is not as ubiquitous as we might wish, and our students do encounter barriers to learning and connecting with digital technologies.

We draw on our decade of research on the experiences of CUNY undergraduate …

Peer-Assisted Learning In Calculus Ii: Examining Gender Differences, Xiaoqing Wu

Publications and Research

Mathematics is a topic in which undergraduate students find challenging, particularly for females. By providing a peer-assisted workshop during the semester, undergraduates are offered academic support throughout the course. New York City College of Technology, though a Department of Education Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (DOE MSEIP) grant, has adopted the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) instructional model in a few Calculus II sections. Peer Leaders engage the students one-hour a week in working on selected problems sets in a collaborative setting. This project examines if there are gender differences in Calculus II class in 1) PLTL workshop attendance, 2) …

The Complexity Of Asian Americans In Higher Education, Akampreet Kaur

Publications and Research

The Complexity of Asian Americans in Higher Education: What impacts & motivates Asian American students to select a particular major choice?

For my AACS 370 course, I have done to focus my research topic on Asian Americans within Higher Education. Through this data, I hoped to find the factors that contributed to Asian Americans in regards to their major. My research purpose was: To gather information about Asian American students & the choices they make about pursuing higher education. I have decided to do this since I believe there is limited data in regards to why Asian Americans are …

Mapping Urban Performance Culture: A Common Ground For Architecture And Theater, Ting Chin, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

Our co-taught course focuses on theater history, with an emphasis on performance architecture. Assignments are designed to illuminate the ways in which architectural design and technology inform performance practices and audience reception. The pivotal assignment for exploring interdisciplinarity is a three-week module on mapping historical theaters in New York City. Open-source Global Information Systems (GIS) software serves as a common mechanism for students to situate theatrical productions in the context of the built urban environment, deepening their understanding of the social, economic, and artistic forces that contributed to performance culture. Mapping is a shared pedagogy for analyzing and presenting research …

The Free Education Project: Higher Education Funding, E2 Implementation, And Crowdsourcing Crypto Development, Louis Carter, John R. Ziegler, Ovidui Purice, Edward Lehner

Publications and Research

This short paper, written in three different sections, explores how a cryptocurrency’s issuance and network effects could fund higher education. Synthesizing research from the Bronx Community College Cryptocurrency Research Lab, Bernard Lietaer’s notion of creating money for the needs of society, lessons learned by Galia Benartzi and the Hearts Project, and an exploration of how communities coalesce around open-source cryptocurrency projects, the authors provide an overview of the problem of funding higher education, the ways in which money that is needed could be created, and the key components to building a highly effective developer community. These three distinct yet vitally …

“We Cannot Imagine”: Us Preservice Teachers’ Othering Of Trans And Gender Creative Student Experiences, Elizabeth E. Blair, Sherry L. Deckman

Publications and Research

Research suggests that teachers are not meeting the needs of trans and gender creative students. Thus, we ask: How do US preservice teachers (PSTs) discursively construct the experiences of trans and gender creative students? How are these constructions informed by and reinscribe broader gender normativities in educational contexts? We analyzed 549 PST authored, online discussion posts from an educational foundations course, finding PSTs lacked familiarity with and engaged in rhetorical distancing from trans and gender creative student experiences suggesting barriers to empathy that may obstruct teacher-student relationships and promotion of equity, which teacher education is called to address.

Supporting The Changing Practices Of Teaching In Business - Baruch Summary, Ryan Lee Phillips, Louise Klusek, Charles Terng

Publications and Research

This report details the results of a study examining the teaching practices of business faculty at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College, City University of New York. The contents within cover how instructional resources and services are developed and used to support business faculty and their pedagogy. This report is the local results of Baruch College and the Newman Library’s portion of a larger suite of parallel studies with several other institutions of higher education in the U.S., coordinated by Ithaka S+R, a not-for-profit research and consulting service. Conclusions and recommendations detail targeted library programs and potential collaborations …

Cs For What? Diverse Visions Of Computer Science Education In Practice, Rafi Santo, Sara Vogel, Dixie Ching

Publications and Research

CS Visions highlights the importance of core values when it comes to computer science education. Understanding different reasons for teaching computer science isn’t just important so that we can get other people to care about CS, they should also shape what computer science education efforts look like - who gets opportunities to learn, what kinds of things get taught and in what ways. Our values should be expressed in our practice.

Promoting Science Through The Arts (Or Vice Versa)., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Higher Education has a problem with the arts. In a sector that is increasingly serving first-generation students who come from lower-income families, the pressure to provide a path towards secure, well-paid jobs is on. That is particularly true in this time and age of political pressure upon public institutions of higher education to emphasize STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers rather than the liberal arts (visual and performing arts, humanities, even social sciences) with the stereotype that if you become something like an artist or a poet you are more likely to end up being underemployed at best or …

Create A Revolution In Undergraduates' Understanding Of Science: Teach Through Close Analysis Of Scientific Literature, Sally G. Hoskins

Publications and Research

The teaching of science to undergraduates aligns poorly with the practice of science, leading many students to conclude that research is boring and researchers themselves are antisocial geniuses. Creativity, a key driver of scientific progress, is underemphasized or ignored altogether in many classrooms, as teaching focuses on the complex integrated concepts and voluminous amounts of information typical of STEM curricula. Faculty, largely untrained in science education per se, teach largely as they were taught, through lectures based in textbooks. This situation could change, and students' understanding of research practice could be fostered relatively easily, if faculty began teaching classes focused …

Addressing Extremism Through Literature: An Online Cross-Cultural Conversation On Mahi Binebine's Horses Of God, Habiba Boumlik, Phyllis E. Vanslyck

Publications and Research

In the Fall of 2017, first year liberal arts students at Community College and second year Masters’ Students in literature at a university in Morocco collaborated in an online and live conversation focusing on the novel Horses of God (Les Etoiles de Sidi Moumen) written by Mahi Binebine. The novel describes the lives of four childhood friends growing up in a slum near Casablanca, navigating poverty and purposelessness and being drawn to religious fundamentalism. Students in the two colleges engaged in an online discussion on Facebook and live Google Hangouts exchange in which they shared questions about the …

“Our Stories”: First-Year Learning Communities Students Reflections On The Transition To College, Karen Goodlad, Sandra Cheng, Jennifer Sears, Mery Diaz, Ashwin Satyanarayana, Phil Freniske

Publications and Research

Analysis of diverse first-year and first-generation learning communities students’ reflective narratives shows this population of students at an urban commuter college of technology face significant challenges in the transition into college. Designed to assist in this transition, the “Our Stories” digital writing project incorporates reflective writing in the long established, yet recently revitalized, learning communities program. Through analysis of the “Our Stories” project, we examine how the structure of our learning communities program, together with writing on an open digital platform, builds community and has the potential to positively influence students as they identify, and begin to make sense, of …

Developing Open Practices In Teacher Education: An Example Of Integrating Oer And Developing Renewable Assignments, Jennifer Van Allen, Stacy Katz

Publications and Research

This manuscript offers a reasoning for and example of integrating Open Educational Resources (OER) and open pedagogy within a teacher education course. We highlight a collaborative partnership between library faculty and education faculty and the decision points and processes we used when redesigning this course to provide an example of adopting OER and our considerations for developing a renewable assignment. The benefits of using OER for K-12 teachers include increasing awareness of and providing opportunities to develop open practices. The transition to a renewable assignment creates a space for teaching candidates to meaningfully contribute to the profession and engage in …

The Mere Mention Of Asians In Affirmative Action, Jennifer Lee, Van C. Tran

Publications and Research

Presumed competent, U.S. Asians evince exceptional educational outcomes but lack the cultural pedigree of elite whites that safeguard them from bias in the labor market. In spite of their nonwhite minority status, Asians also lack the legacy of disadvantage of blacks that make them eligible beneficiaries of affirmative action. Their labor market disadvantage coupled with their exclusion from affirmative action programs place Asians in a unique bind: do they support policies that give preferences to blacks but exclude them? Given their self- and group interests, this bind should make Asians unlikely to do so. We assess whether this is the …

“Don’T Make Me Feel Dumb”: Transfer Students, The Library, And Acclimating To A New Campus, Matthew Harrick, Lee Ann Fullington

Publications and Research

Objective – This qualitative study sought to delineate and understand the role of the library in addressing the barriers transfer students experience upon acclimating to their new campus.

Methods – A screening survey was used to recruit transfer students in their first semester at Brooklyn College (BC) to participate in focus groups. The participants discussed the issues they encountered by answering open-ended questions about their experiences on campus, and with the library specifically.

Results – Transfer students desired current information about campus procedures, services, and academic support. They often had to find this information on their own, wasting valuable time. …

Teaching Students To Critically Evaluate Textbooks, Christopher Mchale, Ian Mcdermott, Steven Ovadia

Publications and Research

This chapter is a case study describing how library faculty combined service learning and information literacy to help students evaluate textbooks, comparing commercial ones to Open Education Resources. The underlying idea was to give students not only a scholarly grounding that would help them as they move through their academic careers but also a practical vocational orientation to help them succeed in the workforce and, hopefully, become future contributors to the free culture movement.

Cruzar Fronteras Em Espaços Acadêmicos: Transgressing “The Limits Of Translanguaging”, Brendan H. O’Connor, Katherine S. Mortimer, Lesley Bartlett, María Teresa De La Piedra, Ana Maria Rabelo Gomes, Ariana Mangual Figueroa, Gabriela Novaro, Marjorie Faulstich Orellana, Char Ullman

Publications and Research

Scholarship on translanguaging and related concepts has challenged traditional assumptions about how people use their multiple languages, urging us to move beyond the boundaries of named linguistic codes and toward conceptualizations of multilingual language use as flexible use of a speaker’s whole linguistic repertoire. Critiques of this theoretical shift have included assertions of translanguaging’s conceptual and practical limits—limits to its transformative potential as well as limits to its practical use. This paper takes up, in particular, the question of why we academics may assert the value of translanguaging in schools and communities while still largely failing to move beyond monoglossic …

Developing Physician Educational Competencies For The Management Of Female Genital Cutting: A Call To Action, Holly G. Atkinson, Amaris Geisler

Publications and Research

Female genital cutting (FGC), also called female genital mutilation, is defined as “all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs whether for cultural, religious, or other nontherapeutic reasons.” FGC can have significant health consequences, including multiple physical and psychological complications, throughout the life course. Despite violating numerous human rights and existing legal prohibitions, the practice continues. In the United States, FGC is becoming increasingly prevalent, however, physicians are not routinely trained to care for these patients. Despite the evidence of the need, there is a woeful lack of …

Promoting Well-Being And Safety Abroad: The Role Of Continuous Reflection And Peer Education Before, During, And After Travel, Grace Pai

Publications and Research

This article details a case of how engaging students in a process of continuous reflection and peer education can support the safety and wellness of first-generation, community college students of color as they study abroad. In addition to standard risk management and safety orientations for students, our 3-phase study abroad model entails: 1) near-peer pre-trip preparation featuring alumni participants, 2) reflective immersion during the trip, and 3) post-trip peer-to-peer community education using multiple media. Central to all three phases is students’ engagement in continuous, individual and collective reflection through writing, blogging, videos and photography. By reflecting on issues like cultural …

The Conceptualization Of Costs And Barriers Of A Teaching Career Among Latino Preservice Teachers, Bradley W. Bergey, John Ranellucci, Avi Kaplan

Publications and Research

We investigated the perceived costs and barriers of a teaching career among Latino preservice

teachers and how these men conceptualized costs relative to their race-ethnic identity, gender identity, and planned persistence in the profession from an expectancy-value perspective. We used a mixed-method approach that included a content analysis of open-ended survey responses to identify salient costs and barriers and non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) of participants’ responses to quantitative scales to capture phenomenological meaning of perceived costs, collective identity constructs, and planned persistence in the profession. Participants identified a range of drawbacks and barriers of a teaching career including concerns about …

Promoting Safety And Wellness While Abroad Through Continuous Reflection And Peer Education, Grace Pai

Publications and Research

This article details a case of how engaging students in a process of continuous reflection and peer education can support the safety and wellness of first-generation, community college students of color as they study abroad. In addition to standard risk management and safety orientations for students, our 3-phase study abroad model entails: 1) near-peer pre-trip preparation featuring alumni participants, 2) reflective immersion during the trip, and 3) post-trip peer-to-peer community education using multiple media. Central to all three phases is students’ engagement in continuous, individual and collective reflection through writing, blogging, videos and photography. By reflecting on issues like cultural …

One-Year Research Experience For Associate’S Degree Students Impacts Graduation, Stem Retention, And Transfer Patterns, Ron Nerio, Althea Webber, Effie Maclachlan, David Lopatto, Avrom J. Caplan

Publications and Research

The CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP) provides a yearlong faculty-mentored research experience to associate’s degree students. The program takes place at all 10 associate’s degree–granting colleges within the City University of New York system. We report on a mixed-methods study of 500 students who participated in the program during its initial 3 years. Quantitative longitudinal assessments revealed that students who en-gaged in CRSP were more likely to be retained in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discipline or to graduate with a STEM degree than their counterparts in a matched comparison group. Furthermore, students who participated in CRSP demon-strated …

Concept Mapping As A Mechanism For Assessing Science Teachers’ Cross-Disciplinary Field-Based Learning, Joanna K. Garner, Avi Kaplan, Stephanie Hathcock, Bradley W. Bergey

Publications and Research

Two common goals of science teacher professional development (PD) are increased content knowledge (CK) and improved readiness to teach through inquiry. However, PD assessment challenges arise when the context is structured around inquiry-based, participant-driven learning, and when the content crosses scientific disciplines. This study extended the use of concept mapping as an assessment tool for examining changes in the content knowledge of 21 high school science teachers who participated in a field-based environmental science summer institute. The scoring rubric focused on documenting concepts, links, and map organization and scope in an attempt to capture development of cross- disciplinary knowledge in …

Academic Assessment: Best Practices For Successful Outcomes With Accreditation Evaluation Teams, Tammie Cumming, M. David Miller

Publications and Research

This chapter describes the role of faculty in conducting quality assessment and includes suggestions for preparing for successful meetings with reviewers on accreditation teams.

Study Of Healthcare-Associated Infections And Multi-Drug Resistance In Brooklyn: An Integrative Approach, Liana Tsenova, Urmi Ghosh-Dastidar, Arnavaz Taraporevala, Pamela Brown, Aionga Pereira-Edwards

Publications and Research

One SENCER ideal is to connect science education and civic engagement by student learning through complex, unresolved public issues. Using this approach, we established a collaborative interdisciplinary project involving faculty and undergraduate students at NYC College of Technology. Over several semesters, students conducted literature search and discovered the complex factors contributing to the occurrence and transmission of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Using microbiology data from 15 hospitals in Brooklyn, NY, they applied statistical analyses, studied the antibiotic resistance, and developed a campaign to bring more awareness of this problem. The results of the project highlight the importance of immediate action in …

Re-Visioning Ralph Ellison’S Invisible Man For A Class Of Urban Immigrant Youth, Camille Goodison

Publications and Research

In this essay, I will explore Ralph Ellison’s 1952 classic novel, Invisible Man, as a text that has contemporary and relatable themes for a modern-day classroom of mostly urban youth. This essay is also a personal journey into how Ellison’s inventive approaches to form helped create a work that lends itself to contemporary reimagining. It asks the question, can Ellison’s interest in creating a living Afro-American literary tradition rooted in the lore of the ‘peasant’ or common folk have contemporary applications? How does Ellison’s belief that everyday folk expression has value hold up for today’s readers? I try to …

Closing Thoughts On The Implications Of #Metoo Movement For Academia, Nicole Elias, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Advanced Design And Fabrication Of Prosthetic And Medical Devices, Gaffar Gailani, Andy S. Zhang, Yu Wang, Sidi Berri

Publications and Research

The department of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Design Technology (MEIDT) at City Tech is seeking to strengthening the skills of its students in manufacturing and design to respond to the urgent needs of the manufacturing industry in general and the prosthetic and medical devices (P&MD) industry in particular to high-skilled engineers and technicians and to provide a national model for advanced technology education. Medical Devices will include: (a) Surgical and Medical Instruments; (b) Surgical Appliances and Supplies; and (c) Dental Equipment and Supplies. The educational merit of the project is that it motivates students to do engineering rather than studying …

Senior Design Case Study: Application Of System Engineering Concepts In The Design Of A Router, Angran Xiao, Rafaela Alba, Ozlem Yasar, Andy S. Zhang, Gaffar Gailani

Publications and Research

System engineering (SE) is a multidisciplinary approach for the design, management, and realization of a complex system. In product development, SE is utilized on structuring a product development process into simple and collaborative activities that proceed throughout the entire product life-cycle, while at the same time, supporting engineers’ decision making. Project based engineering design classes are suitable for undergraduate students to study and practice the concepts of SE while solving real-world design problems. In this paper, we document the product development process, especially the structured design methodologies used in an undergraduate Senior Design project. Student learning outcomes are assessed and …