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Full-Text Articles in Education

Toward A More Scientifically Literate Public, Michael Bass Dec 2015

Toward A More Scientifically Literate Public, Michael Bass

UCF Forum

As a society we do a terrible job of educating our children to become scientifically literate. Sure, we have STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programs throughout the country, and with some justification we can brag about the successes of students that are in or who have graduated from such learning experiences.


Criticism – The Thing We Hate The Most Makes Us The Strongest, Michael Preston Nov 2015

Criticism – The Thing We Hate The Most Makes Us The Strongest, Michael Preston

UCF Forum

I’m not much of a crier, but when a colleague critiqued a draft of my dissertation years ago, I cried like a baby.


The Next Time Someone Has Something Bad To Say About Your Work..., Heather Gibson Oct 2015

The Next Time Someone Has Something Bad To Say About Your Work..., Heather Gibson

UCF Forum

A theatre student recently came to my office a little on the glum side. He was an actor in a production that had received a less-than-favorable review and he wasn’t taking it well. He had taken the writer’s words to heart and it was affecting his performance.


Don't Just Blindly Follow All 'Green' Trends -- Do Your Research First, Michael Bass Sep 2015

Don't Just Blindly Follow All 'Green' Trends -- Do Your Research First, Michael Bass

UCF Forum

Nowadays it is politically correct to be “green” – to say and do things that seem to minimize one’s impact on the environment and to preach to others to do the same.


Want To Make It In This World? Better Learn To Collaborate, Michael Preston Sep 2015

Want To Make It In This World? Better Learn To Collaborate, Michael Preston

UCF Forum

Is there any greater struggle between instructor and student than the dreaded “group assignment”?


Medulla: A 2d Sidescrolling Platformer Game That Teaches Basic Brain Structure And Function, Joey R. Fanfarelli, Stephanie Vie Sep 2015

Medulla: A 2d Sidescrolling Platformer Game That Teaches Basic Brain Structure And Function, Joey R. Fanfarelli, Stephanie Vie

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This article explores the design and instructional effectiveness of Medulla, an educational game meant to teach brain structure and function to undergraduate psychology students. Developed in the retro-style platformer genre, Medulla uses two-dimensional gameplay with pixel-based graphics to engage students in learning content related to the brain, information which is often pre-requisite to more rigorous psychological study. A pretest posttest design was used in an experiment assessing Medulla’s ability to teach psychology content. Results indicated content knowledge was significantly higher on the posttest than the pretest, with a large effect size. Medulla appears to be an effective learning tool. These …


A Toast! To The International Year Of Light, Michael Bass Jul 2015

A Toast! To The International Year Of Light, Michael Bass

UCF Forum

December 2013, at the United Nations’ 68th General Assembly meeting, the assembled countries could not as usual solve the problems of world conflicts, human slavery, wide-spread famine and the Israeli-Palestinian question. So, it decided to do something it could: It declared that 2015 would be the International Year of Light.


When You Have A Chance To Influence The Universe..., Todd Dagenais Jun 2015

When You Have A Chance To Influence The Universe..., Todd Dagenais

UCF Forum

It’s incredibly ironic to me that the University of Central Florida was started in 1963 near the nation’s spaceport to help support the exploration of the universe – and now we find ourselves in a position as the nation’s second-largest university to exert a great deal of influence on our own little piece of that universe.


Get To Know The Custodians, Todd Dagenais Apr 2015

Get To Know The Custodians, Todd Dagenais

UCF Forum

In 1996, I was fresh out of college living in Bay City, Michigan, and about to begin my first year as a paid volleyball coach. As many people in my situation, I was scared to death about my lack of experience and my potential inability to shape the hearts and minds of 15- to 18-year-old volleyball players. I began the process of asking experienced coaches for advice on how to approach my new endeavor.


Don't Be A Leader Who Turns Around To Look – And Nobody Is Following, Todd Dagenais Feb 2015

Don't Be A Leader Who Turns Around To Look – And Nobody Is Following, Todd Dagenais

UCF Forum

From time to time I am invited to speak at gatherings of various groups and organizations. Corporations are often intrigued by the inner workings of an athletic team that has demonstrated success on the field of play.


Client Outcome: An Exploratory Investigation Of Multicultural Competence And The Working Alliance, Jessica Gonzalez Jan 2015

Client Outcome: An Exploratory Investigation Of Multicultural Competence And The Working Alliance, Jessica Gonzalez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Early termination and low retention of clients is a common problem in counseling, with between 65%-80% of clients terminating treatment before the 10th session (Garfield, 1994; Lambert, 2013). Researchers (Lampropoulous, Schneider, & Spengler, 2009; Owen, Smith, & Rodolfa, 2009) have found that predictors of early termination include client age, race, socioeconomic status, and level of perceived distress. Furthermore, racial and ethnic minorities underutilize mental health services and have low retention when engaged in services, highlighting the need for counseling professionals to empirically explore factors that may be contributing to client engagement of the counseling process. Exploration of multicultural competence and …


Students’ Perceptions And Misperceptions Of The Communication Major: Opportunities And Challenges Of Reputation, Nichole Egbert, Joy L. Daggs, Phillip R. Reed Jan 2015

Students’ Perceptions And Misperceptions Of The Communication Major: Opportunities And Challenges Of Reputation, Nichole Egbert, Joy L. Daggs, Phillip R. Reed

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This study investigates undergraduate students' perceptions of the content, difficulty, and value of the Communication major. Students in majors other than Communication from two universities indicated that the content of the Communication major was valuable and, in some cases, involved difficult tasks. However, the major was perceived as easier than any other compared discipline. The students surveyed demonstrated low to moderate belief in most popular “myths” regarding Communication as an academic field. A number of potential strategies to increase awareness of the value of a degree in communication are provided, which can be adapted for use with existing departmental marketing …


Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz Jan 2015

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 34, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.


The Blending Of The Traditional And Professional Approaches To Communication: Department Chairs Share Administrative Challenges, Opportunities, And Best Practices, Rod Troester, Molly Wertheimer Jan 2015

The Blending Of The Traditional And Professional Approaches To Communication: Department Chairs Share Administrative Challenges, Opportunities, And Best Practices, Rod Troester, Molly Wertheimer

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

The genesis of this article was a 2013 Eastern Communication Association panel that gathered department chairs of blended communication programs (those combining a traditional communication studies perspective with a mass media perspective) to exchange challenges, opportunities, and best practices of administering such programs. The article reviews the available literature and synthesizes and summarizes the experience of participating department chairs tasked with administering blended departments.


Classroom Projects As Embodied And Embedded Outcomes Assessment, Garnet C. Butchart, Margaret Mullan Jan 2015

Classroom Projects As Embodied And Embedded Outcomes Assessment, Garnet C. Butchart, Margaret Mullan

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Although educators already recognize the value in engaging student learning through classroom projects and service-learning, assessment of student learning through classroom projects may be accompanied by a shift of attention from mastery of ideas to embodied knowledge. We argue that embodiment is the basic semiotic condition of being human—of being both an expressive and perceptive (communicative) being among others. Linking this philosophy of communication principle to the topic of assessment, the article offers assessment research a focus of attention on learning settings: from embodiment as learning context, to the built environment of classrooms, as well as to group interaction. We …


Embedding Arête: Core Skills, Department Culture And Whole-Student Development, Richard K. Olsen, David E. Weber Jan 2015

Embedding Arête: Core Skills, Department Culture And Whole-Student Development, Richard K. Olsen, David E. Weber

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

In this article the authors summarize how an academic department designed and now enacts the “core skills,” a template the unit operationalized to facilitate their goal of wholestudent development. First, the authors present a brief summary of contemporary literature—including Rich’s (2008) Megaskills, plus key principles and perspectives (e.g., rhetoric, arête, culture, dialectical tension, communicative construction of organization) of the communication studies discipline—relevant to the articulation of the core skills as both a heuristic and praxis. Next, we delineate concerns and critical incidents that inspired unit personnel to decide whole-student development was mission-critical. Then we describe key challenges in of cultivating …


Lobbying As A Means For Expanding The Communication Instructional Base. A View From The Outside Looking In, Craig Newburger Jan 2015

Lobbying As A Means For Expanding The Communication Instructional Base. A View From The Outside Looking In, Craig Newburger

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

No abstract provided.


Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz Jan 2015

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 34, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.


Public Speaking Anxiety And Graduation: Assessing Student Progress And Institutional Need, Ronald P. Grapsy Jan 2015

Public Speaking Anxiety And Graduation: Assessing Student Progress And Institutional Need, Ronald P. Grapsy

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This article is designed to accomplish two goals. First, data from six-year student cohorts are examined for patterns emerging among those who failed to graduate from a public, state-affiliated university. The data imply strongly that a significant percentage of students who did not graduate failed primarily due to an inability to pass through the basic public speaking course – part of the general education program – and that communicative anxiety may be the root cause. Also, the article discusses the design and implementation of a successful model for a basic speech course dedicated to students with debilitating levels of public …


Complete Issue, Volume 34, Issue 1 Jan 2015

Complete Issue, Volume 34, Issue 1

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 34, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.


Examining Undergraduate Communication Degree Programs: Mission Statements, Assessment Plans, And Assessment Evaluations, Mike Allen, John Bourhis, Nancy Burrell, Arooj Mukarram, Michael G. Blight, Clare M. Gross, Megan Lambertz, Christopher J.E. Anderson Jan 2015

Examining Undergraduate Communication Degree Programs: Mission Statements, Assessment Plans, And Assessment Evaluations, Mike Allen, John Bourhis, Nancy Burrell, Arooj Mukarram, Michael G. Blight, Clare M. Gross, Megan Lambertz, Christopher J.E. Anderson

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

One hundred undergraduate communication programs listed in the NCA directory were examined in this investigation. The process involved gathering the university mission statement, departmental mission statement, program assessment plan, and program assessment evaluations. Results demonstrate that 98 institutions utilized mission statements, 81 departments provided mission statements, 18 departments made assessment plans available and the researchers obtained 4 assessment evaluations.


Complete Issue, Volume 34, Issue 2 Jan 2015

Complete Issue, Volume 34, Issue 2

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 34, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.


The Helping Professional Wellness Discrepancy Scale (Hpwds): Development And Validation, Ashley Blount Jan 2015

The Helping Professional Wellness Discrepancy Scale (Hpwds): Development And Validation, Ashley Blount

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wellness is an integral component of the helping professions (Myers & Sweeney, 2005; Witmer, 1985). Specifically, wellness is included in ethical codes, suggestions for practice, and codes of conduct throughout counseling, psychology, and social work fields (see American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, 2014; American Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010; National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, 1996). Even so, wellness in helping professionals is a difficult construct to measure. Thus, the purpose of the research investigation was to develop the Helping Professional Wellness Discrepancy Scale (HPWDS) and examine the psychometric features of …


The Effect Of Virtual Simulation On The Development Of Basic Counseling Skills, Self-Reported Immersion Experience, Self-Reported Counselor Self-Efficacy, And Self-Reported Anxiety Of Counselors-In-Training, Olivia Uwamahoro Jan 2015

The Effect Of Virtual Simulation On The Development Of Basic Counseling Skills, Self-Reported Immersion Experience, Self-Reported Counselor Self-Efficacy, And Self-Reported Anxiety Of Counselors-In-Training, Olivia Uwamahoro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is a high need for competent professional counselors because of the increasing number of children and adults presenting mental health concerns each year in the United States (National Institute of Mental Health, 2012). Counselor educators are tasked with the duty of preparing counselors-in-training (CITs) to be competent clinicians. In order for counseling professionals to be considered competent clinicians, they must demonstrate competence in three domains: (a) knowledge, (b) skills, and (c) behavior (ACA, 2014; CACREP, 2009). The goal of this study was to contribute to further understanding the most effective instructional approach to facilitating role play while instructing pre-practicum …


The Influence Of Stigma On Quality Of Life And Relationship Satisfaction For Prostate Cancer Survivors And Their Partners, Andrew Wood Jan 2015

The Influence Of Stigma On Quality Of Life And Relationship Satisfaction For Prostate Cancer Survivors And Their Partners, Andrew Wood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between stigma, quality of life (QoL), and relationships satisfaction for prostate cancer (PCa) survivors and their intimate and/or romantic partners. The investigator tested a theoretical model that stigma (as measured by the Social Impact Scale [SIS; Fife & Wright, 2000]) influenced QoL (as measured by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – Prostate [FACT-P; Esper et al., 1997] and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy – General Population [FACT-GP; Cella et al., 1993]) and relationship satisfaction (as measured by the Couples Satisfaction Index [CSI; Funk & Rogge, 2007]) for both …