Education Commons^™

Western Educational Longitudinal Study (Wels) Baseline Survey Of Freshmen Entering Western In The Fall, 2015, Descriptive Statistics, John M. Krieg, Beth Hartsoch, Chris Stark, Office Of Survey Research, Western Washington University

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

The Fall, 2015 Baseline Survey of Freshmen Entering Western (Freshmen Survey) continues the Office of Survey Research’s (OSR) efforts to collect information on all students prior to the start of their academic careers at Western Washington University. This survey represents the initial contact in a longitudinal process that makes inquiries of students at the end of their sophomore year, when they graduate from the university, and one to two years after graduation.

The Freshmen Survey is designed with three purposes in mind: (1) to provide baseline observations of students prior to their Western experience which can be used to forecast …

Exit Survey Of Undergraduate Students Completing Degrees In Summer 2014, Fall 2014, Winter 2015 And Spring 2015, Descriptive Statistics, John M. Krieg, Beth Hartsoch, Chris Stark, Office Of Survey Research, Western Washington University

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

The Exit Survey of Undergraduate Students Completing Degrees in Summer of 2014 through Spring of 2015 is the seventh survey of graduating students conducted at Western Washington University. This survey is designed to illuminate departmental-, college-, and university-level information on student satisfaction, barriers to success, experiences in upper division courses, and post-graduation plans. The exit survey includes questions submitted to the Office of Survey Research (OSR) by the Division of Enrollment and Student Services, Western Libraries, University Residences, the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, an ad hoc committee examining General University Requirements, the Office of Sustainable Transportation, and includes a …

Klipsun Magazine, 2015, Volume 46, Issue 01 - Fall, Leesy Latronica

Klipsun Magazine

If you’ve stood ankle-deep in the ocean, you may know the magic. I remember peering down toward my ankles as waves broke and rolled onto the shore. When the water would retreat, the backwards drag created a distinct floating illusion, as if the ebbing tide was pulling me out to sea along with it.

Or perhaps you’ve seen your share of Bellingham Bay sun­ sets. When the sky shifts and the sun sinks with it, if the right elements align, the diffused light creates a giant scoop of rainbow sherbet melting over the horizon.

The simplest sets of motion can …

The Planet, 2015, Fall, Yvonne Worden, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2015, Volume 08, Issue 01, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

Music And Medicine, Thomas Zink

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Music therapy is not a new concept, although its acceptance by the medical community as a clinical modality is just beginning to grow. This newfound acceptance is the result of recently emerging empirical evidence supporting the efficacy of music in a range of applications. Using music to aid learning, either in recovery from brain damage or to overcome neurological disorders is widely accepted. For instance, music has been used to help patients learn to speak after traumatic brain injury (Schlaug, 2009). Much of these music learning programs are based off the Tomatis method that uses specifically adapted music tracks to …

Western Educational Longitudinal Study (Wels) Spring 2015 Follow-Up Survey Of Freshmen Who Entered Western In The Fall Of 2013, Descriptive Statistics, John M. Krieg, Beth Hartsoch, Chris Stark, Office Of Survey Research, Western Washington University

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

The Spring 2015 Follow-Up Survey of Freshmen Who Entered Western in 2013 (2nd Year Survey) is part of a longitudinal effort to survey students with a goal to improve educational programs and provide self -assessment data. Together with the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, the Office of Survey Research (OSR) designed this survey in an attempt to shed light on the efficacy and satisfaction with first year and GUR programs. This particular survey also received input from other campus offices which provides opportunities for these offices to address their specific needs.

The 2nd Year Survey consists of a mixture of …

Exit Survey Of Graduate Students Completing Degrees Fall 2014 Through Summer 2015, Descriptive Statistics, John M. Krieg, Beth Hartsoch, Chris Stark, Office Of Survey Research, Western Washington University

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

The 2015 Exit Survey of Graduate Students Completing Degrees continues the Office of Survey Research’s (OSR) survey of graduate students first initiated in 2009. The current survey was administered at the end of each quarter to students completing their graduate degree. This report summarizes responses from students who graduated in Fall 2014, Winter 2015, Spring 2015, and Summer 2015. Of the 257 recipients of this degree during this time, OSR received valid responses from 198, a response rate of 77.0%.

With the help of the Assistant Dean of the Graduate School, this survey was designed to elicit information on program …

Western Washington University Libraries And Learning Commons Diversity Committee Charge, Western Libraries Diversity Committee, Rebecca M. Marrall

Libraries and Learning Commons Diversity Committee Documents

Created in 2011, and revised in November 2014 and again in August 2015 by the 2014 – 2016 Diversity Committee, this document houses the charge of the Western Washington University Libraries Diversity Committee.

Social Privilege And International Volunteering, Stephanie Sisson

Scholars Week

I explore the awareness of social privilege revealed in the discourse among international volunteers. I conducted 10 semi-structured face-to-face interviews. The participants were university students who completed international service learning programs in Cambodia and Thailand. I analyzed the data using the grounded theory, specifically the constant comparison method. Findings revealed that international service learning alone proved ineffective in challenging institutionalized, self-mediated, and internalized social privilege. Implications of the study portray the need for universities to invest in follow-up programs that promote the sharing of volunteer experiences, guided critical reflection, and community out-reach based in solidarity. Taken together, this study suggests …

The Critique Of Uncertainty Reduction, Riley Beard

Scholars Week

I sought to critique the theoretical implications and practical applications of the uncertainty reduction theory (URT) as utilized in the computer-mediated communication (CMC) context. In general, the URT is heuristic. It has been tested in multiple contexts, and provides valuable insights and predictions about interpersonal relationships. After almost four decades, despite cultural shifts, the URT is still widely used in the communication field. However, my analysis of the testing of the theory reveals its weaknesses. Particularly, the URT was generated within a Eurocentric framework, and it reinforces the practices of the dominant culture. The applications of the theory were mostly …

Phytoplankton Ecology: Algal Assemblages In Correlation With Water Quality In High Elevation Lakes, North Cascades, Wa, Anna Nakae

Scholars Week

High- elevation lakes are unique ecosystems that are exposed to extreme environmental conditions and, as a result, are relatively simple systems in which changes can be detected. Phytoplankton communities within these systems are of interest because can be greatly influenced by the chemical components of the surrounding environment. This relationship allows phytoplankton assemblages to act as bioindicators that can give a greater insight into the water characteristics of lakes and vice versa. For this research, seven lakes were studied: Terminal, Upper Bagley, Lower Bagley, Heather Meadows Pond, Sunrise , Picture and Highwood. All seven are located in the headwaters watershed …

A Survey Analysis Of The Relationship Between Interdisciplinary Experiences And Well-Rounded Individuals, Diane Pérez

Scholars Week

As a university with an emphasis on the liberal arts, Western Washington University creates an interdisciplinary environment in which students, faculty, and staff can develop a diverse set of skills. Within this context, this project analyzes the relationship between well-rounded individuals and interdisciplinary experiences, as well as the measurable personal or professional benefits that come from this relationship. For the purposes of this analysis, a well-rounded individual is described as someone who can encounter many challenges not specifically related to their field of specialization and solve them efficiently using a diverse set of skills. Interdisciplinary experience is defined as the …

Klipsun Magazine, 2015, Volume 45, Issue 05 - Spring, Sigourney Gundy

Klipsun Magazine

I flip through the yellow pages of a navy blue hardcover book titled Klipsun; with each page turn, a musty smell fills my nose. My eyes land on a black and white photo of a tall, dark-haired man in a blazer and I read his name — Dingeman Bajema — my great grandfather. Here, I knew I had found something timeless.

From a yearbook that displayed the life of my great grandfather in 1924, to a features magazine that depicts the lives of people in 2015, Klipsun has maintained a storytelling tradition that captures life in the way it is …

The Planet, 2015, Spring, Beth Carlson, Huxley College Of The Environment, Western Washington University

The Planet

No abstract provided.

Window: The Magazine Of Western Washington University, 2015, Volume 07, Issue 02, Mary Lane Gallagher, Office Of University Communications And Marketing, Western Washington University

Window Magazine

No abstract provided.

Fiberglass Composite Repairs Presentation, Brad Fenbert, Ian Saksa

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Study of factors that affected crack propagation fracture toughness of fiberglass composite repairs, or the ability of a material to resist crack growth.

A Theory Of Luck Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Make My Own Career, Cole Paramore

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

An overview of a set of "contingency plans" and preparations for working in the music industry using a novel conception of luck.

The World Before Calculus: Historical Approaches To The Tangent Line Problem, Lindsay Skinner

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Pierre de Fermat and René Descartes were two brilliant 17th century mathematicians who have had lasting impacts on modern mathematics. Descartes laid the groundwork for the Cartesian coordinate system that is frequently employed in modern mathematics and Fermat’s last theorem vexed the mathematics community until Wiles’ proof was published in 1995. Amidst their many ground-breaking accomplishments these two men produced solutions for another mathematical problem - developing a general method to find the tangent line to a curve.

In spite of their apparent genius, neither man’s method had the lasting impact of their other works. Descartes’ and Fermat’s methods were …

Cochlear Implants: A Multi-Perspective Look At A Powerful Controversy, Ruth Tag

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

Medical advancements have progressed to the point in which new organs can be printed from machines and placed in human beings giving them years more to live. Mechanical limbs are manufactured so that amputees can compete in the Olympic games. People who are born with a physical disability may be able to compensate through medical or surgical interventions, allowing for wider participation in society. These medical advancements challenge the way we define disability and more importantly how we define what is normal. For this paper, normal, or typical, will be defined as a person without a physical characteristic deviating from …

Western Educational Longitudinal Study (Wels) Baseline Survey Of Transfer Students Entering Western In The Fall, 2014, Descriptive Statistics, John M. Krieg, Beth Hartsoch, Chris Stark, Office Survey Research, Western Washington University

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

The WELS Baseline Survey of Transfers Entering Western in the Fall, 2014 (Transfer Survey) is the companion survey to the Office of Survey Research’s (OSR) survey of incoming freshmen. Together, these surveys elicit information from students prior to the start of their Western academic careers and provide an initial contact in a longitudinal survey design that follows students through graduation and into their initial years as alumni. The Transfer Survey is designed with three purposes in mind: (1) to provide baseline observations of students prior to the Western experience that can be used to forecast and enhance student success; (2) …

Crowding New Public Management Off The University’S Horizon Of Expectations, Michael Schapira

Journal of Educational Controversy

This article is a response to Asger Sørensen’s vivid example of how neo-liberal university reform has subjected Danish universities to New Public Management. Sørensen effectively shows the noxious effects of NPM by discussing the infamous Koldau case, where newly empowered rectors, who served as centralized arbiters of university affairs, superseded academic decision-making. He concludes that one reason these cases have not been met with resistance by faculty is that they are paralyzed by radically conflicting normative visions of the university. In this article I respond to Sørensen by suggesting that conflicting normative visions need not be a disempowering condition and …

Western Educational Longitudinal Study (Wels) Baseline Survey Of Freshmen Entering Western In The Fall, 2014, Descriptive Statistics, John M. Krieg, Beth Hartsoch, Chris Stark, Office Of Survey Research, Western Washington University

Office of Institutional Effectiveness

The Fall, 2014 Baseline Survey of Freshmen Entering Western (Freshmen Survey) continues the Office of Survey Research’s (OSR) efforts to collect information on all students prior to the start of their academic careers at Western Washington University. This survey represents the initial contact in a longitudinal process that makes inquiries of students at the end of their sophomore year, when they graduate from the university, and one to two years after graduation.

The Freshmen Survey is designed with three purposes in mind: (1) to provide baseline observations of students prior to their Western experience which can be used to forecast …

Transfer Of Learning For Health Care Workers, Sandra Ratcliff Daffron, Shelley Moore, Tasha Chicovsky

Adult & Higher Education

This study of health care workers who are nurses, medical assistants, administrators or team coordinators, demonstrates that while the workers responded positively to an optional training program, they reported they still needed additional support in order to transfer the new information into their practice. The 16 health care workers in this study are expected to continually update their skills, knowledge and abilities and then transfer or use the information in their work. Health care educators participating in this study assumed if the training program is well planned, the workers will transfer the information to their practice. Findings indicate that if …

Klipsun Magazine, 2015, Volume 45, Issue 04 - Winter, Carina Linder Jimenez

Klipsun Magazine

One of my favorite novelists, James Joyce, once wrote, “I am tomorrow, or some future day, what I establish today. I am today what I established yesterday or some previous day.” These two sentences speak to the ongoing reality that is a person’s life.

Everyday people are looking forward toward a change or looking back at what they once needed. We live in a world that is perpetually unsatisfied but also entrenched with hope. To reach a world people want to live in they may choose to stand silently in a demonstration, or rush head first and fists crashing into …

How Accurate Are Physics Students In Evaluating Changes In Their Understanding?, Therese Claire, Tija L. Tippett, Andrew Boudreaux

Physics & Astronomy

An assessment question involving Newton’s 2nd law was administered in a physics course for preservice elementary teachers before and again after instruction. The posttest included a prompt asking students to describe the specific ways their thinking changed. Student reasoning was coded for physics content accuracy; many students exhibited changes from primitive, experientially-based reasoning to more formal reasoning. Students' self-reported reflections were then compared to the differences in the pre- and posttest codes. We find that many students do not identify substantive changes in their reasoning, while other students reflect at only a surface level. We also find that some students …

Urban Teachers Engaging In Critical Talk: Navigating Deficit Discourse And Neoliberal Logics, Heidi Pitzer

Journal of Educational Controversy

This article examines urban teachers’ critiques—their critical talk—as moments of agency, and as potential, but tenuous, avenues for transformation. The article draws on data from a qualitative interpretive study examining the complexities of urban teachers’ work. This research begins from a perspective that is attentive to and critical of both (a) the racialized deficit discourse, a predominant framework in urban schools—often taken up by urban teachers—that constructs poor urban youth and youth of color as deficient, as objects in need of control and correction; and (b) neoliberal approaches to education, particularly the market-based, audit culture logics and …

Challenging The Deficit Model And The Pathologizing Of Children: Envisioning Alternative Models, Lorraine Kasprisin

Journal of Educational Controversy

This issue of the Journal of Educational Controversy focuses on a theme that has been touched on in some of our earlier issues as well as discussed on our blog. See especially the article by Curt Dudley-Marling, “Return of the Deficit,” in our winter 2007 issue of the journal. Curt later engaged in a conversation on this topic with another author, Paul Thomas, in an exchange on our blog that extended from November 2014 to January 2015. Because we conceive this journal as a conversation over time, we thought that it was time to return to the topic and devote …

To Patricia F. Carini: A Dedication, Susan Donnelly

Journal of Educational Controversy

When I first visited the Prospect Center in North Bennington, Vermont in 1984 and met Pat Carini, there were several things that struck me right away about the setting: The children were active and engaged in making things; the Center was a lively community of thinkers involving children and adults in a variety of ways; and I was welcomed as an active participant from the outset. It was a bustling place in which to observe and listen and contemplate. At that point, Prospect was two decades old; it had already matured into an organization with a recognizable philosophy and outlook; …

Resisting The “Single Story”, Ellen Schwartz

Journal of Educational Controversy

I first came in contact with The Prospect School and Center in 1984. I had just completed my first year of teaching and, at the recommendation of a professor from graduate school, I signed up for a Summer Institute. I had little idea what I was getting into, and when I arrived I discovered that many of the other participants had connections to Prospect’s methodology through participation in local inquiry groups. We read and discussed books like Ernest Schachtel’s Metamorphosis (1959) and Edith Cobb’s The Ecology of the Imagination in Childhood (1977). Though my grasp of this material was tenuous …