Education Commons^™

Evaluating The Way Forward In Online Student Engagement., Patricia Schmaltz, Julia Carpenter, Dan J. Petersen

Publications

Several factors make up the successful instructional experience in online higher education classes. With the advanced offerings in online learning, educational institutions are compelled to innovate all aspects of their online classes (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). The innovation can lead to a higher caliber learning environment. This paper advances a simple model for Instructors to follow, an Instructional Online Model (IOM), with the intent of improving student engagement, knowledge retention, leading to increased business profit. Instructors who model the discussed techniques may find increased student’s satisfaction with their courses, leading to the students pursuing further online education. Technological advancement …

Reading Recovery In South Carolina: 2017-2018 State Report, C. C. Bates, Maryann Mcbride, Mike Moss, Michelle Cater

Publications

Developed by New Zealand educator Dr. Marie M. Clay, Reading Recovery® is a short-term early intervention for first grade students who have the lowest achievement on measures of literacy outcomes. Students meet individually with a specially trained teacher for 30 minutes each day for a period of 12-20 weeks. The goal during this period is for children to develop a network of reading and writing strategies so they may independently perform within the average range of their class.

Science Education Trajectories: Charting The Course For Teachers, Educators, Researchers, And Policymakers, Julie Luft, Brooke A. Whitworth, Amanda Berry, Shannon Navy, Vanessa Kind

Publications

Science teacher professional development is complex. Phases in a teacher’s career necessitate different professional learning opportunities. Furthermore, knowledge bases, practices, and attributes need to be cultivated during these times. For science teachers, it is not always evident how to link professional learning opportunities progressively toward different outcomes, including being a department head, teacher leader, curriculum developer, or even master teacher. In order to spur a discussion about purposeful teacher learning, we use a theory of transformative learning to examine research pertaining to the professional learning of science teachers. The result is a conceptual framework that suggests that teachers should build …

Nurturing Faculty Buy-In For Top-Down Mandates, Emily K. Faulconer

Publications

Higher education is a bureaucracy. As such, colleges and universities require strong leaders but they also must have committed faculty members. Shared governance and transparency - arguably empty buzz words – have definitions that will vary based on who you ask. Despite the minefield, these terms are relevant when discussing change within academia.

Exploring Preschool-Age Children’S Ability To Write Letters, Ying Guo, Allison Breit-Smith, Anna H. Hall, Carrie Biales

Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the letter-writing ability of preschool children aged 3-5 years and the relationship between early literacy skills (i.e., alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and name writing) and letter-writing ability. Thirty-six children were individually assessed on letter writing and early literacy skills thought to be important for letter writing success: letter-name knowledge, letter-sound knowledge, beginning sound awareness, and name writing (i.e., writing names using letters or letter-like forms). Results showed that preschool children demonstrated substantial abilities to write upper-case and lower-case letters and children's age was significantly associated with letter-writing ability. Children's lower-case letter-name knowledge, …

A Better Way Of Farming, Stephanie Rains, Brooke A. Whitworth

Publications

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Review Of Changing Curriculum Through Stories: Character Education For Ages 10-12, Aaron D. Clevenger

Publications

This is Dr. Clevenger's book review of Marc Levitt's book, Changing Curriculum Through Stories, published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2017. ISBN: 978-1-4758-3591-5.

Breaking Down Traditional Classroom Walls And Studying Spacesuits Abroad, Ryan L. Kobrick, Jessica Mckee Ph.D., Sue A. Macchiarella, Angelica Gould

Publications

The spacesuit curriculum under development by the Spacesuit Utilization of Innovative Technology Laboratory (S.U.I.T. Lab) in the Spaceflight Operations program of the Applied Aviation Sciences Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has the unique challenge of educating non-engineering students about extremely technical space systems, highlighted by spacesuits. CSO 399: “Spacesuits and Human Spaceflight Operations” course, taught in Greece each summer, introduces students to human spaceflight topics. This unique offering takes advantage of the clear water visibility in the Aegean Sea with practical underwater demonstrations of space operations. Students live in confined quarters on a sailboat for two weeks to simulate operations …

Field Notes: Visions, Missions, And Strategic Plans 101, Marie-Jose’ Caro, Edward F. Trombley Iii

Publications

This article revolves around the importance of strategic planning within academic offices and divisions, and how difficult it is to balance day to day work load with long-term strategic planning.

Who Am I? The Identity Crisis Of A Researching Academic Developer, Cristina Cottom, Angela Atwell

Publications

According to social identity theory, academic developers experience role conflict. This struggle stems from responsibilities that fall into various professional categories. An academic developer is both staff and faculty; both developer and researcher. These differing identities often have contradictory purposes, leaving the academic developer conflicted. In this poster session, two researching academic developers explore the challenges and benefits of this identity crisis.

Engage Engineering Students In Homework: Attribution Of Low Completion And Suggestions For Interventions, Wenshu Li, Richard M. Bennett, Taimi Olsen, Rachel Mccord

Publications

Homework is an important out-of-class activity, crucial to student success in engineering courses. However, in a first-semester freshman engineering course, approximately one-fourth of students were completing less than 80% of the homework. The purpose of this study was to examine students' attribution of their low completion of homework and suggest corresponding interventions to help students with different attribution types. A qualitative approach was applied using semi-structured interviews for data collection. The interviewees were students who were on track to complete less than 80% of the homework. Students in the study attributed their low rates of completion to multiple factors. We …

Institutional Barriers To Black And Latino Male Collegians’ Success In Engineering And Related Stem Fields, Leroy Long Iii, Trevion S. Henderson, Michael Steven Williams Dr,

Publications

Diverse people and perspectives are needed to spur innovation and tackle societal problems. A wealth of untapped intellectual and economic potential exists among historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups – including Blacks and Latinos – who have not had equitable access to engineering and related STEM fields. For Blacks and Latinos who are accepted into engineering and related STEM fields, they face a number of barriers to their success which lead to low retention and graduation rates. In historically male-dominated fields such as engineering and related STEM disciplines, Black and Latino men have remained underrepresented at the student and faculty ranks. To …

Performing Wechat Recording Tasks In Mixed-Ability Study Abroad Content Courses, Hong Zhan, Leeann Chen

Publications

This case study explores the use of WeChat’s recording tool as a solution to the challenges of teaching mixed-ability students in content courses offered in study abroad programs. The tool successfully reduced anxiety and boredom, created opportunities for students to engage in personalized learning tasks in real time, enabled instructors to provide individualized feedback, and helped course curriculums stay on track. Data was collected from an online survey, email interview, and students’ recordings of topics and instructor’s feedback. The study determined that using WeChat’s recording function to complete linguistic tasks is a useful instructional tool for a mixed-ability classes in …

Motivating Students To Learn A Programming Language: Applying A Second Language Acquisition Approach In A Blended Learning Environment, Lulu Sun, Christina Frederick, Caroline Liron, Li Ding, Lei Gu, Andrew Calvin Griggs Ii, Paula Sanjuan Espejo

Publications

Learning a programming language typically involves acquisition of new vocabulary, punctuation, and grammatical structures to communicate with a computer. In other words, learning a programming language is like learning a human language. A recent study showed that programmers use language regions of the brain when understanding source code and found little activation in other regions of the brain devoted to mathematical thinking. Even though programming code involved mathematical operations, conditionals, and loop iterations, researchers found that programming had less in common with mathematics and more in common with human language.

If At First You Do Not Succeed: The Student Benefits Of Multiple Trials On Summative Assessments, Emily Faulconer, John Griffith, Hayden Frank

Publications

Learning management systems offer flexibility in assessments. In Canvas, questions can be pulled from pools, customizing each quiz. Canvas also allows unique feedback options. Unique feedback can be programmed for students whether they got the question correct or incorrect. Feedback can even be customized based on which wrong answer was selected. Canvas also allows multiple attempts on assessments, with various options for awarding credit (final attempt, best score, average score, etc.). Combining immediate feedback with multiple attempts is a power - yet underexplored - tool.

From Sensors To Knowledge: The Challenge Of Training The Next Generation Of Data Analysts, Sonya A. H. Mcmullen, Troy Henderson, Scott Burgess, Patti J. Clark, David Ison

Publications

With the advent of commercial-off-the-shelf sensors for use in a variety of applications, integration with analytical software tools, and expansion of available archived datasets, there is a critical need to address the problem of transforming resultant data into comprehensible, actionable information for decision-makers through rigorous analysis. In previous research the participating authors have emphasized that users are often faced with the situation in which they are “drowning in a sea of data” but still “thirsting for knowledge”. The availability of analysis software, tools, and techniques provide opportunities for information collection of ever increasing complexity, but the need for the training …

Why Do You Go To College? Shaping Student Beliefs And Success. A Dissertation Summary., Mitchell Colver

Publications

Students enter the realm of higher education with a wide variety of beliefs about the purposes of attending university, which often relate to or reveal their various motivations for pursuing a post-secondary education. Research demonstrates that some student motivations align more fully with intrinsic factors, such as the love of learning or quest for excellence, while other student motivations align with extrinsic factors, such as vocational preparedness and monetary incentives (Vallerand et al., 1989). Using a Bourdieusienne lens, this study sought to place these student motivations in the larger sociocultural context and argue for greater opportunities for democratic equity in …

Reclaiming Space For Democracy In Teacher Education: Preparing Teachers In Current Contexts Of Neoliberal Accountability, Noelle A. Paufler

Publications

No abstract provided.

Traditional And Digital Writing, Beth Beschorner, Anna H. Hall

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No abstract provided.

Putting Students In The Front And Center: Exploring And Refining Student Centered Learning Techniques, Michelle M. Bennett, Anne Boettcher, Brent D. Bowen, Tonje Crossley, Dawn Groh, Tyrone Groh, Timothy B. Holt

Publications

Student-centered learning (SCL) represents a growing trend in higher education that emphasizes active learning strategies in lieu of more traditional passive strategies such as lecture. This study explores different techniques under the rubric of SCL to evaluate the utility of selected tools to enhance student knowledge and student learning. Specifically, this study tests the use of student portfolios, flipped classrooms, digital learning strategies, and problem-based learning to enhance a student’s learning experience. Originating as a collaborative effort from a university faculty learning community, this study includes a multi-disciplinary look at the effects of SCL approaches in the fields of aviation, …

Updated Guidelines, Updated Curriculum: The Gaise College Report And Introductory Statistics For The Modern Student, Beverly Wood, Megan Mocko, Michelle Everson, Nicholas J. Horton, Paul Velleman

Publications

Since the 2005 American Statistical Association's (ASA) endorsement of the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) College Report, changes in the statistics field and statistics education have had a major impact on the teaching and learning of statistics. We now live in a world where "Statistics - the science of learning from data - is the fastest-growing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) undergraduate degree in the United States," according to the ASA, and where many jobs demand an understanding of how to explore and make sense of data. In light of these new reports and other …

A Review To Weigh The Pros And Cons Of Online, Remote, And Distance Science Laboratory Experiences, Emily Faulconer, Amy B. Gruss

Publications

The effectiveness of traditional face to face labs versus non-traditional online, remote, or distance labs is difficult to assess due to the lack of continuity in the literature between terminology, standard evaluation metrics, and the use of a wide variety non-traditional laboratory experience for online courses. This narrative review presents a representative view of the existing literature in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of non-traditional laboratories and to highlight the areas of opportunity for research. Non-traditional labs are increasingly utilized in higher education. The research indicates that these non-traditional approaches to a science laboratory experience are as effective …

Task 10: Research An Alternative Instructional Design Model, Steven Hampton, Jan G. Neal, Luis A. Ramirez, Dustin R. Talkington, Jma Solutions, Inc.

Publications

Under authority of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Center of Excellence (COE) Technical Training Human Performance (TTHP) Task 10 research team has prepared a comprehensive technical report and an executive summary for the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) concerning the instructional development (ID) of occupational education and training for Air Traffic (AT) controllers and Technical Operations (TO) technicians. Research included:

• Front-end analysis of available FAA courses and government furnished information (GFI), including course-development documentation and associated guidance, policies, and regulations.

• Structured and semi-structured data-gathering techniques in cooperation with Instructional Systems Specialists (ISS), ISS Managers, and Requirements personnel.

• …

Informing Online Doctoral Course Development Using Student Feedback, Haydee M. Cuevas, Jan G. Neal

Publications

This paper describes the initial development and continuous improvement of DAV 715: Human Factors in Aviation, an online post graduate course in the Ph.D. in Aviation program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), from the perspectives of the subject matter expert (SME)/course instructor and the instructional designer/course builder as well as with consideration of student feedback. The process was guided by the 3-Phase Design (3PD) model developed by Sims and Jones (2003). The first section of the paper presents a definition of instructional design and development and salient instructional design challenges. This section also includes descriptions of the Ph.D. in Aviation …

New Adjunct Faculty Outreach: Making A Connection, Cristina Cottom, Angela Atwell, Sara Ombres

Publications

All areas of education, faculty development included, are required to demonstrate their impact on learning. The Rothwell Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence-Worldwide (CTLE-W) provides resources to support new faculty; however, participation and utilization of these resources varies. This causal-comparative study sought to determine if targeted communication from CTLE-W to adjunct faculty during their first term teaching would increase utilization of CTLE-W resources. Results from this study showed that new adjunct faculty are more likely to continue seeking assistance from CTLE-W to ensure they are providing the best learning experience possible if they are contacted during their first term.

Supporting Preschoolers’ Writing Identities In The Scribbling Phase, Andrea Miller Emerson, Anna H. Hall

Publications

The early emergent stage of writing consists of drawing and scribbling. This article provides a rationale for teachers to reframe their dispositions toward scribbling and reshape their interactions with writers in the early emergent stage. These teaching tips were derived from the authors’ study of teacher, parent, and young students’ perceptions of scribbling and highlight the importance of positive teacher interactions regarding the scribbling phase of early emergent writers to maintain students’ self-efficacy, motivation, and writing identity in preschool classrooms. Practical strategies, positive verbal responses, and engaging questions are provided for teachers to acknowledge and encourage scribbling as early writing.

Research Benefits For Scholarly Authors Being Published On A Public Forum, Hunter M. Watson, Brent D. Bowen, Timothy B. Holt, Jacqueline R. Luedtke

Publications

The previous construct of research was focused on social media platforms as a benefactor in broadcasting towards a global audience with non-academic professions. Following along the same ideology, this research directs the attention to a pertained audience in academic profession.

•Embry-Riddle is the host of Scholarly Commons which collects the research of authors (faculty members), and assists in developing a digital portfolio. This portfolio creates metric measurements on a dashboard to indicate where downloads are occurring, and aids in providing current information pertaining to the authors’ publication. •In this case, the publication of the National Airline Quality Rating (AQR) ( …

Adjunct Faculty Training, Mentoring And Evaluation At The Department Level, John Griffith

Publications

Improve the learning experience for students by improving performance of adjunct faculty. Learn the strategies and tools used by an award-winning university to support adjunct faculty.

Exploring Practices Of Science Coordinators Participating In Targeted Professional Development, Brooke A. Whitworth, Jennifer L. Maeng, Randy L. Bell

Publications

This study describes how district science coordinators supported teachers and implemented professional development in their districts following participation in the Science Coordinator Academy. This qualitative descriptive case study comprised three district science coordinators from three districts in a mid‐Atlantic state, as well as principals and teachers from those districts. Data sources, including observations, surveys, artifacts, and interviews, were analyzed using the framework method (Gale, Heath, Cameron, Rashid, & Redwood, 2013). District context, science coordinator background, and collaboration were salient factors that influenced coordinator practices and coordinators’ abilities to impact teacher change. We hypothesize that the development of a coaching relationship, …

Ten Years Of The Real World Design Challenge, Robert W. Deters, Brent Terwilliger, S.C. Kleinke, Ralph K. Coppola, Jeff Coppola

Publications

Preparing students to be successful in STEM careers is important to foster continued growth in the US and the world. The Real World Design Challenge is a high school design competition focused on the area of aviation. Students work in teams to solve a real world problem using professional tools. The 2018 challenge marks the tenth anniversary of this program. The first students to compete in this competition are now in the work force. This paper describes the background of RWDC, the different challenges that have been used throughout its ten years, the current precision agriculture challenges using UAS, and …