Education Commons^™

Supporting Faculty In Learning, Adopting, And Embracing Oers, Kimberly Johnson, Carrie Lewis Miller, Karen Pikula

IT Solutions Publications

Minnesota State, a public system of 7 universities and 30 colleges serving nearly 400,000 students, has partnered with the Open Textbook Network (OTN) since 2014 to deliver training to nearly 300 faculty to OTN and the need, purpose, and possibilities of OER use in the classroom. Many of these faculty have gone on to peer review one or more texts housed in the Open Textbook Library. While there is still need for these basics, there is also growing interest in aiding faculty to move beyond reviewing existing OERs to adopting, redesigning courses, and even authoring their own open texts. To …

An Examination Of Fourth-Grade Teachers’ Trade Book Selection, Kristin M. Norman

Master of Education Research Theses

Children’s trade books are a pervasive force in elementary school classrooms. Teachers utilize these trade books for various instructional purposes. Research studies revealed that teachers’ selection of children’s trade books is a complex process involving many factors. This study examined the factors that influenced three fourth-grade public school teachers’ selection of trade books for classroom instruction. Each teacher met one of these criteria: five years or less of teaching experience, six to 15 years of experience, and 16 years or more of experience. Interviews were conducted with each teacher to determine the trade books they selected for teaching purposes and …

Comparative Analyses Of Discourse In Specialized Stem School Classes, Colby Tofel-Grehl, Carolyn M. Callahan, Louis S. Nadelson

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

The authors detail the discourse patterns observed within mathematics and science classes at specialized STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) high schools. Analyses reveal that teachers in mathematics classes tended to engage their students in authoritative discourse while teachers in science classes tended to engage students in dialogic discourse. The authors examined variations in the type of discourse in relationship to the discipline being taught, the educational level of the teacher, and course requirements were also explored.

Superintendent Leadership In Small, Rural Minnesota Public Schools, Timothy Plath

Doctorate in Education

The purpose of the research was to investigate the leadership skills of rural Minnesota superintendents alongside the academic achievement of the school district. Through the correlates of school leadership espoused by Waters and Marzano, this research analyzed the leadership characteristics of the superintendents in those districts and the level of educational excellence achieved under them.

A multiple case study methodology was used to study nine rural Minnesota school districts and superintendents. Through a written survey, this study considered collaborative goal setting, nonnegotiable goals for academic achievement, board alignment with district goals, monitoring achievement and instruction, and allocating resources to support …