Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Middle Level Teacher Recruitment: Challenging Deficit Narratives, Christina Lunsmann, Jori S. Beck, Kaavonia Hinton, Bettie F. Perry

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Perceptions of middle level learners vary, and unfortunately, some are deficit-oriented, labeling young adolescents as “hormonal” and “erratic” without a deep understanding of their emotional and physical development or the knowledge and skills that they bring to a classroom. In this paper, we provide empirical evidence for this deficit narrative—including the marginalization of middle level learners—from interviews conducted with teacher candidates in elementary, middle, secondary, and K-12 programs in two different states. Three themes around perceptions of teaching middle grades students are shared: adult needs and interests, resistance to student agency, and challenging the deficit narrative. We posit that developing …

Senior Elective Communications Systems Courses As Pathways To Capstone Projects In Electrical Engineering Technology Program, Otilia Popescu, Murat Kuzlu

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In any engineering program the capstone project is the most comprehensive work completed by the students, and is regarded as the pinnacle of their engineering studies, with all their course work culminating with this major design, implementation and reporting product. Coming up with the actual topic of the project is sometimes the most difficult part of the project, especially in programs where the project topics are not solely proposed by the faculty, and they are for the student and advisor to develop together. This is especially the case of engineering technology programs, where a large percentage of students have work …

Development Of A Smart Grid Course In An Electrical Engineering Technology Program, Murat Kuzlu, Otilia Popescu, Vukica M. Jovanovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Electric power systems courses have been traditionally offered by electrical engineering technology programs for a long time, with the main objective to introduce students to the fundamental concepts in the field of electric power systems and electrical to mechanical energy conversion. A typical electric power systems course covers a variety of topics, such as general aspects of electric power system design, electric generators, components of transmission and distribution systems, power flow analysis, system operation, and performance measures. In the last decades, electric power systems have significantly modernized alongside with requirement of improvement in system efficiency, reliability, cybersecurity, and environmental sustainability. …

Expanding A Mechanical Engineering Technology Curriculum To Include Additive Manufacturing, Hamid Eisazadeh, Mona Torabizadeh

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has become a game changer for the manufacturing industry. With growing implementation of AM in various industries, it is the responsibility of different levels of education to expose students to AM technologies and to integrate AM into their curriculum. It is well known that students who gain the skillsets of today’s industry have a better chance in getting a competitive job. In response to this need, a new senior level elective course on AM, has been developed for the first time in Old Dominion University (ODU) region in the South. The course was developed and taught by …

Lessons Learned: What The Covid-19 Global Pandemic Has Taught Us About Teaching, Technology And Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jane Roitsch, Robert L. Moore, Annemarie Horn

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

Purpose. This paper examines the impact of the abrupt transition from attending school face-to-face to participating in online learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as reported by a parent of a student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Design/methodology/approach. A phone interview was conducted with the parent of a child with ASD. The semi-structured interview focused on how the child’s family was impacted when classes shifted to virtual from face-to-face learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings. Four themes emerged from the interview. Three of these included adjustments to changes in 1) routines and roles, 2) …

Ed Talks: A Collaborative Professional Development Partnership, Jori S. Beck, J. Huntoon

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The purpose of the current manuscript is to delineate a collaborative professional development effort between Coastal City Public Schools and Ocean View University—a nascent school-university partnership. Ed Talks were created to build relationships between public school and university faculty but we have encountered challenges in implementing this effort including scheduling issues. However, the effort has been supported by teacher leadership and technology. While our partnership is still growing, Ed Talks have been a catalyst for building informal relationships between Eagle Academy and Ocean View University faculty.

Exploring Cybersecurity Education At The K-12 Level, Weiru Chen, Yuming He, Xin Tian, Wu He, E. Langran (Ed.), D. Rutledge (Ed.)

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

K-12 cybersecurity education is receiving growing attention with the growing number of cyberattacks and a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. However, there are many barriers for teachers to implement effective cybersecurity education in formal classroom environments. This study conducts a systematic literature review to examine the current state-of-the-art on K-12 cybersecurity education. Through the systematic literature review, we identified 20 closely relevant papers and recognized that a well-designed curriculum in cybersecurity education at the K-12 level is strongly needed to motivate students to pursue cybersecurity pathways and careers. The challenge and suggestions of curriculum design, teaching strategy, and learning assessment are …

Lessons From The Past And Challenges For The Future: Inclusive Education For Students With Unique Needs, William Evans, Robert A. Gable, Amany Habib

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

The school-age population of students is becoming increasingly more culturally and linguistically diverse. There is mounting recognition that English Learners (EL) represent a unique group of students who have special educational and linguistic needs. This article considered the needs of learners with diverse special needs such as (a) learning and behavior challenges and (b) English Learners identified as students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE). We highlighted some potential lessons to be learned from past-to-present efforts to serve students with behavior problems. Selected evidence-based practices were featured that are applicable to learners with special needs, thereby supporting the development …

Engineering Technology Programs Outreach To K-12, Alok Verma

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The Engineering Technology (ET) degree emphasizes hands-on application and implementation. Graduates holding this degree play a valuable role in economically growing the US and keeping it internationally competitive. However, “engineering and engineering technology, are widely misunderstood… the public sector (employers, students, high-school counselors, politicians and the general public) needs to be educated as to the particular value of each,” according to Engineering.com [1]. The National Academy of Engineering states, “Unlike the much better-known field of engineering, engineering technology is unfamiliar to most Americans and goes unmentioned in most policy discussions about the US technical workforce. This is even though workers …

Cultivating A 'Community Of Practice' In An Educational Leadership Preparation Program: Experiences And Roles Of Adjunct Faculty, Karen Swann, Karen L. Sanzo, Jay Paredes Scribner, Michael Cromartie

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Educational leadership preparation programs increasingly rely on adjunct faculty to teach aspiring leaders. Although the percentage of adjunct faculty serving as instructors continues to grow relative to full-time, tenured faculty, the role of part-time instructors/K-12 practitioners remains confined to instruction. This study explored how one educational leadership preparation program attempted to include adjunct faculty in roles beyond teaching to include course and curriculum development, program redesign, and recruitment and marketing. Informed by the communities of practice literature, this study illustrates ways that programs can foster meaningful professional community among full- and part-time faculty in ways that contribute to program quality. …

How Instructors Can Enhance Biology Students' Motivation, Learning, And Grades Through Brief Relevance Writing And Worked-Example Interventions, Kyle R. Mara, Avi Kaplan, Michael J. Balsai, Jennifer G. Cromley, Tony Perez, Ting Dai

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

The high failure rate of students in "gateway" science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses has been a persistent problem for biology programs nationwide. Common wisdom contends that addressing this problem requires major curricular overhauls. While desirable, such large systematic changes are often expensive or impractical. We propose an alternative approach: supplementing the regular instruction with brief online modules targeting specific cognitive (learning) and motivational mechanisms. We conducted an intervention study to test the effects of different combinations of cognitive and motivational modules on undergraduate introductory biology students' learning, motivation, achievement, and intentions to remain in science. Introductory biology students …

Exploring The Relationship Between Clout And Cognitive Processing In Mooc Discussion Forums, Robert L. Moore, Cherng-Jyh Yen, F. Eamonn Powers

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between clout and cognitive processing in massive open online course (MOOC) discussion forum posts. Cognitive processing, a category variable generated by the automated text analysis tool, Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), is made up of six sub-scores (insight, causation, discrepancy, tentativeness, certainty and differentiation). Clout is a nontransparent summary variable in LIWC that can be used to understand the level of confidence conveyed in the text. Because clout is nontransparent, we do not know the algorithm used to calculate its value. To better understand this variable, this study examined cognitive …

Assessing An Academic Readiness Model In A Community College Occupational Program, Scott A. Hauert, Robert L. Moore, Quinton Nottingham

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This study assessed a localized academic readiness model that measures academic skills relevant to an occupational program and the institutional context. Enrollment in the program’s mandatory gateway course is contingent upon establishing academic readiness either: (1) possess an associate-level or higher degree; (2) achieve placement test scores that permit enrollment in college-level English composition/critical reading; or (3) complete developmental education prerequisites to permit enrollment in college-level English composition/critical reading. Using the gateway course performance for 112 students, the study explored whether any of the model’s criterions are significantly related to success in the gateway course and whether there is any …

When Failure Is An Option: A Scoping Review Of Failure States In Game-Based Learning, F. Eamonn Powers, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

As interest in the use of games and gaming elements within learning environments grows, educators and designers may find it easier to account for winning than for losing and failure. This scoping review examines the role of failure and loss within game-based instructional interventions. Because of the varied methods and relatively small number of articles directly addressing the intersection between failure and loss within game-based instructional interventions, a scoping review was undertaken. This review included 14 peer-reviewed articles which explored a range of instructional contexts implementing failure state game mechanics. We identify several key takeaways that indicate how failure state …