2023 Great Expectations Spring Faculty Conference: Education For Humanity, Academic Affairs

Spring Great Expectation Faculty Conference

The 2023 Great Expectations Spring Faculty Conference featured a speech by keynote speaker, Tamara Bilous, Professor of English, Rivne State University, Ukraine.

Professor Tamara Bilous is Educator in Residence at Otterbein University for spring semester (2023). While affiliated with Otterbein, she has engaged in professional development opportunities in the areas of multicultural education and ESL instruction with support from Professor Diane Ross and Erin Johnson.

She joins Otterbein while continuing her teaching and research responsibilities as a Professor of English at Rivne State University of the Humanities, in Rivne, Ukraine. Dr. Bilous is fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian, and …

Promoting Teacher Wellbeing: A Book Study, Katy Cooper

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project is to present a professional development curriculum that promotes teacher wellbeing through a book study. The curriculum was developed considering the following research question: How can a book study be used to support strategies for teacher wellbeing? The frameworks used to answer the research question and create the curriculum were PLC Book Study Guide (FLDOE, n.d.) and Professional Book Study (UFT Teacher Center, n.d.). The proposed book study is planned to take place over a six-month period and includes four meetings. A list of pre-selected books that promote teacher wellbeing, a sample book study invitation, …

Unlocking The Doors To Engagement And Accessibility: A Curriculum Development For Second Grade Learners In Social Studies, Jeanette Mcnair

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

The goal of this project is to create a second-grade Social Studies curriculum that increases engagement and provides accessibility to all students. The intent is to pull from the instructional frameworks of Universal Design for Learning developed by CAST, Project-Based Learning by The Buck Institute and differentiation by Carol Ann Tomlinson. The following research question was used to propel forward the goal of this project: How can a second grade Social Studies unit unlock student engagement and universal accessibility by applying three educational frameworks? This question was answered by literature research on the topics of engagement and accessibility followed by …