Educational Methods Commons^™

Dynamic Online Discussions That Work, Lauri Deruiter-Willems, Kathleen Phillips

Faculty Research and Creative Activity

Tired of short, insignificant discussion posts? We will share our tips and suggestions for developing meaningful interactions between your students in online discussion boards in lower and upper division courses. Our system allows for active learning through instructor-led or student-led conversations by incorporating procedures to ensure that dialogue is related to the course content, empowers students to engage in critical thinking and persuasive writing, and also provides a manageable system of evaluation for instructors.

Creating Order Out Of The Chaos Of Differentiated Lesson Planning For The Novice Teacher Candidate, J. Dusteen Knotts Ph.D.

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Current classroom settings are more diverse than ever before. Preservice teacher candidates must learn the principles of differentiation and how to apply them to lesson preparation. Lesson planning is multi-faceted and this paper offers an integral tool to promote differentiated lesson planning to the novice teacher. These principles are presented in a concise, foundational chart aligning the components with Blooms Cognitive Taxonomy, classroom activities, assessment, scoring guides, and student grouping. Understanding of these aligned concepts sets the foundation to facilitate differentiated lesson planning.

"Is This Something We Can Do?": Exploring The Possibilities Of Faculty/Librarian Collaboration, Patrick Wohlmut, Kena Avila

Faculty & Staff Presentations

The Jereld R. Nicholson Library’s teaching focus follows a strong introductory model, being well integrated in the first-year seminar classes and introductions to the major, though not necessarily across the upper division classes. This presentation tells the story of a collaboration during the course of an upper division education class at Linfield College in the fall of 2016. In addition to presenting some of the research on departmental faculty/librarian collaboration, Patrick Wohlmut and Kena Avila discussed the unique factors that made this collaboration one that was fulfilling, useful, and educational for both the teachers and the students. Though the class …

Arts Integration: The Missing Link, Samuel G. Cochran

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many of our K-12 schools have experienced various challenges in order to narrow the achievement gap that addresses academic improvement for all students. Arts integration offers a foundation for learning that can improve student achievement. Teaching academic content through the arts provides students with opportunities to engage in 21st Century skills that promote critical thinking, collaboration, creativeness and communication. This project examines how arts integration can improve student learning outcomes and how teacher preparedness and ongoing support contributes to it being an effective framework for educators. The researcher was able to conduct observations and interviews with teachers and write and …

Modernizing The Integrated Approach: A Dynamic Teaching Method Using Podcasts And Multimedia Content, Justin T. Hughes

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project explores ways to create a curriculum in which multimedia and technology such as podcasts, streaming video, and online articles are utilized effectively in order to develop academic skills for adult international students, specifically those with the goal of attending an American university. Through this integrated approach that combines all of the essential language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing), students will build confidence and thus become empowered and individualized learners. They will be able to attain mastery of an essential academic skill set that will assist them in attaining their goals in many different realms.

This project engages …

Female Role Models In Bukusu Folktales: Education At The Mother’S Hearth, Namulundah Florence

Publications and Research

Folktales serve a descriptive, as well as prescriptive role, by consistently depicting societal and cultural norms. Sexist portrayals sanction the marginality of Bukusu women, particularly when these reflect prevailing gender roles and expectations. However, contests over identity and representation are as ancient as (unwritten) history. The analysis of tales From Our Mothers’ Hearths: Bukusu Folktales and Proverbs, offers a wide range of role models for women; some of which depict female agency in exacting circumstances (Florence, N., 2005. From our Mothers’ Hearths: Bukusu Folktales and Proverbs. NJ: Africa World Pres/The Red Sea Press). Further, females as narrators, protagonists, and the …

Getting Started With Blended Learning Workshop, Jennifer L. Spohrer, Elizabeth Reilly, Jancy Munguia, Esther Chiang

Blended Learning in the Liberal Arts Conference

New to blended learning? Interested in the idea of blended a course but not sure how to get started? This workshop is for you. We will focus on two questions:

• Why blend a course?
• How do I get started?

Prior to the workshop, participants will be asked to review materials related to the first question, with ideas for improving learning outcomes, increasing engagement, and incorporating highly effective pedagogical practices into a course through blended learning. We will discuss these ideas in person to kick-off the workshop, and then participants will work individually and in small groups to identify pedagogical goals …

A Collaborative Approach To Addressing Health Information Literacy Among High School Students, Sharon A. Weiner, Lalatendu Acharya, Kathryn Dilworth, Laura Henzl, Lisa Kirkham, Clare Lutgen, Bethany Mcgowan, David R. Walker

Purdue P-12 Networking Summit & Poster Session

No abstract provided.

Indiana Science Initiative Increases Istep+ Passing Rates, Paul Ainslie

Purdue P-12 Networking Summit & Poster Session

No abstract provided.

Student Participation In Coil Programs And Its Impact On Study Abroad Enrollment, Ashley E. Reed

Capstone Collection

This capstone paper delves into and exposes the impact of participating in the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) program has on students’ decision to study abroad. Focusing on State University of New York (SUNY) institutions, a survey was administered to 25 students who participated in a course which employed COIL principles or pedagogy in its design with the primary intent of discovering: 1) the demographics of who enrolled in the COIL courses, 2) why they enrolled, and 3) if their experience had any impact on their interest to study abroad. The survey employed methods which were largely quantitative in nature, …

Reflect, React, Exchange: A Cultural Competency Co-Curriculum, Derrick Lewis

Capstone Collection

Cultural competency serves as key component to medical training and education and increasing interest in international health experiences denotes a recent need to respond to globalized health and populations. Reflect, React, Exchange (RRE) is a co-curriculum aims to provide a revised and integrated framework and foster awareness via experience, exchange, reflection, and dialogue at the Clinica de Familia La Romana in La Romana, Dominican Republic. RRE utilizes theories which are appropriate to the transformative learning aims and integral curricular activities of the CFLR Global Health Experience, an 8-week, global health internship experience for health science. It provides students with the …

Enhancing English Language Proficiency In Taiwan’S Heterogeneous Efl Classrooms Through Informed Cooperative Learning Strategies, Donald S. Jacobson

Master's Projects and Capstones

ABSTRACT This Field Project acknowledges the high prevalence of heterogeneous classes in

Taiwan’s EFL language schools and, additionally, seeks to empower EFL teachers by providing a solution for said imbalance. Because of the misinformed EFL guidelines that have influenced Taiwan’s language-in education policies, the stakeholders of Taiwan’s EFL classrooms-e.g. administrators, students, parents, etc.- have not directly addressed the complex issues that have contributed to the problematic heterogeneous classroom situation (as cited in Chen, 2013, p. 159). For this reason, my Field Project seeks to empower and educate foreign NEST teachers who are working in Taiwan so that they may contribute …

The City From Above, Guadalupe Astorga Contreras

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

The city of Tijuana, Mexico has become a second home to many LMU students through programs like De Colores, which introduce students to issues of immigration, poverty, and education. The city varies from L.A.-style skyscrapers and paved roads to shacks along dirt paths. This image shows some of the diversity and growth of the city as it continues to develop, and provides a different perspective on the crowded communities that make up Tijuana.

Tourist To My Own Culture, Guadalupe Astorga Contreras

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

After nine years of living in the U.S. and staying away from her cultural homeland of Mexico, photographer Astorga returned to some of the places she remembered visiting as a child in her native country. Throughout the trip, the unthinkable change from intimacy to unfamiliarity was clear. These pictures show that progression and invite the viewer to become a tourist alongside Astorga as she visits a place she once considered home.

Only 45 Minutes Away, Guadalupe Astorga Contreras

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Being a part of an immigrant family, photographer Astorga has not had the chance to travel much even within her home state of California. Trips through class, clubs and events sponsored by Loyola Marymount University have provided her with the opportunity to visit places like Catalina Island right off the coast of L.A. and see things she and her family had only talked and dreamed of.

Hereisthefamilymotherfatherdickandjane: An Analysis Of Parenting And The Dick And Jane Readers In Morrison’S The Bluest Eye, Rachel Roseman

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

First-generation college student Rachel Roseman has found the American educational and cultural systems to privilege the white, upper to middle classes. As Toni Morrison demonstrates in The Bluest Eye, those who do not fit this mold often lack educational support and have to learn how to navigate cultural systems on their own. Unlike the character of Pecola, who features in the following essay, Roseman had a strong community and family who supported her decision to attend college and, as a result, achieved success.

Understanding School, Tiffany P. Ta

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

As a first-generation college student in the Silicon Valley, author Tiffany Ta grew up in a high-achieving academic culture that she only really began to unpack and understand in college. Upon being exposed to more diverse cultures and backgrounds, Ta began to realize that her upbringing was vastly different than many others, and that some of her classmates' behaviors were unnatural. This poem reflects how she now feels about the experience looking back.

Did You?, Tiffany P. Ta

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This poem is a reflection on first-generation college student Tiffany Ta's family heritage. The piece focuses on the author's grandmother, who Ta never really got to know.

Sheep In A Grotto, Laken D. Brooks

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Many first-generation college students undergo feelings of inadequacy in what is known as "impostor syndrome." This piece of fiction is born from such feelings of identity confusion and formation. The story functions as a written snapshot of an otherwise normal teenager whose life is threatened by a sexual assault; she faces and overcomes trauma at the cusp of her coming of age. Brooks' tale incorporates a raw focus upon the protagonist's ability to persevere and thrive in the face of violence. Ultimately, this text transcends a single character's journey into womanhood to reflect a message of hope and growth.

The Beauty Within Us, Areli C. Hernandez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This piece of prose, inspired by Chapter 23 of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, tells the story of a simple, yet vivacious get-together of migrant Latino workers, exploring the beauty within us--members of the migrant farm worker community.