Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

Active Learning And Occupational Therapy Theory: A Mixed Methods Study Of A Course Redesign, Mackenzie L. Feldhacker, Diana R. Feldhacker

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

The use of theory to guide practice is what distinguishes an occupational therapist’s professional judgment and reasoning from simply technical skills. However, occupational therapists continue to lack confidence and skills in understanding application of theory to inform practice. Thus, effective course design related to theory is imperative in professional formation. This study assessed the effectiveness of a graduate-level occupational therapy theory course redesigned using andragogical, learner-centered, and active learning principles to address gaps in applying and understanding theory. A mixed methods retrospective cohort design was utilized. This included a pretest/post-test survey along with end-of-semester course and instructor evaluation. Eighty-four students …

Cohort Analysis Of Four Graduating Classes Of Occupational Therapy Students' Knowledge Of Aging, Lavona Traywick, Brittany N. Saviers, Terry Wayne Griffin, Teressa Brown

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

At the same time that the number of senior adults in the United States is steadily rising, there is also a rising shortage of allied health care professionals, including occupational therapists, to meet the current and expected needs of the senior adult population. There are national standards that all occupational therapy programs must meet; however, there is not a set national curriculum. It is assumed that students will enter their respective occupational therapy programs with a base knowledge of aging due to prerequisite requirements. To test that assumption, with Institutional Review Board approval, over four consecutive years 192 first-year, first-semester …

Service-Learning And Case-Based Learning’S Impact On Student’S Clinical Reasoning: A Repeated Measures Design Study, Gordon B. Tsubira, Traci Garrison, Sapna Chakraborty, Shana Cerny

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

Clinical reasoning is crucial for the occupational therapy profession to thrive in an ever-changing healthcare environment but is seldom isolated for explicit instruction and outcome measurement in educational course curricula. A single-factor repeated measures design study was conducted to compare the impact of didactic case-based learning and experiential service-learning on the development of the clinical reasoning of students at a midwestern public university’s entry-level Master of Occupational Therapy program. The participants were sixteen graduate occupational therapy students who had completed their foundation-level courses. Participants explored modes of clinical reasoning in occupational therapy for eight weeks (the first half of the …

“The Illusion Of Collaboration”: An Integrated Examination Of The Antecedents, Processes, And Consequences Of Online Group Work, Jill Cathleen Woods

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) presents postsecondary educators with a conundrum: how to design and support small-group activities without stifling deep and meaningful learning. The literature indicates that students are not consistently practicing higher-order cognitive activities, educators are not reliably designing or facilitating them, and/or researchers are not locating or identifying them where they are occurring. The aim of this dissertation is to explore these deficits by identifying the antecedent conditions that most affect collaboration. Specifically, I answer the question, how do learner’s prior knowledge, characteristics, and experiences manifest in their collaborative processes. Addressing a gap in the literature, this study …

Behaviors, Contextual Influences, And Consequences: Relationships That Affect Student Decision-Making Of Academic Misconduct In College, Justine A L Burnett

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Academic misconduct on college campuses is not a new challenge for higher education institutions but an old problem that has changed considerably. Student demonstrations of academic misconduct behaviors have evolved, making it difficult for institutions to consistently keep well-informed on how students cheat to effectively respond to violations of academic integrity policies. This study investigates the relationships between misbehaviors, their associated consequences, and influences to prevent, respond to, and reduce academic misconduct at a large research-intensive university.

This quantitative study uses institutional academic misconduct reports between 2017 and 2020 and student surveys to examine significant relationships in the decision-making process …

Inclusiveness In Teaching : Aligning Culturally Relevant Journal Articles With Course Content, Jacimaria Batista

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

The practice focuses on Inclusiveness in Water/wastewater Engineering Teaching. Upon reviewing the ethnic (Fig. below) and gender diversity (24% women) of her 57- student course on water/wastewater treatment, the Instructor replaced previously assigned articles with the reading of articles focusing on water issues affecting minoritized communities in the U.S (see references).The goal was to make students aware of water/wastewater issues facing minority communities in the US. Often, the media portrays Africa or South America as places where safe water is not available, ignoring the needs of minoritized communities in the US. A second goal was to evaluate the interest of …

Determinants Of Students’ Intention To Learn Cloud Computing, Charles Changchit, Robert Cutshall, Chuleeporn Changchit

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The explosive growth of data and frequent application updates along with the increasing need to access data and/or applications from multiple locations has resulted in a need to improve the way data and applications are stored and served. Such a need has forced both companies and academic institutions to pay attention to cloud computing technology. Since education is a driving force for the continuous improvement of cloud computing, this study aims at identifying the factors that influence college students’ intention to learn about cloud computing technology. Specifically, the research question focuses on determining which factors drive students’ intention to learn …

Speculative Essays On Neoliberalism In Education: Dreams Of Resistance And Action For A More Socially Just Future, Lindsey Crumley

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The way in which teachers are educated has wide reaching impacts on the ways students in their classrooms are educated. When test scores are regarded as the sole marker of a good teacher, then critical pedagogies and theories are left out of teacher education spaces. This dissertation aims to discuss a multitude of issues, both structural and day-to-day, that plague both education as a whole and teacher education specifically. Additionally, this dissertation aims to show ways in which communities, teacher educators, students, and schools are acting in resistance to the forms of control seen in education. This dissertation will use …

The Role Of Motivation In Community Partner Perceptions Of Service-Learning, Jayda P. Felder

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The current study sought to determine how community partners’ varying motivations for participating in collegiate service-learning programs relates to their perceptions of service-learning. Prior research has demonstrated a plethora of positive outcomes for students who partake in courses with service-learning requirements, but research investigating the outcomes for the organizations that host these students is less common, and research investigating the link between their motives and perceptions is nonexistent. Based on this gap in the literature, the quantitative, evidence-based Perceptions of Service-Learning Scale was developed for the current study to assess how community partners perceive their experiences with service-learning across four …

The Promise Of Labor-Based Grading Contracts For The Teaching Of Psychology And Neuroscience, Jasmine Mena, Jennie Stevenson

Faculty Journal Articles

Introduction: Instructors assign grades to communicate to students how well they are learning the course content. However, students and instructors are often displeased with the process and outcome of grading. Statement of the Problem: We contend that conventional grading inadvertently detracts from student learning and simultaneously replicates systems of oppression in academia. We discuss Labor Based Grading Contracts (LBGC) as an alternative to conventional grading. Literature Review: We review the conceptual and empirical literature on LBGCs as an alternative method of assessing student work and extend its application to psychology and neuroscience courses. Teaching Implications: We present recommendations for implementing …

Teaching In The Times Of Pandemic, Mileta Tomovic, Cynthia Tomovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

The changes in academia are typically slow but very purposeful, they are carefully reviewed and strategically implemented, that is, until unpredictable massive tectonic shifts occur in society. Historically, academia has not experienced major distress on a global scale that would require a fundamental change and adaptation to new set of circumstances, until the world faced COVID-19 pandemic of proportions which caused academia to rapidly adjust to new realities and make major changes. The time frame in which the changes needed to be done, weeks and months, were so short that academia was placed under the significant stress to which it …

An Exploration Of A Researcher-Instructor Partnership In Implicit Racial Bias Awareness And Mitigation In College Stem Classrooms, Jacqueline Johnson Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Seventy-six percent of all minority students who enter college with declared majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) do not graduate with STEM degrees. Black students represent 40% of minority attrition from STEM. Implicit racial bias was indicated as a contributor to the challenges faced by Black students. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a researcher-instructor partnership brought awareness to and the potential for mitigation of implicit racial bias in course delivery and instructor interactions with Black students in STEM classes. A case study design was used over three phases to gather survey, observational, and interview …

Agile Teaching And The Agile Manifesto, Trish Isaacs

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The Agile framework and its principles were originally created for software development, not for higher education. The software development environment in which they were created holds many parallels with the environment of higher education today, including the adaptiveness required, increased consumer focus, and pace and complexity of change. Principles outlined in the Agile Manifesto provide a way of dealing with uncertainties and turbulence, and ultimately succeeding in the midst of them. Agile principles can be applied to support and facilitate effective teaching and learning in today’s rapidly changing environment.

Agile Course Design: Modeling Flexibility, Empowering Engagement, And Prioritizing Community, Julie A. Rowan, Todd A. Stanislav, Allison C. Bernknopf, Tracy E. Russo

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

The Agile Course Design Institute, created for faculty at a regional public university, utilized an agile thinking lens to model flexible, interactive learning. The Institute framework consisted of three core factors: sense of belonging, students’ bandwidth, and interaction and engagement. Faculty participated in online synchronous and asynchronous settings to develop agile courses. In doing so, they gained insights into the experiences their students might have in remote learning. Examples from the Institute and participant work are explored through a “Why” (purpose/outcome), “What” (connections to the ACDI framework), and “How” (tools and strategies) structure.

Metacognitive Teaching–Reflecting On Our Teaching Practice, Stephanie Foote

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

To help students become metacognitive learners, faculty should first consider their own metacognition and the role that plays in their courses. Faculty who take a metacognitive approach to their instruction are aware of their own teaching practices and purpose, and they have an awareness of student engagement and learning and are willing to adapt based on that knowledge (Scharff, 2015). While faculty are often metacognitive in their own discipline, these approaches are not always transferred to teaching (Tanner, 2012). This piece focuses on strategies and approaches faculty can take to use metacognition to reflect on their own teaching practice.

Applying Special Education High Leverage Practices To Enhance Learning In Higher Education Courses, Michelle Gremp, Maria L. Manning, Julie H. Rutland, Mary Jo Krile

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

In response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, new and varied platforms of instruction have become commonplace across all content areas of higher education. As a result, faculty are faced with the challenge of individualizing and differentiating instruction more than ever before. As outlined in High-Leverage Practices for K-12 Special Education Teachers (McLeskey et al., 2017), successful teaching at all levels requires skill in 4 intertwined components of practice: collaboration, assessment, social/ emotional/behavioral practices, and instruction. Incorporating aspects from each component of practice into higher education courses can help faculty improve engagement and enhance learning outcomes for all students.

Literature Genre Effects On Memory And Influence, Katelyn Mcclure, Hung-Tao Chen, Megan Thomas

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Superstructures are text structure relations commonly found in specific types of text such as narrative texts. Superstructures are important from a pedagogical standpoint because learners’ comprehension can be improved when they are taught about superstructures (Baumann & Bergeron, 1993; Calfee & Patrick, 1995; Dymock, 2005). The current study examined three types of texts with distinct superstructures—narrative, expository, and procedural. Undergraduate student participants (n=200) were randomly assigned to read a text that was written in the form of a narrative, expository, or procedural superstructure text. After reading, participants were asked to recall information from the text and rated their compliance level …

The Faculty Scholar Role In Peer Review Of A Journal Article, Cindy Hayden, Renee Causey-Upton, Dana Howell

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Peer review is a process to help ensure publication of high-quality research. Manuscripts submitted for publication are evaluated by others with similar content or methodological expertise, and the feedback is used by editors to determine suitability for publication. Participation in the peer review process may help improve agile teaching as well as contribute to the faculty scholar roles of professional service. This paper describes the process of peer review, including criteria for becoming a reviewer and how to perform a review.

Using Video Technology For Discussion Forums: Building An Engaged Online Community, Shirley P. O'Brien, Steven Shisley Dr.

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Faculty used various multimedia technology delivery methods within higher education in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instructors were urged to be more agile when considering tools to promote student engagement within the forced, online environment. Video technology is a mainstay in both online and hybrid education as well as in the workforce. Flipgrid, an agile learning tool, promotes asynchronous class discussions to reinforce higher levels of thinking in Bloom’s taxonomy of learning. Data collected from three courses suggests that Flipgrid promotes student engagement in a learner-centered approach. Implications are suggested for online learning.

What Have We Learned After One Year Of Remote Teaching And Learning? A Critical Conversation Between Two Language Educators, Marlon Valencia, Miguel Rincón

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

In this critical conversation, two language educators reflect on their experiences of online instruction after nearly two years of teaching during the Covid 19 pandemic. The duoethnographers share the challenges they faced to adapt their teaching and assessment for remote delivery, as well as how their pedagogical orientations transformed to engage with learners online. The discussion focuses on teaching both synchronously and asynchronously, re-thinking language assessment, and the authors’ strategies to manage a sustainable and healthy workflow. This last aspect is of significant importance given how much these two educators had to learn to teach in ways and through media …