Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

Life-Long Benefits Of Studying Abroad, Ellora Olsen

Library Research Prize Student Works

9 AM in Tokyo, Japan is when instead of being a commuter, you get to be a sardine. Physically crammed into the train with hundreds of other people, you better be prepared to get comfortable (or uncomfortable, if we’re being honest) for your hour-long ride, with skyscrapers as far as the eye can see zipping past. It may not be the most enjoyable, but it is one of those experiences where a person stops feeling like a tourist and starts feeling like one of the natives. Studying abroad does that, it is a unique time when students can do more …

November 2020 The Humanities At Otterbein: A Newsletter Of The Humanities Advisory Committee, Humanities Advisory Committee

The Humanities at Otterbein: A Newsletter of the Humanities Advisory Committee

HAC Grants and Opportunities for Spring 2021. News from Courtright Memorial Library.Faculty Scholarship: Summer 2020 Writing Projects.

Lowering Perceived Stress Levels In Undergraduate Nursing Students, Caitlin Dodd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project analyzed the effects of guided meditations and a stress management class on undergraduate, prelicensure nursing students’ perceived stress levels. College students and professional nurses are both susceptible to having high stress levels. Mindfulness activities have been shown to lower stress levels. Undergraduate, prelicensure nursing students participated in this project determining the effects of guided meditations and a stress management class on perceived stress levels in a quantitative, pre- and postinterventional study. Participants in the project completed a stress management class and 18 guided meditation sessions in an undergraduate classroom setting. The researcher used the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) …

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Professional Development On Accessibility To Online Courses By Students With Special Needs At A Regional Four-Year Public Institution Of Higher Education In West Texas, Dallas Anne Swafford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evaluation research, including qualitative and quantitative data, was used in this study to determine the impact of professional development on online courses’ accessibility by students with disabilities. The study focused on online courses and course content. Data collection took place in phases and included self-paced, online professional development and one-on-one support sessions, a pre- and postsurvey, and a focus group interview. The study took place at a regional 4-year public institution of higher education in West Texas. Change theory emerged as the primary theoretical lens guiding the research as the study unfolded.

Doctoral Student Online Learning: Addressing Challenges Of The Virtual Experience, Dejuanna M. Parker, Kent Willis, Barbara D. Holmes

Education Doctorate Faculty Works

Doctoral student attrition is a major problem in higher education. This qualitative study sought to understand student beliefs and perceived confidence levels in a primarily online professional doctoral degree in education. Before accessing course material and formal instruction, respondents assigned scores to a Likert-style survey and answered open-ended questions about their understanding of basic educational research methodology. The rise of distance education follows the rapid growth of technological advancement. Yet, much is still unknown about pedagogical practices that contribute to improved learning outcomes for students in the virtual environment. Themes that emerged from this study suggest that (1) student expectations …

Factors That Influence Emirati Male Achievement In Higher Education, Melvin (Jai) Jackson, Kaitlin M. Jackson

Journal of Research Initiatives

The success of Emirati male students in higher education is one filled with positive interactions between the students, faculty, and staff. The influence of faculty in the success of Emirati males is vital to the overall curricular success of this student population. The strong cultural ties to seeking out elders for guidance and influence is easily replicated on college and university campuses. In this manuscript we examine the history of education in the Middle East from its inception to the meteoric rise of higher education. Through examining the past and present education we will explore how the cultural and societal …

Your Ir Is Not Enough: Exploring Publishing Options In Our Increasingly Fragmented Digital World, Adam Blackwell

Charleston Library Conference

When people talk about the downside of open access publishing, they typically focus on things like high article processing charges and the difficulties that arise in differentiating between reputable peer-reviewed journals and low-quality journals from predatory publishers. But when OA publishing is equated with making articles and other academic content available exclusively via OA sites like (most) institutional repositories, there is arguably an even more serious downside: the effective quarantining of scholarly research.

We’ll explore how institutional mandates to promote a library’s IR sometimes override a researcher’s desire to make research available to peers via Google Scholar and other common …

When You Don’T Know What You Don’T Know: How Two New Collections Librarians Right-Sized A Collections Budget, Cara M. Cadena, Marcia Lee

Charleston Library Conference

Due to impending campus-wide downsizing, the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries projected that a worst-case scenario would result in a 14% cut to the library’s collections budget for fiscal year 2020. In the same year, GVSU Libraries welcomed several new members of its leadership team, including the dean, two associate deans, head of systems, head of collections, business administrator, and a vacancy after the long-time acquisitions manager retired. Budget cuts and staff turnover are tough, but they prompted a much-needed reassessment of roles, culture, and priorities in the library. Different approaches to spending and curating the library’s collections were …

What Are Students Saying About Their Reference Needs?, Damon Zucca

Charleston Library Conference

Libraries and publishers rely on transactional data to support evidence-based decision making. However, by itself quantitative information does not provide a full picture. To anticipate the evolving needs of our audience we also need to hear from the individual users themselves. In this article, I will review the findings from several recent examples survey-based research into the question of how students use reference materials in and outside of their libraries. What are students actually saying about their needs and preferences when it comes to reference? While some uses cases for reference are moving out of the library into the open …

The Use Of Wayfinding Apps By Deafblind Travelers In An Urban Environment: Insights From Focus Groups, Amy T. Parker, Martin Swobodzinski, Tara Brown-Ogilvie, Jenna Beresheim-Kools

Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This brief report explores qualitative themes from focus groups with nine individuals who are Deafblind regarding their use of wayfinding apps to support orientation and mobility in an urban environment. Culturally responsive approaches to the design of the focus groups integrated the partnership with Deafblind communication facilitators and ProTactile approaches to solicit naturalistic inquiry on the experiences and preferences of Deafblind travelers. Thematic emergences suggest that participants benefit from various wayfinding apps for orientation and mobility in a densely populated city but they desire greater functionality, consistency of access, equity, and recognition of the unique travel demands faced by Deafblind …

Book Review: Media And Moral Education. A Philosophy Of Critical Engagement., Cheryl L. Brown

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Media and moral education tackles the topic of how we educate young people to live and learn in a digital world through the adoption of a moral standpoint. This is a particularly pertinent issue for educators as the digital world is fraught with pitfalls and challenges and in many contexts educators and educational institutions fall short of dealing with the complexities of digital literacy and digital citizenship directly. We have moved beyond the issue of accessibility to information and media, to the need to focus on the ability to seek, analyse and critically evaluate and apply information and media content …

Burnout: Why Are Teacher Educators Reaching Their Limits?, Tiffany Coyle, Erica V. Miller, Christa Rivera Cotto

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Burnout among our P-12 teachers has been well documented throughout the years. Yet, little research has been conducted into the burnout of higher education professionals in general. Lackritz (2004) found that emotional exhaustion is significantly and positively related to teaching load, grading, office hours, grant money, service time, and number of service activities. This research looks further into the variables that may impact burnout for higher education faculty, specifically in teacher education, seeking to answer the questions: Are teacher educators in NY experiencing stress/burnout? If so, what internal and/or external factors/conditions are contributing to their burnout? And are specific groups …

Assessment Of Pre-Service Teacher Dispositions, Elizabeth Bradley, Patricia Isaac, Joseph King

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Measurement of pre-service teacher dispositions is an important part of teacher preparation programs. A strong correlation exists between dispositions of teachers and the quality of their student’s learning. Teachers, in addition to sharing content knowledge, are responsible for demonstrating and sharing core values relating to virtues such as honesty, justice, fairness, care, empathy, integrity, courage, respect, and responsibility, and these values must guide their own conduct and interpersonal relations. As teachers serve pupils who are minors, their conduct and potential to serve effectively and ethically in the profession must be evaluated. However, a thorough faculty-led instrument to assess pre-service teacher …

Teacher Candidates And The Open Classroom: Concerns For Professional Growth, Safety, And Collaboration, Adam Huck

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Environmental factors, personal experience, and social interactions influence the development of teacher candidates’ views of teachers’ roles in school and society (Rose, Monda-Amaya, & Preast, 2018). This is especially true when we consider the unique needs of each generation of teachers. Ecological systems theory and social cognitive theory frame this study as teacher candidates are the product of their personal experiences and social interactions within an education system that must respond to evolving societal needs.

This paper presents a descriptive analysis of two sections of a literacy methods course through the study of reflection journals, survey data, and exit interviews. …

Letter From The Editors, Christine E. Ashby, Julia M. White

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Message From The President, April W. Bedford

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Excelsior, 13, 1, Table Of Contents, Excelsior Editors

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

No abstract provided.

Teacher Education In A Dangerous Time: (Re)Imagining Education For Diversity, Democracy And Sustainability, John J. Lupinacci

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This article amplifies the importance of social movements like Black Lives Matter and diverse critical educator responses to social suffering, COVID-19, and related critiques of current dominant assumptions of teacher education and Western schooling. The author offers an ecocritical conceptual framework to support education to recognize the importance of how teachers, and teacher educators, can take action as leaders (re)imagining education in support of valuing diversity, democracy, and sustainability. This article calls for an ecocritical pedagogical (re)imagining of how teacher education might be (re)constituted through local activist teaching in collaboration with social movements and in support of social justice and …

Implementation Of A 25-Minute Mini-Lecture On Learning And Studying In Large-Enrollment First-Year General Chemistry Courses, Shawn M. Miller

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Poor results on the first exam in a course can be a shock to freshmen college students who found great success in high school. The experience can be demoralizing and put students in the mindset that academic success is out of reach. To convince such students that not only is academic success possible but readily achievable, I presented a 25-minute mini-lecture on learning and studying in two large-enrollment general chemistry courses (total N = 289) based on author Dr. Saundra McGuire’s work. The mini-lecture discussed human learning and practical study tools. The purposes of the mini-lecture were to: 1) examine …

Inquiry And Counter-Witnessing In Covid-19, Erica R. Hamilton, Deborah Vriend Van Duinen, Gretchen Rumohr

Michigan Reading Journal

This essay focuses on the use of inquiry and counter-witnessing as a means of understanding our teaching identities, vulnerability, and productivity in the era of COVID-19. Based on our experiences as teacher educators at three separate institutions of higher education, we have come to value counter-telling and validating. As we share in this essay, working in COVID-19 has taught us, once again, that we must find, and model, courage and self-acceptance. In our teaching and administrative roles, we – along with other educators – can learn to speak our truths and experiences bravely. We hope that in so doing, others …