Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

Diversity Issues In Literacy Teacher Education, Sue Ann Sharma, Wendy C. Kasten, Lynn A. Smolen, Abha Gupta, Julie Kidd, Tanya S. Wright

Journal of Contemporary Research in Education

In this study, the researchers examine how diversity and knowledge about diversity were viewed and integrated into higher education literacy programs. Using online focus groups, we collected information about diversity in literacy at the program and course levels. Literacy teacher educators reported complexities in the preparation of current and future teachers regarding working with diverse learners. The three themes of perspectives and dispositions, curriculum issues and decisions, and outside influences emerged. The researchers recommend that teacher educators find innovative ways to increase teacher education program effectiveness to enhance the dispositions and practices of the teachers whom they prepare where diversity …

From Epistemological Pragmatism To Educational Pluralism, Matthew B. Etherington

Journal of Contemporary Research in Education

Much of K-12 and higher education today reflects John Dewey’s pragmatic vision of education. Pragmatism as an epistemology has utility such as the ability to solve real concrete problems; however Dewey’s vision lacks comprehensiveness because it privileges scientific knowledge over other types of knowledge. Consequently, Dewey’s epistemological pragmatism cannot accommodate all types of knowledge learners and their traditions. For schools to be inclusive of all learners today they must move away from Dewey’s epistemological pragmatism and adopt educational pluralism.

Minority Students In University Remediation: A Phenomenological Analysis Of Their High School And First Semester College Academic Experiences, Savannah L. Kelly

Journal of Contemporary Research in Education

The existence of remedial curriculum at four-year universities remains a well-established, albeit controversial, component of contemporary higher education. Incoming students are required to enroll in postsecondary remedial coursework as a direct result of standardized test scores. It is well established in the literature, however, that minority students both underperform on standardized tests and are also overrepresented in remedial courses. This qualitative study explored the intersections of minority students’ high school academic experiences with their first-semester university academic experiences. The sample included eight minority students who were each enrolled in three remedial and at least one non-remedial course at a public, …

Cover Pages, Journal Editors

Journal of Contemporary Research in Education

No abstract provided.

4 Advanced Comprehension Strategies To Use With Adolescent Readers, Gerlinde Beckers, Elizabeth M. Wadlington

Journal of Contemporary Research in Education

Reading comprehension involves an intricate interaction between the reader and attention to the text. Teachers should employ reading strategies to increase comprehension skills required by adolescent students to address the increase in use of informational text and text complexity as stipulated in the newly adopted Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Four advanced reading comprehension strategies that teachers can use to help their students navigate the increase in higher level comprehension skills stipulated by the CCSS are presented here. Also, presented are a justification for why to use the strategy, information on how to use the strategy, research that supports the …

Advancing College Students’ Thesis Writing Ability: A Case Study Of An Online Library Instruction Course, Derek Stadler, Dianne Gordon Conyers

Publications and Research

The following case study adapted a library instruction course to support students’ ability to construct a thesis statement. Given at an urban junior college, the goal of the credit-bearing course is for students to acquire effective research strategies for finding reliable information and to develop information literacy skills. For this study, pedagogy divided thesis writing development over the course of several weeks in which students reviewed sample theses and the work of their peers, providing feedback to fellow students and revising their own work based on feedback from both students and instructors. The class section in this study utilized Blackboard …

Accidental Information Literacy Instruction: The Work A Link Landing Page Can Do, Elizabeth Pickard, Michelle R. Desilets

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020 archives)

This article reports on a surprise finding from a larger, long-term study that explores ways to provide effective information literacy instruction (ILI) in asynchronous, online-only courses. The finding occurred during a term in which students participating in the study received no formal ILI. However, these students did not turn to the web at large when doing independent research as some literature might predict. Instead, analysis of their final research project bibliographies suggests students modeled the search scopes of select prior assignments from that same course. This finding has potential to inform parameters for adapting pedagogy for asynchronous, online-only instruction as …

Full Issue, Hsu Press

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020 archives)

No abstract provided.

Making Methods Relevant: Undergraduate Research Methods And The Content Analysis Project, Kevin E. Courtright, David A. Mackey

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020 archives)

Teachers of undergraduate research methods classes may struggle at times to keep their courses engaging and to have students view the material as relevant to the occupations they will soon enter. This article discusses a content analysis assignment and how it offers a way for students to demonstrate critical thinking and acquire data analysis skills. Through the use of multiple high-impact learning practices, the assignment requires students, individually or in a group, to identify data appropriate for content analysis and then, with faculty guidance, develop research questions, manage the data, conceptualize and operationalize themes, perform content analysis, draw conclusions from …

Advancing College Students’ Thesis Writing Ability: A Case Study Of An Online Library Instruction Course, Derek Stadler, Dianne Gordon Conyers

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020 archives)

The following case study adapted a library instruction course to support students’ ability to construct a thesis statement. Given at an urban junior college, the goal of the credit-bearing course is for students to acquire effective research strategies for finding reliable information and to develop information literacy skills. For this study, pedagogy divided thesis writing development over the course of several weeks in which students reviewed sample theses and the work of their peers, providing feedback to fellow students and revising their own work based on feedback from both students and instructors. The class section in this study utilized Blackboard …

One Step At A Time: A Case Study Of Incorporating Universal Design For Learning In Library Instruction, Samantha H. Peter, Kristina A. Clement

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020 archives)

This paper introduces the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), an inclusive pedagogical principle that works to make instruction accessible for all by incorporating different needs of learners into instructional design. This article provides a brief analysis of the literature on UDL within the field of academic libraries and focuses specifically on library instruction. The paper then concludes with a comprehensive case study of the authors’ journey to actively incorporate UDL into their information literacy instruction sessions over a two-semester period, including lessons learned throughout their process.

Using Understanding By Design To Create A University Orientation Class Grounded In Information Literacy, Jennifer Joe, Wade Lee

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020 archives)

This article describes the process of redesigning UC1130: Information Literacy for College Research, a class taught at the University of Toledo, in Toledo, Ohio. This redesign was conducted by Jennifer Joe and Wade Lee-Smith, librarians at the university, and facilitated by the University of Toledo’s University Teaching Center, Denise Bartell, the Associate Vice Provost for Student Success, and Thomas Atwood, the Associate Dean of University Libraries, who was the creator of the original curriculum for UC1130. The course redesign was motivated by two factors: incorporation of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education, and the class’s inclusion in …

Opening Up Information Literacy: Empowering Students Through Open Pedagogy, Erin Fields, Adair Harper

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020 archives)

Open pedagogy and critical information literacy are influenced by critical pedagogy, which advocates for a disruption of information authority and privilege in the classroom and the creation of an environment that empowers students to be equal participants in their own learning. With the open education movement and the affordances of networked technologies, open pedagogy has the potential to enable students to be active co-creators of knowledge, engaging in information literacy practices of finding, analyzing, and sharing knowledge. Moving beyond an individualistic skills-based approach to information literacy, open pedagogy provides students with opportunities to not only reflect on their understanding of …

Responding To Xenophobia: Politics, Populisms And Our Teaching, Phyllis E. Vanslyck

Publications and Research

This essay explores ways faculty in the humanities may guide students through current manifestations of populism, specifically, this movement’s encouragement of xenophobia. As a member of an English department at a public community college in the United States, I argue, first, that community college students, who often have deep personal connections to the experiences of immigrants, may respond to the anti-immigrant rhetoric in useful and provocative ways. Second, I suggest that the related history of anti-immigration sentiment in American politics since the beginning of the 20th century can provide students with a powerful context for understanding xenophobia today. Third, I …

It’S (Not) In The Reading: American Government Textbooks’ Limited Representation Of Historically Marginalized Groups, Shawna M. Brandle

Publications and Research

The Introduction to American Government course, and its textbook, is a nearly universal experience for students in American colleges and universities, but what exactly is being taught in this course? Do the textbooks used in this widely taught course accurately reflect the diversity of populations and experiences in the United States? More specifically, how do textbooks for Introduction to American Government cover historically marginalized groups, if at all? This article builds on previous work by analyzing the representation of individual historically marginalized groups to conduct index search and content analyses on traditionally published and openly licensed (i.e., open educational resources …

The Case For Oer In Lis Education, Stacy Katz

Publications and Research

The increasingly high cost of textbooks coupled with the pedagogical opportunities presented by Creative Commons licenses has provided fertile ground for the development of open educational resources (OER) initiatives as an impactful practice for improving student success. Librarians are leading advocates for OER, yet little has been published on how librarians learn about OER or how faculty use OER in library and information science (LIS) programs. For this study, the author surveyed LIS faculty about their awareness and usage of OER as well as the role they imagine for future librarians in open education. LIS faculty, current and future librarians, …

Teaching Remotely In The Time Of Covid-19: Answering Frequently Asked Questions: A Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Coordinator Perspective, Óscar Fernández

University Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

FAQ about teaching online in the time of COVID-19. My FAQ is based on three experiences:

1. my role as Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator (2017-2020) in University Studies;
2. I teach a fully online SINQ course, Healthy People/Healthy Places; and
3. for the past year (AY 2019-2020), I have been interviewing University Studies faculty about online teaching and learning. Why? I am hoping to propose an online Immigration, Migration, and Belonging FRINQ in the near future.

Course Design For Quality Online Education: Effective Strategies From The Viewpoint Of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants, Cassady E. Healy, Jackson D. Stayner, Jafra Thomas

Kinesiology and Public Health

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced colleges and universities to suddenly transition to a mostly-to-fully online teaching format. Given the nature of the transition and general reservations about online instruction, many were concerned educational quality and achievement would be compromised by large margins. We sought to determine what course design features, if any, helped support undergraduate educational achievement during a sudden transition to 100% online instruction. We addressed our research aim using adapted principles for reflexive thematic analysis, the discernment of ways to interpret data using diverse perspectives and the critique of assumptions (RWJ Foundation, 2008). Following instructor request (JDT), …

Facilitators And Barriers To Engagement And Effective Sotl Research Collaborations In Faculty Learning Communities, Claudia Cornejo-Happel, Xiaomei Song

Publications

To determine factors that influence faculty engagement and success in faculty learning communities focused on collaborative Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), our project gathered information on (1) faculty motivation to engage with SoTL; (2) structures that support collaboration; (3) the perceived impact of SoTL on teaching, scholarship, and faculty engagement in academic communities on campus and beyond; and (4) the role of the teaching center in supporting collaborative faculty learning communities focused on SoTL. In this explanatory, sequential design mixed-methods study, participants were asked to complete a survey on their experience as participants in faculty learning communities at a …

Integrated Techniques To Increase Systems Thinking For Sustainability Education Of High School Science Students Using Educational Design Research, Nora Kathryn Weatherhead

Theses and Dissertations

This study used a design research framework to teach secondary high school science students about environmental sustainability. A high school teacher and researcher collaborated to design a two week environmental science unit to help students make sense of complex environmental sustainability issues. This dissertation study sought to answer the following research questions: Using Design Research and various instructional tools, how do students develop an understanding of systems thinking and relate it to environmental sustainability; How does analyzing personal and classroom data on paper or plastic usage and recycling influence high school science students’ understanding of global environmental sustainability issues through …