Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

A Word From The Writing Center (April 2017), Jennifer Wilson, Ms, Els

A Word From the Writing Team (Newsletter)

This issue includes:

• Writing Tip: Punctuation
• Organizing your Research using a citation manager
• Writing Café hours

Personalized Outreach To University Students With A History Of Reading Difficulties: Early Screening And Outreach To Support Academically At-Risk Students, Hélène Deacon, Rebecca Tucker, Bradley W. Bergey, Annie Laroche, Rauno Parrila

Publications and Research

We examined whether identification of and personalized outreach to a group of students with a history of reading difficulties would impact their use of support services and academic outcomes. Using a brief self-report questionnaire, we identified students with a history of reading difficulties (n = 175) and a comparison group of university students without a history of reading difficulties (n = 100). One half of the students with a history of reading difficulties were individually invited to visit the Academic Advising Centre; the other students received standard university communications about and access to university support services. Students with …

Occupational Therapy Students’ Self-Efficacy, Experience Of Supervision, And Perception Of Meaningfulness Of Level Ii Fieldwork, Lynne Andonian

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: This study explored the relationship of perceived self-efficacy to demographic and fieldwork variables for occupational therapy (OT) students. Self-efficacy is related to student and employee success and competency.

Methods: OT students (n = 306) from 42 OT programs in the United States completed the Student Confidence Questionnaire and the Demographic Questionnaire and Survey addressing demographics, practice setting, students’ experience of supervision, and perceptions of the fieldwork’s personal meaning during Level II fieldwork. Correlational and regression methods examined the relationships among the variables. Analysis of variance methods tested differences between higher and lower self-efficacy student groups.

Results: The degree of …

Building Positive Student-Instructor Interactions: Engaging Students Through Caring Leadership In The Classroom, Oscar J. Solis, Windi D. Turner

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

When instructing and managing classrooms in university settings, instructors face numerous challenges such as student disengagement and managing course expectations. In this article, we offer new and revised techniques and strategies to engage students through the art of caring leadership. We accomplish this through three defining characteristics: knowing students’ names, managing course expectations, and the use of technology. These intentional strategies create positive student-instructor interactions in both small and large classrooms which in turn enhances student learning and engagement.

Amplify Your Teaching Impact: Capitalizing On 1-On-1 Instruction, Abby D. Benninghoff

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The objective of this essay, which is based on a keynote presentation delivered at the 2016 Empowering Teaching Excellence Conference at Utah State University, is to address this central question: how faculty can make a positive, substantive impact on students through 1-on-1 instruction? The consensus answer derived from experiences and anecdotes offered by this author, her colleagues, and students is to be deliberate in 1-on-1 interactions with students. This simple message is expanded through discussion of 10 key concepts that can help faculty amplify their teaching impact: 1) be available, 2) help students feel comfortable, 3) be a model, 4) …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 1, Issue 1

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

For our inaugural issue, we reviewed the feedback from our 2016 ETE faculty conference—an event for USU faculty hosted every August on the USU main campus. We identified several of the presenters who received high marks in post-session surveys and invited them to submit a proceedings paper for their presentation. Many responded, and their papers now comprise the majority of this issue. Because most of the articles began as stand-up presentations for a conference, several adopt a first-person narrative style in which the authors share examples of things they have tried in their teaching that have worked. In the process …

Managing For Quality In Higher Education: A Biblical Perspective, Ben A. Maguad

Andrews University Teaching and Learning Conference

Although higher education has long been committed to excellence, its pace of change and improvement has been slow and episodic at best due to external pressures. To overcome the many obstacles confronting it, strong leadership is needed in all areas: academic, administrative, student life, and service. The challenge is to clarify the principles, knowledge, and skill bases necessary for effective higher education leadership. The spiritual dimension is perhaps the missing piece that today’s institutions need to effect lasting and meaningful change in the behaviors or attitudes of their people from the top administrator to the entry-level employee.

New Adjunct Faculty Outreach, Cristina Cottom

Publications

This causal-comparative study sought to determine if targeted communication from CTLE-W to adjunct faculty during their first term teaching would increase utilization of CTLE-W resources. Results from this study showed that new adjunct faculty are more likely to continue seeking assistance from CTLE-W if they are contacted during their first term.

Impacting Learning For 21st Century Students: A Phenomenological Study Of Higher Education Faculty Utilizing A Service Learning Approach, Christina D. Marshall

Dissertations

Higher education has been increasing its focus on service as a way to make connections. One effective model for integrating the community in an educationally meaningful way is service learning. Service learning creates a practical experience where students learn and problem solve in the context of their lives and communities. However, not all faculty are buying into the benefits of incorporating service learning in the curriculum as it is both time and energy intensive. If service learning is to be implemented and sustained as part of the curriculum, faculty must be dedicated to its success.

The purpose of this phenomenological …

Editor's Introduction, Michael M. Grant

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

No abstract provided.

Call For Special Issue Proposals, Michael M. Grant

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

IJPBL is seeking proposals for upcoming special issues in 2018 and 2019.

Alternative Facts: Learning Only Happens In The Classroom, Jessica Martin, Amy Phillips, Clarissa Elmore

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Just as learning occurs in the classroom, it also occurs out of the classroom. In Winthrop University’s Department of Residence Life, professional and student staff instructs residential students in the “laboratory of life” with emphases on civility, integrity, communication, conflict management, and community building. With an increased demand from employers looking for students with strong soft skills and the ability to communicate with others, the value of a residential education cannot be overstated. Residential Learning Coordinators get to facilitate this out-of-the-classroom learning regularly. Attend this session to discover ways that Residence Life professional staff blends students’ academic and residential lives …

Teaching Teachers: Targeted Professional Development For Adjunct Faculty, Laura A. Tamberelli, Kim Buch, Caryl Gordon

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Adjunct faculty are a growing and significant portion of teaching faculty at Universities across the United States. They are, however, vastly different from the traditional faculty member in terms of their needs, challenges, goals, and professional development options within their respective role and department. The proposed session would discuss the results of an adjunct faculty needs assessment conducted at UNC Charlotte. Additionally, it would present the steps that have since been taken to better serve adjuncts at this institution in terms of clarity, communication, networking, and professional development. Initial responses from department heads and adjunct faculty will also be discussed …

Cultivating Academic Habits Of Mind: Key Skills For Collegiate Success, Katarina Moyon, Amanda Hiner, Kelly Richardson

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

The value of a 21^st-century college education comes from the expectation that college graduates are cognitively prepared to deal with complexity, change, and diversity through the application of transferable and practical skills such as written and oral communication and analytic problem-solving. Winthrop University’s General Education Core, consisting of three specific courses completed by all students, provides a shared intellectual experience for students and equips them with powerful, college-level tools in critical reading, critical thinking, and academic writing. Moreover, the Core cultivates valuable academic habits of mind that are particularly valuable in a today’s dynamic world where college graduates …

Digital Storytelling With Sway, Stephanie D. Jacobs

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Sway is a NEW innovative web-based learning tool that can be used on any device you may have access to in the classroom. Develop your most creative and innovative abilities. This tool can be used to share your stories, experiences, or reflections. Join us as we learn how you can use Sway to build important skills such as research, writing, organizational, problem solving, presentation, assessment and communication. Students can easily create great digital stories also. Learn how to integrate a variety of media components (audio, videos, images, music, social media, documents/charts) in a matter of minutes. Bring your device and …

Facilitating Teacher Reflection Through A Mutual Understanding Of The Characteristics Of Exemplary Teachers, Seth E. Jenny, Geraldine Jenny

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Teachers meet challenges as they make a plethora of daily choices. It is a responsibility to learn from past choices. An exemplary teacher is a person who accepts the challenge of lifelong learning experiences in the domains of Leadership, Diversity, and Technology. Moreover, exemplary teachers must demonstrate competencies in the themes of School Context Expert, Master Practitioner, Learning Theorist, Curriculum Designer, and Instructional Leader (American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 2010, p. 24).

Making the commitment to become an exemplary teacher is a choice one should make with care because it is a decision that will affect the …

Vietnamese American College Students’ Experiences And Strategies Of Engagement On College Campus In The United States, Nhu Nguyen

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Several previous studies explored the destructive effect of social exclusion on Asian American college students in U.S. colleges. Previous studies reported that Vietnamese American students, as one of largest Asian American minority groups in the United States, faced numerous challenges in reaching their academic s in higher education partly due to the experience of cultural and social alienation and exclusion. The purpose of this study is to examine how Vietnamese American college students perceive the concept of “engagement” on college campus and beyond and how they develop different engagement strategies to promote their academic and social integration. Structured as phenomenological …

Interview With Eileen Gregory, Eileen Gregory, Wenxian Zhang

Oral Histories

Eileen Gregory received her BS from Michigan State University, an MS & PhD in microbiology from The University of Washington, where her research focused on freshwater bacteria. As a young professor in Biology, Eileen Gregory came to Rollins College in 1979, one of two women in the department’s faculty of five, when the sciences were dominated by men. She never expected to be at Rollins all her professional career: “I came to Rollins with the idea that I would stay here for three years and move on,” Gregory says. “But I love my colleagues; I love my students; and for …

Relating Christian Faith To Physics For Scientists And Engineers, Dominic Halsmer, Calvin Roso, P. Wesley Odom

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education

As part of an initiative by the new Center for Faith and Learning at Oral Roberts University, an introductory college-level physics course for scientists and engineers was reconfigured to facilitate the integration of physics and Christian faith. Regular readings from a popular book, Einstein and Religion (Jammer, 1999), on the compatibility between physics and Christian doctrine were assigned. Questions based on the readings were then posed and a small fraction of class time (10%) was reserved for discussion of these issues. The students also submitted book reports summarizing their perspectives at the end of the course. A detailed rubric was …

Effectiveness Of Content Order In Improving Ethical Communication Choices In Oral Communications, Rhonda Gallagher, Mary Lou Miller, Calvin Roso

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education

Ethics is a concern within the field of communication (Canary, 2007; Cheney, 2008), and ultimately, the spiritual intent of oral communications at a Christian university is for students to relate biblically with other people. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine if change in content order improved integration of Biblical ethics into student knowledge and understanding in an oral communication course.

The hypothesis for this study was as follows: There is a difference in the ability to integrate Biblical ethics into knowledge and understanding in an oral communication course between those students who are taught using content focused …