Other Education Commons^™

Interventions For Ninth-Grade Middle-Achieving Students, Bradley C. Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Implementing intentionally designed interventions to improve students’ academic performance has been a focus of educational stakeholders for decades. However, the implementation of academic interventions for average-achieving students, particularly during their freshman year of high school, appears to be lacking. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to explore designed interventions implemented by high school administrators from two unified school districts in California that focused on the academic performance of middle-achieving students during their ninth-grade year. This qualitative grounded theory study focused on the perspective of a purposive sampling group of high school administrators, which included principals, assistant principals, …

International Student Importance, Satisfaction, And Civic Engagement, Sophia Lanphier

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

International student populations are economic, social, and academic assets to higher education institutions in the United States. A considerable body of research has been devoted to examining international student satisfaction and experiences. Previous literature has offered suggestions for additions and improvements to university international student programs that could help increase international student satisfaction and success. Despite all this, there is a considerable gap in existing literature concerning the relationship between international student academic and social success and civic engagement participation. Civic engagement is an important element of university life that has been closely tied to the academic and social experiences …

Reforming United States Prisons: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, Alex Henkel

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper examines the United States prison system and its standing among peer countries, as well as potential reforms to improve this system and its effectiveness. The incarceration statistics of many different countries show that the United States incarcerates significantly more of its population than similar countries. I turn to an examination of how penal policies are formed across the world to evaluate their impact on the U.S. prison rate compared to other countries. Additionally, I look at recidivism to determine the effectiveness of United States incarceration. This analysis aims to highlight the differences between the U.S. and other countries …

How To Effectively Reach Farmers And Assist Them In Reaching Their Precision Management Goals, Courtney Nelson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Precision and digital agriculture have been popular buzz words floating around the last several years. These broad terms cover a plethora of topics including GPS ear tags for livestock, soil moisture probes, and aerial imagery. With such a wide number of technological advances at their fingertips, it can be overwhelming for farmers to know where to start.

A study conducted by Purdue University in 2019 took a deeper look at data and software usage across 800 farms larger than 1000 acres (DeLay et al, 2020). Their research revealed that over half of farmers who don’t use farm data or software …

A Walk Through History: Interactive Tours Of The University Of Nebraska-Lincoln’S Historic City Campus, Emily Vanek

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The main purpose of the creation of an interactive walking tour of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) city campus was to bring to light the history of some of its most important buildings, as well as to bring awareness to some of the buildings that no longer stand as digital heritage. A key emphasis is to help preserve the contributions of the namesakes of these buildings as they are often just as valuable as the history of the buildings themselves. The scope of this project includes a website that is the main hub of information, and two digital forms of …

Addressing The Harms Of Pornography, Gillian Allison

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Within this paper I look at the existing philosophical work on pornography, from scholars like Catherine MacKinnon, Ronald Dworkin, and Rae Langton to show the current state of the pornography debate that I intend to enter by presenting my own argument about the morality of pornography. I argue that while pornography is harmful, these harms are best resolved through increased sexual education and the popularization and production of more inclusive pornography. The harms pornography causes are so great because pornography is where a lot of people learn about sex. Pornography was never designed to depict an average sexual experience. If …

Understanding The Educational Landscape: A Comparative Study Of Public, Alternative, And Montessori Models, Elizabeth Dykens

Selected Honors Theses

This thesis intends to demonstrate the relevance and significance of alternative education within today’s educational climate. First, the literature review traces the historical backdrop of the American public school system and the founding fathers’ original purposes for education. It explores the shifts in policy and pedagogy that have led to current models and methods of education. Then, the literature review focuses on alternative educational philosophies, with an emphasis on the Montessori Method, and why they not only address the critiques of the public system but also better align with a child’s nature and development. The study backing this thesis lays …

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume 4, 2021

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This is the complete volume 4 of the Journal of Communication Pedagogy.

Learning About Metadata And Machines: Teaching Students Using A Novel Structured Database Activity, Andrew Iliadis, Tony Liao, Isabel Pedersen, Jing Han

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Machines produce and operate using complex systems of metadata that need to be catalogued, sorted, and processed. Many students lack the experience with metadata and sufficient knowledge about it to understand it as part of their data literacy skills. This paper describes an educational and interactive database activity designed for teaching undergraduate communication students about the creation, value, and logic of structured data. Through a set of virtual instructional videos and interactive visualizations, the paper describes how students can gain experience with structured data and apply that knowledge to successfully find, curate, and classify a digital archive of media artifacts. …

Incorporating Virtual Reality Training In An Introductory Public Speaking Course, Kevin Kryston, Henry Goble, Allison Eden

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This study presents the results of two studies using a virtual reality (VR) public-speaking training simulation as an instructional aid in a basic communication course. Results from the first study suggest that VR practice was associated with higher subsequent speech delivery grades in the course compared to no practice. However, VR practice did not reduce public speaking anxiety (PSA). In a follow-up study, VR practice was compared with other forms of lab-based practice including in front of a mirror and a recorded video session. All forms of lab practice (VR, mirror, or video) were associated with higher speech grades than …

Eureka: Identifying What It Means To Practice Student- Centered Teaching In A Hypermodern Age, Audra Diers-Lawson

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Contemporary professional reports and research suggest that in corporate communication and related programs, we are not creating environments for modern students to thrive nor are we meeting the industry’s expectations in a ‘hypermodern’ world. Using personal ethnography, this article to analyzes industry-articulated limitations in the knowledge and skill sets of new communication practitioners, reviews contemporary literature identifying the learning needs of today’s students, and proposes a set of best practices based on the literature and the author’s own journey as a higher education practitioner of 20 years. Best practices identified incorporate elements of entertainment, engagement, and an ‘open-world’ approach that …

Variations On Exposure Therapy: Best Practices For Managing Public Speaking Anxiety In The Online Communication Classroom, Sarah K. Chorley

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy techniques offer unique opportunities for comprehensive management of public speaking anxiety in the online public speaking classroom beyond exposure to only the speech-giving act itself. This best practices article outlines nontraditional strategies for incorporating ERP practices in a distance-learning setting.

Defining Feedback: Understanding Students’ Perceptions Of Feedback In The Introductory Communication Course, Drew T. Ashby-King, Raphael Mazzone, Lindsey B. Anderson

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Feedback is an essential part of the teaching/learning processes. This statement is especially true in the introductory communication course where students receive feedback throughout the presentational speaking process. This paper explores how students define useful feedback based on 1,600 qualitative questionnaires that asked students about their perceptions of feedback. A thematic analysis of a randomly selected subset of 163 responses uncovered two themes: (1) feedback content characteristics (e.g., specific, constructive, praiseworthy, and purposive) and (2) process of instructor-provided feedback (e.g., iterative, timely). Based on these findings, a set of best practices for providing feedback is offered as a means to …

Toward Improving Physician/Patient Communication Regarding Invisible Chronic Illness (Ici): The Potential Of Mhealth Technology In Instructional Communication, Jami Leigh Warren, Karen Clancy, Christy Brady, Kendall Rump, Tayla New-Oglesby

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

Patients that suffer from invisible chronic illness (ICI) such as autoimmune conditions, neurological conditions, and gastrointestinal problems often struggle to obtain a proper medical diagnosis due to a lack of objective indicators to help health-care providers diagnose patients with ICIs. Thus, researchers conducted interviews with 21 participants with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) to determine what messages they received from health-care providers as they pursued a diagnosis, how they interpreted those messages, and what role mHealth technology may play in improving patient/provider communication and effective diagnosis/treatment of ICIs. Several themes regarding potential instructional communication intervention content emerged from the interview …

Editor’S Note To Volume 4 Of The Journal Of Communication Pedagogy “If You Build It, They Will Come.”, Deanna D. Sellnow

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This volume features instructional communication research articles ranging using mHealth patients with invisible chronic illnesses to machine teachers (e.g., Robots) as teachers. It also includes reflective and best practice essays on incorporating audio podcasts into teaching and learning, communication training and development in the multigenerational workforce, managing speech anxiety online, and the role of edutainment in teaching public relations.

Library Role In Promoting Moral Values In Nigerian Education, Odion Evans Kakulu Mr, David O. Okhakhu Mr.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study examines the role of the library in promoting moral value in Nigeria education. Based on the findings, the paper reveals that lack of functional libraries in school systems to educate, inform plays a significant role as the cause of moral crises which lead to the erosion of our moral values and emergence of other vices such as Boko Haram, kidnapping, corruption and bad leadership that create setback in Nigeria economy. The paper investigated moral value, library in education and library as primary agents of moral restoration in Nigeria education. The paper also considers morality as a tool for …

Twenty-First Century Skill Building For Homeschooled Students With Special Needs, Jami M. Tipton

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Although problem-based learning (PBL) is not new, the ways in which homeschool teachers use attributes of PBL with their students with special needs is unknown. Posts were collected from 20 homeschool teachers’ blogs. After I coded 87 blog posts, results showed that homeschool teachers provided a variety of opportunities for their students to practice 21st-century skills. Specifically, they developed lessons that encouraged students to share what they learned and developed cross-disciplinary content, most often with language arts. Results may provide insights for homeschool teachers interested in more purposefully implementing PBL experiences with the purpose of teaching 21st-century skills.

Your Personal Guide To Getting Into Research, Katherine Vo. Brown, Priyadarshini Chandrashekhar, Harshith Gontla, Ekaterina S Kovatsenko, Aamira Shah, Kelsey Littrell

The Cardinal Edge

The stereotype of a researcher conjures up an image of a person in a white lab coat, juggling various test tubes and chemicals. However, this picture does not capture the essence of all research. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be a STEM major to do research! Research is for everyone, and there are many options to participate across all disciplines. As an R-1 classified research institute, the University of Louisville (UofL) is involved with groundbreaking research across many disciplines including education, political science, and business. Below are some compelling reasons to pursue research as an undergraduate …

You’Ve Graduated. So Now What?, Katherine Vo. Brown, Ekaterina S Kovatsenko, Aamira Shah

The Cardinal Edge

After graduating, many new college graduates often face the question: where do I go from here? While some people opt to obtain a postgraduate degree, other options exist for those who are unsure of what career they want to pursue or those who simply want to take a gap year. In this article, we will explore three unique opportunities for new graduates to consider: The Fulbright Program, Boren Scholarship, and Service Programs such as PeaceCorp and AmeriCorp.

An Artificial Intelligence Tool For Accessible Science Education, Jacob D. Watters, April Hill Dr., Melissa Weinrich Dr., Cary Supalo, Feng Jiang Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

One of the most important issues in accessible science education is creating a laboratory workspace accessible to blind students or students with visual impairments (VI). Although these students are often provided access to the science lectures, they are usually denied full participation in hands-on laboratory work. Current solutions to this problem focus on providing special accommodations such as asking sighted lab partners to complete the hands-on work. Although the accessibility of laboratory devices in modern science education has been improved in recent years, students with VI often remain passive learners. In this work, we developed a new artificial intelligence tool, …