Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Successful Strategies For Content Creation And Design Of Online Classes, Antje R. H. Graul

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Given the increasing demand for an education that is compatible with a students’ professional or private life, there is a growing need for higher-educational bodies to launch high-quality online classes that allow students to pursue their education while fitting it around their individual commitments. Thus, more than ever, guidance is needed on how to design an online class successfully. Drawing on the design of an asynchronous Digital Marketing online class, this article discusses strategic decisions regarding content creation, personalization, assignments, and assessment ideas that may hold the potential to increase students’ engagement in an online class. The insights provided may …

Teaching Excellence: The Core Of The Land-Grant Mission, Stephen M. Gavazzi

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The tripartite mission of the land-grant university – teaching, research, and community engagement – has evolved over the course of the past 150 years. The intensified concentration on empirical activities in the last half century, however, is thought to have created a mission-related imbalance that often has relegated teaching and community engagement activities to second-tier status within the academy. In tandem, there have been several unforced errors on the part of universities that have diminished the public’s belief in the return on investment associated with a college degree. The argument is made for an increased emphasis on teaching and learning …

The Impact And Importance Of Understanding The Role Of Land-Grant Universities In Higher Education, Robert Peterson

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Book Review:

Gavazzi, S. M., & Gee, E. G. (2018). Land-grant universities for the future: higher education for the public good. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

• 171 Pages
• Available in hardback and Kindle
• Price $21.99 (hc), $19.22 (Kindle)
• Keywords: Land-Grant, teaching, public, service, community

Reviewer:

Robert Peterson, Director of Student Services

Utah State University Uintah Basin

[email protected]

Spring 2020--About This Issue, Kim Hales

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The Spring 2020 issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence presents articles relative to the mission of the land grant institution, including a review of Gavazzi, Gee, and McGrath's (2018) book, "Land Grant Universities for the Future," followed by an article by Gavazzi arguing for greater emphasis on teaching in land-grant institutions. Additional contributions include articles on creating content for online courses, a literature review on faculty-undergraduate mentoring, a pilot study on open-access textbooks, and principles for discussion-based learning.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 4, Issue 1

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2020 issue (Volume 4, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Sjsu Erfa Board Minutes, April 6, 2020, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

SJSU ERFA Minutes

SJSU ERFA Executive Board Minutes

April 6. 2020

Lasisi Ajayi Tssa 2018-19 Last Call, Lasisi Ajayi

Teaching Skills Study Awards (TSSA) Reports

The purpose of the TRC Teaching Study Skills Award is to enhance faculty teaching by supporting them to attend a conference devoted to university teaching or to a high-impact, evidence or a newly developing teaching practice.

Educator And Preceptor Roles In Athletic Training Student Development, Gary Cohen, E. Nelson, H. M. Wathen, C. E. Welch Bacon, Julie M. Cavallario

College of Health Sciences Posters

Context: Healthcare professions use a unique learning pattern in which they are educated both didactically and clinically. Previous research has focused on preceptor selection and training, but there has been limited emphasis on perceived roles of didactic and clinical educators. Identifying potential discrepancies in perceived roles may help improve athletic training student education through a shared understanding of role delineation.

Objective: To understand the perceived roles of academic faculty and clinical preceptors regarding athletic training student development.

Design: Consensual qualitative research.

Setting: Webex Focus Group Interviews.

Patient or other Participants: 8 faculty, 7 preceptors, and 7 dual role educator/preceptor representing …

Breaking Down Barriers: An Investigation Into The Lack Of Female Head Coaches In Ncaa Affiliated Institutions, Steve Chen

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The purpose of this study was to investigate the rationales behind the gender disparity between male and female head coaches at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) affiliated institutions. Intercollegiate female athletic participation is at an all-time high. Yet, more women find male coaches coaching their sports. This study aimed to determine what hinders women from pursuing and obtaining head coaching positions at the collegiate level in either gender sports. Interviews were conducted in two different phases with two groups of NCAA Division-I female coaches (n = 22 and 8, respectively) in the southeast United States. The findings addressed the …

X-Ray Emission From The Mixed-Morphology Supernova Remnant Hb 9, Thomas G. Pannuti

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

We present the results of a spectral analysis of the central region of the mixed-morphology supernova remnant HB 9. A prior Ginga observation of this source detected a hard X-ray component above 4 keV and the origin of this particular X-ray component is still unknown. Our results demonstrate that the extracted X-ray spectra are best represented by a model consisting of a collisional ionization equilibrium plasma with a temperature of 0.1–0.2 keV (interstellar matter component) and an ionizing plasma with a temperature of 0.6–0.7 keV and an ionization timescale of >1×1011 cm−3 s (ejecta component). No significant X-ray emission was …

Streamlining Time Spent In Alternative Developmental Mathematics Pathways: Increasing Access To College-Level Mathematics Courses By Altering Placement Procedures, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

Developmental mathematics, which is designed to prepare students for college-level mathematics courses, can be a barrier to students’ success. In the United States, the majority of students placed into developmental mathematics courses fail to complete the developmental sequence. Alternative mathematics pathways offer some benefits when integrated with “just-in- time support” or expedited instruction on specific prerequisite concepts needed solely for the current lesson. This study compares two statistics courses taught at a public community college: a complete course taught in one semester and a two-semester version with just-in-time developmental content integrated into the course. The study found that students placed …

Editor's Note, Lindsay Bernhagen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Editor's note for To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, volume 39, issue 1 from spring 2020.

What's The Problem Now?, Randall Bass

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Revisiting an essay from 1999, this article explores the current conditions in higher education, and society more broadly, that help shape the roles for the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and educational development. By seeing the current “crises” of higher education not only as “problems” to be investigated but as a “wicked problem,” we might be able to elevate and complicate the role that inquiry into teaching and learning might play in institutional change and the expansion of higher education. The article argues for the necessity, even urgency, of seeing educational development as a lever for change, fully engaged …

(Cultural) Taxation Without Representation? How Educational Developer Can Broker Discourse On Black Faculty Lives In The #Blacklivesmatter Era, Richard J. Reddick, Beth E. Bukoski, Stella L. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Predominantly White institutions (PWIs) in creative class cities offer contradictory experiences for Black faculty, who engage in invisible additional labor in response to racial aggressions, termed cultural taxation (CT). With an understanding that equity-minded faculty development is an essential space in which to respond to this reality, our study employed a phenomenological focus group design to investigate how Black faculty at a research-intensive PWI located in a creative class city buffeted by racial tensions navigated their service and community experiences. While finding their work meaningful, the participants shared experiences of the multifaceted nature of CT, their stress from teaching about …

Motivated Reasoning And Persuading Faculty Change In Teaching, Gary A. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many faculty members demonstrate unwavering resistance to adopting research-based instructional strategies. This phenomenon commonly fits with motivated reasoning, whereby a person feels threatened by persuasion to change, leading to overtly defensive and sometimes disruptive behaviors and refusal. Changing away from established practices may challenge one’s self-identity and values as an effective teacher and triggers arguments intended to invalidate research-based alternatives. Faculty who are motivated to reject consensus best practices may impede the implementation of these practices across entire departments or institutions. Motivated reasoning and its underlying cognitive processes are explained by self-determination theory, which leads to predictions of faculty behaviors …

Motivations And Obstacles Influencing Faculty Engagement In Adopting Teaching Innovations, Wayne Jacobson, Renee Cole

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Significant progress has been made in understanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and ways it can be improved, but propagation of change remains a challenge. This study presents an analysis of STEM faculty responses to open-text survey questions that asked them to identify motivations and obstacles to making changes in their teaching. Responses reveal wide variability among faculty perceptions, conceptualizations of change, and understandings of evidence. These findings suggest reasons faculty are not uniformly receptive to calls for change and challenge educational developers and advocates of STEM education reform to be explicit about their own understandings of meaningful …

The Diffusion Of Faculty Development: A Faculty Fellows Program, Tracy W. Smith, Sara J. Greenwald, Lillian Y. Nave, Victor N. Mansure, Michael L. Howell

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This critical retrospective review describes the ideation, creation, and implementation of a faculty development fellows program at a regional comprehensive university. The authors share their perspectives as fellows regarding primary considerations for designing the program, including attention to the fellows selection process, required multilevel support, cultivation of communication and relationships, professional development of the fellows, development of unit programming, and lessons learned. Each section of the article concludes with critical questions institutions might consider when conceiving a faculty development fellows program.

Building A Social Network Around Sotl Through Digital Space, Shannon M. Sipes, Samy L. Minix, Matt Barton

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In an effort to increase visibility of and access to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) work on one campus, a collaboration formed between a faculty developer, a librarian, and a media specialist within a center for teaching and learning (CTL). Building on the frameworks of community of practice, professional learning network, and social networking, the authors strategically leveraged digital space to begin building a social network of faculty members interested in SoTL. This article will address the theoretical foundation and practical implementation of five digital strategies: (a) website redesign; (b) social media presence; (c) blog series; (d) filmed …

Assessment Literacy In College Teaching: Empirical Evidence On The Role And Effectiveness Of A Faculty Training Course, Kyle D. Massey, Christopher Deluca, Danielle Lapointe-Mcewan

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This research explores how faculty members’ conceptions of assessment and confidence in assessment change as a result of an instructor training course. Based on a sample of 27 faculty members enrolled in a semester-long instructional development course, this survey-based study provides initial evidence that faculty members can develop confidence in assessment while adopting increasingly complex conceptions of assessment. Based on this study’s findings, we argue that instructional development programs for college faculty have a critical role to play in stimulating faculty learning about assessment of student learning and are an important component in promoting a positive assessment culture.

Cultivating And Sustaining A Faculty Culture Of Data-Driven Teaching And Learning: A Systems Approach, Marsha Lovett, Chad Hershock

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

A prominent goal of colleges and universities today is to enact data-driven teaching and learning. Faculty clearly play a key role, and yet they tend to have limited time, a lack of training in assessment or education research, and few incentives for engaging in this work. We describe a framework designed to address the practical and cultural aspects of these challenges via a cycle of educational development and support: motivate, educate, facilitate, disseminate. We illustrate this systems approach with concrete examples and conclude with lessons learned from our experiences that should translate to a variety of institutional contexts.