Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Outsourcing Learning: Is The Statecraft Simulation An Effective Pedagogical Alternative?, Chad Raymond

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

Although rising costs have been a general trend in higher education since the early 20th century, a fundamental restructuring of the higher education marketplace is currently underway. In recent decades students and their parents have been forced to finance college education through greater and greater debt. As a result, students and their families are increasingly demanding that institutions of higher learning provide evidence of value. Universities must now ask what methods of instruction most efficiently expand a student's knowledge base. Can instruction that has been traditionally supplied in a physical classroom be delivered more effectively at lower cost through digital …

Exploring Stakeholders' Perceptions Of The Evaluation Of Early Fieldwork Experience In An Undergraduate Teacher Preparation Program, Amber R. Peacock

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a qualitative meta-evaluation of the early field experience (EFE) program at a small, private, undergraduate teacher preparation program in Virginia focusing on the perceptions of preservice teachers, cooperating teachers and course instructors about the EFE evaluation objectives, evaluation experience, and resulting data usage. The EFE evaluation protocol at the study site is explored using a participatory-oriented evaluation model that solicited the perceptions of stakeholders. Analysis of EFE evaluation documents and semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders were conducted to explore the extent to which (1) official EFE objectives are congruent with the EFE evaluation, (2) the intended evaluation …

Agro/Hort403/803: Scientific Writing And Communication—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Brian M. Waters

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Scientific writing is a skill that is useful for science students, since many of them will write about their research in theses, dissertations or journal articles. However, many students have not been trained in scientific writing, and the task seems insurmountable to some, who can develop a “fear of writing” that prevents them from finishing their program or manuscript. To effectively teach scientific writing, the instructor should devote the most effort to the most effective learning activities. Thus, this inquiry portfolio addresses two Research Questions: 1) “What is the most effective activity in my course for student learning?”, and 2) …

Hist 208: History Of World War Ii—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Thomas Berg

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Inquiry Portfolio explores the efficacy of the “flipped classroom” format for university-level history courses for students, the professor, and the history department. While creating a clear outline of expectations, readings, examination and quiz requirements will allow the student to better organize their study time, I wanted to know if the “flipped format” would help my students master the knowledge, develop good discussion skills, and practice critical thinking skills learned during classroom discussions. Also, not having taught any flipped courses, I needed the experience to discuss cogently with my peers the desirability and practicality of offering flipped history courses.

Fors 401: Forensic Biochemistry—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Ashley Hall

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Students who participate in active and experiential learning activities develop a better understanding of basic scientific principles and are also more likely to be retained in a STEM discipline. Developing such activities, however, can be difficult. In the present study, we sought to develop classroom activities to engage university students and increase understanding of the theory and practice of forensic science. One common accessory amongst the target audience was the ever-present media, both social and popular (entertainment). In fact, a majority of students report watching at least one of the many popular forensic science shows on TV. Therefore, we hypothesized …

Geog 140: Introduction To Human Geography—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Inquiry Portfolio, Katherine Nashleanas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Large lecture classes of 100 students or more present unique challenges to both teaching and learning. The common method of “delivery” by instructors is lecture, often augmented by a set of Power Point slides; and, while the research literature shows that this is the more traditional way of teaching, increasingly it is becoming apparent that this method of instruction often does not reach students in the way we hope and often assume (Harvard Magazine 2015). Most of the students populating these classes are born of the Digital Age and have different expectations for learning, requiring new approaches in the classroom …

Arab 102: First-Year Arabic Language—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Abla Hasan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Goals of the class are derived from goals nationally recognized and agreed upon for low intermediate Arabic learners .This systematic consistency with the nationally recognized standards -albeit can be more challenging- insures students' ability to pursue national major programs in Arabic or their ability to compete for national grants, scholarships and study abroad programs. The standers adopted by ACTFL and STARTALK equally consider the linguistic as well as the cultural content of teaching Arabic. These standers known as the five C's are: Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Community. The cultural content of learning Arabic is part of the international and …

Adpr 450/850: Public Relations Theory And Strategy—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Ming Wang

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

I decided to join the Peer Review of Teaching program to achieve the following three objectives: to better align course objectives with course content, to improve ways of documenting and assessing student learning, and to fit the course into the broader curriculum.

Participation in the Peer Review of Teaching program has been most illuminating and beneficial. I got to focus on tackling three tangible objectives for my ADPR 450/850 Public Relations Theory and Strategy class. Then I got to apply many ideas introduced in this program, such as backward design principle and assessment methods, in my teaching. I had the …

Msym 109: Physical Principles In Agriculture And Life Sciences—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, David Mabie

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark course portfolio was developed for MSYM 109 - Physical Principles in Agriculture and Life Sciences. The class is a general service course taken by majors as a prerequisite for future coursework along with several other CASNR majors to fulfill their physics course requirement. MSYM 109 is a high enrollment course, with 115 students in lecture, along with four separate 30 person recitation sections. This portfolio was developed to assess the following objectives: 1. Identify, evaluate, and justify the course objectives 2. Assess and evaluate the course pedagogy and assessment methodology 3. Analyze the historical students assessment results against …

Span 202: Intermediate Spanish Ii (Focus On Literature & Culture)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Kelly Kingsbury Brunetto

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

During Spring 2015 I undertook a curricular revision of UNL's fourth-semester Spanish course (SPAN202) with the objective of improving the materials to help the course better achieve its stated goal of moving students "away from knowledge about the language and expertise in using isolated skills into a practical and fluid use of the language in which [they] synthesize [their] isolated skills." As it existed at the time, in theory SPAN202 focuses on synthesis and helping students negotiate higher levels of discourse, but in practice it tended to get bogged down in a comprehensive grammar review. In reality, some grammar topics …

Phys 231: Electric And Electronic Circuits—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Xiaoshan Xu

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this portfolio, I employed a backward design teaching approach on the course PHY231 (Electric and Electronic circuit). I first decide the course objectives and choose the teaching strategies and activities emphasizing student engagement and feedbacks. The effectiveness of the teaching strategies and activities are assessed throughout the course; the adjustments are made accordingly. The results are analyzed at the end of the semester. The assessments indicate that the course objectives are fundamentally achieved and the teaching strategies are effective.

The objectives of the course are:

1. Students will reinforce their understanding in electricity and magnetism.
2. Students will learn theory of …

Edps 859: Statistical Methods—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Matthew S. Fritz

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The key goal of creating this benchmark teaching portfolio is identifying what my course objectives for EDPS 859 really are and to revise my current course materials, activities, and evaluations to emphasize what I consider to be important in the class in order to better meet the course objectives. I would like this portfolio to serve primarily as a way for me to identify and address issues with my particular section of EDPS 859. The secondary purpose of this portfolio is to provide information regarding the purpose and placement of EDPS 859 as a service course within CEHS and the …

Teac 921b: Seminar In Literacy Studies (Special Topics: Schooling And The Multilingual Mind)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Theresa Catalano

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio will document the creation and implementation of a new doctoral seminar in my department. This introductory course to multilingualism and schooling (TEAC 921B) will cover topics related to teaching and learning in the multilingual classroom. The key goals for creating this portfolio are to aid me in creating this new doctoral seminar that reflects and builds on departmental goals for graduate students. In particular I would like to document and address the implementation of two new activities to my teaching ; a language study/journal, and the creation of a documentary film. I foresee using this course portfolio as …

Teac 315: Teaching Science In The Elementary School—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Krista Adams

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Teaching Science in the Elementary School (TEAC 315) is an upper-division course taken by elementary education majors as a requirement for the Bachelor of Science (BS) in Education. The peer review of teaching project had me identify concerns for teaching the elementary methods course. The concerns I wanted to address focused on eliciting teacher candidate’s views and experiences with teaching science as well as my ability to identify evidence of growth. The first area focuses on my needing to understand if I need to develop more instructional strategies to support teacher candidate growth. This involves both in terms of specific …

Teac 451p: Learning And Teaching Principles And Practices (Secondary Mathematics)—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Lorraine Males

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The goal of my peer review portfolio was to better understand how to improve students' learning of how to teach secondary mathematics in reform-oriented ways. Most students that pursue admission into the Secondary Mathematics Teacher Education Program have little to no experience learning mathematics in reform-oriented ways. These preservice teachers (PSTs) were “successful” in mathematics courses in middle and high school, most of them taking honors or accelerated courses. However, many of these PSTs did not have opportunities to engage as active participants in their own learning and develop complex cognitive skills and processes, the focus of reform-oriented instruction. This …

Mind Mapping: Overcoming Problems Of Writer Identity And Convention For Academic Writing By Student Collaboration, Carmel O'Reilly

Articles

This article will consider Mind Mapping as an eLearning tool for the enhancement of learning and assessment within the discipline of academic writing. Building on research which relates to the use of Mind Mapping by students of English as a foreign language (EFL), this article will reflect specifically on students taking a module in Applied Writing on a Mature Access Foundation Programme (MAFP), at Institution X. It goes on to explore existing research in order to highlight two key problems student writers have in common: firstly, writer identity and the affective domain of writing and second, the conventions of academic …

Evaluating Retention Strategies For At-Risk Undergraduate Nursing Students, Joanna L. Ramsden-Meier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As there continues to be a nursing shortage and a lack of diversity in the nursing profession, it is important to retain at-risk students who have been admitted to nursing programs. The purpose of this program evaluation was to compare at-risk students who had not received retention services to at-risk students who had received retention services at a Midwestern college. A formative evaluation was conducted using information from three sources: the college, the students, and the community. Guided by a constructivist theory defined by Ponticell, this study examined the effectiveness of the retention program in terms of its impact on …

College Mission Change And Neoliberalism In A Community And Technical College, Christine Mollenkopf-Pigsley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Administrators of 2-year colleges are working in an environment where they seek to balance the social development of the student and the community's demand for a trained workforce to achieve economic development. This balance has resulted in ambiguity about the mission and purpose of 2-year colleges. The purpose of this case study was to explore a community college's experiences with mission change by exploring the interaction between a neoliberal public policy environment and the traditional social democratic mission of academia. Harvey's conceptualization of neoliberalism was used as the theoretical framework. Data were collected through 15 semi-structured interviews with members of …

Community College Instructors' Perceptions And Use Of Feedback, Janeth Martin Walker Franklin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many community college students, especially those who are required to take developmental education courses, do not complete course and degree goals. Research shows that constructive feedback practices used by instructors improve academic achievement while destructive feedback practices diminish student learning. Using a constructivist framework, the purpose of this qualitative, instrumental case study was to understand how faculty who teach developmental education and entry level college courses perceive and use feedback in a large urban community college in the Southwestern United States. Data were collected through 17 in-depth, face-to-face interviews and written feedback examples submitted by the faculty members. Interview transcripts …

Challenges In Assessing College Students' Conception Of Duality: The Case Of Infinity, Grace Olutayo Babarinsa-Ochiedike

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Interpreting students' views of infinity posits a challenge for researchers due to the dynamic nature of the conception. There is diversity and variation among students' process-object perceptions. The fluctuations between studentsâ?? views however reveal an undeveloped duality conception. This study examined college students' conception of duality in understanding and representing infinity with the intent to design strategies that could guide researchers in categorizing students' views of infinity into different levels.

Data for the study were collected from N=238 college students enrolled in Calculus sequence courses (Pre-Calculus, Calculus I through Calculus III) at one of the southwestern universities in the U.S. …