Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Study Of The Design Of A First Generation Community College Stem Learning Community, Susan M. St. Pierre

Higher Education Student Work

First generation students attending college have difficulties achieving academic success, engaging with their peers and persisting (Jehangir, 2010); are growing in number on college campuses; and are significantly underrepresented in STEM programs of study. This research examined the role that a STEM focused Learning Community (STEM LC) and student participation in Early College programs with STEM exposure have on first generation student achievement engagement and retention. The purpose of the project was to research and design a framework for a community college STEM LC for first generation students as a means to increase academic achievement and student retention for this …

The Externship Experience: Developing A Short-Term Experiential Learning Opportunity To Enhance Career Development, Alexandra Finney

Higher Education Student Work

Research supports experiential learning models, focusing on career exploration, as one of the best ways college students can clarify their interests and determine future goals (Orndorff & Herr, 1996). This capstone explored the existing literature on: fundamental career development theories, experiential learning’s connection to career preparation, student populations needing additional career preparation, and ways to address these needs. Typically, sophomore students need but rarely receive this special attention, since they statistically have the highest withdrawal rates (Tobolowsky, 2008). This capstone project was conducted through a mixed methods pragmatic methodological assessment of the development and implementation of Merrimack College’s Externship Experience. …

Planning And Enacting Mathematical Tasks Of High Cognitive Demand In The Primary Classroom, Kelly Georgius

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This study offers an examination of two primary-grades teachers as they learn to transfer knowledge from professional development into their classrooms. I engaged in planning sessions with each teacher to help plan tasks of high cognitive demand, including anticipating and planning for classroom discourse that would occur around the task. A detailed description of the planning and teaching that took place during the study provides information about how a teacher can learn and what a teacher learns to consider in order to plan and implement meaningful mathematical lessons. This design experiment describes the work of two teachers who participated in …

Opportunities Taken, Lost Or Avoided: The Use Of Difference Of Opinion In School Decision Making, Bridget M. Leggett, Glenda Campbell-Evans, Jan Gray

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In this paper the authors report on an exploratory investigation into the use of disequilibrium and difference of opinion in decision-making in schools, based on the experiences of Master of Education students in their own university. From examples provided by the participants the authors identify the factors that contribute to the positive use of difference of opinion, and those that limit or constrain its use. They then discuss the implications of the findings for the curriculum of the degree in which the participants are enrolled.

Beginning Teacher Support In Australia: Towards An Online Community To Augment Current Support, Nick Kelly, Shirley Reushle, Sayan Chakrabarty, Anna Kinnane

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper describes opportunities to improve the current support provided to beginning teachers in Australia. It holds that there is a need for approaches that go beyond school-based induction and support. The paper presents data from a survey of beginning teachers in Queensland, with aims to determine current access to support and perceptions about gaps in support. It uses these findings alongside existing evidence to make arguments, that some beginning teachers are effectively unsupported and that universities have the potential to play a greater role in beginning teacher support. Further results are used to suggest guidelines for developing a national …

Effectiveness Of Research-Based Teacher Professional Development:, Rebecca Saunders

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A significant body of literature assists researchers and program designers to identify the desirable characteristics of professional development for teachers. Few studies, however, specifically examine the operation and outcomes of programs built upon research-led principles. This study uses a sequential mixed methods design to examine a four-year systemic-change professional development initiative designed to extend and refine the instructional processes of teachers working in the vocational education and training (VET) system in Western Australia. The program’s design incorporated theory and research on systemic change and teacher professional development. Findings reveal that the program was successful in helping teachers extend and refine …

An Overview Of Undergraduate Research In The Cuny Community College System, Avrom J. Caplan, Effie S. Maclachlan Phd

Publications and Research

CUNY community colleges occupy a unique niche because they are part of a larger geographically focused university system in which all faculty members are governed by a single set of standards for professional development. Research is clearly a part of the wider institutional culture, and dedicated faculty members who obtained support from state and federal funding agencies have conducted successful student-research programs. Close partnerships between community colleges and their four-year counterparts can contribute to positive student outcomes and to the subsequent transfer of students. The main roadblock to broadening participation is the small number of students who can be supported …

The Casual Approach To Teacher Education: What Effect Does Casualisation Have For Australian University Teaching?, Christopher J. Klopper, Bianca M. Power

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Universities in many countries are struggling to adapt to the competing forces of globalisation, new managerialism, entrepreneurialism and new technologies and quality agenda demands. Diminishing resources caused by restricted funding and an aging and diminishing academic workforce pose barriers. One solution to staffing shortages is the casualisation of academic teachers increasing causal or sessional teaching staff who take on significantly increased teaching responsibilities. This article explores the casualisation of university academics and reports on preliminary findings of a small scale sessional teacher development program that used data from a questionnaire on demographics of a small group of 22 sessional teaching …

Historical Thinking: Perspectives On Teaching History In The Secondary Education Classroom, Michael Diclemente

Graduate History Conference, UMass Boston

“Doing” history can be interpreted in many different ways and this is due to the dynamic nature of history as a discipline. Doing history can be research, writing papers, working on a manuscript, putting final touches on a thesis, setting up a museum exhibit, being a tour guide, or teaching. In all these examples historians try to take their passion for the subject and make that clear to others. History needs an audience. Interest in history exists, if not, we would not have outlets like the History Channel. Dealing with an audience who wants to learn about history is one …

Perceptions Of Mentoring From Fourth Year Medical Students, Stephen Charles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods research study investigated medical students' perspectives of professional mentoring through a web-based survey/needs assessment. The participants are fourth year medical students from three large urban research institutions and two regional branch campuses. The web-based survey/needs assessment was created, peer reviewed, and validated. A strategic sampling of focus groups was conducted to gather additional information regarding the results from the web-based survey. The information and data obtained from the survey and focus groups was used to provide recommendations for administrators and faculty about the mentoring program for each campus. A new proposed model of mentoring was developed upon analysis …

Teaching The 21st Century Learner Certificate Program Report And Reflection, Bradley Coulter

All Resources

Report and reflection on a concluded program called Teaching the 21st Century Learner Certificate Program offered through CETL in 2014.

Predictors Of Success On The Prosthetics Certification Examination, Rebecca M. Miro

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students who graduate from a practitioner program in prosthetics & orthotics must achieve certification in order to obtain licensure and practice independently in 16 states. In states where licensure is not mandatory, graduates may choose to pursue certification in order assure patients that they are practicing at the highest level as well as to differentiate themselves from competitors. While studies have been carried out extensively regarding predictors of success on the certification exams in other professions, no such study has been carried out to date in prosthetics.

The American Board for Certification in Prosthetics, Orthotics, & Pedorthics (ABC), established in …

Understanding The Role Of Post-Secondary Coaches In High Schools: A Social Capital Analysis, Lynne Haeffele

Theses and Dissertations

The research problem for this study was to understand the role of a new category of institutional agents, post-secondary coaches in high schools, who facilitate students' college readiness. This comparative case study focused on two post-secondary coaches in two high schools participating with a university in a state-funded grant project to improve college readiness. Data collection included structured interviews with coaches, students, and other school and external personnel; written descriptions by coaches of how they do their jobs; observations with field notes taken while shadowing coaches; and relevant documents, websites and artifacts. Data analysis involved both open coding and the …

Digital Natives-Digital Immigrants Engaging The Google Generation, Michael Ross

Forum Lectures

Our students are the "Digital Natives" in that they have grown up using the technology we as "Digital Immigrants" have considered tools. Tools which make us better teachers, learners and researchers. On the other hand our students do not think of the technology as tools but as an extension of their lives, using these technologies for personal interactions, group exploration and of course a source of content which we consider knowledge. In this digital immigrant presentation I try to highlight where our students are and suggest things we must do to help their learning.

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Kelly Campbell Tssa Winter 2014, Kelly Campbell

Teaching Skills Study Awards (TSSA) Reports

Enhances faculty's teaching by attending a conference devoted to university teaching, a high-impact practice, evidence-based practice or a newly developing teaching practice.

The Invisible Composition Classroom: The Reciprocity Of Face, Identity, And Politeness, Pennie L. Gray

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the role of face and identity as they arise in a first year composition classroom. Using the illuminating theoretical framework of linguistic politeness theory, new understandings of the social interactions in the composition classroom are unveiled. Specifically, through an analysis of the politeness strategies that students use during the peer review process, it becomes clear that students prefer to temper their critique of others' work rather than openly criticize that work. Additionally, students offer far more positive feedback than their peers' work perhaps merits, minimize the revision work they suggest, and downplay their own authority over each …

Editorial: Understanding Backwards, Looking Forwards, Jeff Sommers

English Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Understanding Of Teaching And The Profession Through School Innovation Rounds, Wendy Moran

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Currently, Australian teacher education programs include professional experiences as a means of enhancing preservice teacher understanding about teaching and the profession. The challenge the programs face is the lack of places available in schools and, at times, the unpredictable quality of the placements as some teachers are time-poor, are not good models of effective teaching practice, and/or lack the skills of articulating their practice. This paper briefly explores features of past models of professional experience before describing a new model that, as an inclusion in a range of field-based placements, addresses many of the challenges in teacher education today. Results …

Spring 2014 E-Certi Newsletter, Center For Educational Research And Teaching Innovation

CAFE Faculty Newsletters

Hello S&T Instructors -- Welcome back to campus, to cold and to construction – as well as to what is optimistically referred to as the Spring Semester! This issue includes interviews with a couple of seasoned professors who are changing their teaching when they could be coasting, as well as two new Curators’ Teaching Professors, and information about upcoming faculty events.