Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Agent Based Modeling As An Educational Tool, Jonathan H. Fuller, Rodger Johnson, Vic Castillo

STAR Program Research Presentations

Motivation is a key element in high school education. One way to improve motivation and provide content, while helping address critical thinking and problem solving skills, is to have students build and study agent based models in the classroom. This activity visually connects concepts with their applied mathematical representation. “Engaging students in constructing [models] may provide a bridge between frequently disconnected conceptual and mathematical forms of knowledge.” (Levy and Wilensky, 2011)

The Culture Boundary: How Awareness Informs Teaching Practice, Angela Richardson

MA TESOL Collection

In this paper I discuss the value of exploring student culture through ongoing reflective processes for effective and responsible language teaching. I reflect on my own experience of teaching in a foreign language context for the first time, and discuss how developing cultural awareness helped me move from a place of frustration to understanding, and how a change in attitude and teaching approach impacted my relationships and significantly improved the quality of teaching and learning in my classroom. Using Pat Moran’s ‘Cultural Knowings’ framework as a guide, I reflect on my personal transformation while working in South Korea and report …

Cuisenaire Rods: Pedagogical And Relational Instruments For Language Learning, Sevilay Akarcay

MA TESOL Collection

Cuisenaire Rods are pedagogical and relational instruments with great potential for exploring the way a language works. With their flexibility and simplicity, they allow the students to focus on the process of learning; helping them notice patterns, make associations, and engage in a social and personal relation with the language and deepening their awareness of themselves as learners. The Cuisenaire Rods’ potential for creating simplicity within complexity enables a way of working with language that engages the playful and creative powers of the users. In the introductory part of the paper, the author explores Caleb Gattegno’s approach to learning and …

Ua3/9 Challenging The Spirit Action Plan 2012-2013 To 2017-2018, President Gary Ransdell

Presidential Publications

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Skill Development In A Living-Learning First-Year Experience Program, Kerri Anna Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of students and faculty involved in a living-learning first-year experience program at a small, liberal arts institution about developing skills for life-long learning including critical thinking, written communication, and reflection and engagement across disciplines. The researcher conducted a qualitative case study including focus groups with students and interviews with faculty involved with the first-year experience program. Three focus groups with a total of 19 student participants and individual interviews with 11 faculty participants were conducted. Interviews and focus groups were digitally recorded and then the researcher listened to each session …

The Neglected Minority: Interviews With Successful Community College Students From Poverty, Heather Hollifield-Hoyle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Poverty in the US is growing at an alarming rate. The current economic climate demands higher education to embrace the economic diversity of all students and to prepare them, regardless of economic class, for a globally competitive workplace. Unfortunately, the higher education community is not as adept at serving low-income students, as it is middle- and upper- income students. Low-income students are less likely than their more affluent peers to enroll in college or graduate. Employing qualitative narrative methods, this dissertation explores the factors that contributed to the persistence and success of 18, low-income, community college students. This study addresses …

Characteristics Of Quality Agricultural Magazine Capstone Courses Based On The Five R'S Model, Traci Nicole Rushing

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to assess students' and instructors' perceptions regarding the value of an agricultural communications magazine capstone course at three universities that were identified as exemplary in an effort to describe the characteristics leading to the course's success. Using a qualitative survey methodology, the investigator administered an open-response survey, conducted personal interviews with purposively-selected students in each course and the instructors, and made field observations. Both the interviews and the surveys consisted of six, in-depth questions crafted after Andreasen's (2004) of a successful magazine capstone course. Based on students' and instructors' perceptions through the lens of Andreasen's (2004) model, …

Self-Determination: Using Agency, Efficacy And Resilience (Aer) To Counter Novice Teachers’ Experiences Of Intensification, Jayne Keogh, Susanne Garvis, Donna Pendergast, Pat Diamond

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The intensification process associated with the first year of teaching has a significant impact on beginning teachers’ personal and professional lives. This paper uses a narrative approach to investigate the electronic conversations of 16 beginning teachers on a self-initiated group email site. The participants’ electronic exchanges demonstrated their qualities of agency, efficacy and resilience (AER), and an increased sense of self-determination as they journeyed through the five phases typical of first year teacher experience. Findings suggest that the provision of similar peer-based support mechanisms would benefit other beginning teachers, perhaps working to counteract current high attrition rates from the profession.

What Pre-Service Teachers Need To Know To Be Effective At Values-Based Education, Amanda G. Mergler, Rebecca Spooner-Lane

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Evidence is mounting that values education is providing positive outcomes for students, teachers and schools (Benninga, Berkowitz, Kuehn, & Smith, 2006; DEST, 2008; Hattie, 2003; Lovat, Clement, Dally, & Toomey, 2010). Despite this, Australian pre-service teacher education does not appear to be changing in ways necessary to support skilling teachers to teach with a values focus (Lovat, Dally, Clement, and Toomey, 2011). This article presents findings from a case study that explored current teachers’ perceptions of the skills pre-service teachers need to teach values education effectively. Teachers who currently teach with a values focus highlighted that pre-service teacher education degrees …

Effects Of Increased Self-Regulated Learning Opportunities On Student Teachers’ Motivation And Use Of Metacognitive Skills, Emmy Vrieling, Theo Bastiaens, Sjef Stijnen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This intervention study focused on the relationships between primary student teachers’ self-regulated learning (SRL) opportunities, their motivation for learning and their use of metacognitive learning strategies. The participants were 3 teacher educators and 136 first-year student teachers. During one semester, teacher educators and student teachers were monitored by questionnaires measuring opportunities for SRL offered by the program. Questionnaires were also administered monitoring student teachers’ motivation and metacognition. During data collection, teacher educators participated in training courses and tutorial conversations aimed at increasing student teachers’ SRL opportunities in the curriculum. At the end of the research period, all teacher educators and …

Fall 2012 E-Certi Newsletter, Center For Educational Research And Teaching Innovation

CAFE Faculty Newsletters

Hello S&T instructors: The fall semester is here and with it a time of saying farewell to Vice Provost Harvest Collier. Read a tribute to him here. Also, read about how Hank Pernicka teaches rocket science and consistently garners teaching awards, plus, find out little known facts about S&T’s Woman of the Year and details of this year’s Curators’ Teaching Summit. Welcome back!

The African American Male Initiative At The University Of Louisville, Michael D. Anthony, Lyston Skerritt, Joseph Goodman

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Following a year of data gathering and planning during the 2010-2011 academic year, the University of Louisville launched the African American Male Initiative (AAMI) in the fall 2011 semester. The AAMI was designed using national best practices and current research findings as it relates to supporting African American male undergraduates. Now at the end of its first year, this practitioner’s brief provides an overview of the AAMI structure, design, and implementation.

Drastic Education Reforms Would Devalue Mission And Learning Process, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Lived Experiences Of Faculty Who Use Instructional Technology: A Phenomenological Study, Heath V. Tuttle

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative phenomenological study was designed to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of university faculty who adopt technology for teaching and learning purposes and to determine if adoption affected the way a person taught, worked, and lived. A review of the literature found a gap in the understanding of the lived experiences of faculty who teach with technology, and this study was designed to help fill that gap.

Using a purposeful sampling method with a reputational technique, I targeted 20 faculty members who used technology to teach. The phenomenological method provided an understanding of their experiences as …

Alternate Pedagogy For Developing Transformational Leadership, Zubeda Bana

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

As the growing concern for educational reforms worldwide is on developing transformational leadership that is responsive to the needs of the local as well as the global contexts, teacher educators are still searching for pedagogies, which could help them to develop transformational leaders. This paper offers some scope to teacher educators to critically analyze current teaching learning pedagogies while preparing transformational leaders for the 21st Century. Utilizing the allegoric approach as an alternate pedagogy for developing transformational leadership, this paper deliberates upon the relevance and efficacy of the role of aesthetic tradition of learning in leadership development programmes. The paper …

Enhancing Content Knowledge Of In-Service Science Teachers Through Model And Modeling, Naheed Perveen, Sadia Muzzafar Bhutta

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The guiding question for this paper is; how does model and modeling enable student-teachers to develop a conceptual understanding of the cell as a structural and functional unit of living things? A teaching unit ‘The Cell’ was designed in view that models are a major teaching and learning tool for developing scientific thinking, whereas modeling means a process of forming representation. The teaching and learning strategies reported here encapsulated four modeling phases. Firstly, student-teachers modeled historical development of cell through a time line and role play and discussed the evolutionary and tentative nature of science. Secondly, the candy factory analogy …

Urban Pre-Service Teachers’ Conceptions Of Teaching In Rural Communities, Lenore Adie, Georgina Barton

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Encouraging quality teaching staff to apply for and accept teaching placements in rural and remote locations is an ongoing concern internationally. The value of different support mechanisms provided for pre-service teachers attending a rural and remote practicum[1] are investigated through theories of place and the school-community nexus. Qualitative data regarding the experiences of the pre-service teachers were collected through interviews and case study notes. This project adds to our understanding of practicum in rural areas by employing a conceptual understanding of place to propose how the experiences of a four-week practicum may contribute to urban pre-service teachers’ conceptions of …

Managing From The Middle, Lisa Williams

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

How can middle managers successfully improve work conditions and performance of their staff as part of becoming a better manager? This synthesis reviews relevant literature to develop five key principles in my argument: Motivation is the key, the change process begins with me, change is an ongoing and fluid process, middle managers have a need for team and middle managers play different roles during team building. I have also developed a handy booklet for the middle manager to use in changing their management style, which is included as Appendix. The booklet first briefly explains the principles. It then discusses four …

Antonieta Gallegos-Ruiz Cd Summer 2011, Maria Gallegos-Ruiz

Innovative Course Redesign Grant Reports

Supports faculty to redesign or develop a course in ways that implement high-impact, evidence-based, and/or innovative teaching strategies to improve student learning.

Chile Faculty Development Trip, Gary Prevost, Gladys White, Sandy Bot-Miller, Anna Lisa Ohm, John Yoakam, Ernest Diedrich

Headwaters

No abstract provided.