Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Formfollows Function: Research And Assessment Design For Leadership Learning, L.J. Mcelravy

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

This article discusses how the design of research should follow the questions the study seeks to address. The article provides practical and diverse examples of broad research questions applicable to researchers or program architects and summarizes how different methods should be employed to respond.

I have been teaching “Research Methods in Leadership Education” for the past five years. The goal of the course is to help orient graduate students to leadership research and assessment, and for many students, I’m introducing them to social science research and assessment broadly. The beauty and challenge of engaging in leadership research and assessment is …

Don’T Be Afraid To Eat The Whole Whale! Using Mixed Methods To Enhance What We Learn In Leadership Research And Assessment, Lindsay J. Hastings

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to identify proper uses for mixed methods in leadership research and assessment. This article will highlight research and assessment questions that are best served by mixed methods and will offer practitioner-friendly guides and examples for integrating quantitative and qualitative data to help eat the whole whale “one bite at a time.” Sound decision-making in the design, execution, and presentation of mixed methods studies and outcomes assessments not only produces better outputs, but greatly increases the likelihood of (a) publication in reputable journals, (b) sound program evaluation decisions, and (c) public consumption of study or …

An Exploration Of A Researcher-Instructor Partnership In Implicit Racial Bias Awareness And Mitigation In College Stem Classrooms, Jacqueline Johnson Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Seventy-six percent of all minority students who enter college with declared majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) do not graduate with STEM degrees. Black students represent 40% of minority attrition from STEM. Implicit racial bias was indicated as a contributor to the challenges faced by Black students. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a researcher-instructor partnership brought awareness to and the potential for mitigation of implicit racial bias in course delivery and instructor interactions with Black students in STEM classes. A case study design was used over three phases to gather survey, observational, and interview …

Faculty Perceptions On Working With Students With Learning Disabilities, Ashley Jezik

Masters Theses

Students with specific learning disabilities in higher education have been rapidly increasing. Legislation has been a large factor in the equality in education for individuals with disabilities making it easier to attend higher education. College students with disabilities have the hard and important choice of self-disclosing their disability, with many choosing not to. A main role for faculty is to support their students. This qualitative study aims to identify the knowledge faculty have about this student population and how they work with their disability services office. The research shows that faculty's knowledge on students with disabilities are solely based on …

Course Portfolio For Bioc934: Genome Dynamics And Gene Expression, Nicole R. Buan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

A graduate degree in Biochemistry or any molecular life science field requires a strong foundation in molecular biology. BIOC934 Genome Dynamics and Gene Expression is a course designed to challenge graduate students whose research interests lie in the areas of biochemistry, molecular biology, synthetic biology, bioinformatics, and systems biology of prokaryote and eukaryote systems. Graduate students in these disciplines require a rigorous and thorough examination of core concepts in addition to practice applying theory to new observations while traversing unfamiliar disciplinary terrain. This portfolio describes the design of BIOC934, its implementation, and observed outcomes to identify strengths of the course …

Cive 440: Reinforced Concrete Design I: Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective And Scholarly Teaching (First) Course Portfolio, Chungwook Sim

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This Faculty-led Inquiry into Reflective and Scholarly Teaching (FIRST) Course Portfolio documents the instructor’s teaching practices and student learning for Reinforced Concrete Design I (CIVE 440) course. The contents of this course portfolio captures the CIVE 440 course that was taught on the Lincoln campus during the semester of Fall 2022. CIVE 440 is a structural engineering design elective offered every year in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering on both Lincoln and Omaha campus at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). The course objective is to help students to be able to use theory and experience to proportion and detail …

The Design Of Early Childhood Teacher Education Programs: Australian Employer Perspectives With International Program Comparisons, Wendy Boyd, Linda Mahony, Jane Warren, Sandie Wong

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Provision of quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) supports children’s learning with strong agreement that early childhood teachers (ECTs) are central to quality provision. In many countries, it is mandatory that ECEC services employ ECTs. However, Australian ECT employers report that early childhood graduates are not always well-prepared to work in ECEC settings. This may be because what constitutes optimal early childhood initial teacher education programs (EC ITE) is unclear. To investigate the design of EC ITE programs this research reports on (i) design of EC ITE programs across international contexts; and (ii) 19 Australian ECT employers’ perspectives on …

Teachers’ Emotion Regulation: Implications For Classroom Conflict Management, Sabina Valente, Abílio Afonso Lourenço, Sergio Dominguez-Lara, Ali Derakhshan, Zsolt Németh, Leando S. Almeida

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

It has been postulated that emotions play essential roles in conflict situations and that excessive expression of emotions or inappropriate display can reduce the capacity to manage conflict. However, there is a lack of research that relates teachers’ emotion-regulation ability to managing conflict. To bridge this gap, this pilot study aimed to examine the relationships between teachers’ emotion-regulation ability and conflict management strategies used in the classroom. The sample consisted of 878 teachers (61% women) working in Portuguese schools, which completed an application of Mayer and Salovey’s emotional intelligence model and Rahim’s model of conflict management. Using the structural equation …

Making Connections To Address Mathematics Anxiety: A Case Study Of The Instructional Triangle And Remedial College Instructors, Njeri M. Pringle, Jamie L. Workman, Meagan C. Arrastia-Chisholm

Georgia Educational Researcher

Mathematics anxiety is a reality for many students as a number of community college and four-year university students feel disconnected from math and struggle to pass mathematics courses. Using a case study and grounded theory approach, six remedial mathematics instructors were interviewed and observed to examine their instructional strategies and practices. During the interviews, participants expounded upon the changes in strategies and practices implemented when aiding students struggling with anxiety. The Instructional Triangle was applied across participants to compare and contrast their experiences. The analysis focused on environmental factors that could increase or exacerbate mathematics anxiety. In particular, a theme …

The State Of Speech-Language Pathology In Guatemala: A Case For Creating A New Post-Graduate University Program, Amanda Blackwell

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Speech-language pathology is part of a broader discipline of allied-health professions including occupational therapy and physical therapy. The professionals in these disciplines work alongside doctors and nurses to provide rehabilitative care for people with congenital or acquired disabilities across the lifespan. The organization and application of the field of speech language pathology is in various stages of development in countries around the world. The current dissertation seeks to understand the state of speech-language pathology in the Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) of Guatemala and suggest a specific plan for the creation of a new graduate program for this discipline.

The Value Of The Useless: Erin Manning, Impact, Higher Education Research, Progress, Laura Elizabeth Smithers

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

This article brings the work of Erin Manning to bear on common sense practices and conversations of the value of a college education. Manning’s work provides a productive alternative to the neoliberal discourse of college impact that has dominated higher education research for the past half century. Neoliberalism produces the common sense of the value of education as privatized, datafied (or dividuated), and measurable outcomes. This common sense reduces American higher education to the sum of its parts. To produce worlds to which campus marketing departments on occasion gesture, worlds where college produces spaces of community transformation, we must come …

The Secret Sauce Of Online Community Of Practice During Covid-19 Pandemic: Nonviolent Communication, Yonty Friesem, Elizaveta Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The challenges of work-family balance while being asked to move to remote instruction and engage students creatively have affected us all globally on multiple levels - from our professional identity, to our own health, mortality and purpose in life. The idea behind Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is that as Rosenberg (2015/1999) put it, it is a language that celebrates life. Applying these practices in a community building initiative of the Media Education Lab during the COVID-19 pandemic supported our community not only for their professional needs, but also and most importantly in their social and emotional resiliency to keep positive their …

Cultivating Classroom Interactions Online During Covid-19: A Case For Using Team-Based Learning, Amanda Olsen, Candace Joswick

Journal of Practitioner Research

Team-based learning, an evidence-based collaborative learning teaching strategy, is a popular instructional model commonly used at the post-secondary level. While this model has shown success in traditional, face-to-face courses, and reports of use in hybrid and asynchronous online settings exist, though are few, no reports of which we are aware account for use in synchronous online teaching and learning. This paper introduces a tool developed to help higher education instructors plan for the implementation of team-based learning in their synchronous online courses along with an illustration of the use of the template planning tool from our own application for a …

Increasing Awareness Of Inclusive Stem Education Through A College-Level Student Research Group, Sami Kahn, Tiffany Agyarko, Grace Lanouette, Sean Lee, Courteney Wiredu

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The underrepresentation of persons with disabilities in STEM reflects not only a moral failing in society’s commitment to equity but also a practical dilemma as science benefits from the contributions of people with diverse perspectives. While teacher education programs attempt to address equity at the K-12 level, societal biases and misconceptions about who is “able” in science present persistent barriers for people with disabilities throughout the STEM pipeline, in higher education, employment, and beyond. How can we ensure that students with disabilities will encounter professors, employers, coworkers, and peers who are supportive of their efforts in STEM? To address this …

The Blaeser Training Taxonomy, Timothy Blaeser

Doctorate in Education

This research was undertaken to determine the efficacy of using andragogy, assessment, and quality control for training in a modern industrial workplace, with findings indicating that these modern training techniques can be implemented with success in this context. While andragogy, pioneered by Knowles, has been used in many areas of adult education, it has not been found to be commonly used in the industrial workplace. The study focused on Finnish trainers using the Blaeser Training Taxonomy – a training program utilizing elements of andragogy and assessment wrapped into quality control. Using a mixed methods questionnaire, trainers reported their training results, …

Adopting Agility In Academia Through Pilot Projects, Omar Ochoa, Massood Towhidnejad

Papers

This innovate practice work in progress paper presents our initial findings about the application of agile process in the day to day operation of an academic department. The benefits of agile methods, which are processes that are lightweight and people-oriented, are well-known. Agile methods provide the ability to respond faster to the changing needs of stakeholders, improved product quality, team over individual goals, and better transparency. Therefore, one would expect adaption of the agile process within academic environment would be welcomed, however, unique issues exist within faculty that impact adoption; faculty have different goals that change through their tenure, and …

Co-Teaching Strategies: Improving Student Engagement By Increasing Opportunities To Respond, Janet E. Nutt

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Research indicates that effective co-teaching using high leverage practices can maximize outcomes across content areas and positively affect student engagement. This paper discusses practical ways to increase student engagement by increasing opportunities to respond in a co-teaching setting. Specific examples are included for a secondary mathematics co-taught classroom, but the principles can be applied in any subject or setting. A proposed model of professional development and coaching to support effective questioning techniques and increase opportunities to respond is also discussed for the purposes of teacher training and professional development.

Using Cec High Leverage Practices To Prepare Teacher Candidates To Meet Individual Student Learning Needs, Michelle A. Gremp Ph.D, Ced, Julie Harp Rutland Ph.D., Maria L. Manning Ph.D., Mary Jo Krile Ph.D.

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

Whether instruction is happening in traditional classroom settings or through a variety of virtual platforms, successful teaching requires that all teachers possess the ability to collaborate with others, evaluate student performance, establish quality learning environments, and individualize instruction. Drawing on the 2017 Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) publication, High-Leverage Practices for K-12 Special Education Teachers (McLeskey et al., 2017), the Special Education faculty at Eastern Kentucky University describe ways in which four intertwined components of collaboration, assessment, social/ emotional/behavioral practices, and instruction are incorporated into teacher preparation courses to equip candidates with skills to meet the individualized learning needs of …

Building Confidence Of Academic Library Staff In The Selection Of Culturally Authentic Native American Picture Books, Cassondra Leeport

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This study aimed to explore the confidence and ability of library staff to select and identify culturally authentic Native American picture books. The researcher, a self-identified Native American, developed a tool designed to assist in library staff in identifying key elements of a picture book that lend themselves to a work being culturally authentic. Assisting patrons in selecting materials is a key element in the library profession. The setting of this research is a university with a large Professional Education Program as well as a documented dedication to serving Native students and surrounding tribal communities and the participants of the …

A Descriptive Study Of Doctoral Graduates’ Perceptions Of Mentoring By Their Dissertation Chairs, Amanda Blount

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to examine doctoral graduates’ satisfaction with the mentoring provided by their dissertation chairs. The relationships between doctoral students and their dissertation chairs can positively or negatively influence a doctoral student’s dissertation journey. The researcher developed and validated a survey to determine doctoral graduates’ perceptions of mentoring by their dissertation chairs based on best practices in the literature. The online survey was announced nationwide using email and social media: 133 graduates from multiple disciplines and institutions responded with complete data. The responses were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the analyses …