Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Perceived Attributes And Organizational Support Influencing Course Management System Adopter Status In Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Gayla Spooner Keesee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The rapid growth of online learning fueled by technologies including course management systems (CMS) has transformed the traditional educational landscape. Little research shows why faculty members at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been slow to adopt this new teaching paradigm. This quantitative, nonexperimental study utilized Rogers's diffusion of innovation theory as the theoretical base. Research questions explored faculty perceptions of the CMS's attributes (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability) and organizational support (policies, procedures, and norms) in order to predict adopter status. The study used a convenience sample of 137 full-time faculty from 3 public and 2 private …

The Dissemination Of Teacher Learning: A Study Of The Similarities And Differences Between Public School Levels And Locations, Jacqueline M. Krohn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher learning, whether in-service, continued education, or experience based, is a key component of school reform. Specific research on the use of teacher learning to improve student achievement and instructional practices in and across schools is limited. The research questions addressed in this study were: (a) the degree to which teacher learning is disseminated throughout a school organization to improve student learning and instructional practices, and (b) differences and similarities in the dissemination of teacher learning between schools. Watkins and Marsick's learning organization theory, Senge's system theory, and Dewey's constructivist learning theory were used as the theoretical framework. A variation …

Making Sense Of Exit Exam Policies: A Phenomenological Study Of English Language Development Teachers, Scott N. Forrest

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a lack of understanding regarding how sensemaking could be incorporated into a professional development program to improve teacher quality and student achievement. The lived experiences of high school English language development teachers as they interpret English language development and one state's high school exit exam instructional policies were explored in this phenomenological study. The conceptual framework that supported this study is based on the theory of sensemaking, the processes by which educators interpret and implement policies. The participants were English language development teachers of English learners who have not yet passed the exit exam. Data were collected through …

The Use Of Handheld Devices For Improved Phonemic Awareness In A Traditional Kindergarten Classroom, Cristy Ann Magagna-Mcbee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Effective teaching strategies that improve the development of phonemic awareness are important to ensure students are fluent readers by third grade. The use of handheld devices to improve phonemic awareness with kindergarten students may be such a strategy, but no research exists that evaluates the use of these devices. This study explored the effectiveness of Bee-Bot handheld devices in kindergarten classrooms to teach phonemic awareness. A 4-month sequential mixed-methods study was conducted in four classrooms: two that used Bee-Bot handheld devices in phonemic awareness lessons and two that never used the devices. The score gain (Fall 2009 to Winter 2010) …

Reflective Thinking And Emotional Intelligence As Predictive Performance Factors In Problem-Based Learning Situations, Kathleen Mitchell-White

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Continued improvement of the training and preparation of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agents is critical to the organization's ability to protect the national security of the United States. Too little attention has been paid to the factors that improve new agent trainees' (NATs) ability to learn and succeed in their training programs. Based on the theories of reflective thinking and emotional intelligence, this nonexperimental, correlational study explored predictors of NATs' (N = 183) performance in problem-based exercises as part of the 20-week training program. Self-report instruments measured levels of critical reflection (CR), emotional intelligence (EQ), and perceived ability …

The Effects Of A High Quality Teaching Professional Development Program On Fourth Grade Student Achievement, Ethel J. Hasty

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In many states, local school systems are under pressure to implement educational programs to help students pass the statewide Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (ASK) in science, mathematics, and language arts literacy. The school district in which this study was conducted implemented a high quality teaching professional development (HQTPD) program for grade four teachers in 2008. The research problem was that, at the data site, fourth grade students were not making academic progress, and elementary schools were failing to make adequate yearly progress (AYP). The HQTPD program intervention was grounded in social learning theory. The main research question that guided …

Attitudes Towards Inclusion Of General Education Teachers Who Have And Have Not Taught In An Inclusive Classroom, Nicole P. Maccarthy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Through the lens of Bandura's social-cognitive theory, which proposes that one's sense of self-efficacy can foster positive beliefs, the purpose of this descriptive, quantitative study was to determine whether the attitudes held by general education teachers have an influence on their perceptions of inclusion. General education teachers' beliefs in their abilities regarding teaching in inclusive classrooms may have an influence on the success of inclusion. This study examined the difference in attitudes toward inclusion between elementary school general education teachers whose previous teaching experience was with solely general education students but who now teach in an inclusive classroom, and those …

The Experience Of Adjunct And Full-Time Faculty Participation In A Public University Teacher Education Department, Crystal Marie Aker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Higher education has recently experienced a shift from an input-based accountability system (curriculum and instruction) to one that is now output-based (assessment). Faculty members are the intermediaries who prepare curriculum and instruction to meet the requirements of teacher education departments and to demonstrate results through the achievement of students. The purpose of this study was to understand how adjunct and full-time faculty members experience participation in a public university teacher education department and if faculty members' experience of participation influences instruction. Theories of systems, teacher education, faculty work, and communities of practice formed the study's conceptual framework. Data for the …

Transnational Students' Perspectives On Schooling In The United States And Mexico: The Salience Of School Experience And Country Of Birth, Edmund T. Hamann, Víctor Zúñiga, Juan Sánchez García

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Students in Mexican schools with previous experience in US schools are transnational students. To the extent their Mexican schooling does not recognize or build on their US life and school experience and their American school experience did not anticipate their later relocation to Mexico, these students are incompletely attended to by school. Yet these students, like all students, are agentive and have some control over how they make sense of their schooling.

As schooling becomes an increasingly common institutional presence across the world and as decided majorities of children now attend at least some version of primary school, it is …

Multicultural Education, Elaine Chan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

North American society is becoming increasingly diverse through immigration and the birth of children into immigrant families. The foreign-born population in the United States (U.S.) represented 11.1% of the total population in the year 2000, for a total of 31.1 million people who were born outside of the country. In addition, over 22 million people in the U.S. changed their state of residence between 1995 and 2000. In Canada, 18.4% of the total population, for a total of 5.4 million people, were born outside the country, and 11.2% of the population identified themselves as members of a visible minority group. …

A Call For A New Geoscience Education Research Agenda, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Dale R. Baker

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

A lack of qualified teachers and low enrollment in the geosciences exist at both secondary and tertiary levels in the United States. Consequently, it is unlikely that students will be able to achieve scientific literacy without an increase in both of these populations. To address these problems, we pose research questions, highlight sociocultural theories, and provide examples of other science education research as possible avenues by which to explore these related problems. We argue that such research studies are necessary to inform science education policy and advance national scientific literacy.

Discontinuities And Differences Among Muslim Arab-Americans: Making It At Home And School, Loukia K. Sarroub

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Cohen and Neufeld (1981) have remarked that schools are a great theater in which conflicts of culture get played out. The same can be said about homes and families in relation to schools. In fact, scholars and educators have attempted to understand, define, and refine the parameters and connections that bind schools and homes together. In this chapter, I explore the ways in which students’ success at home and school has been conceptualized in scholarly literature, and then connect this literature to the lives of Arab-American youth and their families. The underlying premise undergirding the ideas in this chapter is …

Teacher Learning By Script, Jenelle Reeves

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Scripted instruction (SI) programs, which direct teachers to teach, even to talk, from a standardized written script, are roundly criticized for inhibiting teacher creativity and teacher learning. In fact, such programs utilize scripting for exactly that reason: to reduce teacher interference with (and presumed weakening of) the prescribed curriculum and its delivery. Yet, two teachers in this 18-month study reported learning much about language and language teaching from scripted instruction programs. Through a sociocultural lens, this article explores how an instructional program so widely decried as de-professionalizing instead became a catalyst for these teachers’ professional growth. Exploring the teachers’ reasoning …

Revelations Of Adaptive Technology Hiding In Your Operating System, Kathleen P. King

Department of Leadership, Policy, and Lifelong Learning

Pre-publication version of a chapter about the assistive technology tools and resources available for free in Windows OS and Mac OS. Introducing higher education faculty to free resources, features and programs which they can recommend to their students or perhaps use for themselves (for instance for fading eyesight or hearing). In addition, the chapter briefly shares strategies and examples of how they might be used.

The book will have an entire chapter dedicated to assistive technology as well. This is a popularized assistive technology chapter for generalist, NON special education, faculty to become acquainted with readily available and free resources. …

Grade 9-10 Spanish Food And Cooking, Montsernat Ballina Llosa

World Languages

This lesson is a Spanish lesson about food and cooking recipes. The final outcome is that students have to create their own recipe. Through the lesson they will study vocabulary and will be able to establish cross-cultural connections among the Spanish and American culture.

About The Authors, Volume 28 (2010)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

About the editors and authors of volume 28 (2010) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Preface, Volume 28 (2010), Linda B. Nilson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 28 (2010) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Linda B. Nilson of Clemson University.

Acknowledgments, Volume 28 (2010), Linda B. Nilson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Acknowledgments for volume 28 (2010) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Linda B. Nilson of Clemson University.

Ethical Guidelines For Educational Developers

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Ethical guidelines for educational developers, prepared by Mintz, Smith, and Warren, January 1999. Revised March 1999, September 1999, and March 2000.

Developing Competency Models Of Faculty Developers: Using World Café To Foster Dialogue, Debra Dawson, Judy Britnell, Alicia Hitchcock

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Recent research by Chism (2007); Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy, and Beach (2006); and Taylor (2005) speaks to the critical roles that faculty developers play in ensuring institutional success. Yet we have not as a profession identified the specific competencies necessary for success at different career stages. Our research generated these competencies for three faculty developer positions—entry-level, senior-level, and director—within a teaching and learning center. We used World Café, a collaborative discussion-based technique, to engage developers in building a matrix of competencies for each position and in determining how these competencies could be demonstrated.