Digital Commons Network^™

The Language Of 21st Century Skills: Next Directions For Closing The Skills Gap Between Employers And Postsecondary Graduates, Gabe A. Orona, Ou Lydia Liu, Richard Arum

Chinese/English Journal of Educational Measurement and Evaluation | 教育测量与评估双语期刊

The onus of preparing skilled employees for the modern workforce is largely placed on institutions of higher education. However, recent surveys consistently show a skills gap between what employers’ desire and what graduates possess. This review engages this discussion in the context of measuring and assessing 21^st century skills. We begin by succinctly reviewing literature pertaining to the skills gap, including what types of skills are commonly referenced, before moving to examine literature indicating the relations between current 21st century skills and job-related outcomes. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for higher education researchers examining skill development. Our recommendations cover …

Covid Learning Loss: A Call To Action, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

The COVID-19 pandemic and policy responses designed to mitigate transmission have caused deep and persistent mathematics learning loss among K–12 students. While initial data might have been read optimistically as a blip that would reverse once schools returned to normal, 2023 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that losses persist. While the NAEP does not directly measure quantitative reasoning (QR), the data present a disturbing picture for QR instruction and call for new lines of research that inform QR pedagogical response.

Bite-Sized Quantitative Reasoning Essays: A Review Of Numbers Don’T Lie: 71 Stories To Help Us Understand The Modern World (2020), By Vaclav Smil, Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

In Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World (2020), Vaclav Smil draws on his interdisciplinary background in science, public policy, and history to provide readers with 71 short essays that help us better understand aspects of the world–including its people, environment, energy consumption, and present crises (among other things). In most of his essays, Smil utilizes both data and reasoning with data to shed light on diverse topics, with issues ranging from happiness rankings and vaccine payoffs to chicken production and diesel engines. Though the book arguably has some flaws, its easy-to-digest essays–many of which …

Universal Design For Learning (Udl) In Inclusive Preschool Science Classrooms, Marla J. Lohmann, Katrina A. Hovey, Ariane N. Gauvreau

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Science instruction is a critical aspect of early learning. Teachers can support young children’s learning about scientific concepts through the use of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which is a proactive approach to instructional planning that helps ensure success for all learners. This teaching techniques article offers preschool teachers practical solutions for implementing in the UDL framework for science instruction in their classrooms.

Reducing Access Barriers: Exploring Student Smartphone Use Across Higher Education Institutions, Alex Rockey, Jenae Cohn, Samantha Eastman

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

With near ubiquitous smartphone ownership among 18–29-year-olds, many students carry mobile technology everywhere they go, yet little is known about how students use mobile devices for learning. For historically marginalized students, in particular, their phone may be an important tool for learning—especially if it is the primary device used to access the internet. This study explores student perceptions of using mobile devices for learning in focus groups with students from a California community college, a California state university, and a California university. Findings suggest that students often rely on their mobile devices as both an emergency bridge and to make …

A Professional Development Program For Science Adjunct Faculty: The Mentoring-Learning Community (Mlc), Linda B. Purvis, Jason D. Lang, Julie A. Luft

Georgia Journal of Science

Institutions of higher education have become increasingly dependent on adjunct faculty. These faculty members are often unfamiliar with current teaching strategies emphasizing an active learning approach. To support science adjunct faculty in learning about active learning, a professional development program was designed and implemented by the authors of this study, the Mentoring-Learning Community. The Mentoring-Learning Community program design was informed by literature regarding the use of professional development programs that focused on adjunct faculty. To determine the impact of this program, participants in the Mentoring-Learning Community were observed and interviewed over one semester. Mentoring-Learning Community participants transformed through all three …

Review: Teaching Stem To First Generation College Students: A Guidebook For Faculty And Future Faculty By Gail Horowitz, Jessica S. Robbins

Early College Folio

Book Review: Gail Horowitz’s Teaching STEM to First Generation College Students: A Guidebook for Faculty and Future Faculty (Information Age Publishing, 2019). Horowitz taught chemistry at Bard High School Early College Newark.

Artist Into An Educator—Educator Inside An Artist, Raheela Qabool Abro Ms

Early College Folio

This study is a self-investigation of the author's identity by exploring her two professions: an artist as well as an art educator. Her insights as an educator provided a background for her as an artist through the production of this series of miniature artworks created with cell phone SIM cards. A SIM card, which stands for “Subscriber Identification Module,” contains information tied to the identity of the individual using it. For this reason, the author chose it as a medium for creating an art series to represent identity. In the dialogue of artist and educator, Abro confronts changes to the …

Teaching Food Studies In Early College: Experiments In Collaboration, Cynthia Brown, Maryann Tebben

Early College Folio

This article outlines the process of designing and teaching a collaborative course on sustainable food and agriculture on multiple campuses at once, including two early college institutions. The authors offer insights on the specific elements of the course they designed as well as methods for designing the course, what worked in practice, and what they would change. This article will be useful for faculty who would like to work with other early college colleagues to plan a collaborative course in general or a specific course on sustainable food and farms.

Commitment To Access: A Conversation About The Unconventional And College-In-Prison, Elías Beltrán, Megan Callaghan

Early College Folio

The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) currently operates full-tuition scholarship Bard College degree programs across seven New York State prisons, three Microcollege campuses created in partnership with community-based institutions, and on the Annandale campus of Bard College, where adult students are completing degrees through the BardBac. Since 2005 when the first degrees were granted to BPI students, the program has issued over 5,000 credits and more than 700 degrees.

This conversation between BPI alumnus Elías Beltrán, who earned his Bard College bachelor’s degree in 2017 while incarcerated, and Megan Callaghan, the program’s Dean, touches upon Elías’s upcoming transition to BPI faculty, …

Rolling A Boulder Up A Mountain: The Path To Higher Education In Displacement Concepts, Rebecca Granato

Early College Folio

Students in contexts affected by displacement and forced migration are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing and successfully completing higher education, as well as translating their learning into post-graduation opportunities. Universities with clear social missions and networks of institutions have the power and the obligation to support the creation of “opportunities pipelines” for these populations.

Solving Higher Education In Burma, The Global South, And Beyond, Myat Su San

Early College Folio

By introducing readers to a migrant student from Burma, the author unpacks the longstanding and increasingly complicated barriers to higher education, which many students face across the Global South. Readers are then introduced to one institution seeking to dismantle those barriers through innovation and expansive access, Parami University.

Move, May Honey Maung

Early College Folio

“Move” is a call to action that urges leaders to work together to create a world where education is accessible and inclusive to everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status or background. Drawing inspiration from the author’s own educational experiences as both a student and employee of Phaung Daw Oo, this poem is a reminder that education is not a privilege but a fundamental human right; we all have a responsibility to ensure that it is available to all learners. The author—whose country is currently facing violence and economic and educational instability due to a February 2021 coup d’état—relays the hopeful …

Case Study: Phaung Daw Oo International University, Yee Wai Than Ma

Early College Folio

The case study discusses an unconventional path to education in Myanmar, one that serves as an alternative to government-controlled institutions. The article highlights the challenges faced by students and educators in the country and presents Phaung Daw Oo Monastic School (PDO) and its mission to contribute to society through excellence in education and lifelong learning. The school provides necessary schooling for children who did not receive adequate education at the traditional age, students who are up to five years off from what is considered aligned with the expectations of state-sponsored education. The article also discusses the establishment of Phaung Daw …

Editor's Note, Kyaw Moe Tun

Early College Folio

Editor's Note, Early College Folio, Volume 2, Issue 2 (Spring 2023).

Contributors

Early College Folio

Contributors, Early College Folio, Volume 2, Issue 2 (Spring 2023).

Table Of Contents

Early College Folio

Table of Contents, Early College Folio, Volume 2, Issue 2 (Spring 2023).

Integrating Behavioral Research Findings With A Liberal Arts Paradigm, Jonathan Peterson

LSU Master's Theses

This paper explores the role of behavioral research in understanding the complexity and relevance of creativity. A brief history of the liberal arts and its current application is followed by a discussion of the importance of variability in generating novel and diverse responses, challenging the notion that creativity is solely a product of innate talent. The effects of reinforcement on variability, and how it relates to a complex relationship between reinforcement and the probability of variable responding leads to a discussion of how the combination of previously trained behaviors can lead to creative problem-solving, emphasizing the role of combinatory behavior …

The Case For Succession Planning In Higher Education: A Study Of Knowledge Transfer Within Louisiana State University, Leila Shaik Villien

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to explore the challenges, benefits, and perceptions of succession planning among currently employed administrators at research universities in the southern portion of the United States at the level of assistant department head or higher and the accessible population was defined as currently employed administrators at Louisiana State University at the level of assistant department head or higher. Deans, Associate Deans, Department Heads, Assistant Department Heads, and Department Chairs were invited to participate in an online survey designed by the researcher to assess the attitude toward succession planning and training, along with a variety …

A Multivariate Investigation Of The Motivational, Academic, And Well-Being Characteristics Of First-Generation And Continuing-Generation College Students, Christopher L. Thomas, Staci Zolkoski

Journal of Research Initiatives

Prior research has noted differences in motivational, academic, and well-being factors between first-generation and continuing-education students. However, past investigations have primarily overlooked the interactive influence of protective and risk factors when comparing the characteristics of first-generation and continuing-education students. Thus, the current study adopted a multivariate approach to gain a more nuanced understanding of the influence of generational status on students' self-regulated learning capabilities, academic anxiety, sense of belonging, academic barriers, mental health concerns, and satisfaction with life. University students (N = 432, 67.46% Caucasian, 87.55% female, _Age = 28.10 ± 9.46) completed the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale-2^{nd …}

The Lived Experiences Of Student-Parents In Higher Education Who Utilize The Childcare Program At Eastern Community College: A Phenomenological Study, Kindra Lawanda Moore-Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of student-parents who use the Parents for Higher Education program at Eastern Community College. The theory that guided this study was McClusky’s theory of margin, which addresses the support and services adults need to accomplish their goals in life. This framework provided a connection that explained the importance of childcare subsidies and the needs met while attending classes for community college students—the transcendental phenomenology approach used. The setting for this study was the virtual platform Zoom. The study was conducted using 10 participants, all student-parents who participated in the …

Sociocultural Barriers For Female Participation In Stem: A Case Of Saudi Women In Cybersecurity, Alanoud Aljuaid, Xiang Michelle Liu

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforces is overwhelmingly low as compared to their male counterparts. The low uptake of cybersecurity careers has been documented in the previous studies conducted in the contexts of the West and Eastern worlds. However, most of the past studies mainly covered the Western world leaving more knowledge gaps in the context of Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia. Thus, to fill the existing knowledge gaps, the current study focused on women in Saudi Arabia. The aim of the study was to investigate the factors behind the underrepresentation of …

Case Study: The Impact Of Emerging Technologies On Cybersecurity Education And Workforces, Austin Cusak

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

A qualitative case study focused on understanding what steps are needed to prepare the cybersecurity workforces of 2026-2028 to work with and against emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Conducted through a workshop held in two parts at a cybersecurity education conference, findings came both from a semi-structured interview with a panel of experts as well as small workgroups of professionals answering seven scenario-based questions. Data was thematically analyzed, with major findings emerging about the need to refocus cybersecurity STEM at the middle school level with problem-based learning, the disconnects between workforce operations and cybersecurity operators, the …

Cyberbullying: Senior Prospective Teachers’ Coping Knowledge And Strategies, Kürşat Arslan, İnan Aydın

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

This study aimed to determine senior prospective teachers’ coping knowledge and strategies for cyberbullying in terms of demographic variables. The sample consisted of 471 prospective teachers (324 female and 147 male) studying in the 4th grade in Dokuz Eylül University Buca Education Faculty in Izmir in the 2019-2020 academic year. It was a quantitative study using a causal-comparative research design to find out whether prospective teachers’ coping knowledge differed by independent variables. The "Coping with Cyberbullying Scale" developed by Koç et al. (2016) was employed to discover prospective teachers’ coping strategies for cyberbullying. A "Personal Information" form was also prepared …

A Systematic Mapping Study On Gamification Applications For Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education, Sherri Weitl-Harms, Adam Spanier, John Hastings, Matthew Rokusek

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Gamification in education presents a number of benefits that can theoretically facilitate higher engagement and motivation among students when learning complex, technical concepts. As an innovative, high-potential educational tool, many educators and researchers are attempting to implement more effective gamification into undergraduate coursework. Cyber Security Operations (CSO) education is no exception. CSO education traditionally requires comprehension of complex concepts requiring a high level of technical and abstract thinking. By properly applying gamification to complex CSO concepts, engagement in students should see an increase. While an increase is expected, no comprehensive study of CSO gamification applications (GA) has yet been undertaken …

Three Hundred Years Of Helping Others: Maria Gaetana Agnesi On Exponents, Kenneth M. Monks

Pre-calculus and Trigonometry

No abstract provided.

Three Hundred Years Of Helping Others: Maria Gaetana Agnesi On The Rational Root Theorem, Kenneth M. Monks

Pre-calculus and Trigonometry

No abstract provided.

Three Hundred Years Of Helping Others: Maria Gaetana Agnesi On Simplifying Radicals, Kenneth M. Monks

Pre-calculus and Trigonometry

No abstract provided.

Three Hundred Years Of Helping Others: Maria Gaetana Agnesi On Precalculus, Kenneth M. Monks

Pre-calculus and Trigonometry

No abstract provided.

Lagrange’S Study Of Wilson’S Theorem, Carl Lienert

Number Theory

No abstract provided.