Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationships Between Grit, Mindset, And The Academic Success Of Nontraditional Students At Online Colleges, David W. Franklin Jr

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Grit and mindset are two of the hottest topics in education today, but research on their predictive power for academic success is inconclusive and rife with gaps and limitations. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between grit, mindset, self-regulated learning (SRL), and academic outcomes for adult students attending online colleges. This was investigated using data from the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills (DAACS) project, and includes 9,276 undergraduate, mostly adult students from two online institutions in the United States. The results indicate that while grit, its two components, and mindset were significantly correlated with …

Engaging First Year Students In Assessment Rubrics: Three Personal Experiences, Katherine Ashman, Kristina Turner, Dona Martin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In a direct effort to build a greater understanding of higher education teaching and learning opportunities, this study shares the journey of three university lecturers working to ensure best practice outcomes from criterion-referenced assessment [CRA]. The work was built on a belief that our respective higher education undergraduate students did not fully value the design structure or feedback outcomes inherent in CRA. Using a collaborative autoethnographic lens we pooled experiences, outcomes, challenges, assumptions, and accounts of unconscious biases from across our different tertiary education schools and subjects. Our examination enriched our understanding, our teaching, and our student outcomes. In sharing …

Integrated Curriculum Approaches To Teaching In Initial Teacher Education For Secondary Schooling: A Systematic Review, Terri Bourke, Lyra L’Estrange, Jill Willis, Jennifer Alford, James Davis, Deborah Henderson, Mallihai Tambyah, Senka Henderson, Tricia Clark-Fookes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Demands that Initial Teacher Education (ITE) prepare teachers who can equip students to be agile real-world problem solvers are frequent. Guidance about ITE integrated curriculum approaches to achieve this aim is harder to find, a significant gap given increasing time and policy pressures for ITE educators. Drawing from an Australian context, this systematic review investigates how integrated curriculum is conceptualised and enacted in secondary schooling ITE courses. Three conceptions of integrated curriculum for ITE are highlighted – Interdisciplinary, Disciplinary Literacy, and Transdisciplinary approaches – alongside benefits and barriers to enacting integrated curriculum. Recommendations for further research and practice around integrated …

The Impact Of Problem-Based Learning On Pre-Service Teachers’ Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge, David A. Martin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Predictors of teacher effectiveness in relation to student achievement are based on the ability to use a range of evidence-based teaching strategies. Australia’s Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) report that some tertiary providers working with pre-service teachers (PSTs) are using pedagogical practices which are not informed by established research. This paper reports on the impact a student-centred, PBL teaching approach had on third-year Bachelor of Education PSTs’ PCK in a mathematics education subject, compared to a similar group taught using a conventional teacher-directed approach. A quasi-experimental group-by-time design was used to determine the impact of the intervention. Contrary to …

Preparing Australian Special Educators: Courses And Content, Jennifer Stephenson, Rahul Ganguly, Coral Kemp, Catherine Salisbury

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

: The characteristics and content of post-graduate courses in special and/or inclusive teacher education in Australian universities were examined using publicly available material on university websites. Content analysis was guided by a set of content area elements covering desirable skills and knowledge for special educators that were identified in the Australian literature. The presence or absence of these content elements in each course and in core or elective units was coded for 28 courses from 21 universities. All or most courses covered generic content such as teaching strategies and evaluating and using research. However, more specialist content, such as explicit …

Mental Health And Online Learning - Systematic Review Dataset, Stephanie L. Moore Phd, George Veletsianos, Michael Barbour

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

While there has been a lot of debate over the impact of online and remote learning on mental health and well-being, there has been no systematic syntheses or reviews of the research on this particular issue. In this paper, we review the research on the relationship between mental health / well-being and online or remote learning. Our review shows that little scholarship existed prior to 2020 with most studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. We report four findings: (a) pandemic effects are not well-controlled for in most studies; (b) studies present a very mixed picture, with variability around how mental …

Exploring The Level Of Engagement Of Capstone Students In An Active Learning Center, Carol Ann Sharicz

Instructional Design Faculty Publications

This study provides a qualitative exploration of the level of engagement of Capstone students attending course meetings in an Active Learning Center (ALC) during their own respective semester at a public research university in the Boston area. A design-based research methodology was employed to study innovative learning environments encompassing learning in context. Study results uncovered three themes regarding the impact of the learning space on students’ perceptions of learning and levels of engagement; revealed that one particular tool, the use of small white boards, encouraged deep thinking and reflection; and indicated that the ALC provided a highly collaborative experience.

Lessons Learnt Conducting Capture The Flag Cybersecurity Competition During Covid-19, Kee Hock Tan, Eng Lieh Ouh

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This innovative practice full paper describes our experiences conducting cybersecurity capture the flag (CTF) competition for cybersecurity enthusiast participants (inclusive of both tertiary students and working professionals) local and abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning and appreciation of cybersecurity concepts for our participants with little to no technical background can be challenging. Gamification methods such as capture the flag competition style is a popular form of cybersecurity education to help participants overcome this challenge and identify talents. Participants get to apply theoretical concepts in a controlled environment, solve hands-on tasks in an informal, game-like setting and gain hands-on active learning …

Common Data Set 2022, Systems Intelligence And Data Analytics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Common Data Sets

Common Data Set (2022-2023) for the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Can We Make Our Robot Play Soccer? Influence Of Collaborating With Preservice Teachers And Fifth Graders On Undergraduate Engineering Students' Learning During A Robotic Design Process (Work In Progress), Krishnanand Kaipa, Jennifer Kidd, Julia Noginova, Francisco Cima, Stacie Ringleb, Orlando Ayala, Pilar Pazos, Kristie Gutierrez, Min Jung Lee

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This work-in-progress paper describes engineering students’ experiences in an NSF-funded project that partnered undergraduate engineering students with pre-service teachers to plan and deliver robotics lessons to fifth graders at a local school. This project aims to address an apparent gap between what is taught in academia and industry’s expectations of engineers to integrate perspectives from outside their field to solve modern societal problems requiring a multidisciplinary approach. Working in small teams over Zoom, participating engineering, education, and fifth grade students designed, built, and coded bio-inspired COVID companion robots. The goal for the engineering students was to build new interprofessional skills, …

Impact Of College Education On Incorporated And Unincorporated Self-Employment: Variations Among African Americans And Hispanics, Xuguang Guo, Wei Chen, Denis Iurchenko

Business

This study examines the impact of college education on incorporated and unincorporated self-employments. It specifically compares the effects on African Americans and Hispanics with the effects on Whites.

Biochar: Properties And Potential Benefits For Agricultural Soil In Rwanda, Andromede Uwase

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Physical and chemical soil degradation is becoming a major challenge for agricultural productivity in Rwanda, which is the most important part of the country’s economy. The wide spreading soil degradation in Rwanda is mainly a result of naturally poor soils coupled with unsustainable soil management leading to, for example, accelerated soil erosion, acidification, nutrient loss, compaction, and to decreasing yields. Biochar, as an end product of pyrolysis of biomass in the absence of oxygen, has been proposed as a soil amendment in remediation strategies because of its positive effects on soil productivity relevant parameters such as soil pH, structure, nutrient …

Orientation Online: The Surprising Benefits Of Virtual New Faculty Orientation, Kristin Herman, Patricia Davidson

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This design case documents the reimagination of new faculty orientation for a mid-sized public university due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. This fully virtual iteration was facilitated during the summer of 2020 and is compared both to previous in-person iterations of new faculty orientation as well as a blended modality version of the orientation program offered in 2021. The redesign is explained using language from Puntedura’s (2006) Substitution- Augmentation- Modification- Redefinition (SAMR) model of technology application in distributed learning. Such terminology provided a helpful common vocabulary for a design team pressured to determine which elements of orientation needed to be …

Instructional Efficiency In Asynchronous Online Discussions, Emily Faulconer, Darryl Chamberlain, Beverly Wood

Publications

Cognitive load mitigation strategies & community of inquiry framework are not discipline specific.

Fall Enrollment 2022-2023, Systems Intelligence And Data Analytics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

IPEDS Fall Enrollment

The Fall Enrollment component collects student enrollment counts by level of student, enrollment status, gender and race/ethnicity. In addition, first-time student retention rates and the student-to-faculty ratio are collected. Enrollment by age is required in odd-numbered years, and enrollment by residence of first-time undergraduates is required in even-numbered years.

Toward A Student-Ready Cybersecurity Program: Findings From A Survey Of Stem-Students, Lora Pitman, Brian K. Payne, Tancy Vandecar-Burdin, Lenora Thorbjornsen

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

As the number of available cybersecurity jobs continues to grow, colleges strive to offer to their cybersecurity students an environment which will make them sufficiently prepared to enter the workforce after graduation. This paper explores the academic and professional needs of STEM-students in various higher education institutions across Virginia and how cybersecurity programs can cater to these needs. It also seeks to propose an evidence-based approach for improving the existing cybersecurity programs so that they can become more inclusive and student-ready. A survey of 251 college students in four higher-education institutions in Virginia showed that while there are common patterns …

Wait! Don’T Quit! Stay With Your Doctoral Program During The Global Pandemic: Lessons Learned From Program Completers, Sonya Hurt, Ericka Woods Ways, Barbara Holmes

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

Using the self-determination theory framework developed by Ryan and Deci (2000), this study explored the facilitation strategies doctoral candidates used to stay on task during the global pandemic. Areas of inquiry included academic progression, dissertation research writing processes and addressing impacts on work, academic studies and persistence. The study used a phenomenological approach of qualitative research design. Ten participants were selected using a convenient sampling method. Three themes emerged from the data that included (1) Balancing work and life quality issues, (2) Mastering academic protocols (3) Developing collective efficacy in scholar development. This study revealed that student dependence on the …

Building Community For Completion: Doctoral Students’ Perceptions Of Technology Integration Within Dissertation Committee Collaboration, Scott Fillman, Barbara Holmes, Dejuanna Parker, Kent Willis

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the prevalence of technology-mediated collaboration and mentorship between dissertation committee members and doctoral student scholars. Qualitative research methods were used to explore the role of technology for collaboration and building community within dissertation committees, focusing on dissertation scholars’ perspectives. The study was based on one overarching research question: How do doctoral students describe the integration of technology for collaborating with dissertation committees? Doctoral scholar participants described the importance of technological literacy within dissertation committees, most indicating that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the importance of fluency with technology. Other participants portrayed the importance of technological literacy within …

Using An Interdisciplinary Case Study To Incorporate Quantitative Reasoning In Social Work, Nursing, And Mathematics, Elizabeth Post, Mischelle Stone, Lauren Cavner Williams, Mary Beaudry

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

Through the national consortium, SUMMIT-P, Ferris State University faculty collaborated to develop and scaffold mathematics and quantitative reasoning across disciplines to reduce math anxiety. Participants in this collaborative group included faculty from social work, nursing, and mathematics who developed a case study on a Hurricane Katrina scenario that necessitated calculating the need for emergency shelter, water, food, and medicine, and as a response to the potential for a Malaria outbreak. This particular case study allowed faculty to use the lens of social justice to teach mathematical concepts and provided an avenue for nursing and social work students to engage in …

Just In Time Mathematics Review For Accounting Students, Anneke Bart, Michael May S.J., Debbie Pike

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This paper describes the Just-in-Time Review developed for an undergraduate accounting course. The review materials cover five topics in algebra. Students take an online assessment, and online materials are made available to help students catch up in those areas where some review is recommended. This paper is a case study of the development and implementation of the Just-in-Time Review for an accounting course at Saint Louis University.

Interdisciplinary Collaboration To Develop Meaningful Mathematical Experiences, Susan Ganter, Bill Haver

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This issue of the Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations (JMSCE) is the second special volume highlighting the impact of the consortium for Synergistic Undergraduate Mathematics via Multi-institutional Interdisciplinary Teaching Partnerships (SUMMIT-P). The development and goals of SUMMIT-P were outlined in the preface of the first special issue of JMSCE devoted to this project (Ganter & Haver, 2020). Full participation from partner discipline faculty is key to the success of redeveloping introductory mathematics courses in a way that incorporates the contextual needs of the other disciplines. As such, SUMMIT-P’s first task was to find ways to best engage colleagues …

Statistics For Nursing And Allied Health At Saint Louis University In The Spirit Of Summit-P, Kimberly S. Druschel, Mike May, Elizabeth Gockel Blessing

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

This paper describes the renewal of a consumer-based elementary statistics course to benefit students in the nursing and allied health disciplines. While the goal of the course transformation was initially to update the pedagogy of the course and ensure students are able to make connections between the course material and their majors, that goal expanded to include the needs and objectives of the client disciplines. This expanded goal was accomplished by incorporating insights gained from a SUMMIT-P business school collaboration and was based on the Curriculum Foundations project recommendations. The paper addresses course projects, instructor development, faculty roles, and interactions …

Improving Student Knowledge Transfer Between Mathematics And Engineering Courses Through Structured Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: A Summit-P Initiative, Laura Ellwein Fix, Afroditi Filippas, Maila Brucal-Hallare, Rebecca Segal

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

Student learning across STEM disciplines has been shown to increase with greater integration of applications in mathematics courses. One challenge of this effort is that identical constructs are often presented differently in the partner disciplines than in the mathematics courses. This leads to student confusion and an inability to transfer critical knowledge in their disciplinary courses, even for students who have mastered the mathematical paradigms. An interdisciplinary team at VCU consisting of mathematics and engineering faculty has worked to improve the knowledge transfer required for the integration of applications in the Differential Equations curriculum. This work is part of the …

Leveraging Interdisciplinary Expertise In Developing An Alternative Mathematics Pathway, Beverly Wood, Debra T. Bourdeau

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

How many instructors does it take for amazing course design? Or perhaps we should begin with “A mathematician, humanist, communication expert and statistician walk into a bar.” This unlikely team has co-developed a pair of courses, Learning to Reason I: Art and Quotient and Learning to Reason II: Commerce and Flux, that deeply investigate quantitative reasoning from multiple perspectives. Blending elements of rhetoric, logic, and history with mathematical computation, representation, and application breaks through the perceived barriers between the unyielding, obstinate world of mathematics and the ambiguous, equivocal world of the humanities. Developing the courses as an interdisciplinary team of …

The Wright Message, 2021-2022, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Mathematics.

The Wright Message

Contents

From the Dean --- 1
Around Wright Hall --- 3
In Memoriam: Diane Lee Baum --- 4
Faculty Spotlight --- 4
Retiring Faculty --- 5
Statistical Consulting Center staff changes --- 7
Alumni Spotlight --- 8
News from the CTLM --- 10
Student Spotlights --- 11
Donor Spotlight --- 18
First Woman to Win International Meshing Award --- 19
Contribution Recognition --- 20
Department Funds --- 22
Contribution Forms --- 23

Gauss And The First “Rigorous” Proof Of The Fundamental Theorem Of Algebra, Sarah Hagen, Alan Kappler

Complex Variables

No abstract provided.

Lighting The Way: 2021-22 Report Of The President, Office Of The President, Gonzaga University

Office of the President Publications

Each year, Gonzaga University's Office of the President produces an annual Report of the President. This publication that highlights just a few of the many accomplishments over the previous academic year, and is intended to convey gratitude to our Trustees and Regents, benefactors, and many supporters.

Investigating Discussion Forum Impact On Students’ Social Justice Beliefs In Online Undergraduate Mathematics Courses: A Mixed Methods Study, Ashlee Lynn Akin Matney

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

While teaching math for social justice and equity has become a heavily researched topic in recent decades with Jo Boaler (2008, 2015, 2016), Rochelle Gutiérrez (2009, 2013), and Eric (Rico) Gutstein (2003, 2006, 2007, 2013) emerging as recent leaders in the charge, the focus has consistently remained on traditional classroom teaching (e.g. Boaler, 2008; Gutiérrez, 2009; Gutstein, 2003). This convergent design mixed methods study investigated the impact of teaching math for social justice in the online learning environment, specifically, the impact of discussion forums on students’ social justice beliefs in fully online undergraduate math courses.

Quantitatively, 56 students completed pre- …

Retention Of First-Generation College Students At A Four-Year Regional Public Institution, Matthew Andrew Schumacher

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Every year a significant number of college students stop out of college and fail to persist and complete their degree. First-generation college students are more likely to exit college without a degree than continuing-generation students. The purpose of this quantitative, archival, nonexperimental study was to explore how first-generation college student demographic, academic background, college academic, and student engagement factors were related to and predict first-year to second-year retention at a mid-sized, public regional university. The factors explored were gender, age, race/ethnicity, income status, high school GPA, ACT, cumulative GPA, first term attempted hours, housing, participation in a Living Learning Community, …

How And Why Design Education Instructors Use Place-Based Education In Their Courses, Michael Flynn

Online Theses and Dissertations

Place-based education (PBE) is a pedological approach that takes learning outside of the classroom into the local community. Allowing students to not only explore their physical environments but also the history, people, and culture of a place. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the use of PBE by design education instructors in higher education. This focus on PBE in design education is significant because PBE has not been extensively examined in a design context. The results should extend knowledge about ways that local learning environments can create opportunities and experiences for design students that cannot be …