Digital Commons Network^™

Examining Technology Acceptance By School Teachers: A Longitudinal Study, Paul J.H. Hu, Theodore H.K. Clark, Will W.K. Ma

Support & Other Units (THEi)

The role of information technology (IT) in education has significantly increased, but resistance to technology by public school teachers worldwide remains high. This study examined public school teachers’ technology acceptance decision-making by using a research model that is based on key findings from relevant prior research and important characteristics of the targeted user acceptance phenomenon. The model was longitudinally tested using responses from more than 130 teachers attending an intensive 4-week training program on Microsoft PowerPoint, a common but important classroom presentation technology. In addition to identifying key acceptance determinants, we examined plausible changes in acceptance drivers over the course …

Staff Perspectives On The Experience Of A Problem-Based Learning Staff Development Module: Impact On Their Pedagogical Stance, Una Coleman

Theses

The current shift towards problem-based learning (PBL) internationally within higher education, and the transfer of some programmes within higher education in Ireland into PBL programmes, suggests that staff development needs to be a key component in any PBL implementation strategy. PBL radically transforms the roles and functions of both staff and student and challenges teachers’ beliefs and accompanying perceptions about the teaching and learning process. This study documents the impact of a PBL staff development programme on the participants and assesses the impact on their pedagogical stance.

The approach to this study was guided by my belief in the socially …

A Christian Perspective On Mathematics – History Of Mathematics And Study Guides, Johan Deklerk

ACMS Journal 2004

This paper addresses two questions: (1) Will a study of the history of the subject serve any purpose in promoting a Christian perspective on mathematics? (2) Can the "science in context" approach be of further help in promoting such a perspective? The author answers both positively and provides specific examples of how he has done this in his own classes.

Unlearning: A Critical Element In The Learning Process, Virginia S. Lee

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Research has shown that prior knowledge is a critical determinant in learning. This essay explores the role of student misconceptions and how instructors should address them during the learning process.

Mathematics And The Love Of God: An Introduction To The Thought Of Simone Weil, Scott Taylor

ACMS Journal 2004

Simone Weil was the sister of Andre Weil, one of the twentieth century's foremost mathematicians. She is a widely read and creative writer on spiritual themes. She addressed mathematics extensively in her writings. This paper discusses her views of mathematics and beauty, her critiques of modern science, her views on truth, and her concept that mathematical ideas can serve as symbols of spiritual ideas.

Program Evaluation Of The Practicum I Summer Program From A Student’S Perspective, Matthew J. Williams

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The organization, function, and value of the School Psychology Practicum I summer program at Marshall University Graduate College is examined. The perceptions of students recently completing the practicum are evaluated to determine their association with the program objectives. Data collection utilizes a questionnaire developed from the goals and objectives of the program and the criteria for evaluation of student performance. Frequency analysis, descriptive statistics, and crosstabulation are utilized to assess the data. The students expressed an overall satisfaction with the practicum experience. The study’s limitations are explored and recommendations for program improvement are presented.

The National Honors Report, Volume Xxiii, Number 4, Winter 2003

The National Honors Report

ASSESSMENT

Figuring It Out

Introduction

1. "Just a Buzzword?" by Margaret Brown ... 1 In the next article by Ron Dotterer he asks if assessment will still be a hot topic in 2008-and he was writing in 1988. What is the answer?

Why Do It?

2. "Assessment: A Retrospective Look" by Ron Dotterer ... 2 In this article, Ron Dotterer, at that time honors director at Susquehanna University and a member of the NCHC Executive Committee, provides an overview of assessment, which he calls "a new and improved brand name" for evaluation. Assessment, Dotterer asserts, focuses too much on outcomes. …

Preservice Elementary School Teachers’ Understandings Of Theory Based Science Education, Edmund A. Marek, Timothy A. Laubach, Jon Pedersen

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

Undergirding the science education program examined in this study is a theoretical foundation based upon four cornerstones that reflect scientific inquiry. These four cornerstones are best represented by four key questions: (a) What is science; (b) What are the goals or standards for elementary school science education; (c) What theory describes how elementary school children construct knowledge; and (d) What teaching approach represents the discipline of science, achieves the goals of elementary school science education and accommodates to how children construct knowledge? The learning cycle (Barman & Kotar, 1989; Bentley, Ebert,& Ebert II, 2000; Lawson, Abraham, & Renner, 1989; Marek …

Constructivism: Defense Or A Continual Critical Appraisal – A Response To Gil-Pérez Et Al., Mansoor Niaz, Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Alicia Benarroch, Liberato Cardellini, Carlos E. Laburu, NicoláS Marín, Luis A. Montes, Robert Nola, Yuri Orlik, Lawrence C. Scharmann, Chin-Chung Tsai, Georgios Tsaparlis

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

Abstract. This commentary is a critical appraisal of Gil-Pérez et al.’s (2002) conceptualization of constructivism. It is argued that the following aspects of their presentation are problematic: (a) Although the role of controversy is recognized, the authors implicitly subscribe to a Kuhnian perspective of ‘normal’ science; (b) Authors fail to recognize the importance of von Glasersfeld’s contribution to the understanding of constructivism in science education; (c) The fact that it is not possible to implement a constructivist pedagogy without a constructivist epistemology has been ignored; and (d) Failure to recognize that the metaphor of the ‘student as a developing scientist’ …

Falling Into It: Novice Tesol Teacher Thinking, Mark K. Warford, Jenelle Reeves

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

The authors conducted a qualitative study in order to understand the preconceptions novice TESOL teachers might have about teaching English language. Long interviews were conducted with nine students (six native English Speakers and three non-native speakers (NNS)) enrolled in one of two courses offered in a TESOL teacher education program. None of the participants had experience as an in-service teacher. Inductive analysis of tape transcripts suggested the presence of several conceptual themes discussed in the teacher thinking literature. Findings suggest that novice TESOL teachers, like their more experienced counterparts, have a system of metaphors to conceptualize teaching. The apprenticeship of …

Preface, Volume 21 (2002), Catherine M. Wehlburg

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 21 (2003) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Devorah Lieberman of Portland State University.

September 11, 2001, As A Teachable Moment, Edward Zlotkowski

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The Opening Plenary at the 2001 POD Conference was given by Edward Zlotkowski. Using the reactions to the events of September 11, 2001, as an example, he urged those in higher education to search out opportunities for academically based civic engagement and to focus on Boyer’s concept of the scholarship of engagement.

The Day After: Faculty Behavior In Post–September 11, 2001, Classes, Michele Dipietro

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

What is the best thing to do in the classroom in the face of a tragedy like the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001? What should instructors do to help students, if anything? This article describes the results ofa faculty survey at Carnegie Mellon University. Faculty reported what actions they took in the classroom to help their students (or their rationales for not mentioning the attacks), and their degree of confidence on the effectiveness of their behaviors. Statistical techniques are used to assess the significance of some trends, and implications for faculty developers are discussed in light of cognitive, motivational, …

Using Cooperative Games For Faculty Development, Barbara J. Millis

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Learning through games has been going on for centuries. Faculty developers, however, are only now realizing the impact of well-structured and well-planned games. They not only “educate” engaged faculty members, but they can also motivate them. This chapter discusses the educational value of games, reveals their key underlying principles, and offers two examples of successfal faculty development games (scavenger hunt and Bingo) that can be replicated on any campus.

Transforming Instructional Development: Online Workshops For Faculty, Laurie Bellows, Joseph R. Danos

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Two vastly different institutions, the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and Delgado Community College, cooperated in the delivery of online faculty development workshops in syllabus construction. This chapter describes the experiences of a flagship university and an urban community college in employing electronic delivery of the same workshop content to their respective faculty members. It shares successful and unsuccessful strategies, nuts and bolts, and the discovery of an unexpected, pleasant irony: The technology that can separate and isolate us has the potential to bring us together, as though we were on electronic legs in a virtual Athenian agora.

Accommodating Students With Disabilities: Professional Development Needs Of Faculty, Sheryl Burgstahler

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty members play an important role in making academic programs accessible to postsecondary students with disabilities. However, instructors do not always possess the knowledge, experiences, and attitudes that result in the most inclusive environment for these students. A literature review was conducted to explore what faculty members need to know about accommodating students with disabilities in their courses and how they can best gain this knowledge. These results were used to develop a comprehemive set of training options that can be used with postsecondary instructors nationwide. The content of these options focuses on legal issues, accommodation strategies, and resources. Modes …

Integrity In Learner–Centered Teaching, Douglas Reimondo Robertson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Learner-centered teaching challenges teachers with inherent conflicts and can be viewed as a conflicted educational helping relationship. This chapter explores fundamental conflicts in learner-centered teaching as well as ways to handle them constructively. Learner-centered teacher integrity is seen as the degree to which contradictory demands on the teacher (e.g., facilitating learning as well as evaluating it) are brought into synergistic relationship. A process for enhancing these synergies is suggested. This discussion emerges from a line of work that attempts to further develop the learner-centered teaching role in higher education (Robertson, 1996, 1997, 1999a, 1999b, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 2001).

Something More: Moments Of Meeting And The Teacher–Learner Relationship, Richard G. Tiberius, John Techima, Alan R. Kindler

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The Boston Group, drawing upon developmental and clinical research, has identified special moments in human interaction that they call “moments of meeting.” These moments occur spontaneously within the context of ongoing relational interaction and can effectively restructure relationships. We think of these moments of meeting as pivotal moments because of their potentially pivotal effect on relationships. In this chapter we briefly describe the theory underlying these moments of relational change, using examples from education. Then we suggest strategies that may help teachers participate creatively in such moments. Finally, we explore the implications of this theory for the concept of authenticity.

Undergraduate Students As Collaborators In Building Student Learning Communities, Candyce Reynolds

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Colleges and universities have recently used the concept of learning communities as a strategy to improve undergraduate student learning. This chapter describes a learning community approach where upper-division undergraduates serve as mentors for freshman and sophomore students and develop and sustain learning communities with faculty partners. The impact of this program is described and implications are discussed.

Improving Teaching And Learning: Students' Perspectives, X. Mara Chen, Ellen M. Lawler, Elichia A. Venso

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Despite much debate among educators over methods to improve the climate and effectiveness of teaching and learning, very limited effort has been directed toward seeking input from students. In this study. a survey of students’ opinions regarding college teaching and learning was given in six courses with 163 students completing the survey. This chapter analyzed the survey results and proposed specific strategies that professors can use to make teaching engaging as well as informative, and thus, to enhance student learning.

Bibliography, Volume 21 (2003)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Bibliography for volume 21 (2003) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Serious Mental Illness And The Family: How Can Mental Health Professionals Help?, Cynthia Pattillo

Perspectives In Learning

When a loved one is diagnosed with serious mental illness (Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Schizoaffective Disorder, or Major Depression) family members are faced with new challenges. The family must provide support, act as an advocate with treatment providers, tolerate unpredictable and unusual behaviors, and, in some cases, involve the legal system to achieve inpatient hospitalization or mandate treatment. The family must also grieve for the losses caused by the illness: loss of goals and dreams, loss of abilities, loss of health. Unfortunately, the family must also cope with the stigma of mental illness. Despite evidence to the contrary, our society continues …

Effectiveness Of Educator-Oriented Content Courses, Joslyn K. Burt

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The idea of teaching science strikes fear into the hearts and minds of many elementary teachers; however, as a core piece of the overall curriculum, they cannot escape teaching science. The courses taken at the university and the professional development classes taken on the job play a critical role in helping educators feel comfortable teaching science. Such courses also impact how the content is taught by introducing the best practices used in science teaching.

As a Basic Science Minor in the College of Education at the University of Northern Iowa, I have taken many science content courses and several courses …

The Experimental Art, Robert Root

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Nonfiction is an experimental art, as contemporary examples make clear, and writing teachers need to show students both how meaning arises from writers' experiments with material and also how form from writers' experiments at representing meaning.

Encounters: Relationship In The Study And Teaching Of Literature, Christina Vischer Bruns

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

While trends in the teaching of literature of the last few decades may seem at odds with one another, the thread that can weave them together is a recognition of relationship among readers, text, author, and other readers.

Compos(T)Ing Loss: Transformation In The Telling, Laura Milner

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Using composting as a metaphor, this author examines the transformative potential in writing about and bearing witness to stories of loss, particularly the death of a parent.

An Unspoken Trust – Violated?, Kia Jane Richmond

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reflecting on our decisions in the classroom, both when we are honest with our students & when we are not, can offer teachers opportunities for growth and change.

Connecting, Helen Walker, Jim Super, Pamela Hartman, Nancy Myers, Andrea Siegel, Traci L. Merritt, Susan A. Schiller, Wilma Romatz

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Helen Walker. Connecting.

Jim Super—Fearless

Pamela Hartman—English? I'd Rather Read A Book

Nancy Myers—B

Andrea Siegel—Walking the Talk, Breathing the Breath

Traci L. Merritt—The Day Jenny Died

Susan A. Schiller—Touched by the Spirit in AEPL Topics

Wilma Romatz—On the Delicate Art of Teaching

Reviews, Dale Jacobs, Stan Scott, Sue Hum, Lita Kurth

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Reviews

Dale Jacobs. The Energy to Teach (Donald H. Graves, 2001)

Stan Scott. Writing with Elbow (Pat Belanodd, 2002)

Sue Hum. Unfolding Bodymind (Brent Hocking, Johnna Haskell, Warren Linds, 2001)

Lita Kurth. The Unconscious (Athony Easthope, 1999)

Multiple Forms Of Prewriting In Elementary Writing Lessons, Carolyn L. Piazza, Christine Jecko

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Multisensory prewriting invitations (creative visualizations, art, music, dreams, and mediations) affect writing fluency and idea generation in the first draft writing of elementary students.