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Newsroom, Georgia Southern University

Newsroom (2006-2023)

• Six receive Faculty Awards for Excellence
• President’s Medal presented to Department of Music professor Braz

Armstrong Academics August 2007, Armstrong Atlantic State University

Armstrong State University Collections: Armstrong Academics (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Developing On-Line Collaborative Research Across International Boundaries: Exploring The Potential Of New Technologies, Pat Jefferies, Frances Grodzinsky

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The development of on-line research practice across international boundaries is now a viable proposition using available asynchronous technologies such as computer conferencing. As has been reported in previous papers (Grodzinsky, et al, 2002; Griffin, et al, 2002) such use has proved to be extremely valuable for supporting the teaching of computing and ethics. However, asynchronous computer conferencing not only offers new opportunities for teaching and for supporting students, it also offers a valuable resource to researchers. Taking advantage of such opportunity must, of course, address a number of issues. Prime amongst these are concerns as to how to overcome the …

Value Drivers In Business Course Design: A Student Stakeholder Perspective, John Knight, Daniel Tracy

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

As one of the important stakeholders in the academic process, students and their preferences should be considered when the instructor selects the various course design features. Although students are not the only stakeholders in the academic process, their receptiveness to classroom instruction is clearly a central focus of that process. This paper examines a large sample of business student data on their preferences with respect to fourteen controllable course design features. The preferences are examined in light of their relative ranked importance and relative intensity. Additionally, the data is examined in light of potential differences in student preferences relative to …

Portfolio Assignments In Teacher Education: A Tool For Self-Regulating The Learning Process?, Jetske Strijbos, Wil Meeus, Arno Libotton

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This study examines the effects of a portfolio programme on self-regulation – and thus among third year students of teacher education training to be secondary school teachers. Data collection was by means of self-reporting before, during and after the portfolio programme and via perception questionnaires. The study indicates a significant increase in self-regulation. The portfolio programme therefore improves students’ capacity to go through their learning process independently, although the analysis also shows that the rising score with respect to the construct ‘self-regulation’ stems from the increase of only one sub-scale (regulation). The comparison of the students’ own opinions with those …

Using Autoethnography In The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning: Reflective Practice From ‘The Other Side Of The Mirror', Fernanda P. Duarte

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Borrowing concepts from autoethnography – a writing genre in which the researcher ‘becomes’ the phenomenon under investigation – this essay is based on my reflections and recollections of important events and insights that occurred during my participation in a professional development project. This experience has significantly altered my outlook on teaching and learning, as it forced me to reflect more critically on why I teach the way I do, and look at my pedagogical practices anew. The first part provides a brief introduction of autoethnography as a reflexive writing genre; the second part presents the broad narrative – that of …

What Is Known About Student Learning Outcomes And How Does It Relate To The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning?, Patricia A. Marsh

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The purpose of this essay is to provide a broad review of topics relevant to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Sources from the international community have been utilized to provide summaries on the issues of assessment of student learning, accountability concerns, learning expectations, student motivation, and approaches to learning. Multiple theories of learning are discussed in relation to memory, cognition, constructionist viewpoint, self-defined reality, schemas, the mindful engagement of student learners, and the interplay of the learning environment and individual student characteristics. Each micro summary can be a potential building point for those new to SoTL as well …

The Impact Of The “All-Of-The-Above” Option And Student Ability On Multiple Choice Tests, Yi-Min Huang, Mike Trevisan, Andrew Storfer

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Despite the prevalence of multiple choice items in educational testing, there is a dearth of empirical evidence for multiple choice item writing rules. The purpose of this study was to expand the base of empirical evidence by examining the use of the “all-of-the-above” option in a multiple choice examination in order to assess how different student ability groups would respond to this particular alternative. Ten experimentally manipulated items were generated with “all-of-the-above” as one of the options and were incorporated into three different test formats. Test formats were randomly distributed to university students in the study. The test scores in …

Learning, Knowing, And Reflecting: Literacies For The 21st Century, Barbara Cambridge

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Excerpt: The “aha” moments in life delight us. We suddenly gain an insight, experience a profound joy, or realize something important for the first time. A second grader provided for me a crucial “aha” moment about the purposes of education. As a regular part of their learning, students in this second grader’s school throughout the year collected evidence of their learning in portfolios, pausing periodically to reflect on and explain the contents of the portfolio. On this particular day the second graders were sharing their portfolios with other students, parents, and guests, including me.

Exploring Reflective Engagement That Promotes Understanding In College Classrooms, Franco Zengaro, Asghar Iran-Nejad

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This study investigated student engagement in class discussions in a university-level, literature-based writing class. The research questions were 1) Does multiple-source learning provide a new lens for the observation of reflective teaching and learning practices? 2) Is there evidence that shows that the practices adopted by one teacher actually relied on and fostered this kind of thinking among students, and if so, what were those practices? The participants were 22 university students and their instructor, chosen because of the instructor’s interest in improving class discussions. Data were collected over one semester through videotapes, formal and informal interviews, and class documents …

Assessing The Gains From Concept Mapping In Introductory Statistics, David J. Doorn, Maureen O'Brien

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

In an effort to improve active learning in introductory statistics, we introduce the use of concept mapping techniques as part of the course. While previous papers have touted the use of this and other interactive teaching methods in statistics education, we add to this literature by providing additional assessment of its efficacy. This comes through an experimental design that involves a single instructor teaching two sections of the same statistics course over the same semester. Both cover the same material in the same way with the exception that concept mapping is used in one section, but not the other. Assessment …

Book Review: Enhancing Scholarly Work On Teaching And Learning: Professional Literature That Makes A Difference By Maryellen Weimer (Jossey-Bass, 2006), Candyce Reynolds

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Excerpt: The scholarship of teaching and learning is quickly gaining recognition as a viable form of scholarship.; Maryellen Weimer’s contribution to the growing literature in this field moves us even closer to acceptance of this form of scholarship as tenure-worthy scholarship that does make difference in the lives of faculty, administrators and students.

Dr. Weimer’s argument is that as this literature grows we need to not only encourage new methodologies, but also learn from what we have already done by looking at previously published works in the area.; Her book is divided into three sections.; The first section helps …

Compass, Armstrong State University

Armstrong News & Publications: Compass (Archived)

No abstract provided.

Eschatological Thought And Religiosity Among Christians: Patterns And Relationships, Ingrid Emelia Hellstrom

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

In contrast to research on fundamentalism and death anxiety, there has been very little empirical research on the relationship between a person's eschatology, religious thought and behavior. This study attempts to identify associations between eschatology, religiosity, locus of control, death anxiety, and an individual's concept of God. Respondents were 226 college students who completed a questionnaire designed to assess how religious, psychological, and demographic variables predict eschatological beliefs and attitudes. Most respondents were Christian, Caucasian, and female. Eschatological beliefs were directly associated with religious involvement, hope, a deistic and wrathful image of God, and death anxiety. These beliefs, along with …

Using The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning At Disciplinary, National And Institutional Levels To Strategically Improve The Quality Of Post-Secondary Education, Gary D. Poole

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The continual improvement of post-secondary education (PSE) in Canada requires at least three important elements: (1) an understanding of the forms that good teaching takes, with a focus on how these forms differ from one academic discipline to the next; (2) the use of well-collected data to inform decisions regarding constructive change, and (3) ready access to the collective body of knowledge about post-secondary teaching and learning produced across disciplines and institutions. Here, we examine these three elements, first by applying the notion of “signature pedagogies” to help understand the ways teaching differs among disciplines. Then, from institutional and national …

Engendering The Scholarship Of Problem-Based Learning, Betsy Palmer, Claire Major

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

In this case-based research article, we describe how the implementation an instructional method, problem-based learning, across disciplines at a single institution stimulated scholarship on teaching among the faculty involved in the project. We conducted interviews with 30 participating faculty and administrators and triangulated these data with a document analysis of project documents, course portfolios, meeting minutes, and the project Web site. Our institutional-level analysis focuses on the campus environment and how it supported and/or constricted the scholarship of teaching across campus. At the faculty-level, we describe faculty perceptions about and experiences with producing scholarship on their own teaching.

Developing And Assessing Undergraduate Students’ Moral Reasoning Skills, Karen Hornsby

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

"What does deep ethical understanding look like and how can we measure the progression of this aptitude?" Qualitative and quantitative data collected from students in Contemporary Moral Problems courses over two successive semesters revealed that the development of moral reasoning skills is a slow process. The progression of moral reasoning does not occur in a linear fashion nor is there a point at which a person will have satisfied all of the necessary and sufficient conditions for good moral reasoning. Student artifacts collected present moral reasoning skills as more of an ebb and flow, a type of coherence model with …

Exploring Staff Perceptions: Early Childhood Teacher Educators Examine Online Teaching And Learning Challenges And Dilemmas, Julie M. Davis Aspro, Sandra Lennox, Sue Walker, Kerryann Walsh

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Early Childhood teacher educators at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have been engaging with online teaching and learning since the mid 1990s. On campus students have lectures and tutorials supported by information and communication technologies via QUT’s home grown learning management system, Online Learning and Teaching (OLT). We surveyed academic staff to identify their perceptions of online provision. Of significance were issues around transmission, constructivism, and interactivity, especially for external students, with a perceived preference amongst all students for knowledge transmission. There are also constraints for staff, specifically the technological limitations of the learning management system and our own limitations …

A Model Of Student Success: Coaching Students To Develop Critical Thinking Skills In Introductory Biology Courses, Susan Chaplin

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Science students who perform poorly in introductory science classes often don’t know how to do better because they “don’t know that they don’t know”, and they have poor critical thinking and problem solving skills. The current study describes how modeling and coaching students in “active study” improves higher order thinking skills. The data show that students who received such coaching performed significantly better on exams by the end of the semester compared to control groups. Modeling and coaching “active study” behavior is essential to ensure that students build confidence in their ability to study science and remain in the science …

Teaching Ourselves: A Model To Improve, Assess And Spread The Word, Laura Levine, Carolyn R. Fallahi, Joan Nicoll-Senft, Jack Tessier, Cheryl Watson, Rebecca Wood

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This paper presents a model for small, interdisciplinary groups of faculty to work together to improve their teaching while engaging in research that provides evidence of improved student learning. In doing so, we have developed a four-step process of faculty-driven scholarship of teaching and learning: Genesis, Organization, Implementation and Dissemination. We illustrate this model by describing our use of Fink’s (2003) concepts of course design to reshape our courses and assess the effectiveness of these changes through examination of student learning. We describe how others may follow this approach with a variety of applications.

Reflections On The University Of British Columbia Faculty Certificate Program, Marina Milner-Bolotin

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The paper presents a personal reflection on the Faculty Certificate Program (FCP) in Higher Education at the University of British Columbia and its impact on one of the program participants – a university instructor of large introductory physics courses. FCP provided the instructor with much needed support in her quest to redefine and revisit a large first year physics course via developing a scholarly approach to teaching, breaking the interdepartmental and inter-faculty barriers and eventually becoming a part of a larger Scholarship of Teaching and Learning community.

Book Review: Blueprint For Learning: Constructing College Courses To Facilitate, Assess, And Document Learning By Laurie Richlin (Stylus Publishing, 2006), Steven Rose

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Blueprint for Learning: Constructing College Courses to Facilitate, Assess, and Document Learning is an outstanding faculty development tool. It neither overcomplicates nor oversimplifies instructional design, and it provides numerous illustrations and references, making it a well-rounded tool. It would be best utilized as a study guide for faculty interested in engaging, learner-centered, accountable instruction.

Summer 2007 Aasu Data Digest, Armstrong State University

Armstrong Office of Institutional Research: Armstrong Data Digests (Archived)

No abstract provided.

The Inkwell, Armstrong Atlantic State University

The Inkwell

No abstract provided.

Newsroom, Georgia Southern University

Newsroom (2006-2023)

• Laboratory director Alexander receives Preservation Achievement Award
• Applied Coastal Research Laboratory director helping to preserve key archaeological sites
• Researchers find whites underestimate the cost of being black

The Effects Of The Small Business Founder’S Need For Cognition On Early Stage Performance, John Leaptrott

Management: Faculty Publications

This study assesses the relationship between the need for cognition and early stage organizational performance for a sample of small business owners who started new childcare ventures. Their need for cognition was assessed as a predictor of performance that was measured by sales growth. The data supported a significant positive relationship between need for cognition and performance as predicted. This study suggests that the cognitive characteristics of small business owners can influence the performance of their businesses.

Understanding The Career-Ending Injury: A Phenomenological Analysis, Christina M. Rapp

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Injury is an unavoidable risk and many times a reality in the careers of competitive athletes. While the majority of these injuries will entail some form of rehabilitation followed by a return to play, severe injuries can ultimately end ones athletic career. For example, Kleiber, et al. (1987) discovered that the sole predictor of life satisfaction following an exit from sport was whether one had sustained a career-ending injury. Thus, the purpose of this research project was to qualitatively examine the experience of a career-ending injury through an existential phenomenological perspective. Because phenomenology aims to study how people describe their …

Study Of The Relationship Of Organizational Protective Processes And Teacher Resilience, Ricky David Tatum

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

School systems in the United States have found it difficult to retain teachers in the teaching profession. The need for programs and interventions that lead to teacher resilience and retention determined the following research question for this study: Is there a relationship between the organizational protective processes and teachers personal resilience? High school teachers in 7 out of 17 schools in the Northeast Georgia Regional Education Service Agency District participated in the study. Responses were received from 307 high school teachers. Partial correlations were used to analyze the results. Teachers indicated that they believed all of the five organizational protective …

Causal Effect Of Corporal Punishment On Children's Internalizing And Externalizing Behavioral Outcomes: Results From A Propensity Score Matching Analysis, Sara Zane Morris

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Substantial research supports the association between corporal punishment and children's behavioral problems, suggesting that punishment leads to both internalizing and externalizing behaviors. However, this research has not been able to discern the direction of causality in this relationship for many reasons, including a lack of experimental data. The purpose of this study is to assess the causal effect of corporal punishment on internalizing and externalizing behaviors by using a Propensity Score Matching (PSM) analysis. This study uses data from waves 1 and 2 of the longitudinal cohort study of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), including 6, …

Examination Of The Experience Of Music In Sport Among Ncaa Division I Athletes: An Existential Phenomenological Investigation, Lacey Marie Sorenson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Music plays a central role in people's everyday lives (Rentfrow & Gosling, 2003). Research shows that music can effect arousal regulation (Lukas, n.d.; Nilsson, Unosson, & Rawal, 2005), motivation (Karageorghis & Terry, 1997), and mood levels (Gfeller, 1988). Research has also shown that music can be a facilitator to athletic performance (Dorney & Goh, 1992; Karageorghis & Terry, 1997; & Krumhans, 2002). Although a great amount of research exists that examines music in sport, little research has been found that examines this phenomenon from an existential phenomenological perspective. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the Division I …