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Faculty Engagement With Learning Outcomes Assessment: A Study Of Public Two-Year Colleges In Colorado, Jennifer Lynn Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed in this study was the assumption that faculty at the postsecondary level in the U. S. are not sufficiently or effectively engaged with student learning outcomes assessment (LOA) activities and/or practices. This issue emerged in two primary ways within the Scholarship of Assessment (SoA) body of literature: (1) as a misalignment of learning outcomes assessment practices between faculty and their institutions, and (2) as a lack of transparency concerning what faculty are, in fact, doing with respect to LOA activities. Two-year colleges reportedly have particular difficulty in discerning whether or not these issues impact institutional efforts to …

Assessing Respondent Driven Sampling For Network Studies In Ethnographic Contexts, Kirk Dombrowski, Bilal Khan, Joshua Moses, Emily Channell, Evan Misshula

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Respondent Driven Sampling (RDS) is generally considered a methodology for recruiting “hard-to-reach” populations for social science research. More recently, Wejnert has argued that RDS analysis can be used for general social network analysis as well (where he labels it, RDS-SN). In this article, we assess the value of Wejnert’s RDS-SN for use in more traditional ethnographic contexts. We employed RDS as part of a larger social network research project to recruit n = 330 community residents (over 17 years of age) in Nain, a predominantly (92%) aboriginal community in northern Labrador, Canada, for social network interviews about food sharing, housing, …

Network Firewall Dynamics And The Subsaturation Stabilization Of Hiv, Bilal Khan, Kirk Dombrowski, Mohamed Saad, Katherine Mclean, Samuel Friedman

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

In 2001, Friedman et al. conjectured the existence of a “firewall effect” in which individuals who are infected with HIV, but remain in a state of low infectiousness, serve to prevent the virus from spreading. To evaluate this historical conjecture, we develop a new graph-theoreticmeasure that quantifies the extent towhich Friedman’s firewall hypothesis (FH) holds in a risk network.We compute this new measure across simulated trajectories of a stochastic discrete dynamical system that models a social network of 25,000 individuals engaging in risk acts over a period of 15 years. The model’s parameters are based on analyses of data collected …

Engaging Teenagers With Science Through Comics, Amy N. Spiegel, Julia Mcquillan, Peter Halpin, Camillia Matuk, Judy Diamond

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

It is increasingly important for all citizens, and especially youth, to understand how viruses impact our health, communities and environment. Particularly for youth less interested in traditional science learning materials, comics may provide a way to engage teenagers with scientific information about viruses. We compared the impacts of different formats of educational materials on teenagers’ knowledge of, attitudes toward, and engagement with information about viruses. High school students (N = 873) were randomly assigned to read either a high quality comic or essay about viruses. Latent class analysis grouped youth into one of four categories that captured a range from …

Analyzing Paradata To Investigate Measurement Error, Ting Yan, Kristen Olson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Paradata for purposes of investigating and understanding measurement error include response times, keystrokes, mouse clicks, behavior codes, vocal characteristics, and interviewer evaluations. Description and collection of these paradata is examined extensively in Chapter 3. In this chapter, we focus on the analysis of these types of paradata.

We begin this chapter with a brief review of empirical literature using paradata to investigate measurement error in Section 4.2. Section 4.3 describes the specific analytic steps taken and issues to be considered when analyzing paradata for the purpose of examining measurement error. Examples taken from published research work are provided in Section …

Correlates Of Bullying Behaviors Among A Sample Of North American Indigenous Adolescents, Lisa A. Melander, Kelley J. Sittner Hartshorn, Les B. Whitbeck

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between familial, educational, and psychosocial factors and bullying among 702 North American Indigenous adolescents aged 11–14 years. The study used multinomial logistic regression models to differentiate correlates of bully perpetration and victimization versus being neither and between being a perpetrator versus being a victim. Analyses reveal that being a bully victim had different correlates than being a perpetrator. Perceived discrimination was associated with increased odds of being either a victim or a perpetrator, relative to being neither. Several factors differentiated being a bully perpetrator from being a bully victim: adolescent …

Interdisciplinary Psychology And Law Training In Family And Child Mediation: An Empirical Study Of The Effects On Law Student Mediators, Amy Applegate, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe, Brittany N. Rudd, Ann Freeman, Brian D'Onofrio

Articles by Maurer Faculty

There is growing interest in interdisciplinary training programs for law students. The goal of these programs is to prepare law students for the real world interdisciplinary settings they will face in their careers. However, there exists little research to provide evidence of the utility of such training. This study examined the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary psychology and law training program on law students using a multi-method approach (i.e., knowledge tests and focus group discussion). Findings suggest that interdisciplinary training of law students increased law students’ knowledge of law and psychology, was enjoyed by law students, and had a beneficial impact …

The Mediating Effect Of Hostility Toward Women On The Relationship Between Childhood Emotional Abuse And Sexual Violence Perpetration, Alania M. Vivolo-Kantor, Sarah Degue, David Dilillo, Lorraine E. Cuadra

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Some evidence suggests that childhood emotional abuse (CEA) may serve as a risk factor for sexual violence (SV) perpetration; however, little is known about the mechanisms by which CEA may influence SV. This study examined the relationship between CEA and SV by assessing the mediating role of hostility toward women (HTW) in a sample of adjudicated adult males (N = 360). Approximately 1 in 5 participants was classified as sexually violent based on self-reported behavior and/or criminal records. Results indicated that CEA significantly predicted HTW and SV, and HTW significantly predicted SV. As hypothesized, the relationship between CEA and SV …

Avoidance Disruptive Effect Of Clozapine And Olanzapine Is Potentiated By Increasing The Test Trials: Further Test Of The Motivational Salience Hypothesis, Min Feng, Nan Sui, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Antipsychotic drugs suppress animals’ ability to avoid an aversive stimulus in the conditioned avoidance response model (CAR). This behavioral effect is thought to reflect antipsychotic activity and is suggested to be mediated by a drug’s action in attenuating the motivational salience of a conditioned stimulus (CS). In the present study, we tested whether atypical antipsychotic drugs clozapine and olanzapine act through this behavioral mechanism by manipulating the number of avoidance test trials. We reasoned that more CS trials in the present of clozapine or olanzapine would afford the drug more opportunities to decrease the motivational salience of the CS, thus …

Reducing Courts’ Failure-To-Appear Rate By Written Reminders, Brian H. Bornstein, Alan Tomkins, Elizabeth Neeley, Mitchel Herian, Joseph A. Hamm

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This article examines the effectiveness of using different kinds of written reminders to reduce misdemeanor defendants’ failure- to-appear (FTA) rates. A subset of defendants was surveyed after their scheduled court date to assess their perceptions of procedural justice and trust and confidence in the courts. Reminders reduced FTA overall, and more substantive reminders (e.g., with information on the negative consequences of FTA) were more effective than a simple reminder. FTA varied depending on several offense and offender characteristics, such as geographic location (urban vs. rural), type of offense, and number of offenses. The reminders were somewhat more effective for Whites …

Does Fertility Status Influence Impulsivity And Risk Taking In Human Females? Adaptive Influences On Intertemporal Choice And Risky Decision Making, Farnaz Kaighobadi,, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Informed by the research on adaptive decision making in other animal species, this study investigated human females’ intertemporal and risky choices across the ovulatory cycle. We tested the hypothesis that at peak fertility, women who are exposed to environments that signal availability of higher quality mates (by viewing images of attractive males), become more impulsive and risk-seeking in economic decision tasks. To test this, we collected intertemporal and risky choice measures before and after exposure to images of either attractive males or neutral landscapes both at peak and low fertility conditions. The results showed an interaction between women’s fertility status …

When Will We Meet Again? Regularities Of Social Connectivity As Reflected In Memory And Decision Making, Thorsten Pachur, Lael J. Schooler, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

In 1967, the social psychologist Stanley Milgram reported a fascinating observation. For a study on social connectivity, he randomly picked several individuals in Wichita, Kansas, and asked them to get a message delivered to a particular target person in Cambridge, Massachusetts—a distance of more than 1,300 miles. There were two catches. First, Milgram provided no address but only the name and some basic information about the target person, such as the area where he lived and his profession (the target person was the same for everybody). Second, people could only forward the message to someone they knew on a firstname …

Outer Space Law Principles And Privacy, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

When the space law era was ushered in during the late 1950s, it was already clear to some observers that, sooner or later, life on Earth would be monitored from a distance without those living on it necessarily knowing about it—Big Brother in optima forma.

At the same time, with space activities primarily being undertaken by the two superpowers and their acolytes for military/strategic/political purposes (and secondarily for scientific ones), such concerns largely focused on spying in the context of the Cold War. Satellites clearly were excellent tools for finding the whereabouts of the opponent’s tanks, troops, aircraft, warships, …

Increases In Cognitive And Linguistic Processing Primarily Account For Increases In Speaking Rate With Age, Ignatius S. B. Nip, Jordan R. Green

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Age-related increases of speaking rate are not fully understood, but have been attributed to gains in biologic factors and learned skills that support speech production. This study investigated developmental changes in speaking rate and articulatory kinematics of participants aged 4 (N = 7), 7 (N = 10), 10 (N = 9), 13 (N = 7), 16 (N = 9) years, and young adults (N = 11) in speaking tasks varying in task demands. Speaking rate increased with age, with decreases in pauses and articulator displacements but not increases in articulator movement speed. Movement speed did not appear to constrain the …

Family Teacher And Parent Perceptions Of Youth Needs And Preparedness For Transition Upon Discharge From Residential Care, Alexandra L. Trout, Steven Hoffman, Michael Epstein, Ronald W. Thompson

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Summary: The purpose of this study was to compare parent (N = 51) and family teacher (N = 102) ratings of perceptions of aftercare for youth reintegrating into the home and community settings following a stay in residential care.

Findings: The results show large differences between treatment providers and parents as to the level of youth preparedness for transition.

Applications: Youth leaving residential care facilities struggle to maintain the gains they make during their time in treatment. Understanding what residential care providers and parents of youth perceive to be most important for youth during this transition period is essential to …

An Honors Interdisciplinary Community-Based Research Course, David Dunbar, Melissa Terlecki, Nancy Watterson, Lisa Ratmansky

Honors in Practice Online Archive

BACKGROUND

Community-Based Research (CBR) is an important extension and development of existing community service learning (Stoecker). CBR has as its emphasis research questions asked or needed by the community and, therefore, positions students working alongside community members with the purpose of solving a community issue or creating social change. In doing so, it also allows student development of research skills and methods. A hallmark of CBR is collaboration between a community and academicians through all steps in the course design process, including the crafting of the initial research planning stages, implementation of the research, and dissemination of results and knowledge …

Honors In Honduras: Engaged Learning In Action, Trisha Folds-Bennett, Mary Pat Twomey

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A significant challenge in honors education is providing experiences through which students deeply engage ideas and content so that both their analytical abilities and core beliefs and values are transformed. Frequently, honors students approach a course as a goal to achieve: they establish ambitious study plans, map out study strategies, form study groups, and keep track of whether they are hitting the highest academic marks. In the end, if they are truly “honors material,” they earn an impressive grade. However, honors students often are hesitant to embrace ambiguity and deal with conceptual challenges that need to be approached from multiple …

Cover And Contents- Honors In Practice Volume 10 (2014)

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In this issue

Occasional Essays by Two Wise Men of the NCHC

Sam Schuman

Ted Estess

Innovative Teaching Strategies

William L. Vanderburgh and Martin Ratcliffe

Elizabeth Nix, Brian Etheridge, and Paul Walsh

Melissa Ladenheim

Kevin Gustafson and Zachary Cureton

Kristy L. Lindemann-Biolsi

Great Books Courses in Honors

Stephanie R. deLusé

Sarah Harlan-Haughey

Expectations of Honors

David M. Rhea and Kristy Goodwin

Scott Carnicom

Sea Lions And Honors Students: More In Common Than You May Think, Kristy L. Lindememann-Biolsi

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The ability to transfer knowledge across contexts, as from course to course or from school to the “real-world,” is important to both students and educators. Without this transfer, students cannot apply information learned in the classroom. Even though we all know the importance of transfer of knowledge, we can do more to ensure that it takes place. While transfer of information between contexts is a requirement in animal training, we do not always hold ourselves and our students to this same standard. We tend to assume that students, especially honors students, come into our classroom with the metacognitive skills that …

An Honors Interdisciplinary Community-Based Research Course, David Dunbar, Melissa Terlecki, Nancy Watterson, Lisa Ratmansky

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Community-Based Research (CBR) is an important extension and development of existing community service learning (Stoecker). CBR has as its emphasis research questions asked or needed by the community and, therefore, positions students working alongside community members with the purpose of solving a community issue or creating social change. In doing so, it also allows student development of research skills and methods. A hallmark of CBR is collaboration between a community and academicians through all steps in the course design process, including the crafting of the initial research planning stages, implementation of the research, and dissemination of results and knowledge (Israel …

Real-Life Solutions To Real-Life Problems: Collaborating With A Non-Profit Foundation To Engage Honors Students In Applied Research, Emily Stark

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Colleges and universities have long emphasized undergraduate research experiences as valuable activities for students. The National Science Foundation (NSF) echoed this focus in 2003, recommending that all students get involved in undergraduate research as early as possible in their college careers (NSF). Collegiate honors programs in particular have embraced the role of student research as an integral experience for high-ability students, leading the way in developing the thesis-based model of undergraduate research that is increasingly common in institutions of higher learning.

About The Authors, Volume 32 (2013)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

About the editors and authors of volume 32 (2013) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

Fostering A Growth Mind-Set: Integrating Research On Teaching And Learning And The Practice Of Teaching, Beth A. Fisher, Carolyn L. Dufault, Michelle D. Repice, Regina F. Frey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Centers for teaching and learning have a crucial role to play in helping facuity learn about and apply research on learning. The approach we have developed integrates discussion of recent research with specific recom mendations of teaching modifications that can be adapted for different disciplines and courses. Preliminary evaluation suggests the effectiveness of this approach in fostering a growth mind-set about teaching--a mind-set that helps faculty develop, implement, and assess effective teaching modifications, thereby transforming facuity into scholars of teaching and learning and further developing a collaborative, innovative culture that integrates research on teaching and learning with the practice of …

Measuring Student Learning To Document Faculty Teaching Effectiveness, Linda B. Nilson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Recent research has questioned the validity of student ratings as proxy measures for how much students learn, and this learning is a commonly accepted meaning of faculty teaching effectiveness. Student ratings capture student satisfaction more than anything else. Moreover, the overriding assessment criterion in accreditation and accountability-that applied to programs, schools, and institutions-is student learning, so it only makes sense to evaluate faculty by the same standard. This chapter explains and evaluates course-level measures of student learning based on data that are easy for facuity to collect and administrators to use.

Pedagogical Gamification: Principles Of Video Games That Can Enhance Teaching, Kevin Yee

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Edutainment products have long tried to harness the "fun" quotient of games and video games for education, but the principles of gamification have only recently begun to be better understood and operationalized for business and education. The concepts that underpin successful games can be put to use in online as well as face-to-face classes, resulting in edu cational experiences that have the best of both worlds: a game-based overlay without becoming too technical. This chapter explains the con cepts involved in successful games and provides ideas for translating those principles into practice in the classroom (or online) environment.

The Reacting To The Past Pedagogy And Engaging The First–Year Student, Paula Kay Lazrus, Gretchen Kreahling Mckay

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter investigates the value of the Reacting to the Past pedagogy with regard to engaging first-year students. In recent years, calls to improve student engagement and active learning techniques have grown, and few have been as successful in producing the desired results as Reacting to the Past. This chapter investigates why Reacting is so suc cessful in meeting the goals of high-impact practices that increase student engagement and learning. We also examine how the Reacting pedagogy and first-year seminars encourage problem solving, critical thinking, and writing among students.

A Case Study Of The Effects Of Privatization Of Child Welfare On Services For Children And Families: The Nebraska Experience, Grace S. Hubel, Alayna Schreier, David J. Hansen, Brian Wilcox

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Privatization, or contracting with non-governmental agencies for provision of state or federally funded services, is a strategy that has gained recent attention from policymakers as a potential tool for successful child welfare reform. The Child Welfare Privatization Initiatives Project was created in 2007 as a joint effort between the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. The framework identified by this project produced twelve key considerations for states moving towards a privatized system. This case study considers these twelve considerations in a description of the large-scale effort to …

Student Reward Programs In Collegiate Athletics, Danielle N. Bakken

Graduate Research Papers

Incentive marketing is becoming increasingly popular among many brands, companies, and even sports teams. Incentive marketing uses motivational campaigns to promote the consumption or sale of merchandise or services. It encourages consumers to become repeat buyers and/or to become more loyal toward a specific product, brand, or company. An aspect of incentive marketing that is emerging within the sports industry is reward programs; specifically with students of universities or colleges. The goals of student reward programs include increasing awareness and attendance of all athletic events on campus, as well as the possibility of students remaining loyal and purchasing season tickets …

Philanthropy And Health Care Reform: An Examination Of The Pertinent Literature Of Philanthropy And Healthcare And How The Two Should Intersect In Today’S Dynamic Healthcare Environment, Mayme Patthoff

Graduate Research Papers

Many factors are diminishing the reimbursements hospitals receive from private (corporate) and public (Medicare and Medicaid) sources. To remain competitive while dealing with these factors, medical centers have begun looking for alternative funding sources to make up for lost revenues. Supplemental funding is needed to advance patient care, conduct innovative research, and educate the next generation of healthcare workers. The purpose of this study is to conduct a comprehensive literature review to explore how healthcare systems across the country are thinking about philanthropy and implementing strategic development practices to gain and retain grateful patients and community donors to ensure the …

The Effects Of Sleeping On Academic Performance And Obesity, Zach Liddle

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this review was to look at the importance of sleep to children and adolescents. Specific goals of this research paper were to a) define the importance of sleep and its' relationships with overall performance, b) understand the relationship between sleep and academic performance, and c) discuss the correlation between sleep and the obesity rate in today's society.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1) Can extra sleep improve students' grades in school?

2) Could the lack of sleep be increasing the prevalence of obesity?

3) Are there things parents and schools can do to help?