Digital Commons Network^™

Hispanic Doctoral Students Challenges: Qualitative Results, Bobbette M. Morgan, Luis F. Alcocer

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Fifty doctoral students and graduates of a doctoral program in education on the Mexico border responded to five open ended questions which are part of the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID). According to the CID developers, Walker, Golde, Jones, Bueschel and Hutchings, ―the purpose… is to examine the relationship between student experiences in a doctoral program and the outcomes of doctoral education. The responses address the full range of responsibilities which may be expected of a holder of the doctorate, including research, teaching, and the application of knowledge and skills in the discipline to practical problems in the world …

Coordinating Gesture, Word, And Diagram: Explanations For Experts And Novices, Seokmin Kang, Barbara Tversky, John B. Black

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Successful explanations are a symphony of gesture, language, and props. Here, we show how they are orchestrated in an experiment in which students explained complex systems to imagined novices and experts. Visual-spatial communication—diagram and gesture—was key; it represents thought more directly than language. The real or virtual diagrams created from gestures served as the stage for explanations, enriched by language and enlivened by deictic gestures to convey structure and iconic gestures to enact the behavior and functionality of the systems. Explanations to novices packed in more information than explanations to experts, emphasizing the information about action that is difficult for …

Reflections On The Termination Of Two Universities And The Creation Of A New University, Martha May Tevis

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

In 2012 the University of Texas System Regents voted to approve a request to merge two of its campuses, The University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA) in Edinburg, Texas, and The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) in Brownsville, Texas, 1 campuses located approximately 65 miles apart in South Texas. In September 2015 a new university will be created as an Emerging Research One university featuring a new medical school. In this paper I relate the history leading up to the consolidation of the two universities and explore the impact of the merger process.

A visit to the web foretells both …

Digital Badges In Higher Education: A Three-Phase Study On The Implementation Of Digital Badges In An Online Undergraduate Program, Maria Elena Corbeil, Joseph Rene Corbeil, Ignacio E. Rodríguez

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

Digital badges originated in the gaming world as incentives built into video games to acknowledge gamers’ achievements. They have only recently been identified by course designers and instructors in formal and corporate education as a way to support competency-based learning and acknowledge achievement of specialized knowledge and skills. The faculty of an undergraduate Educational Technology specialization are implementing badges in 6 fully online courses through a three-phase study. Students who excel in specific skills through their coursework would become eligible to earn digital badges in the specific EdTech areas. The purpose of the proposed study is to determine if digital …