Digital Commons Network^™

Life Is Just A Classroom: Student Perceptions Of Courses Incorporating Popular Culture, Virginia Clinton-Lisell

Education, Health & Behavior Studies Faculty Publications

Some faculty design and teach college courses that incorporate popular culture, presumably to engage and spark interest in students. The purpose of this study is to examine student perceptions of courses that incorporate popular culture. College students (N = 464) were randomly assigned to read a course description and learning objectives that incorporated popular culture in general, the specific popular cultural celebrity Taylor Swift, or no mention of popular culture (control). Incorporating popular culture generally or specific to Taylor Swift had no overall effects on topic interest in the course or likelihood to enroll. However, students with greater interest in …

Can Prior Censorship Be A Necessary Tool For The Protection Of Human Rights?, Leandro Leo Rebelo

American University International Law Review

Prior censorship is unequivocally interpreted by the Inter-American Human Rights System (“Inter-American System”) as a step too far in moderating expression. Except in the quite narrow circumstances allowed for under Article 13(4) of the American Convention on Human Rights (“ACHR”), the Inter-American System has reiterated that prior censorship is forbidden. However, prior censorship is widely used in social media platforms as a tool of content moderation. Should such techniques be banned, or should more exceptions be allowed in the regulation of speech?

La Lengua Española En El Norte De Marruecos: Cien Años Después De La Guerra Del Rif, Lotfi Sayahi

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

Hace cien años, el final de la guerra del Rif marcó el inicio del control absoluto de España sobre el norte de Marruecos. Desde entonces, el uso de la lengua española ha pasado por varias etapas en la antigua zona del protectorado. Este trabajo examina dichas etapas y analiza los niveles de competencia y los rasgos que distinguen el español en la región. Basándonos en entrevistas con personas de diferentes edades llevadas a cabo en las ciudades de Tetuán, Tánger, Alhucemas y Nador, los resultados muestran que después del auge del español en la primera parte del siglo XX, la …

Safeguarding Children From State Intervention, Salihah R. Denman

Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Major-Questions Lenity, Joel S. Johnson

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

Both the historic rule of lenity and the new major questions doctrine rest on a fundamental commitment to the separation of powers for important policy questions. In light of that shared justification, the logic of the major questions doctrine in the administrative-law context has much to offer lenity in the criminal law context. In fact, the major-questions framework is strikingly similar to a rationale that has recently emerged in some of the Supreme Court's decisions narrowly construing federal penal statutes. That emerging rationale can be understood as a modest form of major-questions lenity that may lead to a more robust …

The Language Of Influence: Sentiment, Emotion, And Hate Speech In State Sponsored Influence Operations, Ashfaq Ali Shafin, Khandaker Mamun Ahmed

Research & Publications

State-sponsored influence operations (SIOs) have become a pervasive and complex challenge in the digital age, particularly on social media platforms where information spreads rapidly and with minimal oversight. These operations are strategically employed by nation-state actors to manipulate public opinion, exacerbate social divisions, and project geopolitical narratives, often through the dissemination of misleading or inflammatory content. Despite increasing awareness of their existence, the specific linguistic and emotional strategies employed by these campaigns remain underexplored. This study addresses this gap by conducting a comprehensive analysis of sentiment, emotional valence, and abusive language across 2 million tweets attributed to influence operations linked …

Toxicity In State Sponsored Information Operations, Ashfaq Ali Shafin, Khandaker Mamun Ahmed

Research & Publications

State-sponsored information operations (IOs) increasingly influence global discourse on social media platforms, yet their emotional and rhetorical strategies remain inadequately characterized in scientific literature. This study presents the first comprehensive analysis of toxic language deployment within such campaigns, examining 56 million posts from over 42 thousand accounts linked to 18 distinct geopolitical entities on X/Twitter. Using Google’s Perspective API, we systematically detect and quantify six categories of toxic content and analyze their distribution across national origins, linguistic structures, and engagement metrics, providing essential information regarding the underlying patterns of such operations. Our findings reveal that while toxic content constitutes only …

1st Place Research Paper: Increasing The Accessibility Of Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Tf-Cbt) For Adolescents With Developmental Language Disorder: A Pilot Study, Lauren A. Fillet

Eric M. Scandrett Graduate Library Research Prize

Research has demonstrated that adolescents with developmental language disorder (AWDLD) perform more poorly compared to typically developing peers on measures of narrative production.This limitation may not only impact education and social life, but also possibly post-traumatic stress recovery, as Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) involves a Trauma Narrative production activity (D’Amico et al., 2022). A limited amount of research has been conducted on adapting TF-CBT for children with intellectual disability, developmental disabilities, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (D’Amico et al., 2022; Anderson & Cook, 2015). However, there is currently no available research explicitly addressing how TF-CBT can be individualized to …

The Impact Of Pbl On The Academic And Linguistic Development Of English Language Learners In A High School Science Classroom, Mariam Aboudib

Wayne State University Dissertations

The dissertation examines the effects of Project-Based Learning (PBL) on the development of the English Language Learners (ELLs) in the high school science classroom. The increasing need for better teaching methods makes this study important. It explores how PBL improves language learning, scientific knowledge, and academic performance compared to traditional methods. The study includes two groups: Group A learned through PBL, while Group B used traditional teaching.

The research measures students' language skills, engagement, critical thinking, and understanding of scientific concepts. The study collected pre- and post-assessment data using tests, classroom observations, and student reflections. The PSAT exam scores were …

Leadership And Change From Within: An Honors College And Ctl Partnership, Connie M. Schroeder, Hilary K. Snow

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Scaling sustainable change in teaching and learning is an institutional priority in higher education, yet often it is elusive, given the decentralized and siloed academic landscape. Most colleges and departments lack the necessary expertise to design and implement scaled change or the critical organizational structures to sustain change. Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) seek to advance improvement in teaching and learning and highlight improving institutional culture as part of their mission. Reliance on traditional programming and consultations, however, primarily targets individual change versus scaled or sustainable change.

The successful process of change at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Honors College …

Disrupting Privilege: Community Engagement In The First Year, Trisha H. Folds-Bennett, Jesslyn Collins-Frohlich, Robert Maynor

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In the opening essay for an issue of JNCHC focused on this question of risk-taking in honors, Cognard-Black posits that the problem of students’ apparent rejection of risk may be the structure of honors programs themselves. He challenges honors educators to consider how the structure of their programs perpetuates an elitism that causes honors students to maintain their focus on status and external reward, which are potential barriers to deeper and more critical engagement with ideas (6). In this chapter, we take up Cognard-Black’s challenge and use our experiences creating the first-year seminar at the College of Charleston to argue …

Reflection In First-Year Honors Courses: Why We Can’T Take It For Granted, Kevin W. Dean, Zachary Wooten

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Existing scholarship suggests that intentional reflection, during or shortly following an event, can impact future vocational choices and generate memories that participants can recall years after the undergraduate experience. Inspiring accounts of reflection, decades following honors City as Text experiences, demonstrate the influence that reflective experiences played in vocational formation (Daniel; Schock). Given the community focus of an honors FYS, studying the long-term impact of that experience on alums would be interesting.

Bringing The Idea Of Ideas To Life, Christopher J. Syrnyk

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Discusses the development of the First-year Seminar and Honors Program at Oregon Institute of Technology (Oregon Tech).

The Impact Of Affect On Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review, Chante Warner

2024-2025 Bill Martin Jr. Yearbook

The purpose of this study is to provide a description of affect as one of the most important factors that impacts second language acquisition (SLA) based on literature from the field. In this study, I expanded on the current work of individual differences in SLA by examining how affect and cognition intersect according to the literature. Additionally, I explored the link between emotions, thinking, and learning as well as how they impact language acquisition.

Chatgpt And Biblical Studies, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The use of computers in the study of theology has a long and positive history, yet the level of concern in response to the latest AI chatbots is understandable. This article explores how education and preaching need to adapt to this new technology and what its limitations are, as well as how it may make a positive contribution. The study concludes with a brief exploration of the kinds of sermon materials GPTs produced for the author when given prompts about the story of the Samaritan woman in John 4.

Practical Necromancy For Beginners: A Short Incomplete Opinionated Introduction To Artificial Intelligence For Archaeology And History Students, Shawn Graham

Digital Press Books

Many feel bewildered and quietly embarrassed that they don’t know more about how AI technology works, where it came from, or even how to get started. Start here.

Practical Necromancy represents Shawn Graham’s vision for how we should treat large language model (LLM) artificial intelligence applications. Graham advocates approaching these technologies as a necromancer. In antiquity, the figure of the necromancer lay outside the boundaries of official religion, talking not with gods but with the mournful echoes of ghosts. Practical Necromancy explores ways of surfacing the ghosts that lurk in AI technology. Graham suggests that the most useful thing we …

Play, Then: Reimagining The Classical Music Film, Isabel Li

Scripps Senior Theses

Play, Then is a 8-minute short narrative classical music film that centers on a young Chinese American cellist who must face his relationship with music when his mother asks him to play for his ailing grandmother. The prevailing context of my film is the genre of what I call “classical music films,” which are narrative films, usually fictional, that explore cultural depictions of classical music and musicians through a visual cinematic story. Play, Then subverts expectations in classical music films by positioning an Asian American classical musician as the protagonist of the film and featuring a lesser-known classical piece. As …

Bookmarked: A Study Of Reading Engagement, Miranda W. Dickson

Dissertations

In many Science of Reading programs, the focus on foundational skills like phonics and fluency can overshadow the importance of reading engagement in elementary classrooms. This dissertation investigates the effects of a balanced literacy intervention designed to incorporate purposeful engagement strategies across 12 lessons for at-risk third-grade readers. The six-week intervention integrated skills instruction with reading engagement strategies in the subcategories of social, cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagement. Grounded in Engagement Theory (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000), the study's instructional framework and literature review explore foundational theories of reading engagement within these subcategories: behavioral, cognitive, affective, and social. The research was …

Cross-Linguistic Queerness: A Phonetic Study Of How Bilingual Mandarin-English Speakers Index A Sapphic Identity, Malena L. Sparano

Scripps Senior Theses

The comparative lack of research about Queer identities among speakers of other languages limits cross-linguistic and cross-cultural understanding of Queerness within an increasingly globalized community (Cameron and Kulick, 2003). Moreover, the focus on Monolingual, Western, men’s repertoires excludes important nuances that shape identities falling outside the heteropatriarchy, significantly neglecting Sapphic people and Lesbians (Leap, 2008). Sapphic identity helps broaden the scope of traditionally very gendered labeling, stemming from Zita’s (1981) definition as a person identifying as a woman/non-man and experiencing attraction to women or non-men. Bilingual research is key in understanding the specific roles of multivariable cultural and phonetic analysis …

The Power Of Digital Place-Based Pedagogy Through Hip Hop: Khmer 1jivit’S “A Distressed Society” On Youtube, Sophea Seng

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

"This essay is an exercise in my own Cambodian American memory work. When I saw the collage of images of “A Distressed Society” on YouTube, I was struck by how the anonymous user(s) paired the rap lyrics of Khmer 1Jivit..."

Introduction To Place-Based Digital Inquiry, Cinthya Ammerman Muñoz, Paul Michael L. Atienza, Catey Hoehn

Humboldt Journal of Social Relations

"This special issue of the Humboldt Journal of Social Relations brings together a diverse range of projects that explore how digital inquiry, when grounded in placebased approaches, can deepen local engagement while broadening the reach of community-rooted scholarship. Place-based digital inquiry integrates digital tools with relational and situated research practices..."

Tort Law: Cases & Critique, Thomas E. Kadri

Books and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Pairwise Comparison Method Toolkit. A Toolkit For Countries To Measure Global Learning Outcomes., United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organization (Unesco), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Global education monitoring

This toolkit has been co-authored by the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Centre at the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics (UIS). ACER provides technical support to the UIS, which has been mandated to monitor the progress of countries towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) in education to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (United Nations, 2021). The GEM Centre sponsors and contributes to public goods and activities that facilitate education systems reporting against SDG 4 in a …

Toward A Welcoming Classroom: Assessment Of Student Perceptions Of Writing Education In Introductory Honors College Courses, Hilary K. Snow

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study examines student perceptions of an introductory-level writing program in honors at a large, public R1 university. Author considers the efficacy of pedagogical interventions aimed at identifying gaps in the experience of writing for students from BIPOC and first-generation backgrounds and at developing more inclusive teaching practices. Collective revisions to the program’s writing philosophy, objectives, and rubrics helped instructors gain clarity and consistency across sections. A two-part survey was conducted at the beginning and end of the semester, and metrics were calculated for all respondents (N = 176) and targeted subgroups (n = 37; n = 30). …

Cfl Learners’ Real-Time Processing Of Chinese Radicals: An Eye-Tracking Study, Yihsuan Wood, Jeffrey Jack Green, Ellen Knell, Yu Liu

Faculty Publications

This study used eye-tracking to investigate the real-time processing of phonetic and semantic radicals (components of Chinese characters that give clues to their pronunciation and meaning) by intermediate-level university Chinese foreign language (CFL) learners. Additionally, the study examined how knowledge and awareness of radicals affect real time character processing. Real-time radical processing involves identifying radicals and understanding their phonetic or semantic roles, while real-time character processing includes recognizing radicals and instantly comprehending entire characters’ meanings and pronunciations. This study’s first task focuses on radical processing, where CFL learners use radical knowledge to interpret multiple characters simultaneously. The second task extends …

Songwriting In Music Therapy Clinical Practice, Kinneret Rivka Weiss

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Songwriting is a technique used in music therapy practice that has been documented since 1950, and has been used in a clinical setting in many countries where music therapy is a fully developed profession. There are many different types of therapeutic songwriting experiences used in music therapy practice, to accommodate for the many different needs and abilities of clients. Additionally, therapeutic songwriting is used to help achieve many goals, and is used in a wide variety of settings. These settings include the pediatric hospital, a setting given particular attention in this paper. This paper will also include the author’s own …

Ai And Strategic Power: An Analysis Of Ai In Cyberwarfare, Krystal J. Correal

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Artificial intelligence (AI) is intertwined in nearly all aspects of civilian life and is becoming progressively embedded into global conflict in novel ways. AI’s role in cyberwarfare is altering the structure of strategic power. This paper explores how the weaponized application of AI in cyberwarfare, both in military and public use, work to benefit states with advanced AI capabilities in kinetic and non-kinetic forms while undermining those without. With the focus on superpowered states, such as the U.S., China, and Russia, and a representative non-superpower, Ukraine, the study examines the basic requirements for AI dominance: resources (financial and other), technological …

Classification Of Ghost Job Listings: A Two Step Bert Approach, Caleb Mathison

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Ghost jobs are advertised positions where companies have no intent to hire which create significant frustration for job seekers. This study explores how to automatically detect these fake listings using public data. Analyzing 849 LinkedIn job postings, I developed a two-step detection method. First, I calculated a ghost job score based on warning signs like listing duration and vague descriptions. Second, I used a BERT neural network to analyze the text patterns. The results demonstrate that machine learning can identify deceptive hiring practices, offering a new way to measure labor market inefficiencies.

Multilinguals And Aphasia: Slp Perspective On Intervention, Matt J. Eby

Brehm Scholars Research

Aphasia is an acquired language disorder typically affecting language production and comprehension, both to varying degrees. Onset of aphasia typically follows a cerebrovascular event, such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury. In this study, particular interest is paid to people with aphasia who conversationally spoke two or more languages pre-onset and the therapists who treat them. Past research has investigated the additional considerations taken when assessing and treating aphasia in multilingual clients, focusing on enhancing therapy efficacy in this population. However, current theoretical and clinical reviews of research often leave out the lived experiences of those involved.

This study …

South Dakota's Path Forward: Education Professionals On Formal Free-Standing Sel Competency Standards, Kirsten Biersbach

Dissertations and Theses

This study employed reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) to examine South Dakota general education teachers’ perceptions and experiences with the implementation of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) in the absence of formal, free-standing SEL competency standards. As one of the few states without such standards in K-12 education, South Dakota presents a unique context for examining how educators navigate SEL practices in the absence of consistent state-level guidance. Grounded in a qualitative, constructivist paradigm, this research aims to inform future educational policy and practice by amplifying the voices of practitioners who are often overlooked in top-down reform processes. A comprehensive literature review established …