Education Commons^™

Preparing To Teach: Redeeming The Potentialities Of The Present Through “Conversations Of Practice”, Andrew Ek, Margaret A. Macintyre Latta

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

A prospective teacher and a teacher educator enter into a yearlong conversation seeking greater curricular physicality and materiality within its enactment. Dewey’s (1938) temporal educative relation of teaching and learning as an ever-present process is helpful, asking both parties to dwell mindfully at the intersections of teaching/learning situations and interactions. Attention turns to the lived curricular features and consequences of preparing teachers to teach as an ever-present process. The role and place of self-other negotiation is illuminated within curricular enactment, giving expression to teaching/learning as an ever-present process. Pedagogical significances are redeemed through greater teaching mindfulness of the temporality at …

Interrupting The Professional Schism That Allows Less Successful Educational Practices With Ells To Persist, Edmund T. Hamann, Jenelle Reeves

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

Different worldviews, different histories of induction into teaching, presumed differences in responsibilities, and different emphases in pre-service and in-service preparation have all long contributed to enduring schisms that keep general education (or mainstream) teachers and English language support faculty from coordinating and finding common cause in their efforts. This division has been at the cost of impeding many English language learners’ (ELLs) academic success. So, given that ELLs consecutively or concurrently negotiate these too-often separate schooling subworlds, it is imperative to overcome historical divisions and to conceptualize all teachers as needing (a) to be willing to see ELLs as part …

Acknowledging The Religious Beliefs Students Bring Into The Science Classroom: Using The Bounded Nature Of Science, Sherry A. Southerland, Lawrence C. Scharmann

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

Scientific knowledge often appears to contradict many students’ religious beliefs. Indeed, the assumptions of science appear contradictory to the metaphysical claims of many religions. This conflict is most evident in discussions of biological evolution. Teachers, in attempts to limit the controversy, often avoid this topic or teach it superficially. Recently, there has been a political effort to teach to the controversy—which some see as a way of introducing religious explanations for biological diversity into science classrooms. Many science educators reject this approach, insisting that teachers limit classroom discussions to science alone. This science only approach leaves the negotiation of alternative …

Professional Journals As A Source Of Information About Teaching Nature Of Science: An Examination Of Articles Published In The Journal Of College Science Teaching, 1996-2012, Deepika Menon, Somnath Sinha

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

Recent efforts to reform science education have strongly emphasized the understanding of the nature of science (NOS) as important to achieving broader scientific literacy. Despite the realization that students‘ understanding of NOS is important, there is a gap between research and practice. In order to teach NOS effectively in pre-college or college classrooms, teachers need appropriate activities, examples, and models of instruction that can contribute towards the development of their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching NOS. One widespread and readily-available source teachers may consult to find appropriate models of teaching practice and example activities is professional journals. The present …

The Introduction Of Proof In Secondary Geometry Textbooks, Samuel Otten, Lorraine Males, Nicholas J. Gilbertson

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

Explicit reasoning-and-proving opportunities in the United States are often relegated to a single secondary geometry course. This study analyzed the reasoning-and-proving opportunities in six U.S. geometry textbooks, giving particular attention to the chapter that introduced proof. Analysis focused on the types of reasoning-and-proving activities expected of students and the type of mathematical statement around which the reasoning-and-proving took place, be it general or particular. Results include the fact that reasoning-and-proving opportunities in student exercises were predominantly of the particular type, whereas textbook exposition most commonly had general statements. Within the chapters introducing proof, opportunities for students to develop proofs were …

Understanding American Mexican Children, Víctor Zúñiga, Edmund T. Hamann

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

In 1997, when we first met while independently conducting field work in Whitfield County, Georgia, and its county seat, Dalton, we heard from local principals and teachers that Latino students sometimes "disappeared" from the schools. Most of these who disappeared were immigrant students from Mexico and other Central American countries, students who had arrived suddenly in local schools while accompanying their parents who found jobs in the carpet and poultry mills of the area (Hamann, 2003; Hernández-León & Zúñiga, 2000; Zúñiga & Hernández-León, 2009). The "disappearances" led one of us (Hamann, 2001) to develop a concept—the sojourner student—and draw from …

Curricular Treatments Of Length Measurement In The United States: Do They Address Known Learning Challenges?, John P. Smith Iii, Lorraine Males, Leslie C. Dietiker, Kosze Lee, Aaron Mosier

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

Extensive research has shown that elementary students struggle to learn the basic principles of length measurement. However, where patterns of errors have been documented, the origins of students’ difficulties have not been identified. This study investigated the hypothesis that written elementary mathematics curricula contribute to the problem of learning length measurement. We analyzed all instances of length measurement in three mathematics curricula (grades K–3) and found a shared focus on procedures. Attention to conceptual principles was limited overall and particularly for central ideas; conceptual principles were often presented after students were asked to use procedures that depended on them; and …

Organization Of Schooling In Three Countries, Edmund T. Hamann, Saloshna Vandeyar, Juan Sanchez Garcia

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

It has been more than 30 years since Britan and Cohen (1980) assembled a number of leading anthropologists in a joint call for an anthropology of bureaucracies. Their call was a refinement and rearticulation of a more enduring concern in anthropology, illustrated in particular in the work of South Africa-born, British anthropologist Meyer Fortes (1938) who was interested in what McDermott and Raley (2011: 46) have summarized as "the acquisition of kinds of people by social structure."

One starting point for an anthropology of organizations that sees schools as a particular kind of organization meriting direct scrutiny is the anthropology …

If Honors Students Were People: Holistic Honors Education, Samuel Schuman

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs

Acknowledgments. . vii

Chapter 1: Introduction. . 3

A Classroom. 3

Preview. . 8

Honors, Physical Wellness, and Spiritual Cultivation: A Rationale . 11

Definition of Terms . . 18

Wholeness. . 24

Chapter 2: History. 27

Colonial Colleges: 1636–1776. . 27

From the Revolutionary War to the Civil War: 1776–1865 . 32

From the Civil War to World War II: 1865–1944. . 38

From World War II (1945) to the Present. . 45

Interview One: Dr. Richard Chess. . 59

Chapter 3: Mens Sana in Corpore Sano . 67

Autobiographical Note. . 67

Neuroscience and Exercise. . 71

Faculty …

The Instructional And Emotional Quality Of Parent–Child Book Reading And Early Head Start Children's Learning Outcomes, Keely Cline, Carolyn P. Edwards

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to understand how instructional book-reading style and emotional quality of reading interact and relate to cognitive skills in a sample of at-risk infants and toddlers. Participants were 81 parents and their children participating in Early Head Start programs in the rural Midwest. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis that parental book-reading instructional style and emotional quality interact and relate to changes in children’s cognitive scores for culturally and linguistically diverse families. Results included that there were variations in how book-reading qualities interacted and related to changes in …

Ec13-872 Nebraska 2013 Crop Budgets, Robert N. Klein, Roger K. Wilson

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

This publication contains crop production budgets for 13 crops and 51 cropping systems, as well as tables of power, machinery, labor, and input costs used to develop these budgets. Each budget consists of five sections:

• Heading
• List of representative field operations
• List of materials and services used
• Operations and interest tabulations
• Overhead costs including real estate taxes and opportunity­ charges

The budgets are presented in a worksheet format with a “Your Estimate’’ column for recording cost modifications.

G13-425 2013 Nebraska Beef Report Summaries, Richard J. Rasby, Karla Jenkins, Galen Erickson

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension: Historical Materials

Brief synopsis of recent UNL beef research. Each year the UNL Department of Animal Science reports its current beef cattle research. This 2013 NebGuide discusses the research topics of Cow/Calf, Growing, Finishing and Beef Products.

Short And Tweet, Sue Burzynski Bullard

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

The goal is to help students learn to write clearly and concisely. It reinforces William Zinsser’s advice in “On Writing Well.” He said, “Examine every word you put on paper. You’ll find a surprising number that don’t serve any purpose.” The exercise helps students learn to find the focus of stories. It helps editing students write concise, clear headlines that pull readers into stories. It also helps reporting students learn to summarize stories accurately and briefly — a skill they need as they craft their own ledes.

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 …

Assessing The Long–Term Impact Of A Professional Development Program, Marcia M. Tennill, Margaret W. Cohen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This study was designed to explore the long-term impact of a year-long facuity development program on participants. Three guiding questions focused the study: In what ways did the program influence the profes sional lives of participants five years after completion? How did the participants integrate those experiences into their professional lives? and What recommendations for best practices in the field of facuity devel opment can be drawn? Donald Kirkpatrick’s four-level evaluation model was the template for this qualitative research. Results indicated that participants retained program learning over time.

Determining Our Own Tempos: Exploring Slow Pedagogy, Curriculum, Assessment, And Professional Development, Peter A. Shaw, Jennifer L. Russell

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Key concepts and values in the Slow Living movement speak to many questions and tensions arising around calls for change in higher educa tion, porous work/life boundaries, rapid developments in technology, concerns about sustainability, and a desire to question assumptions and move beyond tips and tricks to more fundamental issues in curriculum and pedagogy. We propose a framework for Slow learning and teaching that incorporates various trends in curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment with implications for the role of technology and for professional development.

Faculty Development Scholarship: An Analysis Of To Improve The Academy, 1982-2011, Kathryn E. Linder, Suzanna Klaf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As To Improve the Academy enters its thirty-second year, this chapter offers a retrospective to honor the history of the field through a timely analysis of the content published in TIA and editorial and authorship trends over the previous three decades. Frequency distributions identify the most published authors, their institutional affiliations, the most written about topics, and patterns of collaborative authorship in volumes 1 (1982) through 30 (2011), and findings from a citation analysis of ten years of TIA (volumes 21-30), highlight trends in resources cited and types of resources.

Formal And Informal Support For Pretenure Faculty: Recommendations For Administrators And Institutions, Gwendolyn Mettetal, Gail M. Mcguire

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We analyze interviews from sixty-five faculty and administrators to understand the formal and informal types of support that pretenure faculty use to navigate their way to tenure. By understanding the different types of support that pretenure faculty need, institutions can better address the diverse issues that junior facuity confront when preparing for tenure and can ensure that all candidates receive some type of support. We conclude that institutions need to be intentional about offering both formal and informal support to pretenure faculty at various points in their careers.

Developing A Faculty Learning Community Grounded In The Science Of How People Learn: A Year-Long, Faculty-Led Teaching And Learning Seminar, Alison Rudnitsky, Glenn W. Ellis, Patricia Marten Dibartolo, Kevin M. Shea

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter describes a multiyear professional development effort undertaken by a learning and teaching center at a liberal arts college. As part of its founding mandate, the center helps faculty improve teaching by paying attention to the current literature about how people learn. This core commitment of our center is pursued through support of a year-long faculty seminar. Now in its fourth year, the seminar has had a significant impact on its faculty participants and their thinking about teaching and learning. Moreover, the seminar has seeded a number of teaching and assessment initiatives at the college.

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.

Enhancing Vitality In Academic Medicine: Faculty Development And Productivity, Megan M. Palmer, Krista Longtin-Hoffmann, Tony Ribera, Mary E. Dankoski, Amy K. Ribera, Tom F. Nelson Laird

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The prevalence of low satisfaction and increased stress among faculty in academic medicine makes understanding facuity vitality in this field more important than ever before. To explore the contributors to and outcomes of faculty vitality, we conducted a multi-institutional study of faculty in academic medicine (N = 1,980, 42 percent response rate). Faculty were surveyed about climate and leadership, career and life management, satisfaction, engagement, productivity, and involvement in faculty development. Analysis reveals that controlling for other factors, academic medicine faculty who participate regularly in facuity development activ ities are significantly more satisfied, engaged, and productive.

A Consultations Tracking Database System For Improving Faculty Development Consultation Services, Jason Rhode, Murali Krishnamurthi

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The role of the facuity development center in supporting the academic environment of the institution often includes creating or sustaining a culture of teaching excellence, responding to individual faculty members’ needs, and advancing new initiatives in teaching and learning (Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy, and Beach, 2006). The varied programs, resources, and services offered routinely result from efforts to meet the expressed needs of faculty. While workshops and seminars are effective for introducing new pedagogical approaches or emerging technologies, faculty often have unique questions within specialized contexts that cannot be fully addressed in a large group setting. In such instances, a more …

Using Undergraduates To Prepare International Teaching Assistants For The American Classroom: Development Of Senior Faculty, Warren E. Christian, Brian J. Rybarczyk

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This chapter describes how undergraduates may be used in the training of international teaching assistants (IT As) in three ways: as conversation partners, classroom consultants, and guest instructors. Increasing the contact between undergraduates and international graduate students before they meet in the classroom as students and instructors can benefit each group. After a brief review of the literature that explores the chal lenges IT As face in the American university classroom, we describe the roles that undergraduates may perform in training IT As, explain the benefits to both IT As and undergraduates, and provide a list of best practices for …

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.

Envisioning Creative Collaboration Between Faculty And Technologists, Gail A. Rathbun, Sally Kuhlenschmidt, David Sacks

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty developers must often mediate conflicts resulting from differences between seemingly mutually exclusive cultures that university technolo gists and university teachers inhabit. Activity theory embraces workplace conflict as normal and as contributing to organizing health and adapta tion, in contrast to a functionalist approach that focuses on how to maintain system equilibrium. Engestrom’s (1987) interpretation of activity theory provides a theoretically informed framework for under standing different forms of human activity, mediated by culturally mol ded rules, values, and division of labor, without suffering from the polarizing effects of an us-versus-them approach.

Program Planning, Prioritizing, And Improvement: A Simple Heuristic, Peter Felten, Deandra Little, Leslie Ortquist-Ahrens, Michael Reder

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As educational developers working with multiple constituencies and demands on our time, how can we efficiently and creatively improve our programming and prioritize our efforts? In this chapter, we offer a simple heuristic to prompt quick yet generative examination of our goals or programs in relationship to three key characteristics of effective educa tional development on three different institutional levels. We then describe uses and applications of the tool and reflective process, which allow developers to efficiently gain insight into their work and effectively frame priorities for planning and improvement.

From Outsiders To Insiders: Graduate Assistant Development At State Comprehensive Universities, Kathleen M. Brennan, Laura Cruz, Freya B. Kinner

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We assess graduate assistant competency in key skills that employers in and outside of academia value and examine whether these skills are developed in the context of the graduate assistantship (GA) at a specific state comprehensive university. The GAs in our sample rate themselves as competent or very competent on all skills and report their GA experience somewhat influenced or influenced their skill competencies. Furthermore, perception of how one’s graduate assistantship influenced skill compe tency was significantly associated with perceived skill competency level. Based on these findings, we qiscuss distinct gaps that could be addressed to facilitate GA development at …

Connect To Learning: Using E-Portfolios In Hybrid Professional Development, Bret Eynon, Judit Török, Laura M. Gambino

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Based at LaGuardia Community College, the Connect to Learning (C2L) project has developed an innovative hybrid professional development model using e-portfolios, online conversations, and face-to-(ace meetings to support campus leadership teams as they strengthen e-portfolio initiatives on twenty-five diverse campuses nationwide. The C2L model adapts a conceptual framework of inquiry, reflection, and integration to a hybrid context and addresses the challenge of local professional devel opment leadership for classroom and institutional change.

Mobile App Learning Lounge: A Scalable And Sustainable Model For Twenty-First-Century Learning, Michael H. Truong

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Twenty-first-century learning is increasingly defined by the use of mobile devices and applications. Centers for teaching and learning can help facuity and students acquire greater familiarity and fluency with just-in-time learning using mobile apps by creating informal, inviting, and informative learning spaces on their campuses. This chapter features the Mobile App Learning Lounge (MALL), a low-cost, high impact initiative of a center for teaching and learning at a California research university. Beyond sharing how MALL works, this chapter offers practical suggestions and strategies for replicating a similar ini tiative at other institutions.

Navigating The New Normal, Terre H. Allen, Holly Harbinger, Donald J. Para

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Faculty socialization and satisfaction are critical to retaining quality teacher/scholars and key to a well-functioning teaching-intensive, research-driven university (Ponjuan, Conley, and Trower, 2011). This chapter reports on a year-long research project aimed at investigating faculty work life and satisfaction at a large, urban, comprehensive state university. Our goal was to use empirical evidence to understand and support faculty work under the "new normal" conditions characterized by reduced state funding and increased faculty workload. We discuss the results in terms of a revitalized direction for facuity and explore directions for organizational development within the context of the new normal.