Education Commons^™

Amazon.Com, Inc Strategic Audit, Ningzhi Luo

Honors Theses

Amazon.com, Inc (Amazon) was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online marketplace for books but later expanded to e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. This large variety of products and innovations has contributed to Amazon as one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world (Eugene Kim, 2018). This study would specifically focus on the e-commerce area and analyze Amazon's position in this market from an external and internal perspective by using three models: Porter's Five Forces, PESTEL, and the SWOT model. The report would identify Amazon's competitive advantages and the challenges it …

Personal Reflections / 12.14.20, José M. Torres

Personal Reflections

On Saturday, December 7, 2020, I got up early at 5:00 a.m., put on a white shirt, a black jacket, and shorts, and joined a zoom call broadcasted from Alexandria, Egypt. A longtime friend, Bill, passed away at age 90 from COVID-19 complications. Bill and his wife Peg, who passed away 12 years ago, opened their home to me in 1980, when I was only 20 years old and needed a place to stay. Six months later, I found a more permanent home. While my time living with them in their home was short, this experience and our continued relationship …

Topics And Challenges In Teaching Computer Science For Gifted And Talented Students, Tom Meyer, Namrata Pandya

Faculty Publications & Research

No abstract provided.

Using State Assessments To Increase Equity In G/T Identification, Sarah Mckenzie, Josh B. Mcgee, Charlene A. Reid, Bich Tran

Policy Briefs

In this brief, we explore the rate of identification of students as Gifted and Talented (G/T). In particular we examine the rate of identification for the highest achieving 3rd graders who scored in the top 5% statewide on state assessments in both Reading and Mathematics from 2015 to 2018 and the likelihood that they are identified G/T by 4th grade. Across five cohorts of 3rd to 4th grade students, we find that 30% of the highest achieving students are not identified as G/T. We find statistically significant differences in the likelihood that high achieving students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are …

What Can We Learn About Improving Gifted Identification By Studying How Accurate The Process Is In Arkansas?, Bich Tran, Jonathan Wai, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Jonathan N. Mills, Dustin Seaton

Arkansas Education Reports

How might we improve gifted and talented (G/T) identification by learning about the process in Arkansas (AR)? In this study, we examined the accuracy of the gifted identification process in AR by comparing the degree to which students who were academically talented in the top 5% on the 3 rd grade state assessment in reading and mathematics in AR were identified for G/T. Across five years of independent cohorts, we replicate the finding that roughly 30% of the students in the top 5% in both reading and mathematics on the 3 rd grade state assessment are not identified as G/T. …

Bringing Inclusion To College: The Importance Of Peer Mentorship For College Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Stephanie M. Devine

Department of Elementary and Special Education Faculty Presentations

Research presented at the 2020 Georgia Educational Research Association Conference, virtual conference.

Inclusive excellence has risen to the forefront as a strategic pillar of many higher education improvement plans or mission statements. The embodiment of inclusion in the college setting can be seen in the growth of inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) programs for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities on college campuses across the state over the past decade. Georgia currently has nine IPSE programs and is in working on adding several more over the next few years. The challenges of including students with intellectual and developmental disabilities in university …

Self-Monitoring Among Secondary And Post-Secondary Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities: Current Summary And Future Directions, Melvin S. Marsh, Stephanie M. Devine

Department of Elementary and Special Education Faculty Presentations

Research presented at the 2020 Georgia Educational Research Association Conference, virtual conference.

A preliminary search of the literature has revealed very few studies applicable to self-monitoring behaviours in college-aged individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), a technique that has been studied primarily in the elementary aged population. Learning how to self-monitor, whether it is self-monitoring behaviour or using it to learn to do tasks, is an important skill for one to become a success in college and during adulthood. This skill may allow some students to seek out and successfully complete further education and vocational training. Having individuals with …

Information Literacy Reimagined. Deep Learning Practice, Beverly A. King Miller, Ming Fang He, Amber Whitfield, Ru Li

Department of Elementary and Special Education Faculty Presentations

UNESCO 2030 (UNESCO, 2015) sustainable development goal 4 highlights the need for inclusive educational practices in order to dismantle the present exclusionary practices in education. These goals are designed to ensure that by 2030, benchmarks are met requiring all children with diverse socio- economic, race and gender backgrounds receive an equitable and quality education. To meet the needs for inclusive educational practices two areas in education are under consideration: teacher training and curriculum development and implementation. This presentation will highlight the work by two professors working with their students to promote an inclusive social justice education and curricula framework.

Specifically, …

The Challenge: Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 49, Fall 2020), Center For Gifted Studies, Tracy Inman Editor

Gifted Studies Publications

No abstract provided.

College Choice Decisions: An Analysis Of University Honors Students, Thomas Tyler Clark

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to analyze the importance of various institutional attributes in the college-choice process of honors students. The study surveyed honors students (N = 279) currently enrolled in an honors college at one university. Students rated 51 items on the degree of importance in their college decision. An exploratory factor analysis was used to determine the underlying factors in the college-choice process.

The results indicated that cost was the most important issue students considered when determining an institution to attend. Cost of attendance and financial assistance offered were followed by quality of course instruction, safety on …

How To Detect Future Einsteins: Towards Systems Approach, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Talents are rare. It is therefore important to detect and nurture future talents as early as possible. In many disciplines, this is already being done -- via gifted and talented programs, Olympiads, and other ways to select kids with unusually high achievements. However, the current approach is not perfect: some of the kids are selected simply because they are early bloomers, they do not grow into unusually successful researchers; on the other hand, many of those who later become very successful are not selected since they are late bloomers. To avoid these problems, we propose to use systems approach: to …

Navigating The Social Determinants Of Health: First Steps Toward Assessing And Addressing Socioeconomic Needs, Jocelyn Daubendiek

Honors Theses

The Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) are the socioeconomic conditions that shape a person’s life and can include an individual’s housing situation, economic opportunities, ability to obtain food, access to transportation and healthcare, level of education, and exposure to discrimination and violence. When people struggle with these socioeconomic aspects of their lives, their health will be negatively impacted as a consequence. In this study, the SDOH of patients were evaluated at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine through the use of a survey about socioeconomic needs, and the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) of each participating patient was …

Research Into Practice: Exploring Teacher Practices With Young Gifted Learners, Andrea Lauren Heming

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research study investigates teacher practices with young gifted learners and provides recommendations to increase the effectiveness of the Primary Talent Pool through examination of the program as it is implemented in four Kentucky school districts. Gifted coordinators were interviewed and primary (kindergarten-third grade) teachers were surveyed. Though each school has different methods for meeting the needs of high potential learners, there are commonalities across all seven schools represented. The present findings indicate teachers feel confident in their ability to recognize high potential in academic areas. Teachers are comfortable using differentiation, and often differentiate to support gifted learners.

Experiences Of Selected Students In The Scientific Olympiad For Medical Students – A Qualitative Study, Hakimeh Hazrati, Leila Vahedi Md, Phd, Naser Ghorbanian Ms, Atefeh Zabihi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract:

Background: It is of great importance to identify the talented students in the Scientific Olympiad and pay attention to the upgrade of the quality of these competitions.‏

Aims: The purpose of this study was to explain the experiences of students about the Medical Students' Scientific Olympiad.

Methods: This research was a phenomenological qualitative study. Data were collected by open questionnaire (27 students) and semi-structured interview (13 students) who was selected in the Medical Students' Scientific Olympiad. The analyzing of information was performed using the clayze method.

Results: Students' experiences were divided into two main themes, including motivating and restrictive …

Library Services For The Visually Impaired: Case Study Of Academic Libraries In Ghana, Imoro Osman, Paulina Nana Yaa Kwafoa

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The library has always been acknowledged as the hub of information to all in the academic environment. However, library services for the visually impaired in developing countries is often constrained due to social, financial and logistical challenges (Rowland, 2008; Hopkins, 2000; Willoughby, 1990). This study therefore examined the provision of library services for the visually impaired in three public universities in Ghana. The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the quantitative aspect of the study whiles case study research design was used for the qualitative aspect of the study. The population …

2020 Intersession Catalog, Illinois Mathematics And Science Academy

Intersession Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Beyond Bookkeeping: Developing Intellectual Skills In Honors Accounting Courses, L. Benjamin Boyar

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Critical thinking skills are sharpened in an introductory accounting course requiring students to think and write about contemporary issues connected to their discipline. Students are tasked to explicate opinions involving shareholders and stakeholders as expressed in a New York Times editorial by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer and to present an argumentative essay that demonstrates practical disciplinary competencies and understanding of procedural knowledge. The challenges and rewards of teaching writing in technical disciplines are discussed.

What Works In Honors: Discovering “London As A Detective Story”, Kelsey L. Bennett, Nicole Becwar

Honors in Practice Online Archive

An honors program director and university archivist/librarian team up to offer a two-week study abroad course that blends itinerant offerings of City as Text™ with fixed support for first-time student encounters with archival collections at the British Library and the National Archives.

Undergraduate Research Seminars At Your Humanities Center, Anne Dotter

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Communal, collegial spaces for undergraduates to share their research enrich student experience and academic development in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

Best Practices In Honors Pedagogy: Teaching Innovation And Community Engagement Through Design Thinking, Beth H. Chaney, Tim W. Christensen, Alleah Crawford, Katherine Ford, W. Wayne Godwin, Gerald Weckesser, Todd Fraley, Phoenix Little

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Honors colleges aim to provide unique first-year experiences that promote life skills and emphasize process over product in an interdisciplinary setting that builds community. A two-semester, five-semester-hour course sequence with colloquia tackles these challenges by introducing an entrepreneurial mindset that pushes students toward innovative understanding and building of community. The first iteration includes an introduction to design thinking; identification of wicked problems; collection of data using immersion experiences, interviews, and literature review; and experiments (n = 35) in project-based entrepreneurial methodologies using Lean LaunchPad. The second iteration involves assessment, applied qualitative analysis, out-of-class learning, and peer mentoring. Results provide a …

Humanities-Driven Stem— Using History As A Foundation For Stem Education In Honors, John Carrell, Hannah Keaty, Aliza Wong

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Humanities have traditionally played a limited role in STEM education, yet their natural connections may be used to enrich academic understanding and student experience. Authors explore their mutuality by presenting an interdisciplinary curriculum, Humanities-Driven STEM (HDSTEM). Unlike other iterations of blended disciplines, HDSTEM provides students with abilities and knowledge to go beyond the acquisition of soft skills toward humanistic, often artistic, creative problem-solving and innovative thinking. A pilot HDSTEM course offered through the first-year experience program is described. Authors outline its development, implementation, outcomes, and evaluation, positing humanities at the forefront as the impetus and lens for contextualizing STEM research …

Music In The Holocaust As An Honors Colloquium, Galit Gertsenzon

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Forbidden Sounds: The Music of the Holocaust considers the historical events of the Holocaust in the context of music. The honors course explores diverse roles that music played during the years 1933–1945, including the Nazi use of music as a means for censorship and discrimination; music performance and creation in various Jewish ghettos and concentration camps in Europe; and ways that composers, performers, and audiences used music for emotional and physical survival and for spiritual resistance during World War II and after. The author provides a rich and varied curriculum, culminating with student performances and a series of public concerts, …

2019 Presidential Address: Radical Honors: Pedagogical Troublemaking As A Model For Institutional Change, Richard Badenhausen

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This presidential speech to attendees of the 2019 NCHC annual conference in New Orleans resituates honors education as a site of deeply radical practices and provides a call to action to honors educators both to own the transgressiveness of our pedagogical approaches and to extend that troublemaking project to processes beyond the classroom, processes like honors recruitment and admissions, faculty appointments, co-curricular programming, and assessment, among others. Given the academy’s traditional resistance to change, an opportunity exists for those in the honors community to step forward and radically alter the structures and practices of higher education, all in the service …

The Commonplace Book Project, Kate Krueger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

A writing requirement for first-year honors students (n ≈ 250) provides a flexible format that combines primary texts, analytical skills, and personal reflection.

Brave New Worlds: Transcending The Humanities/Stem Divide Through Creative Writing, Adam Watkins, Zahra Tehrani

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Creative writing offers a critical and innovative form of inquiry promoting integrative learning that transcends disciplinary barriers. Authors first provide an overview of the scholarship on creative writing pedagogy, its unique capacity to engage a range of knowledge domains, and its significance for honors education. They then offer primary examples of incorporating creative writing projects into two honors classes that bridge STEM fields and the humanities. Analyses of student reflections (n = 35) in relation to learning outcomes strongly suggest that creative writing helps students explore course concepts through several ways of knowing—critical, situational, and affective—while fostering new perspectives on …

Intellectual Risk, Ashleen Williams

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Intellectual risk works, but it requires creating the space to fail in honors.

A Meaningful And Useful Twofer: Enhancing Honors Students’ Research Experiences While Gathering Assessment Data, Mary Scheuer Senter

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Engaging students in assessment practice benefits honors students, faculty, and administrators. Students gain meaningful research experience while honors programs receive data to help assess student learning and prepare for program review. A one-semester course, Program Evaluation Experiences, tasks students (n = 10) with collecting and analyzing data from peers and faculty and then articulating its value for their personal academic development. Qualitative and quantitative instruments and measures include an online survey (Qualtrics), personal interviews (Rev), and focus groups (rev, n = 30). Students complete various analyses of data using SPSS and NVivo. Results indicate that students’ active participation in applied …

Using The Online Forum For Honors Learning, John Zubizarreta

Honors in Practice Online Archive

An online forum in which students share not only what content they have learned but more importantly how, when, and why they have learned provides a safe, open, generative space for learning beyond the limitations of the classroom. Suggestions for its effective use and integration are provided.

Honors In Practice, Volume 16, Editorial Matter

Honors in Practice Online Archive

indexing statement

editorial board

contents

Editorial Policy, Deadline, and Submission Guidelines

Dedication to Steven T. Engel

Editor’s Introduction -- Ada Long

About the Authors

NCHC Publication Descriptions and Order Form

The Challenge: Magazine For The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 48, Winter 2020), Center For Gifted Studies, Tracy Inman Editor

Gifted Studies Publications

No abstract provided.