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Merrimack College

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Full-Text Articles in Education

Embedded Support In The College Writing Classroom: A Teaching Reflection On Late Pandemic Pedagogy For Trio Students In An Intensive Transitional Summer Course, James P. Austin, John Gavin Iv Feb 2024

Embedded Support In The College Writing Classroom: A Teaching Reflection On Late Pandemic Pedagogy For Trio Students In An Intensive Transitional Summer Course, James P. Austin, John Gavin Iv

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

In this teaching reflection, the authors discuss their experiences as professor and embedded support for an intensive summer college writing course for incoming undergraduates participating in a TRIO program. The reflection considers the contextual factors making this cohort of students vulnerable, including the relationship between family income level and pandemic-era learning loss. The authors devised a pedagogy to "flip" the classroom, allowing students to write deeply during long class sessions, and delivered intensive, layered support at the point of writing to accelerate progress through challenges in writing development.


Inclusive Peer Learning Pedagogy With Augmented Reality– Ipear, Chryssa Themeli, Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland Mar 2023

Inclusive Peer Learning Pedagogy With Augmented Reality– Ipear, Chryssa Themeli, Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

The paper aims to show a pedagogical design focusing on peer learning and augmented reality to improve students' engagement, motivation, and empowerment. During the pandemic, strong research evidence suggested that collaborative and inclusive approaches such as peer learning simultaneously enhance mental health, student satisfaction and learning outcomes. Augmented reality unveils the positive effects of visual learning, which could be used creatively to stimulate interest, creativity, and participation. Thus, the pedagogy is philosophically framed within social learning and self-efficacy theories. Inclusion is defined as the social value of sharing information, devices and ideas and as instructional design that respects the learners' …


Lessons We Learned From Avatars: Cultivating Meaningful Preservice Teacher Online Experiences During Covid-19 And Beyond, Kristin M. Murphy, Janna Jackson Kellinger Feb 2023

Lessons We Learned From Avatars: Cultivating Meaningful Preservice Teacher Online Experiences During Covid-19 And Beyond, Kristin M. Murphy, Janna Jackson Kellinger

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

Like flight simulators used to train airline pilots prior to flying an actual airplane, mixed reality simulations provide an opportunity to interact with avatars in order to practice newly learned behaviors in an online environment. As teacher educators, we have used mixed reality simulations as a part of our coursework for the past five years. In this article, we discuss implications and lessons learned for teacher education practice and research in the online environment during COVID-19 and beyond based on our experiences using mixed reality.


Building Resilient Higher Education Communities: Lessons Learned From Pandemic Teaching, Christian Williams, Carmen Veloria, Debra Harkins Apr 2022

Building Resilient Higher Education Communities: Lessons Learned From Pandemic Teaching, Christian Williams, Carmen Veloria, Debra Harkins

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has left many educators grappling with uncertainties about the future of higher education while feeling exhausted from the stress and pressure to deliver quality education in unprecedented ways. While learning to incorporate new technology into remote, hybrid, and flipped classrooms, educators also find themselves responding to the psychosocial needs of students more than ever before. Yet the lack of established promising practices coupled with limited training and support on how to support students’ emotional well-being creates confusion and self-doubt. This conceptual article explores teacher experiences of teaching during a pandemic, missed opportunities, and highlights the need to …


Reimagining Student Engagement In The Remote Classroom Environment, Christopher B. Denning, Serra Acar, Carol Sharicz, Ellen Foust May 2021

Reimagining Student Engagement In The Remote Classroom Environment, Christopher B. Denning, Serra Acar, Carol Sharicz, Ellen Foust

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

As higher education institutions struggled with switching to remote teaching due to the COVID19 pandemic, perhaps one of the most important lessons learned is that instructors need additional support to successfully engage students in remote classrooms. Moving courses from the classroom to online delivery radically alters all aspects of teaching and learning, making it easy for interactions to be lost in the transition. It is, therefore, imperative that instructors use elements of effective online teaching and synchronous classroom pedagogy to maintain student engagement. This paper uses the constructivist learning theory as a framework, especially as this theory is applied in …


Adult Education For Japanese Immigrant Community: Social Bonding To Social Bridging, Naomi Nakamura Apr 2021

Adult Education For Japanese Immigrant Community: Social Bonding To Social Bridging, Naomi Nakamura

Community Engagement Student Work

Many Japanese who have been living in the U.S. for more than decades identify themselves as Japanese, not U.S. citizens. This so called transnational identity has an impact on how they assimilate or integrate to American social life. The purpose of this project is to explore the better learning environment and the effects of education for Japanese adult immigrants who may not actively participate in local communities. A workshop was held with Japanese residents in the Boston area to explore microaggressions and how people can think about their engagement with their communities. Workshop evaluation findings suggested that there is a …


What Works For You: Engaging With Antiracism Resources Within A College Setting, Grace Chitam Apr 2021

What Works For You: Engaging With Antiracism Resources Within A College Setting, Grace Chitam

Community Engagement Student Work

Higher education is often fondly described as the great equalizer. Society has ingrained the idea that if one is able to get to college and earn their degree, they can pave better outcomes for themselves post-graduation. While that may be true for some, this notion oversimplifies how challenging the college experience is, particularly for students of color and other marginalized backgrounds. This project examined how the burden students of color bear of battling racism in its every-day forms on top of their student responsibilities undermines their success. A two-hour workshop was held which endeavored to familiarize participants with antiracism education, …


Complicating Homelessness: A Workshop For Students And Volunteers, Madeline Wadley Apr 2021

Complicating Homelessness: A Workshop For Students And Volunteers, Madeline Wadley

Community Engagement Student Work

Homelessness effects 17 out of every 10,000 people in the United States, and approximately 22 out of every 10,000 people in the city of Asheville, NC. Homeward Bound of Western North Carolina (HBWNC) is a nonprofit organization working to prevent and end homelessness in Asheville through low-barrier services and Housing First practices. HBWNC relies on volunteers from the community and higher education institutions for support in running its programs. While most volunteer training focuses on the day-to-day tasks, boundaries, and procedures related to volunteering with HBWNC, this project focuses on the importance of giving volunteers a solid understanding of homelessness …


Transforming Higher Education: Responding To The Coronavirus And Other Looming Crises, Michael Mascolo Jul 2020

Transforming Higher Education: Responding To The Coronavirus And Other Looming Crises, Michael Mascolo

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

Higher education is being deeply challenged by the coronavirus. The immediate threats of the coronavirus come at the heels of an existing panoply of problems that already threaten higher education as we know it. These include, of course, the looming enrollment crisis, the high cost of higher education, intractable student debt, the corporatization of education, limited learning on campus, and a general loss of faith in higher education among many sectors of the nation. How are colleges and universities to respond to these challenges? This paper calls upon colleges and universities to consider the need for structural transformation in order …


Service-Learning In The Covid19 Era: Learning In The Midst Of Crisis, Lauren Grenier, Elizabeth Robinson, Debra A. Harkins Jul 2020

Service-Learning In The Covid19 Era: Learning In The Midst Of Crisis, Lauren Grenier, Elizabeth Robinson, Debra A. Harkins

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

No abstract provided.


Introduction To The Special Issue On Teaching During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Mary Beth Medvide Jun 2020

Introduction To The Special Issue On Teaching During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Mary Beth Medvide

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

None


Resilience Within And Resilience Without: Mindfulness And Sustainability Programming Using An Embedded Engineering Librarian Approach, Catherine Wong, Cynthia Carlson Jun 2020

Resilience Within And Resilience Without: Mindfulness And Sustainability Programming Using An Embedded Engineering Librarian Approach, Catherine Wong, Cynthia Carlson

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Students are facing an increasingly chaotic world in part due to global climate change and environmental degradation, causing rising levels of stress and anxiety. Mindfulness and sustainability programs were initiated over three years by a faculty-librarian collaborative team to assist first-year engineering students in building environmental literacy and personal resilience skills. The faculty-librarian team established in class and out of class themes, games, assignments, and programming using an embedded librarian approach. Sustainability programming included environmental movie nights with curricular links and conversations about climate change using the World Café methodology. These activities allowed students time outside of class to engage …


If Engineers Solve Problems, Why Are There Still So Many Problems To Solve?: Getting Beyond Technical “Solutions” In The Classroom, Cynthia Carlson, Catherine Wong Jun 2020

If Engineers Solve Problems, Why Are There Still So Many Problems To Solve?: Getting Beyond Technical “Solutions” In The Classroom, Cynthia Carlson, Catherine Wong

Librarian Publications

This Evidence-Based Practice Paper describes implementation and assessment of an exercise bringing international perspectives, liberal arts, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into a first-year engineering program - challenging the arbitrary boundary between engineering and the liberal arts. First-year engineering students (Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical) participated in a role-playing game recreating the 2009 United Nations Climate Talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. The exercise is part of a series of published games called Reacting to the Past (RTTP), with the purpose of engaging students to enhance their understanding of a given event or topic, while improving their research and communication skills. …


Resilience Within And Resilience Without: Mindfulness And Sustainability Programming Using An Embedded Engineering Librarian Approach, Catherine Wong, Cynthia Carlson Jun 2020

Resilience Within And Resilience Without: Mindfulness And Sustainability Programming Using An Embedded Engineering Librarian Approach, Catherine Wong, Cynthia Carlson

Librarian Publications

Students are facing an increasingly chaotic world in part due to global climate change and environmental degradation, causing rising levels of stress and anxiety. Mindfulness and sustainability programs were initiated over three years by a faculty-librarian collaborative team to assist first-year engineering students in building environmental literacy and personal resilience skills. The faculty-librarian team established in class and out of class themes, games, assignments, and programming using an embedded librarian approach. Sustainability programming included environmental movie nights with curricular links and conversations about climate change using the World Café methodology. These activities allowed students time outside of class to engage …


Laap: A Centralized Advising Program For The School Of Liberal Arts At Sunnyside College, Stephanie Sartori Apr 2020

Laap: A Centralized Advising Program For The School Of Liberal Arts At Sunnyside College, Stephanie Sartori

Higher Education Student Work

No abstract provided.


Improving Access: An Academic Support Program For First-Year Stem Students Working Toward Calculus, Emily Giantonio Apr 2020

Improving Access: An Academic Support Program For First-Year Stem Students Working Toward Calculus, Emily Giantonio

Higher Education Student Work

No abstract provided.


The Mighty Warriors: A Managing Mental Health Group To Support Students With Disabilities And Mental Health Symptoms, Katlyn Carr Apr 2020

The Mighty Warriors: A Managing Mental Health Group To Support Students With Disabilities And Mental Health Symptoms, Katlyn Carr

Higher Education Student Work

No abstract provided.


Leading Transformational Change: Enhancing The Adjunct Faculty Experience Through Narrative And Relationship, Greta I. Shepard Apr 2020

Leading Transformational Change: Enhancing The Adjunct Faculty Experience Through Narrative And Relationship, Greta I. Shepard

Higher Education Student Work

No abstract provided.


Here They Are, Send Them: An Evaluation Of The Send Program At Merrimack College, Jordan T. Mason Apr 2020

Here They Are, Send Them: An Evaluation Of The Send Program At Merrimack College, Jordan T. Mason

Community Engagement Student Work

The purpose of this study was to gather a deeper understanding of the SEND Program at Merrimack College. This program evaluation sought to determine if the SEND Program was meeting its short-term outcomes for the program. The current literature highlights the important and significant aspects of alternative break/global service-learning programs as they can provide great educational experiences for students. A survey was sent out to a cohort of alumni SEND participants to gather their perspectives of the program. Overall, the survey respondents noted positive responses of their experiences in this program, indicating that they had some level of a positive …


First-Generation College Students: Sense Of Belonging On Campus, Elizebeth Salazar Apr 2019

First-Generation College Students: Sense Of Belonging On Campus, Elizebeth Salazar

Community Engagement Student Work

This if from the policy track for the Community Engagement capstone pathway. First-generation college students have grown in numbers on college campus’ but continue to be a population that has lower completion numbers for their bachelor’s degree. TRIO and other first-generation college programming on college campus’ can contribute to better success of this population. However, first-generation college student’s sense of belonging should be added to campus’ initiatives to promote better retention of students.


Why We Gatta Be Da Poorest?: Disrupting The Cycle Of Poverty For Single Mothers In The Bahamas By The Assessment Of Their Needs And The Mapping Of Community And Educational Institutions Resources, Philadenrin Russell Apr 2019

Why We Gatta Be Da Poorest?: Disrupting The Cycle Of Poverty For Single Mothers In The Bahamas By The Assessment Of Their Needs And The Mapping Of Community And Educational Institutions Resources, Philadenrin Russell

Community Engagement Student Work

The purpose of this research study is to explore the barriers and needs of Bahamian single mothers to obtaining higher education. A needs assessment survey was administered via social media and 78 single mothers responded. Human services and educational institutions practitioners were also interviewed to understand their perspective of the needs and to map the resources currently available for single mothers in the Bahamas. The research assume that limited financial resources, lack of child care, lack of transportation, limited access to resources and lack of family support would have been the main barriers found. Nevertheless, the results showed that Bahamian …


Extension Of A Commuter Advisor And Engagement Program, Michael Secreti Apr 2018

Extension Of A Commuter Advisor And Engagement Program, Michael Secreti

Higher Education Student Work

Commuter students continue to face a number of challenges when it comes to building social connections with their peers (Krause, 2007). Despite the number of programs targeted towards first-year college students, few programs are adequately prepared to address the needs and concerns of the commuter student population. In an effort to produce greater learning and development outcomes among Commuter Advisors (CAs) and their protégés (first-year commuter students), the Commuter Advisor Program at Merrimack College will provide seasoned commuter students with the opportunity to receive the training and guidance necessary to become strong mentors to the first-year commuter student population. According …


Developing A Centralized Tutoring System: A Comprehensive Resource Available For Students, Catherine Johnson Apr 2018

Developing A Centralized Tutoring System: A Comprehensive Resource Available For Students, Catherine Johnson

Higher Education Student Work

Peer tutoring at colleges and universities has become an essential resource in helping to enhance undergraduate students’ academic performance and persistence (Arco-Tirado, Fernández-Martin, & Fernández-Balboa, 2011), institutional retention rates (Grillo & Leist, 2013), and the academic abilities of students with learning disabilities (Troiano, Liefeld, & Trachtenberg, 2010). The Tutoring Center at Merrimack College, designed for this project, will house all peer tutors specializing in a variety of subjects, including, but not limited to: business, engineering, foreign languages, computer science, biology, and chemistry. According to Vygtosky’s (1978) learning theory, students learn most effectively and more thoroughly when working with more knowledgeable …


Female Students Of Color In Higher Education, Kile Adumene Apr 2018

Female Students Of Color In Higher Education, Kile Adumene

Community Engagement Student Work

This participatory social justice focused project used both qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine our understanding of who we are individually, groups, and as citizens; nationally and globally, and how one’s identity will continue to evolve and change over a life time. We looked at self-claim identity, social imposed identity, and societal categorizing processes of identity such as one’s geographical, ethnic, or national connection. Participants engaged in detailed discussion on the constructed racial designations to different groups, the inter-sectional simultaneity by which people may experience their identities, and explored to understand the language that groups prefer to use to self-name …


The Unheard Stories Of Service-Learners: An Exploratory Study Of The Assumptions Of Race, Identity, And Privilege Within The Service-Learning Experience, J. Faith Krefft Apr 2018

The Unheard Stories Of Service-Learners: An Exploratory Study Of The Assumptions Of Race, Identity, And Privilege Within The Service-Learning Experience, J. Faith Krefft

Community Engagement Student Work

Service-learning has become a powerful pedagogical practice in Higher Education. Yet many of its practices have been premised on the idea that participants are white and serving a community unlike their own. Research suggests that the perspectives and identities of students of a diverse background participating in service-learning experiences may be unheard and/or misunderstood. Through a qualitative exploratory study, this study examined the perspective of nonwhite students. Four students from two higher education institutions selected to participate in a set of longitudinal, semi-structured, in-depth interviews in order to better understand their perspectives and experiences in their service-learning field site. Service-learning …


Enabling Student Moral Development In The Conduct Process, Evelyn Dina Apr 2018

Enabling Student Moral Development In The Conduct Process, Evelyn Dina

Higher Education Student Work

College is not only an opportunity for students to develop various aspects of their identity, but also a time to develop their moral maturity (Mathieson, 2003). In order to further increase student moral development and the learning that takes place for students in the conduct process, institutions should strive to implement educational sanctions and restorative approaches. This project will outline the components to establishing a civic learning sanction, as well as a model for restorative-oriented administrative hearings to be utilized throughout the student conduct process at Merrimack College. Kohlberg’s (1976) Theory of Moral Development provides an understanding of the stages …


Diversity And Postsecondary Education: Are Local Teacher Preparation Programs Really Preparing Educators For Supporting And Teaching Diverse Populations In The Classroom?, David Prescott Apr 2018

Diversity And Postsecondary Education: Are Local Teacher Preparation Programs Really Preparing Educators For Supporting And Teaching Diverse Populations In The Classroom?, David Prescott

Honors Senior Capstone Projects

This intensive research endeavor is focused in the realm of education, specifically inclusion in classroom settings. This paper will be examining local teacher preparation programs by analyzing their requirements for diversity education and training. The overall purpose of this research project is to increase awareness of the disconnect between inclusion and diversity education, inspire others to want to do something to better serve the diverse populations in local school districts, and to begin discussion about changing diversity requirements in local teacher education programs. This paper will begin by defining and distinguishing inclusion and diversity education. Next the paper will provide …


The Effect Of Dance And Team Sports On Mental Health, Kayla Hulburt Apr 2018

The Effect Of Dance And Team Sports On Mental Health, Kayla Hulburt

Honors Senior Capstone Projects

This study uses the World Health Organization model of physical, social, and mental health to examine the effect of participating in dance and team sports during childhood on mental health in adulthood. Prior research has suggested that physical activity is strongly integrated with mental and social health and therefore is a protective factor among mental illness. However, there is not sufficient research comparing the differences among dance and team sports on mental health. This study hypothesized that dancers would experience more positive mental health in adulthood than team sports due to the basis of physical activity in dance, but the …


Poverty Through Simulation: Examining Concerns With Affordable Housing In Relation To The Cycle Of Poverty, Emily Mccaffrey Apr 2018

Poverty Through Simulation: Examining Concerns With Affordable Housing In Relation To The Cycle Of Poverty, Emily Mccaffrey

Community Engagement Student Work

This social justice-based project used evaluated the level of understanding that students of Endicott College had regarding poverty within the United States. This project provided a space for students to communicate with each other using discussion questions about poverty to guide the conversations. All students were given the chance to participate in an online simulation during class that provided them with an opportunity to live in someone else's shoes for thirty days, after losing their housing. This project was conducted with one traditional class setting while the other was conducted completely online using an online platform provided by Endicott. The …


“I Can’T Believe I’M In Charge”: How Zlotkoswki’S “Students As Colleagues” Model Prepares Bentley University Service-Learning Students For Civic Leadership, Brian Shea Apr 2018

“I Can’T Believe I’M In Charge”: How Zlotkoswki’S “Students As Colleagues” Model Prepares Bentley University Service-Learning Students For Civic Leadership, Brian Shea

Community Engagement Student Work

Business schools exhibit a remarkable ability to produce graduates who are exceptionally analytical; however, these students have been shown to lack sensitivity to the impact of actions taken in the workplace, in communities, and in society. Service-learning is a method that has been proven to instill stronger ethics in business students. Bentley University, a business school in Waltham, Massachusetts, models its Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Center after the “Students as Colleagues” framework championed by its founding Director, Dr. Edward Zlotkowski (2006). By employing this approach, Bentley positions its undergraduate students as leaders in social impact initiatives, thereby preparing these students …