Education Commons^™

Adding Value To Graduate Education: The Comprehensive Examination, John L. Lindquist, Samuel E. Wortman, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Virtually all graduate study requirements for MS or PhD degrees include a written comprehensive and an oral exam, the latter most often a presentation of thesis or dissertation results. The written exam takes many forms, but the goals are to test the candidate for technical competence and affirm that the prior program course work has been effective in bringing the candidate to an acceptable level of understanding of the discipline in which she or he has been immersed. Although long accepted as a useful hurdle on the path to a degree, for some exceptional students who have already demonstrated competence …

Dearabizing Arabia: Tracing Western Scholarship On The History Of The Arabs And Arabic Language And Script, Saad D. Abulhab

Publications and Research

This book is a reference book on the history of the Arabic Language and script, which goes beyond the sole discussion of technical matters. It studies objectively the evidence presented by modern-day western archeological discoveries together with the evidence presented by the indispensable scholarly work and research of past Islamic Arab civilization era. The book scrutinizes modern western theories regarding the history of the Arabs and Arabic language and script in connection with the roles played by Western Near East scholarship, religion and colonial history in the formation of current belief system, which is an essential step to study this …

Student Perceptions Of Public Relations And Journalism: A Pilot Study Of Attitude Shifts Through Curriculum Innovation, Bernard R. Mccoy, Jerry Renaud, Adam Wagler, Amy Struthers, John Baker

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Journalism and public relations have had a long and often contentious relationship. It is rare when journalists and advertising/PR specialists work well together in the real world. It is equally rare when advertising, public relations and journalism students work together as part of their classroom education. This mixed methods pilot study explored the perceptions journalism and public relations majors had about each other’s professions. The experimental group was comprised of 40 journalism and public relations majors who worked together covering a national event in an experimental college class. The control group included 68 students who participated in a more traditional …

Developing A Leadership Consortium, Jan Lloyd, Sherry L. Early Phd

Leadership Studies Faculty Research

Although the term “leadership” did not appear until approximately the 1850s, leadership can be viewed as an ancient art (Bass, 1990). However, it was not until 1976 that the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Commission IV developed a leadership task force to investigate leadership programs in higher education and clearly defined the differences between leadership development, leadership training, and leadership education (Roberts & Ullom, 1990). The field of leadership progressed over the years by examining various components such as trait theory, behavioral theories, situational theories, and, most recently, leadership identity development theories. Since then, information regarding definitions of leadership, descriptions …

Engaging Students In The Classroom: How Can I Know What I Think Until I See What I Draw?, Paul Donnelly, John Hogan

Conference papers

Recognizing the world into which our students will emerge upon graduation, a world characterized by constant change, and our belief in the need to develop our students as “critical beings” (Barnett, 1997) and as “citizens capable of governing” (Giroux, 1997: 259), we embrace a critical pedagogy that is not just about theory (Dehler, Welsh & Lewis, 2004), but can also be implemented experientially in the classroom through the use of freehand drawing. With this as context, our aim in the classroom is to create a learning space where our students develop their capacity for critical self-reflection. As such, we use …

Umw Library: The Engine That Could, Jack Bales

Administrative and Professional Faculty Research

Rosemary Arneson wasted no time making her presence known at Mary Washington. Soon after her arrival on campus in January, the University librarian - successor to Roy Strohl, who retired last year - had established a Libraries Management Council involving staff members on both the Fredericksburg and Stafford campuses.

2010-2011 Best Practice Sampler: The Theory And Practice Of Teaching At Philadelphia University, Jane Antheil, Marion Roydhouse

Annual Reports & Administrative Documents

Preface

Every faculty member at one time or another has known the sinking sensation that he or she is just not reaching students. Since we entered the profession because we love learning and love to facilitate learning, blank stares and dull eyes lead not only to frustration, but also to disappointment. Paraphrasing Lee Shulman, past President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and a leader in professional education, it is one thing to be competent in subject knowledge and another thing to be competent in subject knowledge pedagogy.

The examples and ideas expressed in these pages come …

Teaching Students Personal And Social Responsibility With Measurable Learning Outcomes, Frank Ardaiolo, Steve Neilson, Timothy K. Daugherty

Winthrop Faculty and Staff Publications

In 2005 the Association of American Colleges and Universities launched a national initiative that championed the importance of a 21st-century liberal education. What was unique about this initiative was the underlying assumption that educating for personal and social responsibility was “core” for an educated citizenry and should be taught. So the question became “How does higher education teach responsibility?” Student affairs divisions atWinthrop University and Rollins College approached this question by focusing on collaborative programs and student learning experiences in the curriculum and cocurriculum with the ability to measure outcomes.

Teacher Leaders+ Reflective Teaching = A Collaborative Leadership Approach To Establishing Public School And University Partnerships, Madeline M. Landes

Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Media Technology

No abstract provided.

In Transit Vol 5 Spring 2011, Laguardia Community College

LaGuardia Community College Publications

In Transit is the LaGuardia Journal on Teaching and Learning. It is published by the Center for Teaching and Learning at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY.

Nefdc Exchnage, Volume 22, Number 2, Spring 2011, New England Faculty Development Consortium

NEFDC Exchange

Contents

President's message: Who is your mentor? - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

Sparks, insights, and affirmations: reflections of a mentor - Denise Marchionda, Middlesex Community College

Engaging students through social media to promote learning - Suzanne Markham, Mount Ida College

Vampires, and zombies, and ghosts, oh my… run! The undead in the college classroom - Kristine Larsen, Central Connecticut State University

Service learning as a way to engage students and serve the community - William Stargard, Pine Manor College

Save the date! NEFDC 2011 Fall Conference, Friday, November 11, 2011, College of the Holy Cross

Models for …

Adjunct Faculty Certification 101: Introduction To Teaching And Learning, Kent Zimmerman, Sally A. Struthers

Art and Art History Faculty Publications

More than 200 adjunct faculty at Sinclair Community College have completed the Adjunct Faculty Certification Program. Join this overview of the curriculum and the peer review requirements of the program.

The Impact Of Class Size On Outcomes In Higher Education, James Monks, Robert M. Schmidt

Economics Faculty Publications

Numerous studies have investigated the impact of class size on student outcomes. This analysis contributes to this discussion by isolating the impact of class size on student outcomes in higher education by utilizing a natural experiment at a selective institution which enables the estimation of class size effects conditional on the total number of students taught by a faculty member. We find that class size negatively impacts student assessments of courses and instructors. Large classes appear to prompt faculty to alter their courses in ways deleterious to students.

Developing A College-Level Speed And Accuracy Test, Jordan Gilbert, Marne Isakson, Zach Loud, Austin Miller

Faculty Publications

Dr. Isakson has been studying literacy and reading for decades and has been working on the Speed and Accuracy test for about 11 years. I worked for her for the last year of the project to pull it all together and polish it up. The Speed and Accuracy Assessment is meant to give a brief insight into a college student's ability to read quickly and gain basic level comprehension of what is provided within a text. Dr. Isakson has been working with students for decades and sympathizes for freshmen in college who academically have done very well before but do …

La Producción De Investigación En Las Universidades Privadas: Estudio De Un Caso, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

This case study describes how Tecnológico de Monterrey, in northern Mexico, has experienced a qualitative and quantitative increase in its intellectual productivity. In less than ten years, this university has moved from generating few ideas to being one of most distinguished Mexican private universities in the production of knowledge, patents and several research-derived businesses. This work explores how the re-elaboration of the institutional mission and the implementation of a model of research classes, among others, were decisive factors to increase the production of ideas. In this way, the university has increased its visibility and international ranking, attracting qualified re-searchers, developing …

Foundation To Promote Scholarship And Teaching 2010-2011 Awards, Office Of The Provost, Roger Williams University

Foundation to Promote Scholarship & Teaching

Proposal abstracts of 2010-2011 award recipients in a wide range of disciplinary areas.

“Google Reigns Triumphant”?: Stemming The Tide Of Googlitis Via Collaborative, Situated Information Literacy Instruction, Carol A. Leibiger

Faculty Publications

Googlitis, the over-reliance on search engines for research and the resulting development of poor searching skills, is a recognized problem among today’s students. Google is not an effective research tool because, in addition to encouraging keyword searching at the expense of more powerful subject searching, it only accesses the Surface Web and is driven by advertising. American higher education unwittingly fosters the use of search engines in research by emphasizing results rather than process. Academic librarians emulate teaching faculty in their reliance on lectures, and their course-related instruction is limited in its effectiveness because it is constrained to one-shot, lecture-driven …

Using Low-Stakes Repeated Testing Can Improve Student Learning: How (Some) Practice Makes Perfect, Sarah Grison, Steven G. Luke, Aya Shigeto, Patrick D.K. Watson

Psychology Faculty

Two studies in Introductory Psychology classes explored whether repeated low-stakes testing can augment learning. In Experiment 1, answering more in-class questions with student response systems (SRSs) predicted better learning when students had not read the text. In Experiment 2, taking online practice quizzes predicted better learning, especially when questions on a concept were grouped. Repeated low-stakes testing can aid learning, but we must develop evidence-based pedagogical tools to maximize effects.

How Faculty Attitudes And Expectations Toward Student Nationality Affect Writing Assessment, Peggy Lindsey, Deborah J. Crusan

English Language and Literatures Faculty Publications

Earlier research on assessment suggests that even when Native English Speaker (NSE) and Non-Native English Speaker (NNES) writers make similar errors, faculty tend to assess the NNES writers more harshly. Studies indicate that evaluators may be particularly severe when grading NNES writers holistically. In an effort to provide more recent data on how faculty perceive student writers based on their nationalities, researchers at two medium-sized Midwestern universities surveyed and conducted interviews with faculty to determine if such discrepancies continue to exist between assessments of international and American writers, to identify what preconceptions faculty may have regarding international writers, and to …

Using Visual Imagery To Enhance Student Writing, Diana Jones, Rachelle Redd

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: What is the effect of the Photoresponse assignment on student writing?

Method & Data Studied: We collected data from students enrolled in the HSP 302 Introduction to Human Services course during winter and spring quarters 2011. On the first day of class students were asked to respond, in writing, to the question “what inspired you to be a human service professional?” Over the course of the next four weeks, students were further asked to respond to a series of questions by taking a photograph meant to capture their answer to a question. Students then prepared a brief narrative …

The Effect Of Student Peer Response And Assessment On The Proficiency Of Writing Traits At The College Level, Korry Harvey, Misa Haring

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: How does student peer response and assessment impact the writing traits of college students?

Method: The study was designed to measure changes in student writing traits following a process of peer response. Ninety-one students participated in the project, each submitting two versions of a 4-6 page position paper—an initial draft and then a final version of the paper following peer review and assessment. In addition to written comments from readers, five different writing traits were rated on a scale of 1-4 for each draft: conventions, organizational structure, rhetorical style, critical assessment, and substantiation. These ratings were then compared …

The Narrating Subject: Student Reflection On Witness Narrative, Kathleen Zuanich Young, Francesca Leaf

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Can reflective writing capture the process of thinking when students read or listen to a first person narrative involving a Holocaust Survivor, a combat veteran, a former child soldier, clinical depression, and post-traumatic stress? Is the cognitive/affective capacity made visible as the student becomes a narrating subject his or her self in response to trauma and recovery narrative?

Down With The Sgid! Long Live The Qcd!, Barbara J. Millis, Jose Vazquez

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

No one knows better than faculty developers the difficulty of change. Numerous clichés such as “Old habits die hard” or “The more things change, the more they stay the same” express the proverbial wisdom regarding such entrenched rituals. Many faculty developers routinely use an assessment tool called Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID) developed by Joseph Clark (Clark & Redmond, 1982) during his tenure as FIPSE (Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education) project director at the University of Washington, Seattle. The authors challenge our colleagues to re-think these old habits and consider replacing—or at least supplementing—the SGID with a far …

Talking With Faculty About Cognitive Science And Learning, John Girash

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

When it comes to teaching, faculty at a research-intensive institution can be very much like our students in relation to their studies: very smart people whose primary interests lie elsewhere or, at least, whose expertise is not in this area. And we hear over and over again the common wisdom that faculty want research-based ideas on teaching. This implies that we can treat the teaching of teachers about research-supported aspects of learning in ways analogous to teaching students about other academic topics.

In introducing research-based ideas into the pedagogical discussion, it can be tough to find a balance between concepts …

Teaching Assessment By Modeling Different Assessment Techniques, Cynthia E. Tobery

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Getting feedback early and often helps us gauge what students are learning well or less well, what they are taking away from the class, and what changes we may want to make. Assessment techniques can be used before, during, and after a class to get this feedback.

One of the goals of the Future Faculty Teacher Training Series offered through the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning is to model various instructional techniques that the participants may decide to use in their own classes. We include some type of assessment for each part of the series in addition to …

Helping Future Faculty “Come Out” As Teachers, Mark R. Connolly

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

I study graduate education--specifically, the formation of future faculty and the professional development programs that help them learn to teach. Over the past seven years, I have interviewed more than 70 doctoral students and postdocs in science, engineering, and math at leading research universities. When I ask my respondents why they initially chose to pursue a doctorate, they usually tell me how much they enjoyed their undergraduate education, which was characterized by powerful learning experiences driven by strong relationships with smart and passionate instructors. My respondents fondly recall professors who stoked students’ curiosity, demonstrated the thrill of scientific discovery, and …

Selecting The Right Technology Tool: Wikis, Discussion Boards, Journals, And Blogs, Tami J. Eggleston

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Maslow understood the value of knowing when to use the right tool. It is easy in teaching to over-rely on a familiar tool or a teaching technique that we are comfortable with using. In recent years the teacher’s tool box has grown and there are many new technology tools available in course management and learning systems (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle, etc.) and with free websites (e.g., Blogger, Wetpaint, etc.). While many faculty get in a teaching rut and use only lecture, or only small groups, or only discussion boards, it can also be daunting to decide which, of the many new …

The Associates In Teaching Program: Graduate Student Development, Faculty Renewal, And Curricular Innovation, Bill Rando

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Conflicting goals define university life. Luckily, conflicting goals sometimes inspire creative innovation. The Associates in Teaching Program is one such example.

At research universities, administrators must balance the needs of graduate students and those of undergraduate students – graduate students need practice teaching to prepare them for faculty life; undergraduates (and their parents) would prefer instruction by more experienced faculty members. Nearly all universities meet the needs of graduate students through teaching assistant positions in labs and sections. Some go further by allowing graduate students to teach independent courses, which benefits most graduate students, but frustrates others who feel that …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 23, Fall 2011, New England Faculty Development Consortium

NEFDC Exchange

Contents

Message from the NEFDC President - Tom Thibodeau, New England Institute of Technology

Creating student engagement in the university classroom - Frank Bellizzi, Quinnipiac University

Ensuring access and essential learning for diverse students - Gouri Banerjee, Emmanuel College

Without a pen: reflections on an experiment in typed assessment - Reva Kasman, Salem State University

Bringing a dialogue into the classroom - Dorothy A. Osterholt and Katherine Barratt, Landmark College

Suffolk University Course Design Institute - Kathryn Linder, Suffolk University

Colleges of Worcester Consortium Offers Certificate in College Teaching

Save the date: NEFDC 2012 Spring Conference, Fraiday, June 8, 2012, …

Graduate Student Mentoring, Mary C. Wright, Laura N. Schram

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Many graduate programs are reviewing how they mentor their students, taking note of the time to degree and low completion rates in their programs. Given the enormous time challenges that academics face and the complexities of effective mentoring, it can be difficult to change practice despite good will. We write about graduate student mentoring, drawing from research on graduate student careers and the role of mentorship, to make practical suggestions for cultivating an effective mentoring relationship.

The benefits of effective graduate student mentoring noted in the literature are numerous, with large national studies linking effective mentorship to degree completion, high …