Education Commons^™

In Transit Vol 3 Fall 2008, 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.

Response To The 2007-8 Presidential Seminar On The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Thomas D. Curran Ph.D.

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

The goal of Professor Thomas Curran from the History Department at Sacred Heart University in applying for the Presidential Seminar was essentially to learn more about the Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT) so that he could help design and teach the core-curriculum-course and organize the training of adjunct instructors who carry a substantial share of the teaching burden.

Called To Teach: Interpreting The Phenomenon Of Calling As A Motivating Factor, Samuel J. Smith, Jared T. Bigham

Samuel James Smith

14th Annual Governors State University Student Research Conference Proceedings, Shailendra Kumar Ph.D., Editor

Student Research Conference Proceedings

The Steering committee is pleased to announce the 14th Annual GSU Student Research Conference to be held on May 21, 2008. This year we have launched the conference website: www.govst.edu/src. Please visit the website for information about the conference.

For the past thirteen years this conference has become a tradition in excellence, and we are confident that today again we will witness another session of quality presentations by our students. This year we have record number of presentations - sixteen podium presentations and seventeen poster presentations from thirty nine students.

The conference will be presented in its original format and …

Touchstone Volume 1.1 (Spring 2008), Hostos Community

Touchstone

No abstract provided.

Celebration Of The Committee On Beautiful Ideas, Judith Summerfield

Touchstone

I take this project seriously, this COBI. It is, for me, the most unconventional, sound, and forceful project at CUNY. The project is unconventional: it flies in the face of prevailing winds that make us to attend to depersonalized gerunds and reified nouns: teaching, learning assessment; to outcomes, summations, totals that signal failures, deficiencies; to inabilities that signal impossibilities. Failure rates, killer courses, remediation, that can level the faint at heart.

Western Guide To Graduate Supervision, Elizabeth Skarakis-Doyle, Gayle L. Mcintyre

Purple Guides

Based on the experiences of Western's graduate supervisors, this 30 page guide addresses the supervision of graduate students and focuses on best practices in mentoring, promoting student progress, and clarifying expectations in the supervisor-student relationship.

University Of Nebraska- Lincoln: Fact Book 2007-2008

Papers, Publications, & Presentations for University of Nebraska-Lincoln Administration

Fact Book Table of Contents

General Information

UNL Core Values .............................................................................. 4

Role and Mission Statement ............................................................. 5

Institutional & Professional Accreditations ..................................................... 8

UNL Organizational Chart ................................................................... 10

Student Credit Hours

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall & Spring Semester, by College, 5 Year Trend ................... 11

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Fall, by College, 5 Year Trend .................................................. 12

UNL Student Credit Hours Total Spring, By College, 5 Year Trend ............................................. 13

Summer Sessions Student Credit Hours ...................................................... 14

Retention, Degrees and Majors

UNL Student Retention & Graduation Rate Analysis ...................................... 15

Total Degrees Conferred by UNL Fiscal …

Western Guide To Mentorship In Academia, Donald Gordon Cartwright

Purple Guides

This guide addresses the importance of mentoring for new faculty members, describes the pros and cons of various mentorship models, and offers advice for mentors and mentees.

Editorial Board, About This Issue, Table Of Contents, Deirdre C. Greer

Perspectives In Learning

Editorial Board, About this Issue, Table of Contents

After Ten Years: Tracing The 1997 Vatican Statements Regarding Ethics In Advertising In Today's Advertising Textbooks, Anca C. Micu

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

One responsibility of all educators, especially those in marketing and advertising, is to provide students with a proper perspective regarding professional ethics. In other words, it is to guide future managers in developing an ethical conscience as they perfect their decision-making competence. Today, the 1997 Pontifical Council’s statements on ethics in advertising are the top result of a Google search for “ethics and advertising.” The amount of scriptural reference contained in the statements is considerably less than that found in most Papal social encyclicals (i.e., social writings of the Catholic Church). This approach made the document more accessible to thoughtful …

Improving Metacognitive Skills, Jim Stewart, Mike Greiner, Cassandra Cook

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Can a short, weekly email reflection from students in introductory physics courses be structured to improve students’ thinking about their own thinking?

Method: By analyzing student responses we will refine the writing prompt and scoring guidelines so that, starting fall 2008, we can begin a longitudinal study in which we follow individual students through at least two quarters of the introductory physics course.

People, Places And Ideas: A Year-Long Conversation With Rural Alaskan Students, Lauren Mcclanahan, Andrea Gabler

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: How can developing strong writing prompts elicit strong student responses concerning the evidence of climate change in a rural Alaskan fishing village?

Method: For this case study, my pre-service secondary teacher education students were paired (via e-mail) with middle school students in rural southwestern Alaska. The Alaskan students were from the small fishing village of Eek, which has a population of approximately 280. Through a process of continual refinement, my secondary education students drafted and revised writing prompts that encouraged the Alaskan students to think in terms of how climate change is changing their way of life.

Blogging As A Way Of Thinking, Julia Sapin, Robyn Rossmeisl

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: How can technology help to establish more open classrooms through writing, thereby affecting who is involved in discussion and how involvement takes place?

Method: Developed questionnaire for blog participants in a variety of Julia’s classes. We based our findings on the responses in those questionnaires, supplemented by secondary materials that helped us define terms and technology.

Making It Through: From Start To Finish… Faculty And Student Co-Authorship Process, Tara Perry, Brian Launius, Hayley Peterson

Writing Research Fellows

Research Questions: RQ1: What is the process of co-authoring a writing project between professors and students? RQ2: What are professor’s perceptions of co-authoring a writing project with college students? RQ3: What are student’s perceptions of co-authoring a writing project with a professor? RQ4: What communication processes are involved in student faculty co-authorship?

Method: The qualitative method of data collection was utilized for this study. The researchers conducted two focus groups and seven face to face interviews with different subjects, professors and students. This study was conducted at a university in the Pacific Northwest.

Integration Of Technical And Scientific Writing Into Surface-Water Hydrology (Geol 472/572), Robert J. Mitchell, Niki Thane

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Do my practices improve students’ writing skills and their understanding of science?

Method: My primary goal is to help students develop their scientific thinking through writing. My hope is that as students advance from project-to-project, they will discover that learning the science is highly correlated to their ability to express their thinking in writing. Naturally, I also want students to learn the mechanical and style elements that define good scientific writing, such as writing concisely, using appropriate grammar, and developing proper figures and tables; conventions which are easier to learn and teach.

Journal Writing In The Classroom: Chore Or Delight?, Jennifer Karchmer, Anya Nakrokhina

Writing Research Fellows

Research Questions:

1. What are some attitudes and behavioral trends of students toward a journal writing assignment?
2. How effective is a journal writing assignment in the classroom?
3. How can a journal writing assignment be improved for both students and instructor?

Method:

Quantitative data based on 39 surveys administered during Fall 2007 quarter at WWU to COMM318 Professional Communication students. Also, this study included student journals (about 10-pages each) with qualitative comments.

Student Literacy And The Effect Of Digital Writing, Catherine Mcdonald, Amanda Hill

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question:

Our research question had three components:

• What is the effect of teaching the production of online texts?
• What is the effect of teaching the analysis of digital literacies?
• How do students assess the effect of studying self-sponsored digital literacies?

Method: Our methodology was a qualitative study using ethnographic techniques, or more specifically, ethnographic writing research. Wendy Bishop explains this research methodology (Bishop, 1999).While ethnography is a phenomenological method of participating in a culture and giving an account of it as experienced by native members, ethnographic writing research is a less intensive study of the literacy practices …

Using A Field Journal To Enhance Conceptual Understanding, Shelby L. Sheppard, Jennifer Baldwin, Gretchen Anderson

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Is individual experience a significant factor in deepening conceptual understanding?

Method: A Field Journal Assignment was given to two classes (1 grad and 1 undergrad) each of three terms over the course of the academic year. Students in each course were provided with a seminal reading which articulated the merits of deepening conceptual understanding by means of analyzing one’s beliefs about a particular concept and one’s reasons for holding those beliefs. (Wilson, J. 1998, “Seriousness and the Foundations of Education”, Educational Theory Vol 48: #2)

"How Do We Meet Students Where They Are, While Challenging Them Further?" : Teaching Developmentally., Mary E. Hess

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Listening And Learning To Teach In Theological Contexts: An Appreciative Inquiry Model, Mary E. Hess

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Effectiveness Of Block Schedule In Middle School, Ginger L. Markham

Perspectives In Learning

Block scheduling in one form or another seems to be highly effective when properly used. It invites depth in learning, inquiry based and student based learning, which corresponds with Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). The faculty and staff of Veterans Memorial Middle School are planning to meet the needs of the students by changing their teaching methods to support the GPS and alternating 4X4 block schedule. The author would recommend any middle school use a block schedule of some type in order to meet the needs of their school. Once the teachers buy into the concept, there is no limit to …

Collaboration In Schools: Creating Solutions To Complex Problems, Wendy Steelmon

Perspectives In Learning

Although the concept of cooperative teams is not a new one, Transformational Leadership is bringing collaboration back to the spotlight in the world of education. In this approach, the principal becomes a facilitator, teachers become professional colleagues, students are motivated by the mere joy of learning, and parents and the local community increase their involvement as stewards, resulting in the involvement of all stakeholders in the complex problem solving issues of the school. Collaboration requires trust and support among these team members and, though it takes time, yields much more effective schools and productive students.

Is Mathematics Created By Humans Or Is It Discovered By Humans? A Catholic Intellectual Perspective, Jason J. Molitierno

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

In this essay, Dr. Molitierno intends to show that not only is it appropriate to discuss the Catholic Intellectual Tradition in light of mathematics, the CIT can actually be exemplified in mathematics!

What Helps Law Professors Develop As Teachers? -- An Empirical Study, Gerald F. Hess, Sophie M. Sparrow

Law Faculty Scholarship

The overall goal of this article is to provide concrete suggestions for how law schools can improve teaching and enrich law student learning. In doing so, it reviews and analyzes the data collected from two national surveys about the kinds of faculty development activities that are most effective in improving law professors’ teaching. One survey was designed to quantify how many law teachers engaged in twenty-two types of teaching development activities over the previous five years and to assess the effectiveness of each of those activities. The other survey focused on the effectiveness of a national conference on teaching and …

Bringing The Ivory Tower And Real World Together: Lessons Learned In The Collaborative Process Of Preparing Effective Teachers, Tina D. Butcher, Jan G. Burcham, Deirdre C. Greer, Mary Beth Hendricks

Perspectives In Learning

When the “ivory tower” world of educator preparation faculty collides with the “real world” of in-service teachers, the result can be a partnership that is committed to preparing teachers equipped to meet the needs of diverse learners in 21st century classrooms. The lessons learned in the development of such a partnership include a focus on: a) authentic engagement of all stakeholders; b) honest, diplomatic, and timely communication; c) support and scaffolding for pre-service teachers; d) a variety of authentic assessment measures; and e) assistance for new teachers during the induction period. Strengthening the bonds between university faculty and classroom teachers …

Teaching Basic Counseling Skills To Aspiring School Leaders: Active Listening Skills As Critical Components Of Team Building And Collaboration, Paul T. Hackett, L. Christopher Ross, Irene Asuncion

Perspectives In Learning

The preparation of school leaders in educational leadership programs provides multiple challenges in terms of a set course of study with discrete skills for the leader. Programs in educational leadership have been criticized for curricular disarray (Levine, 2005). Deficiencies cited by an American Enterprise Institute study of 31 educational leadership programs found that a small percentage of instruction in those programs focused on issues such as data analysis, public relations, marketing, and parent and school board relations (Hess & Kelly, 2005). A Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) study of educational leadership programs found that the majority of universities “fall short …

Mr. Bell, You Are Destroying Our Children!, David Rock

Perspectives In Learning

Is technology the wave of the future? Society says "YES" when it is convenient and educators respond with a multitude of answers. The use of technology in today's classroom has become a controversial curricular topic for those inside and outside the classroom. Why? I am sure that many of the same arguments used today against the use of technology in P-12 education are similar to those used during the past 100 years. Imagine the thousands of educators a hundred years ago that said, "The use of this new invention will destroy the writing ability of our children. There will be …

Multicultural Education: More Than The Acknowledgement Of Black History Month, Owen Latimore

Perspectives In Learning

I remember clearly as a child, in the early nineteen sixties, the only African American mentioned in my school was Crispus Attucks. For a long time I thought there was only one black man that fought in the entire revolutionary war. From the big old musty textbooks we were given to study it was obvious very few black people had accomplished anything worth writing about. I hated history. I thought its only concern were old dead white men. Understandably, I did not do well in history. Since 2005, enrollment in public schools has increased, but “Black males continue spiraling down …

Writing To Learn Law And Writing In Law: An Intellectual Property Illustration, Michael J. Madison

Articles

This essay, prepared as part of a Symposium on teaching intellectual property law, describes a method of combining substantive law teaching with a species of what is commonly called "skills" training. The method involves assessing students not via traditional final exams but instead via research memos patterned after assignments that junior lawyers might encounter in actual legal practice. The essay grounds the method in the theoretical disposition known generally as "writing to learn." It argues that students are likely to learn intellectual property law effectively if they learn to practice as intellectual property lawyers, and specifically to write as intellectual …