Education Commons^™

Teaching Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Aviation Education., Jorge L. D. Albelo Ph.D., Nicola O'Toole

Publications

Over the last decade, many companies have begun to recognize the value of a diverse workforce, equity within the workforce, and inclusion practices. Recent global events have pushed the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the aviation workplace and education higher on the priority list for many. Unfortunately, the aviation industry continues to have difficulty in attracting and retaining a diverse workforce. Notwithstanding this struggle in the industry, those in education must find ways to educate our students on topics relating to DEI. It is critically important that this training is rooted in research. The aviation industry is …

What Is The Impact Of Work-From-Home (Wfh) Arrangements On The Quality Of Life (Qol)?, Jordan Lee, Mykyta Pervak, Augustine Peh, Jun Hao Tang, Eoh Jin Cho, Calister Tan

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

The ongoing pandemic has forced countries’ education systems to continue to operate in a fragile and uncertain environment. Given the limited existing literature regarding the pandemic’s impact on the Quality of life (QoL) for teachers, this study aims to bridge the gap and provide a detailed analysis of how the extent of providing online courses and time to transition online during the pandemic could impact a tertiary educator’s QoL. The factors defining the dependent variable, QoL, were derived from past studies and made applicable within the confines of our research. The independent variables are the amount of time spent …

Collegiate Experience: A Literature And Phenomenological Study On Experiential Learning In University Education, Graydon Russell, Jennifer Hinebaugh

Student Works

Abstract This research project explored the effectiveness of experiential learning programs within college education for producing long term, deeper understandings of the subjects being taught. To analyze the effects of experiential learning on students, a literature review and synthesis of previous experiential learning studies and research was conducted. First, research was done into studies and publications that discuss educational concepts and theories regarding learning through experience, including Experiential Learning Theory itself. Next, studies of experiential learning programs and courses within academic institutions were analyzed to determine how experiential learning has been applied in the past across a variety of disciplines …

Women In Aviation: A Phenomenological Study Exploring The Needs And Wants Necessary For Graduation, Eugene Kim, Jorge L. Albelo

Publications

Despite the increased awareness of gender and race equality movements, today's population of minority women in aviation is still underrepresented. This research focused on underrepresented minority women who want to pursue a career in the aviation field and what factors affect their level of success in a specialized aviation higher education institution. There is not enough data and research surrounding the topic of minority women in aviation and their paths to success in these institutions. This qualitative research aimed to bridge the existing gap in the literature related to minority women in aviation and their needs and wants to complete …

How Faculty’S Academic Support Influence First-Year Female Students In Aviation: A Qualitative Case Study, Eugene Kim, Jorge L. Albelo

Publications

An increasing number of female students are enrolling in aviation education institutions to pursue their dreams. To combat the issue of the underrepresentation of females, this case study explored the significance of faculty’s academic support to first-year females in aviation. There is scant research surrounding the topic of faculty in higher education and their perspectives on academic support. This case study aimed to bridge the existing literature gap related to faculty’s academic support and teaching styles to first-year female students. This qualitative case study’s objective was to increase awareness of the importance of faculty’s academic support and better understand how …

Undergraduate Research In A Fully Online Engineering Program: Building The Framework Of Support, Emily Faulconer, Robert Deters, Brent Terwilliger

Publications

Undergraduate engineering programs often face low persistence and retention.

• Females and ethnic minorities are underrepresented and show lower persistence
• Certain minorities may be less likely to enroll in online programs
• Lower persistence and retention in online students across disciplines

Undergraduate research may increase persistence and retention.

• Online students likely underrepresented due to access limitations

Identifying Sources Of Anxiety In An Introductory Online Undergraduate Chemistry Course, Emily Faulconer, John C. Griffith

Publications

Learning chemistry in an online environment may have multiple sources of anxiety for students, including chemistry anxiety, math anxiety, computer anxiety, and trait anxiety (personality attribute of proneness to experience anxiety). While previous research has explored relationships between math and chemistry anxiety in a traditional setting, no studies have explored these anxieties in the online modality. Survey data were collected using existing scales (some with minor modifications), with a response rate of 31%. The scales used in this study demonstrated strong reliability. Highest sources of anxiety for each scale were presented. The perceived ease of use scale score was used …

Catching Lightning In A Bottle: Surveying Plagiarism Futures, Zachary Dixon, Kelly Whealan George, Tyler Carr

Publications

The digitization of higher education is evolving academic misconduct, posing both new challenges to and opportunities for academic integrity and its research. The digital evidence inherent to online-based academic misconduct produces new avenues of replicable, aggregate, and data-driven (RAD) research not previously available. In a digital mutation of the misuse of unoriginal material, students are increasingly leveraging online learning platforms like CourseHero.com to exchange completed coursework. This study leverages a novel dataset recorded by the upload of academic materials on CourseHero.com to measure how at-risk sample courses are to potential academic misconduct. This study’s survey of exchanged coursework reveals that …

Options And Experiences For Online Chemistry Laboratory Instruction, Emily Faulconer, Matt Morgan

Publications

While online course offerings have been on the rise for many years, there was a rapid transition to online courses due to campus closures and social distancing protocols associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This has caused significant disruption in traditional chemistry laboratory activities. In this chapter, features of various distance laboratory approaches options are presented, including wet chemistry and dry laboratory options. Because the existing research comparing effectiveness of these strategies is scarce, no attempt is made to argue the effectiveness of one modality over the other, but rather advantages and disadvantages of each method are presented and discussed. The …

Peer-Led-Team Learning In Introductory Engineering Courses: An Analysis Of An Interventional Method Of Support For Underrepresented Students At A Two-Year, Hispanic-Serving Public Institution, Kimberly T. Luthi, Lisa Macon, Mohua Kar

Publications

The three-year project entitled Engagement in Engineering Pathways funded by the National Science Foundation Improving Undergraduate STEM education grant explored the conditions that led to increased academic outcomes and non-cognitive factors related to persistence of nontraditional undergraduate students in engineering education. The study was conducted at a multicampus, federally-designated, Hispanic-serving, public, two-year college in the southeast United States. This paper presents one aspect of the effects of peer-led team learning (PLTL) on academic success through the inclusion of active learning modules in introductory undergraduate engineering course. The researchers found that PLTL introduced in engineering courses, to include statics and dynamics, …

Covid-19 Pandemic Leadership A Case For Return To Platonic Values, Richard Runyon, Daryl Watkins

Publications

In western education, Plato is often cited as a foundational thinker for education of leaders. 2,395 years later, many leaders in governments of the world are struggling to address the COVID-19 global pandemic. The 2019–2021 global pandemic has provided academics with a wonderful opportunity to evaluate government leadership at many levels. All the different forms of governance as well as theoretical economic systems are being tested in real-time. Success can be measured on a government’s ability to reduce both deaths and spread of the COVID-19 virus among their citizens. This article will discuss these concepts focused on successful government leadership.

Getting Started In Sotl Research: Working As A Team, Emily Faulconer

Publications

Getting started in SoTL research can seem daunting. Working with a team can increase support and productivity. This article explores roles in SoTL research teams, how to identify research projects, and pacing projects to maintain a pipeline. Teamwork will divide the workload and develop a community for support in navigating hurdles and celebrating successes.

Risks To Student Achievement In Higher Education, Angela Atwell, Bettina Mrusek, James Solti, Keith Wilson

Publications

A university system sets out to deliver educational experiences that meet set goals such as the achievement of learning outcomes for individual courses and program outcomes for degree programs. There are many factors that impact the successful achievement of student learning outcomes and there-fore successful program design and implementation. If courses are not effec-tively designed with assessments properly aligned to learning outcomes, student achievement is challenging to measure. If faculty do not consistently adhere to college and/or university policies regarding submission of assignments, student behavior and perceptions of expectations in future courses may be skewed. In addition, students may, for …

Fly By Night, Patrick J. Sherman

Night Flight Journal

A new member of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide Campus Department of Flight participates in a night-time UAS operation, both to study the use of drones in responding to active shooter incidents by law enforcement, but also as a demonstration of proficiency to conduct future operations under the institution's daylight waiver, granted by the Federal Aviation Administration. While attempting an intricate maneuver, the newcomer finds that he has placed is aircraft in immediate peril and must make a difficult choice: confess his error in front of his new colleagues and seek help, or attempt to escape on his own and …

The Impact Of Positive Feedback On Student Outcomes And Perceptions, Emily Faulconer, J. C. Griffith, A. B. Gruss

Publications

High quality feedback on assessments and deliverables is vital to student success. This pilot study sought to understand the impact of combining positive and performance-gap feedback in an immediate feedback scenario where students were provided multiple attempts to complete an assignment. 176 online undergraduate students were surveyed after completing a general inorganic chemistry course. Some students were provided performance-gap feedback, while others were provided performance-gap and positive feedback. The results suggest that type of feedback provided does not change students’ perceptions and self-reported behaviors in the course. However, students who were provided both performance-gap and positive feedback received an average …

Rethinking Credentials For Aviation Sustainability: A Dacum Approach, Leila Halawi

Publications

The pandemic of COVID-19 Millennials aren't the youngest working generation anymore, and Gen Zers are the new kids on the block. This group of individuals, born between 1995 and 2019, already makes up 5% of the total U.S. labor force, roughly 9 million people. However, the skills gap is real and exists, one in which research shows that new college graduates either do not have all the skills employers want, or they are not doing an excellent job of demonstrating those skills in their resumes.

Sustainability programs consistently encounter challenges that threaten the future as a viable academic discipline. It …

Stem Education As A Vital Preventive Response To A Pandemic, Emily Faulconer, Katherine Baker, Oliver Grundmann, Sarah Haines, Tyra Hall-Pogar

Publications

T he extraordinary work to develop feasible vaccines, effective medical treatments, and accurate epidemiological studies to alleviate the SARS-CoV2 pandemic would not have been possible without collaboration between academia, industry, government laboratories, and regulatory agencies that speak the common language researchers around the world know—science!

Does Instructor Quality Affect Student Performance In A College Statistics Course?, John Griffith, Emily Faulconer, Bobby Mcmasters

Publications

Various instructor qualities have been shown to have variable influences student outcomes in online courses. In this study, the impact of faculty quality on student performance was examined by comparing student performance when taught by excellent faculty and average faculty (determined through administrative evaluations). We examined 328 student grades from a 2019 January term 200 level elementary statistics course. Student performance measures included final course scores, grade distributions and pass rates. Learning modality (asynchronous vs. synchronous) and course design (e.g. syllabus, textbook, assignment and assessment design, etc.) as confounding variables were controlled through the template approach implemented at the study …

Leadership Crisis Communication During The Pandemic Of 2020, Daryl Watkins, Steven Walker

Publications

COVID-19 provided a unique opportunity to examine leadership communication strategies during an extended crisis. The authors used political discourse analysis to review the crisis communication of President Donald Trump and seven U.S. governors using the U.S. Center for Disease Control crisis communication framework. The findings demonstrated that U.S. governors typically used effective communication strategies during their press briefings. President Trump often did not use effective crisis communication. The governors’ crisis communication styles were consistent with the CDC’s guidelines. The governors’ communication styles demonstrate that they are “in the arena,” while President Trump has attempted to remove himself from the arena.

Effects Of Creative Video Games On Creativity, Haiqal Sazalli, Sharil Sungkono, Mohammed Rashaun, Khalis Muzakir

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

The purpose of this research is to find the effects of creative games on the Creativity Quotient of human beings. Assessing creativity is based on divergent thinking consisting of fluency, originality and uniqueness in thinking methods. The theoretical framework assesses the creative thinking of candidates through a 4-week gaming programme consists of a pre-and post-assessment of the Creativity Quotient Test which consists of 10 critical thinking questions. These questions will test the fluency, originality and uniqueness of the candidates. To provide a fair result, the same questions will be used for the pre-and post-assessment. Results will prove that games are …

The Relationship Between Learning Mode And Student Performance In An Undergraduate Elementary Statistics Course In The United States, John C. Griffith, Emily K. Faulconer, Bobby L. Mcmasters

Publications

Faculty have conducted many studies on the relationship between learning mode and student performance but few researchers have evaluated final grades, grade distribution, and pass rates in a sophomore introductory statistics course with a non-traditional student population who self-selected the learning mode from among different course sections. Accordingly, we examined 307 end-of-course grades from four different modes of instruction: (a) online, (b) videosynchronous learning classroom, (c) videosynchronous learning home, and (d) traditional classroom in an introductory statistics course. All data on grades, which included pass rate and grade distribution, were collected from the nine-week January 2019 term. All learning modes …

Exploring The Impact Of Early Exposure To Research On Dual Enrollment Students: A Qualitative Single-Case Study, Kevin A. Adkins, Jorge L. D. Albelo, Samantha Bowyer

Publications

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) provides a concurrent enrollment model to high schools across the United States. The concurrent enrollment opportunity offers science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) college-credit coursework taught by college-credentialed instructors on the student’s high school campus. One faculty member transitioned to Embry-Riddle’s main residential campus following seven years of service with ERAU’s concurrent enrollment program. During his tenure with ERAU’s concurrent enrollment program, in addition to instructing a variety of concurrent enrollment courses, he maintained an active research agenda that involved concurrently enrolled students. His transition was preceded by the matriculation of a subset of these students …

Optimization Of A Customized Leadership Development Program Upskilling English Language Fluency In Brazil Aviation Leaders, Robin A. Roberts

Publications

Objective: The present study explored how a customized leadership development program (LDP) with coursework taught in English to non-native English speakers could optimize English language fluency in Brazil airline leaders.

Background: Currently, problems exist with a myriad of native language accents and phraseology interfering with cognitive reflexes especially for aircrews and air traffic controllers to safely do their work. Executives from four Brazilian airlines proactively implemented a 14-month LDP focused on English language fluency and leadership enhancements collectively for leaders within their firms.

Method: Blended learning as proposed by the International Civil Aviation Organization provided the experiential …

Systemic Leadership Development: Impact On Organizational Effectiveness, Stephanie Douglas, Daisha M. Merritt, Robin Roberts, Daryl Watkins

Publications

This study examines the impact of leadership development programs on organizational outcomes and organizational effectiveness. Using a grounded theory approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 executive leaders from aviation firms in Brazil with employees participating in a leadership development program. NVivo12 was used for coding and managing the data. Thematic analysis was performed to determine themes and categories. The leadership development program was found to influence organizational level outcomes identified as themes of internal impact, external impact, skill development, and capacity. The interviews also found that executive leaders perceived the leadership development program to impact organizational effectiveness. Connections to …

Safety As A Criterion For Faculty Evaluation, Emily Faulconer

Publications

Faculty evaluations, whether for annual review, promotion, contract renewal, tenure, or other purposes, commonly cover three broad areas—teaching, scholarship, and service—with weighting that can vary based on the institution, college, department, and individual. Many faculty, especially in STEM fields, have teaching, research, and service roles that come with chemical, physical, or biological hazards. These faculty members would not likely deny safety as a responsibility. In these roles, faculty may be asked to teach safety concepts, supervise or perform work with instrumentation, manage chemical wastes, or prepare paperwork required under OSHA’s Laboratory standard (e.g., standard operating procedures).

Peer Learning In Introductory Engineering, Kimberly Luthi, Mohua Kar, Lisa Macon

Publications

Our research aim was to understand if PLTL and engagement in problem-based learning activities increase commitment to engineering pathways and academic success. We used both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to answer our research questions and give recommendations. The findings show that while there is an overall improvement in grades and commitment to engineering pathways for those involved in PLTL activities, there is still a concern with integration and scalability of PLTL in engineering education.

Risks To Student Achievement In Higher Education, Angela Atwell, Bettina Mrusek, James Solti, Keith Wilson

Publications

Abstract. A university system sets out to deliver educational experiences that meet set goals such as the achievement of learning outcomes for individual courses and program outcomes for degree programs. There are many factors that impact the successful achievement of student learning outcomes and therefore success-ful program design and implementation. If courses are not effectively designed with assessments properly aligned to learning outcomes, student achievement is challenging to measure. If faculty do not consistently adhere to college and/or uni-versity policies regarding submission of assignments, student behavior and per-ceptions of expectations in future courses may be skewed. In addition, students may, …

Interactive Modules For Flight Training: A Review, Stephanie G. Fussell Ph.D., Robert Thomas Ph.D.

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

The use of animation and video, combined with auditory and text components, to teach complex subjects can be beneficial to deepen understanding. A review of the literature was conducted to better understand how interactive learning modules can give flight students tools to enhance the learning process outside of traditional instruction. Instructional theories and educational environments were considered through the lens of designing course content for flight students. Several research questions were asked to guide the course of the research, all focused on how students learn a complex subject matter using interactive material. Guidelines and principles are discussed to ensure the …

A Course In Context: Video Course Trailers, Emily Faulconer, Zachary Dixon, Laura Faulconer, John Griffith

Publications

This study reports the development of a “course trailer” video series that communicates the professional and academic value of general education courses’ core competencies and describes the results of a survey measuring the impact of those videos on student perception. While general education programs represent a staple of U.S. undergraduate education, enrolled students frequently misunderstand the nature and value of the programs’ core goals and or competencies. Universities are making increasing use of devices such as catalog descriptions, mission statements, course websites or blogs, and course trailer videos to communicate and clarify their general education competencies and values; however, little …

Cognitive Trajectory Of Proof By Contradiction For Transition-To-Proof Students, Darryl Chamberlain, Draga Vidakovic

Publications

History and research on proof by contradiction suggests proof by contradiction is difficult for students in a number of ways. Students’ comprehension of already-written proofs by contradiction is one such aspect that has received relatively little attention. Applying the cognitive lens of Action-Process-Object-Schema (APOS) Theory to proof by contradiction, we constructed and tested a cognitive model that describes how a student might construct the concept ‘proof by contradiction’ in an introduction to proof course. Data for this study was collected from students in a series of five teaching interventions focused on proof by contradiction. This paper will report on two …