Education Commons^™

Expressing Information Needs And Information Literacy Skills Amongst Final Year Undergraduate Students In Northern Nigeria, Zikrat Abdulsalam, Imoisili Ojeime Odigie

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information literacy is the ability of an individual to locate, evaluate, and use information. This study expresses the conscious information needs and information literacy skills amongst final year undergraduate students of three Universities in Nigeria; being the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Federal University Lokoja (FUL), and Baze University. A survey research design alongside a questionnaire for the instrument were utilised on a sample size of 307 final year undergraduate students from select faculties within the above-mentioned universities. The findings of the study amongst other show that undergraduate students at the final year level had a conscious knowledge of their information …

Portfolio For Soci 346: Environmental Sociology, Gwendwr Meredith

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Environmental sociology, SOCI 346, is the study of how social systems interact with ecosystems. As such, it is a very broad course that is tasked with understanding complex and often controversial questions about the social causes, consequences, and responses to environmental disruption. In this teaching portfolio, I enumerate how I use a backward design for crafting assessments that cater to my specific teaching goals and learning objectives for the course. In the first stage of this process, I reflected on what learning outcomes I wished to achieve and determined that structuring the course in modules aligned with the learning objectives …

Flip The Switch: Swapping The Socratic Method For Applied Learning In Evidence Law 646, Chelsi Hayden

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio documents my evaluation of my teaching methods and student learning in an Evidence law course. My goal was to document positive outcomes associated with applied learning through a flipped course structure. The data, however, suggests that more research is necessary to determine whether there is a strong correlation between a flipped course and student learning. The data suggests students are generally performing as expected in the course. It also indicates that providing lectures and problem sets before class is effective but may not be more effective than providing them in class, suggesting the timing of the lectures …

Portfolio For Metr 180: Climate Change, Energy, And The Environment, Ross Dixon

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

METR 180 explores several global change topics: energy, technology, population, environment, and climate. When they finish METR 180, students should be have basic knowledge of the Earth system and how humans interact with it and they should be able to understand the scientific process, how scientists understand elements of the Earth system, and how this contrasts with skepticism of science. One major challenge of the course is that it is taken by a wide range of students with different backgrounds and different goals for taking the course. The goal of this portfolio is to continue to develop METR 180 to …

Vmed 589: Anesthesiology & Small Animal Surgery: Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective Scholarly Teaching (First) Project, Beth Galles

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

A Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree requires a strong background in basic and clinical sciences. Clinical sciences are typically presented as laboratory-heavy courses, ideally with experiential learning components. Veterinary surgery and anesthesia are a high-stakes disciplines that requires a foundation of didactic instruction followed by repeated hands-on practice. VMED 589 Anesthesiology and Small Animal Surgery is the first course in anesthesia that students encounter in their four-year curriculum and the second course in surgery. It is designed to deliver the basic principles of anesthesia, followed by repetitive practice to ensure the safety of the veterinary patient. Anesthetic risk assessment, induction, …

French 203: Grammar & Conversation: A Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective & Scholarly Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Erica Schauer

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The following Benchmark Portfolio is the product of a full reassessment of FRENCH 203: CONVERSATION & GRAMMAR, an intermediate-level grammar course that serves as a prerequisite for students pursuing a major or a minor in French at UNL. Previously, French 203 had been a review course that covered the essential grammar structures discussed in 101, 102, 201 and 202 and invited students to practice these structures orally with peers in class. This new iteration of the course, however, seeks to broaden the reach of student comprehension of French as a functional tool of communication by requiring students to understand and …

First Course Portfolio For Bioc205: Scientific Analysis And Technical Writing, Lindsey B. Crawford

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

BIOC205: Scientific Analysis and Technical Writing is a core course for the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This course is geared for second year (sophomore students) with minimal prerequisites and as a foundation for future classes. Challenges include 1) teaching the needed scientific background and elements of scientific analysis and writing to a broad cohort of students with diverse backgrounds and interests, 2) building student skills towards analysis of primary peer-reviewed scientific literature, 3) developing students as writers of scientific information for different audiences. This course used Genetic Engineering as a broad topic choice to capture students …

Portfolio For Geol 488/888: Groundwater Geology, Erin M.K. Haacker

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Groundwater Geology is a course that draws undergraduate and graduate students from multiple units, including the College of Arts and Sciences, Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. The course material focuses on groundwater as a resource, and includes the use of computer programming (Python programming language) to analyze groundwater data. Many students who enroll in the course are new to either geosciences or Python, despite the fact that it is an advanced course. The course has been redesigned recently to include materials suitable for a groundwater engineering course, because it is newly offered with sections …

Hrtm 483 Hospitality Finance A Peer Review Of Teaching And Learning Benchmark Portfolio, Vernetta Kosalka

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The objective of this peer review course portfolio is to provide a comprehensive overview of the course, HRTM 483, Hospitality Finance Management (HFM), including the current scope of the course regarding curriculum and to purposefully explain and assess the undertakings that are intended to enhance student learning and performance. The first objective was to explain hospitality managerial accounting concepts to students and how they apply to specific operations with the hospitality industry. The second objective was to assist students with being able to synthesize the material, solve problems, and think effectively as a hospitality professional. The third objective was to …

Translanguaging In World Language Higher Education, Alessia Barbici Wagner

Theses, Student Research, and Creative Activity: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Increased global migration and a myriad of other social and political factors has made today’s universities more diverse than ever. As a result, teachers in higher education regularly find multilingual learners from a variety of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in their classrooms and must consider this diversity in their teaching. One of the ways that teaching can better serve today’s multilingual and multicultural student population is through translanguaging. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the intentional and unintentional use of translanguaging by multilingual language learners and world language instructors in higher education. Additionally, this qualitative case study …

Defining And Transferring Digital Literacies: What Does This Mean For High School And College Educators?, Jocelyn Spoor

Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English

This thesis aims to create a digital literacies transfer framework through a discussion regarding current conversations on transfer and digital literacies in the English field, including synthesizing the two ideas to think about the transfer of digital literacies as a concept. This digital literacies framework is made up of five components: the functional skills, critical skills, and rhetorical skills found in digital literacies scholarship and the genre awareness and meta-cognitive ideas found in transfer literature. This digital literacies transfer framework is then used to analyze information gleaned from four college and five high school English educators. The key findings from …

The Impact An Inquiry-Based Learning Professional Development Has On Science And Agricultural Teachers' Intent To Use Animal Science Concepts As A Context For Teaching Science, Kasey Harmon

Theses, Dissertations, & Student Scholarship: Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication Department

There is an emerging need for Tennessee and Nebraska high school students to increase their science proficiency. It is important that students are science literate to equip them with basic science skills needed for the workforce. Science literacy enables students to problem solve efficiently, appropriately assess societal issues, and make informed decisions. Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a teaching strategy that has been shown to positively impact students’ ability to critically think and make informed decisions. Since IBL and agricultural education are centered around experiential learning, combining them gives students the opportunity to learn science in a real-world context. However, previous …

Exploring Stem Teaching Assistants’ Self-Efficacy And Its Relation To Approaches To Teaching, Cody R. Smith, Deepika Menon, Annette Wierzbicki, Jenny Dauer

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Undergraduate and graduate teaching assistants (TAs) play large roles in introductory undergraduate education despite having little to no teaching experience or professional development (PD). Self-efficacy and teaching approach have each been studied as independent variables that impact teaching performance and student learning in the absence of practiced skill or developed knowledge. This study explored relationships between TAs’ teaching approaches and teaching self-efficacy. Self-efficacy was measured using the Graduate Teaching Self-Efficacy Scale (GTA-TSES), and teaching approach was measured using the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI). The following research questions guided the study: What is the relationship between TAs’ approaches to teaching …

Science Club, Maryam Sule, Tyler Gaspers

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

Afterschool Club called Science Club introduces basics STEM concepts to kids using direct learning like experimenting. Teaching prominent scientists with their significant impact on STEM.

Origami Club - A Gateway Into The Art Of Self Expression, Minjae Song, Noah Vincent Rachwitz

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

The Nebraska Honors Program's Origami Club is an engaging platform for 3rd-5th graders that uses the fascinating Japanese art of origami to create a rich, interactive learning environment. Under the guidance of experienced instructors Minjae Song and Noah Rachwitz, and supplemented with YouTube tutorials, the club facilitates a captivating journey from simple projects to complex designs, skillfully developing each student's creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving capabilities. Each session is planned meticulously to ensure an immersive experience, starting with anticipation-building project reveals and culminating in the production of personal origami masterpieces. As a hands-on club, students are encouraged to question, explore, assist …

Crpl 400/800: Introduction To Planning—A First Project Benchmark Portfolio, Abigail L. Cochran

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this benchmark portfolio, I reflect on course design and assess student learning in a cross-listed course that serves as a core, introductory course for all undergraduate minor and graduate major students in the Community and Regional Planning (CRP) program, CRPL 400/800: Introduction to Planning. CRPL 400/800 is a survey course intended to introduce students to the discipline of community and regional planning. I taught this course fully online in the spring of 2023, which represented a new format for the class (it is typically taught in person) and a new format of instruction for me. Content wise, this course …

Multilingual Zambia - Language Issues In Primary/Secondary Schools Of The Eastern/Southern Provinces, Kenzie Steiner

NUTR/GLST 498b: Global Research Experiences in Nutrition & Health

Introduction: Zambia is a multilingual country that uses 8 different languages for instruction including English and 7 other indigenous languages.

Methods: Survey research conducted between May-June 2022 on 6-7th graders within 9 Zambian schools. Classroom observations made and teachers interviewed.

Results: In Eastern and Southern Provinces, Zambian teachers speak an average of 5 languages while students speak an average of 2. Both teachers and students say English remains the most important language followed by first languages.

Conclusion: Continued research on language-in-education policies and impacts on student performance must be conducted if “One Zambia, One Nation” is meant to promote all …

"The Blackbird Girls": Designing A Four Week Novel Unit For Upper Elementary And Middle Grades, While Navigating Teaching In An Ever-Changing Digital World, Ashley Kallhoff

Honors Theses, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

As a future teacher in an increasing digital world, I wanted to create an online curriculum I could use in my future classroom, students all over the world could use, and other teachers could implement in their own classroom. Taking all of this into consideration, I have designed a digital four-week, 20-day, novel unit for upper elementary and middle grades with social studies and language arts dual focus. The novel I chose was a historical fiction young adult text titled The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. This novel follows the story of two young girls, one that is Jewish and …

A Collection Of Calculus Lesson Plans: Deriving The 'Why' Behind Derivatives, Kasey Brabec

Honors Theses, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The traditional mathematics classroom is led with a focus on procedural understanding, with deep conceptual understanding considered to be unimportant or too difficult to teach within the allotted time. Both levels of understanding are important mathematical competencies, as it is rare for either of them to function well without accessibility to the other. The disparity between conceptual understanding and procedural understanding in the mathematics classroom is no larger than in courses like Calculus. This project is a collection of fifteen lesson plans constructed with an emphasis on conceptual understanding and the connectivity of Calculus. Each lesson plan’s overview contains the …

Teaching With Collective Resilience During Covid-19: Korean Teachers And Collaborative Professionalism, Minseok Yang, Yujin Oh, Sunbin Lim, Taeyeon Kim

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

This study applies system-focused resilience and collaborative professionalism to examine how teachers in Korea collectively developed resilience and transformed teaching during COVID-19. Using qualitative data from seven individual interviews and four focus groups, we found Korean teachers navigated complex challenges (rapidly changing policies, online teaching, exacerbated learning gaps, and excessive social pressure) and utilized contextual resources (collective autonomy and flexibility, solidity and solidarity, and collective responsibility) to develop strategies (collaborative inquiry, timely communication, and envisioning the future of schooling). The study extends teacher resilience toward more collective and communal, from the individual level, by linking resilience to collaborative systemic changes. …

‘Chinese Virus’: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Anti-Asian Racist Discourse During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Peiwen Wang, Theresa Catalano

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Since the emergence of COVID-19, researchers have documented an increase in cases of anti-Asian racism and hate crimes. Research shows a possible connection between the ‘Chinese virus’ discourse of the Trump administration and violence in society (Arora and Kim 2020:387). Drawing from critical discourse studies we explore 2,071 comments from one YouTube video which documents anti-China rhetoric by the Trump administration in order to understand the underlying strategies commenters relied on in their reproduction and defence of this discourse. Findings show the trickle-down influence of Trump’s discourse on YouTube commenters, but also ways in which social media created a platform …

Libraries As Determinants Of Guided Inquiry Learning Approach In Social Studies, Favour O. Atubi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study is an attempt to determine how school libraries can be used to provide a guided learning approach to social studies. The case study was carried out using a group study approach, supervised by three social studies teachers and a school librarian. The population of this study comprises of one hundred and sixteen (116) Junior Secondary Three (3) students from a state owned school in Delta state, southern Nigeria. A sample of fifteen (15) students, made up of three (3) groups of five (5) students each were drawn through a purposive sampling technique. Three teachers of social studies and …

Migrants, Covid-19, And Italy: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Construction Of And Resistance To Nationalist Discourses, Alessia Barbici Wagner, Theresa Catalano, Bryan Meadows

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Migration has historically been a controversial issue around the world and one that has often been harnessed by people in power (or people hoping to gain power) for their own political agendas. In times of a global pandemic, the scapegoating of migrants has only increased, often rooted in nationalist ideologies which lead to policies and practices that harm migrants and the larger society. The present paper employs multimodal critical discourse analysis to explore how nationalist ideologies supported by right-wing populism are constructed visually and verbally during COVID-19 on Italian social media in regard to migration. We analyze Giorgia Meloni’s (leader …

Scaffolding Learning For Teachers Of Multilingual Learners Through Agency, Leadership, And Collaboration, Kara Viesca, Cindy H. Linzell, Peiwen Wang, Molly Heeren, Jessica Mitchell-Mccollough, Alexa Yunes-Koch

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Grounded in findings from multiple disciplines (e.g., neuroscience, human, development, cognitive science, and social psychology), Lee, Meltzoff, and Kuhl (2020) propose a framework to understand human learning. Composed of multiple propositions, one aspect of this framework emphasizes the social nature of learning. Specifically, they argue, “A comprehensive theory of human development must take into account basic motivations for learning from, through, and in relationship with social others” [emphasis added] (p. 25). Education researchers and practitioners working with multilingual students and their teachers have extensively argued for attention to “learning from, through, and in relationships with social others” (Lee et al., …

“It Was Just My Name!”: A Crt/Crf Analysis Of International Female Graduate Students’ Perceptions And Experiences Regarding Their Ethnic Name, Peiwen Wang, Xiaoyan Gu, Amanda Morales

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Although international female students accounted for 44% of the enrolled international students in the United States (U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, 2020), their experiences regarding their ethnic name are relatively understudied in the onomastic literature. This study considers the experiences of eight international female graduate students of Color who are studying at a Midwestern predominantly White university. Utilizing critical race theory (CRT) and critical race feminism (CRF) as the theoretical and analytical lenses, this qualitative phenomenological study collected data through semistructured, in-depth interviews. We explore the meaning of ethnic names and their connection to …

Effective Teachers Of Multilingual Learners: A Mixed-Method Study Of Uk And Us Critical Sociocultural Teaching Practices, Naomi Flynn, Annela Teemant, Kara Mitchell Viesca, Ratha Perumal

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

This convergent parallel mixed-method study (quan + QUAL) relies on systematic classroom observations of mainstream teachers considered highly effective with multilingual learners in the United Kingdom and the United States (N = 9). Using a critical sociocultural theoretical lens, we use an established quantitative observation rubric and lesson field notes to capture real-world teaching practices. Using deductive reasoning to merge closed- and open-ended observation data, we illuminate the features of highly effective teaching for multilingual students. Evidence demonstrates that elements of challenge in activity design and teacher presentation, prioritizing language and literacy development, and modeling, were practices with the highest …

Religious Influences On The Growth Of Literacy Practice, Loukia K. Sarroub, Cassandra Schroeder

Faculty Publications: Department of Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education

Religious influences on the growth of literacy practices are well documented and span more than a century of research ranging from disciplines such as social and cultural anthropology to sociology to language and literacy studies in education. Intellectuals known across disciplines such as Benedict Anderson, Lila Abu-Lughod, Pierre Bourdieu, Jonathan Boyarin, Clifford Geertz, Michaela de Leonardo, Shirley Brice Heath, Alan Peshkin, Claude Lévi Strauss, and Brian Street broke new ground in the 20th century in connecting literacy to religious literacies. In recent years, the work of contemporary language education scholars such as Huamei Han (2018) as well as English education …

Fostering Student Leadership In Honors Colleges, Jill Nelson Granger

NCHC Monographs Series

The architecture of student leadership in honors colleges is a formative decision that affects students’ experience and development. Through a broad view of student leadership structures across U.S. honors colleges, four common modalities are identified and described: governance, programming, mentorship, and ambassadorship. Relevant models, variations, combinations, and specializations are provided. Student leadership, as a hallmark of honors education, is one way in which honors colleges distinguish themselves both within and outside the university. As intentional learning communities, honors colleges incorporate student leadership into the nature of honors education, as part of mission, and as a defining outcome of the honors …

President’S Address: The Nchc’S Inclusive Mission, Christina Mcintyre

Honors in Practice -- Online Archive

NCHC president describes and demonstrates the organization’s mission “to support and enhance the community of educational institutions, professionals, and students who participate in collegiate honors education around the world.” Organizational inclusivity, volunteer service, and collaborative achievement are acknowledged and encouraged.

Honors In Practice, Volume 19, 2023

Honors in Practice -- Online Archive

In This Issue:

Dedication to Kathleen B. King

Editor’s Introduction • Ada Long

2022 Presidential Address: The NCHC’s Inclusive Mission • Christina M. McIntyre

NCHC Article Reprinted from Inside Higher Ed: Can Honors Education Reach More Students? • Richard Badenhausen and James Buss

Essays:

Promoting Holistic Wellness in Honors Students through Peer Coaching • Leah Horton, Aaron Conrad, and Patricia J. Smith

Empowering Student Leadership amid Transition: Student-Centered Revision of First-Year Honors Peer Mentoring • Jacob R. Schlange and Tamy Burnett

Relational Peer Review Practices in the Honors Research Methods Classroom: Toward a Scaffolded and Multidisciplinary Model • Holly Riley …