Education Commons^™

Using Importance-Performance Analysis To Guide Instructional Design Of Experiential Learning Activities, Sheri Anderson, Yu-Chang Hsu, Judy Kinney

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Designing experiential learning activities requires an instructor to think about what they want the students to learn. Using importance-performance analysis can assist with the instructional design of the activities. This exploratory study used importance-performance analysis in an online introduction to criminology course. There is limited research on experiential learning in online courses as well as empirical data to assist with the instructional design of the experiential learning activities. The primary goal of this article is to demonstrate the use of importance- performance analysis to guide the instructional design of experiential learning activities.

Influence Of Proportional Number Relationships On Item Accessibility And Students’ Strategies, Michele B. Carney, Everett Smith, Gwyneth R. Hughes, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Angela Crawford

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Extensive evidence points to the need for mathematics instruction to tap into students’ informal understandings in order to conceptually develop formal mathematical ideas (Ahl, Moore, & Dixon, 1992; Freudenthal, 1973, 1991; Treffers, 1987). Contextual problems are a common means of helping students access their informal mathematical ideas (Lamon, 1993; Moore & Carlson, 2012). However, to successfully use context in this manner, we must ensure these problems are accessible to students and have the potential to promote connections to deeper or more formal mathematics (Jackson, Garrison, Wilson, Gibbons, & Shahan, 2013; Stein, Smith, Henningsen, & Silver, 2000). There is thus a …

The Effects Of Professional Development On Elementary Students’ Mathematics Achievement, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Keith W. Thiede, Sam Strother, Dan Jesse, John Sutton

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper describes the effects of a professional development (PD) program – Developing Mathematical Thinking – on student achievement. Six Title I elementary schools with similar demographics, within one school district, were chosen to participate as either a treatment or comparison school. Three schools were chosen to participate in professional development that incorporates effective PD recommendations. All the teachers had to participate in all aspects of the PD, thereby eliminating potential self-selection bias. Using the state standardized achievement test as the before and after measure, results suggest improved student performance after professional development was implemented over a two year period.

Comparing Two Cbm Maze Selection Tools: Considering Scoring And Interpretive Metrics For Universal Screening, Jeremy W. Ford, Kristen N. Missall, John L. Hosp, Jennifer L. Kuhle

Early and Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Advances in maze selection curriculum-based measurement (CBM) have led to several published tools with technical information for interpretation (e.g., norms, benchmarks, cut-scores, classification accuracy) that have increased their usefulness for universal screening. A range of scoring practices have emerged for evaluating student performance on maze selection (e.g., correct restoration, incorrect restoration, correct restoration minus incorrect restoration, and correct restoration minus one-half incorrect restoration). However, lack of clear understanding about the intersection between scoring and interpretation has resulted in limited evidence about using maze selection for making universal screening decisions. In this study, 925 students in Grades 3-6 completed two CBMs …

Becoming A Maker Educator, Jackie Gerstein

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Maker Movement is a "global-do-it-yourself (DIY) movement of people who take charge of their lives, solve their own problems and share how they solved them" (Roscorla, 2013). This movement is gaining traction in the educational sphere, in both formal (public and private K-16 schools) and informal educational environments (after-school programs, community makerspaces, libraries, museums, etc.). As such, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of articles about the Maker Movement and Maker Education in professional journals, as well as increased attention to the topic with-in school-related professional development activities and education conferences.

Diversity, Neoliberalism And Teacher Education, Arturo Rodriguez, Kevin Russell Magill

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this essay, we conduct a brief analytical review of teacher preparation programs, which claim to prepare lifelong culturally responsive teachers. Initial evaluation revealed factors limiting program success, they include: deeply embedded dominant ideological assumptions, use of traditional methods to train teachers, inability to understand or work toward non-hegemonic social relations and a pervasive and closed neoliberal epistemology limiting diversity in the preparation programs and profession. Finally, we critique existing understandings of teacher education, consider alternatives in philosophy, structure and function for preparation programs and critical humanism as a framework for working with teachers, to transform indoctrinating and dehumanizing educational …

Getting Graphic About Infographics: Design Lessons Learned From Popular Infographics, Joanna C. Dunlap, Patrick R. Lowenthal

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

People learn and remember more efficiently and effectively through the use of text and visuals than through text alone. Infographics are one way of presenting complex and dense informational content in a way that supports cognitive processing, learning, and future recognition and recollection. But the power of infographics is that they are a way of delivering the maximum amount of content in the least amount of space while still being precise and clear; because they are visual presentations as opposed to oral or text presentations, they can quickly tell a story, show relationships, and reveal structure. The following paper reports …

Using Voicethread To Facilitate Asynchronous Communication: A Design Case, Jesús Trespalacios

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Online courses have traditionally used text as the only medium to communicate. However, new technologies make it easier than ever before to integrate audio and video communication into online courses. The purpose of this design case study is twofold. Firstly, we sought to describe the different instructional activities designed for an Instructional Design online graduate course. Secondly, this study undertook to explain the integration of VoiceThread (a Web 2.0 tool with multimedia capabilities) to facilitate students’ interactions and the revisions made on some activities that used this tool. Data collected from two surveys administered at the end of the course …

Interpersonal Neurobiology: Applications For The Counseling Profession, Raissa Miller

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Counselors are increasingly interested in how neuroscience research applies to the counseling profession. Evidence of that interest includes a growing number of session offerings on topics related to neuroscience at counseling conferences, publication of new “neuroscience for counselors” textbooks and the availability of this monthly column in Counseling Today.

Creating An Intentional Web Presence: Strategies For Every Educational Technology Professional, Patrick R. Lowenthal, Joanna C. Dunlap, Patricia Stitson

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recently, educators are pushing for students, specifically graduates, to be digitally literate in order to successfully read, write, contribute, and ultimately compete in the global market place. Educational technology professionals, as a unique type of learning professional, need to be not only digitally literate to lead and assist teachers and students toward this goal, but also model the digital fluency expected of an educational technology leader. Part of this digital fluency involves effectively managing one’s web presence. In this article, we argue that educational technology professionals need to practice what they preach by attending to their own web presence. We …

Sense Of Community, Perceived Learning, And Achievement Relationships In An Online Graduate Course, Jesus Trespalacios, Ross Perkins

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The ubiquity of online programs in higher education requires continued focus on designing instructional environments that improve students’ learning. We examine students’ perceptions of sense of community and learning, as well as academic achievement, using grades obtained from a final project and participation in asynchronous discussion forums. Findings indicate a significant correlation between perceived learning and the sense of community connectedness subscale. Although sense of community is closely associated with interactions, the results did not show a significant relationship between the sense of community and the discussions achievement variable. Implications and challenges in implementing activities to foster sense of community …

Effects Of Personalization And Invitation Email Length On Web-Based Survey Response Rates, Jesús H. Trespalacios, Ross A. Perkins

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Individual strategies to increase response rate and survey completion have been extensively researched. Recently, efforts have been made to investigate a combination of interventions to yield better response rates for web-based surveys. This study examined the effects of four different survey invitation conditions on response rate. From a large metropolitan university in the West, a group of 1,598 selected students were randomly assigned to four groups, each of which received a different version of the invitation email to participate in a survey of campus technology needs. Findings show that neither the degree of personalization nor the length of the invitation …

Does Adlerian Theory Stand The Test Of Time: Examining Individual Psychology From A Neuroscience Perspective, Raissa Miller, Dalena Dillman Taylor

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The authors explored foundational principles of Individual Psychology through a neuroscience lens. In particular, the authors identified neuroscience support for the principles of social embeddedness, purposefulness of behavior, and holism. The authors also offered suggestions for expanding Adlerian theory through the integration of neuroscience-informed developmental theory, conceptualization of functionality, and interventions.

What About Writing?: A National Study Of Writing Instruction In Teacher Preparation Programs, Sherry Dismuke, Susan Martin

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study explores how writing instruction is taught to pre-service teachers across the US. Despite growing writing demands in K-12 classrooms, our national survey of literacy teacher educators revealed that colleges and universities rarely offer stand-alone writing instruction courses. Instead instructors are responsible for embedding writing instruction into their reading courses. Equally concerning, our data revealed a lack of confidence among many teacher educators regarding teaching writing. This study highlights the need for greater attention to writing in teacher education and adds to the conversation of why these issues continue to plague higher education.

Longitudinal Success Of Calculus I Reform, Doug Bullock, Kathrine E. Johnson, Janet Callahan

Mathematics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper describes the second year of an ongoing project to transform calculus instruction at Boise State University. Over the past several years, Calculus I has undergone a complete overhaul that has involved a movement from a collection of independent, uncoordinated, personalized, lecture-based sections, into a single coherent multi-section course with an activelearning pedagogical approach. The overhaul also significantly impacted the course content and learning objectives. The project is now in its fifth semester and has reached a steady state where the reformed practices are normative within the subset of instructors who might be called upon to teach Calculus I. …

The Impact Of Volunteering At A Girls Outreach Activity On Community Formation, Donna C. Llewellyn, Janet Callahan, Amy J. Moll, Catherine Rose Bates

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper is focused on exploring the motivation for volunteering at an engineering outreach activity. The outreach activity itself involved a two day, overnight experience for 9th and 10th grade girls that started in 2005, and which has been held annually since that time. The outreach event takes place in Boise, Idaho, and at the time of its onset was the only outreach or camp activity in the state focused on girls or young women. Across ten years, 510 total girls have participated, with approximately 85% of them coming from the immediate metropolitan area. The program was developed with a …

The Relationship Between High-School Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs And Their Practices In Regards To Intellectual Quality, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Michelle B. Carney

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examines the relationship between mathematics teachers’ beliefs and instructional practices related to learning, pedagogy, and mathematics in regards to components of intellectual quality for eight high-school mathematics teachers. Research has demonstrated that the higher the degree of intellectual quality for instruction is rated the higher student achievement is on standardized assessments. The findings in this study demonstrate a consistent pattern between teachers espoused beliefs and their instructional practices. Even though teachers’ practices changed as they wrote curricular units to be more in line with intellectual quality characteristics, their beliefs stayed consistent over an 18 month period and were …

Comparing The Effect Of Two Internship Structures On Supervision Experience And Learning, Robin D. Winslow, Meghan Eliason, Keith W. Thiede

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study examined whether two different internship structures affected educational leadership students’ supervision experience, beliefs about supervision, and learning of a clinical supervision model. Some students supervised pre-service teachers placed at their schools, while others supervised in-service teachers employed at their schools (a more traditional internship). Students who supervised pre-service teachers reported using the various supervision components to a greater extent than did students who supervised in-service teachers. Although beliefs about the importance of different supervision components did not differ across groups, learning of the clinical supervision model was greater for students who supervised pre-service teachers than for those who …

The Role Of Family Interactions In Hiv Risk For Gay And Bisexual Male Youth: A Pilot Study, Michael C. Lasala, Carl F. Siebert, James P. Fedor, Elyse J. Revere

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite ongoing prevention efforts, young gay and bisexual males continue to engage in sexual behaviors that place them at disproportionately high risk for HIV infection. Parental monitoring and parent-child communication have been found to be associated with low-risk sexual behavior among heterosexual youth, but the role of family interactions for gay and bisexual male youth remains largely unexplored. To help address this gap, an exploratory study of recorded and coded interactions among 35 gay and bisexual youth and their parents was done to begin to identify which types of family interactions were associated with youth high-risk sexual behavior. Parent-son communication …

Beyond The Region: Cuban Libraries, A Humbling Experience, Stan Steiner

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Vintage automobiles from 1960 and older cruise the roads with engines that have been massaged over the years to keep them running. The weathered buildings and worn stairways were built to last, but show years of exposure to the elements and multitudes of foot traffic. I stepped into the past on this trip and I am now envisioning Cuba’s future in light of the recent US and Cuban talks. Access to much needed materials will truly change Cuba. As librarians and educators we can impact this transition. At present Cuban libraries have very limited resources, yet Cuba has one of …

Effectiveness And Student Perceptions Of High-Enrolment Health Studies Online Courses, Ken-Zen Chen, Patrick R. Lowenthal, Christine Bauer

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: In countries such as the USA, colleges and universities are focusing on how best to serve their students in tough fiscal times and a highly competitive marketplace. Boise State University has specifically focused on providing online courses as one option to meet student needs. However, more recently, Boise State began developing high-enrollment online courses to resolve bottlenecks in enrolments, while maintaining robust, interactive, and engaging learning experiences.

Design: A mixed-method case study.

Setting: Three high-enrollment health studies online courses offered at a 4-year university in Boise, Idaho, USA.

Method: A systemic analysis of final course evaluations, student grades, and …

Learners’ Interpersonal Beliefs And Generated Feedback In An Online Role-Playing Peer-Feedback Activity: An Exploratory Study, Yu-Hui Ching, Yu-Chang Hsu

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Peer feedback affords interaction and critical thinking opportunities for learners in online courses. However, various factors prevent learners from taking advantage of these promising benefits. This study explored learners’ perceptions of the interpersonal factors in a role-playing peer-feedback activity, and examined the types of peer feedback that learners generated when playing a role. Participants were 16 graduate students engaged in an online role-playing peer-feedback activity. The results from survey responses revealed learners’ positive interpersonal beliefs, including psychological safety and trust, toward the role-playing peer-feedback activity. In addition, more than sixty percent of the participants reported being more comfortable critiquing peers’ …

Five Key Ideas To Teach Fractions And Decimals With Understanding, Sam Strother, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Keith Thiede, Sarah Appleton

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The teaching of fractions and decimals is a significant challenge for many teachers due to the inherent difficulty of the topic for students as well as the lack of high-quality, modernized curricular materials. This article examines the key ideas of teaching fractions and decimals for understanding that are evident in the current research literature and the curricular materials and teaching strategies from high-achieving nations.

Evaluation Of A Brief, School-Based Bullying Bystander Intervention For Elementary School Students, Aida Midgett, Diana Doumas, Rhiannon Trull

Counselor Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study evaluated a brief, bystander bullying intervention for elementary school students. Students in the intervention group reported an increase in knowledge and confidence to act as “defenders.” Students in the intervention group also reported an increase in self-esteem relative to the control group, although this finding was limited to sixth-grade students. The study found no group differences in sense of school belonging. This article discusses implications for school counselors.

Improving Middle Grades Stem Teacher Content Knowledge And Pedagogical Practices Through A School-University Partnership, Cherie Mccollough, Tonya Jeffery, Kim Moore, Joe Champion

Mathematics Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper outlines a University-School District partnership with the intent to increase the number of middle grades mathematics and science teachers. This externally funded initiative includes onsite, authentically situated professional development for pre- and in-service teachers at three different urban, low-socioeconomic schools with a majority Hispanic population of students. Program objectives include increasing mathematics and science content knowledge, increasing self-efficacy in teaching math and science, building and incorporating a success-driven school culture and infrastructure to increase student performance in a well-articulated, scalable and transformable model. Program components include site based common planning times, STEM Thursdays where science and mathematics lessons …

Impact Of An Eportfolio Faculty Learning Community On Course Design And Student Learning: A Progress Report On A Case Study, Devshikha Bose

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2016

The purpose of this paper is to present a progress report on a case study which documents faculty perceptions regarding the impact of a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) on the pedagogical applications of ePortfolios in course design. The study will also document faculty perceptions on how changes made/planned to course design as a result of participation in the FLC may impact student learning. A post-completion electronic survey and a focus group meeting will be used to collect data from nine research participants. Initial observations made by FLC facilitators are reported and implications for future iterations of a similar FLC are …

University Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan & Reporting Guidelines, Vicki Stieha, Kay Wingert

University Presentations

Why are we conducting regular assessment of the University Learning Outcomes in Disciplinary Lens classes?

University Learning Outcomes (ULOs) are the “glue” that holds academic and social learning together in the undergraduate curriculum. Assessment at the course level focuses our attention on the outcomes and lets us answer the essential ULO questions:

• To what extent are our students learning the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that make up our outcomes?”
• What do we do to support that learning – and what might we do to continually work to improve learning?
• What supports do we need to enhance learning?

Arts-Based Educational Research As A Site For Emerging Pedagogy And Developing Mentorship, Anniina Suominen Guyas, Kathleen Keys

Art, Design & Visual Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlighting mentoring roles while relaying accounts of arts-based educational research (ABER) practice, we present a personal and conceptual narrative of emergent epistemological and pedagogical understandings encountered during dissertation journeys. Juxtaposing narratives with dialogue, we share postresearch reflexive work, and present a praxis-oriented discussion of ABER. We discuss implications for art education pedagogy, research, and leadership in the context of professional and personal development fostered through mentorship during this transformative ABER experience.

Listening And Negotiation, Janet Callahan, Mary E. Besterfield-Sacre, Jenna P. Carpenter, Kim Lascola Needy, Cheryl B. Schrader

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Negotiation is an important skill for faculty at all stages of their career, but one that research suggests is often uncomfortable for women faculty to employ. This paper focuses on the topic of negotiation, with an emphasis on providing practical ideas and strategies relevant to academic professionals at both entry-level and mid-career who find that they need to negotiate a career opportunity. The paper will review negotiation basics, as well as discuss what can be negotiated, how one might proceed to discuss these, and how listening is critical to negotiation. By viewing negotiation as a "wise agreement"¹ that seeks …

Revealing Student Misconceptions And Instructor Blind Spots With Muddiest Point Formative Feedback, Cindy Waters, Stephen J. Krause, Janet Callahan, Barry Dupen, Mary B. Vollaro, Peggie Weeks

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Of interest to all engineering disciplines, well-designed formative feedback has the potential to enhance both instructor teaching and student learning. Delivering fundamental courses year after year, can ultimately lead faculty to use stale notes or slides from past years. This approach may save time, but does not meet the shifting needs of our students who have high expectations from their instructors. One simple method to improve teaching is to employ muddiest point reflections. Muddiest point reflections involve simply asking students to anonymously reflect on what was “muddy”, i.e. confusing, during class and to rank their level of confusion which not …