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Preface, Volume 24 (2006), Sandra Chadwick Blossey

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Preface to volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, by Sandra Chadwick Blossey of Rollins College.

Monster At The Foot Of The Bed: Surviving The Challenge Of Marketplace Forces On Higher Education, Raoul A. Arreola

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The impact of technology on society has caused a paradigm shift in the basic support for higher education. Where higher education was traditionally supported as a function of government, the knowledge explosion and global economy resulting from the impact of computer and other technologies is moving the underlying support of higher education to the marketplace. There is evidence that traditional academic strategies and practices that were successful under the old paradigm may no longer be working. Twelve suggestions are offered for revolutionary changes that the academy must make in order to survive, even thrive, in the new paradigm.

A Different Way To Approach The Future: Using Chaos Theory To Improve Planning, Marc Cutright

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Strategic planning is a good idea that gets a bad name from dubious efforts carrying the title. Much of this rap comes from half-hearted exercises, but some of it comes from efforts that founder due to faulty or limited conceptions of how the future “works.” Chaos theory is an alternative approach and metaphor with potential to let us see the future and its dynamics in new ways. Cognizance of chaos’s nature and underlying structure might help us do planning in new, nonintuitive, and more successful ways.

Perceptions Of Faculty Developers About The Present And Future Of Faculty Development At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Phyllis Worthy Dawkins, Andrea L. Beach, Stephen L. Rozman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The development of faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) has been a challenge and commitment since their inception before and after the civil war. Historically, faculty have assumed many roles, but they primarily sought to address the needs of black students. The HBCU Faculty Development Network, founded in 1994, has been instrumental in providing a platform to showcase accomplishments and challenges in education at this unique group of colleges and universities. To address future needs, we surveyed the membership to explore current program goals and influences, practices, and new directions. The results are compared with data for the …

Preparing Faculty For Pedagogical Change: Helping Faculty Deal With Fear, Linda C. Hodges

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

How receptive faculty are to changing their pedagogical approach is a complex issue, but one factor that impedes change is the fear of taking a risk. Underlying this fear may be the fear of loss, fear of embarrassment, or fear of failure. Addressing these issues can empower faculty to be more innovative in their teaching. Drawing on research literature, personal teaching narratives, and my own work in faculty development, I discuss some of these underlying fears. I then offer concrete strategies for working with faculty to enable them to overcome these emotional barriers and embrace change.

An Electronic Advice Column To Foster Teaching Culture Change, Donna M. Qualters, Thomas C. Sheahan, Jacqueline A. Isaacs

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

First-year engineering students receive most of their teaching from instructors outside of engineering. As a result, these instructors are typically not a teaching community with a shared commitment to engineering student learning. Retention of engineering students is strongly tied to the quality of teaching, thus addressing collective teaching quality is important. This chapter describes the development of a carefully crafted, electronically distributed advice column on teaching developed by an interdisciplinary editorial team, written under the pseudonym Jonas Chalk. Surveys of Chalk Talk readers indicate that this is an effective means to promote teaching culture change.

Practicing What We Preach: Transforming The Ta Orientation, Patricia Armstrong, Peter Felten, Jeffrey Johnston, Allison Pingree

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Brookfield (1995), Schön (1983), and others articulate the necessity and complexity of being critically reflective in our work. Indeed, the value of critical reflection is inherent to educational development as a field in that we frequently encourage such thinking in our consultations with instructors. But practicing what we preach can be difficult. This chapter reflects on an experiment in the transformation of a teaching assistant orientation, a central event of our teaching center. We not only describe and assess the process of revising this orientation, but we also reflect on the implicatiom of this case for broader programming issues in …

Faculty Competency By Design: A Model For Institutional Transformation, Helen M. Clarke, Philip E. Bishop

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For a decade, Valencia Community College has striven for a faculty development program with direct impact on student learning. The college succeeded by designing faculty learning with the same logic we apply to student learning. Valencia’s program for new tenure-track faculty focuses on significant faculty learning outcomes, a learning-centered pedagogy, high standards of scholarship, and continuous program assessment. The college’s Teaching/Learning Academy and a coordinated tenure process have cultivated new learning leaders and created a fresh partnership among deans and faculty members. This developing process of new-hire faculty development has been pivotal to Valencia’s learning-centered transformation.

Bibliography, Volume 24 (2006)

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Bibliography for volume 24 (2006) of To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development.

An Honors Pilot Course: Cross-Cultural Service And Inquiry-Based Learning In Mérida, Mexico, Theresa Minick, Victoria Bocchicchio

Honors in Practice Online Archive

The guiding document for Kent State University’s Honors College, “The Nature of an Honors Course,” describes some of the unique aspects that set Honors courses apart from non-Honors courses. We expect an Honors course to be an experience and a process; we encourage students to take initiatives in determining the directions of the courses. One of our driving goals is to find ways to help students extract more intellectual value out of their university experiences, and the cross-cultural pilot course in Mérida, México described here was designed with that goal in mind.

Community Beyond Honors: Butler University’S Community Fellows Program, Margaret Brabant, Anne Wilson

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Campus collaboration between academic areas is often encouraged but can be difficult to implement in practice. Opportunities for instructional collaboration where the goals of each program must be met are even more challenging. Despite such challenges, a collaboration known as the Community Fellows Program was initiated between the Honors Program and the Center for Citizenship and Community at Butler University. The Community Fellows Program has not only brought together academic and programmatic areas at Butler but also introduced Indianapolis community leaders to honors students, faculty, and staff. While our students have appreciated the community leaders’ “real world” experiences, the community …

Fun And Games Of Teaching: Simulations In A Social Problems Course, Lisa New Freeland

Honors in Practice Online Archive

In attempts to move my honors social problems course from a passive environment to a more active and student-centered one, I drew on my experience and the experience of others using simulations to produce a course model committed to “games” and student-initiated learning. I stepped back and reevaluated what I wanted my students to gain while in my class and what impact I wanted the course to have on their future in society. Simulation games provide an opportunity for students to discover knowledge and drive their own education rather than passively taking in information. These “games” are simulations of real …

Honors College, Honors 298: Special Topics, 3 Credits, John Charpie, Michael Shea

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Students explore the logic of science by examining the language and writing about science, using various thinking-writing exercises to stimulate their research. While hearing lectures about fundamental scientific principles and analyzing knowledge structures of scientific discourse, students write cause-and- effect explanations of a variety of phenomena by building them up from first principles; science essays are developed using standard rhetorical devices of scientific discourse. Small-group exercises include “work shopping” each student’s writing regarding tone, clarity, fluidity, and accuracy. Twenty-three students enroll in this course.

Fourth Annual Henry Lecture: Families Alone: The Changing Economics Of Rearing Children, Elizabeth Warren

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Temperament And Language Skills As Predictors Of Teacher–Child Relationship Quality In Preschool, Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Sara E. Rimm-Kaufman, Laura M. Justice, Khara Pence

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Current educational policy emphasizes “school readiness” of young children with a premium placed on preschool interventions that facilitate academic and social readiness for children who have had limited learning experiences prior to kindergarten (Rouse, Brooks–Gunn, & McLanahan, 2005). The teacher–child relationship is viewed as a critical mechanism for the effectiveness of interventions (Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2003; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2003). The purpose of this study was to determine how children’s temperament and language skills predict teacher–child relationship quality. The sample consisted of 99 at-risk preschool students. Three findings emerged: …

Design And Implementation Of Preparation Strategies For Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System Stakeholders, Judith Josephs

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide better access to current preparation strategies for passing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test. The test preparation strategies did not meet the needs of the students. The students did not know how to use the computer to study for the test and did not know how to study at home for the test. Teachers also did not know of the availability of electronic information to enrich their lessons and increase the achievement of vocational high school students.

The researcher developed strategies to train students and teachers on Bridges Transitions (1999) testGEAR and …

Impact Of Music Education In Early Childhood Classrooms, Melissa J. Wolf

Graduate Research Papers

Music is a universal language that connects all students regardless of age, background, or social status. In our school's today, music instruction can offer many academic benefits to our students, especially in the areas of reading and mathematics. However, elementary school music teacher positions are being cut each year because of the lack of funds in the school district's budget. When this happens, classroom teachers are required to teach this subject to their students, according to Iowa Code-Chapter 12. These teachers may not be educated enough to give the students the instruction that is needed. This literature review examined the …

Sending Children Who Are Medically Fragile To School, Aulanda L. Zenner

Graduate Research Papers

This study examined the decisions to send children who are medically fragile to school-based programming. A case study including parent interviews, as well as pediatrician surveys regarding the education of children who are medically fragile. Benefits, as well as problems, were discussed and were associated with children who are medically fragile attending school. Guidelines were presented for decisions to send children who are medically fragile to school. Also, conclusions were drawn from the literature and recommendations were made for the future of schooling for children who are medically fragile.

Narrative Therapy Treatment For Adolescents With Drug Abuse, Julie F. Stevens

Graduate Research Papers

Counseling adolescents can be challenging and hard work. Counseling adolescents trying to conquer their substance abuse can be even more difficult. The goal in counseling teens with substance abuse is to assist the adolescent to stop drug use and to help the teen choose positive life choices. Narrative therapists use techniques found to be helpful in counseling teens with substance abuse. This paper will define Narrative therapy, discuss some techniques, and examine its effectiveness in treatment of drug abuse in adolescents.

Problem Based Learning, Susan Tebbe

Graduate Research Papers

The No Child Left Behind legislation brought about a flurry of conversations regarding student achievement (McElroy, 2006). Increased use of standardized testing to measure student achievement has resulted in a discussion of teaching models. Is the transmission teaching model with its expository style the only mode to insure student success? Or is the constructivist teaching model with its inquiry style a mode that better leads to student success? This review of literature examines the instructional practices involved in problem based learning, a constructivist approach. The paper focuses on the components of problem-based learning, the benefits and challenges of using this.approach, …

A Preferred Vision For Leading Schools : A Reflective Essay, Neal E. Thompson

Graduate Research Papers

In my wildest dreams, I never thought that I would pursue a career in education, let alone become a scbool leader. No one in my family had gone beyond a high school education. However, in my father's dying moments, he encouraged me to never quit pursuing an education. My father died during my senior year in high school and after high school I floundered in a community college for a couple of years, but I did continue pursuing an education. I began to dream of becoming an educator and coach. I was influenced by previous coaches, teachers, and my father's …

Teacher Autonomy : A Review Of The Research Literature, Jaime A. Usma-Wilches

Graduate Research Papers

This paper reviews conceptual and empirical research on teacher autonomy in the context of school reform across countries. Research shows that teacher autonomy can be conceptualized as a personal sense of freedom from interference or in terms of teachers' exercise of control in four different school domains: Teaching and assessment, curriculum development, school functioning, and professional development. Research also confirms that teachers' autonomy for decision making is shaped by a number of personal and contextual factors, and that teachers' directed professional development experiences may enhance their autonomy. This review clarifies the meaning of teacher autonomy and other related terms, and …

"The Irresistible Force Meets The Immovable Object": When Antidiscrimination Standards And Religious Belief Collide In Aba-Accredited Law Schools, Kristin B. Gerdy

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Cyber Courses On Southside Virginia Community College Student's Grade Point Averages, Kelley A. Barnes

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

To guide this problem, the following research hypothesis was established: 1. There will be no significant difference in students' grade point averages at Southside Virginia Community College when they are enrolled in classroom or cyber courses.

Academic Performance Of Students Who Receive Need-Based Financial Aid, Corey W. Carlson

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

To guide this research, the following hypothesis was established: 1. there is a positive difference in academic grade point average for students who receive need-based financial aid compared to those who do not receive need-based financial aid.

The Effectiveness Of Hands-On Activities Compared To Paper And Pencil Activities When Teaching Reading To First Through Fifth Grade Students, Nigel Daniels

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

To answer this problem the following hypothesis was established: There will be a difference in students' achievement levels in elementary reading when determining which is more effective teaching style, using hands-on activities to teach reading or using paper and pencil work to teach reading. The hands-on activity will be the more effective method and the students will prove this by increases in their progress levels.

A Comparative Study Of The Effectiveness Of Distance Learning In Opticianry Education, Kristi Ostrom

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

To guide this study, the following hypothesis was established: 1. Within the members of the National Federation of Opticianry Schools that offer associate degree distance education programs via the internet for opticianry, there will be no difference in the number of students who will successfully complete their state licensure examinations.

The Relationship Between Dress And Socio-Economics, Tiffany A. Machado

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The objectives of this study were established to guide an answer to this problem: 1. Identify the socio-economic status of students that attend Old Dominion University; 2.Measure the opinion of Old Dominion University's students toward their selection of attire; 3. Project the relationship between socio-economic status and favored dress.

Effects Of The Workbook God's Way To An A Om Students Grade Point Averages, Donna Koson

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The problem of this study was to determine the effects of the workbook, "God's Way to an A: Encountering Christ in Your Academics," on academic achievement measured by the grade point averages of students in a freshman orientation course at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

Beliefs About Parenting And How It Affects A Child's Education, Korin Crandall Quinn

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The researcher studied the cultural trends of a group of at-risk mothers who reside within Kent County, the majority of whom live in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The null hypothesis states: Environmental and cultural beliefs do not affect generational parenting beliefs or risk factors within the Kent County and Grand Rapids area. Cultural factors and four areas of the mothers’ lives were studied: (a) number of parents within the household, (b) parental levels of education, (c) socioeconomic status, and (d) occurrence ratio of low birth weight.

Mothers (n=37) responded to questionnaires; 24 were interviewed in person; 13 completed questionnaire forms on …