Education Commons^™

Potentially Electric: An E-Textiles Project As A Model For Teaching Electric Potential, Doug Ball, Colby Tofel-Grehl

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Electric potential is one of the most challenging concepts taught in high school physics classes due to the abstract nature of the concept.¹ When taught, electric potential is often taught using a poorly triangulated set of instructional analogies, each possessing different strengths and limitations. Within this paper we share our learning from a two-week electronic textiles (e-textiles) unit designed to help students in an AP high school physics course improve their understanding of electric potential through the construction of a project entitled “The Slouching T-shirt” (STS) (Fig. 1). The STS project was part of a larger instructional unit on …

How Students Learn And Instructors Can, Too: Effective College Teaching According To Eyler (2018), Karin Dejonge-Kannan

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Book Review

Eyler, J. R. (2018). How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching. West Virginia University Press.

• 293 pages
• Available in hardback, paperback, and digital format
• Price $85 (hc), $22 (pb), $17 (ebook)
• Keywords: learning, teaching, college students, classroom practice

Reviewer:

Karin deJonge-Kannan, Principal Lecturer

Department of Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies

Utah State University

karin.dejongekan@usu.edu

Reflective Practice: The Impact Of Self-Identified Learning Gaps On Professional Development, Joanna C. Weaver, Matthew Ryan Lavery, Sarah Heineken

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The ebb and flow of education creates unique challenges within educational programming. Universities are charged with the directive to offer more diverse field experiences within their course requirements. As a result of the directive, not every topic nor instructional scenario can be addressed in the program coursework, challenging the programs to bridge the pedagogical learning gaps of their candidates. The purpose of the professional development (PD) being studied was to connect pedagogical methods to candidates’ own learning by providing self-selected PD with instructional tools that candidates could directly put into practice. The self-selected PD based on self-reflection of knowledge had …

Assessing Community-Engaged Learning Impacts Using Ripple Effects Mapping, Benjamin J. Muhlestein, Roslynn Mccann

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Communicating Sustainability, an upper level undergraduate service-learning live broadcast course was created at Utah State University to help students gain critical skills in communicating and participating in local sustainability efforts. Community-Engaged Learning was a key component applied in gaining and using these skills. This study sought to capture the impacts of this course on both its students and the community partners who worked with those students using Ripple Effects Mapping. Key findings include: powerful impacts on student learning, growth and ability to engage in local movements; as well as clearly defined benefits for community partners. Included in this study …

“Does Increased Online Interaction Between Instructors And Students Positively Affect A Student’S Perception Of Quality For An Online Course?”, Jennifer Hunter Dr, Brayden Ross

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Online education is increasing as a solution to manage increasing enrollment numbers at higher education institutions. Intentionally and thoughtfully constructed courses allow students to improve performance through practice and self-assessment and instructors benefit from improving consistency in providing content and assessing process, performance, and progress.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of student to instructor interaction on the student’s perception of quality for an online course. “Does increased online interaction between instructors and students positively affect a student’s perception of quality for an online course?”

The study included over 1200 courses over a three year time …

Enhanced Teaching Requirements: A Case Study Of Instructional Growth On Student Academic Performance And Satisfaction In An Online Classroom, Mingzhen Bao, Adam L. Selhorst, Teresa Taylor Moore, Andrea Dilworth

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Online and brick-and-mortar universities are continually looking for a model that maximizes the student experience with the goal of enhancing retention and graduation rates among all student populations. Online education with its asynchronous nature and adult student populations need to hold faculty accountable for student performance in the classroom. This case study examined the effect of enhanced faculty requirements developed for online teaching on student academic performance and satisfaction. The enhanced requirements focused on increased faculty communication, subject-matter expertise, discipline mentoring, immediate assistance, and relationship building. Researchers compared student performance and satisfaction in courses taught under regular requirements with those …

About This Issue

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The Fall 2019 issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence presents studies that identify specific factors impacting the quality of the learning experience. Areas of study include the impact of enhanced teaching requirements on student performance in online classes, the effect of increased student-to-teacher interaction on students' perception of online course quality, assessment of community-engaged learning impacts, and the impact of self-identified learning gaps on professional development. The journal concludes with a book review of Josh Eyler's book, "How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching."

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 3, Issue 2

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2019 issue (Volume 3, Issue 2) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Aggie Recreation Center Impact Report Fall 2015 To Spring 2019, Amanda M. Hagman, Erik Dickamore, Daniel Lawrence, Mitchell Colver

Publications

Recreation facilities are an integral part of the university community. The Aggie Recreation Center is a place that helps foster a well balanced student. The ARC provides students with a myriad of opportunities for recreation, exercise, and community that can support students on their academic journey. This report explored the association between ARC facility use and student persistence to the next term at Utah State University. METHODS: Students recreation center use was captured with entry log-ins as students entered the facility. Students who had a record of using the facility were compared to similar students who did not have a …

Student Nutrition Access Center: Impact Analysis 2019, Amanda M. Hagman, Hayden Hoopes, Nelda Ault-Dyslin

Publications

Introduction: Access to nutritional food items is crucial to student well-being, which in turn is crucial to student success. Student success emerges from “the amount of physical and psychological energy that the student devotes to the academic experience” (Astin, 1984). Campus nutrition programs help students eliminate food security issues so that they can devote more energy to the academic experience. However, creating efficient and convenient nutrition programs requires that administrators understand the complexities of their implementation, their effect on specific student segments, and their effect on decisions to either persist at or leave an institution. This report explores the impact …

Exploratory Advising Impact Report: Spring 2016 To Spring 2019, Amanda M. Hagman, Mykel Beorchia, Stephanie Hamblin, Mitchell Colver

Publications

Academic advising performs a pivotal contribution to student success by providing information about univeristy expectations and avenues towards graduation. Exploratory student advising has the additional task of supporting students in major selection. This analysis investigated the relationship between academic advising and student persistence for exploratory students to better understand the impact of current advising practices. METHODS: Exploratory academic advisors met with an average 53% of exporatory students each semester. Students with a record of meeting with an academic advisor were compared to similar exploratory students who did not. Students were compared using prediction-based propensity score matching. Students who met with …

The Impact Of Living On Campus On Student Persistence, Hayden Hoopes

Fall Student Research Symposium 2019

Making the choice of where to live while in college is frequently acknowledged as one of the most important decisions an undergraduate student makes. Housing decisions influence students' access to campus resources and social integration, elements thought to be key indicators of their progression towards graduation. Interestingly, however, the association between living on-campus and persistence has not been considered thoroughly in the literature. While many studies leverage survey data and retention rates to make direct comparisons between on-campus and off-campus groups, most are unable to account for self-selection bias, i.e. that students who live on-campus may be qualitatively different from …

Building An Effective Learning Environment For Chinese Language Learners, Wen-Yu Chang

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of papers that the author originally wrote during her study in the program of Master of Second Language Teaching at Utah State University. While pursuing the Master’s degree, the author also served as an instructor, teaching assistant, and research assistant in the Chinese program. Thus, this work is framed by the author's personal reflection accumulated from her day-to-day teaching experiences and class observations.

The portfolio consists of three major sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. With the aim to identify the elements of an effective and communicative learning environment …

Transition Portfolio, Sarah Atkinson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Teaching self-determination skills has been shown to be successful among those who are from Anglo-Saxon decent. However, not much has been done to study the effects of teaching culturally responsive self-determination skills to those who are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The literature review in this transition portfolio addresses how teaching culturally and linguistically responsive self-determination skills can be useful to help individuals who receive special education services to more fully succeed in a post-high school setting.

To What Extent Do Young Adults With Disabilities Report Their High School Educational Experiences Prepared Them To Transition To Employment Or Post-Secondary Education, Marlee Jones

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This study examined the post school outcomes for young adults with disabilities having participated in special education programs while attending high school. An electronic survey was used to collect information from a population of previous special education students ages 18 to 19 years from a school district in the state of Utah. After sending the survey to approximately 275 former students, the researcher received responses from 4 individuals; a 1.45% response rate. The survey data were examined to identify overall satisfaction of participants’ high school education. Current participant employment rates, as well as post-secondary education enrollment was examined. No conclusions …

University Academic Advising: Impact Analysis, Amanda M. Hagman, Mykel Beorchia, Erik Dickamore

Publications

abstract: Academic advising performs a pivotal contribution to student success by providing information about university expectations and avenues towards graduation. The impact of academic advising is routinely assessed to explore its influence on student persistence. This report explores the impact of academic advising between 2016 to 2019 on student persistence to the next term. METHODS: Academic advising met with nearly 40% of students at USU each semester. Students who had a record of meeting with an academic advisor were compared to similar students who did not. Students were compared using prediction-based propensity score matching. Students who met with an advisor …

The Processes Of Collective Buy-In, Actuation, And Deep Social Learning In Seminary Classes, Donald B. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This phenomenological study explored a common essence of collective class actuation (CCA) among six seminary teachers in a Western state. CCA is an optimal learning state of a class collective. Data were gathered through interviews, observations, and a focus group. Data analysis yielded themes, textural and structural descriptions, an overall essence, and a model explaining the processes of buy-in and actuation.

Findings indicate that seminary teachers seek to actuate their classes by leading them toward agentic, collective buy-in. This requires management of two social environments: the internal social environment (the heart) and the external social environment. The internal social environment …

The Role Of A Peer-Led Academic Intervention In College Students' Development Of Self-Regulated Learning: A Person-Centered Approach, Soojeong Jeong

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to its unsupervised nature, undergraduate education requires students to manage their own learning. They need to use self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in order to achieve academic success. However, college students often have insufficient regulatory skills and strategies, suggesting the need for substantive and practical support. Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a well-recognized academic intervention that utilizes peer-led study groups for difficult college courses, through which students can develop their SRL abilities.

This study focuses on the role of the SI program in college students’ development of SRL from a person-centered perspective. First, this study examines the heterogeneous effects of the …

Measuring The Self-Efficacy Of Students Participating In Vex Robotics Competitions, Joseph S. Furse

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Robotic competitions have become an increasingly popular educational tool to increase students’ interest and achievement in STEM. The largest and fastest growing of these is VEX Robotics Competitions (VRCs). Although millions of dollars of funding are allocated, and countless hours of effort are expended annually to provide students with the opportunity to compete in VRCs, little research has been done to investigate the educational impacts of participation in these competitions. One promising research framework in this area is to investigate the self-efficacy of students who participate in VRCs. Self-efficacy, or the beliefs one holds about one’s own abilities in a …

Evaluating Relationships Of Knowledge, Attitudes, And Perception Between Ranchers And Bureau Of Land Management Professionals, Calee L. Garn

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages approximately 245 million acres in the U.S., the majority of which are in the western half of the country. There have been several conflicts in Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Arizona, since 2010 that have resulted in a fatality, armed militias, several incarcerations, and lawsuits facing the federal government. Following a preliminary needs assessment conducted in Box Elder County, Utah, and a comprehensive review of the literature, further research was needed to understand BLM professional (BLM managers or BLM specialists) and rancher perceptions regarding BLM policies and procedures. The study specifically looked at attitudes, …

The Influence Of An English-As-A-Second-Language Professional Development Program On Perceptions Of Teacher Efficacy For Instructing English Language Learners, Dinah Scott

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing student group in U.S. public schools. ELLs also consistently lag behind their native-English speaking peers in academic achievement. These facts set the stage for the study that evaluated one school district’s program to prepare their teachers to effectively educate ELLs. This program included a year-long series of six professional development courses that covered ELL-specific topics. The study’s evaluation tools included an online survey completed by teachers who took the courses, teachers’ feedback on course evaluation forms, interviews of district-level officials familiar with the program, and an examination of the homework assignments from …

An Evaluation Of An Interactive Computerized Training To Teach Instructors How To Respond During An Active Shooter Situation, Lorraine A. Becerra

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Active shooter events in the U.S. are occurring more often in commercial environment and schools. In these emergency situations educators must quickly decide to complete actions that will protect themselves and their students. Typically, during these situations, the educator should complete in a run, hide, or fight sequence of behaviors. The educator must also consider challenges for their student’s particular disabilities during these situations. Interactive computerized training (ICT) may be one easy method to teach educators these procedures. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of interactive computerized training to help educators learn how to respond during …

Kindergarteners' Conceptions And Representations Of Temperature: An Exploratory Study On How Young Children Perceive Air Temperature, Ryan Francis Cain

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As states, districts, and teachers work to make science classes more about doing the work of science and less about remembering science facts, research is needed to show what doing science looks like. This is especially needed for the youngest students, since much of the current research studies examine the upper part of the K-12 grade range.

Having been an early elementary science teacher, my work in this dissertation and beyond is focused on making the doing of science accessible to young children. One way to do science is to collect and interpret data – to measure something and make …

Navigating Adulthood: Exploring The Impact Of A High School Life-Skills Course On Adulthood Transition Experiences, Lacee R. Boschetto

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was conducted to explore the adulthood transition experiences of Utah high-school graduates, with heightened focus on the application value of educational content from the course, Adult Roles. The purpose of the study was identified through experiential interactions with high-school graduates, and was supported by research on 21st century adulthood transitions shown to divert away from traditional adulthood markers. The inconsistency between modern adulthood transition behaviors and traditionally held adulthood assumptions lead to negative perceptions about young adult’s capability to adapt to adulthood. The researcher was motivated to investigate opportunities that may provide increased preparation for the transition into …

The Relationship Between Small-Group Discourse And Student-Enacted Levels Of Cognitive Demand When Engaging With Mathematics Tasks At Different Depth Of Knowledge Levels, Kristy Litster

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

High cognitive demand (HCD) tasks can help students develop a deeper understanding of mathematics. Teachers need interventions that encourage students to engage in HCD activities. Small-group discourse provides HCD opportunities for students while solving mathematics problems. Discourse can take place after students solve problems individually (reflective) or in groups as students solve problems (exploratory). This study looks at the relationship between these two types of small-group discourse and student-enacted cognitive demand.

This study looks at how students engage with tasks that were designed at four different cognitive demand levels using Webb’s depth of knowledge (DOK) framework. Ninety-seven grade 5 students …

Identifying Faculty And Peer Interaction Patterns Of First-Year Biology Doctoral Students: A Latent Class Analysis, Soojeong Jeong, Jennifer M. Blaney, David F. Feldon

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

Faculty and peer interactions play a key role in shaping graduate student socialization. Yet, within the literature on graduate student socialization, researchers have primarily focused on understanding the nature and impact of faculty alone, and much less is known about how peer interactions also contribute to graduate student outcomes. Using a national sample of first-year biology doctoral students, this study reveals distinct categories that classify patterns of faculty and peer interaction. Further, we document inequities such that certain groups (e.g., underrepresented minority students) report constrained types of interactions with faculty and peers. Finally, we connect faculty and peer interaction patterns …

Questionable Behavior In The Writing Lab, David Bates

Writing Center Analysis Papers

In the setting of a writing center tutoring world where calibrated questioning is typically a core strategy of connecting with, evaluating, and ultimately counseling student writers, my work is an attempt to discover by examination and evaluation the effectiveness of questioning tools and techniques used by writing tutors and teachers. My purpose is to offer potential refinements to common questioning methods so as to help tutors better facilitate student writers in generating their own solutions to writing quandaries, as opposed to being led to preconceived tutor-generated solutions. The content of this paper is based upon my observations of tutoring sessions …

Self-Discovery, Self-Sufficiency: Assuming The Role Of A Listener While Tutoring, Adrian Thomson

Writing Center Analysis Papers

My discovery of the method of student self-discovery in tutor sessions established itself early on in my path of wearing the ‘two different hats’ of tutor and lecturer. By forming a spiel that represents my own personality within established Writing Center philosophy, I attempt to allow the student to control the session and discover improvements of their paper on their own. I do so by taking the role of a listener, which may lend itself as well to my teaching endeavors.

Hats: Being A Tutor, Teacher, Student, And Mother Learning When To Wear What Hat, Holly Vasic

Writing Center Analysis Papers

“Chapter One” of The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors (Ryan & Zimmerelli, 2016) breaks down the ways in which tutors may interact with students with the metaphor of hats and “the many hats tutors wear” (Ryan & Zimmerelli, 2016). This paper explores the way in which these hats have been worn in the USU Writing Center, in my experience, as well as how they translate into other roles I play.

Forget Power Dynamics: Why You Should Be Bbfs With Your Students And Professors, Maygan Barker

Writing Center Analysis Papers

This paper is half personal narrative and half reflection on the nature of power dynamics in the classroom and writing center. The paper examines the nature and nuances of the word “relationship,” how we interact with the concept of relationships and power, and the ways we limit our joys through limiting the types of relationships we engage in. From there it discusses how to challenge those power dynamics in the classroom and writing center, and the benefits of doing so.