Education Commons^™

Evidence Of Scientific Literacy Through Hybrid And Online Biology Inquiry-Based Learning Activities, Caio Cotta Natale, Paula Seixas Mello, Silvia Luzia Frateschi Trivelato, Patricia Marzin-Janvier, Daniel Manzoni-De-Almeida

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: To describe the implementation of a hybrid and an online active-learning-based science activity originally designed for face-to-face instruction. The goal was to verify if students used appropriate science practices while engaged in a problem solution through hybrid and fully online modalities. Epistemic practices are important markers of scientific literacy because they reflect ways of thinking and working that are similar to those performed by scientists.

Methods: Numerical experimental data related to two topics of immunology were provided to students through virtual learning environments. The groups of students met on WhatsApp^© mobile application to negotiate the construction reports containing …

Impact Of Psychoeducation Program On Turkish Students' Negative Attitudes Towards Refugee Peers, Ali Çekiç, Zeynep Hamamcı

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

About 26% of the Syrian population in Turkey is made up of school-age children. In the 2017–2018 academic year, 608,000 Syrian students enrolled in the education system, and 50% attended temporary education centers established for only Syrian students, while the other half attended public schools with their Turkish peers. One of the main factors that complicate the adaptation process of Syrian refugee students who have come to a different culture and have been placed in a foreign education system is the discriminatory attitudes from the locals’ prejudices. Thus, in this study, a five-week psychoeducation program was developed and implemented by …

Letter From The Editors: Volume 10, Issue 2, Gary J. Burkholder

Higher Learning Research Communications

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What A Difference A Decade Makes. The Evolving Gender Gap In Students’ Goal Endorsement And Stem Career Choice, Chen Chen, Gerhard Sonnert, Philip M. Sadler

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

Two national datasets of first-year college students, collected a decade apart, asking the same questions about career interests and life goal endorsement, allowed us to investigate the extent to which the life goals and career interests had converged among young men and women. We compared the gender differences in four types of goal endorsement (communal, material, intellectual, and free-time goals) by career interest groups (science, engineering, medicine, health, and other professions) between the two cohorts (2007 vs. 2017). Conversely, we compared the gender differences in career interests by goal endorsement between the two cohorts. Our specific focus was on science, …

Challenges Of Using A Blended Learning Approach: A Flipped Classroom In An English Teacher Education Program In Mexico, Edgar Emmanuell Garcia-Ponce, Irasema Mora-Pablo

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The objective of the study was to understand the views, experiences, and challenges that preservice English teachers perceived in a flipped classroom, which was implemented in a language teacher education program following our institution’s desire to promote blended learning.

Method: Two focus groups were conducted with the students (19). We analyzed the data using thematic analysis.

Results: The results show that the students perceived flipped practices as innovative and beneficial for their learning. However, their responses also reveal that the autonomy required from them and taking more responsibility for their own learning were particularly challenging because of their lack …

Considering Educators’ Perceptions Of Ethics And Safety In Virtual Learning Environments (Vles), Patricia B. Steele, Cheryl Burleigh, Elizabeth A. Young

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

With the proliferation of students’ abilities to use technology, in particular virtual reality (VR) applications, teachers are experimenting with VR in virtual learning environments (VLE) to engage students; but clear ethics and safety guidelines are not available. Within the field of education additional research is needed to determine how VR is employed in VLEs. Additionally, what are the decision-making processes of educators for the VR programs chosen for classroom use based on ethics and student safety? Through qualitative inquiry, educators from K–12 and higher education shared their perceptions of ethics and safety concerns in VR applications for use in the …

Development And Validation Of A Global Competency Framework For Preparing New Graduates For Early Career Professional Roles, Mark Strong, Gary J. Burkholder, Emily Solberg, Amy Stellmack, William Presson, Jean-Bernard Seitz

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The current objectives include the development of a global competency model applicable across a wide range of jobs, industries, and geographies for university graduates entering the workplace.

Method: The competency model was developed utilizing a global panel of subject matter experts and a validation survey of over 25,000 students, faculty, staff, and employers across more than 30 countries.

Results: The results showed substantial consistency for the importance and criticality ratings of the competencies, with Achieving Objectives, Analyzing and Solving Problems, Adapting to Change, Communicating Orally, Learning and Self-Development, Making Decisions, Planning and Organizing, and Working Well with Others as …

Digital Colleague Connectedness: A Framework For Studying Teachers’ Professional Network Interactions, Darci J. Harland

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The coronavirus outbreak will likely highlight both strengths and weaknesses of the pre-corona educational system. Researchers have a responsibility to examine the experiences educators have had during the pandemic; however, there are no education-specific frameworks for researchers to use to examine teachers interacting with digital colleagues for professional purposes. This paper describes the literature used to design the digital colleague connectedness framework. The purpose of the framework is to operationalize terminology used to examine educators interacting in professional exchanges within a virtual network. This framework includes six behaviors in which digital colleagues engage and four roles they may assume that …

Covid-19 Induced Transition From Classroom To Online Mid Semester: Case Study On Faculty And Students’ Preferences And Opinions, Sudipta Roy, Bonnie Covelli

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate faculty and students’ reactions to the COVID-19 emergency move to online classes. The goal was to better inform instructional strategies to be used in similar circumstances and to inform best practices in online pedagogy.

Method: Online surveys were administered to students and faculty near the end of the semester to evaluate different aspects of the transition. Classes included in the study were scheduled as full-semester, on-campus classes but made an emergency switch to online post-spring break, after eight weeks.

Results: Students’ and faculty’s comfort levels at the time …

Exploring The Role Of Training In Promoting Students’ Peer-Feedback Including Critical Peer-Feedback, Fatma Kaya, Zeynep Yaprak

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The question of how critical-thinking skills could be integrated into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy has been one of the main concerns in the field of language teaching and learning as they have a great potential to increase the quality of learning and teaching. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether training based on peer feedback, including critical feedback, contributes to participants’ peer feedback and critical feedback performances. The participants, who were undergraduate English Language Teaching (ELT) students (n = 40), were exposed to an 8-week training program in which several feedback criteria, including critical ones, …

A Comparison Of School Climate Ratings In Urban Alternative And Traditional High Schools, Aaron Perzigian, Michael Braun

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

We investigated whether there are significant differences in ratings of school climate from the perspectives of students, parents, and school staff across four types of urban secondary schools. Data originated from a school climate survey administered in a large urban Midwestern school district to students attending traditional and alternative high schools. We coded all high schools in the sample district into four school types, including traditional, innovative, behavior-focused, and academic remediation-focused. We analyzed data using linear mixed-model regression. Results showed statistically significant differences in specific dimensions of school climate across stakeholder groups and the four school types. Analysis of student …

Exam Preparation: Concerns Of London Upper Secondary School Students With Implications For Teachers And Teaching, Mark A. Minott

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The aim of this qualitative case study was to ascertain factors impacting the examination preparation process and causing concerns for London upper secondary students, to learn steps taken to reduce and/or resolve the concerns, and to discuss the implications for teachers and teaching. A subsidiary yet important aim was to give the students a “voice” in the research literature. Using convenient or opportunity sampling, 14 Grade 12 and 13 students, ages 16–18 in a south-west London secondary school, were interviewed face-to-face. The analysis of the data revealed external factors and a personal need factor, that is the need to pass …

The Impact Of High-Fidelity Simulation On Nursing Student’S Flexible And Reflective Thinking In Higher Education, Hungwei Tseng, Lori Hill

Higher Learning Research Communications

This study evaluated the effect of high-fidelity simulation with both mannequins and live actors on flexible and reflective thinking of nursing students. Students enrolled in an undergraduate nursing program were recruited to participate in this study. Ninety students, all female, completed both pre- and post-surveys. The researchers conducted a paired samples t-test to determine if there is a statistically significant difference in students’ level of flexible thinking before and after they experienced the high-fidelity simulation. Moreover, we conducted multivariate correlational analysis to examine the relationships between flexible thinking and reflective thinking. In general, statistical results in this study provide …

Leader-To-Leader: Reflexive Leadership In The Midst Of Covid-19 And Social Unrest, Ward Ulmer

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

A leader is only one person in one position, and one person’s ideas are not a panacea for all social ills. But effective leadership can shift the outcome of an organization to manifest its mission of positive social change considering changes in society. Most people have been exposed to leaders who tinker around the edges and others who call for revolution. Leaders are leaders only because they have capable followers. The truth is that some things are just too big for one individual. And when we happen upon those things, we must stand together, hold each other accountable, and encourage …

The Influence Of A Science Methods Course On Prospective Elementary Teachers’ Visions Of Science Teaching, Martha M. Canipe, Jessica Y. Coronado Verdugo

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Prospective elementary teachers may enter their teacher education program having experienced science more as a collection of definitions and facts than in ways that support rich engagement with scientific phenomena. As a result, their visions of themselves as science teachers may not align with the most recent understandings about how to teach science to support student learning. Science methods courses are settings that have the potential to shift prospective teachers’ visions of science teaching. We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach with collection of survey data followed by interviews with selected participants. We analyzed how prospective elementary teachers’ visions …

Quality Assurance Of Higher Education Governance And Management: An Exploration Of The Minimum Imperative For The Envisioned African Common Higher Education Space, Lazarus Nabaho, Wilberforce Turyasingura, Alfred Kenneth Kiiza, Felix Andama, Adrian Beinebyabo

Higher Learning Research Communications

In 2018, as part of the African higher education harmonisation drive, the African Union Commission (AUC) issued the African Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ASG-QA). Within the ASG-QA, the AUC commits to promoting good governance and management in higher education institutions and provides governance and management as the second standard. However, there is a dearth of knowledge about the governance and management architecture for higher education institutions in the African higher education landscape that is either implicit or explicit in the ASG-QA. Against the above backdrop—using the ASG-QA as a source of data and content analysis …

Creating, Implementing, And Redefining A Conceptual Framework For Mentoring Pathways For Education Doctorate Students, Rebecca D. Brown, Rachel Louise Geesa, Kat R. Mcconnell

Higher Learning Research Communications

Supporting the proficiencies scholar-practitioners need to be successful in Doctor of Education (EdD) programs typically differ from the needs of traditional doctoral students in other types of programs; however, EdD students may benefit from participating in a mentoring program during the progression of their academic career. Several theoretical and conceptual frameworks that influence mentoring programs exist at the doctoral level despite the lack of research conducted that is specific to EdD degrees. In this article, we review several frameworks that influenced the creation and redesign of the Mentoring Pathways Program, developed explicitly to address the needs of scholar-practitioners attending a …

Effects Of Ratemyprofessors.Com And University Student Evaluations Of Teaching On Students’ Course Decision-Making And Self-Efficacy, Stefanie S. Boswell

Higher Learning Research Communications

This study investigated effects of Ratemyprofessors.com and university student evaluations of teaching on students’ course decision making and self-efficacy in an ethnically diverse undergraduate sample. It also investigated if these effects were impacted by evaluation positivity. Additionally, the study explored if attitudes toward Ratemyprofessors.com was related to student gender, college class, and age. Participants were 73 undergraduates who were exposed to positive and negative evaluations about fictitious professors; participants were informed that the evaluations originated from RMP or university student evaluations of teaching. Evaluation positivity but not type influenced students’ intention to enroll in the professor’s course, but not how …

Middle And High School Teacher Perceptions Of Training To Manage Disruptive Students, Kelly Mero

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

Schoolteachers report a lack of resources and training to manage disruptive student behavior that presents as antisocial, problematic, and/or symptomatic of mental illness. Disruptive student behaviors have a negative impact on students socially and academically. The social cognitive theory and social learning theory guided the research questions to examine differences in perceptions of 195 urban general and special educators in middle and high school regarding their skills to manage disruptive student behavior and teachers’ need for professional training to manage disruptive student behavior. A 2X2 between-groups nonparametric survey research design was used, and the two dependent variables were measured using …

Supporting Science Learning For English Language Learners, Judith Morrison, Yuliya Ardasheva, Sarah Newcomer, Lindsay Lightner, Gisela Ernst-Slavit, Kira Carbonneau

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This study focused on two fourth-grade science classrooms with English learners (ELs), exploring how teachers supported students’ science and language/literacy learning in different language contexts. Three a priori research-based practices recommended for supporting science learning framed our exploration: (a) negotiation, opportunities for individual and social construction and critique of knowledge; (b) embedded language, opportunities for language and literacy learning as a natural aspect of science; and (c) non-threatening learning environments, opportunities for social apprenticeship and interaction. We provide insights into how science instructional practices supported ELs’ science and language learning. One key implication is that enacting these three principles of …

Are Universities Using The Right Assessment Tools During The Pandemic And Crisis Times?, Mohanad Halaweh

Higher Learning Research Communications

All industries have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and have worked to develop alternative strategies and actions to survive and continue business operations; the education sector is no exception. University administrators and instructors have faced challenges in finding the appropriate mechanisms to manage the final examination process. This essay suggests that project-based learning (PBL) assessment could be an effective alternative to online examinations. It advocates the adoption of PBL by highlighting the challenges/pitfalls associated with online exams supported by proctoring software tools.

An Analysis Of The Educational Testing Service Major Field Test For Business Performance: Further Evidence, Zahid Iqbal

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Assurance of learning is the key to students’ academic success. To this end, one of the largest historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the United States administers the Educational Testing Service Major Field Test for Business (ETS MFT-B) to assess student learning of business concepts. This study used a set of predictor variables to explain the ETS MFT-B performance at the subject HBCU. The results of the study are expected to close the gap between student performance and expected outcomes in the subject institution, as well as contribute to the broader issue of improving curriculum and teaching effectiveness in …

Predicting International Student Enrollment In U.S. Institutions By Institutional Characteristics: Using Fixed And Random Effects, Ibrahim Bicak, Z. W. Taylor

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

For the first time, international student enrollment in U.S. institutions of higher education declined for a second straight year in 2017–2018. As a result, we sought to understand which institutional characteristics predict international student enrollment, informing the international education community regarding possible institutional factors responsible for the decline in international student enrollment by using five-year panel data from 2013 Fall to 2017 Fall. Results from institutional fixed effects models revealed positive relationships between first-time international undergraduate enrollment and different variables such as institutional grant aid in bachelor’s institutions and student services expenses at private non-profit institutions in suburban settings. Contrary …

Using Instructional Time And Race/Ethnicity To Predict Social Studies Accountability Test Results, Kenneth E. Vogler, Susan Schramm, Audrey Allan, Jake D. Parler

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

This study investigated the relationship among the variables instructional time configuration, gender, race/ethnicity, and poverty to predict the academic performance of seventh-grade students on a state-mandated social studies accountability test. Results of 24,919 seventh-grade student social studies test scores from 117 middle schools, as well as a survey given to principals of the same 117 middle schools, were analyzed. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that when controlling for poverty, the variables instructional time configuration and race/ethnicity were significant, explaining 11% of the variation in student social studies accountability test results; a small effect. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis …

Determinants Of Faculty-Student Engagement For Southeast Asian Men In Community College: An Exploratory Analysis, Soua Xiong, J. Luke Wood

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The purpose of this study was to examine determinants of faculty-student engagement for Southeast Asian men in community colleges. Using data derived from the Community College Survey of Men (CCSM), this study investigated faculty-student engagement for 140 Southeast Asian men attending community colleges in the United States. Five groupings of predictor variables were examined: background/defining, campus ethos, environmental, academic, and non-cognitive factors. Backwards multiple linear regression was employed to identify variables with significant contributions to the model. The final model converged on the eighth iteration and significantly predicted the outcome, accounting for 38% of the variance in faculty-student engagement. Findings …

Mission Unaccomplished: Beyond “Talk[Ing] A Good Game” To Promote Diversity And Inclusion, Tara Lehan, Heather Hussey, Ashley Babcock

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Guided by feminist standpoint theory and scholars’ calls to move beyond merely counting individuals to understand the extent to which higher education institutions are diverse, the authors invited faculty members, staff members, and administrators from minoritized groups to describe their perceptions and experiences, including those associated with diversity and inclusion efforts at their institutions. In association with various dynamics, these individuals frequently described such initiatives as mostly talk with little to no meaningful objectives and outcomes. Based on these findings, we provide a three-step process that can be followed to disrupt and dismantle systems of (dis)advantage to promote greater diversity …

The Significance Of Parental Involvement In The Development In Infancy, Yanhui Liu, Mona F. Sulaimani, John E. Henning

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The earliest years’ experiences of children can ensure their future success, and parenting is noted to be an influential factor (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Lamb et al., 2002). Many researchers theorized that parental involvement could encourage children to actively engage and improve their academic achievement in schools (Epstein, 2018). However, less attention was paid to the significance of parental involvement in infants’ development. This paper explores the role of parental involvement in infants’ development by reviewing and discussing abundant relevant studies. This study recommends that parental involvement should be considered as an affluent resource and a useful tool because it could provide …

Changing Social Learning Theory Through Reliance On The Internet Of Things And Artificial Intelligence, Adam I. Attwood

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

This paper examines the trend in the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and related computer-mediated teaching and learning. Implications for social learning theory are examined based on the concept of “cyborg” education through a variety of scholarly and popular media sources with implications for schools and teacher educators. Recommendations for teacher education are posited as the topic of technological mediation between people continues to change in relation to how education will likely need to adapt to provide a prosocial environment through technological mediation, though the social learning itself operates in different ways.

Higher Education, Hlrc, Pandemics, And Racism, Gary J. Burkholder, Erwin Krauskopf

Higher Learning Research Communications

This letter from the Editorial team discusses the context of HLRC journal operations during the period from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020. The editors discuss COVID-19, race-related uprisings, and how these have impacted the journal in the context of higher education.

A Study Of The Difficulties And Instructional Support Related To Spoken Interaction In An Emi Course For Higher Education Students, Mei-Ying Chien, Martin Valcke

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

The use of English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in higher education is considered a vehicle in non-English speaking countries for the purpose of internationalization, enhancing students’ employability, and international competition. Many higher education institutions in Europe adapted their curriculum and started teaching in English, while enrolling international students from Erasmus programs and non-European countries. This study builds on an EMI course set within a Belgian university. Six L2 (English as a second Language) students were interviewed to identify and explore their motivation, difficulties, and instructional support as it relates to their spoken interaction during the class. The findings …