Education Commons^™

Attrition In Online And Face-To-Face Calculus And Precalculus Courses: A Comparative Analysis, Sarah Ferguson

STEMPS Faculty Publications

A multitude of online courses are available that provide opportunities for students to meet their higher education needs, goals, and desires in a nontraditional school setting. But, from a content specific perspective, how are students performing in online courses compared to their face-to-face counterparts? This study seeks to examine the attrition rates of online calculus and precalculus students relative to their face-to-face peers in an effort to expand the study of online mathematics pedagogy while providing course-specific data. Several studies have been conducted to explore attrition rates in relation to student demographics, STEM fields, and online course structure, but these …

Tackling Reading From Many Sides, Karen M. Perry

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The article discusses the topic of reading from many sides, from keeping students reading to the education of new school librarians. It mentions how to keep students reading when the school library is closed; and also mentions the actions school librarians take every day to reinforce reading skills and suggest other ideas to incorporate technology tools.

Systematic Review Of Adaptive Learning Research Designs, Context, Strategies, And Technologies From 2009 To 2018, Florence Martin, Yan Chen, Robert L. Moore, Carl D. Westine

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This systematic review of research on adaptive learning used a strategic search process to synthesize research on adaptive learning based on publication trends, instructional context, research methodology components, research focus, adaptive strategies, and technologies. A total of 61 articles on adaptive learning were analyzed to describe the current state of research and identify gaps in the literature. Descriptive characteristics were recorded, including publication patterns, instructional context, and research methodology components. The count of adaptive learning articles published fluctuated across the decade and peaked in 2015. During this time, the largest concentration of adaptive learning articles appeared in Computers and Education. …

The Power Of Open: Benefits, Barriers, And Strategies For Integration Of Open Educational Resources, Tian Luo, Kirsten Hostetler, Candice Freeman, Jill Stefaniak

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming a significant, mission-driven trend within educational literature. To help address rising costs, instructors and designers are looking to OER to effectively replace traditional instructional content, which requires more than just identify and replace. Drawing from 51 OER studies conducted in countries across the five continents, this systematic literature review explored the empirical themes evident in the current research on a global scale. This review found (1) discoverability, sustainability, and remixing are significant barriers that stand in the way of OER disrupting traditional textbook models; (2) there is no significant difference in learning outcomes when …

Cyberbullying And Autism: Findings Of A Recent Study, Amelia Anderson, Abigail Phillips

STEMPS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Developing Lifelong Learning With Heutagogy: Contexts, Critiques, And Challenges, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This systematic review investigated the contexts, critiques, and challenges of using heutagogy (Hase & Kenyon, 2000), an emerging instructional approach that emphasizes the self-determination of learners, to develop lifelong learners. A total of 33 peer-reviewed publications published between 2000 and 2019 were aggregated and synthesized, and findings explored the role that technology played in supporting the heutagogical approach and learning environments and contexts that have used heutagogy. The review concludes with the critiques and challenges of the heutagogical approach.

The Explosion Of The Steamer Eclipse, Dieter C. Ullrich

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

An article describing the history and tragic explosion of the steamship Eclipse on January 27, 1865 across from Johnsonville, Tennessee on the Tennessee River.

Acceleration Of Coronal Mass Ejection Plasma In The Low Corona As Measured By The Citizen Cate Experiment, Ignacio Birriel, Jennifer J. Birriel

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) Experiment was a new type of citizen science experiment designed to capture a time sequence of white-light coronal observations during totality from 17:16 to 18:48 UT on 2017 August 21. Using identical instruments the CATE group imaged the inner corona from 1 to 2.1 RSun with 1 43 pixels at a cadence of 2.1 s. A slow coronal mass ejection (CME) started on the SW limb of the Sun before the total eclipse began. An analysis of CATE data from 17:22 to 17:39 UT maps the spatial distribution of coronal flow velocities from about …

A Corepressor Participates In Lexa-Independent Regulation Of Error-Prone Polymerases In Acinetobacter, Janelle M. Hare, Alison N. Grice, Megan A. Peterson

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The DNA damage response of the multidrug-resistant pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii, which induces mutagenic UmuD′2C error-prone polymerases, differs from that of many bacteria. Acinetobacter species lack a LexA repressor, but induce gene transcription after DNA damage. One regulator, UmuDAb, binds to and represses the promoters of the multiple A. baumannii ATCC 17978 umuDC alleles and the divergently transcribed umuDAb and ddrR genes. ddrR is unique to the genus Acinetobacter and of unknown function. 5' RACE (rapid amplification of cDNA ends) PCR mapping of the umuDAb and ddrR transcriptional start sites revealed that their −35 promoter elements overlapped the UmuDAb binding site, …

Cognitive Dissonance In Higher Education: Inflating Grades And Not Feeling Guilty, Ahmad Hassan, Fatma Mohamed, Jonathan Nelson

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Although there has been growing interest in recent years in investigating the phenomena of grade inflation in higher education, little has focused on the actual psychological processes through which professors may engage in inflating grades without feeling guilty or perceiving this behavior as problematic. Social psychology has focused on the apparent inconsistency between stated attitudes and actual behavior; specifically, cognitive dissonance theory provides insights into why people may behave immorally. By outlining the role of cognitive dissonance in the grade inflation process we provide greater understanding as to how professors cope with the negative psychological arousal associated with grade inflation.

Safety Concerns In Football: An Analysis On The Protocol Of Return To Play After Concussion, Steve Chen, Gina B. Gonzalez, Alexis Smith

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The purpose of this article was two-fold: (1) to address and highlight the standards of concussion management protocol provided by the NATA, CDC and major sports governing bodies, and (2) to examine how concussion protocols of different levels of athletic programs and organizations adhere to the proposed guidelines and standards. According to the literature, an ideal concussion management plan must cover elements such as: concussion education, responsibility and information about student athletes’ self-reporting signs and symptoms, policy and rules on restricting activities of athletes who are diagnosed with a concussion, requirements and procedures for diagnosis of a concussion and clearance …

Comparative Gene Expression Profiling Between Optic Nerve And Spinal Cord Injury In Xenopus Laevis Reveals A Core Set Of Genes Inherent In Successful Regeneration Of Vertebrate Central Nervous System Axons, Kurt M. Gibbs

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Background: The South African claw-toed frog, Xenopus laevis, is uniquely suited for studying differences between regenerative and non-regenerative responses to CNS injury within the same organism, because some CNS neurons (e.g., retinal ganglion cells after optic nerve crush (ONC)) regenerate axons throughout life, whereas others (e.g., hindbrain neurons after spinal cord injury (SCI)) lose this capacity as tadpoles metamorphose into frogs. Tissues from these CNS regions (frog ONC eye, tadpole SCI hindbrain, frog SCI hindbrain) were used in a three-way RNAseq study of axotomized CNS axons to identify potential core gene expression programs for successful CNS axon regeneration.

Results: Despite …

The Rural Rise (Rural Initiatives Supporting Excellence): University-Rural K-12 Collaboration Programs For College And Career Readiness For Rural Students, Shane C. Shope

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Faculty from two universities in Florida and Ohio designed, developed, and implemented programs to work with youth from their respective service regions to support college and career readiness initiatives. Both programs were directed by university faculty and utilized university resources to support K-12 students’ career development skills. In this paper, we examine the programs’ designs, implementations, and results; we include feedback from students, school personnel, and local stakeholders. Attentive to results and the relevant literature, we hope to ignite a longterm discussion on how universities can create effective outreach programs that help support student transitions from high school to college, …

The Worsening Political Divide: Adult Education As Part Of The Cure, Lee W. Nabb, Fujuan Tan, Daryl R. Privott

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The US is experiencing extreme social and political polarization not seen since the Civil War. This divisiveness is causing civil unrest and governmental dysfunction which threatens the stability of the nation. Four major causes of the current state are party realignment, the deregulation of news broadcasting, algorithmic personalization of electronic information, and an unknowing public. Adult education can and should be part of the remedy reducing or eliminating harmful polarization. Knowledge of authoritative systems is key to the solution. To promote such knowledge, adult educators can create practical and theoretical learning experiences about authoritative systems and incorporate such knowledge into …

The Effects Of Attending Annual Professional Conferences On The Personal Development Of International Faculty, Lee Nabb, Fujuan Tan

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Especially given the current emphasis on internationalization and globalization, international faculty members constitute an important part of the overall faculty of higher education in the US and abroad. Personal as well as professional well-being is important in retaining international faculty. While annual professional conferences, by design, support and enhance professional development, little information exists as to the effect they have on personal development of international faculty members. This qualitative study was designed to provide foundational information on which to build further research as to the impact attending professional conferences have on the personal development and well-being of international higher education …

Examining Contextual Differences In Participant Characteristics And During-Program Occurrences With Drug Court Program Completion, Shondrah T. Nash

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The study purpose was to compare individuals participating in rural and urban drug courts to examine factors associated with program completion. Secondary data (participant assessment; drug court Management Information System) as well as conviction information from a statewide database were examined for a sample of drug court participants (N = 534). Based on multivariate analysis, for rural participants, two variables were significantly associated with increased program completion: age and outpatient treatment. Conversely, for rural participants, the number of felony/misdemeanor convictions before drug court and receiving an incarceration sanction during drug court were associated with program non-completion. For urban participants, gender …

Intensive Disc-Reverberation Mapping Of Fairall 9: 1st Year Of Swift & Lco Monitoring, Dirk Grupe

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

We present results of time-series analysis of the rst year of the Fairall 9 intensive disc-reverberation campaign. We used Swift and the Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network to continuously monitor Fairall 9 from X-rays to near-infrared at a daily to sub-daily cadence. The cross-correlation function between bands provides ev- idence for a lag spectrum consistent with the / 43 scaling expected for an optically thick, geometrically thin blackbody accretion disc. Decomposing the ux into con- stant and variable components, the variable component's spectral energy distribution is slightly steeper than the standard accretion disc prediction. We nd evidence at the …

Acceleration Of Coronal Mass Ejection Plasma In The Low Corona As Measured By The Citizen Cate Experiment, Jennifer J. Birriel, Ignacio Birriel

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The citizen Continental-America Telescopic Eclipse (CATE) Experiment was a new type of citizen science experiment designed to capture a time sequence of white-light coronal observations during totality from 17:16 to 18:48 UT on 2017 August 21. Using identical instruments the CATE group imaged the inner corona from 1 to 2.1 RSun with 1 43 pixels at a cadence of 2.1 s. A slow coronal mass ejection (CME) started on the SW limb of the Sun before the total eclipse began. An analysis of CATE data from 17:22 to 17:39 UT maps the spatial distribution of coronal flow velocities from about …

Rearview Mirror Rainbow: An Optics Investigation, Jennifer Birriel, Ignacio Birriel

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

No abstract provided.

Key Components Of Tourism Destination Development, Janet Ratliff, Michelle B. Kunz

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

This paper examines variables that contribute to tourism revenues as reported by the state of Kentucky for a sample of 54 counties in Appalachian Kentucky. The study utilized five components of tourism, online promotional information, and reported tourism revenues to identify what variables contribute to regional tourism revenues. Regression analysis using factor scores found two factors influenced employment revenue and one factor influenced direct tourism revenue.

A Structural Equation Modeling Investigation Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior Applied To Accounting Professors’ Formal Enforcement Of Cheating Rules, Stephen S. Brigham

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

This study investigates factors that influence accounting professors’ formal enforcement of academic misconduct rules using the Theory of Planned Behavior (“TPB”) as a theoretical framework. Obtaining a better understanding of formal enforcement will inform efforts to improve it. We emailed survey requests to 8,663 accounting faculty in 35 countries and received a reasonably representative sample of 1,207 (13.9% response rate) complete surveys from 23 countries— exceeding sample-size requirements for structural equation modeling to test our TPB model, which explains 43.3% of the variance in Formal Enforcement Behavior and 52.4% of Intention, consistent with past TPB studies. Results indicate that of …

Life And Death In The Chicxulub Impact Crater: A Record Of The Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum, Jennifer M. O'Keefe

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

Thermal stress on the biosphere during the extreme warmth of the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was most severe at low latitudes, with sea surface temperatures at some localities exceeding the 35 C at which marine organisms experience heat stress. Relatively few equivalent terrestrial sections have been identified, and the response of land plants to this extreme heat is still poorly understood. Here, we present a new record of the PETM from the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater that has been identified based on nannofossil biostratigraphy, an acme of the dinoflagellate genus Apectodinium, and a negative carbon isotope excursion. …

Virtual Laboratory Of Industrial Scenarios For Training In The Areas Of Automation And Control, Jorge Alberto Ortega-Moody, William R. Grise

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The incorporation of new technologies and technological developments in the area of automation and control requires constant training of the personnel involved in such area. The majority of this training begins in the laboratories of educational institutions and training centers for automation personnel. These laboratories are where theoretical knowledge gained in the classroom is applied. Unfortunately, being limited in infrastructure, the use of those laboratories, in the best case scenarios, are restricted to only some actuators and sensors. Industry training is another source in which individual companies have their own internal training programs led by experts in the field. However, …

The Midway To Carrizo Succession In The Southeastern Texas Gulf Coast: Evolution Of A Tidally-Influenced Coastline, Jennifer M. O'Keefe

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

This study demonstrates that the Upper Midway to Carrizo stratigraphic succession in southeastern Texas contains a greater variability in depositional systems, facies, and reservoir sandstone-body geometry than previously documented. It also documents significant tidal processes on sedimentation in the Wilcox Group and Carrizo Formation.

Novel Machine Learning Algorithms For Centrality And Cliques Detection In Youtube Social Networks, Craigory Coppola, Heba Elgazzar

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

The goal of this research project is to analyze the dynamics of social networks using machine learning techniques to locate maximal cliques and to find clusters for the purpose of identifying a target demographic. Unsupervised machine learning techniques are designed and implemented in this project to analyze a dataset from YouTube to discover communities in the social network and find central nodes. Different clustering algorithms are implemented and applied to the YouTube dataset. The well-known Bron-Kerbosch algorithm is used effectively in this research to find maximal cliques. The results obtained from this research could be used for advertising purposes and …

Astro2020 Apc White Paper. 2020 Vision: Towards A Sustainable Oir System, Sally Oey, Terry D. Oswalt, Tom Maccarone, Fred Walter, Charles Bailyn, Jay Gallagher, Todd Henry, Derek Buzasi, J. Allyn Smith, Rachael Beaton, Jim Webb, Brad Barlow, Misty Bentz, Leslie Hebb, Patrick Kelly, Jedidah Isler, Michael Meyer, John Salzer, Simone Scaringi

Publications

Open-access telescopes of all apertures are needed to operate a competitive and efficient national science program. While larger facilities contribute light-gathering power and angular resolution, smaller ones dominate for field of view, time-resolution, and especially, total available observing time, thereby enabling our entire, diversely-expert community. Smaller aperture telescopes therefore play a critical and indispensable role in advancing science. Thus, the divestment of NSF support for modest-aperture (1 – 4 m) public telescopes poses a serious threat to U.S. scientific leadership, which is compounded by the unknown consequences of the shift from observations driven by individual investigators to survey-driven science. Given …

Fraudulent Transcripts, Edward Trombley

Publications

The use of fraudulent credentials, including standalone transcripts, forged degrees, and the transcripts that support forged degrees, is a concern worldwide, which affects colleges and universities, employers, governmental licensing boards, and other agencies. The circumstances are varied, the scenarios often implausible, and many fall into the “truth is stranger than fiction” category.

Infographic: Career Readiness Challenge (Crc) Summary, Melanie Canfield, Leroy Long Iii, James J. Pembridge, Matthew Verleger Dr.

Publications

This infographic summarizes the final report from a study titled, Gamified Online Platform to Support Student-Athlete Career Readiness, funded by the NCAA Innovations in Research and Practice Grant Program. The purpose of the study was to create a gamified online career readiness program to enhance attitudes towards career planning and support the translation of professional competencies. Over a span of seven weeks, 116 student-athletes from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) - Daytona Beach participated in the study. The student-athletes competed in three different sports. Among ERAU student-athletes, the highest contribution of professional competencies involved: a) leadership, b) communication and c) collaboration. …

Infographic: Black Unicorns - Pre-College Access To Stem And Non-Revenue Sports, Kobe Reese, Leroy Long Iii, Morris R. Council Iii, Sharnnia Artis

Publications

This infographic was created to support the article titled Black Unicorns: STEM Access for Black Student-Athletes in Non-Revenue Sports. The article is for the 3rd Annual Conference of CoNECD - Collaborative Network for Engineering and Computing Diversity. The infographic covers Black students' pre-college access to non-revenue generating sports and STEM. Suggested recommendations are included.

Infographic: Division 1 - Power 5 Football Stars In Stem, Sydney Jones, Leroy Long Iii

Publications

In this infographic, football stars studying degrees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are showcased. The infographic focuses on racial/ethnic minoritized students who pursue STEM degrees and play football at a university in a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 - Power 5 conference. For each football star, their name, university and major are included. While pursuing majors such as biology, engineering and psychology, these diverse individuals provide counterexamples of who can pursue rigorous majors and high-demand sports.