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Full-Text Articles in Education

Factors Affecting Technology Integration For Teachers At K-12, Adult Education, And Higher Education Institutions Since Virtual Learning Due To Covid-19, Christina Thompson, Stephanie Collins, Lisa Hollins Nov 2023

Factors Affecting Technology Integration For Teachers At K-12, Adult Education, And Higher Education Institutions Since Virtual Learning Due To Covid-19, Christina Thompson, Stephanie Collins, Lisa Hollins

Dissertations

This quantitative study investigates instructors' perceptions of the factors influencing technology integration in their instruction, spanning the years 2019-2023, encompassing the transition from virtual to in-person learning after COVID-19. It examines technology integration barriers and supports experienced by instructors in the Midwestern United States, namely Missouri, during this period. Additionally, it explores how the virtual learning experience during the pandemic has influenced instructors' self-perceptions of their digital competence. The study encompasses three education sectors: K-12, adult education, and higher education, providing a unique multi-sector perspective. By delving into the post-COVID-19 educational environment, this research aims to offer valuable insights. The …


Translanguaging: The Instructor-Perceived Benefits Of Use In The Adult English Language Learner Classroom, Paul Jonas Oct 2023

Translanguaging: The Instructor-Perceived Benefits Of Use In The Adult English Language Learner Classroom, Paul Jonas

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, seeks to answer the research questions: what are the instructor-perceived benefits of translanguaging in the adult second language acquisition classroom for students who have not had any prior English language experience when learning English as a second language? Additionally, is there an instructor-perceived increase in output and comprehension with adult learners when translanguaging is actively used, and how is it being used? Topics explored during the literature review process included translanguaging, perceived benefits and challenges of translanguaging in the classroom, age-related factors for language acquisition, and non-age-related factors regarding language learning. Six English language instructors of adult non-degree-seeking …


Teaching Strategies For Low Literacy Adult Learners, Kelly Rynda Oct 2023

Teaching Strategies For Low Literacy Adult Learners, Kelly Rynda

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has demonstrated that low-literacy adult learners have different needs than children or more proficient adult readers, but teaching strategies are not often aimed at these students. The professional development presentation developed for this project focuses on the characteristics of these learners, how low-literacy skills affect their lives, and which interventions educators can use in the classroom. Key interventions include Robinson’s suggestions around word recognition, Tighe and Binder’s recommendations about morphology and fluency, Mellard and Fall’s ideas around language comprehension, Park’s suggestions for critical literacy, and Rodrigo et al.’s recommendations around reading for pleasure. The project shares information about the …


Implementing Nature-Based Play In Academically Focused Early Childhood Settings, Abbie Krohn Oct 2023

Implementing Nature-Based Play In Academically Focused Early Childhood Settings, Abbie Krohn

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research shows that both play and time spent in nature is critical to childhood development. Over the last fifty years, children’s access to extended play in outdoor spaces has decreased substantially. What are early childhood educators in formal academic settings to do with this information? The professional development series created for this project aims to provide early childhood educators with tools and resources to incorporate nature-based play practices into their classrooms. In the series, participants will examine the history of outdoor education in America, the effects of nature on the human body, standardized testing and current educational practices in early …


Increasing Student And Educator Participation In Outdoor Classroom Spaces Through Teacher Education And Community Connection, Cora Greenawald Jul 2023

Increasing Student And Educator Participation In Outdoor Classroom Spaces Through Teacher Education And Community Connection, Cora Greenawald

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Place based outdoor integrated education in the general elementary setting aims to connect student learning in subjects such as reading and math to first hand schoolyard experiences. This educational practice is anchored in a wealth of research which enumerates the benefits. Yet implementation is not commonly supported within general education teacher professional development. This capstone aims to answer the question How can urban elementary educators take advantage of schoolyard resources for integrated place based learning experiences? The final product is a professional development sequence that introduces general education classroom teachers to the joys and benefits of outdoor integration through circle …


Utilizing Behavior Change Principles To Encourage Community Engagement In Water Protection And Conservation, Chyann Erickson Jul 2023

Utilizing Behavior Change Principles To Encourage Community Engagement In Water Protection And Conservation, Chyann Erickson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Integrating behavior change into water conservation efforts is a growing discipline that explores how factors of decision-making can be used to encourage pro-environmental behavior. As water issues of quality and quantity are exacerbated, it is essential to consider the potential of behavioral science as a means to revolutionize traditional approaches to water conservation education and engagement. This capstone project investigates the question: how can behavior change principles be used to engage people in efforts to protect and conserve water? By looking at cognitive foundations, internal and external factors that influence behavior, and particular interventions to encourage water conservation, research shows …


Implementing Tpr And Tprs In The Adult Esl Classroom With Slife Learners: A Teacher’S Diary Study, Ann Gehrt Jul 2023

Implementing Tpr And Tprs In The Adult Esl Classroom With Slife Learners: A Teacher’S Diary Study, Ann Gehrt

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study addresses the question: how can TPR and TPRS be used in the adult ESL classroom to teach vocabulary and reading skills? Adult ELLs with limited or interrupted formal education may struggle to learn English in traditional classrooms that rely on pre-existing literacy skills they have not yet developed, such as reading or taking notes. TPR (Total Physical Response) and TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) are methods of teaching language that may make use of body movements, gestures, role-play, drama and oral storytelling to make language understandable before connecting it to its written form. TPR has a …


Metaphor Matters: Teaching Metaphoric Competence, Linda Pope Jul 2023

Metaphor Matters: Teaching Metaphoric Competence, Linda Pope

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research shows that metaphoric competence is necessary for communicative competence and this paper suggests Cognitive Metaphor Theory (CMT) may be useful in teaching metaphoric competence at all levels of English. Even though causality is difficult to establish, research underscores the link between metaphoric competence and overall language proficiency. This, and the pervasiveness of metaphor in everyday and specialized English, strongly suggests a pedagogical shift towards recognizing and engaging deeply with metaphoric language. This means making room for metaphoric competence training in the ESL and legal English classroom. The project models the analyses of two diverse texts: an intermediate-level newspaper article …


Lgbtqia+ Inclusivity In The Outdoors, Allison Brown Jul 2023

Lgbtqia+ Inclusivity In The Outdoors, Allison Brown

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

LGBTQIA+ individuals face barriers, inequities, and discrimination while accessing outdoor spaces and participating in outdoor education and recreation. This project focused on creating an online, asynchronous toolkit with learning activities designed for individuals and organizations within the fields of outdoor education and outdoor recreation to become aware of barriers the LGTBQIA+ community faces to accessing the outdoors and begin implementing LGBTQIA+ inclusion initiatives. The activities are intended to be completed in order, but can be adapted to best meet individual and organizational needs. Each learning activity was influenced by the research conducted for the capstone project and by examining inclusivity …


Critical Literacy And Independent Learning Routines With Opportunity Youth, Natalie Seger Jul 2023

Critical Literacy And Independent Learning Routines With Opportunity Youth, Natalie Seger

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The nation’s population of opportunity youth, those aged 16–24 and disconnected from school and work, has increased since the pandemic. Many of these young people lack a high school diploma or GED. Due to past school experiences, many opportunity youth have not had the same instruction and time necessary to develop their literacy skills when compared to peers with uninterrupted education. This project addresses the research question: How can a high school equivalency curriculum based in critical literacy and independent learning strategies engage opportunity youth and empower them as self-directed learners? Building a classroom curriculum utilizing critical literacy and developing …


Best Practices: To Supporting And Including Slife, Preliterate, Pashtu Students In Secondary, Western, Schools, Claire Madden Jul 2023

Best Practices: To Supporting And Including Slife, Preliterate, Pashtu Students In Secondary, Western, Schools, Claire Madden

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The research question addressed in this capstone project was: what are the best practices for supporting and including SLIFE (Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education), preliterate, Pashtun students in secondary, Western, schools? Topics explored in this literacy review were the challenges of SLIFE students, literacy development, multiculturalism and Pashtu culture. This paper and three part professional development series discusses methods for all secondary teachers to include and support SLIFE, preliterate, Pashtu students in Western schools. This professional development utilizes the research of Aguilar (2013). Aguilar’s (2013) work in adult education assisted in the creation of this professional development series. …


Kanwork Covid-19 Vaccine Initiative, Mazanah Muhamad, Nor Aida Maskor, Asmah Ismail, Nik Hasnaa Nik Mahmood Jun 2023

Kanwork Covid-19 Vaccine Initiative, Mazanah Muhamad, Nor Aida Maskor, Asmah Ismail, Nik Hasnaa Nik Mahmood

Adult Education Research Conference

COVID-19 triggered the need for vaccination. A mixed method inquiry revealed that KanWork Cancer Society’s vaccination initiative was successful in educating members to make informed decision to vaccinate.


How Can Udl Be Used To Increase Equity And Access At An Abe Site?, Karen Cook Apr 2023

How Can Udl Be Used To Increase Equity And Access At An Abe Site?, Karen Cook

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has been shown to reduce barriers through all levels of education. Similarly, there is research showing the effectiveness of UDL to increase equity and inclusion. Given the diverse population of Adult Basic Education (ABE) and the overrepresentation of students with a learning disability, UDL makes sense as a curriculum shift. The professional development project was designed to give ABE teachers tools for implementing UDL that can be used in various classroom settings, regardless of course level or area of study, so that there can be consistency across all classes at an ABE site rather than …


How Adult Efl Teachers Can Effectively Utilize Duolingo In Their Curriculum, Rebecca Nelson Apr 2023

How Adult Efl Teachers Can Effectively Utilize Duolingo In Their Curriculum, Rebecca Nelson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The proliferation of cell phones and application technology has changed the way individuals access learning. It’s also opened up a space for profit-driven companies to be included in educational options. This project focuses on Mobile-Assisted Language Learning applications, in particular Duolingo, and how they can best be used by Language teachers, especially English teachers of adults in non-immersive environments, to use Duolingo as a supplement to their teaching. The literature shows that these applications can be helpful, but need traditional support to be most effective. The question the literature brings to mind is how teachers can best use these apps. …


Animal Assisted Environmental Education Program Design: The Environmental Learning Farm, Kellie Soronen Apr 2023

Animal Assisted Environmental Education Program Design: The Environmental Learning Farm, Kellie Soronen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has shown that by including animals in therapeutic and educational experiences progress can be made in improving the quality of our education and the quality of our lives. This project focused on filling a gap seen in Minnesota’s environmental education programs. There are many environmental learning centers in Minnesota and many different animal assisted therapy programs focusing on physical, mental and emotional health, but there is not a program that is dedicated to bringing our domesticated animals into the curriculum in environmental education. The Environmental Learning Farm is an theoretical and experimental project that could bridge the gap that …


A Training Program That Connects Seasonal Garden Staff And Volunteers To The Mission Of Gale Woods Farm To Promote Land Stewardship Through Agriculture Education, Lindsay Bolstad Apr 2023

A Training Program That Connects Seasonal Garden Staff And Volunteers To The Mission Of Gale Woods Farm To Promote Land Stewardship Through Agriculture Education, Lindsay Bolstad

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

An educational farm has an opportunity to support staff with the skills needed to make pro-environmental food consumption choices, such as participating in a Community Supported Agriculture program and producing food using regenerative or sustainable practices. Research concludes that best practices for a staff training program considers environmental literacy, skill-building, andragogical principles, and consistent workplace values. This capstone uses a combination of literature review and personal communication to answer the question, what are the elements and considerations of creating a training program that connects seasonal garden staff and volunteers to the mission of land stewardship through food production and agriculture …


Effective Strategies For Integrating Pronunciation Instruction With A Focus On Intelligibility And Comprehensibility For Adult Esl Students, Ashley Carrel Apr 2023

Effective Strategies For Integrating Pronunciation Instruction With A Focus On Intelligibility And Comprehensibility For Adult Esl Students, Ashley Carrel

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question for this project was: What are some effective strategies for integrating pronunciation instruction in an adult ESL course with the focus being on intelligibility and comprehensibility? This question is guided by personal and professional experiences that are shared in the first chapter. The literature review examines the stigma of accented speech of non-native speakers and the factors that influence their pronunciation production. The intelligibility approach to pronunciation instruction has been proven to be a more realistic and ethical approach as compared to the nativeness principle. The research studied showed that adult ESL teachers often feel ill equipped …


Transformative Learning Theory As Applied To Worship Studies, Loueda B. Bleiler Mar 2023

Transformative Learning Theory As Applied To Worship Studies, Loueda B. Bleiler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite extensive research regarding the application of Transformative Learning Theory in adult education, there is very little literature promoting applying these principles and practices within Christian Worship Studies. Transformative Learning Theory is an educational theory that researches and promotes perspective-changing teaching and learning. Structured educational opportunities and spiritual development through Christian worship both have the potential to be life-altering events in human experience. In each of these dimensions of learning, the final result may include a change in perspective which then leads to modified behaviors. Transformative change occurs in the life of the learner. This qualitative research study explores the …


Instructional Perspectives Of Ymca Fitness Instructors, Christinia M. Scott Jan 2023

Instructional Perspectives Of Ymca Fitness Instructors, Christinia M. Scott

Adult Education Research Conference

The study seeks to determine the amount of andragogical principles used by adult fitness instructors at the Greater Louisville YMCAs. The Modified Instructional Perspectives Inventory (MIPI) will measure the level of andragogical principles used by Greater Louisville YMCAs fitness instructors.