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Full-Text Articles in Education

Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg, Ilse Schweitzer Vandonkelaar Nov 2015

Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg, Ilse Schweitzer Vandonkelaar

Christina Triezenberg

Despite the growing evidence of humanity’s impact on the natural world and the urgent need to shape citizens who understand the impact that their choices and actions have on their local and global environments, colleges and universities throughout the United States have been slow to add environmental education as a core component of their undergraduate curricula. Harnessing our shared interest in environment issues and the humanities, we designed and taught an experimental course in environmental literature for the honors program at Western Michigan University that we hope will become a template of what is possible in postsecondary environmental education. Using …


"Digital Natives" Or "The Dumbest Generation?", David J. Mulder Oct 2015

"Digital Natives" Or "The Dumbest Generation?", David J. Mulder

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

A common part of the conversation about Millenials is to describe them as exceptionally technologically-savvy; some have called them "digital natives." But research does not bear this out; people of older generations can be equally tech-savvy, and while many Millenials love their phones and social media, etc., the reality is that all of us are acculturated into a particular era of technology, and members of each generation can exhibit a range of comfort and skill working with different technologies.


Infographics: A Librarian's Best Friend, Rachel S. Evans Oct 2015

Infographics: A Librarian's Best Friend, Rachel S. Evans

Presentations

Infographics are on the rise as a communication medium in libraries. We live in a visual world; we are visual creatures, naturally drawn to graphical representations. Using free web applications, librarians and their support staff can now easily create beautiful and compelling infographics which can serve multiple purposes in the library environment. From community outreach and marketing of programs and collections to internal use as a presentation aid and everything in between, infographics can help us relay important information in an attractive way for little to no cost. This presentation will discuss the advantages of using infographics in the library …


The New Curricula: Propelling The Growth Of Media Literacy Education, Tessa Jolls Sep 2015

The New Curricula: Propelling The Growth Of Media Literacy Education, Tessa Jolls

Journal of Media Literacy Education

As new online and cellular technologies advance, the implications for the traditional textbook model of curricular instruction are profound. The ability to construct, share, collaborate on and publish new instructional materials marks the beginning of a global revolution in curricula development. Research-based media literacy frameworks can be applied to all subjects, and they enable teachers to have confidence that, in employing the frameworks to address academic subjects, themes or projects, students will gain content knowledge. Teaching through media literacy education strategies provides the opportunity to make media literacy central to teaching and learning, since media literacy process skills enable students …


On Purpose: Teaching The Digital Humanities, Thomas Keegan, Matt Gilchrist Aug 2015

On Purpose: Teaching The Digital Humanities, Thomas Keegan, Matt Gilchrist

Tom Keegan

Matt Gilchrist and Tom Keegan, co-directors of Iowa Digital Engagement and Learning (IDEAL), discuss the philosophical and pragmatic reasons for adopting 21st century technologies in humanities courses. On Purpose is a project that explores and reflects on the shifting technological and pedagogical landscape of higher education.


Writing The World: Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Of 21st Century Writing Instruction, Kristine E. Pytash, Elizabeth Testa, Jennifer Nigh Jul 2015

Writing The World: Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions Of 21st Century Writing Instruction, Kristine E. Pytash, Elizabeth Testa, Jennifer Nigh

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore preservice teachers’ perceptions of integrating technology into writing instruction before and after a methods course and the experiences in a methods course that, according to the preservice teachers, influenced these perceptions. Participants were enrolled in two sections of a Teaching Language and Composition course. Data collected included an adapted Likert-scale pre and posttest survey, and focus group interviews. Preservice teachers self-reported salient course experiences, and also discussed the affordances and tensions they felt in thinking about how to use technology to teach writing. This study has implications for teacher education and …


Pairing Technology With Effective Literacy Strategies, Alexis L. Carlson May 2015

Pairing Technology With Effective Literacy Strategies, Alexis L. Carlson

Senior Honors Projects

School districts and policy makers have pushed schools toward tomorrow, without preparing them for today. Regardless of whether a district decides to spend thousands of dollars becoming a 1-1 school (i.e. one device per one student), or save money by instituting a bring your own device policy (B.Y.O.D), the results are the same. Students and teachers have been thrown into a digital world without first receiving training on personal and professional use of technology. Though I originally set out to combine literacy strategies and technology, I realized I needed to first build own my personal knowledge based on education technologies …


Google's #Freeandopen Campaign: Using A Documentary To Raise Awareness Of Internet Regulation Among University Students, Shelby N. Rice Apr 2015

Google's #Freeandopen Campaign: Using A Documentary To Raise Awareness Of Internet Regulation Among University Students, Shelby N. Rice

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The internet was founded as a non-proprietary tool by which computers could connect and share information reciprocally. This philosophy has allowed the internet to become a fundamental resource in higher education and provides a window by which students can experience the world around them. The primary focus of The #freeandopen Documentary is to maintain an uncensored web by raising awareness of the forces that act against the freedom of the internet and of the resources available to contribute to the cause. The short, 13-minute documentary is funded by Google’s #freeandopen Microgrant of $2,000. It features interviews from students who are …


Reconnecting With Nature, Christopher H. Reyes Feb 2015

Reconnecting With Nature, Christopher H. Reyes

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This set of poems addresses the first-gen author's view of modernization from the past to the present, focusing on the need for individuals to reconnect with Nature.


Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg Ph.D., Ilse A. Schweitzer Vandonkelaar Jan 2015

Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg Ph.D., Ilse A. Schweitzer Vandonkelaar

The Hilltop Review

Despite the growing evidence of humanity’s impact on the natural world and the urgent need to shape citizens who understand the impact that their choices and actions have on their local and global environments, colleges and universities throughout the United States have been slow to add environmental education as a core component of their undergraduate curricula. Harnessing our shared interest in environment issues and the humanities, we designed and taught an experimental course in environmental literature for the honors program at Western Michigan University that we hope will become a template of what is possible in postsecondary environmental education. Using …


Promoting Information Literacy Through Teacher - School Library Media Specialist Collaboration, Pamela Denise Taylor Jan 2015

Promoting Information Literacy Through Teacher - School Library Media Specialist Collaboration, Pamela Denise Taylor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Schools that support collaboration between teachers and school library media specialists (SLMS) outperform those that do not. Teachers at a rural Georgia middle school were not using the library media program or being trained on how to collaborate with the SLMS to promote student achievement. Guided by Bruner's socioconstructivist theory of learning, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to investigate teachers' experiences with integrating technology and information literacy into the curriculum and to examine the collaborative services the SLMS could provide to enhance integration. Eight teachers in Grades 6th through 8th comprised the sample. Data sources included teacher …


The Techno-Pedagogical Pivot: Designing And Implementing A Digital Writing Tool, Justin Olmanson, Katrina Kennett, Bill Cope Jan 2015

The Techno-Pedagogical Pivot: Designing And Implementing A Digital Writing Tool, Justin Olmanson, Katrina Kennett, Bill Cope

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In educational technology, the idea of innovation is usually tethered to contemporary technological inventions and emerging technologies. Yet, using long-known technologies in ways that are pedagogically or experientially new can reposition them as emerging educational technologies. In this study we explore how a subtle pivot in pedagogical thinking led to an innovative education technology. We describe the design and implementation of an online writing tool that scaffolds students in the evaluation of their own informational texts. We think about how pathways to innovation can emerge from pivots, namely a leveraging of longstanding practices in novel ways has the potential to …


Explaining Participation : An Explanatory History Of Select Gender Patterns In Undergraduate Stem, Michael Pasquale Mastroianni Jan 2015

Explaining Participation : An Explanatory History Of Select Gender Patterns In Undergraduate Stem, Michael Pasquale Mastroianni

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This explanatory study examines three focal periods in undergraduate STEM as related to the gender gap. Social, economic, and more general historical data are used to develop a clear and powerful explanation of baccalaureate trends in biology and engineering. Specifically, historical accounts are offered for 1) a ten-year period in undergraduate biology in which the number of baccalaureates awarded to men decreased 44 percent, while the number of baccalaureates awarded to women decreased one percent; 2) the start of a twenty-year period in which the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in the biological sciences increased 150 percent—from 36,068 degrees in …


The Impact Of Web 2.0 In Education And Its Potential For Language Learning And Teaching, Kerwin A. Livingstone Dec 2014

The Impact Of Web 2.0 In Education And Its Potential For Language Learning And Teaching, Kerwin A. Livingstone

Kerwin A. Livingstone

The arrival of technology has transited the path for an increased use of the Web, allowing for access to diverse kinds of information and materials. With this advent of technology, a significant number of distinct technologies have been introduced to assist in human communication and interaction. Since the genesis of Web 2.0 technologies, people all over the world now have the Internet at their finger tips, and can execute communicative acts with little or no difficulty. In educational contexts, Web 2.0 is making great in-roads even though its full effectiveness still needs to be further researched in the said environments. …


Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg, Ilse Schweitzer Vandonkelaar Mar 2014

Advocating For Mother Earth In The Undergraduate Classroom: Uniting Twenty-First Century Technologies, Local Resources, Art, And Activism To Explore Our Place In Nature, Christina Triezenberg, Ilse Schweitzer Vandonkelaar

Ilse A Schweitzer VanDonkelaar

Despite the growing evidence of humanity’s impact on the natural world and the urgent need to shape citizens who understand the impact that their choices and actions have on their local and global environments, colleges and universities throughout the United States have been slow to add environmental education as a core component of their undergraduate curricula. Harnessing our shared interest in environment issues and the humanities, we designed and taught an experimental course in environmental literature for the honors program at Western Michigan University that we hope will become a template of what is possible in postsecondary environmental education. Using …