Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

“Movies, Tv Shows, And Memes . . . Oh My!”: An Honors Education Through Popular Culture And Critical Pedagogy, Evan W. Faidley

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Entertainment media and popular culture often overdramatize the college experience. An honors colloquium engages students in scholarly research and discourse involving thematic elements of academic life in popular culture. An interdisciplinary approach to race, class, the professoriate, Greek life, and foreign experience is espoused. Through a lens of critical social theory, students deconstruct misinformed “stories most often told” to reconstruct more cogent understandings of college life and student experience. With a curriculum designed to advance social justice through equitizing education and amending cultural perceptions, this colloquium helps develop self-motivated, self-regulated, and engaged learners.

Editor’S Introduction, Ada Long

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This journal of the plague year has attracted a record number of submissions, creating the thickest volume of Honors in Practice since its inception in 2005. The inclusion of essays in response to a Call for Papers about COVID- 19 is no doubt responsible for some of this torrent of submissions, but research essays have also come in at a greater rate than before, not to mention the “Brief Ideas about What Works in Honors.” As you will see, the essays on the pandemic’s effects on honors mostly make the best of a fraught and frustrating year for honors administrators, …

Meditations In An Emergency: Collaborating Online In Narratives Of Illness And Care, Jayda Coons

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This article describes a collaborative writing project involving narratives of health and caregiving. An interdisciplinary seminar titled “Narratives of Illness and Care” examines literary and medical narratives to better understand disease, therapeutic communication, empathy, and the social determinants of health. During the COVID-19 crisis, however, the instructor adapted course structure and curricular assignments to help students make meaningful connections with their immediate circumstance. The author reflects on the significance of the project during a time of global upheaval and suggests changes for future iterations.

Close Reading Responses: A Streamlined Approach To Teaching Critical-Thinking Writing In Honors, Katie Quirk

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study presents a scaffold approach to building critical academic writing skills among honors students. Faced with limited instructional time, a reading-intensive curriculum, and students in need of rigorous writing instruction, a scaffold model was developed to include a series of condensed writing assignments called “Close Reading Responses.” Coupled with rubrics and guided peer review, these assignments allow for repetitive critical practice at various stages along a trajectory toward the final paper. Results indicate that this incremental, explicit form of writing instruction allows students to hone critical-thinking skills in a condensed manner without demanding that they produce (and instructors read) …

“One Singular Sensation”: Integrating Personal Narratives Into The Honors Classroom, Marc Napolitano, Mimi Killinger

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Contemporary emphases on standardization, specialization, and selectivity in higher education alienate students and teachers from their own creativity, intellectual curiosity, and personal stories. This trend runs counter to the central focus of honors on fostering a diverse, scholarly learning environment. Authors suggest that integrating student personal narratives into honors curricula reinforces its values of multiplicity, inclusivity, and meaningful learning. Using metaphorical reference to the Broadway musical A Chorus Line as a unique lens into the pedagogical benefits of such integration, this essay provides ways of incorporating and sharing personal narratives in the classroom and offers strategies to ensure that all …

Tough Talks: Student-Led Programs To Facilitate Civil Discourse, Leah Horton, Doug Corbitt, Booker White

Honors in Practice Online Archive

These student-led, co-curricular programs are designed to give honors students the opportunity to learn and practice civil discourse through difficult conversations. Issues such as race, religion, politics, gender, and sexual orientation are carefully curated to help students practice and hone their dialogue skills outside the classroom where grades are not a factor. A brave spaces ideology provides the foundation for shared pools of meaning, encouraging students to move from certainty to curiosity with the shared understanding that discomfort is an opportunity for growth. By teaching students how to engage in controversy with civility, Tough Talks support an honors ethos of …

“To Seek A Newer World”: Honors In Virtual Reality, Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Honors education was never intended to be a virtual offering; it takes intimate, three-dimensional, communal, and intellectual interaction among faculty and students to tackle wicked problems. The COVID-19 crisis forced honors educators into an extreme reboot, extracting courses from comfortable working spaces and relocating them to strange new platforms for remote, computer-mediated instruction. For many faculty, the 2020 pandemic introduced online instruction for the first time. Toward this end, many novices were able to brilliantly reimagine and re-engineer their courses while others struggled. In this essay, the author points out that higher education has always adapted new technologies, asserting that …

First-Generation College Student Network, Ashleen Williams, Ainsley Ash

Honors in Practice Online Archive

Authors describe the college’s First-Gen Student Network, a cohort of faculty, students, and practitioners committed to equity, access, and success of firstgeneration learners. Optional biweekly meetings address a range of topics, including financial aid and opportunities for employment.

The Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi often prides itself on being the edge of the knife in conversations about equity and access, yet such conversations only work in honors when we commit tangible actions and resources to generate positive outcomes. Over the last couple of years, we have recognized a group that was consistently forgotten in our …

Virtual Honors Forum, Bruce Thompson

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This article describes how one honors leadership team adapted a traditional in-person Forum to a digital platform during the coronavirus crisis. Integrating a variety of asynchronous and synchronous remote technologies created a positive virtual learning experience for honors practitioners and students.

One of the hallmark experiences of honors learning at Frederick Community College (FCC) in Frederick, MD, is participating in the Honors Forum each semester. The Forum is a mini-conference on campus in which students are required to participate whether enrolled in an honors class or attempting to complete an honors contract. There is a registration desk where presenters, faculty …

A View Of Health As A Human Right: A Snapshot From An Honors Program, Peter Longo, Satoshi Machida, John Falconer

Honors in Practice Online Archive

This study examines implications of a rights-based perspective among honors students through the lens of healthcare. Students (n = 71) surveyed in April 2019 were asked to consider issues relating to health entitlement and government responsibility. Perspectives on local, regional, national, and global access to health care; state and national government fiscal responsibility; and rights-based approaches to health entitlement were elicited. Data indicate a propensity for understanding health as a human right among honors students. Probit regressions show a more inclusive stance on healthcare policy and a general preference toward a universal healthcare system. Acknowledging that innovative curricula can help …

An Efficient And Coherent Pipeline For Graduate Student And Postdoctoral Scholar Educational Development, Daniel Mann, Matthew Mahavongtrakul, Ashley Hooper

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

As higher education shifts toward a culture of evidence-based teaching practices, future faculty are seeking opportunities to develop their pedagogical knowledge and skills. Many centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) have not proportionally grown in resources to meet the demand for graduate student and postdoctoral scholar programming (e.g., teaching certificates and pedagogy seminars). This article presents a model of a wide-ranging, coherent pipeline of educational development for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars managed by a CTL with modest staffing.

Leveraging Collaboration And Peer Support To Initiate And Sustain A Faculty Development Program, Anneris Coria-Navia, Scott Moncrieff

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In today’s impoverished higher education fiscal climate, especially considering the enormous financial implications to higher education of accommodating the changes required by the coronavirus pandemic, “nonessential” though highly important programs, such as centers for teaching and learning (CTLs), are very likely to be underfunded. In this study, we illustrate how underfunded programs can leverage peer collaboration and support to initiate productive, formal systems of assistance for faculty by describing a number of such programs developed by and/or coordinated by our CTL. Moreover, we propose that sustainable programs, especially at small liberal arts institutions, must include a strong component of peer …

Raw And Pure Education In The Society, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

What does education mean to individuals in the world today? Education is a way one can attain or improve his or her ability to lead and survive in the society of ours. Without educational training of the mind, it may be impossible to realize the importance of adaptability of living in the environment. Without education, It may also be difficult to embellish the use of both the mental and physical attributes possessed by individual beings.

What really is education? Education is the training of the mind to perform desire functions or to perpetuate the modality of obtaining an end or …

Pivoting To Deeper Experiences In Higher Education Classrooms, Danielle M. Pratt, Daniel W. Eadens

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In higher education, pivoting quickly to a fully virtual experience online in the midst of a global pandemic is an adventure. There are marked differences between the online experience for a student who was already in a web-delivered course versus one that started face-to-face and quickly pivoted to an online setting. Some assignments, lessons, and courses are easily delivered in alternate formats while other learning opportunities are much more difficult to transition for online delivery. For example, assignments that involve internships or in-person experiences had to shift dramatically, be delayed, or cancelled. Beyond the experiences within the higher education classroom, …

Re-Imagining The Future Of Experiential Learning Through A Campus-Wide Design Thinking Initiative, Karen L. Sanzo, Tancy Vandecar-Burdin, Tisha M. Paredes, Lisa Mayes, Brian Payne

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

In 2020, Old Dominion University was awarded a State Council for Higher Education for Virginia grant in order to re-imagine the future of experiential learning at the institution. This campus-wide effort is led by a taskforce to create a vision, framework, and plan for the future of experiential learning at Old Dominion University. The taskforce is composed of stakeholders that include students, faculty, administrators, and community and business partners. In this chapter, the authors report on process and progress, with particular attention to the first three phases of the design thinking process. In the empathy phase, they have engaged in …

Why Inclusion Isn’T Coming, It Is Already Here: Catholic Schools And Inclusive Special Education, Michael N. Faggella-Luby, Max Engel

Journal of Catholic Education

Catholic school personnel are increasingly recognizing that many of their students, including students with disabilities, need and benefit from inclusive educational practices. These oftentimes ad hoc practices are motivated by the Catholic identity and mission of the school, as well as the diverse educational needs of students. This article responds to these recognized realities, arguing that Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and the practical reality of academically diverse students requires understanding disability as being unique to each student, though within categories recognized in the Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA) that serve as starting points for interventions. CST and the recognition of …

The Power Of A Name: Nontraditional Names, Teacher Efficacy, And Expected Learning Outcomes, Lasonya L. Moore, Martha S Lue Stewart Dr., Dena D. Slanda, Anais Placencia, Meznari M. Moore

Journal of English Learner Education

Names serve as important identifiers and carry with them hopes for a generation as well as pride in one’s culture. A name is often an extension of one’s culture or language and represents their identity. With the increasing student diversity across our nation, many students in our K-12 public schools may have uncommon or nontraditional names. Public school teachers, who are predominantly White, may find these names unfamiliar, difficult to pronounce or difficult to spell. Despite a name’s unfamiliarity, classroom teachers must have the knowledge and disposition to create a space that signals to a student that their name is …

From Esl To Eal: Moving From A Deficit Framework To An Asset Framework, Karen Bordonaro

Journal of English Learner Education

This article describes a self-directed autoethnographic research study of how the author moved from a deficit to an asset perspective in working with non-native speakers of English. Reframing this perspective took place by investigating how the author’s lived experiences as an ESL instructor intersected with the learning theories of language learner autonomy, plurilingualism, and internationalization at home to create positive flashpoints. These flashpoints included offering choices, marking learner success, and embedding cultural information into domestic settings. By engaging in these reflections, a widened perspective of moving from English as a second language to English as an additional language was reached. …

Collaborating With K-12 Partners: Improving Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy In Teaching Rural English Learners Science Through A Guided Experiential Learning Opportunity, Dana Manning, Erin Pearce

Journal of English Learner Education

With changing demographics in the United States, educator preparations programs (EPPs) must consider incorporating more experiential learning opportunities for preservice teachers to grow in their self-efficacy when working in diverse classrooms. At a rural university in the southern United States, researchers designed an instructional unit that transcended three educator preparation courses to provide an opportunity for students to design and deliver a 5E science lesson to English learners from a rural school district. The results from this study indicate that preservice teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching English learners increased as evidenced by the Teacher Sense of Self- Efficacy Scale, adapted for …

Embracing The New Normal: Infusing Academic Language And Technology To Empower Ells, Scott B. Freiberger

Journal of English Learner Education

This au courant, research-based article offers specific program ideas for teachers during this unprecedented time when supporting our ELLs is especially needed.

A Case Study Regarding Induction Supports And Activities And Their Impact On Successful Teacher Retention, Alicia Ponds

Doctorate in Education

At the end of every school year, new teachers either stay or leave public classrooms. Multiple challenges drive these new teacher choices. State, district, and local administrators struggle to fill teacher vacancies. New teacher departures challenge schools with the maintenance of an attractive work environment and provision of quality student education. This case study shares how five successful Minnesota educators apply extrinsic activities and intrinsic supports to not only meet these challenges, but effectively respond to the 2019-2020 onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through research interviews, this qualitative study analyzes intrinsic supports and extrinsic activities in relation to positive teaching …

Copyright Information, Todd Pagano, Sami Kahn

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Call For Manuscript, Todd Pagano, Sami Kahn

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

Diversity And Inclusion: Examining The Lived Experiences Of Lgbtq Students At Historically Black Colleges And Universities (Hbcus) In The Bible Belt, Steven Jones

Dissertations

Throughout the twentieth century, the Gay Rights Movement has gained momentum as LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) individuals have fought for civil equality and social acceptance. However, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been slow to adapt, implement, and effect change that improves the quality of education for LGBTQ students. Strong religious beliefs derived from the church; especially in the South, may be the connection to understanding why homosexuality isn’t vastly accepted or celebrated in the Black Community and at HBCUs; particularly, in the Bible Belt.

Thus, this phenomenological qualitative study, guided by the theory of care framework, …

Perceptions Of Special Education Supports By School Administrators, Eric P. Oxford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study analyzed the perceptions of special education supports by school administrators. Specifically, this research discussed comparative findings of perceptions of special education supports between building principals and building-based special education team chairpersons in one Massachusetts public school district. The findings are grounded in the district’s inclusive philosophy and its capability to ensure that all students are provided educational opportunities in the least restrictive educational environment. The problem studied was that many students with disabilities who are unable to find academic success within an inclusive academic environment are typically transitioned into a more restrictive—or substantially separate—alternative education setting. It …

Teacher Perceptions Of Blended Learning To Support 21st Century Learners, Nikki Hensley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand teacher perceptions of blended learning as an instructional methodology for addressing the needs of diverse learners. The researcher explored the perceptions of teachers who were participating in an ongoing professional development program within their school district. This program focused on improving teaching and learning through the implementation of a blended learning approach. The researcher examined the experiences of teachers as they learned to adapt pedagogical practices to address the learning needs of 21st century students through blended learning. The researcher sought to gain a better understanding of how teachers perceived that …

Trust In Leadership To Develop Collaborative School Culture And Effective Implementation Of Professional Learning Communities, Kara Mieszanek

Dissertations

DISSERTATION: TRUST IN LEADERSHIP TO DEVELOP COLLABORATIVE SCHOOL CULTURE AND EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Kara N. Mieszanek National Louis University

ABSTRACT

In education, we are constantly working toward increasing student achievement. Often, we pursue technical elements such as implementing programs, data analysis, utilizing assessment tools, embedding evaluation systems, etc. However, there is another critical element that may all too often get overlooked—the culture. The purpose of this study was to strip away all the layers required to achieve systemic change by observing what is at the core of it all: trust. Through qualitative and quantitative research, I took …

University Course Evaluations: A Study Of The Influence Of Faculty, Student, And Course Variables, Tyesha De’Shuan Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty …

Using The Critical Mathematics Pedagogical Framework To Teach Adult Basic Education Learners: A Transformative Convergent Parallel Mixed Methods Study, Matthew D. Gromlich

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The goal of this study was to design and implement curricula in the Adult Basic Education classroom that aligned to the Critical Mathematics Pedagogical Framework. Specifically, this study assessed if ABE students’ mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-efficacy ware affected by curricula that aligns to the Critical Mathematics Pedagogical Framework. Using a transformative convergent parallel mixed methods study, this study showed that students taught using CMPF-based lessons specifically reflected on their own attitudes towards mathematics self-efficacy, mathematics anxiety, number positioning, and the need for societal change around mathematical concepts. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed to highlight student reflections and …

The Problem-Based Learning Approach Towards Developing Soft Skills: A Systematic Review, Sadia Deep, Ali Ahmed, Nazia Suleman, Muhammad Zahid Abbas, Uzma Naza, Hina Shaheen, Abdul Razzaq

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, we review systematically the role of problem-based learning (PBL) in developing soft skills in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and other fields of studies. The Systematic Literature Review (SLR) includes the most recent empirical, review, and conceptual studies from TVET and other multiple fields of studies including medicine, humanities, and engineering between the years of 2001 and 2016 collected from four databases. A qualitative method was used to accomplish the systematic review. After the collection of articles, the selected studies were analyzed through thematic analysis. From this review, we concluded that PBL as an instructional …