Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Honors As A Third Space Occupation, Aaron Stoller

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay argues that in order for honors to occupy and transform the academy it must begin by transforming itself. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s notion of “third space,” the author argues that the traditional epistemic paradigms in higher education are inadequate for conceptualizing the praxis-driven work required in honors. Honors should be understood as a form of transdisciplinarity, with the aim of producing what is defined as Mode 2 knowledge. Only from within this nonbinary professional framework is honors capable of disrupting, reimagining, and transforming the university.

Traveling In Circles: Gatekeeping In Honors, Leah White

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay challenges boundaries in honors that are both intentional and unavoidable. Reflecting on what appears to be an overemphasis on boundaries and gatekeeping within honors, the author urges practitioners to consider its exclusionary culture and the extent to which it circles around its stated goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The current preoccupation of honors with reaching beyond its boundaries to embrace the goals of social justice movements, for example, reveals the extent of its entrenchment with concerns of Whiteness. This essay suggests that until honors practitioners are willing to do the difficult reflective work of understanding why boundaries …

Crossing The Ohio: Welcoming Students Of Color Into The Honors White Space, Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors has long been a space for pushing boundaries and promoting culturally responsive teaching, yet students from underserved and marginalized populations rarely see themselves reflected in the designated intelligentsia of most universities. This essay considers several aspects of boundaries in, and barriers to, the honors experience. Implicit in marketing honors as “value-added” is the boundary between the honors curriculum and the “regular” curriculum from which other boundaries extend. From outmoded enrollment management and admissions policies to curricular and instructional strategies that hold to a pedagogy of whiteness, the author urges honors educators to create paths to student academic success by …

Jnchc 22:1 - Cover, Contents, Call For Papers, Editorial Policy, Dedication To Annmarie Guzy, Editor's Introduction, Ada Long

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Contents

Call for Papers . v

Editorial Policy, Deadlines, and Submission Guidelines . vi

Dedication to Annmarie Guzy . vii

Ada Long, Editor’s Introduction ix

Holding Tight To Our Convictions And Lightly To Our Ways: Inviting Shared Expertise As A Strategy For Expanding Inclusion, Reach, And Impact, Kylie Korsnack, Leslie Ortquist-Ahrens

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

When the global pandemic forced campuses across the United States to send students home in March 2020, instructors were thrown into triage mode, forced to rapidly transition their on-the-ground classroom curriculum to a format that could be completed remotely by students spread out across the country. At the same time, centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) also entered triage mode, puzzling over how to quickly but effectively provide appropriate training and meaningful support to prepare faculty for this rapid transition (Aebersold et al., 2020). The situation’s urgency, coupled with the significant constraints many CTL directors already experienced, necessitated creative, flexible, …

Fractal Reflection: Cultivating Community And Meaning In Times Of Crises, Deandra Little, Joshua Caulkins, Eric C. Kaldor, Lindsay Wheeler

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The Pandemic Educational Development Research Collaborative (PEDRC) formed in April 2020 to record research-participants’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism crises and includes 18 educational developers across various 4-year institutions, types of centers, and positions in the field. The novel research methodology used by PEDRC, called “fractal reflection,” includes an iterative process of reflection, analysis, and meaning-making at the individual, paired, and group levels. However, this methodology served as more than just a means to collect data; it also provided a set of effective reflective practices to support educational developers managing the emotional labor of their work in …

Growing Pains (And Opportunities): Launching A Center For Teaching And Learning During A Global Pandemic, Johanna Inman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article provides a summary of the steps that were taken to launch a new center for teaching and learning (CTL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of these steps explain how the inaugural director leveraged the pivot to emergency remote teaching to capitalize on faculty interest for educational development and increase collaboration between non-academic units that support teaching. Discussion also includes how strategic planning guided this process and ultimately garnered new staffing for this small center-of-one.

In Search Of Silver Linings: Strategies For Preparing Future Faculty During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Tazin Daniels, Elizabeth Bailey, Anoff Nicholas Cobblah

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In this article, we describe our experience as a racially and disciplinarily diverse, relatively junior program team who embraced the opportunity to transform a 20-year-old professional development seminar for graduate students into a remote offering in response to COVID-19. Our efforts to support our participants and champion an institutional move toward equitable and effective virtual programming are situated alongside the psychological tolls of remote work, a global health crisis, and ongoing racial violence across the United States. We recount our experience using, as a helpful metaphor, Lewin’s change model, which describes the process of “unfreezing,” “changing,” and “refreezing” long-standing assumptions …

How A Flexible Teaching “Camp” Answered Our Pandemic Teaching Emergency, Patricia Dineen

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty scrambled to move courses online and to master technology tools seemingly overnight. Keeping a focus on course design and teaching techniques became a central challenge for a center for teaching and learning (CTL) in the midst of the emergency move to online and blended learning. This article chronicles one CTL’s design and implementation of a virtual Forward Looking Explorations in Teaching Camp (FLEX Camp) that aimed to address pedagogy and technology simultaneously by immersing faculty in learning experiences. It details the planning process, learning goals, key activities, assessment methods, and lessons learned …

What Happens When You Close The Door On Remote Proctoring? Moving Toward Authentic Assessments With A People-Centered Approach, Sarah Silverman, Autumn Caines, Christopher Casey, Belen Garcia De Hurtado, Jessica Riviere, Alfonso Sintjago, Carla Vecchiola

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The COVID-19 pandemic made traditionally proctored in-person exams impossible. This article provides a summary of the arguments against institutional adoption of remote proctoring services with a focus on equity, an account of the decision to avoid remote proctoring on the University of Michigan–Dearborn campus, and conclusions and suggestions for other teaching and learning professionals who would like to take a similar approach. Remote proctoring services require access to technology that not all students are guaranteed to have, can constitute an invasion of privacy for students, and can discriminate against students of color and disabled students. Administrators and teaching and learning …

Rebuilding A Teaching Conference In A Pandemic: User-Centered Guiding Principles And Lessons Learned, Laura A. Lukes, E. Shelley Reid

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged educational developers, like instructors across the world, to pivot their traditionally face-to-face faculty development programs to online formats. At the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning at George Mason University (classified as research-intensive and the largest public institution in Virginia, United States), we faced the challenge of reimagining our annual pedagogy conference that scaled from 497 registered in 2019 when it was face-to-face to over 800 in 2020 as it was moved online. Under pressures of limited resources and increased uncertainty, leaders can find it difficult to imagine pathways toward innovation rather than just daily responses …

The Corridor Of Shame: An Immersed Analysis Of South Carolina Schools, Darren R. Burton

Senior Theses

This research project discusses school funding instruments of rural and urban schools in South Carolina and uncovers its effect on student academic achievement. Educational achievement is assessed based on report card datasets between 2018 and 2019, containing South Carolina Assessment of State Standards (SCPASS) score data and South Carolina College and Career Ready Assessment (SCREADY) score data. This research project uses a comparative analysis to evaluate each group’s performance in the subjects of English Language Arts and science. The statistical analysis tools that this research project uses include analysis of variance (ANOVA), linear regression analysis, and Microsoft Power BI. The …

Transcending Adversity: Trauma-Informed Educational Development, Mays Imad

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the pertinence and utility of using a trauma-informed lens in educational development. A trauma-informed approach is a framework grounded in an understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma. After I describe the primary source of traumatic stress many faculty members are experiencing, I offer trauma-informed suggestions for how educational developers can help mitigate the effects of that stress. Importantly, in order to do this work of supporting faculty effectively and sustainably, it is critical that educational developers continue to attend to their own well-being. The overarching theme of this …

How A Small Teaching Center Made A Big Impact During The Pandemic Crises, J. A. Carter, Bradford Mallory, Brenda Refaei, Ruth Benander

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For many faculty developers, 2020’s challenges changed our approach to our work. We found that by expanding our networks and relying on our collaborative spirit, we were able to adapt quickly and effectively to changing events. Each member of our four-person Learning + Teaching Center (LTC) team brings expertise and skills for faculty development. We employ a holistic approach to faculty development that not only provides programming for teaching improvement but also addresses the social and emotional needs of faculty and staff. The challenges of 2020 forced faculty and staff to work remotely, which necessitated more programming in how to …

Perceptions, Learner Characteristics, And Preferences Of Limited Literacy Moroccan Women: The Feasibility Of Acquiring Darija Literacy Skills Through M-Learning, Nada El Maliki

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the perceptions, learner characteristics and preferences of Moroccan women with limited literacy skills towards the use of their smartphones to improve reading literacy skills in Latin script Moroccan Darija (LSD). The goal was to generate a range of recommendations for instructional designers, curriculum developers and education policymakers designing literacy programs for the target population. Specific focus was given to the fundamental reading sub-skill of matching letters to sounds (also known as phonemic awareness or decoding) for the Darija language. This study employed target population analysis (TPA) as a phenomenological approach that consisted of interviews with a sample …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

March Agenda, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

No abstract provided.

Experience Between Mentors And Coaches: A Phenomenological Case Study To Examine Effective Coaching Conditions, Brittany Adkins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The study uses a phenomenological case method to explore the lived experience of the mentor-coach coaching phenomenon and examines the case of the Literacy Center (university partnership) in providing professional development to build instructional capacity in elementary reading coaches through a coaching model in order to improve reading achievement in students (kindergarten through third grade). The study is guided through the theoretical frameworks of Social Learning Theory (Vygotsky, 1978) and the Capacity-Building Model for Teacher Development (Cooter, 2004). It is focused on two research questions: 1) How does the mentor and coach experience change over time? and 2) What facilitates …

Feedback As A Connector In Remote Learning Environments, Heather Rottermond, Laura Gabrion

Michigan Reading Journal

In March, Michigan educators unexpectedly found themselves rethinking instruction. As schools throughout the state were shuttered due to the COVID-19 health crisis, educators at every level needed to consider ways to sustain relationships with students in an effort to move learning forward. Feedback has always served as a natural connector between teachers and their students, but students’ use of feedback is based upon trust. This article examines the importance of formative assessment and the feedback cycle while exploring ways to deliver feedback in remote settings. By prioritizing the student-teacher relationship, teachers foster students’ active engagement with feedback, thereby raising students’ …

The Relationship Between Career And Technical Education Enrollment And College And Career Readiness Outcomes, Daniel Soliz Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College and career readiness for K-12 students has become a priority of legislatures and educational leaders in the United States. In recent years, Texas public school leaders have emphasized the importance of maximizing the percentage of College, Career and Military Ready (CCMR) graduates. The specific problem studied was that a low percentage of students in Texas, in comparison to the state’s graduation rate, graduate with a CCMR distinction. Career and Technical Education (CTE), a component of K-12 education, can assist school leaders in maximizing college and career readiness for students. However, it was not clear how within schools, CTE enrollment …

February Agenda, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Meeting agenda which includes January 14 meeting minutes, graduate council curriculum report tracking and graduate enrollment report.

Bc Bound: A Pathway Designed To Support Non-Traditional Students, Fiona J. Chan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper reviews the creation and practices of the Brooklyn College BC Bound Program, focusing on its mission and structure. The BC Bound Program is a one-semester service at Brooklyn College that admits and supports individuals with their high school equivalency diploma. Through an interview with a coordinator of the program and students who completed the BC Bound Program in their first semester, we can understand its positive impact on college students in their first semester and beyond. Program structure is key in analyzing the process by which the BC Bound program is and can be implemented effectively. Under the …

January Agenda, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Meeting agenda. Includes minutes of November 12th meeting; Graduate Council curriculum report tracking; Student Research Grant requests; graduate enrollment report; thesis, and special project & dissertation guidelines.

Analyzing Advanced Placement (Ap): Making The Nation's Most Prominent College Preparatory Program More Equitable, David Naff, Mitchell Parry, Tomika Ferguson, Virginia Palencia, Jenna Lenhardt, Elisa Tedona, Antionette Stroter, Theodore Stripling, Zoey Lu, Elizabeth Baber

MERC Publications

This report from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) explores research related to Advanced Placement (AP) courses through an equity lens. It answers five questions: 1) What are AP classes? 2) Who enrolls and succeeds in AP classes? 3) Why do disparities in AP matter? 4) What factors contribute to disparities in AP participation and performance? 5) What policies and practices help to address disparities in AP access, enrollment, and performance? The report comes from the MERC Equitable Access and Support for Advanced Coursework study.

2021-2022 Graduate Catalog, Wku Graduate School

Graduate School

Graduate School catalog regarding admissions, curriculum and policies.

Reading The Local In The New Now: Mapping Hidden Opportunities For Civic Engagement In The First Virtual City As Text™ Faculty Institute, Season Ellison, Leslie Heaphy, Amaris Ketcham, Toni Lefton, Andrew Martino, Sara Quay

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

In spring 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic in full force, the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) Place as Text (PAT) Committee reimagined its longstanding City as Text™ (CAT) Faculty Institute model as an experimental virtual training titled “Reading the Local in the New Now” (RLNN). With the cancellation of two scheduled CAT Faculty Institutes because of the pandemic, the committee quickly shifted gears to develop and offer a fully online version of the program. Shorter in length, with participants joining from their homes across the country, the Institute was designed with key CAT principles as its foundation (Braid and Long; …

Digital Equity In The Time Of Covid: Student Use Of Technology For Equitable Outcomes, Joy Washington, Andrea Woodard, Jonathan D. Becker, Joan A. Rhodes, Andrew Harris, Oscar Keyes, David B. Naff

MERC Publications

This issue brief is the third and final in a series published by the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) addressing digital equity in K-12 schools. It examines research regarding students’ use of and outcomes related to technology. Research finds that inequities exist in use and outcomes for students based on gender, language, ability, race, SES and other sociocultural factors. Based on these inequities, theoretical and practical recommendations are discussed.

Kindergarten Entry Assessment Practices In Pennsylvania, Anne Katona Linn Ed.D.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there is significant variation in kindergarten programs and the entry assessment systems used in school districts. There are no reliable data on the kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) systems used in public kindergarten programs across the Commonwealth. It is well-established that comprehensive KEAs should be part of a broader preschool through third grade (P-3) continuum of early childhood education to assess whole-child skills, include families and community partners, be culturally and linguistically responsive, and developmentally appropriate. This study aimed to understand the KEA practices of kindergarten teachers in Pennsylvania. An online survey was distributed to kindergarten …

Place, Self, Community: City As Text™ In The Twenty-First Century, Bernice Braid

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Students and faculty who have designed or participated in City as Text™ (CAT) know well that every place they have explored has organized itself into areas, events, and interactions that either immediately or eventually make sense out of contradictory bits of information. This realization might be more self-evident in urban walkabouts but has bubbled up to consciousness in rural settings, forests, jungles, neighborhoods, and even a shopping mall explored at a National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) conference.

What lies beneath the surface, we tell our explorers, is what we want to expose to our gaze and unmask for our deeper …

Learning From The Land: Creating Authentic Experience-Based Learning That Fosters Sustained Civic Engagement, Ted Martinez, Kevin Gustafson

National Collegiate Honors Council Monographs: Chapters

Grand Canyon Semester (GCS) presents an excellent test case for exploring the success of Honors Semesters in meeting the goals articulated in this contribution to the NCHC Monograph Series: the transferability of skills and the interrelation of integrated learning, experiential education, and civic engagement. GCS began in 1978 as a partnership of Northern Arizona University (NAU), Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP), and the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) that would offer a place-based, experiential, immersive Honors Semester program. Students came from across the country to live onsite at Grand Canyon and NAU and to take interdisciplinary courses taught by NAU …