Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Using ‘How To …’ Videos In Feedforward Practices To Support The Development Of Academic Writing, Sally Quinn Dr

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

The transition to Higher Education is full of new challenges for students not least the challenge to develop a style of writing expected within one’s discipline of study at the HE level. Feedback on students’ assessments can be one way that guides students to focus on the aspects of their writing that they should aim to improve at different points of their study but often students report difficulty in understanding markers’ comments and exactly how to improve on these skills. We developed a library of 27 five minute ‘How to…’ videos …

Covid Anxiety And Stress In Higher Ed (Cash), Letitia Bergantz, Christopher E. Curtis

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

College is a time of increased stress and anxiety. The current changes in attendance and methods of instruction due to COVID-19 have demonstrated even higher levels of stress, anxiety, and mental health issues. Tailoring interventions to the specific needs of a campus community has been proposed as an appropriate means to the current crisis. This study identifies the mental health needs of students at a rural college as they pertain to the effects of the pandemic.

Questionnaires collected data from college students (N=33) at Athens State University, a rural university in …

Investigating Recommended Language Instruction Of Complex Literary Texts: A Content Analysis Of Close Reading Lesson Plans For Elementary Grades, Michelle Flory

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Expectations have been placed upon elementary teachers from the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts to guide students through close readings of informational and literary texts. This content analysis examined online close reading lesson plans to determine common objectives in elementary close reading lessons using literary text and to delineate which aspects of language are recommended for close reading instruction. Lessons for primary and intermediate grade levels were stratified and highlighted which instructional moves and student tasks are recommended for making complex language in texts more comprehensible. Key findings indicate a lack of alignment in lesson planning between …

The Missing Course: An Introduction To College Teaching For Graduate Instructors, Jocelyn M. Cuthbert, Aubrey Rogowski, Michael N. Vakula, Juliana Aguilar, Kenna Kesler

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

A book review of David Gooblar’s book, The Missing Course: Everything they Never Taught You About College Teaching.

A Study Of Incarcerated Youth: The Effect Of Student Interest On Reading Comprehension And Engagement, Joanna C. Weaver, Grace E. Mutti

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Motivating adolescents to read can be a challenge, but motivating incarcerated adolescents to read may be even more of a challenge. Developing readers in residential facilities are often overlooked by traditional classroom teachers, but much can be learned from incarcerated youth and their motivation and engagement. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of research on effective instructional reading practices that motivate and engage incarcerated youth. The existing research primarily examines the impact of literacy on recidivism instead of strategies for motivating and engaging students who are incarcerated. Numerous studies exist that focus on motivation and engagement of reading in traditional classrooms, …

Designing And Implementing A Land-Grant Faculty-To-Student Mentoring Program: Addressing Shortcomings In Academic Mentoring, David D. Law, Don Busenbark, Kim K. Hales, James Y. Taylor, Jeff Spears, Andy Harris, Hannah M. Lewis

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Mentoring programs at universities have become common because of the perceived benefit to student persistence and retention. Evaluation of the effectiveness of these programs has not kept pace, primarily due to the following three problematic issues: (1) lack of theoretical guidance, (2) lack of an operational definition of mentoring, and (3) lack of methodological rigor. This article describes the evolution of a regional Faculty-to-Student Mentoring program into a statewide program, and how it addressed each of these three problematic issues. Using logic modeling, the intimate connections between theory, operational definitions, and sound methodology are made explicit, thereby addressing many of …

Using Online Genres To Promote Students’ Audience Awareness, Elena Taylor

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Writing assignments that students complete in university courses are typically designed for evaluation and grading by the instructor, who, therefore, acts as the sole reader of student written work. However, most written genres students would--and do--encounter in the world beyond the classroom are composed for diverse audiences who influence writers’ text construction considerably. Because most students will be likely to write for multiple audiences as part of their career or future academic endeavors, it is crucial for them to develop a sense of audience awareness as an indispensable rhetorical concept that shapes composing processes. Writing online presents a great opportunity …

Small Changes For A Big Impact: A Review Of Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science In Online Classrooms By Flower Darby, Julia M. Gossard

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

A review of Flower Darby’s 2019 Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classrooms. This article provides a narrative review of Darby’s work and the “small teaching approach,” focusing on the practical skills that Darby provides for the online classroom. Comments are gleaned from the author and two learning circles (one sponsored by USU and another independent) on the book.

About This Issue Fall 2021, Jason Olsen

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The 10th issue of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence wastes little time pointing out that the world of teaching has changed. Rather, it shares relevant examples of strategies teachers and administrators have used to increase the effectiveness of their modern teaching environments.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 5, Issue 2, Fall 2021

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Fall 2021 issue (Volume 5, Issue 2) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Teaching In The Digital Age: Creating A Student-Centered Classroom, Becca Huber-Jackson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio compiles the work of the author during her time as a student in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). It highlights her personal pedagogy as well as provides supporting research. The different components of this portfolio are separated into two sections: teaching perspectives and research perspectives.

In the teaching perspectives section, she introduces her desired professional environment, outlines her teaching philosophy statement, and provides an analysis based on teaching observations. Research perspectives consist of two research papers and an annotated bibliography written throughout the course of the program that support the …

Variety In Second Language Instruction: Student Engagement In Sla, Emily Borgstrom Woodruff

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a collection of works completed by the author during her time as a student in the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. It highlights important aspects and experiences of foreign language education that represent the author’s personal journey of learning and teaching.

The first section is comprised of the author’s teaching perspectives which are represented through the author’s desired professional environment, her teaching philosophy statement, and the author’s professional development through teaching observations. The second section presents the author’s pedagogical research pertaining to foreign language pragmatics and music integration in the classroom. The …

Taking Into Account Interpersonal Aspects Of Teacher Feedback: Principles Of Responding To Student Writing (Republication), Elena Shvidko

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Providing feedback on student work is a fundamental aspect of instruction and an important part of the learning process. A considerable amount of literature describes the pedagogical value of different types of feedback—explicit vs. implicit, comprehensive vs. selective, direct vs. indirect, and feedback on content vs. feedback on form—thus treating feedback primarily as an instructional/informational phenomenon. It must be remembered, however, that there is a real person behind each paper; therefore, interpersonal aspects of teacher feedback should not be disregarded. This article discusses five principles of responding to student writing that take into account this interpersonal nature of feedback: providing …

Pivoting At The Midpoint: How Midpoint Course Adjustments Influence Student Engagement, Alexander C. Romney, Mitchell Pound

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

In higher education, instructors must often pivot to new methods, approaches, and exercises to help students achieve learning objectives in a particular course. These course pivots can be challenging to navigate; however, they are often the difference between a successful course and an unsuccessful one. Research on the punctuated equilibrium model of group development provides important insights for instructors on managing and navigating course pivots. This article reviews research on midpoint transitions and discusses the benefits of implementing midpoint pivots. It then introduces an example of a midpoint course pivot: The Stop-Start-Continue exercise. It concludes with a discussion of the …

The Value Of Instructor Interactivity In The Online Classroom, Greg Lucas, Gary Cao, Shaunna Waltemeyer, B. Jean Mandernach, Helen G. Hammond

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

As the number of faculty teaching online continues to grow, so has the interest in and understanding of the role of instructor interaction in the online classroom. Online education provides a unique platform in which course design and teaching are independent factors. Understanding faculty and student perceptions about the shifting role of instructor interaction in the online classroom can provide insight on policies and procedures that can support student learning through student-instructor interaction. Participants included faculty and students responding to an anonymous online survey who indicated “online” as their primary mode of teaching. Three key “value” themes emerged as significantly …

About This Issue - Spring 2021

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The articles in this issue are unified in offering valuable insight and actionable ideas about how to engage students in their own learning. Instructors can implement these strategies across many content areas and delivery methods.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring 2021

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Spring 2021 issue (Volume 5, Issue 1) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Collaborative Research: Supporting Rural Paraprofessional Educators And Their Students With Computer Science Professional Learning And Expansively Framed Curriculum, Mimi M. Recker

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Giving Students A Chance To Learn: Hitting Pause And Engaging Students, Michelle Arnold

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

A book review of Gail Rice's book, Hitting pause: 65 lecture breaks to refresh and reinforce learning.

Fa 2020 About This Issue: The Power In Slowing Down

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Whether it be videotaping, guided classroom conversations, lecture-based, or written, feedback is the backbone of educational excellence. We use it to mentor beginning undergraduates, writers, readers, explorers, and experimenters. And, if we are thoughtful, feedback becomes a loop by which we slow down learning, we engage reading, writing and exploring, and we collaborate our way to becoming better.

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 4, Issue 2

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full Fall 2020 issue (Volume 4, Issue 2) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence.

Every Step A Novel: Historical Circumstances And Somali American Identity, Haden Griggs

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project is designed to help high school students learn about the experiences, history and identity of Somali men who came to Utah as refugees. It is organized around the oral histories of eight Somali men who live in the Salt Lake City area. They were collected by Haden Griggs in the latter half of 2019. Transcripts and audio recordings for all the interviews are available here.

A paper, analyzing the historical circumstances and variations on Somali identity, is included here for scholarly or instructor use. This project also includes a digital exhibit tracing recent Somali history and contextualizing the …

Exploring The Impact Of Musical Mnemonic Strategies On Student Achievement And Engagement In Inclusive Science Classes, Zinna Eaton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Students with disabilities often struggle with comprehending material and performing at grade level, and teachers often find new ways to help their students comprehend the curriculum. A common challenge for special education teachers is incorporating different learning styles and various instructional strategies to better assist their students. One teaching strategy and resource that many teachers incorporate is the use of music in their instruction. This research project examines how incorporating music teaching strategies into daily instruction impacts the level of engagement and the academic achievement level of sixth-grade students with and without mild/moderate disabilities within inclusive science classrooms. The study …

Teaching The Engineering Design Process To High School Students By Implementing A Non-Traditional Engineering Capstone Course, Joseph Woodard

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This plan B project is to showcase the implementation of an engineering design capstone course at a remote, rural public high school, in a non-traditional (after-school) format with a small group of students. The project documents successful strategies along with challenges that were learned from such an implementation of this course. Three high school students were supported in learning to solve an extended design challenge, in this case creating an augmented reality (AR) sandbox. The project shows how a capstone course can be utilized in teaching students to solve complex, ill-structured problems.

In this project, a manuscript was prepared for …

Early Adolescent Gifted And Talented Students And Their Experience With Bullying, William T. Allen Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bullying, in all its forms (e.g., verbal, physical, cyber, social ostracism), is a continual problem in public schools. It exacerbates the painfully high suicide rate among early adolescent students, especially in the western U.S., with some evidence showing distinctions within the academically advanced gifted and talented (GT) cohort. Research shows GT students (GTs) are bullied at nearly double the rate of the mainstream population. Yet, quantitative statistics indicate GTs and non-GTs suffer comparable rates of trauma internalization, suicide ideation, and suicide. Some quantitative differences do start to appear with further personality distinctions. This points to a possibility that qualitative dissimilarities …

Espoused And Enacted Beliefs Of High School English Language Arts Teachers In Writing Instruction, Sydnie Schoepf

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the current study is to explore the espoused beliefs and enacted practices of secondary English Language Arts teachers with regards to writing instruction and how these beliefs correlate with teacher self-efficacy beliefs. The study worked to build upon the literature mainly in the fields of mathematics and science in order to explore what the perceived and enacted beliefs are and how they affect the self-efficacy belief of teachers within the field of writing instruction in the high school classroom. The study used a collective case study design in order to better understand what espoused and enacted pedagogical …

How Student Perceptions Of The Online Learning Environment And Student Motivation Predict Persistence, Completion, And Retention In Developmental Mathematics Courses, Samuel K. Gedeborg

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Online developmental mathematics courses have high dropout rates. The focus of this study is to improve understanding of how students’ perceptions of the online learning environment and student motivation from course design predict student drop out. This understanding will benefit faculty and institutions on student support for online developmental mathematics students.

The study included 330 undergraduate students enrolled in online developmental mathematics courses during the Fall 2018 semester at eight public universities and colleges in the Utah State Higher Education (USHE) system. Participants completed a survey with questions measuring their perceptions of the learning environment. They also completed a survey …

From Theory To Practice: Establishing The Classroom As The Setting For Race Talk Through The Intentional Analysis And Discussion Of Poems By Authors Of Color, Cree Taylor

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Modern-day racism exists in mostly subtle ways and is often felt most keenly in the classroom. When schools began the legal integration process in 1954, Black teachers were fired, all-Black schools were closed, and Black students were bused to the formerly all-White schools. In this new environment, Black students and all Students of color were forced to accept and adapt to an educational system that favored Whites over all other racial groups. Today, White Supremacy in education affects the establishment of state and national standards, school and district boundaries, and the un-fair disciplinary action taken against Students of Color. In …

How Students Learn And Instructors Can, Too: Effective College Teaching According To Eyler (2018), Karin Dejonge-Kannan

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Book Review

Eyler, J. R. (2018). How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effective College Teaching. West Virginia University Press.

• 293 pages
• Available in hardback, paperback, and digital format
• Price $85 (hc), $22 (pb), $17 (ebook)
• Keywords: learning, teaching, college students, classroom practice

Reviewer:

Karin deJonge-Kannan, Principal Lecturer

Department of Languages, Philosophy, and Communication Studies

Utah State University

[email protected]

Measuring The Self-Efficacy Of Students Participating In Vex Robotics Competitions, Joseph S. Furse

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Robotic competitions have become an increasingly popular educational tool to increase students’ interest and achievement in STEM. The largest and fastest growing of these is VEX Robotics Competitions (VRCs). Although millions of dollars of funding are allocated, and countless hours of effort are expended annually to provide students with the opportunity to compete in VRCs, little research has been done to investigate the educational impacts of participation in these competitions. One promising research framework in this area is to investigate the self-efficacy of students who participate in VRCs. Self-efficacy, or the beliefs one holds about one’s own abilities in a …