Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Interface Literacy: Screencasts, Guis, And Computer-Mediated Authorship, Michael J. Cripps

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

Our lives are increasingly mediated by computers and graphical user interfaces or GUIs. In education, computer-mediated learning often involves the integration of new technologies into the classroom context. In an educational environment in which courses have specific content, and in which students (and faculty) must learn the interfaces that enable them to access and engage the content, how might one move from more work for teachers and learners to a different kind of teaching and learning? Are there particular ways to weave technology and content together to move from an additive model to an integrated one that helps learners become …

Neither Here Nor There: Locating Information Literacy In The Library And Writing Center, Caleb Puckett

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

See presentation description.

Connecting The Dots, A Yearlong Lesson In Learning: Using Online Instruction To Connect Student Information Literacy Skills With Those Required To Complete Assignments., Steve Borrelli

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

See presentation description.

Communication Renaissance: Environmental Scanning And Futuring In The Composition Classroom, David Bailey

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The world of research will soon experience a cataclysmic shift. As newspapers and more traditional venues of scholarly communication fold from pressure created by online news sources, Really Simple Syndication feeds, and news aggregates, the Composition classroom must aim ahead of the curve and teach students the essential skill of Environmental Scanning and Futuring. Environmental Scanning and Futuring are cooperative disciplines that seek to highlight trends and patterns within specific fields and disciplines using the plethora of data available on the World Wide Web. What makes these methods so useful in the face of the Communication Renaissance is their focus …

What Can A Wiki Do? Exploring History, Identity And Literacy In A Digital World, John Vanecek

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

See presentation description.

September Agenda, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Meeting agenda.

Meeting Minutes, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Meeting minutes.

2009 Fall Faculty Conference: High-Impact Practices: Experiential-Integrative Learning, Academic Affairs

Fall Faculty Conference

The 2009 Fall Faculty Conference featured discussions on internships, leadership, engagement, undergraduate research, international and intercultural experiences, FYE, I.S. Dyads, and I.S. core curriculum.

Benefits Of Continuing Professional Development In The Visual Communications Sector In Ireland, Con Kennedy

Other resources

This research is concerned with identifying the benefits of Continuous Professional Development for the Visual Communications sector in Ireland, with the aim of establishing what benefits exist for both the employee and employer. Research is undertaken to identify CPD programmes that currently exist in other industries in Ireland for the purpose of establishing commonalities and how this may apply to the Visual Communications sector. This is achieved through a combination of literature review, desk research, surveys of employees and employers in the Visual Communications sector and a number of semi-formal interviews with representatives from various industry sectors with established CPD …

Action Items, Wku Graduate Council

Graduate School

Overview of action items handled by the Graduate Council.

Twenty-First-Century Writing/Twentieth Century Teachers?, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

"My students are writing in their everyday lives—indeed, their everyday lives are written—but we (teachers—writing teachers, in particular--and education administrators, no doubt nudged by politicians and “the public”) have to a large extent failed miserably in embracing and capitalizing on that writing: email, text messaging, instant messaging, blogging, twittering, responding, video gaming, Second Lifeing. Andrea and Karen Lunsford’s recent longitudinal study of Stanford students has shown the lie to the given that students today don’t write as much as they used to (they are writing much more). Are we becoming the stodgy, ungenerous, rigid English teachers that we ourselves were …

Center For Academic Excellence: Annual Report 2008-2009, Patrice Hudson, Leslie G. Mcbride, Kevin Kecskes, Amy Spring, Janelle De Carrico Voegele, Michael Chamberlain, Vincent Schreck

Community Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since its inception in 1994, the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) has provided a comprehensive array of cross-disciplinary and discipline-specific development activities in support of the educational function of the university. The Center has a dual mission of faculty development in teaching, learning, and assessment and in the development of community-university partnerships. Th e Center is a place of innovation, a gathering place for idea generation and testing, and a place where faculty may turn for individual consultation and professional advice. Increasingly, CAE supports faculty interested in community-engaged research.

We are proud to present the 2008-2009 Annual Report of the …

Media Production For The Classroom, Maria Luskay

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

The major goal of this course is to familiarize students with current video production techniques and equipment. By using a hands-on and laboratory/ lecture approach, we will be able to produce a wide variety of projects using both studio and field procedures. Some of the areas we will cover include: treatment/scripting, pre-production, directing, lighting, audio, continuity, camera operations and post production.

Students will also apply current media streaming techniques to video and upload final projects to YouTube and Google Video.

The Effectiveness Of Collaboration In Teaching And Learning Writing., Tan Hsiang Chyii

Student Works (2010-2019)

This study seeks to find out whether the quality of students’ writing improves substantially through collaboration. It is to gain an understanding into how collaborative work can aid the learning and teaching of writing in a typical Malaysian classroom. Moreover, the need to engage with others is an essential element for maintaining motivation in learning. The research methodology utilises an experimental approach. First, a pre-test was conducted in which subjects composed an essay individually. Next, the pre-test was followed by intervention in which subjects were familiarised with the steps involved in collaborative work. Finally, subjects were required to write essays …

Adding Value For Students And Faculty With A Master's Degree In Professional Writing, Susan M. Hunter, Elizabeth Giddens, Margaret B. Walters

Faculty Articles

This article describes an interdisciplinary professional writing program and its benefits for students (in terms of knowledge, habits of mind, and developing careers). The authors present qualitative research findings about habits of mind and knowledge domains of successful students, which may prove valuable for faculty teaching in similar programs as they consider curriculum design, or for faculty pondering issues of career development for master's degree graduates.

Inside Unlv, Diane Russell, Shane Bevell, Cate Weeks, Mamie Peers

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Investigating Primary Source Literacy, Joanne Archer, Ann Hanlon, Jennie A. Levine

Library Faculty Research and Publications

Primary source research requires students to acquire specialized research skills. This paper presents results from a user study testing the effectiveness of a Web guide designed to convey the concepts behind “primary source literacy”. The study also evaluated students’ strengths and weaknesses when conducting primary source research.

Poor Are Hurt When Schools Rely On Standardized Tests, Aaron W. Hughey

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Alabama Advanced Placement Initiative: The Roles Of The Principal, Teacher, And Student In Bridging The Racial And Socio-Economic Gap In College Preparatory Curricula, Kimberly Laraine Walker

Dissertations

This research study was designed to determine leadership and instructional behaviors of administrators and teachers who are participants in the Alabama AP Initiative, as well as evaluate the perceptions of the AAPI with regard to student performance. The importance of this research was three-fold. First, this study provided principals, as well as aspiring principals, with statistical research for developing a new AP Program or other advanced curricula. Second, the results of this research provided statistical research for teachers, both experienced and those new to the AP Program, who are developing and/or improving instructional strategies that will become an effective means …

(De)Composing A Garden For Children's Play, Debra Jean Deverell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kindergarten has been a part of the educational landscape of the United States since 1856, when the first kindergarten opened in Watertown, Wisconsin. If we fast-forward more than a century and a half to the present, it is clear that the landscape composition of the garden-ideologically, culturally, socially, and politically for children's play has drastically changed.

The purpose of this study, (De)Composing a Garden for Children's Play, is to examine kindergartners' play set against changing school polices and practices of recent years in one Colorado school district. Four research questions guided this inquiry:

1. What does kindergarten look like …

Developmental Studies Courses And The Success Of Non-Traditional Students At A Major Public University In The Southeast, Charlotte Tagert Matthews

Dissertations

The main purpose of the study was to determine the effect of academic preparation in basic skills classes on the academic performance in subsequent collegelevel classes for non-traditional students. A secondary purpose was to determine if academic preparation in basic skills classes had a long-term effect on academic performance as measured by graduation GPA. A third purpose was to obtain the perspectives of non-traditional students about the effect of academic preparation in basic skills classes on academic performance in subsequent college-level classes.

Methodology included statistical comparisons of grade distributions and GPA using archival data from the Banner student record system, …

Improving Second Graders’ Understanding And Use Of Genre Through The Classroom Library, Melissa Kristene Arquette

All Graduate Projects

The research supports the importance of the classroom library, using the classroom library to introduce non-fiction text, and developing students' understanding of genre using the classroom library as a tool. The purpose of this project is to improve second graders' understanding and use of genre through the classroom library. The project includes eight units focused on realistic fiction, poetry, fantasy, folktales, myths and legends, non-fiction (information books), biographies, and fairytales. Each unit combines student focused group book sorting, book browsing, reading log entries, whole group activities, and a genre review form. Pre- and post- unit assessment, in the form of …

Dual Language Education In The Elementary Grades: What Are Some Constraints Or Limitations Of Dual Language In Kindergarten Through Fifth Grade., Anna Alvarez

All Graduate Projects

This study examined the dual language model of bilingual education available to students at Pioneer Elementary in Sunnyside, Washington. There are a variety of bilingual education, Spanish and English, programs currently used throughout the United States. The effectiveness of student's academic success is based on the bilingual education program they participate in, which has been a long-standing debated topic. Recently new and innovative bilingual education programs such as dual-language models have been introduced and implemented into many classrooms. There is significant scholarly debate regarding the efficacy of dual language education programs. It is possible that the debate is centered on …

How Do Teachers Learn New Skills For Reading Instruction And Transfer Their Learning Into The Classroom?, Patricia Ann Sharp

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Third grade teachers participated in a study that examined the ways teachers learn new skills for reading instruction and transfer their learning into the classroom on a daily basis. A review of literature included identification of a purpose for teacher learning, how teacher self-perception influenced use of new knowledge and teacher skills, and improved reading achievement. The teachers discussed challenges and barriers for their learning and implementation of new learning, which included reflection of how each has evolved as a reading teacher. Teachers expressed interests for new learning in reading instruction and self-awareness necessary for improvement in their practice.

Manipulatives In Mathematics Instruction, Jessica Strom

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper is a review of research pertaining to the use of manipulatives in middle and secondary school mathematics instruction. It covers the research on the rationale for using manipulatives, the psychology behind learning with manipulatives, the common mistakes when teaching with manipulatives, and the suggested process to follow when using manipulatives in the classroom. There is a large amount of research and information on manipulatives in the classroom. One of the most prevalent topics addresses that the concrete characteristics of manipulatives allow students to progress through a natural learning process on their way to an abstract understanding of mathematical …

No Child Left Behind Act: The Impact On The Performance Levels Of Gifted Students Relative To Those Of Non-Gifted Students, Rochelle Lenea Hopson-Lamar

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal comparative study was to determine the impact of the implementation of NCLB on the performance levels of gifted students relative to those of non-gifted students. The study involved the 2001, 2002, 2008, and 2009 Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) results of 1,978 middle grades students from a school in rural Northwest Georgia. The analysis included comparing the Mann-Whitney statistics, two-sample independent z-test statistics, and the percentage of improvement in performance levels of the gifted and non-gifted students, as measured by the CRCT in reading, language arts, and mathematics. The findings revealed that, since the implementation …

Kindergarten Connection: An Early Literacy Intervention Through Home/School/Community Connections, Laurie Card-Roley

All Graduate Projects

Students most at-risk for academic failure are the populations of students classified as English Language Learners; migrant students; special education students; children of poverty; homeless students; students in foster care; children of abuse or neglect; and children with social, emotional, or behavioral concerns. The number of students falling within the at-risk population of students has continued to increase over the years. A program and curriculum called Kindergarten Connection attempts to address these barriers to learning by identifying family, societal and academic concerns prior to kindergarten and connecting families to the school and community resources that will provide the needed support. …

A Guidebook, Based On One School’S Journey In Implementing Response To Intervention, Pearl Mckenzie

All Graduate Projects

Many districts across the United States are considering, or have already implemented a system called Response to Intervention (RTI). This is a research-proven instructional method that will benefit many children who are challenged by the academic content. RTI uses a schoolwide structural system to support students and staff. This project documents steps taken by one school during an academic year in the form of a guidebook.

Microsoft Word 2007 And Powerpoint 2007 Units For Ell Students In Introduction To Information Technology, Janel Jo Lemieux

All Graduate Projects

Trying to settle in a country whose language a person does not speak is challenging in itself. Attending a computer class when a person has never touched a computer is just another hurdle to overcome. The current curriculum is not conducive to English Language Learners in Introduction to Information Technology. Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 are two of the most widely used computer programs in the school. For this reason more effective curriculum was created for ELL students enrolled in the Introduction to Information Technology class.

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Strategy Based Reading Instruction For Reading Comprehension, Katherine D. Gibson

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

Strategy based reading instruction helps teachers differentiate the teaching of reading. It also supports many types of readers by explicitly teaching and modeling reading comprehension strategies. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of strategy based reading instruction for improving student reading comprehension. Additionally, it examines teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of this approach. The review of the literature supports the idea that strategy based reading instruction is an effective way to improve reading comprehension. Teachers in kindergarten through eighth grade were surveyed on their perceptions of strategy based reading instruction's effectiveness for improving reading comprehension. Results …