Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Responding To Literature Through Student–Author Interviews: Eighth-Grade Students Challenge Chris Crowe’S Mississippi Trial, 1955, Danielle L. Defauw, Chris Crowe, Christine Burnett

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study explores virtual, student–author interviews eighth-grade students led with Chris Crowe in response to his young adult novel Mississippi Trial, 1955. The opportunity to interview the author motivated students to read the novel. Through their text-world development, students connected with the fictional and nonfictional characters, Hiram Hillburn and Emmett Till, respectively. Through their critical reader-responses, students sought truth about Emmett Till’s case as they questioned Crowe about the choices he made as an author and researcher, which supported students’ understanding of character development and historical significance of Emmett Till’s case. Crowe’s answers to the students’ critical questions were …

Writing Center Resources, Samantha Hince

Honors Projects

This project facilitated the composition of a series of resources for the Bridgewater College Writing Center website, part of the MyBC online portal. The result was thirty resources on writing-related topics such as the writing process, including prewriting, drafting, and revising; citation styles and avoiding plagiarism; and grammar, mechanics, and style. These resources are available to Bridgewater College students, faculty, and staff. The primary purpose of these resources is to assist Writing Center tutors during tutoring sessions with students and to provide supplemental writing assistance for students. Project development was based on research into college writing centers and best practices …

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Vol. 23, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2022

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Forum Essays on “The Value of Honors to its Graduates”: Authors: Paul Ewing, University of Toledo; Andy Walker, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Laura Barrett, LIU Brooklyn; John Major, Ohio State University; Teri Grieb, Columbia College, South Carolina; James A. Keller, University of Delaware; LLeweLLyn Cooper, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Ayesha Ahmed, Northeastern Illinois University; Mary Beth Messner, Youngstown State University; Eric W. Miller, West Virginia University; Sara McCane-Bowling, Eastern Kentucky University; Michelle Panuccio, Youngstown State University; Lia M. Shore, Georgia Perimeter College, Dunwoody; Jennifer N. Dulin, Texas A&M University; Pepper Hayes, …

Jnchc, Vol. 23, No. 1: Frontmatter

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Front cover

Masthead, etc.

Contents

Call for papers

Editorial policy

Dedication: Anne N. Rinn

Editor’s introduction: Ada Long

Wicked²: The Increasing Wickedness Of Educational Developers As Dei Cultural Influencers, Lauri Dietz, China M. Jenkins, Laura Cruz, Amber Handy, Rita Kumar, Rita Kumar, Julia Metzger, Ian Norris

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The global pandemic that began in 2020 amplified the chasm between higher education’s stated goals to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the systemic realities that many students, instructors, and staff grapple with on a daily basis. We contend that attenuating the barriers to DEI outcomes means first acknowledging that DEI is a wicked problem, in that it is impossible to solve because of competing, conflicting, and complex sociocultural forces from within and outside our institutions. We also contend that educational developers (EDs) are particularly well situated within the higher education ecology to be key cultural influencers in how …

Caring For Our Communities Of Practice In Educational Development, Christopher V. H.-H. Chen, Katherine Kearns, Lynn Eaton, Darren S. Hoffmann, Denise Leonard, Martin Samuels

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Given the backdrop of multiple concurring crises—a global pandemic, political instability and violence, and multiple structural inequalities—we see the problem of now as this: How do educational developers continue to address the wicked problems in teaching and learning when we are simply so exhausted? Our article presents the importance of communities of practice for educational developers, inviting us to witness and name the communities in which we belong; the important functions they engage; who they nurture and how; and what care is undertaken to sustain these groups and ourselves. To help educational developers understand and appreciate the ways that communities …

Contexts For Agency: A Framework For Managing Educational Development Work, Kathleen Landy, Anna L. Bostwick Flaming, Suzanne Tapp, Eric C. Kaldor

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Often working in multiple roles and operating at multiple scales, educational developers deal with layered tensions and a complex context that can be difficult for an individual or team to reconcile. In May 2020, the authors participated in a cross-institutional scholarly project, the Pandemic Educational Development Research Collaborative (PEDRC), designed to explore the impact of multiple crises (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic and our collective civil and political unrest) and associated large-scale instructional changes on educational developers and their work. The Contexts for Agency framework reflects the project’s emergent theme that the circumstances in which we act have considerable influence on …

Building Resilience In Ctls: Reflections On Practice, Lisa J. Hatfield, Julie Maxson, Jennifer Marshall Shinaberger, Hanna E. Norton, Cynthia (Cia) H. Demartino, Annette Finley-Crosswhite, Gigi Gokcek

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

What are the qualities of the “now” that make teaching and learning an urgent, if not a moral, imperative? A group of faculty, administrators, and educational developers respond to this question with individual narratives bound together by a common theme of reflective practice in times of crises to help faculty become more resilient in preparing for ongoing upheavals and unexpected crises while pursuing more inclusive communities. Our personal narratives reflect on the subjects of flexibility in the face of crises, technology and ethics, study abroad exposure to ethical challenges, students’ growing anxiety and mental health, modeling metacognition with peers and …

Taking Teaching And Learning Seriously: Approaching Wicked Consciousness Through Collaboration And Partnership, Adam H. Smith, Laurie L. Grupp, Lindsay Doukopoulos, John C. Foo, Barbara J. Rodriguez, Janel Seeley, Linda M. Boland, Laurel L. Hester

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has demanded large-scale collaboration within all organizations, including higher education, and taking teaching and learning seriously, in this moment, means leveraging partnerships to address the wicked (large, complex) problems cited by Bass (2020). These problems are not ours alone to solve; rather, we make the case for a “wicked consciousness,” an amalgam of perspectives, in educational development. Guided by intellectual humility, our success as educational developers ought to be measured by the quality of our collaborations as well as our ability to learn with others, form equitable partnerships, and lead others by our example.

Toward Institutionalizing Successful Innovations In The Academy, Sarah B. Wise, Courtney Ngai, Joel Christopher Corbo, Mark A. Gammon, Jaclyn K. Rivard, Clara E. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Due to the “wicked problem” of the Academy’s resistance to innovation, new teaching and learning programs struggle to become integrated into the fabric of the Academy, which slows the uptake of evidence-based practices. This wicked problem is rooted in the lack of slow, intentional mechanisms for cultural change in the Academy. In this article, we analyze the institutionalization journey of the Departmental Action Team (DAT) project, which is a model for slow, intentional change. Over the last four years, partnering with two campus centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) allowed the DAT project to make institutionalization progress.

This analysis is …

Increasing The Engagement Of Middle School Males Enrolled In A Foreign Language Class, Georgette Paula Leslie

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research study investigated the engagement of middle school males in a foreign language class based in a British overseas territory. The data collection methods consisted of focus groups, observations, and surveys. The participants for this research included five students who are identified as males. The desired outcome of the research was to determine whether teaching strategies aligned with Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (MI), the learner-centered approach, and Robert Gardner’s motivation theory with reference to integrative motivation, increased the engagement of middle school males in the foreign language classroom. The research questions included: RQ 1. How …

Annual Impact Report 2021: A Report By The Impact Evaluation Team, Impact Management Team, Impact Evaluation Team

IMPACT Reports

This is the 2021 annual report of Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT). IMPACT was created in 2010, and is a large collaborative initiative on the Purdue West Lafayette campus involving multiple key partners across campus including the Office of the Provost, Center for Instructional Excellence (CIE), Purdue Online (PO), Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies (Libraries), the Evaluation and Learning Research Center (ELRC), and Institutional Data Analytics and Assessment (IDA+A). IMPACT works with instructors to redesign large enrollment, foundational courses with the aim of engaging students more fully in their learning and creating a more student-centered environment, …

How Early Education And Pet Therapy May Help Nurses With Compassion Fatigue, Katie E. Clark

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Although there is a great deal of research on the causes of compassion fatigue, there is little research on prevention techniques or ways to combat compassion fatigue. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to discover if nurses are prepared to cope with occupational stress and compassion fatigue. A secondary purpose was to examine the perceived benefit that pet therapy can have as a possible stress reduction technique to decrease the effects of compassion fatigue. This research was conducted by gathering data via semistructured interviews. The researcher interviewed nurses who were currently practicing patient care and scored as …

The Effects Of Charter Schools On Early Foreign Language Education In Public Schools, Cassie Kunz

Senior Honors Theses

Education is a notoriously contentious subject in America. Controversy exists and continues to flare up over what content should be taught, how it should be taught, as well as the cost; foreign language is one such subject. The history of foreign language education in the United States (U.S.) reviews current foreign language policies and practices in the U.S. and other countries, as well as the reasons that proponents of foreign language education argue that it must be improved in the U.S. The charter school approach to education was analyzed in the context of market theory to determine if a correlation …

Oral History: A Tool For The Elementary And Middle Classroom, Jessica Keiser

Senior Honors Theses

Modern historical instruction requires educators to cover broad expanses of history and prepare students for standardized testing. In the push to meet state standards and cover the vast curriculum in short periods of time, many educators have begun to teach to the textbook. Much to the detriment of students, this educational practice has favored periodization and content quantity over the development of crucial historical skills. Rather than adhering to popular education trends, teachers can consider implementing oral history projects within their elementary and middle school classrooms. Oral history is a methodology that employs first-hand accounts to teach about key historical …

Perceptions Of Higher Education Learners And Educators Regarding The Learner-Centered Strategy Implementation: A Qualitative Single Case Study, Ngo T. Tran

All Theses And Dissertations

The problem in this study was the lack of an effective strategy implementation of learner-centered education in higher education institutions (Hoidn, 2017; Lee & Hannafin, 2016; Sabah & Du, 2018; Starkey, 2019; Sweetman, 2017). The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of higher education learners and educators on LCE strategy implementation. The study’s conceptual framework was rooted in personalized learning, and the theoretical framework employed the educational theory from Dewey (1897). Study findings included: 1. LCE is a philosophy of education that places learners and their needs at the center of the educational process. The LCE concept in …

Moving Law Schools Forward By Design: Designing Law School Curricula To Transfer Learning From Classroom Theory To Clinical Practice And Beyond, April Land, Aliza Organick

Faculty Scholarship

Calls for reform of legal education are long-standing and have been renewed with vigor and an increasing demand for “practice-ready” lawyers. As part of these reforms, changes to the American Bar Association Standards have been made that now require law schools to provide experiential learning opportunities, to define specific objectives, and to show that students are making progress toward those objectives. A rapidly developing area of study regarding professional identity formation stresses the importance of supporting and guiding students through experiential learning throughout the course of law school. Additionally, as part of its accreditation process, the ABA will now evaluate …

Effectively Integrating Technology To Engage Students And Meet Learning Objectives In Language Arts Classrooms, Jessica L. Austin

Theses and Dissertations

Technology is an ever-changing resource that is more advanced now than it has ever been. This action research project explored how teachers intentionally plan the use of technology in their classroom based on the objectives that need to be taught. The main study that this action research explores is how teacher align objectives to integrate intentional technology that engages students in the middle school ELA classroom? By collecting data via questioning, interviewing, observing and collaboration among participants, the findings show that the use of technology in the classroom is most efficient when implementing a backwards design approach to lesson planning.

Supervisory Allyship For University Custodial Staff, Daniel Colascione

Theses and Dissertations

This study will examine the lived experiences of campus custodians in search of creating an anti-racist workplace. Custodians will have the opportunity to share about their experiences involving racism and will be asked to explain their expectations of leadership in creating an anti-racist workplace. This study seeks to understand the expectations Black staff members have of their departmental and university level leadership to identify ways to narrow the gap between their expectations and the support they receive from those in positions capable of doing so.

Developing Critical Cultural Awareness In The Elt Classroom, Akiko Takagi, Aleidine J. Moeller

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

In the current age of globalization, migration, and immigration, integrating interculturality into language instruction is essential in order to prepare language learners to become competent intercultural speakers (Byram, 2020), described as competent communicators (Byram & Zarate, 1996) who engage with complexity and multiple identities and who “avoid the stereotyping which accompanies perceiving someone through a single identity” (Bryam et al., 2002, p. 5). Intercultural speakers are successful not only in communicating information but also in developing human relationships with people of other languages and cultures with whom they live and work. In contrast to monolingual native speakers (NSs), intercultural speakers …

Comparing The Job Satisfaction Of Virtual School Educators To That Of Traditional Educators, Eric L. Sierra

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Virtual education in the K-12 environment is a growing field in the education industry. Not only does virtual education provide new opportunities for students, it also changes how teachers work in the industry and how they perceive the job satisfaction. Using the Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (TJSQ), this study compares perceived job satisfaction of virtual educators to that of traditional educators in the K-12 environment. Data collected from 112 educators suggested that both virtual and traditional educators were satisfied with their jobs. When teachers in both environments were compared to one another, there was no statistically significant difference in their …

The Confidence Of High School Special Education (Sped) Teachers To Deliver Instruction In A 100% Virtual Learning Environment Due To Covid-19, Darius E. James

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic had substantially altered others' daily social interactions and the delivery of education globally. From preschool to universities, educational institutions worldwide temporarily closed their brick-and-mortar facilities to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The transition from in-person to virtual learning was very abrupt, and the transition forced teachers of all experience levels to adapt to a new normal of virtual instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of high school special education teachers’ confidence to deliver virtual instruction to students within a school district that was …

What They Are Really Saying: An Analysis Of The Messages In Full-Time Virtual School Television-Length Advertisements, Dennis Beck, Seth D. French, Johnny B. Allred, Christian Z. Goering

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications and Presentations

Virtual schooling in America is a complex notion, one riddled with simultaneous claims of provenance coupled with poor achievement results when compared to other forms of schooling. Recruitment practices for virtual schools, specifically available television-length advertisements from a national list of fully online schools, comprised a data set around which this study revolved. We examined how virtual school television-length advertisements represented or misrepresented their approach to schooling by utilizing a cultural studies technique of performing preferred, negotiated, and oppositional readings. Qualitative analysis—including an independent interrater process—led to findings that often directly contradicted the messages present in the television-length advertisements, as …

An Analysis Of Early Career Educator Experiences And The Impact Of Teacher Recruitment Initiatives, Induction Programs, And Retention Efforts In One School District, John Liddon Pope

Dissertations

The K-12 public education system faces a teacher shortage dilemma of unprecedented proportions. At the onset of the school year, out-of-field teachers, underqualified teachers, or long-term substitutes often fill instructional vacancies, causing many students to begin the school year with uncertainty. Recruiting, training, and retaining highly qualified teachers is critical to student success. The purpose of this study was to analyze early career educator experiences and the impact of teacher recruitment initiatives, induction programs, and retention efforts in one school district, explore common practices in recruitment, induction, and retention in other school districts, and develop strategies and actions to mitigate …

Song Tutorial: Deep River, H.T. Burleigh, Shelby Vannordstrand

Curriculum

Instructions and an example of an assignment for Voice Pedagogy (MUS 4610 and MUS 8616).

Examining Middle School Core Teacher Knowledge And Practices In Stem Education, Rachel Brill-Lee

All Theses And Dissertations

Many educational institutions reported challenges with achieving student success in STEM disciplines and attribute these challenges to the lack of knowledge and education among educators on how and what to teach regarding STEM education (Stehle & Peters-Burton, 2019). This qualitative case study explored how core subject teachers outside STEM/CTE education in one middle school in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States view, understand, and integrate STEM education and skills into their curriculum. The study used a combination of Likert surveys and semi-structured interviews to identify themes that may contribute to challenges many educational institutions are experiencing in regard to …

Parents' Experiences Of Teacher Support Related To Their Child's Individual Education Plan: A Phenomenological Study, Linda Hester Henderson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to examine parents’ experiences of the support they receive from their children’s teachers when those children have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and attend public-school preschools. For this study, described support is defined as emotional, instrumental, or informational assistance, along with appraisal received from others during times of need. The theoretical framework for this study is Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model of parental involvement and Epstein’s parent involvement model, which identifies six types of family involvement. These theories fall under Bronfenbrenner’s overarching ecological systems theory. The study includes 10 participants chosen through purposeful sampling. …

The Impact Of Law Enforcement Training On The Ability Of Officers To Recognize Human Trafficking Situations In West Tennessee, Marie Angelena Garrett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

No one knows the true extent of human trafficking in America today, yet law enforcement officers may encounter victims during routine assignments. There exists a growing body of research associated with law enforcement officers and human trafficking. However, few researchers have explored the connection between human trafficking training and officers’ ability to recognize human trafficking situations. Grounded in schema theory, this quantitative study surveys law enforcement officers in West Tennessee. Survey questions assess officers’ awareness of human trafficking generalities, their ability to recognize possible locations of human trafficking, and training related to human trafficking. Questions then describe potential human trafficking …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Augustine’S Philosophy Of Education, Erik D. Thomas

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

A philosophy of education consists of varying values and beliefs that coalesce to form a coherent and structured approach to curriculum and instruction. Today, a diverse number of philosophies exist, each with its own set of standards, priorities, and points of emphasis like intellectual and vocational development. However, philosophies emphasizing moral development as an integral feature of both intellectual and vocational development are not as popular. Although some forms of moral education exist, disagreements over its value, purpose, and implementation remain prevalent. The following qualitative study examined the works of Augustine of Hippo, a proponent of moral education, to identify …

Differentiated Instruction In A General Children’S Ministry Curriculum: Evaluating Discipleship In An Inclusive Classrooom, Jennifer E. Pelissero

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perception children’s pastors have in their ability to provide a comprehensive instructional program for children with special needs. The quantitative study utilized a survey research method to address three research questions. The survey instrument was distributed electronically to children’s pastors nationwide to identify instructional and environmental elements required to provide a comprehensive instructional program within the ministry setting for children with special needs. In an effort to further research why children with special needs do not regularly attend religious worship services, this research study focused on elements that create the greatest …