Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

“Are We Truly Disruptors?” A Thematic Analysis Of Two Canadian Teachers Disrupting The Status Quo In Their Classrooms, V Pereira

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This critical qualitative study looked to better understand the education system as an oppressive force, as well as highlight the strategies current Canadian teachers use to resist racism and colonialism in their classrooms. Using an inductive thematic analysis framework, my data sample consisted of 9 episodes from the podcast series The Chey and Pav Show: Teachers Talking Teaching featuring Toronto-based educators Chey Cheney and Pav (Pawan) Wander. The analysis identified two overarching themes pertaining to Pedagogy and Subject Content. The findings indicated that the educators have undergone a personal journey of social justice learning consisting of reflectivity and accountability, which …

Care-Full Climate Justice Organising: Movement-Based Participatory Action Research On Noongar Boodja, Kylie A. Wrigley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Aligned with emerging research agendas for critical (intersectional and decolonial) climate justice, this research aims to co-create place-based knowledges and actions about how communities and movements organise for climate justice. Organising for climate justice in Western Australia (WA) is particularly difficult because of the strong influence of the fossil fuel industry and the prevailing racial capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal responses to climate change in policy and mainstream climate movements. These systems of power often reproduce, for example, intersecting gender, race, and class inequalities, which marginalise communities most impacted by climate injustice. Moreover, many climate activists experience climate distress and burnout. …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

The History And Impact Of Education In Virginia During The Civil War Era, Christopher L. Jones

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following dissertation is a study of the educational history of Virginia during the Civil War era, the resulting struggles that ensued, and how these challenges led to a new period of change and reform throughout the Commonwealth. Numerous issues such as academic quality control, enrollment factors, staff shortages, economic turmoil, the dangers that some school grounds faced, race relations, and the aftermath of reform that presented new educational norms to Virginia are explored. This manuscript examines circumstances in Virginia’s educational system during the decade before the war and then discuss the drastic changes that occurred when the war began …

The Underrepresentation Of Black Females In Cybersecurity, Makendra Latrice Crosby

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The significance of cybersecurity methods, strategies, and programs in protecting computers and electronic devices is crucial throughout the technological infrastructure. Despite the considerable growth in the cybersecurity field and its expansive workforce, there exists a notable underrepresentation, specifically among Black/African American females. This study examines the barriers hindering the inclusion of Black women in the cybersecurity workforce such as socioeconomic factors, limited educational access, biases, and workplace culture. The urgency of addressing these challenges calls for solutions such as education programs, mentorship initiatives, creating inclusive workplace environments, and promoting advocacy and increased awareness within the cybersecurity field. Additionally, this paper …

Examining The Effects Of Mental Health Barriers On Black Undergraduate Students Attending Predominantly White Institutions, Patrice N. Storey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Black college students are experiencing mental health issues at an alarming rate. There is, however, a reluctance among Black college students to seek assistance. There is a stigma surrounding mental health. An individual with a mental illness is often stereotyped as weak, uncontrollable, or paralyzed by demons. Historical incidents such as slavery, the Tuskegee Experiment, Jim Crow, and the forced sterilization of Black women have led the Black community to distrust the medical system. The stigma embedded in the Black community is passed down from generation to generation. This literature review examines existing research on Black students and their perception …

Enhancing Public Library Services: A Future Outlook On Digital Libraries In Pakistan, Muhammad Sohail Haider, Chen Ya Prof, Md. Nurul Islam, Muhammad Danyal, Muhammad Hussain

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Objective: Governments consistently aim to enhance services and establish online connections to efficiently deliver necessary information. This study aims to evaluate the future potential of digital libraries in public libraries in Pakistan by examining various projects that have introduced innovative approaches to foster the development of digital library services.

Methodology: The analysis utilized the Amos 24 version, employing the Structural Equation Model (SEM) for assessing model fit indices and validating hypotheses. Additionally, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 was employed for Pearson correlation and factor analysis.

Findings: The results suggest the appropriateness of discussing three out of the …

Treescapes, Alexandra Délano Alonso, Marco Saavedra

Occasional Paper Series

We’ve each been looking to the trees for a long time. One of us painting, the other writing, with, by the trees. In the middle of the city and its noise, finding the branches. Standing, inquiring, returning. Why the trees, how we belong to each other, is a question worth asking again and again. These paintings and poems are part of an ongoing conversation, of many layers, of many trees, of what we lose and find under their canopies, in blooms, in dirt & seasons. What walking among the trees has taught us is that every art is an invitation …

Painting Our Treescapes: A Visual, Gretel Olson, Ingrid Olson, Stephanie Schuurman-Olson

Occasional Paper Series

Two children (ages 6 and 9) represent an afternoon spent in their urban, wintery treescape through visual art, photo documentation, and written narrative. The first piece, "My Imaginary Forest", considers the seasons, animals, and issues of artistic representation of nature. The second piece describes the relationship between a favourite tree and a child, and considers others -- both present and future -- who also occupy "Our Knotty Tree". All of the words, visual art, and photo selection are those of the children.

Focused On Freedom: Exploring The Potential Of Grading Contracts To Support Writers In The Secondary English Language Arts Classroom, Margaret Mcgregor Fluharty

English Theses & Dissertations

Drawing on qualitative methods, I engaged in a practitioner inquiry (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009) to investigate the use of contract grading to promote educational freedom (hooks, 2009; Love, 2020) in the post-secondary writing classroom. In addition, I explored the potential of this practice in the secondary English language arts setting.

To better understand the perspectives of both post-secondary writing instructors and secondary English teachers on the use of grading contracts, I conducted focus groups and engaged in artifact analysis (Billups, 2019). Results showed that post-secondary instructors who utilized grading contracts in their classroom saw changes primarily in their students’ engagement …

Investigation Of Chinese Students’ Writing Perceptions At An English Young Writers Camp, Jingshu Chen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explores how a young writers camp that catered to 40 Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, ranging from students entering the fourth grade to seventh grade, mediated the students’ writing perceptions. More specifically, the main objective of this research was to investigate the impact of the camp on the students' perceptions of writing and their self-identification as writers. The study employed the theoretical framework of Cultural Historical Activity Theory to guide the analysis. Various types of data were collected from the 40 participating students, including pre- and post-camp survey questions, classroom observations, and open-ended interviews. By …

Using Video Games To Jumpstart Student-Centered Research And Inquiry In The General Education Humanities Classroom, Melissa Ridley Elmes

International Journal of Emerging and Disruptive Innovation in Education : VISIONARIUM

This article discusses preliminary results of a study of the author’s use of gaming to facilitate research-based writing assignments in her classes, focusing specifically on a 200-level general education introductory literature course, The Medieval World, taught in Spring 2023 at a U.S. midwestern private university. The purpose of the study was to determine whether approaching topic selection for the research-based writing assignment in a general education literature course through gaming could result in more student buy-in and thus, greater student retention, better student work, and a more successful learning experience and outcome for such an assignment than does a traditional …

Review: Teaching Stem To First Generation College Students: A Guidebook For Faculty And Future Faculty By Gail Horowitz, Jessica S. Robbins

Early College Folio

Book Review: Gail Horowitz’s Teaching STEM to First Generation College Students: A Guidebook for Faculty and Future Faculty (Information Age Publishing, 2019). Horowitz taught chemistry at Bard High School Early College Newark.

Artist Into An Educator—Educator Inside An Artist, Raheela Qabool Abro Ms

Early College Folio

This study is a self-investigation of the author's identity by exploring her two professions: an artist as well as an art educator. Her insights as an educator provided a background for her as an artist through the production of this series of miniature artworks created with cell phone SIM cards. A SIM card, which stands for “Subscriber Identification Module,” contains information tied to the identity of the individual using it. For this reason, the author chose it as a medium for creating an art series to represent identity. In the dialogue of artist and educator, Abro confronts changes to the …

Teaching Food Studies In Early College: Experiments In Collaboration, Cynthia Brown, Maryann Tebben

Early College Folio

This article outlines the process of designing and teaching a collaborative course on sustainable food and agriculture on multiple campuses at once, including two early college institutions. The authors offer insights on the specific elements of the course they designed as well as methods for designing the course, what worked in practice, and what they would change. This article will be useful for faculty who would like to work with other early college colleagues to plan a collaborative course in general or a specific course on sustainable food and farms.

Commitment To Access: A Conversation About The Unconventional And College-In-Prison, Elías Beltrán, Megan Callaghan

Early College Folio

The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) currently operates full-tuition scholarship Bard College degree programs across seven New York State prisons, three Microcollege campuses created in partnership with community-based institutions, and on the Annandale campus of Bard College, where adult students are completing degrees through the BardBac. Since 2005 when the first degrees were granted to BPI students, the program has issued over 5,000 credits and more than 700 degrees.

This conversation between BPI alumnus Elías Beltrán, who earned his Bard College bachelor’s degree in 2017 while incarcerated, and Megan Callaghan, the program’s Dean, touches upon Elías’s upcoming transition to BPI faculty, …

Rolling A Boulder Up A Mountain: The Path To Higher Education In Displacement Concepts, Rebecca Granato

Early College Folio

Students in contexts affected by displacement and forced migration are at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing and successfully completing higher education, as well as translating their learning into post-graduation opportunities. Universities with clear social missions and networks of institutions have the power and the obligation to support the creation of “opportunities pipelines” for these populations.

Solving Higher Education In Burma, The Global South, And Beyond, Myat Su San

Early College Folio

By introducing readers to a migrant student from Burma, the author unpacks the longstanding and increasingly complicated barriers to higher education, which many students face across the Global South. Readers are then introduced to one institution seeking to dismantle those barriers through innovation and expansive access, Parami University.

Move, May Honey Maung

Early College Folio

“Move” is a call to action that urges leaders to work together to create a world where education is accessible and inclusive to everyone regardless of their socioeconomic status or background. Drawing inspiration from the author’s own educational experiences as both a student and employee of Phaung Daw Oo, this poem is a reminder that education is not a privilege but a fundamental human right; we all have a responsibility to ensure that it is available to all learners. The author—whose country is currently facing violence and economic and educational instability due to a February 2021 coup d’état—relays the hopeful …

Case Study: Phaung Daw Oo International University, Yee Wai Than Ma

Early College Folio

The case study discusses an unconventional path to education in Myanmar, one that serves as an alternative to government-controlled institutions. The article highlights the challenges faced by students and educators in the country and presents Phaung Daw Oo Monastic School (PDO) and its mission to contribute to society through excellence in education and lifelong learning. The school provides necessary schooling for children who did not receive adequate education at the traditional age, students who are up to five years off from what is considered aligned with the expectations of state-sponsored education. The article also discusses the establishment of Phaung Daw …

Editor's Note, Kyaw Moe Tun

Early College Folio

Editor's Note, Early College Folio, Volume 2, Issue 2 (Spring 2023).

Contributors

Early College Folio

Contributors, Early College Folio, Volume 2, Issue 2 (Spring 2023).

Table Of Contents

Early College Folio

Table of Contents, Early College Folio, Volume 2, Issue 2 (Spring 2023).

Architectural And Heritage Experience Through Playful Learning (An Interdisciplinary And Exploratory Action Research Focused On The Egyptian Context), Atheer Ahmed Salama

Theses and Dissertations

“The lack of awareness of the value of heritage and the lack of opportunities to engage in preserving and safeguarding heritage in the public sphere not only puts the heritage in risk of being irremediably lost. It also impoverishes the younger generation’s sense of identity and belonging within its respective socio-cultural continuum, and thus limits its ability to engage and contribute meaningfully to society at large” (UNESCO, 2021). With conducting this research, the researcher believes that heritage-themed analog games may carve the younger generation’s memory of heritage, allowing them to boost their sense of identity and belonging; thus, widening their …

Closing Racial Disparity By Dismantling Constructs Of Fear - A Practical Methodology For Learning To Swim, Dane W. Wolfrom, Christine L. Snellgrove, Marisol A. Rivera, Keisha Laguer Vandessppooll, Emily D. Feliciano

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

African American, Black, Hispanic, Latino, and low-socioeconomic communities have lower swimming ability and higher relative drowning rates than White and high-socioeconomic communities, distinguishing the former as high-priority populations to engage with effective learn-to-swim programming. This article demonstrates how prioritizing the reduction of fear-producing brain processes while learning to swim can result in 79.5% of high-priority population non-swimmers being able to jump into deep water, roll onto their backs and either float or tread for 60 seconds, and swim 25 yards after an average of 14 practice sessions. Practical explanations of four key components— water exploration, structured games, emulating coaches, and …

A Leisure Model: Barriers And Black Womxn Collegiate Swimmers, Tiffany Monique Quash

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

There remains a gap in the literature about the experiences of Black Womxn Collegiate Swimmers (hereafter referred to as BWCS) and the application of the leisure constraints model. Whether research has been conducted with Black Womxn Swimmers enrolled in a swimming course while using an autoethnographic lens (Norwood, 2010) or the representation of one Black Womxn Swimmer from a Predominantly White Institution (Quash, 2018), minimal knowledge is known about this specific demographic representative of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and the barriers they experience. Using a qualitative methodological approach to understand the leisure constraints …

Third Diversity In Aquatics Special Issue, Angela K. Beale-Tawfeeq, Steven N. Waller Ph.D., Tiffany M. Quash Phd

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Front matter - none available

“Pool: A Social History Of Segregation Exhibition” Exploring Social Justice Through The Lens Of Water Safety Awareness And Art-Based Education, Angela K. Beale-Tawfeeq Ph.D., Mph, Tiffany Monique Quash Ph.D., Knolan Rawlins Ph.D., Victoria Prizzia, Miriam Lynch Ph.D.

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

Art exhibitions, with a focus on water safety and drowning prevention, are rarely seen as a medium to address social justice and public health, or water safety awareness and drowning prevention efforts in communities. Globally, data have shown drowning is considered a “neglected public health threat” (World Health Organization, 2021, CDC, 2023). Additionally, reports have shown that across the globe there are demographic groups of people impacted by drowning, historical traumas, and social determinants, also impacting some communities that are at greater risk (WHO 2021, CDC, 2023). Although there are national and international efforts to address the importance of water …

Blue-Mindfulness Training: A Story Of Restorative Justice Decolonizing And Re-Indigenizing Communal Relationships With Water, Thaddeus Gamory, Miriam Lynch Ph.D., A. Udaya Thomas, Angela K. Beale-Tawfeeq Ph.D., Mph

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This article aims to introduce and describe the development of the concept of Blue-Mindfulness Training^TM, which was created and designed by Thaddeus Gamory and supported by research and the experience of other experts in the field. Drawing from the author’s and others' practical experience, the authors present a "Voice from the Field" perspective on creating and developing the Blue-Mindfulness^TM . This Instructional Framework, coined by Mr. Thaddeus Gamory Blue-Mindfulness^TM, addresses the impacts of historical racial discrimination and trauma in BIPOC communities, specifically on marginalized African American communities while promoting a communal and safe relationship with …

Self-Reported Water Competency Skills At A Historically Black College & University And The Potential Impact Of Additional Hbcu-Based Aquatic Programming, Knolan C. Rawlins Ph.D., Shaun M. Anderson Ed.D, Tiffany Monique Quash Ph.D.

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This article provides an analysis of self-reported water competency skills at a Historically Black University (HBCU). A survey was administered to undergraduate students who lived on campus at one HBCU. Of the 254 respondents that reported the ability to swim, only 187 respondents self-reported the ability to swim and the ability to perform water competency skills. The biggest discrepancy occurred within individuals that identified as Black or African American. In this group, 142 out of 250 participants proclaimed the ability to swim. However, the number of Black or African Americans that could swim dropped to 84 when researchers operationally defined …