Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Pilot Project: Technology Integration In Underserved Schools Using Thinkfinity, Spring 2008, Final Report, Sylvia Russakoff

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

The Pace Computer Learning Center has been involved in helping teachers learn to integrate technology using Internet resources since 1997, when, under a grant from the then Bell Atlantic Corporation, over 900 teachers were trained over a three year period.

Since that initial project, PCLC has continued this work with New York City and Westchester private and public schools. Most recently, funding has come from the Facilitator Center, an organization serving non-public schools in New York City and the Hudson Valley.

This pilot project was conceived as a way in which PCLC could use its experience and expertise to present …

The Effects Of The Accelerated Reader Program On Third Grade Elementary Students, Larry M. James

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

An applied project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Education Specialist at Morehead State University by Larry James on May 7, 2008.

A Comparative Analysis Of Tcap Reading-Language Arts Scores Between Students Who Used Accelerated Reader And Students Who Used Sustained Silent Reading., Janie Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a difference existed between TCAP scores of students who used the Accelerated Reader (AR) program and students who used Sustained Silent Reading strategy (SSR) as measured by the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). The variables of grade level (6th, 7th, and 8th), gender, and socioeconomic status (free- or reduced- price meals program) were considered. The population consisted of 108 6th graders who attended a Cocke County school or a McMinn County school in Tennessee. Data were obtained from the TCAP for 3 consecutive years beginning in 2004-2005 for students who completed …

Interim Report: Pilot Project – Technology Integration In Underserved Schools Using Thinkfinity, Sandra G. Flank

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

This pilot project was conceived as a way to enable teachers in schools with fewer technical resources than typical public schools, or with special needs for students and teachers, to explore and utilize the resources of Thinkfinity in lessons and activities.

The project will conclude at the end of May, 2008, and a final, complete report will be submitted at that time. This interim report will describe the assumptions of the project team, how the project was carried out, and highlights of the project to date.

The project team consists of the director of the Pace University Computer Learning Center, …

Developing, Implementing And Evaluating Computer-Based Instruction, Smitha Edulakanti Mohan Reddy

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today's mobile world, society needs mobile education. The conventional system of education was designed in the industrial age, but needs are changing. To meet the needs of this generation, the present system of education must be renovated. This study suggests computer-based instruction as a solution. The study aims to investigate if there are any significant differences in the final learning outcomes between those students who participated in a computer-based instruction model and those students who participated in a traditional instruction model for a course at the College of Education of Indiana State University in the fall of 2007. There …

Comparisons Between High-Performing And Low-Performing Charter Schools, Bonnie J. Stephens

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to explore the common clcmcnls of high performing charter schools that are not present in low performing charlcr schools. Schools ,.vere selected for the study based on a comparison of the performance of their students on stale assessments to the local public school district students. Six charter schools from the Midwest states oflndiana, Illinois and Michigan were studied with a focus on lhc role or the principal, the school mission, teacher development, programming and curriculum and instrnctional philosophies. One major finding was supported: a mission based on high academic achievement for every student that was reflected …

An Analysis Of The Career Maturity Levels Of Intellectually Gifted Adolescents, Yolanda Yvette Baker Cobb

Dissertations

This research project was conducted to analyze the career maturity level scores of intellectually gifted middle school students. The Career Maturity Inventory-Revised (Crites & Savickas, 1995) was used to compare the career-choice readiness of the intellectually gifted students to their typical middle school-age peers, as well as to the 9th through 12th graders in the norm sample. In addition, a comparison of the career maturity levels of intellectually gifted male and female 6th and 7th graders was also conducted. It was also hypothesized that the intellectually gifted students' career maturity score would increase as the students' grade level increased T-tests …

Science And Social Studies: The Forgotten Content, Samantha Slaughter

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Abstract The daily curriculum of many elementary schools lacks instructional time in the content areas of science and social studies. Many teachers insist that they do not have the time or training to cover these content areas on a daily basis. This project will illustrate that through proper planning, integration, and professional development, teachers can feel empowered to teach these content areas. The project includes a succinct explanation of how science and social studies can be included on a daily basis in the regular classroom setting, a detailed curriculum map, daily schedule, and four basic integrated units. The curriculum map …

Using A Paradigm Shift To Teach Neurobiology And The Nature Of Science—A C.R.E.A.T.E.-Based Approach, Sally G. Hoskins

Publications and Research

Decades ago, classic experiments established the phenomenon of “neural induction” (Spemann and Mangold, 1924; Holtfreter, 1933). It appeared clear that amphibian ectoderm was pre-programmed to form epidermis, and that the neural phenotype was induced by a chemical signal from mesoderm. The “ectoderm makes skin, unless induced to make nervous system” model appeared in many textbooks. This interpretation, however, was not simply incorrect but 180 degrees out of alignment with the actual situation. As subsequently demonstrated, the default state of amphibian ectoderm is neuronal, and the expression of the epidermal phenotype requires cell signaling (Hemmati-Brivanlou and Melton, 1992; 1994; 1997). In …

Rebel With A Cause: Emanie Nahm Sachs Arling Philips, Nancy Disher Baird

Library Faculty Publications

Talk, a 1924 novel about small town gossips and busybodies, won accolades for Bowling Green native Emanie Nahm Sachs. Four years later her biography of Victoria Woodhall (a feminist who ran for president in 1872) also received high praises.

Teacher Empowerment Through Collaborative Action Research: Concepts, Possibilities And Challenges, Anjum Halai, Sherwin Rodrigues, Tauseef Akhlaq

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

This paper focuses on the process of collaborative action research (CAR) as an approach to teacher empowerment, and on issues and questions that emerged as a result of experience with CAR in Pakistan. This is part of a cross-national five year CAR project in selected schools in Pakistan, Rwanda and South Africa, Implementing curriculum change for reducing poverty and improving gender equity, which is studying the process of implementation of curriculum change in science and mathematics classrooms in disadvantaged settings, so that understandings of, and approaches to, poverty alleviation may be developed. A CAR approach has been adopted in this …

Inside Unlv, Cate Weeks, Grace Russell, David Ashley, Shane Bevell, Angela Sablan

Inside UNLV

No abstract provided.

Western Guide To Graduate Supervision, Elizabeth Skarakis-Doyle, Gayle L. Mcintyre

Purple Guides

Based on the experiences of Western's graduate supervisors, this 30 page guide addresses the supervision of graduate students and focuses on best practices in mentoring, promoting student progress, and clarifying expectations in the supervisor-student relationship.

Results Of The Accreditation Process To Guide Postsecondary Certificate-Granting Institution Improvement, Sherri E. Nash

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Research gaps exist in knowledge about postsecondary certificate-granting institutions, as well as results of accreditation processes. This qualitative study focuses on national accreditation results that can: 1) define strengths and improvement areas in these institutions; 2) determine why action is taken or not taken on accreditation recommendations; and 3) identify results, strengths, and challenges of accreditation. This research base can guide improvements in these institutions and the North Central Association – Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) process. The population was 125 accredited schools in ten states, representing 96% of all NCA CASI accredited public, postsecondary institutions. Methods …

Nate And The One Sixty-Eight, Michael S. Mcmillan

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores the fate of 168 students who failed the Level 4 test at the American University Alumni (AUA) Language Center in Bangkok, Thailand. It examines enrollment trends of all Level 4 students during a one-year study period spanning 2006 and 2007, and reveals what happened to the students – who dropped out (and when), and who continued to study. It also examines why students might have dropped out. It then takes a critical look at certain aspects of the Level 4 test, explores what makes a test a “good” test, and recommends a series of improvements to AUA’s …

The Instructor’S Role In Aquatic Education: Some Personal Observations, Leland Yarger, Steven P. Dalcher

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

No abstract provided.

What Helps Law Professors Develop As Teachers? -- An Empirical Study, Gerald F. Hess, Sophie M. Sparrow

Law Faculty Scholarship

The overall goal of this article is to provide concrete suggestions for how law schools can improve teaching and enrich law student learning. In doing so, it reviews and analyzes the data collected from two national surveys about the kinds of faculty development activities that are most effective in improving law professors’ teaching. One survey was designed to quantify how many law teachers engaged in twenty-two types of teaching development activities over the previous five years and to assess the effectiveness of each of those activities. The other survey focused on the effectiveness of a national conference on teaching and …

Building Assignments That Teach, Mary-Ann Winkelmes

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

We have come to take assignments for granted as a necessary part of undergraduate education, largely because they provide the basis for a student's grade. But assignments can accomplish much more. In addition to helping students learn course content, assignments can enable students to practice the most essential skills of a discipline. Further, assignments can offer an opportunity for students to become better evaluators of their own academic work.

Thoughtfully structured assignments offer teachers an opportunity to build students’ mastery of essential disciplinary skills alongside their content knowledge; to improve students’ ability to evaluate their own academic work; and even …

Beyond Writing: Integrative Learning And Teaching In First-Year Seminars, David H. Krause, Robert C. Lageaux

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Campuses across the country continue to establish first-year seminars that promise students integrative and transformative learning experiences necessary for the twenty-first century. This trend inevitably challenges faculty members to teach in ways that transcend or subvert both their disciplinary expertise and their familiar, comfortable ways of teaching. These challenges become especially visible in the design and evaluation of assignments. At Columbia College Chicago, for example, where the majority of students aspire to careers in the arts, media, and communication, teachers have been negotiating the place of writing in a required firstyear seminar in liberal learning. These negotiations play out differently …

Role-Play: An Often Misused Active Learning Strategy, Stephanie Nickerson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Role-play is a special kind of case study, in which there is an explicit situation established with students playing specific roles, spontaneously saying and doing what they understand their “character” would, in that situation. Role-plays differ from other case studies in the immediacy of the experience. Students find themselves in the role-play. In a case study, they read about situations and characters. One of the reasons role-play can work so well is because of the power of placing oneself in another’s shoes. This provides opportunities for learning in both the affective domain, where emotions and values are involved, as well …

Teaching, Learning, And Spirituality In The College Classroom, Allison Pingree

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

landscape is provoking a heightened focus on spirituality and religion in the academy. For example, UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute (HERI), best known as the administrators of the CIRP Freshman Survey for over 40 years, is conducting a major research project, Spirituality in Higher Education (https://www.spirituality.ucla.edu), drawing data from over 112,000 students and 40,000 faculty at over 420 institutions. Defining spirituality in broad strokes (as the “interior” and “subjective” aspects of our lives, that which reflects the “values and ideals that we hold most dear,” gives us “meaning and purpose,” and invokes “inspiration, creativity, the mysterious, the sacred, …

International Perspective Of Aquatic Instructors’ Attitudes Toward Teaching Swimming To Children With Disabilities, Phillip Conatser

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes of aquatic instructors (N = 23) toward teaching swimming to children with mild and severe disabilities in an inclusive setting. Aquatic instructors from 23 cities in 7 countries participated in the study. Data were collected by mail survey using the Aquatic Instructors Attitudes Toward Teaching Swimming to Individuals With Disabilities questionnaire (Conatser, Block, & Lapore, 2000). A correlated t test showed that aquatic instructors were significantly more favorable toward teaching aquatics to children with mild disabilities than children with severe disabilities. Instructors agreed they should include children with mild disabilities and …

Resource Pack On Curriculum Design And Assessment To Promote Effective Learning., Christine O'Connor

Other resources

This resource pack is an overview of current considerations for academics designing programmes for third level education. The changing demographic of third level students along with employers’ demands has resulted in programme development with a focus on skills basis (Hyslop-Margison, 2001) to support a knowledge based society. The rationale behind the changes in curriculum design is introduced and further focus is emphasised in the areas of curriculum design models, assessment models and evaluation models. Examples of innovative curricula and assessment models in third level chemistry education will be incorporated during the pack which may be applied across other disciplines.

Motivations And Reasons For Exercising In Water: Gender And Age Differences In A Sample Of Spanish Exercisers, Juan Antonio Moreno Murcia, Celestina Martínez Galindo, Pablo Marcos Pardo

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The purposes of this study were, on the one hand, to relate the reasons for exercising with self-determination and, on the other, to check gender and age differences with a sample of 311 exercisers in water. The data were collected using the Behavioral Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire–2 and Motives for Physical Activities Measure–Revised. A positive and significant correlation was seen between self-determination and the reasons for exercise, with self-determination predicting 22% by enjoyment and 8% by fitness/health reasons. Similarly, the multivariate analysis showed that the women had more self-determination than the men and that they also rated fitness/health, social, enjoyment, …

Revitalizing The One-Shot Instruction Session Using Problem-Based Learning, Barbara Kenney

Library Faculty Publications

Problem-based learning (PBL) provides the theoretical framework for a learner-centered active instructional experience that relies on collaboration, critical thinking, and hands-on interaction with resources. When used in a one-shot session, PBL challenges the instruction librarian to strengthen and renew their pedagogical skills. Sessions are lively and provide the opportunity for students and faculty to experience library instruction in a new and dynamic way. PBL and information literacy are ideal partners with limitless possibilities for enhanced library instruction.

Western Guide To Mentorship In Academia, Donald Gordon Cartwright

Purple Guides

This guide addresses the importance of mentoring for new faculty members, describes the pros and cons of various mentorship models, and offers advice for mentors and mentees.

The Need For Advanced Cardiac Life Support Certification For Open-Water Lifeguards At Huntington Beach, Ca, Daniel Jerome, Peter R. Chambers, Steve Reuter, John Porcari

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

The number of people visiting U.S. beaches increased in 2007 to more than 240 million people. This increase in activities does not come without danger. Lifeguards maintain beach safety, but little research is available to assist us in determining appropriate certification levels for lifeguards. The authors analyzed various injuries that occurred in the open-water environment of Huntington Beach, CA. Based on the nature of the injuries, they attempted to determine the level of training lifeguards needed. The vast majority of injuries (99%) were soft-tissue injuries, musculoskeletal injuries, or environmental injuries. It was felt that lifeguards with first-aid and basic-life-support (BLS) …

Collaboration Or Plagiarism? Explaining Collaborative-Based Assignments Clearly, Tuesday Cooper

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Much has been written about the use of collaborative learning as a pedagogical tool to enhance student learning. Collaborative learning, or group work as it is commonly known, can be defined as a structured process where students are required to work in groups to complete a common task or assignment for a particular course. It has been identified as one of the most effective ways for students to become actively engaged in classroom activities (Davis, 1993; McKeachie, 1999; Nilson, 1998).

Although there are many positive aspects of group work, there are negatives as well. One particular problem occurs when students …

Developing The Scholarship Of Teaching And Learning Using Faculty Learning Communities, Milton D. Cox

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) have proven successful in producing teaching projects, as evidenced by a survey of institutions with FLCs. It follows that these groups should provide ideal conditions for a subsequent development of those projects into peerreviewed publications and presentations, or the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This essay offers faculty practical advice for producing such SoTL products based on what started as a teaching project in an FLC. My advice is based on work with FLCs for 28 years on my campus and others (Cox, 2003).

The Right Start: Reflections On A Departmentally Based Graduate Course On Teaching, Craig E. Nelson

Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education: Archives

Full credit courses on teaching offered by academic departments for their own graduate students and postdocs have many advantages. Many students come to graduate school because they want teaching to be an important part of their future professional life. Most who are hired in academia will go to jobs where teaching is important. Indiana University’s Graduate School noted that 95% of its PhDs who landed tenure-track positions found those positions at liberal arts colleges, smaller comprehensive universities, and urban institutions. They noted that their teaching experience at Bloomington did not necessarily prepare them fully for these jobs.

I offered a …