Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Research Methodology At Level 8 And 9: A Web-Enabled Approach, Daire Hooper

Teaching Fellowships

This research explored the potential use of webinars as a method of course delivery in the College of Business, Technological University Dublin. In-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of students to gain insights into their experience with webinars and to delve into how they interacted with the webinar, whether they would prefer this mode of delivery in the future and to assess their overall perceptions of webinars. Findings indicated that students found the webinar to be a novel and innovative way for delivering course content, however, students reported having connectivity issues and at times encountered audio problems. Furthermore, …

Developing A Course In Media Entrepreneurship, Kate Shanahan

Teaching Fellowships

The objective of this teaching fellowship was to develop a module in Digital Media Entrepreneurship for the fourth year BA journalism students in Technological University Dublin (DIT), the pilot to run in the Semester beginning September 2012. Part 1 of this research involved a survey of the students prior to the pilot to ascertain their attitudes to and expectations of a module in media entrepreneurship, as well as their skill sets. Part 2 will take place after the pilot to see whether these expectations have been met and whether the students’ skill sets have improved. Unlike other modules on the …

An Activity-Based Approach To The Learning And Teaching Of Research Methods: Measuring Student Engagement And Learning, Eimear Fallon, Terry Prendergast, Stephen Walsh

Teaching Fellowships

The project had three separate, linked objectives: (a) the development of a module in Research Methods which embraces an activity based approach to learning in a group environment;(b) to improve participation by all students and (c) to devise more rigorous and equitable assessment methods. This module was previously taught through a traditional lecture-based format. It was felt that student engagement was poor and learning was limited. It was believed that successful completion of the development of the module would equip students with a deeply learned battery of research skills to take into their further academic and professional careers. Student learning …

Oral Communication Apprehension: An Exploration In Addressing Fear Of Public Speaking, Dan Shanahan

Teaching Fellowships

Several research studies have identified oral communication as a skill employers desire of their workforce, and so, accounting and business education programmes place considerable emphasis on the development of communication competencies among students. However, not all students appear to benefit as desired from communication skills development. Prior research indicates this may arise from a fear of communicating, commonly known as oral communication apprehension, a factor which inhibits his/her capability to develop effective communication skills.

Many prior studies have measured oral communication apprehension of students in different disciplines, and there has been some qualitative exploration of the phenomenon. This paper reports …

Developing A Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment Between Students In Cross Disciplines To Meet The New College Structure, Ruairi Hayden, Fiacra P. Mcdonnell

Teaching Fellowships

p> Integrated project delivery is a rapidly developing approach to design and construction that uses business structures, new technologies and newly developing practices to collaboratively use the talents and contributions of all participants in the design and construction process. This project replicates this approach by creating a collaborative project between the Department of Construction Management and Technology and the Department of Quantity Surveying. The term “collaborative learning” refers to an instruction method in which students at various performance levels work together in small groups towards a common goal. The students are responsible for one another’s learning as well as their …

Supporting Lecturers In Writing And Publishing Educational Research, Roisin Donnelly, Martina Crehan

Other resources

Academic writing in the context of producing quality research articles is something which all academics engage in and there is evidence of increased attention to supporting the development of the writing and subsequent output of academics and research students. However, while scholarly writing is learnt in complex ways, critical thinking is an intrinsic part of such writing. In practice the teaching of critical thinking is difficult and there is a lack of discussion about what it means within the context of the writing process. Critical thinking can only be acquired with practice and this study describes a pedagogic intervention with …

Internships And The Assessment Of Student Learning, William K. Templeton, Karel A. Updyke, Robert B. Bennett

Scholarship and Professional Work - Business

The use of internships is a powerful learning tool that allow business students to make connections between their classroom experience and the world of work. If designed appropriately and positioned correctly in the curriculum, they can also be an ideal opportunity to conduct assurance of learning activities related to business school accreditation. This study reports on survey results relating to business schools’ use of internships in their assurance of learning efforts and describes one school’s successful attempt to use internships as the key platform for its well-developed assurance of learning program.

Distortion, Disparity, And Dubious Data: The Impact Of Accountability On Instructional Practice, Curtis Jack Barnes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This study examined the impact that state and federal accountability systems have had on instructional practice in two large Texas school districts by comparing the performance of students at these schools on individual items from the 2011 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and relating performance to item difficulty and the schools' accountability risk as determined by prior accountability performance. To make this comparison, schools were placed into accountability risk groups based on past performance on the No Child Left Behind Act's (NCLB) Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) accountability instrument. The researcher then calculated the mean differences between average performance …

Engaging With The Community, Ellen Hazelkorn, Elaine Ward

Books/Book chapters

This article focuses on how higher education institutions (HEIs) engage with their external community, contribute to social and economic development, and underpin civil society and democracy. The external community consists of a wide-range of stakeholders from business and industry, the public, private and non-governmental sector, and civil society. While many HEIs have historically had a strong association to their city or nation, today the health of society and the economy is inextricably tied to greater collaboration between “town” and “gown”. The article has five main sections: i) Introduces the social and public responsibility of higher education, ii) Describes the policy …

A Teaching Practice Review Of The Use Of Multiple-Choice Questions For Formative And Summative Assessment Of Student Work On Advanced Undergraduate And Postgraduate Modules In Engineering, Aidan O'Dwyer

Articles

This paper reflects on, reports on and evaluates the use of multiple-choice questions, in both formative and summative assessment modes, on control engineering modules taken by advanced undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, over four academic years. The material covered by the modules is analytical in nature. The rationale for examining the assessment strategy was the poor performance by students in a closed book traditional terminal examination on one of the advanced undergraduate modules over some years. The change in assessment strategy has improved student learning, as measured by assessment data; student feedback on the assessment methods is broadly positive. The …

Rubric For Assessing Epistemological Understanding Of Students Who Are Learning Design., Shannon Chance

Conference papers

There is an extensive base of literature that attempts to describe how college students understand “knowledge” and their role in generating it. Educators draw from this literature to help students develop increasingly sophisticated ways of using knowledge. Although existing research aims for broad generalizability, it is clear that various disciplines have developed their own unique value systems. Scholars of “hard,” physical science are likely to hold very different ideas about the nature of “fact” and “inevitability” than those in the “softer,” social sciences [1]. Various disciplines conceptualize, use, and generate new knowledge in ways that differ dramatically, yet little research …

Irish Education And The Financial Crisis, Deirdre Lillis, John Morgan

Articles

Regardless of economic fortunes, investment in education remains a constant in terms of its perceived value to Ireland and it is seen as critical to the economic recovery of the country. Ireland has one of the highest educational participation rates in the world, is considered to have the ‘most employable’ graduates in Europe and produces more graduates per 1000 inhabitants than any other European country. The degree to which the financial crisis has impacted Irish education is explored here.

Confusing Achievement With Aptitude, Dave Powell

Education Faculty Publications

My wife and I read and reread the words several times, allowing them to sink in. "Being in an academic class would cause him harm," the principal wrote about our son, "as the rigor would be too great." The report continued, "He would be the lowest-ability student in the class and by a large margin." It is a day you don't soon forget when the principal of your son's school tells you—in an email, no less—that your child simply is not capable of managing academic work. [excerpt]

Listening For The Squeaky Wheel: Designing Distance Writing Program Assessment, Virginia M. Tucker

English Faculty Publications

Distance writing programs still struggle with assessment strategies that can evaluate student writing as well as their ability to communicate about that writing with peers at a distance. This article uses Kim, Smith and Maeng's 2008 distance education program assessment scheme to evaluate a single distance writing program at Old Dominion University. The program's specific assessment needs include the ability to determine how well students are developing expert insider prose and working together as a virtual community. Kim, Smith and Maeng's assessment scheme was applied to six courses within the writing program, revealing that programmatic assessment weaknesses included providing varied …

Typical And Top-Ranked Polish Private Higher Education : Intersectoral And Intrasectoral Distinctiveness, Joanna Musial

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation analyzes the degree and shape of differences between private and public sectors (intersectoral) and within the private sector (intrasectoral) in Polish higher education. The intersectoral hypothesis is that Poland's two sectors are quite different and that these differences mostly follow those claimed and so far found in leading literature on private higher education globally. The intrasectoral analysis focuses on the top-ranked private institutions, for which I hypothesize characteristics of "semi-elite" institutions.

An Exploratory Study Of The Impact Of College Student Leadership Programs Upon The Construct Of Mindfulness, Richard Lee Horowitz

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Mindfulness is a key skill that produces the greater psychological awareness identified by most leadership scholars as being essential to effective leadership. This study conducted an exploratory assessment of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cocurricular collegiate leadership programs through pre- and post-participation application of the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS). The Social Change Model (SCM) of leadership development was used to represent mindfulness-based leadership programs due to an emphasis upon mindfulness and psychological self awareness. This quantitative study made use of a 2 x 2 mixed ANOVA and analyzed change in scores to identify the progress made towards the learning …

Redefining Education In The Developing World, Marc J. Epstein, Kristi Jane Yuthas

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

Brief article in which the authors argue that governments and organizations investing in developing-world education must move away from the assumption that improvements in test scores provide evidence of success. They believe, instead, that in a time of scarcity, it is more important to seek out interventions that lead to the greatest social and economic impact for the poor.

Being Equipped: A Review Of Homosexuality And The Christian, Joshua Canada

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.

A Parent’S Guide To The Christian College: Supporting Your Child’S Heart, Soul, And Mind During The College Years, Brad A. Lau

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.

What About The “T’S”?: Addressing The Needs Of A Transgender Student At A Cccu Member Institution, Scott Barrett, Philip D. Byers, David M. Downey, Eric M. Gingerich

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

As the discussion of the LGBT community continues to evolve and inform decisions at higher education institutions, evidence suggests the “T”–transgender–discussion at CCCU institutions has remained stagnant and largely unrecognized. In June 2011 ACSD’s New Professionals Collaborative asked professionals to present a case study on how a CCCU institution would house a transgender student who had already been admitted into the institution. The authors found the literature on the subject to be sparse, and within the Christian context it is nearly nonexistent. The few precedents and best practices on housing a transgender student do not appear to align with the …

Abelard To Apple: The Fate Of American Colleges And Universities, Chris Abrams

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.

Alone Together, Why We Expect More From Technology And Less From Each Other, Douglas M. Wood

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.

Leading Naked: The Costly Consequences Of Organizational Solipsism, Anthony J. Marchese

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.

Some Of The Early Story: The Beginnings Of The Association For Christians In Student Development, David M. Johnstone

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

A reasonable critique of American student affairs is that the profession does not utilize its heritage and history. The profession leans heavily on the praxis of its responsibilities to the detriment that it has a long history and those who worked diligently in years past have made what happens today possible. The Association for Christians in Student Development has a significant history. Some of it parallels contemporary culture, while some of it is unique. However, the current association reflects the vision of early “pioneers.” This article seeks to begin filling the gap, provide a sense of how the association arose …

Experiences Of Gay And Lesbian Students Attending Faith-Based Colleges: Considerations For Improving Practice, Joel M. Wentz, Roger D. Wessel

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

The intent of this 2010 qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of undergraduates who identified as gay/lesbian in faith-based colleges. Some of the issues students encountered were identity denial, perceptions of homosexuality on campus, exposure to off-campus cultures, concealing sexual identity, establishing a peer support network, and reconciling faith and sexual identity. Participants discussed support from faculty/staff, counseling services, school policies, male residence hall culture, and perceptions of administrators. Considerations for improving practice include making informed enrollment decisions, supporting sexual identity formation during college, reconciling faith and sexual identity, encouraging supportive networks, and developing policies regarding campus sexual …

Academically Adrift: Limited Learning On College Campuses, Steve Conn, Josh Wymore

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.

Assessing Reasons For Involvement In Student Leadership Activities, Dirk Barram, Scott Wade, Christopher Koch

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that either prompt or prevent undergraduate student participation in leadership development activities. A survey including 35 items was created. The survey was rated by experts for construct validity. Based on expert ratings, 17 items were retained. Internal reliability of the items was .87. Both a factor analysis and a qualitative analysis of the items indicated a single factor for student involvement centered on personal development. An analysis of demographic variables indicated that students planning to attend graduate school were more favorable toward involvement in student leadership activities. Implications for improving …

Growth No. 11 (2012) - Full Issue

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

The full issue of the eleventh edition of Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development.

Scholarship And Relationship In The Integration Of Faith And Learning, Keith Starcher

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

In this paper I review some of the literature on the integration of faith and learning (IFL) and reflect on my implementation of IFL inside the classroom, outside the classroom and within my discipline (marketing). I also reflect on what the Lord is teaching me about teaching.

Practice And Profile: Christian Spiritual Formation For Vocation, Kelly D. Sargent

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

No abstract provided.