Educational Methods Commons^™

Testing The Effects Of Professional Development On Elementary Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs About Mathematics Inquiry Instruction, Courtney Inabnitt

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In this study, a professional development (PD) seminar was designed and implemented with elementary pre-service teachers (n=20) enrolled in a mathematics content course at a small Midwestern university. The central focus of the PD was on bringing inquiry, specifically the 5E model, into mathematics instruction at the elementary level. The structure of the PD followed the 5E model format and participants learned about inquiry through inquiry. The study utilized a pre-post-test design and measured participants’ knowledge about the 5E model and beliefs about using inquiry in elementary mathematics instruction. Statistically significant growth from pre-test to post-test appears in …

Development Of An Associate Degree Level Course On Lean, Jeremy Espinoza

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

Lean training and education has become a focal point in both industry and the realm of academics; however, the need within the industry remains, and oftentimes companies must take on the additional and high expense of training new graduates once they enter the workforce. Often, the classes that students study in the lean methodology, if any are studied at all, are taught within other disciplines, and the instruction is in a general sense as opposed to in depth and hands on. Within the past eight years it has been referenced in different academic articles that students are not coming into …

High-Altitude Ballooning In 3rd Grade, Emily L. Mathews, Brianna Marszalek, Bernhard Beck-Winchatz

2017 Academic High Altitude Conference

In this poster presentation we report on a high altitude balloon project conducted with third-graders from Gower West Elementary School in Willowbrook, IL in spring 2016. In the weeks before the launch students used a vacuum jar to investigate the effects of pressure changes on different objects, substances and sounds in the classroom and conducted pressure, temperature and wind measurements inside and outside of their school using Vernier probeware. To learn how to use the balloon tracking equipment and how to fill a balloon and prepare it for launch, students simulated a flight with a tethered balloon outside of their …

Beyond The Lone Hero: Providing Supports For New Teachers In High-Needs Schools, Sarah Elizabeth Barrett, Donna Ford, Carl James

Occasional Paper Series

This essay examines the activities and challenges encountered in a partnership between a faculty of education and a local school board in Toronto, Canada. The goal was to address concerns over a 40% drop-out rate amongst Black students in the Toronto District School Board.

Teachers were to identify areas of concern, and to use university resources to investigate and improve work with students. Initially, findings were disappointing, teachers often felt isolated working on their own, and some administrators perceived the project as disruptive to the overall running of the school.

Faculty came to the realization that to help support their …

No Shortcuts On The Journey To Learning For Students Or Teachers, Alison Coviello, Susan Stires

Occasional Paper Series

Despite the generally held view that children in low-performing, under-served schools have "deficits" teachers in such schools often have very different experiences. Students can succeed in all areas of schooling and beyond. But for this to happen, teacher education institutions need to provide teacher candidates with background information and knowledge about instruction, so they can see and support the strengths of students in high-needs schools.

Facilitating Student Documentary Projects Toward 21-Century Literacy And Civic Engagement, Steven Goodman

Occasional Paper Series

The author describes how he uses video making as a way to engage students in high-needs schools. Goodman believes video making projects can help counter the ways minority students are made invisible by school curriculum and the culture of testing. More importantly, creating video documentaries allows students to use multiple literacies and does not exclude those who struggle with the written word.

Preparing Teachers For High-Need Schools: A Focus On Thoughtfully Adaptive Teaching, Arlene Mascarenhas, Seth Parsons, Sarah Cohen Burrowbridge

Occasional Paper Series

Differentiated instruction, or thoughtfully adaptive teaching, helps teachers successfully meet the needs of students in under-served schools. Teacher education institutions can do their part by forming partnerships with high-needs schools so teacher candidates can gain experience in a supportive environment. Along with providing a solid grounding in pedagogy, teacher education programs need to help candidates develop their own vision of teaching. Vision is seen as a way for teachers to remain true to their core values, and as a way to stay focused on how to do the best for all of their students.

The Right To Learn: Preparing Early Childhood Teachers To Work In High-Need Schools, Julie Diamond, Fretta Reitzes, Betsy Grob

Occasional Paper Series

Three teacher educators trained in the 1960's reflect on how to ensure educational equity in high-needs schools of today. The article starts with a description of the education the writers want for all children, and outline the processes and practices needed to sustain it. This is followed by a discussion on how schools of education can equip teachers with the values, understandings, and strategies they will need to achieve these goals.

The Invisible Schism: Teachers’ And Administrators’ Differing Perceptions Of Education Reforms, Sarah Melvoin Bridich

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies: Faculty Scholarship

This study examined teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of education reforms, focusing on a state legislated education bill that altered teacher evaluations. A mixed-method design, including an electronic survey, was used to gather perceptions of Colorado Senate Bill 10-191: Great Teachers and Leaders Act from teachers and administrators in the Rockies School District (RSD), as well as these two groups’ general perceptions of teacher evaluations, education reforms, and change. Results revealed that teachers collectively hold similar views of education reforms, as do administrators; however, how each group perceives these elements of education policy and reform differs significantly. Both teachers and administrators …

Finding Empathy In Historical Inquiry And Data Management Through An Educational Research Example, Bo Chang

The Qualitative Report

In historical inquiry, researchers identify the research questions, specify the domain which relates to the research questions, and familiarize themselves with how the documents are structured and managed in the host library. In collecting data, researchers don’t need to constrain themselves with how documents are labeled by the archivists. They can break the boundaries of the labeled documents and find out how seemingly unrelated documents are actually inter-related. In analyzing data, positivists and constructionists view history differently, which results in different approaches to how historical data can be analyzed. Positivists believe in transparency and universal truths across the historical data …

Raise Your Cards - A Look At Plickers In An Adult Learning Environment, Megan Taylor

SIDLIT Conference

At SIDLIT 2015, the session on the free Plickers polling system dazzled many of us. Members of the National Weather Service Training Center immediately began integrating this tool into their classes. In this session, we will review our successful integration of Plickers. We will also examine the results of using this technique with adult learners with a predominately introverted, scientific mindset. This session will also include information about what has and has not worked. Are you unfamiliar with Plickers? No worries, we will do a quick overview of this tool at the beginning of the presentation.

State Of Video In Education (An Overview: Why Should I Use Video, And How Can I Do This Practically?), Kaltura

SIDLIT Conference

75%…of students use video in their assignments (up 4% over 2015)
50%…the increase over 2015 of respondents that say they are flipping their classroom
93%…say that video has a positive impact on student satisfaction
88%…say video increases student achievement
Evidence is growing year over year that video usage within teaching and learning is the norm; cable-cutters are the digital natives that enter our colleges and universities each fall and streaming on-demand content is the language they know. Please join Kaltura in this session, where we will discuss trends in the video space. Additionally, we will discuss how Kaltura tools can …

#Dearnextpresident: Passionate Student Engagement, Terri Summey

SIDLIT Conference

Engaging students in the educational process is something that educators struggle to achieve. To increase student engagement in a course long research project, this faculty member decided to build on causes that students are passionate about. Using a hashtag / video campaign sponsored by Fusion.net, #DearNextPresident, students identified and researched causes that they want the next President to focus on. At the end of the semester, students’ findings were presented in a variety of formats, including a video asking the next President to support their cause and presenting facts about the issue. Because the research focused on a topic that …

Save The Day With Voicethread!, April Robbs

SIDLIT Conference

VoiceThread comes to the rescue to promote speaking, listening and learning in asynchronous settings and is an especially powerful tool in the Human Services and Communication online classes at Ottawa University. Its web-based platform can be used as a stand-alone tool, or can integrate many of the major LMS systems. Participants can interact with multimedia presentations by recording audio (microphone or from a phone line) comments, video (webcam) comments, and by uploading an audio file from their device. This session will explore how Ottawa University uses class debates, student presentations, persuasive appeals, and class discussions to engage students.

Minimizing Student Frustration While Maximizing Faculty Satisfaction Using Simple Course Design, David Martin, Norbert Belz, Nellie Modaress

SIDLIT Conference

AyidStudents are demanding the use of online options to receive information about courses, complete assignments, and participate in class discussions. This form of education requires different knowledge, skills, and attitudes from course instructors. The growth of these programs has inspired change in how these types of courses and programs are designed and delivered to meet quality standards. This presentation will identify ways to both meet quality standards and provide improved student experiences through the use of standardized course design features in learning management systems.

Static Course Modules? Zap! Librarians Create Interactive Online Lessons, Julie Hartwell, Heather Healy

SIDLIT Conference

Tired of voiceover PowerPoints? Looking for more than just another video link? NLA to the rescue! The New Literacies Alliance (NLA) is a project that creates interactive, online, and open access lessons addressing basic concepts of information and related literacies. Student scores on activities and assessments are captured using SoftChalk. The lessons are institution and LMS agnostic, allowing users from any organization to deploy the lessons in their online environment. Discover how librarians and instructors freely embed these lessons into their courses and collaborate remotely in the creation of new lessons. The session examines planning for initial lesson use, differing …

Going From Quality Learning Objectives To Quality Assessments, Kendra Barker

SIDLIT Conference

Great course design requires strong learning objectives that power quality formative assessments. In this session, participants will gain a deeper understanding of how to use Bloom’s Taxonomy to write learning objectives that create formative and measurable outcomes, when working with a qualified Subject Matter Expert. Participants will learn the “do’s” and “don’ts” of writing assessments, types of assessment questions to use, and how to format those questions to meet the course’s learning objectives.

High Tech Plus High Touch, Robert Carlson

SIDLIT Conference

Presentation and demonstration on the integration of current technologies with tested teaching strategies, and hands on student work. In this ‘whole enchilada’ approach, this veteran instructor demonstrates the careful balance between technology and more traditional classroom techniques.

Activities, Assignments, And Design Tools To Promote Self-Regulated Learning In Online Classes, Deborah Taylor

SIDLIT Conference

Studies have shown that the most successful online students are motivated and self-regulated. What if we could use activities, assignments and design to help all of our students become self-regulated learners? In this session I will share some research based instructional strategies, as well as some suggestions for activities and assignments that can be used across the curriculum to promote behaviors that will strengthen their self-regulation skills in online classes. Several design tools will be shared that have been proven to promote student success in online classes. This information can be used by faculty teaching online classes and instructional designers …

Incorporating Active Learning When You Feel More Like Ant Man Than The Hulk, Ann Lindbloom

SIDLIT Conference

Active Learning is a key component when attempting to increase online retention. The overwhelming number of techniques can make instructors wish for super powers to determine which to implement in their courses. Initial research suggests reflection, individualized learning, and social media as important places to start. This session will provide 30 techniques that can be implemented online or onsite, offer some real-life implementations and success, and encourage audience participation for additional discussion. The focus will not be on new technologies, but rather how to incorporate these methods using basic tools found in most LMSs.

Cutting Time, Not Corners: Rapid Prototyping In Instructional Design, Joelle Pitts

SIDLIT Conference

Trends in digital teaching and learning combined with the learning preferences of college students result in an ever-increasing need for digital learning objects and experiences. Time, budget, and environmental restraints compound instructional design challenges, resulting in too many projects spread over too few staff members. Rapid Prototyping (RP) is an iterative design process originating from the software engineering sector. Adapted to instructional design, RP allows academics to facilitate the design, development, and assessment of multiple learning objects to maximize resources, while catching problems early in the development stage. Discussion will center on how RP can overcome common instructional design problems. …

Video To Enhance Face-To-Face Or Presence And Interaction, Brent Anders

SIDLIT Conference

This presentation will be geared to both face-to-face and online instructors. It will show the many ways video can serve as a superhero by being created and used to help with instruction of the course content as well as to help establish and increase instructor presence. Additionally different ways of using video will be shown to help with student-student, student-instructor, and student-content interaction. An exemplar course will be shown with embedded video showcasing the different uses and techniques of video use.

Assessment: Anything, Anywhere, Anytime Using Jotform, Ayyoub Ajmi

SIDLIT Conference

One of the challenges of online education is the lack of real-time feedback. JotForm is a web-based form builder used to track and evaluate student progress through an entire class rather than at the end of it. Forms can be embedded into existing learning materials and learning management systems. I will demonstrate some JotForm features suitable for online education and assessment and share how the UMKC School of Law is using JotForm to assess, engage, and communicate with students. Hands-on training will be provided on how to build your first interactive forms.

Quantum Teaming: How To Create A Virtual Internship To Provide Online Students With Real-World Experience, Desiree Depriest

SIDLIT Conference

KapConsulting is a one-of-a-kind online internship at Kaplan University consisting of Kaplan Radio, Kaplan Financial, and KapTechnology. Students from diverse backgrounds come together to run a virtual real-world agile company. KapConsulting explores the applicability of quantum concepts, entanglement, superposition and uncertainty, in creating an environment where synergy can occur naturally among virtual interns. Superposition is a measurable phenomenon that occurs when each individual team member contributes their skills and many “Clark Kents” become “The Justice League.” This presentation discusses creating a collaborative environment where quantum teaming occurs and how KapTechnology implements strategies to achieve win-win synergistic outcomes.

Mathematics Without Calculations – It’S A Beautiful Thing!, Jason J. Molitierno

Mathematics Faculty Publications

All students should have the opportunity to do mathematics in a meaningful way for the sheer fun of it. Such experiences, if well designed, improve students’ effective thinking skills, increase their appreciation of the beauty and utility of mathematics, and prepare them to be mathematically-literate members of society. This session invites talks on how we can engage the liberal arts student through courses specifically designed for them. We welcome presentations on innovative course design, pedagogy, projects, or activities, as well as talks on tools used to assess such courses. Presentations should include a research basis for the design or pedagogical …

Pathways To Kindergarten Readiness., Ashley T. Forrest, Stephanie Nutter, Deborah Rivera

College of Education & Human Development Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone was to explore pathways for increased kindergarten readiness by examining the relationship between kindergarten readiness as measured by the Brigance Kindergarten Screener (BKS) domains of cognitive/general knowledge and language/communication and each of the following variables: school funding, school location, school classification, teacher credentials, teacher years of experiences, music inclusion, and time allotted to music instruction. Participants included 174 preschool students from 17 classrooms in an urban school district. This capstone used preexisting data from the school district including demographic variables of race, socioeconomic status (SES), prior setting, attendance, and the school-level variable of climate. A …

Learning From Science Lectures : Students Remember More And Make Better Inferences When They Complete Skeletal Outlines Compared To Other Guided Notes., David Bradley Bellinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is common for students to take notes during lectures, but the accuracy and completeness of these notes is highly questionable. Therefore, instructors must make an important decision – should they provide their students with lecture notes? If so, how complete should the notes be and in what format? The present experiments examined how note format and degree of support impacted the encoding benefit of note-taking. In Experiment 1, undergraduate students listened to brief audio-recorded science lectures (Human blood, N = 42; Human ear, N = 36) and completed skeletal outlines (requiring students to conceptually organize the information using the …

Cross-Cultural Confidence: A Program Design For Accessible Intercultural Competence On Campus, Erika Clement

Capstone Collection

Internationalization is currently one of the greatest issues facing higher education today. Colleges and universities have sought to produce graduates who are globally ready and capable of effectively navigating intercultural situations due to increasing diversity in the workplace and globalization; however, it has become apparent that efforts towards this end have not paid off as well as it was assumed they would. Now that US universities are admitting greater numbers of international students, intercultural competence and programs which build connections across cultural groups have become increasingly important on campus.

This capstone seeks to fashion an accessible, effective, on-campus program for …

Best Practices In Online Pedagogy: A Pearson Correlation Analysis Between Teaching Evaluation Scores And Transactional Distance Scores In Online Graduate Courses, William Angrove

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to discover how four universally recognized best practices in online pedagogy affected teaching evaluation scores in online graduate courses. The four best practices in online pedagogy are: Course Organization and Presentation, Learning Objectives and Assessments, Instructor-Student Interpersonal Interaction, and the Appropriate Use of Video or Multimedia. The researcher modified these best practices from the Jaggars and Xu (2016) Online Course Quality Rubric. The study utilized Dr. Michael G. Moore’s (1973) theory of transactional distance to understand the relationship between teaching evaluation scores and transactional distance. University instructional designers assessed and …

Ireach Blended Learning Model And Reading Lexile Growth Of Freshmen In Maryville City Schools, Whitney Ann Schmidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Maryville City School system has implemented the first year of the iReach blended learning model for which all students in the school district have access to either a laptop or an iPad to support their learning every day. The availability of research on the impact of iReach is limited because the blended learning instructional model is relatively new and has not yet been subjected to numerous research studies. The purpose of this ex post facto quasi-experimental quantitative study was to compare student reading Lexile growth data collected through the use of the Reading Comprehension Assessment before and after iReach …