Higher Education Commons^™

Who Can Excel In Mathematics?, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

Students may erroneously believe that mathematics ability is largely innate and fixed (Kimball and Smith 2013). The evidence seems to support these mistaken beliefs. Women and minorities score lower on the mathematics section of the SAT (College Board 2017). When assessing students’ mathematics college readiness, a larger percentage of women, African Americans, and Hispanics fell below the benchmark (ACT 2017); and, in general, in science, engineering, math, and technology (STEM) fields, the gender and racial gaps in interest, performance, and degrees awarded have not closed (Neuhauser 2015). Persistent performance gaps can serve to reinforce students’ mistaken belief that women and …

General Education In The Legal Studies Curriculum, Marissa Moran

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Charting A Path For #Metoo In Academia, Nicole Elias, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Responsive O.E.R. Programming At City Tech, Cailean Cooney, Elvis Bakaitis, Sarah Nguyen

Publications and Research

This presentation discusses the multifaceted approach to professional development for faculty around open educational resources.

Games, Movies, And Zombies: Making Ir Fun For Everyone, Shawna M. Brandle

Publications and Research

Throwing as much fun and pop culture into an international relations class as possible, with the goal of improving student learning (and the likelihood of the course running again). Games proved most effective, while movies were less useful in increasing student learning on international relations.

But What Do The Students Think: Results Of The Cross-Campus Zero-Textbook Cost Student Survey, Shawna M. Brandle, Stacy Katz, Anne Hays, Amy Beth, Cailean Cooney, Linda Miles, Jacqueline Disanto, Abigail Morrison

Publications and Research

The results of the first cross-campus survey of student opinions on Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses are in: City University of New York (CUNY) students like their ZTC courses, primarily for the cost savings and ease of access. The survey results yield rich data about how positively students feel about their Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) courses as well as ways to improve the design and delivery of Zero Textbook Cost courses to make them more beneficial for student learning.

Editing, Translation, And Recovery Work In Community College English Classes, Christopher Leary

Publications and Research

This article positions community college students as co-researchers who participate in the author’s inquiry into the rhetorical practices of anthology editors

Eighteen Blind Library Users’ Experiences With Library Websites And Search Tools In U.S. Academic Libraries: A Qualitative Study, Adina Mulliken

Publications and Research

Telephone interviews were conducted with 18 blind academic library users around the U.S. about their experiences using their library and its website. The study uses the perspective that blind users’ insights are fundamental. A common theme was that navigating a webpage is time consuming on the first visit. Issues identified include the need for “databases” to be defined on the homepage, accessibly coded search boxes, logical heading structure, and several problems to be resolved on result pages. Variations in needs depending on users’ screen reader expertise were also raised. Suggestions for libraries to address these issues are offered.

Implications Of The #Metoo Movement For Academia, Nicole Elias, Maria J. D'Agostino

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

A Writing Assignment To Address Gaps In The Nursing Curriculum Regarding Health Issues Of Lgbt+ Populations., Bridget Maley, Randy Gross

Publications and Research

Background: LGBT+ populations account for 4% of the US population, yet health disparities persist, which are considered a priority in health care systems. In nursing education programs, the allotment in time to cover LGBT+ health content is not mandated thus ranges from zero to several hours total in nursing curricula. Therefore, nursing students’ education regarding LGBT+ health issues remains minimal and inconsistent throughout the nation’s nursing programs.

Aim: To provide associate degree nursing students with exposure to the health disparities in LGBT+ populations through a reflective writing assignment.

Methods: The essays were culled from both sections of an established core …

A Case Study Comparing Student Experiences And Success In An Undergraduate Mathematics Course Offered Through Online, Blended, And Face-To-Face Instruction, Virginia L. Thompson, Yonghong L. Mcdowell

Publications and Research

A research study was conducted at an undergraduate college, comparing student experiences and successes in a mathematics course offered fully online, blended and face-to-face. In online courses, students enjoy the flexibility of learning at their own pace, not having to travel to school, as well as having consistent access to courses through a web browser. However, such conveniences do not automatically produce positive results. Some students lack the discipline, enthusiasm and sometimes feel socially isolated from their peers when learning online. Despite these challenges, online courses continue to be developed in response to the demand for online learning opportunities. However, …

Crossing Borders In Business And Economics Classrooms: Implementing Telecollaboration To Advance Diversity And 21st Century Skills, Marta Fondo, Schiro Withanachchi

Publications and Research

The emerging changes in global societies challenge businesses as teams work across borders. Consequently, higher education promotes student interaction from diverse cultural backgrounds using technological tools without restricting time, cost, motivation or mobility. In this regard, telecollaboration engages students in a learning process that develops 21st century skills with peers from diverse language, socio-cultural, and educational backgrounds. This article presents a telecollaboration project designed and implemented by Queens College, City University of New York, and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, an online university in Barcelona, in which 196 Economics and Business undergraduate students from the United States and Mexico enhanced intercultural …

Identifying E-Books Authored By Faculty: A Method For Scoping The Digital Collection And Curating A List, Sonali Sugrim, Laura Schimming, Gali Halevi

Publications and Research

Electronic books are a substantial component of many academic libraries. Many libraries aim to make their collections easily discoverable through curated lists. The authors’ library devised a methodology to identify and flag all e-books authored by our institution’s faculty using MARCEdit and Microsoft Access. We highlight some of the challenges in gathering a comprehensive list of titles, the process of formulating such a list, and the measures needed to actively curate e-books by faculty for both content already in the collection and newly published titles.

A Pedagogical Search For Home And Care, Marta Effinger-Crichlow

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

La Planificación Lingüística De En La Universidad De Costa Rica: Política Lingüística De Lenguaje Inclusivo De Género, Su Ejecución Y Relación Con Propuestas De Universidades Hispanohablantes, Silvia Rivera Alfaro

Publications and Research

En este artículo analizamos la política y planificación lingüística (PPL) de uso de lenguaje inclusivo de género de la Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), de su creación al presente, relacionándola con propuestas que surgen en otras instituciones de educación superior del mundo hispanohablante. Con una perspectiva glotopolítica, describimos la PPL (Cooper, 1997) y su instrumento (CIEM, 2004); exploramos la ejecución de la PPL en documentos administrativos y noticias de la Rectoría; y contextualizamos la PPL de la UCR tras analizar las guías de uso no sexista del lenguaje de otras universidades hispanohablantes. Entre los principales resultados, tenemos que esta política …

Leveraging Library Expertise In Support Of Institutional Goals: A Case Study Of An Oer Initiative At Lehman College, Stacy Katz

Publications and Research

Incentivizing faculty adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) as a method for reducing textbook costs to increase access and affordability of higher education has been an area of development in academic libraries. This manuscript describes the experience at Lehman College, CUNY, the only four-year public college in the Bronx, NY. The OER initiative involves the creation of a new program, which includes assisting faculty with adopting and adapting OER, as well as training and discussion around issues pertinent to OER, such as finding and evaluating OER. The case study explains local conditions and provide an overview of the financial implications …

Gender Competency In Public Administration Education, Nicole Elias, Maria J. D’Agostino

Publications and Research

Sex and gender are evolving identity categories with emergent public policy and administration needs. To respond to the diverse landscape of sex and gender issues in the public sector, greater competency is needed. This research will contribute to the body of work on sex and gender in public administration by asking the following questions: (a) what do graduate students in Master of Public Administration (MPA) programs know about gender competency, (b) have graduate students learned gender competency in their MPA coursework, and (c) how can gender competency in MPA education be further developed and promoted? This study provides a critical …

Contingent Appointments In Academic Libraries: Management Challenges And Opportunities, Marta Bladek

Publications and Research

Academia’s overwhelming reliance on non-tenure track, or contingent, faculty is a well known fact. While the status and working conditions of contingent classroom faculty have been well studied and documented, the corresponding trend in academic libraries has not been explored as deeply. As this paper reviews the limited LIS literature on the subject, it aims to provide administrators and managers with a deeper understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of contingent appointments. It also offers strategies for fostering a workplace culture that recognizes contingent librarians’ contributions and promotes their professional growth.

Teaching With Technology: Using A Virtual Learning Community And Peer Mentoring To Create An Interdisciplinary Intervention, Rebecca Mazumdar, Nadia Benakli, Pamela Brown

Publications and Research

This paper describes the development and implementation of engaging and supportive experiences to promote student engagement, persistence and success at a commuter, open enrollment, public, minority serving institution. Project components included faculty development at the SENCER Summer Institute (SSI) 2016, attended by a team comprised of an academic administrator, full-time faculty from English and math, and part-time faculty in chemistry; creation of a virtual learning community of freshmen enrolled in chemistry, English, and math linked by the specific theme of the environmental impacts of deicing roads with salt and the overarching theme of the impacts of human activities on the …

A Classroom Activity For Teaching Kohlberg’S Theory Of Moral Development, Cheryl L. Carmichael, Anna M. Schwartz, Maureen Coyle, Matthew H. Goldberg

Publications and Research

In two studies, we demonstrate an engaging classroom activity that facilitates student learning about Kohlberg’s theory of moral development by using digital resources to foster active, experiential learning. In addition to hearing a standard lecture about moral development, students watched a video of a morally provocative incident, then worked in small groups to classify user comments posted in response to the video according to Kohlberg’s six stages. Students in both studies found the activity enjoyable and useful. Moreover, students’ scores on a moral development quiz improved after completing the activity (Study 1), and students who completed the activity in addition …

Chemistry Student Attitudes And Utilization Of Office Hours, Dieng Barbacar, Edgar Gomez, Andre Rodriguez

Publications and Research

While research has demonstrated that faculty-student interactions increase retention and graduation rates, faculty often report that their office hours are underutilized. To better understand students’ attitudes, usage and plans towards faculty hours a survey was administered in the second to third week of the fall 2018 semester to students in 5 sections of general chemistry courses. The goal was to better understand how students perceive the benefits and hindrances of office hours, along with current or planned attendance. Prior to survey administration, it was speculated that not attending office hours could be because they were not scheduled at a convenient …

Comics, Questions, Action! Engaging Students And Instruction Librarians With The Comics-Questions Curriculum, Stephanie Margolin, Mason Brown, Sarah Laleman Ward

Publications and Research

In a four-session Summer Bridge programme, we experimented with new curricular and pedagogical ideas with a group of incoming freshmen. We developed the Comics-Questions Curriculum (CQC), which melds students’ question asking with a focus on comics. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rationale for and ongoing development of the CQC as well as the ways the CQC fosters engagement of students and librarians, builds upon students’ existing skills but propels them forward toward college-level work, and positions librarians as partners in students’ college work. Although it was designed for a specific purpose initially, the CQC in its …

La Comunicación Lingüística En Español Y Sus Barreras En El Sistema De Salud De Los Estados Unidos, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

La enseñanza del español con fines médicos en los Estados Unidos ha experimentado un crecimiento exponencial en las dos últimas décadas. Sin embargo, los pacientes de origen hispano se encuentran desprotegidos ante las barreras lingüísticas que impone el sistema de salud estadounidense en muchos contextos monolingües y bilingües. Esta investigación descriptiva muestra como, por un lado, los malentendidos producidos por la comunicación ineficiente desarrollada por intérpretes e intermediarios (familiares, enfermeras con conocimientos de español, facultativos con una preparación lingüística deficiente, etc.) tienen serias repercusiones para la salud en el tratamiento de los casos. Por otro lado, el estudio da cuenta …

Between Paralysis And Empowerment: Action In Mathematics For Social Justice Work, Lidia Gonzalez

Publications and Research

In this article, I focus on my experiences teaching a seminar in critical pedagogy and the math for social justice (MfSJ) work that grew from of my students’ reflections as to how they might promote change towards justice. The course was designed to acquaint students with the research literature in critical pedagogy as we explored the social, political, cultural, and economic realities around our system of public education. Yet there came a point where students questioned the value of such exploration as they genuinely considered what to do next. I, too, struggled both to support the students I was working …

How Songbirds Learn To Sing Provides Suggestions For Designing Team Projects For Computing Courses, Ashwin Satyanarayana, Radhika Natarajan, Lior Baron

Publications and Research

Understanding how our brain works and how we learn is perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing twenty-first computer science. Songbirds are good candidates for trying to unravel some of this mystery. Over the last decade, a large amount of research has been made to better understand how songbirds learn complex songs. The Canary (Serinus canaria) and the Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) have been widely used bird models to study these brain and behavior relationships. Like songbirds, we humans are vocal and social learners. In such learners, the development of communication is initially steered by social interactions with adult tutors. …

Johnson Practices, Teaches The Art Of Journalism, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“While studying abroad in Tanzania, I was fascinated by wildlife, but I realized that I don't really have the temperament to be a scientist. So I decided to come back to the U.S. and become a journalist.” That’s how Emily Johnson settled on what her profession would be.

Johnson is a native of Providence, Rhode Island. She received her bachelor’s degree in English and animal behavior from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania and a master’s in arts and international reporting from the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Today she is an assistant professor in the Department of …

"Our Stories" Of Becoming A College Student: A Digital Writing Project For First Year Students, Philip Kreniske, Karen Goodlad, Jennifer Sears, Sandra Cheng

Publications and Research

This blogging assignment serves as a low-stakes activity that encourages students to make sense of the social, emotional, and bureaucratic challenges in their transition to college, and to simultaneously develop digital literacy.

Continuing The Gender Equity In Academia Conversation: Recommendations And Next Steps, Maria J. D'Agostino, Nicole Elias

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Place-Based Learning Across The Disciplines: A Living Laboratory Approach To Pedagogy, Karen Goodlad, Anne E. Leonard

Publications and Research

Faculty participants in a fellowship designed to engage students at an urban commuter college of technology in their general education curriculum evaluated and redesigned their courses to include place-based learning (PBL) using the Living Laboratory model of pedagogy. Focused on faculty perception of the relationship between PBL and its influence on general education, the study illustrates how faculty from across disciplines apply PBL techniques to revitalize general education learning outcomes. Findings include the influence of the fellowship on the design of PBL activities and perceived levels of student engagement, especially when compared to more traditional classroom instruction.

Generating The Pipeline: Addressing Bias In Recruiting And Hiring, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In past articles of this column we have reported data that show that women in general find more barriers than their male counterparts in getting into academic careers. Further, female college professors earn on average 10 percent less in salaries than their male colleagues.

If you are a woman in academia and aspire to an administrative job in order to substantially improve your earnings and make them more in par with the males around you, you should think twice.