Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

A Qualitative Study Of Middle School Science Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Transition To Online Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brian S. Ward

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this study was to explore the unique lived experiences of four middle school science teachers from North Carolina and South Carolina during and following the transition from in-person to online instruction due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four predominant themes were identified from individual, semi-structured interviews of the teachers: technology change; organizational change; changes in curricula, delivery, and student interaction; and career and personal changes. The teachers in this study described the challenges and opportunities experienced during the rapid transition in March 2020 to virtual teaching and learning. The teachers’ lived experiences seamlessly aligned with the stages of …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, 2022 Special Issue (Vol. 5, Iss. 3)

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The full-length 2022 Special Issue (Volume 5, Issue 3) of the Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version (with downloadable EPUB format) here.

Editorial: We're Going Remote!?! A University's Tale Of Two Cities, Robert Wagner

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

The COVID-19 global pandemic created a dichotomous construct for higher education between delivery formats and maintaining quality pedagogy. The variables and obstacles seemed, at times, insurmountable but, Utah State University's team rose to the occasion. In this op-ed, Robert Wagner discusses the resilience and commitment shown by USU's instructors, staff, and students as they navigated, and continue to navigate, this unprecedented event.

Improving Performance Through Strategic Teaching Documentation: The Continued Importance Of Seldin, Miller & Seldin’S "The Teaching Portfolio" In The Face Of A New Reality, Antje Graul

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Book Review

Seldin, P., Miller, J. E., & and Seldin, C. A. (2010) The teaching portfolio: A practical guide to improved performance and promotion/tenure decisions. John Wiley & Sons.

416 pages. Available in hardback ($), paperback and digital format ($)

Keywords: teaching, teaching documentation, teaching portfolio, tenure, promotion

Enhancing Technology-Based Distance Education Delivery Using Collaborative Team-Teaching Methods, Susan Egbert, Sean Camp

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Present pandemic-related circumstances have created unique challenges for educators and students alike. Information and communication technology (ICT) based team-teaching and collaborative course design can effectively mitigate feelings of isolation and disconnection, and enhance student engagement within a remote education context. This article presents a theory-driven framework and ‘how-to’ practical strategies for utilizing team-teaching methodology through web-based delivery platforms. Content focuses on student participation and active learning, curriculum- and technology-related issues, and challenges inherent in synchronous web-based course delivery.

Student And Instructor Perceptions Of Online Teaching Related To Covid-19: The Need For Reflective Practices, Mary Bowne, Melissa Wuellner, Jessie H. Hendricks, John Howard

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Although online learning has been in existence for over 20 years, not all instructors have been trained to teach online or had the desire to teach online. The recent COVID-19 pandemic quickly changed typical face-to-face instruction and disrupted the current educational system by requiring all college courses be delivered online, either asynchronous or synchronous using various software platforms. This paper investigated both instructors’ and students’ perceptions of faculty online teaching preparedness as well as their thoughts related to various technological resources and issues that arose during this time period. Results indicated …

Using ‘How To …’ Videos In Feedforward Practices To Support The Development Of Academic Writing, Sally Quinn Dr

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

The transition to Higher Education is full of new challenges for students not least the challenge to develop a style of writing expected within one’s discipline of study at the HE level. Feedback on students’ assessments can be one way that guides students to focus on the aspects of their writing that they should aim to improve at different points of their study but often students report difficulty in understanding markers’ comments and exactly how to improve on these skills. We developed a library of 27 five minute ‘How to…’ videos …

Covid Anxiety And Stress In Higher Ed (Cash), Letitia Bergantz, Christopher E. Curtis

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

College is a time of increased stress and anxiety. The current changes in attendance and methods of instruction due to COVID-19 have demonstrated even higher levels of stress, anxiety, and mental health issues. Tailoring interventions to the specific needs of a campus community has been proposed as an appropriate means to the current crisis. This study identifies the mental health needs of students at a rural college as they pertain to the effects of the pandemic.

Questionnaires collected data from college students (N=33) at Athens State University, a rural university in …

Teaching Preservice Teachers In The Time Of Covid: What’S Worth Keeping?, Kathy Liu Sun, Jennifer L. Ruef, Kathleen Jablon Stoehr, Madeline Ahearn

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

As we begin to transition from online instruction to in-person, we (four mathematics teacher educators) reflect on how COVID-19 impacted our instruction and address the question: what will we take back to in-person instruction? This article includes our individual reflections and an analytical synthesis of them. Findings reveal that there were unanticipated ways that human connection and consideration arose from teaching online, much of which we want to maintain in some form when returning to brick and mortar classrooms. We conclude by highlighting the value and importance of reflection for our own well-being.

Replication Or Reinvention: Educators’ Narratives On Teaching In Higher Education During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Viola Manokore, Jeff Kuntz

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine narratives about the effect of the sudden transition from face-to-face teaching to emergency remote teaching necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic on post-secondary educators.

Method: We conducted interviews with 11 post-secondary educators from five post-secondary institutes in one province in Canada. Educators were asked to reflect on their experiences during the transition from in-person to remote teaching and learning.

Results: Our thematic analysis revealed that educators’ experiences were influenced by three main factors: (a) student engagement, interactions, and persistence in learning; (b) competence in the application of teacher technological pedagogical content knowledge …

Offering Online Peer Support To Students: The Case Of The Cct Student Mentoring Academy, Cct College Dublin

CCT Case Studies

The CCT Student Mentoring Academy is a key institutional student success and student partnership initiative. In the Academy, students work in partnership with faculty to provide peer support opportunities across the college as well as structured support and guidance for peer mentors. The College’s Student Success Strategy 2021-23 states: “CCT will continue to grow and expand its CCT Student Mentoring Academy through faculty supervised peer support. Programmes such as these will continue to prioritize working in partnership with students to optimise the learning environment.” (2021, p.8) During the academic year 2020/21, the Student Mentoring Academy successfully migrated its activities from …

Maximizing Remote Learning: Activities, Ideas, & Resources For High School Math Teachers, Kelly W. Remijan

Publications & Research

High school teachers will discover activities, ideas, and resources for teacher maximizing the teaching of mathematics

Toward A Student-Ready Cybersecurity Program: Findings From A Survey Of Stem-Students, Lora Pitman, Brian K. Payne, Tancy Vandecar-Burdin, Lenora Thorbjornsen

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

As the number of available cybersecurity jobs continues to grow, colleges strive to offer to their cybersecurity students an environment which will make them sufficiently prepared to enter the workforce after graduation. This paper explores the academic and professional needs of STEM-students in various higher education institutions across Virginia and how cybersecurity programs can cater to these needs. It also seeks to propose an evidence-based approach for improving the existing cybersecurity programs so that they can become more inclusive and student-ready. A survey of 251 college students in four higher-education institutions in Virginia showed that while there are common patterns …

Orientation Online: The Surprising Benefits Of Virtual New Faculty Orientation, Kristin Herman, Patricia Davidson

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This design case documents the reimagination of new faculty orientation for a mid-sized public university due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. This fully virtual iteration was facilitated during the summer of 2020 and is compared both to previous in-person iterations of new faculty orientation as well as a blended modality version of the orientation program offered in 2021. The redesign is explained using language from Puntedura’s (2006) Substitution- Augmentation- Modification- Redefinition (SAMR) model of technology application in distributed learning. Such terminology provided a helpful common vocabulary for a design team pressured to determine which elements of orientation needed to be …

Investigating Discussion Forum Impact On Students’ Social Justice Beliefs In Online Undergraduate Mathematics Courses: A Mixed Methods Study, Ashlee Lynn Akin Matney

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

While teaching math for social justice and equity has become a heavily researched topic in recent decades with Jo Boaler (2008, 2015, 2016), Rochelle Gutiérrez (2009, 2013), and Eric (Rico) Gutstein (2003, 2006, 2007, 2013) emerging as recent leaders in the charge, the focus has consistently remained on traditional classroom teaching (e.g. Boaler, 2008; Gutiérrez, 2009; Gutstein, 2003). This convergent design mixed methods study investigated the impact of teaching math for social justice in the online learning environment, specifically, the impact of discussion forums on students’ social justice beliefs in fully online undergraduate math courses.

Quantitatively, 56 students completed pre- …

Collaborative Learning In An Asynchronous Online Introductory Statistics Course, Marla Lemmon

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Collaborative learning has been shown to improve student learning and performance; however, the influence of collaboration has not yet been examined in the context of an online introductory statistics course. Often the influence of collaborative learning is measured using only one outcome variable, typically course achievement. This study will contribute a more thorough examination of the influence collaboration has on student learning by operationalizing the learning construct with the use of multiple measures: academic performance, perceived learning, and growth in statistical knowledge. In addition, this study will provide a model for incorporating collaborative learning in an asynchronous online course.

Lessons Learned From Two Teacher Educators: What Covid-19 Can Teach Us About Preparing Elementary Preservice Teachers To Teach The Next Generation Of Students, Min Jung Lee, Jennifer Kidd, Kristie Gutierrez, Elizabeth Langran (Ed.)

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Over the last two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has required teacher educators to teach their classes online. Teacher educators now need to reflect on the learning opportunities that the COVID-19 induced shift to online learning has provided. This study shares two teacher educators’ experiences of teaching and supporting preservice teachers (PSTs) as they taught engineering online to elementary students. The two teacher educators noticed (a) positive changes in PSTs’ attitudes and beliefs about technology integration, (b) PSTs’ tendency to select and use of educational technologies, (c) PSTs’ recognition of the importance of online interaction and feedback from K-12 students, (d) …

Creating Community Of Young Readers During Covid-19 Lockdown: A Comprehensive Study Of A Digital Reading Platform: Storyweaver, Shaveta Azad, Rupak Chakravarty Prof.

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Reading stories to children when they are young is the most effective way to keep them creatively engaged. Children in multilingual countries require free access to story repositories for leisure reading. In India, a country with hundreds of mother tongues, books are largely published in English and Hindi, owing to market economics. Various studies have shown that learning and reading become more important in one's mother tongue and that when a child reads in two or more languages during early years, gains a deeper understanding of language and its effective use.

In this paper, the researchers have tried to discover; …

School Library Resources For Inclusive Online English Language Learning: Teachers’ Perspectives About Differentiating Instruction In The Context Of English As Second Language, Angela Eze, Charity N. Onyishi

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Abstract

In an inclusive education setting, learners with and without disabilities are guided to study in the same classrooms with adaptable facilities and equipments. With this arrangement in place, assistive technology becomes an absolute requirement, and the school library is a medium for providing and using inclusive resources. In the current education system where online learning is speedily overtaking face-to-face learning modalities, school Library resources are indispensable for the effective inclusion of all learners through differentiated instruction. Such is critically essential for English language learning, especially in Nigeria, where English is learned as a Second Language. However, little is known …

Exploring The Changing Nature Of Teachers’ Pedagogic Identities During The Delivery Of Online Literacy Teaching, Deb L. Brosseuk, Lynn Downes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the interconnectedness between Australian teachers’ literacy practices and their pedagogic identity during the global pandemic. In doing so, the paper presents pedagogic identity as a dynamic, ever-evolving construct involving teachers and their teaching environment. Findings are reported from a case study of early years and primary teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. From teachers’ self-reported teaching experiences, we identify three orientations to pedagogic identity: The Driver; The Collaborator; and The Apprentice. Drawing on analytic work, the paper finds that the online delivery of literacy teaching brought opportunities for teachers to shift between pedagogic identities, …

A Review Of Undergraduate Education Student Responses To The Online Component Of Blended Learning: A Cautionary Tale, Ross S. Bernay, Chris Jenkin, Tafili Utumapu-Mcbride, Adrian Schoone, Andrew Gibbons

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Calls for enhancing the digital interface for teaching and learning within tertiary institutions have played out in one School of Education, with variable results. Online learning tasks were added in 2018 to regular classes to provide more flexibility for student engagement. A team of lecturers developed a questionnaire for students to be completed after the first semester pilot. Data and findings indicated that one-third of students identified online learning as an enhancement to their learning. A second survey was conducted one year later to assess changes made and analyse the longer-term impacts. During the COVID-19 lockdown, fully online pedagogy was …

Cultivating Classroom Interactions Online During Covid-19: A Case For Using Team-Based Learning, Amanda Olsen, Candace Joswick

Journal of Practitioner Research

Team-based learning, an evidence-based collaborative learning teaching strategy, is a popular instructional model commonly used at the post-secondary level. While this model has shown success in traditional, face-to-face courses, and reports of use in hybrid and asynchronous online settings exist, though are few, no reports of which we are aware account for use in synchronous online teaching and learning. This paper introduces a tool developed to help higher education instructors plan for the implementation of team-based learning in their synchronous online courses along with an illustration of the use of the template planning tool from our own application for a …

A Study On The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On Emergency Electronic Learning During The Coronavirus Lockdown, Marie Camille Cuisia-Villanueva, Jayrome Lleva Núñez

FDLA Journal

This research paper tackles the relationship of socioeconomic status (SES) to students’ emergency electronic learning (e-Learning) during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown period in the Philippines. The study investigates the impact of accessibility to the students’ performance in distance learning. By looking at these variables, the researchers seek to answer the research question, ‘what is the impact of the students’ family socioeconomic status on their accessibility to emergency e-Learning’. This mini-study will be viewed in the lens of human capital theory guided by Gary Becker (1964).

Maintaining Privacy And Security In Cyberspace: What Everyone Needs To Know, Maureen Mcdermott, Jennifer L. Reeves, Gabriela Mendez, Berta Hayes Capo, Jason Karp

FDLA Journal

The growth of technology will always outpace legal and ethical understanding concerning maintaining privacy and security in cyberspace. Remote network security breaches are a common method for taking sensitive information from companies, K-12 school districts, institutions of higher learning, and from social media accounts. Parents, university/college personnel, teachers and other adults working in the K-12 systems are held accountable to higher standards when determining levels of technology infusion especially with distance education.

Approaches To Implementing Virtual Reality For All, Amy Sugar, Kathleen Bastedo

FDLA Journal

This article discusses practical approaches and strategies to help educators determine how they can start implementing virtual reality (VR) in their courses while addressing the needs of diverse learners and engaging all students in meaningful VR learning experiences. The practical approaches and strategies shared in this paper center around three main areas of access: accessibility considerations, access to available technology, and access to VR experiences.

A Descriptive Study Of Doctoral Graduates’ Perceptions Of Mentoring By Their Dissertation Chairs, Amanda Blount

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to examine doctoral graduates’ satisfaction with the mentoring provided by their dissertation chairs. The relationships between doctoral students and their dissertation chairs can positively or negatively influence a doctoral student’s dissertation journey. The researcher developed and validated a survey to determine doctoral graduates’ perceptions of mentoring by their dissertation chairs based on best practices in the literature. The online survey was announced nationwide using email and social media: 133 graduates from multiple disciplines and institutions responded with complete data. The responses were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the analyses …

Remote Teaching In Nepalese Higher Education During Covid-19: Teachers' Perspectives, Suman Laudari, Sojen Pradhan, Sanjay Lama

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the factors that supported or inhibited teacher participation in remote teaching. Teaching and learning in Nepal was predominantly face-to-face prior to the pandemic, and the previous studies showed that the use of educational technology in higher education was limited.

Method: This exploratory case study draws on data derived from focus group discussions with teachers in higher education. Thematic analysis was employed to explore the impacts of different factors in sudden transition to remote teaching.

Findings: Findings show that personal factors such as teachers’ sense of duty and their attitude towards technology …

Why Online Students Struggle In Higher Education, Rebecca J. Armstrong, David L. Hart Jr

FDLA Journal

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Blended Learning On Student Achievement Within Various Environments: A Program Evaluation, Christine Nicole Harris

Dissertations

Educational K-12 learning environments have had limited to no change over many decades. Due to recent initiatives to social-emotional programs, school safety measures, and the need to increase academic achievement, there has been a push for school choice options that go beyond the traditional ways of learning. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of blended learning on student achievement within various environments in Grades 3-8. I used a mixed methodology to compare quantitative extant data from Achieve3000®, State Standardized Assessments, as well as qualitative data through teacher, parent, and student surveys. I collected 229 student extant …

Project-Based Pedagogy: The Client's Perspective, Wayne Aho, Wendy Cagle, Jon Marvel, Michael Smith, Edward Wright

International Journal for Business Education

Project-based experiential business education seeks to provide students with lessons that are meaningful, practical, and enduring. While previous research has sought to understand how students and faculty members react to such educational experiences, it is also important to understand the perceptions of the business clients who engage with programs employing project-based education. The aim of this study was to better understand the experiences of business clients with whom students engaged as part of an undergraduate business capstone course. Two hundred fifty-three previous clients were surveyed with a 22.4% response rate. Responses were subjected to content analysis to cluster replies into …