Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Change In The Middle: Implementing Professional Learning Communities For Sustained Instructional Change, Johnna L. Bryd-King

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the influence of school leaders and teachers on surface level vs. sustained change through the implementation of professional learning communities, furthering the understanding of why some schools increase student achievement and others do not. Two predominant psychological theories, Kruglanski’s lay epistemic theory and Schwartz’s value theory, were used to explore the influence of cognition formation and values on the phenomenon within a complex environment. This research studied three Southeastern Virginia suburban middle schools. Case study methodologies were utilized, including school leader and PLC teacher member interviews, and an online survey that included …

Understanding Technological, Pedagogical, And Content Knowledge In An Educational Technology Course: A Case Study Of Social Studies Preservice Teacher's Beliefs And Dispositions, Mark M. Diacopoulos

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

As beliefs and dispositions form the foundation of practice, the situations in which teachers develop belief is an important factor in their development (Roth, 1999). One aspect shaping the beliefs of teacher candidates is their experience with education. Lortie (2002) refers to this as the problem of “apprenticeship of observation”, the learning that occurs from watching teachers in the 12 or more years spent in school as a student. School experiences greatly affect the preconceptions teacher candidates have about teaching and learning. Richardson and Placier (2001) state most preservice teacher beliefs consist of unexamined assumptions. These views tend to focus …

School Leaders’ Conceptualizations Of Teacher Care For African American Middle School Students, Violet Keene Whiteman

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to describe middle school leaders’ conceptualizations of caring teacher behaviors for African American middle school students. The qualitative case study focused on school leaders’ conceptualizations/identification of critical incidents (Flanagan, 1954) of care for African American middle school students. Noddings’ (1988) plan of action for implementing an ethic of care, including modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation, was used to inform the study. Data were collected through interviews, discussions of identified incidents of care, and observation documentation from the middle school leaders participating in the study.

Themes identified from the study included: build relationships, identify …

What Drives A Teacher Educator To Self-Study? An Exploration Of Personal, Professional And Programmatic Influences, Melva R. Grant, Brandon Butler, Dawn Garbett (Editor), Alan Ovens (Editor)

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

What drives a teacher educator to self-study? This is a question with what might be perceived as an easy answer. Perhaps there was an influential professor or colleague who conducted self-study. Or, an ingrained desire to engage in critical reflection. Maybe there was an experience that needed exploration. These are all valid reasons for why someone might choose to engage in self-study. In this work, our purpose was to look strictly to the past and investigate the experiences that we felt led a teacher educator to engage in self-study. Melva is a woman of color and recently tenured faculty member, …

The Researchers' Perspective: For And By The Community: Processes And Practices From The Development Of National School Library Standards, Elizabeth A. Burns, Marcia A. Mardis

STEMPS Faculty Publications

In this study, we describe the innovative and rigorous phased process used to compose the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National School Library Standards (AASL, 2018). We begin by recounting previous standards iterations and compared their development processes to the most recent process used during the development of the AASL Standards. After we detail the development timeline and process phases, we conclude with implications for best practices in standards development for school librarians, professional leaders, and practitioners.

Investigating The Third Space: A New Agenda For Teacher Education Research, Jori S. Beck

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to advocate for an expansion of third-space ideology to the research conducted in clinical teacher preparation programs including research designs and methods of data collection. Clinical teacher preparation has been advocated since the 1980s and is now being systematically realized in the early 21st century. Thus, it is time to revisit research designs and data collection related to this model. The author illustrates first-, second-, and third-space programs, including an overview of teacher residency programs, before advocating a mixed methods research paradigm that aims to create democratic spaces for teacher education research. Research and …

Supporting Mathematics Coaches' Learning Of Probability Through Professional Development Tasks, Mary C. Enderson, Melva R. Grant, Yating Liu

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study was conducted to propose a framework of professional development tasks (PDTs) that may be used to enhance mathematics coaches’ content knowledge and understanding of student work, as well as to help them conceptualize their role in facilitating a professional learning community in school. In this qualitative design experiment, researchers developed and implemented a set of PDTs to use with elementary and middle school mathematics coaches. The PDTs, with a focus on K-8 probability topics, required coaches to conduct mathematics problem solving, student work analysis, and create a community to reflect individually and collaboratively on such experiences. Qualitative data …

The Effects Of Self-Regulation Strategies On Middle School Students' Calibration Accuracy And Achievement, Deana Ford, Linda Bol, Jamie Colwell, Melva R. Grant

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study investigated the impact that self-regulation strategies have on metacognitive judgements (calibration) and mathematics achievement of typical and advanced achieving 7th grade mathematics students over a period of seven weeks. Self-regulation strategies, four square graphic organizers and vocabulary games were implemented with the treatment condition while online games were implemented with the control condition. The results revealed that participants in the treatment condition were more accurate in their calibrations than participants in the control condition, more specifically for postdiction accuracy. Although the participants in the treatment condition scored higher on their achievement tests than the participants in the control …

Perceptions Of Pre-Service Teachers On Mentor Teachers’ Roles In Promoting Inclusive Practicum: Case Studies In U.S. Elementary School Contexts, Jihea Maddamsetti

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This case study examines a Chinese and Korean-Chinese pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their mentor teachers’ role in supporting inclusive practicum experiences in U.S. elementary school contexts. The findings demonstrate that a mentor teacher’s open conversations and willingness to host those students bring positive influence on their learning and growth. The findings also indicate that the facilitative roles of mentor teachers in the promotion of inclusive environments are intersected with the socio-cultural and political contexts of practicum schools and universities. The study concludes with implications for enhancing the inclusion of diverse pre-service teachers through collaborative roles of multiple practicum stakeholders, including …

Supporting Early-Childhood Teachers With Integrating A Humanoid Robot To Enhance Learning, Kristen Gregory, Helen Crompton, Diane Burke

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Anthropomorphic robots are increasingly being used as a technology in early childhood settings, and they have been found to enhance social interaction (Tanaka, Cicourel & Movellan, 2007), support foreign language development (Mazzoni & Benvenuti, 2015), and gain student attention and interest (Ioannou, Andreou & Christofi, 2015). Furthermore, integrating a humanoid robot can provide affordances across all domains of the Head Start Learning Outcomes Framework: approaches to learning; social and emotional development; language and communication; cognition; and perceptual, motor and physical development.

A Continuum Of Care: School Librarian Interventions For New Teacher Resilience, Rita Reinsel Soulen

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

School librarians occupy a unique position to offer supports for first year teachers to build resilience, reduce burnout, and ensure retention. The researcher used the psychology theory of resilience to develop the Continuum of Care model which initiates in mentoring and moves toward a collaborative partnership. Fifteen school librarians in one urban district recruited 26 new teachers in their schools to form the treatment group. All new teachers in the district were surveyed to establish their initial level of resilience and collect demographics. A comparison group of 26 new teachers were matched by scores on a resilience scale at the …

Designing Authentic Learning Activities To Train Pre-Service Teachers About Teaching Online, Tian Luo, Alexander Murray, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Online learning is increasingly being used in K-12 learning environments. A concomitant trend is found towards learning becoming authentic as students learn with tasks that are connected to real-world occupations. In this study, 48 pre-service teachers use an online environment to engage in authentic practice as they developed online learning experiences for their future students. Using a design-based research methodology, the researchers were involved in planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating the higher education class across two macro cycles. An authentic learning framework was utilized in the development of the class. Findings explicate the design of the course and how it …

An Estimate On The Supply And Demand Of Marketing Education Teachers In The Next Five Years In The Hampton Roads, Virginia Area, Alison Danielle Briel

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

As of 2017, there is a lack of information about the number of Marketing Education teachers at the high school level employed in the Hampton Roads area of south eastern Virginia. Marketing Education is an essential subject to teach at the secondary level because it prepares students for careers in marketing and management. For this study, a survey was created to understand the current state of Marketing Education and the supply and demand of Marketing Education teachers. This study primarily focused on Marketing Education programs in the high school setting. A survey consisting of open-ended questions was developed and distributed …

Increasing Stem Competence In Urban, High Poverty Elementary School Populations, Sueanne Mckinney, Cynthia Tomovic, Melva Grant, Kaavonia Hinton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Enhancing STEM competence (e.g., interests, knowledge, skills, and dispositions) among urban, high poverty, elementary school populations in the United States (U.S.) is and remains a growing national concern, especially since Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competence is and will continue to be a necessary requisite for gainful employment in the future, according to workforce development experts. In an attempt to address this gap, many urban elementary schools have begun to offer STEM-related programs to increase STEM learning at an early age. STEM competence (interest, knowledge, skills, and dispositions), however, remains low. This paper results in a matrix used to …

Lifespan Communication And Career Development Of Black Teachers: A Socio-Ecological Approach, Veronica Whinnett Hurd

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

This thesis unlocks the lifespan story of nine Black participants as they reflected on the communicative practices that guided their career journey towards becoming a teacher. Through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) socio-ecological development model, the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem were examined to understand the content of career-related memories and with whom or what the communicative experiences occurred with across the participants’ lifespan. This study also takes an in-depth look at how the content of the memories evolved across Erikson’s (1964) childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood developmental periods, and the influence of the proximal and distal socio-ecological environments …

Multimodal Literacy: Journey Through The Collaborative Transmediation Of Wordless Picturebooks, Catherine Todd Thomson

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

With a shift towards 21st century literacy practices and a greater variety of literature, the mere definitions of literacy and text are shifting. The focus on traditional text that heavily relies on words and supporting pictures to convey meaning has changed to text of multiple modes. Teachers are now charged with fostering new skills in students in order to help them engage with these texts effectively and to allow them to make meaning of the multimodal texts that surround them (Siegel, 2006).

In this qualitative case study, the primary investigator assumed a dual role as the classroom teacher and researcher …

Exploring Culturally Relevant Leadership Practices: A Qualitative Case Study Of One Eastern Virginia High School, Donna Weingand

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

There is a need for equity in our schools—especially with respect to the impact of equity on student achievement—and it is important for educational leaders to not only identify issues of teachers’ cultural and ethnic biases in the classroom, but for educational leaders to feel comfortable tackling these issues in an effort to move toward a more socially just educational climate and culture. The purpose of this study was to not only identify how and to what extent culturally relevant instruction and leadership practices manifest in one Southeastern Virginia School, but also the ways that school leaders foster a culturally …

Searching For The Divine: An Autoethnographic Account Of Religious/Spiritual And Academic Influences On The Journey To Professor, E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

This autoethnographic account chronicles my academic and religious/spiritual path to becoming a professor of Communication. Spiritual influences and significant life events related to prayer, education, teaching, and research serve as sign posts marking the way. The journey begins with a child scientist experimenting with life—and an adolescent discovering the joy of reading through an illness. The journey continues with a crisis in undergraduate years followed by indoctrination stories of graduate school. Securing and retaining an academic position in Communication reveals the complexities of negotiating research and teaching in higher education. After tenure and promotion, a concurrent spiritual awakening begins a …

Making A Case For Case-Based Teaching In Data Literacy, Derek R. Riddle, Jori Beck, Joseph John Morgan, Nancy Brown, Heather Whitesides

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Building on a study conducted by the authors, this article provides strategies for teaching data literacy and outlines the case-based teaching method as an effective way of developing data-literate teachers.

Using Precision In Stem Language: A Qualitative Look, Mary M. Capraro, Ali Bricer, Melva R. Grant, Yvonna S. Lincoln

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Teachers need to develop a variety of pedagogical strategies that can encourage precise and accurate communication - an extremely important 21st century skill. Precision with STEM oral language is essential. Emphasizing oral communication with precise language in combination with increased spatial skills with modeling can improve the chances of success in STEM courses and later in making STEM career choices. The participants were 14 middle and high school teachers who participated in a week of professional development (PD). The Aural/Spatial Interactions and Invariant Components of Vocabulary for STEM Content Area Specialists (AS-STEM) was administered to teacher groups to examine how …

Flipped Classroom As Blended Learning In A Fluid Mechanics Course In Engineering Technology, Orlando M. Ayala, Otilia Popescu, Vukica M. Jovanovic

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Flipped classroom has gained attention in recent years as a teaching method in which the time allocated for introducing new concepts and the time used for practicing them are inverted, in order to provide more time for problem based learning and class interaction under direct supervision of the instructor. The implementation of this teaching method is comprised of two main components, the pre-class activities, which consist of individual student work and are largely based on pre-recorded videos, and in-class activities, which are group activities supervised by the instructor. This paper discusses the implementation of the flipped classroom method in a …

The Differences In Teacher Self- Efficacy Beliefs Among Elementary School Teachers, Christopher Litz

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct a study that explores the differences in self-efficacy beliefs among specific teacher subgroups within the elementary school environment. This quantitative study searches for the differences in self-efficacy beliefs among teachers who instruct mandated state assessment subjects and those who do not. In addition, this study also attempts to search for differences in self-efficacy beliefs among elementary general education teachers and elementary specialists. This study utilizes Anita Hoy’s Teacher Sense of Self- Efficacy Scale (TSES) to find the self-efficacy differences in three particular domains: classroom management, student engagement, and instructional strategies.

This study …

Perceived Transformational Teacher Leadership And Students’ Motivation, Academic Performance, And Intent To Persist In Stem Education At A Community College, Stacy Lynn Waters-Bailey

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The transformational teacher leadership style has been identified as having a positive impact on student motivation, academic performance, and persistence. This study served to determine if there is a relationship between perceived transformational teacher leadership and student motivation, academic performance, and STEM persistence intentions for students in transferable general education biological science courses offered at community colleges.

This quantitative research study was conducted in two phases at one campus of a large, multi-campus community college in a major urban area in a Mid-Atlantic state. In the initial phase, the researcher administered the survey to students who volunteered to participate in …

Technological Literacy Programs In Elementary School, Natalie Soroka Emery

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Technology and engineering design education is offered as an elective in most secondary school curriculums, however a primary school curriculum is not common. The Standards for Technological Literacy (ITEEA, 2007), which focus on technological literacy and engineering design, are not typically included in primary education.

The objectives of this study are to determine if teachers and administrators think technology and engineering education provide new opportunities for elementary students, how they feel about technology and engineering education, and what obstacles exist for successful implementation. A literature review provided the background on federal, state, and local technology initiatives that exist for Virginia …

Preparing Future Faculty Program (Pff) Program Annual Report, 2015-2016, Wie Yusuf

Career Pathways

It is the mission of the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) Program at Old Dominion University (ODU) to introduce graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to the diverse roles, the responsibilities, and the rewards of an academic career. In doing so, it focuses particularly on the teaching and service roles sometimes not included in doctoral training. Fundamental research skills, such as grant writing, publishing, and academic job searching, are also addressed.

The PFF program offers a ‘Preparing Future Faculty Certificate’ to graduate students who document completion of specific activities related to preparing for an academic career. Any ODU and NSU degree-seeking graduate …

Alternative Assessment And Accountability: A Case Study Of Policy Reform And Teacher Practice At The District Level, Amy Lynn Abbott

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Deliberations on the topic of alternatives to standardized assessments spurred the 2014 Virginia General Assembly legislation (House Bill 930/Senate Bill 306) that removed five, end-of-year Virginia Standards of Learning tests from select elementary and middle school subjects and supplant them with alternative measures (Virginia Department of Education, 2014). In light of the reform, the purpose of this study was to develop a descriptive account of one large Virginia school district’s implementation of alternative, locally developed assessments designed as an intervention to enhance teaching and learning. Emphasis was on the impact of policy change in social studies practice to capture teachers’ …

Elementary Physical Education Teachers’ Content Knowledge And Pedagogical Content Knowledge Of Overhand Throwing, James Allen Parrott

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The complexity of physical education instruction provides unique challenges for the physical education teacher. In this research, I sought to describe and examine the types of knowledge that physical education teachers use to inform their instructional practices. I also explored the relation between teaching experience and components of content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge in overhand throwing. Specifically, what are the task representations, common content knowledge, and specialized content knowledge during an overhand throwing unit of novice, beginning, and accomplished elementary teachers? A naturalistic, qualitative approach involving three elementary physical education teachers examined the elements that they used in the …

Factors Affecting College Choice And Transfer: A Study Of The Decision-Making Process Of Student Veterans, Reginia L. Hill

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

With the reduction of U.S. involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the number of veterans seeking higher education has increased. The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill has made education more affordable and accessible to service members and their families. Veterans have many choices when deciding which institution to attend, including community colleges, four-year public universities, private four-year colleges, and private for-profit institutions. Each institution has something different to offer with regard to programs and services. Since the enactment of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, both community colleges and private for-profit institutions have experienced increased enrollment of student veterans. This study explored …

Investigating An Intervention Used To Address Underachievement In Gifted And Non-Gifted High School Students: A Mixed Methodological Study, Melissa (Missy) C. Sullivan

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Recent concerns in the field of gifted education focus on students who are not performing at their ability level. These students can be classified as underachieving gifted students. In their research, Rubenstein, Siegle, Reis, McCoach, and Burton (2012) found that though gifted students are not typically considered at risk, there is a growing group of gifted students who are not motivated to learn, which is frustrating for parents, teachers, and counselors. Highly capable students are not being engaged in their classes which causes underachievement in these students (Kim, 2008). The purpose of this mixed methodological study will be to investigate …

The Design Of A Cognitive Apprenticeship To Facilitate Storytime Programming For Librarians, Jennifer A. Scott Brown, Jill E. Stefaniak

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The majority of research that has been conducted on structuring mentorship programs has been on career support in terms of transferring tacit and explicit knowledge from the supervisor to the protégé. While the instructional design literature touts that cognitive apprenticeships provide a great framework for constructivist and situated learning environments, little research has been done examining how much time should be allocated to the various phases of the apprenticeship framework. The purpose of this study was to explore whether the use of a cognitive apprenticeship framework could be used to mentor new librarians. Data was collected and analyzed in three …