Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Cultivating And Sustaining A Faculty Culture Of Data-Driven Teaching And Learning: A Systems Approach, Marsha Lovett, Chad Hershock

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

A prominent goal of colleges and universities today is to enact data-driven teaching and learning. Faculty clearly play a key role, and yet they tend to have limited time, a lack of training in assessment or education research, and few incentives for engaging in this work. We describe a framework designed to address the practical and cultural aspects of these challenges via a cycle of educational development and support: motivate, educate, facilitate, disseminate. We illustrate this systems approach with concrete examples and conclude with lessons learned from our experiences that should translate to a variety of institutional contexts.

A Qualitative Study Of An Interprofessional Collaborative Practicum Cohort, Mallory Tvrdy, Lisa Lenz, Sue Kemp, Kristy Weissling

UCARE: Research Products

Interprofessional education (IPE) occurs “when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcomes” (WHO, 2010). While IPE with a healthcare focus has been around for years, literature regarding IPE in the school setting involving speech-language pathology (SLP) and special education (SPED) is sparse. Online database searches using the key words “interprofessional education,” “interprofessional collaboration,” “special education,” and “speech-language pathology” yield only a few studies.

• In the Special Education and Communication Disorders department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, aninterprofessional practicum experience was developed to address the need …

Access To Leadership Efficacy: Those Who Start Early Finish Ahead, Becky Haddad, Sophie Pierszalowski, Johnathan Velez

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

An increasing number of studies point to student gains from participation in leadership development opportunities. However, very little research exists to explore who has access to these experiences. In this paper, we investigate whether a student’s employment off-campus has an impact on their ability to participate in, and experience gains in leadership efficacy from leadership training opportunities. We employ a linear regression path analysis to identify potential relationships between pre-college leadership efficacy, off-campus employment, participation in leadership training opportunities, and leadership efficacy for undergraduate students at a university in the Pacific Northwest. Pre-college leadership efficacy was the strongest predictor of …

The Equity And Engagement Challenges Of Teaching Reading In Middle School, Edmund T. Hamann, Stephanie Malone

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The point is to look at midlevel and high school students—those often encapsulated by the term ‘adolescent literacy’—and to ask what it is that makes those students less likely to engage in productive reading practice. That may at first look like a psychological question about motivation, which makes the challenge seem like it is something inside the student that needs attention or ‘fixing’. But the orientation here is instead more sociological. If we talk about instruction, in this case reading instruction, it is intrinsically interactive, between teacher and student most obviously, but also interactive between students and their peers (e.g. …

Motivated Reasoning And Persuading Faculty Change In Teaching, Gary A. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many faculty members demonstrate unwavering resistance to adopting research-based instructional strategies. This phenomenon commonly fits with motivated reasoning, whereby a person feels threatened by persuasion to change, leading to overtly defensive and sometimes disruptive behaviors and refusal. Changing away from established practices may challenge one’s self-identity and values as an effective teacher and triggers arguments intended to invalidate research-based alternatives. Faculty who are motivated to reject consensus best practices may impede the implementation of these practices across entire departments or institutions. Motivated reasoning and its underlying cognitive processes are explained by self-determination theory, which leads to predictions of faculty behaviors …

Motivations And Obstacles Influencing Faculty Engagement In Adopting Teaching Innovations, Wayne Jacobson, Renee Cole

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Significant progress has been made in understanding science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and ways it can be improved, but propagation of change remains a challenge. This study presents an analysis of STEM faculty responses to open-text survey questions that asked them to identify motivations and obstacles to making changes in their teaching. Responses reveal wide variability among faculty perceptions, conceptualizations of change, and understandings of evidence. These findings suggest reasons faculty are not uniformly receptive to calls for change and challenge educational developers and advocates of STEM education reform to be explicit about their own understandings of meaningful …

Critical Factors For Effective And Equitable Ngss Science Teaching Practices, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Lyrica L. Lucas, Amy Tankersley, Elizabeth Hasseler, Brandon Helding

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Presentations

With the widespread adoption and adaption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and its implicit focus on inquiry-based instruction, reformed science teaching practices are critically important to meeting the U.S. vision of scientific literacy for all students. Thus, the role of teacher learning through both teacher preparation and professional development must be well understood and informed through empirical findings. Accordingly, the theme of this NARST conference paper set is to identify effective science teaching practices using the lens of the NGSS science and engineering practices (SEPs), science subject matter knowledge, and equitable teaching practices. We found that inquiry-based instruction …

Culturally Relevant Science Teaching: A Literature Review, Uma Maheshwari Ganesan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

This educational research literature review paper aims to discuss the rationale, review eight empirical research studies, and identify knowledge gaps in culturally relevant pedagogy in science education. This paper focuses on synthesis, review, and comparison of the findings of the empirical studies, and categorizes them into thematic heads such as similarities and differences between studies under the broad categories of professional development (PD) programs and case studies. Following these reviews, the author summarizes her reflections and thoughts about the literature to understand the big picture of culturally relevant pedagogy in science education. The basis of this literature review are various …

Insights Into Nature Of Science And Evolution Education, Lawrence C. Scharmann

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

While the public misunderstanding of evolution is in part due to religious and political motives, it is also a result of didactic teaching. Dr Lawrence C. Scharmann, Professor of Education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, specialises in science teacher education. He has been working with non-major biology and science teacher students developing strategies to enhance the teaching and learning of science theories, and in particular, evolution. Many secondary school students and undergraduates hold a dualistic worldview. This leads them to create dichotomies, albeit false ones, such as right vs wrong and science vs religion. These can obstruct their learning science …

The Visual Representation Of Dual Language Education, Theresa Catalano

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Despite well documented benefits of dual language (DL) programs which deliver educational content in two languages, there are still few DL programs in the United States. As such, there is a need to understand how to effectively persuade more states/districts to adopt the programs. In addition, more critical research is needed that focuses on how the programs are represented visually, as well as how this visual representation reflects wider discourses about DL education that could impede the programs from reaching those who need them most. In this article, the author explores ideologies behind DL program discourse by looking at photojournalism …

Elevating Nebraska’S Early Childhood Workforce: Report And Recommendations Of The Nebraska Early Childhood Workforce Commission, Susan Sarver, Catherine Huddleston-Casas, Cama Charlet, Renee Wessels

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

Executive Summary The science of early childhood development makes clear that the early years, from birth through age 8, are a time of unparalleled human growth and development— and that healthy development during these pivotal early years requires reliable, positive, and consistent interactions between the developing child and familiar, caring adults. Because of today’s economy, in which most parents of young children work outside the home, families often rely on early childhood professionals to provide positive interactions and experiences that young children need to thrive. Yet, despite what we know about the critical role of early childhood professionals in young …

Ready To Teach All Children? Unpacking Early Childhood Educators’ Feelings Of Preparedness For Working With Children With Disabilities, Mindy R. Chadwell, Amy M. Roberts, Alexandra Daro

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

Early childhood settings have the potential to support learners with diverse learning needs, including children with disabilities. However, if educators do not feel prepared to teach children with disabilities, this potential may not be fully realized. The current study examined early childhood educators’ (n = 1,296) feelings of preparedness for working with children with disabilities, including predictors of preparedness, and associations with assessment practices. Research Findings: Nearly 70% of educators felt well prepared to teach typically developing children whereas only 20% felt well prepared to teach children with disabilities. Educational attainment and education-related major predicted feelings of preparedness. Furthermore, feelings …

The Nebraska Covid-19 Early Care And Education Provider Survey Ii: Experiences, Economic Impact, And Ongoing Needs, Alexandra Daro, Kathleen Gallagher

Buffet Early Childhood Institute Reports and Publications

The Nebraska COVID-19 Early Care and Education Provider Survey II, released in early August 2020, is a second survey following The Nebraska COVID-19 Early Care and Education Provider Survey that was conducted in March 2020. Both surveys were conducted by the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska. Results from the March 2020 survey suggested that the coronavirus was negatively impacting early care and education professionals in Nebraska. Imminent threats of illness and directives for enhanced cleaning and precautionary methods (e.g., social distancing) were causing child care providers to experience high levels of stress. They were struggling to …

Evidence-Based Practices In Mentoring For Leadership Development, Lindsay J. Hastings, Hannah Sunderman

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Effective mentoring for leadership development requires nuanced practical considerations. The authors outline aspects of effective mentorship, highlight considerations for practitioners and mentoring programs, and offer critical perspectives on mentoring.

Higher education scholars have identified mentoring as an important tool in leadership development (Campbell, Smith, Dugan, & Komives, 2012; Dugan & Komives, 2010; Hastings, Griesen, Hoover, Creswell, & Dlugosh, 2015; Komives, Longerbeam, Mainella, Osteen, & Owen, 2009).Mentoring is recognized as one of the most promising practices for both leader and leadership development because of its effectiveness at facilitating development (Day, 2001). Mentoring embeds leadership development within the ongoing experiences of a …

Digital Storytelling With English Language Learning Families, Stephanie Wessels, Guy Trainin

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we examine the design process and outcomes of a digital storytelling with elementary-aged English Language Learning Families. The program was iterated through a multi-step design process to integrate the use of digital storytelling on mobile devices with family literacy. In this chapter, we explain why adults and children needed worktime separately before they collaborate and that a focus on funds of language, culture and relevance foster willingness to engage with digital literacy. In working with English Language Learning Families, we found the following themes: when it comes to schooling, everything is in English; confidence in learning about …

Toward A Culturally Sensitive Approach To Student Centered Accent And Dialect Coursework - Thea 403: Advanced Voice - Accents & Dialects – A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Ann Marie Pollard

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

A benchmark portfolio for Theatre 403: Advanced Voice (Accents and Dialects). This portfolio describes considerations taken in developing a new course design, optimizing course assignments, implementing a perspective which moves toward the decolonization of the acting classroom, and integrating heightened awareness of cultural sensitivity with practical, skills-based learning. The author provides context around the course, its objectives, and its structure. Samples of student perspectives are provided within an in-depth look at an in-class conversation about diversity, inclusion, and practicing advocacy for appropriate casting choices. The reflection includes a conclusion that, while moving toward a destandardization of content has its challenges, …

Stat 463: Introduction To Mathematical Statistics Ii - A Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio, Qi Zhang

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

Agro 153 - Soil Resources Online - A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Rebecca Young

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Soil Resources (AGRO 153) is a high enrollment, introductory-level course taken by a diverse range of student majors at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), predominantly from the College of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources (CASNR). Students that enroll in this course typically span all undergraduate class levels, and a small number of graduate students fulfilling degree requirements or prerequisites. AGRO 153 online is a smaller enrollment section of the course that is often taken by students when (a) the resident sections have closed due meeting maximum capacity, (b) there is a timing conflict within their course schedule, or (c) the …

Learning Science With Mobile Technologies: Opportunities For Enhancing Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Science Conceptual Understanding, Deepika Menon, Zarah Salas, Allison Mellendick, Meera Chandrasekhar, Dorina Kosztin

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

The use of technology is increasing rapidly in our society, and classroom teachers must recognize the impact and importance of technology in the lives of their students. It is crucial that college faculty involved in teacher training design courses that integrate mobile technologies to prepare the next generation of teachers. In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of an iPadbased curriculum app, Exploring Physics, to enhance preservice elementary teachers’ physics conceptual understanding in a physical science content course. Data were collected using a pre-and postPhysics Conceptual Understanding (PCU) survey and open-ended questionnaires. We found significant statistical gains in participants’ (N …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 33, Special Edition 2020, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

Notes from the guest editor, Eric Matte (Landmark College)

Rescuing the canary in the coal mine: Addressing mental health on college campuses

Five )not ten) teaching practices inclusive of students with anxiety

Resilience through discomfort: Reframing anxiety and helpful strategies for the mathematics classroom

Learning and wellbeing: A collaborative approach to course design

Simulations offer transformational learning and anxiety reduction

NEFDC Board members

Book Review: Neha Vora, Teach For Arabia: American Universities, Liberalism, And Transnational Qatar, Loukia K. Sarroub

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

With a provocative title that inherently questions who might be served and educated best by the branch campuses of top US universities in Qatar and Gulf states, Vora’s new book debunks some old myths and reminds readers from the outset that “liberalism has Arabian roots” (18). Vora wonders about and studies the transplant of liberal education into “so-called illiberal” countries like Qatar and other Gulf States. Her timely book offers on-the-ground perspectives of students and faculty in these transplant institutions as they engage with curriculum and one another in a new knowledge economy. The book contributes to scholarship about how …

Educating Effective Science Teachers: Preparing And Following Teachers Into The Field, Elizabeth Lewis, Ana Rivero, Aaron Musson, Lyrica L. Lucas, Amy Tankersley, Brandon Helding

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This chapter focuses on: (a) our development of a research-based, graduate- level science TPP for teachers with a degree in science; (b) an analysis of teachers’ subject matter knowledge (SMK) as it relates to their subsequent use of inquiry-based instruction; and (c) results of a longitudinal study of beginning science teachers who graduated from a master’s level TPP in comparison with the instructional practices of science teachers prepared through a traditional undergraduate program. We offer what we consider to be a typical case of an undergraduate and less typical case of a graduate science teacher preparation program that occur at …

Identity Negotiation In Multilingual Contexts: A Narrative Inquiry Into Experiences Of An African Immigrant High School Student, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, James Oloo

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Background/Context: Inclusion of African immigrant youth voices in educational and research discourses remains rare despite the steady growth of this population in the United States over the past four decades. Consequently, the multilingual abilities of these youth remain typically unnoticed or ignored in the classroom, and little is specifically known about their histories, cultures, expectations, and achievements.

Purpose: Using the narrative inquiry approach and the Natural, Institutional, Discursive, Affinity, Learner, and Solidarity (NIDALS) theoretical lens, we explore the lived experiences of one African immigrant high school student in the Midwestern United States.

Research Design: Using narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, …

Will The First Through Fifth Years Please Stand Up? Quantifying National Sbae Teacher Experience, Becky Haddad, Kelsey J. Knight, Josh Stewart, Johnathan Velez

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Research often references years of experience specific to participants, yet no compiled report exists for secondary school-based agricultural education (SBAE) to holistically quantify years of teaching experience. In addition, definitions accounting for experience fall short of capturing the myriad ways experience counts in the broader teaching profession. Our study addresses this missing piece of the teacher retention puzzle. Using Quiñones, Ford, and Teachout’s (1994) conceptual framework for work experience measures, our study quantified teacher experience in the National Association for Agricultural Education (NAAE). We analyzed National SBAE teacher experience through descriptive statistics, compared experience by region using an ANOVA model, …

Transformative Interviewing And The Experiences Of Multilingual Learners Not Labeled “Ell” In Us Schools, Theresa Catalano, Lydiah Kananu Kiramba, Kara Mitchell Viesca

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Recent research has documented the ways that schools adapt to increasingly multilingual and multicultural student bodies. This qualitative study explores the schooling experiences of nine K-12 multilinguals not identified as English language learners in US schools. Using “deep interviewing” strategies, the authors expose the racializing function of language, but also semiotic processes such as markedness, iconicity, and erasure and sociological concepts such as habitus that are revealed through analysis of the participants’ discourse about language and schooling. Additionally, the authors illustrate how transformative interviewing practices can spur development of learners’ own agency in creating more equitable learning contexts for themselves.

Let’S Review: Types Of Feedback Given In An Agricultural Writing Intensive Course, Becky Haddad, Kellie Claflin, Josh Stewart

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Faculty Publications

Our study sought to describe the types of feedback (affective, cognitive, and metacognitive) used by students of senior standing in a Writing Intensive Course within an undergraduate Agricultural Sciences degree. This study quantified a change in peer-review feedback over the course of an academic term. Students used each type of feedback throughout the duration of the course, but relied heavily on affective and cognitive feedback (63% and 80% of combined feedback between both categories in initial and final feedback, respectively). Further efforts are necessary to provide direction and rigorous evaluation in the writing intensive course. Continued research is necessary to …

Using Comparative Rating Analysis And Mixed-Method Degree-Of-Change Ratings To Evaluate Graduate-Level Instruction In Leadership Development: Alec 802 Developing Leadership Capacity In Organizations And Communities – A Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio, Lindsay J. Hastings

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

ALEC 802 Developing Leadership Capacity in Organizations and Communities prepares graduate students in leadership studies to become highly skilled at analyzing human systems using leadership as a frame and designing training and development solutions to help those human systems run more effectively. ALEC 802 utilizes a three-tiered case study approach as the primary evaluation mechanism of student proficiency as a professional leadership development specialist. Each case study tier builds upon the previous and offers a gradual reduction in supporting infrastructure. This course portfolio utilized a comparative rating analysis of each case study assignment by learning objective as well as a …

A Peer Review Benchmark Portfolio For Arch 411: Integrate, David Newton

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In North American universities, the comprehensive, or integrative studio, represents an important moment in the curriculum of architecture programs where students are likely to encounter especially challenging design problems due to the integrative thinking required at a number of scales. Providing students with concepts and tools to handle these problems at this stage is therefore crucial to their success in the studio and their development as architects. This research explores the application of dynamic multi-objective optimization (DMOO) concepts and tools within a comprehensive studio context to help students improve their ability to explore tradeoffs between design solutions. DMOO offers a …

Peer Review Of Teaching Portfolio For Hort 306: Greenhouse Operations & Management, Stacy Adams

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

A Greenhouse Operations and Management course designed specifically to serve the needs of horticulture students at an institution of higher learning has transitioned teaching philospophy to additionally serve any student with a potential use of a greenhouse in instruction, community outreach, research, extension, early childhood development, and thearapy. Through the Peer Review of Teaching Project, the course is explored, analyzed and redeveloped with intentional purpose.

Fors 411: Forensic Comparative Analysis – A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Larry Barksdale

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This benchmark portfolio presents my work in reworking the goals, objectives, course design, teaching methods, student assessments, and learning outcome assessments of the undergraduate Univeristy of Nebraska-Lincoln core course FORS 411: Forensic Comparative Analysis. It reflects my application of the backward design concept of thinking about and identifying the desired outcomes of the course, what the students need to learn, and designing instruction and evaluations to directly address the outcomes [3]. My goal for the course is to embed in the intellectual framework of students an analytical orientation for understanding use of pattern evidence as viable information for the valid …