Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Building Positive Student-Instructor Interactions: Engaging Students Through Caring Leadership In The Classroom, Oscar J. Solis, Windi D. Turner

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

When instructing and managing classrooms in university settings, instructors face numerous challenges such as student disengagement and managing course expectations. In this article, we offer new and revised techniques and strategies to engage students through the art of caring leadership. We accomplish this through three defining characteristics: knowing students’ names, managing course expectations, and the use of technology. These intentional strategies create positive student-instructor interactions in both small and large classrooms which in turn enhances student learning and engagement.

Amplify Your Teaching Impact: Capitalizing On 1-On-1 Instruction, Abby D. Benninghoff

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

The objective of this essay, which is based on a keynote presentation delivered at the 2016 Empowering Teaching Excellence Conference at Utah State University, is to address this central question: how faculty can make a positive, substantive impact on students through 1-on-1 instruction? The consensus answer derived from experiences and anecdotes offered by this author, her colleagues, and students is to be deliberate in 1-on-1 interactions with students. This simple message is expanded through discussion of 10 key concepts that can help faculty amplify their teaching impact: 1) be available, 2) help students feel comfortable, 3) be a model, 4) …

Full Issue: Journal On Empowering Teaching Excellence, Volume 1, Issue 1

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

For our inaugural issue, we reviewed the feedback from our 2016 ETE faculty conference—an event for USU faculty hosted every August on the USU main campus. We identified several of the presenters who received high marks in post-session surveys and invited them to submit a proceedings paper for their presentation. Many responded, and their papers now comprise the majority of this issue. Because most of the articles began as stand-up presentations for a conference, several adopt a first-person narrative style in which the authors share examples of things they have tried in their teaching that have worked. In the process …

The Dynamics Of The L2 Motivational Self System Among Saudi Study Abroad Students, Fahad Alharbi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Adult second language acquisition takes time over an extended period of time during which the L2 motivation of learners goes through periods of ups and downs. Dörnyei, MacIntyre and Henry (2015) recognized the inherently dynamic nature of L2 motivation and called for adopting the Complex Dynamic System Theory (CDST) when studying this phenomenon. While using a CDST perspective, this mixed method study drew on Dörnyei’s (2009b) model of the Motivational Self System to examine the L2 motivation of 86 Saudi study-abroad students. Also, the construct of the Anti-ought to Self (Thompson, 2015) and aspects of the Appraisal Theory (Schumann, 2001) …

Impacting Learning For 21st Century Students: A Phenomenological Study Of Higher Education Faculty Utilizing A Service Learning Approach, Christina D. Marshall

Dissertations

Higher education has been increasing its focus on service as a way to make connections. One effective model for integrating the community in an educationally meaningful way is service learning. Service learning creates a practical experience where students learn and problem solve in the context of their lives and communities. However, not all faculty are buying into the benefits of incorporating service learning in the curriculum as it is both time and energy intensive. If service learning is to be implemented and sustained as part of the curriculum, faculty must be dedicated to its success.

The purpose of this phenomenological …

National Board Certified Teacher Incentive Bonuses: Senate Bill 555, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

National Board Certification is a voluntary process that, according to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, certifies that they “have developed and demonstrated the advanced knowledge, skills, and practices required of an outstanding educator.” Currently, National Board Certified (NBC) teachers in an Arkansas public school receive an annual bonus of $5,000 for up to 10 years. In this brief, we examine NBC in Arkansas and Senate Bill 555, which proposes the modification and enhancement of NBC incentive bonuses for teachers receiving certification after January 2018.

Exploring Teacher Assessment Literacy Through The Process Of Training Teachers To Write Assessment Items, Heather Peltier Wright

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the process and impact of assessment training content and delivery mode on the quality of assessment items developed by the teachers in a two-year assessment development project. Teacher characteristics were examined as potential moderating factors. Four types of delivery mode were employed in the project: synchronous online, asynchronous online, in-person workshop, and blended (a combination of online and in-person training). The quality of assessment items developed by participating teachers was measured via: 1) item acceptance rate, 2) number of item reviews (as an indicator of how many times accepted items were rejected …

The Influence Of Technology On Teaching Practices At A Catholic School, Meredith Jc Swallow

Journal of Catholic Education

Supporting twenty-first century skill development calls for necessary changes in teaching practices to encourage contemporary learning outcomes. Research points toward technology integration as a catalyst for supporting shifting pedagogies necessary to enhance learning. As many Catholic educators and leaders are attempting to re-shape Catholic school learning for the twenty-first century, the Catholic school context provides a unique opportunity to understand technology integration and teaching practices. To address the need of understanding the development of teaching practices of Catholic educators in a digital age, this qualitative multiple-case study examines teaching practices of four middle-level Catholic school educators during a one-to-one technology …

A Qualitative Study Of Veteran Students' Perspectives Of Their Academic Experiences, Beatrice L. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain Veteran students’ perspectives on academic success as they enter or reenter the university setting. Recent research applied to Veteran students has focused on social integration and to a lesser extent on academic integration and student success. For this qualitative study grounded in social constructivism, the primary method of data collection was the recording, transcription, and analysis of oral interviews with 11 Veteran students. The findings were aligned to the theoretical framework which was adapted from Tinto’s Conditions for Student Success (2012). The results contribute to the current body of scholarly …

Nurses' Attitudes Toward Death: Examining The Relationship With Background And Palliative Education And Training Variables, Julie Dawn Vognsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe Registered Nurses’ attitudes toward death and their perspectives on education and training related to death and end-of-life patient care. A complementary goal was to determine whether nurses’ attitudes and perspectives are associated with background variables. The three attitudes toward death included anxiety, escape, and neutral attitudes. The background variables of the nurses included formal educational level, age, gender, ethnicity, years of nursing practice, state of residence, and area of nursing practice.

A survey including four sections was used for data collection. The first section of the survey utilized an established 32-item survey …

Editor's Introduction, Michael M. Grant

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

No abstract provided.

Call For Special Issue Proposals, Michael M. Grant

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

IJPBL is seeking proposals for upcoming special issues in 2018 and 2019.

What Does It Mean To Be A Service-Learning Teacher? - An Autoethnography, Kristy Causey Verdi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This personal narrative autoethnography of my lived experiences as a middle-school service-learning course teacher has helped me solve a personal mystery and present an important perspective for the K-12 service-learning field. With an eye on revealing a unique service-learning classroom concept to educational leaders, enhancing middle level teacher education, and hopes of providing greater opportunities for advancing research on service learning in K-12 education, this study has also aided me in understanding my professional self and my subjective educational theory through a personal interpretive framework (Kelchtermans, 1993, 1999, 2009). Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004; Ellis & Bochner, 2006) as a method …

Alternative Facts: Learning Only Happens In The Classroom, Jessica Martin, Amy Phillips, Clarissa Elmore

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Just as learning occurs in the classroom, it also occurs out of the classroom. In Winthrop University’s Department of Residence Life, professional and student staff instructs residential students in the “laboratory of life” with emphases on civility, integrity, communication, conflict management, and community building. With an increased demand from employers looking for students with strong soft skills and the ability to communicate with others, the value of a residential education cannot be overstated. Residential Learning Coordinators get to facilitate this out-of-the-classroom learning regularly. Attend this session to discover ways that Residence Life professional staff blends students’ academic and residential lives …

Teaching Teachers: Targeted Professional Development For Adjunct Faculty, Laura A. Tamberelli, Kim Buch, Caryl Gordon

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Adjunct faculty are a growing and significant portion of teaching faculty at Universities across the United States. They are, however, vastly different from the traditional faculty member in terms of their needs, challenges, goals, and professional development options within their respective role and department. The proposed session would discuss the results of an adjunct faculty needs assessment conducted at UNC Charlotte. Additionally, it would present the steps that have since been taken to better serve adjuncts at this institution in terms of clarity, communication, networking, and professional development. Initial responses from department heads and adjunct faculty will also be discussed …

Digital Storytelling With Sway, Stephanie D. Jacobs

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Sway is a NEW innovative web-based learning tool that can be used on any device you may have access to in the classroom. Develop your most creative and innovative abilities. This tool can be used to share your stories, experiences, or reflections. Join us as we learn how you can use Sway to build important skills such as research, writing, organizational, problem solving, presentation, assessment and communication. Students can easily create great digital stories also. Learn how to integrate a variety of media components (audio, videos, images, music, social media, documents/charts) in a matter of minutes. Bring your device and …

Cultivating Academic Habits Of Mind: Key Skills For Collegiate Success, Katarina Moyon, Amanda Hiner, Kelly Richardson

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

The value of a 21^st-century college education comes from the expectation that college graduates are cognitively prepared to deal with complexity, change, and diversity through the application of transferable and practical skills such as written and oral communication and analytic problem-solving. Winthrop University’s General Education Core, consisting of three specific courses completed by all students, provides a shared intellectual experience for students and equips them with powerful, college-level tools in critical reading, critical thinking, and academic writing. Moreover, the Core cultivates valuable academic habits of mind that are particularly valuable in a today’s dynamic world where college graduates …

Teachers Exploring Mobile Device Integration: A Case Study Of Secondary Teachers’ Responses To Ipads In The Classroom, Joshua Myers, Steven Lesky

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

This qualitative study seeks to understand and resolve the difficulties that teachers encounter when integrating mobile devices in classrooms. To address the issue of teacher receptiveness, three undergraduate researchers collaborated with an education professor in spring 2012 to complete a qualitative study with a two-fold purpose: 1) to investigate how two secondary teachers in an independent school responded when adopting a class set of iPads throughout one school cycle (six school days); and 2) to elucidate what a school could do better to support teachers who are piloting mobile device integration. Although previous studies have commonly focused on the impact …

Facilitating Teacher Reflection Through A Mutual Understanding Of The Characteristics Of Exemplary Teachers, Seth E. Jenny, Geraldine Jenny

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Teachers meet challenges as they make a plethora of daily choices. It is a responsibility to learn from past choices. An exemplary teacher is a person who accepts the challenge of lifelong learning experiences in the domains of Leadership, Diversity, and Technology. Moreover, exemplary teachers must demonstrate competencies in the themes of School Context Expert, Master Practitioner, Learning Theorist, Curriculum Designer, and Instructional Leader (American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, 2010, p. 24).

Making the commitment to become an exemplary teacher is a choice one should make with care because it is a decision that will affect the …

Strategies For Teaching Online: Perspectives From Across Disciplines, Kimarie Whetstone, Kim Brazzell, Thomas Cornelius, Jill Stout

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

With the growth of online learning on the horizon at Winthrop University, faculty members can be best served in learning strategies for teaching online by participating in a dialogue with colleagues who are currently teaching in this modality.

This panel session will provide strategies for teaching online from the perspective of Winthrop University faculty currently teaching online across a variety of disciplines. Panelists will share their experiences with respect to common pitfalls and lessons learned; skills needed to be a successful online facilitator; roles and responsibilities; cognitive, social, and teaching presence; engagement; accessible online content; and providing the Winthrop experience. …

Collaborative Online Catalogs And Open Access Repositories: How They Benefit Researchers, Michaela Eileen Volkmar, Deann Brame

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Libraries can help researchers in a multitude of ways, but we want to focus on two resources in particular that can benefit researchers: collaborative online catalogs and open access repositories. A collaborative online catalog is different from a traditional catalog, in that you can find materials beyond what your home library contains. You’ve probably heard about open access repositories, but did you know that your scholarship can be discovered by many if it’s located in an open access repository, such as Digital Commons at Winthrop?

Join this session to learn about the ways that your university library might be able …

Vietnamese American College Students’ Experiences And Strategies Of Engagement On College Campus In The United States, Nhu Nguyen

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

Several previous studies explored the destructive effect of social exclusion on Asian American college students in U.S. colleges. Previous studies reported that Vietnamese American students, as one of largest Asian American minority groups in the United States, faced numerous challenges in reaching their academic s in higher education partly due to the experience of cultural and social alienation and exclusion. The purpose of this study is to examine how Vietnamese American college students perceive the concept of “engagement” on college campus and beyond and how they develop different engagement strategies to promote their academic and social integration. Structured as phenomenological …

(Age)Ncy In Composition Studies, Alaina Tackitt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The number of adult learners entering or returning to institutions of higher education is increasing in general and in relation to the traditional student population, and projections suggest that the trend will continue. As automation and technology impact the labor force, educational access is becoming a national concern and a necessity for more adult learners. Access to higher education impacts minority and economically depressed populations disproportionally and increases the personal and professional success of adult students and the long-term prosperity of their families. Although Composition Studies has a history of recognizing and facilitating student populations as they enter the Academy, …

Community Literacies: Examining The Availability Of Texts In Rural Communities And Their Integration Into The Elementary School Classroom, Chelsi Tolbert, Jennifer Wimmer

Journal of Undergraduate Research

It is an unarguable fact that literacy instruction is one of the most vital aspects of elementary education. Without literacy, knowing how to read and write, students will find success in the “real” world difficult to come by. Traditionally, the focus of literacy instruction has been linked to giving students the tools they will need once out of school, however recent studies have begun to look more critically at what literacies students are bringing into the classroom. These investigations look explicitly at community literacy, specifically, the funds of knowledge that students learn from their homes and communities that may …

Leadership In Higher Education: Role Of Persons-In-Charge Of Internationalization Efforts In Community Colleges, Sunita Kumari

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand the role carried out by persons-in-charge of campus internationalization efforts at community colleges. The comprehension of this leadership role encompassed identifying and understanding profile and qualities of the person-in-charge of campus internationalization efforts as well as the duties and responsibilities of these individuals. The extent to which the person-in-charge of campus internationalization efforts received institutional support, and the tribulations or challenges they faced as they worked on the internationalization initiatives of their respective institutions were also explored, alongside their personal view of internationalization with respect to globalization. This study added to the …

A Student Perspective Of Interactive Technology, Sydney Boyer, Jennifer Wimmer

Journal of Undergraduate Research

With advancements in technology, educators understanding of teaching in the classroom has shifted and become less transparent. Early childhood classrooms have transitioned from printbased to technology integrated within a matter of years. This transition has led to research concerning teacher opinions (Turbill 2001)(Tertemiz 2015), student understanding (Wohlwend 2009), and use of interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in the classroom (Manny 2011). While this research is accurate and important, it is broad, foreign, and becoming increasingly outdated. One study focused on early childhood students and their use of play to involve technology related ideas into a printbased classroom (Wohlwend 2009). Although this information …

The Relationship Of Self-Awareness To Leadership Effectiveness For Experienced Leaders, Patricia Sullivan Sullivan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between leaders’ self-awareness and their effectiveness. The population included leaders with at least five years of experience in a leadership role. Participants were recruited by snowball sampling methods; the researcher used a diverse network of professionals to recruit other leaders from diverse industries. Each leader completed a 35-survey questionnaire along with demographic questions (gender, education, years in leadership role, industry), and was required to ask at least four direct reports to complete the 35 questions about observed behaviors of their leader. After removing incomplete responses, the final sample included N …

Amy Leh Tssa Winter 2017, Amy Leh

Teaching Skills Study Awards (TSSA) Reports

No abstract provided.

Teaching Irish Sign Language In Contact Zones: An Autoethnography, Noel Patrick O'Connell

The Qualitative Report

The central purpose of this autoethnographic study is to provide an account of my experiences as a deaf teacher teaching Irish Sign Language (ISL) to hearing students in a higher education institution. My cultural and linguistic background and personal history guided the way I interacted with students who found themselves confronted by a unique culture quite separate from what they had known before. By engaging in autoethnographic journal writing recorded over a period of three months, I reveal the complex social and historical relations manifested in the contact between deaf and hearing cultures in the classroom. More specifically, I consider …

"Reading Is Boring": A Qualitative Study On Motivating First Grade Students Through Reading Workshop, Lisa Marie Papandrea

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document changes in student motivation, self-perception, and comprehension as readers. The specific aim was to determine the impact of one-to-one conferencing and flexible strategy groups on the comprehension of first graders. Pre- and post- reading motivation surveys, conversational excerpts, and work samples have been analyzed. The focus group of students demonstrated gradual positive changes in reading motivation and reading achievement. The implications for using the components of reading workshop in a first grade classroom are discussed.