Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Mentoring Graduate Student Staff In A Center For Teaching And Learning: Goals And Aligned Practices, Kristin Rudenga, Joseph Lambert

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Graduate student staff (GSS) positions, commonly used in centers for teaching and learning (CTL) to expand capacity and extend disciplinary connections on campus, also offer the potential for a meaningful developmental experience for the students who fill them. Drawing on the literature on graduate student mentorship, we lay out goals and aligned practices to inform the mentoring of GSS in CTL aimed at advancing their pedagogical, professional, and personal development. Such deliberate attention to mentoring in a CTL context can enhance the experience and development of the GSS themselves, as well as improve the work of the CTL.

Measuring Transparency: A Learning-Focused Assignment Rubric, Michael S. Palmer, Emily O. Gravett, Jennifer Lafleur

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

By combining recommendations for effective assignment design with principles of transparency and the value-expectancy theory of achievement motivation, we developed a rubric capable of for assessing the quality and guiding the design of assignment descriptions. This rubric defines criteria characteristic of well-designed assignments; breaks the criteria down into concrete, measurable components; and suggests what evidence for each component might look like. While the full rubric is valid for major, signature assignments, it can accommodate a diverse range. It can also provide summative, quantitative information to educational developers for research and formative, qualitative feedback to instructors for gauging the quality of …

A Minimalist Model Of New Faculty Mentoring: Why Asking For Less Gives More, Heather Lobban Viravong, Mark Schneider

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We describe a research-based mentoring program for new full-time faculty at a small residential college, which emphasizes the empowerment of the new faculty themselves to identify and obtain the resources they need for success. In our model, the mentor takes on a role of primarily providing accountability, easing the burden on mentors, thereby making for a more sustainable program. Our mixed methods assessment of the program suggests that, paradoxically, these lessened expectations foster closer personal relationships between mentor and protégé than might have occurred if that were a programmatic expectation.

Publish & Flourish: Helping Scholars Become Better, More Prolific Writers, Tara Gray, Laura Madson, Michelle Jackson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Some scholars want help from educational developers to become better, more prolific writers. This study examines one such program, Publish & Flourish, that holds participants accountable for writing daily and for receiving weekly feedback from peers on drafts of writing. In this mixed methods study, 95% of participants (N = 93) reported that they improved their writing by making it more organized and reader centered. Participants also reported that they increased their extrapolated average of submissions of scholarly manuscripts per year from about two to almost six. We then compared Publish & Flourish to several other studies of scholarly writing …

Transforming The Classroom At Traditionally White Institutions To Make Black Lives Matter, Frank Truitt, Chayla Haynes, Saran Stewart

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In recent years, many college campuses across the United States witnessed a significant increase in campus activism regarding the range of experiences and conditions facing racially minoritized communities in higher education. As critical and inclusive pedagogues and scholars, we embrace the belief that a focus on making Black Lives Matter in the classrooms of traditionally White institutions (TWIs) provides educators with the best chance to improve the educational outcomes of all students. In this essay, we examine seven principles of critical and inclusive pedagogies that have the potential to make Black Lives Matter in TWI classrooms and identify several implications …

Workshopping A Workshop: Collaborative Design In Educational Development, Eleanor V. H. Vandegrift, Amy B. Mulnix, Jennifer R. Yates, S. Raj Chaudhury

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Working remotely and collaboratively, our interdisciplinary team created an educational development workshop, Thinking Skills for the 21st Century: Teaching for Transfer, in which participants not only experience, apply, and reflect on teaching across educational settings but also connect this work to principles that have been demonstrated by learning science to support the transfer of knowledge. We used backward design to develop the workshop and evidence-based pedagogies in its implementation. We facilitated the workshop at two different national meetings for distinct audiences and also as part of an on-campus faculty development program. Here, we report on the workshop development and revision, …

Seven Voices, Seven Developers, Seven One Things That Guide Our Practice, Frances Kalu, Patti Dyjur, Carol Berenson, Kimberley A. Grant, Cheryl Jeffs, Natasha Kenny, Robin Mueller

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Educational development philosophy statements provide a framework to communicate the values and beliefs that guide the practices and approaches of individual educational developers across various career stages. This paper presents narratives to illustrate how seven educational developers conceptualize the one thing that guides our work through the process of reflecting on the beliefs that we articulate through our educational development philosophy statements. Although each narrative illustrates our diverse backgrounds and philosophies, common themes are revealed relating to reflective practice, scholarly approaches, and facilitating change, which lead to improvements in student learning. This exploration suggests further opportunity to conduct research on …

The Relationship Between Teacher Perceptions Of Professional Learning Communities And Student Achievement, Elmer Thomas

Online Theses and Dissertations

A significant challenge facing public schools is the need to increase student achievement while having student gains enhanced through growth models. Teaching strategies/methods have evolved over the years from an "island" approach where the teacher was alone in his/her classroom and responsible for students progressing to a broader yet more specific approach to teacher professional development in order to enhance student learning.

Districts, schools, and individual teachers have long valued professional development and professional learning. These educational professional learning opportunities collectively give the district, school, and individual teachers a community at work in which a collective focus and commitment to …

Innovation In Teacher Preparation In A Co-Located Pk-8 And College Of Education, Alisa Bates, Stephanie Murphy, Julie Owens-Birch, Angela Vossenkuhl

CUP Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Intellectual And Physical Shared Workspace: Professional Learning Communities And The Collaborative Culture, Daniel Carpenter

CUP Faculty Research

Professional learning communities are one of the leading school reform movements. Schools have shifted to a collaborative culture where administrators and teachers physically and intellectually interact using a collaborative inquiry process for professional learning. The workspace interactions include shared leadership, decision-making, teaching and learning practice, and accountability measures. Attributes and characteristics of effective collaboration and professional learning communities greatly affect the outcomes of professional learning communities. An emergent framework is provided that includes attributes of effective collaboration and the characteristics of effective professional learning communities that merge into intellectual and physical shared workspace. Recommendations are provided on the role administrators …

Focused Video Reflections In Concert With Practice-Based Structures To Support Elementary Teacher Candidates In Learning To Teach Science, Julianne A. Wenner, Julie Kittleson

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Recommendations for science education, including elementary education, highlight instructional practices such as using discussion to promote deep understandings of science. A task facing science teacher educators is to craft instruction to support teacher candidates (TCs) to develop skills that will encourage such practices in classrooms. In 2011, we developed and implemented a class activity —the Supported, Collaborative Teaching Model (SCTM)—to focus TCs’ attention on key aspects of science teaching. The SCTM, which is designed around the idea that practical experience is critically important to teacher education, involves having TCs teach science to elementary students in three different grade levels three …

Nutr 250: Human Nutrition And Metabolism-A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Karsten Koehler

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The purpose of this portfolio was to purposefully introduce and evaluate activities that are aimed at improving student learning and performance in NUTR250 – Human Metabolism, a large lecture-based 200-level course. Activities were designed to improve class preparation and ascertain student learning beyond exams (objective 1), provide time to review class material (objective 2), balance material related to concepts and knowledge (objective 3), and assess the effectiveness of activities (objective 4). To address objective 1, students completed weekly prequizzes, which improved student reading and preparation prior to class in approximately 2 out of 3 students. On average, students spend 33±27 …

A Peer Review Of Teaching Benchmark Portfolio: Larc 497/597: Waste Ecologies, Catherine De Almeida

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This teaching portfolio presents a summary of my teaching efforts, course objectives, outcomes, and student learning for the first offering of the course LARC 497/597: Waste Ecologies. As a new professional elective course open to all upper level undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Spring 2018, participating in the Peer Review of Teaching program enabled me to develop the course through backwards design by matching course objectives with specific assignments and exercises that tracked student learning. Although this marked the first time teaching this course, it integrates my research trajectory of designing with waste. The Peer …

Exploring The Portrayals Of Modern First Ladies In Children's Picturebook Biographies, Kaitlin N. Elmore

Honors Undergraduate Theses

No study to date has been uncovered in regard to the presence of First Ladies in children's biographies. However, related prior studies, such as a study on the effect of gender in scientific children's biographies (Owens, 2009) have stated that the portrayal of women in children's biographies has evolved over time. Therefore, I wondered how First ladies were portrayed in children's books, specifically biographies, for elementary aged students. Therefore, this study examined a collection of picturebook biographies written for children about First Ladies in order to explore how First Ladies are portrayed. For the purpose of this study, I chose …

An Exploration Of Research And Resources Related To Aphasia: Creating A Resource Guide, Lexie Anne Velez Diaz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of educators is to aid their students as they develop as their own individuals. Only through education can individuals grow to become the best version of themselves, in and out of the classroom. It is crucial for educators to be aware of the many different learners in the world, so teachers are prepared for any exceptional student that enters their classroom. That is why it is so important to educate oneself on the many exceptionalities and circumstances students are facing. Encompassed within the 13 disabilities identified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 1975), are sub categories …

An Exploration Of Elementary Student Responses To The Interest Inventory For Informational Texts Based On The Teacher Disposition Delivery, Alison Elk

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The impact that a teacher can have on their students is monumental. Teachers often are the only consistent figure of authority that a student sees. Therefore, a vulnerable and conformable environment is crucial for students, so they can share their needs and in return have them met. With this in mind, teachers must consider forming their classroom environment, because of how it is received by the students. This study examined the impact that a teacher’s disposition can have on the response of a student through a six-question interview by analyzing the number of words spoken by the students depending on …

"We Considered Ourselves A Team:" A View Of Co-Teaching From The Perspectives Of Graduate Teaching Assistants And Students, Alyssa Harter

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Previous research has explored the influence of co-teaching models on student learning in the K-12 grade curriculum. However, little research explores the effects of co-teaching models implemented in higher education among graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). This study examines the benefits and drawbacks of co-teaching models in higher education classes for both GTAs and students. Surveys and interviews were used to collect data from 36 undergraduate students and three GTAs at a mid-sized Midwestern university. In addition to measures of cognitive and affective learning, content analysis of the surveys, interviews, and a reflexive journal were used to identity emerging themes pertaining …

Exhibit Curriculum For El Músico Y El Pintor/The Musician And The Painter: Lesson Outline (2 Of 2), Sarah Aponte, Dania Diaz

Open Educational Resources

With the use of primary source materials from the Dominican Archives collection housed at the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, students at the middle and high school level will learn about two Dominican artists who made an enormous contribution to the world of music and art in the early twentieth century.

Exhibit Curriculum For El Músico Y El Pintor/The Musician And The Painter: Lesson Overview, Sarah Aponte, Dania Diaz

Open Educational Resources

The exhibit El Músico y el Pintor/ The Musician and the Painter: An Exhibit Documenting the Lifetime, Work, and Artistic Trajectory of Two Early Twentieth Century Dominican Artists in New York consists of documents, photographs, musical scores, and paintings from the Dominican Archives collections that highlight the careers of musician Rafael Petitón Guzmán (1894-1983) and painter Tito Enrique Cánepa (1916-2014). Both were enormously influential in their chosen professions, contributing to the development of new hybrid artistic forms that combine traditional and modern elements and incorporate styles from different cultures. Cánepa used his art to express political themes, chiefly his opposition …

Captain Thomas Jones Gregory, Guerrilla Hunter, Dieter C. Ullrich, Berry Craig

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

No abstract provided.

Dimensions Of Work Engagement And Teacher Burnout: A Study Of Relations Among Iranian Efl Teachers, Arefe Amini Faskhodi, Masood Siyyari

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Among different teacher-related variables burnout can have irrevocable effects on the whole educational system. Due to the importance of considering all positive and negative related variables, and also lack of attention to positive criteria in the area of work-related factors, this study is the first attempt in Iran in the field to include engagement as a positive factor involved. The purpose of the present study is to investigate any possible relationship between work engagement and teachers’ sense of burnout, as well as associations between work engagement, burnout, and teachers’ years of experience. The correlational analyses indicate a significant and negative …

An Investigation Of Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs About The Certainty Of Teaching Knowledge, Leila E. Ferguson, Jo Lunn Brownlee

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Beliefs about the certainty of teaching knowledge may influence how preservice teachers engage with and learn from knowledge sources in teacher education, and their subsequent practice. In light of inconsistencies in prior findings that mainly employ epistemic questionnaires, we extended research focusing on a contextual analysis. Sixty-six elementary and lower-secondary preservice teachers in Norway responded to the Beliefs about the Certainty of Teaching Knowledge (BECK) scale in the first and second year of study, respectively. Participants believed knowledge about teaching and learning was more tentative and evolving at T2 than at T1 (t (65) = 2.0, p = .049, Cohen’s …

Making Headway: Developing Principals’ Leadership Skills Through Innovative Postgraduate Programs, Susan Simon, Michael Christie, Deborah Heck, Wayne Graham, Kairen Call

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Effective school leadership preparation has been regarded as desirable if not mandatory in Australia and globally for decades. Schools and school systems, higher education institutions and education jurisdictions have attempted with varying degrees of success to encourage teachers aspiring to become principals to prepare well for the complex role ahead. Research involving postgraduate education students identified that peer support, collaboration and collegial professional learning contributed towards self-development, strengthening the required Personal qualities, social and interpersonal skills of contemporary school leaders.

Issues Arising From The Use Of University Ilectures: A Case Study Of One Australian Campus, Toni J. Dobinson, Tatiana Bogachenko

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Australian universities have moved towards greater reliance on technology as a learning tool. The use of podcasts or recorded lectures (sometimes called ilectures) is now common practice in both on-campus and online modes. Using a qualitative approach to data collection which included recorded interviews, an online survey of open-ended questions and the researcher’s own reflections on using ilectures, this study investigated 1) the impact of ilectures on the teaching and learning practices of both academics and students 2) student attendance in recorded lectures and 3) the responses of lecturers and students to being recorded. Findings highlighted a mix of reactions …

Teacher Knowledge And Learning In-Situ: A Case Study Of The Long Division Algorithm, Shikha Takker, K. Subramaniam

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of the study reported in this paper was to explore and enhance experienced school mathematics teachers’ knowledge of students’ thinking, as it is manifested in practice. Data were collected from records of classroom observations, interviews with participating teachers, and weekly teacher-researcher meetings organized in the school. In this paper, we discuss the mathematical challenges faced by a primary school teacher as she attempts to unpack the structure of the division algorithm, while teaching in a Grade 4 classroom. Through this case study, we exemplify how a focus on mathematical knowledge for teaching ‘in situ’ helped in triggering a …

Student And Staff Perceptions Of A Learning Management System For Blended Learning In Teacher Education, Kathryn A. Holmes, Elena Prieto-Rodriguez

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Higher education institutions routinely use Learning Management Systems (LMS) for multiple purposes; to organise coursework and assessment, to facilitate staff and student interactions, and to act as repositories of learning objects. The analysis reported here involves staff (n=46) and student (n=470) responses to surveys as well as data collected in interviews and focus groups. The research focuses on participants’ perceptions of two broad affordances of the LMS: accessibility and interactivity. Differences were found between student and staff views in relation to accessibility of online materials, with students rating its contribution to their learning more highly than staff. However, the two …

Getting The Most From Google Classroom: A Pedagogical Framework For Tertiary Educators, Keith R. Heggart, Joanne Yoo

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Many tertiary institutions have embraced digital learning through the use of online learning platforms and social networks. However, the research about the efficacy of such platforms is confused, as is the field itself, in part because of the rapidly evolving technology, and also because of a lack of clarity about what constitutes a learning platform. In this study, two early career academics and instructors examined the effectiveness of using Google Classroom for final year primary teacher education students to encourage student voice and agency, and to consider how the platform might influence future pedagogies at the tertiary level. The data …

Freedom And Constraint In Teacher Education: Reflections On Experiences Over Time, Amanda Mcgraw

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher education programs in Australia increasingly comply with new and narrowing accountabilities so that they can be approved by diverse regulatory authorities and accredited. This is an auto-biographical narrative study which draws upon the memories of a teacher educator who contrasts her experience of learning to teach in the early 1980s with her recent experience as a Program Leader working with colleagues to design a new Master of Teaching program. She interviews Professor Bernie Neville who was responsible for the design and implementation of the teacher education program she completed in 1983. He reflects on the principles guiding his practice …

Exploring Teachers’ Assessment Literacy: Impact On Learners’ Writing Achievements And Implications For Teacher Development, Morteza Mellati, Marzieh Khademi

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher-mediated classroom assessment might have significant impacts on learners’ academic achievements and teachers’ development. The current study investigated teachers’ assessment literacy and its impact on their current assessment practices and learners’ writing outcomes. The study sought to gain an understanding of the extent to which teachers’ assessment literacy affects their practices and their learners’ outcomes. To conduct the study and gather the required data, the researchers employed teachers’ assessment literacy inventory, semi-structured interview, non-participatory observation, and Writing Competence Rating Scale (WCRS). Ten male EFL instructors and 75 male sophomores from Iranian EFL contexts were selected from four language schools in …

Trainee Teachers’ Learning About Collective Worship In Primary Schools, Imran Mogra

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article gives an account of a qualitative research project which investigated acts of collective worship (hereafter CW) in primary schools through non-participant observations undertaken by second year trainee teachers during one of their placements. The data were gathered from a range of schools across the West Midlands. The findings illustrate structural elements which show a lack of uniformity in terms of the venue and time. Religious leaders, classroom assistants and staff at all levels of responsibility deliver assemblies and CW. The focus of the content is diverse and includes religious and ‘secular’ material and events. Trainees learnt about the …