Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Reflection Types And Students’ Viewing Of Feedback In A First-Year Engineering Course Using Standards-Based Grading, Heidi A. Diefes-Dux, Laura M. Cruz Castro

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background: Feedback is one of the most powerful and essential tools for learning and assessment, particularly when it provides the information necessary to close an existing gap between actual and reference levels of performance. The literature on feedback has primarily focused on addressing strategies for providing effective feedback rather than aspects of students’ readiness to engage with feedback. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study investigated whether reflection, as a routine pedagogical intervention grounded in self-regulated learning theory, promotes the frequency with which students view feedback. Design/Method: A quasi-experimental design was employed to examine the relationship between the use of four different reflection types, …

Wicked²: The Increasing Wickedness Of Educational Developers As Dei Cultural Influencers, Lauri Dietz, China M. Jenkins, Laura Cruz, Amber Handy, Rita Kumar, Rita Kumar, Julia Metzger, Ian Norris

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The global pandemic that began in 2020 amplified the chasm between higher education’s stated goals to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and the systemic realities that many students, instructors, and staff grapple with on a daily basis. We contend that attenuating the barriers to DEI outcomes means first acknowledging that DEI is a wicked problem, in that it is impossible to solve because of competing, conflicting, and complex sociocultural forces from within and outside our institutions. We also contend that educational developers (EDs) are particularly well situated within the higher education ecology to be key cultural influencers in how …

Caring For Our Communities Of Practice In Educational Development, Christopher V. H.-H. Chen, Katherine Kearns, Lynn Eaton, Darren S. Hoffmann, Denise Leonard, Martin Samuels

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Given the backdrop of multiple concurring crises—a global pandemic, political instability and violence, and multiple structural inequalities—we see the problem of now as this: How do educational developers continue to address the wicked problems in teaching and learning when we are simply so exhausted? Our article presents the importance of communities of practice for educational developers, inviting us to witness and name the communities in which we belong; the important functions they engage; who they nurture and how; and what care is undertaken to sustain these groups and ourselves. To help educational developers understand and appreciate the ways that communities …

Contexts For Agency: A Framework For Managing Educational Development Work, Kathleen Landy, Anna L. Bostwick Flaming, Suzanne Tapp, Eric C. Kaldor

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Often working in multiple roles and operating at multiple scales, educational developers deal with layered tensions and a complex context that can be difficult for an individual or team to reconcile. In May 2020, the authors participated in a cross-institutional scholarly project, the Pandemic Educational Development Research Collaborative (PEDRC), designed to explore the impact of multiple crises (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic and our collective civil and political unrest) and associated large-scale instructional changes on educational developers and their work. The Contexts for Agency framework reflects the project’s emergent theme that the circumstances in which we act have considerable influence on …

Building Resilience In Ctls: Reflections On Practice, Lisa J. Hatfield, Julie Maxson, Jennifer Marshall Shinaberger, Hanna E. Norton, Cynthia (Cia) H. Demartino, Annette Finley-Crosswhite, Gigi Gokcek

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

What are the qualities of the “now” that make teaching and learning an urgent, if not a moral, imperative? A group of faculty, administrators, and educational developers respond to this question with individual narratives bound together by a common theme of reflective practice in times of crises to help faculty become more resilient in preparing for ongoing upheavals and unexpected crises while pursuing more inclusive communities. Our personal narratives reflect on the subjects of flexibility in the face of crises, technology and ethics, study abroad exposure to ethical challenges, students’ growing anxiety and mental health, modeling metacognition with peers and …

Taking Teaching And Learning Seriously: Approaching Wicked Consciousness Through Collaboration And Partnership, Adam H. Smith, Laurie L. Grupp, Lindsay Doukopoulos, John C. Foo, Barbara J. Rodriguez, Janel Seeley, Linda M. Boland, Laurel L. Hester

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has demanded large-scale collaboration within all organizations, including higher education, and taking teaching and learning seriously, in this moment, means leveraging partnerships to address the wicked (large, complex) problems cited by Bass (2020). These problems are not ours alone to solve; rather, we make the case for a “wicked consciousness,” an amalgam of perspectives, in educational development. Guided by intellectual humility, our success as educational developers ought to be measured by the quality of our collaborations as well as our ability to learn with others, form equitable partnerships, and lead others by our example.

Toward Institutionalizing Successful Innovations In The Academy, Sarah B. Wise, Courtney Ngai, Joel Christopher Corbo, Mark A. Gammon, Jaclyn K. Rivard, Clara E. Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Due to the “wicked problem” of the Academy’s resistance to innovation, new teaching and learning programs struggle to become integrated into the fabric of the Academy, which slows the uptake of evidence-based practices. This wicked problem is rooted in the lack of slow, intentional mechanisms for cultural change in the Academy. In this article, we analyze the institutionalization journey of the Departmental Action Team (DAT) project, which is a model for slow, intentional change. Over the last four years, partnering with two campus centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) allowed the DAT project to make institutionalization progress.

This analysis is …

Analyzing The Impact Different Teaching Strategies On Student Learning Outcomes For The Online Graduate Class Soil Chemistry & Mineralogy (Agro/Nres/Soil 455/855), Michael Kaiser Phd

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this portfolio teaching materials, activities, and assessments applied in a Soil Chemistry & Mineralogy” online graduate class are analyzed towards their suitability to achieve learning objectives and class goals. For this, data from class surveys, a decision matrix, and individual student feedback are the main sources of information. The survey revealed that the learning objectives are successfully addressed. Lecture videos, quizzes, exams, scientific paper reading assignments, and a review paper assignment were evaluated to be suitable in achieving these objectives. The developed matrix and individual student feedback suggest that the overall student learning satisfaction would benefit from more activities …

Nefdc Exhange, Volume 36, Spring 2022, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

President's Message, Annie Soisson

A faculty learning community on assessment and equity

Swimming with students: Organizing effective fishbowl discussions

Designers and deliverers: Undergraduates co-creating a flipped and blended college course

Subverting the dominant paradigm: Holistically fostering transformative learning

Additive assessment

Quick tips for teaching and faculty development

Faculty helping faculty: Ten minute takeaway

NEFDC Board members

An In-Depth Review Of Alec 480: Senior Capstone In Agricultural & Environmental Sciences Communication (Aesc), Laura E. Young

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio reviews ALEC 480, the undergraduate senior capstone course for Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Communication (AESC) majors in the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication (ALEC). The goal of ALEC 480 is to provide a culminating experience for AESC majors that incorporates all learning outcomes for the AESC program. During this course, students investigate topics identified by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) as critical to the state of Nebraska. Once identified, students then conduct interviews with researchers and Nebraska Extension educators and write, edit, design, and assist in the production of print and multimedia versions …

Comparing Outcomes For In-Person And Online Instruction For Jomc 130: Introduction To Design Thinking, Katie Krcmarik

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The portfolio analyzes two sections of the JOMC 130: Introduction to Design Thinking course that serves as the first course in a five course sequence about Communication Design in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The portfolio explores the student outcomes from the course in general as well as compares the student success between in-person and online delivery for the course during the Fall 2021 semester. The course focuses on three main topics—technology, design thinking or problem solving, and storytelling. These three topics are foundational to all majors in the college. The course is …

Course Portfolio — Hrtm 489: Advanced Event Operations, Kristin Malek

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

No abstract provided.

First Portfolio: Introduction To Psychology (Psych 181), Chelsea A. Witt

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio analyzed student learning in Introduction to Psychology, Psych 181 at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. This course is often taken by first year students of various backgrounds and majors; this course is a pre-requisite for many other psychology courses. In general, the course covers basic psychological concepts in the realm of biopsychology, developmental psychology, social and personality psychology, cognitive psychology, and clinical psychology. Student enrollment for this section is capped at 200. This portfolio outlines my course goal, objectives, and assessments of those goals. There is also a reflection throughout regarding how well students feel supported and …

Benchmark Portfolio For Asci 451/851: Livestock On Range And Pasture, Fall 2021, Kacie L. Mccarthy

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The aim of this portfolio is twofold: first, the portfolio serves to provide a means for the author to reflect on and improve their approach to teaching an ACE 10 course. The Livestock on Range and Pasture course (ASCI 451/851) serves seniors and graduate students with a major and/or minor in Animal Science, Grazing Livestock Systems, Agronomy and Horticulture, or Range. Since taking over the course, the last two semesters have included students primarily from Animal Science or Agribusiness with a major or minor in Grazing Livestock Systems, respectively. This Peer Review of Teaching project evaluated student feedback from the …

Investigating Student Learning And Assessment Through Group Projects In Cyaf 382: Working With Parents, Patty Kuo

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This course portfolio for CYAF 382: Working with Parents systematically documents its course structure, assessments, and grading. The documentation and reflection process occurred across two consecutive semesters of teaching this course. I analyzed student class performance as a function of peer evaluations and attendance. Students who had fewer unexcused absences had higher exam scores and overall course grades. Interestingly, group project grades were higher when group members had greater variance among individual effort ratings – reflecting an imbalance of group effort. I conclude the portfolio with my reflections derived from both the portfolio process and student evaluations.

Hrha 440: Human Rights, Conflict, And Community Changemaking: A Faculty-Led Inquiry Into Reflective And Scholarly Teaching Benchmark Portfolio, Julia Reilly

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio examines the extent to which HRHA 440: Human Rights, Conflict, and Community changing equipped students with the agency and confidence they need to be human rights changemakers. The purpose of this portfolio was to structure a re-design of the course towards a more collaborative, flipped classroom approach, and then to assess the extent to which this course re-design promoted achievement of the course learning outcomes. To assess achievement of the learning outcomes in the redesigned course, comparison of the results pre and post survey of the Spring 2022 cohort of students was used. Then, to assess the effects …

Course Portfolio For Cive 361 – Highway Engineering, Libby Jones

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

CIVE 361-Highway Engineering is a required course for all civil engineering majors at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The course is an introduction to transportation engineering covering vehicle and driver characteristics, geometric design, traffic operations, and transportation planning. The contents of this published course portfolio are for the Spring 2022 semester offering of CIVE 361. This course is used for formative assessment of ABET student outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 7. The alignment of the assessments used in the course and the ABET SOs were examined. Open educational resources (OERs) have been developed for this course. Data collected in 2020 was …

Course Development: Advanced Audio Content Creation, Kaci Ritcher

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The goal of this portfolio is to develop BRDC 391 Special Topics: Advanced Audio Content Creation into a permanent course that serves as an extension of BRDC 227 and supports advanced learning in audio production. The College of Journalism and Mass Communications has expressed a need for an advanced audio offering as interest in audio production has surged with the popularity of podcasting and audiobook production. The course centers around concept creation, hardware and software use, writing, vocal performance, and editing to create professional-level audio productions. This portfolio documents the development of Advanced Audio Content Creation and the student learning …

Fdst 132- Practical Applications In Food Science — A Peer Review Of Teaching Project: Benchmark Portfolio, Rossana Villa-Rojas

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The aim of this course portfolio was to assess improvement of students’ literature research skills and scientific writing after embedding communication lectures, activities and assignments in FDST 132 Practical Applications in Food Science. This is a terminal laboratory course for first year Food Science majors with basic science knowledge. The goal of the course is to allow students to put in practice some basic food science principles and work with their cohort. This portfolio outlines the changes made to this course, the rationale for embedding lectures and assessments in scientific communication. The specific skills and topics I aimed to teach …

Building Collaborative Research Teams, Molly Throgmorton

Research and Innovation Events

This video goes over how to find funding opportunities that encourage collaboration, how to put together a team of collaborators using your current network and how to foster collaboration throughout your entire project. It also covers a few examples of successful collaborative teams on campus.

Sponsored by the Division of Research and Innovation.

Supervision Utilizing Expressive Art Activities: A Road To Group Cohesion And Professional Learning, Mi-Hee Jeon, Charles E. Myers

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

This paper shares research outcomes in which Master’s practicum students participated in supervision utilizing art activities. To explore in-depth experiences of the participants and make sense of their perceptions on art activity-based supervision, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was chosen as analysis for this study. Semi-structured interviews with the participants were performed and collected as data. As results, two constructs—facilitating group cohesion and professional learning—and five themes corresponding to each construct were identified. In discussion, the power of visualization through art activities, the opportunity to reflect through expressive arts and its influences, and group cohesion facilitated by supervision using art tasks …

Critical-Thinking Experiences Of Chinese And U.S. College Students: A Comparative Analysis Using Phenomenology, Lu (Wendy) Yan

The Qualitative Report

In this study, I investigated the critical-thinking experiences of seven Chinese international and five U.S. students attending a large public university in the United States. I conducted a comparative analysis of these groups’ different experiences with critical thinking in this context, while closely following the twin methods of epoché and reduction in phenomenology to remain attuned to any personal biases. My results indicated that Chinese and U.S. students experienced critical thinking differently on the basis of the four universal existentials noted by van Manen (2016): lived experiences of relation (self–other), materiality (things), time, and space/place. Specifically, the Chinese students tended …

The Status Of Counselling Services For Students With Visual Impairments In Tanzanian Universities, Batista Francis Mgumba

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This article assesses the extent to which counselling services address the special needs of students with visual impairments in Tanzanian universities. The objectives are to: (i) analyse supportive counselling services available for handling social-psychological and educational problems facing students with visual impairments; and (ii) assess the extent to which the available counselling services are capable of addressing social-psychological and educational needs of students with visual impairments. To a great extent, the study was informed by the solution-focused therapy; the cognitive-behavioural therapy; and by the sensory integration therapy. The research employed a multiple case study design with a qualitative approach. Three …

Feedback Preferences Of University Student-Teachers From Supervisors And Their Rationale In Teaching Practicum, Innocent B. Rugambuka, Josta L. Nzilano

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

This study examines the feedback preferences of university student-teachers (STs) from supervisors and the rationale for the preferences during teaching practicum (TP). It involved second-year STs (N = 109) of a government-owned university in Tanzania. The study sought to achieve two objectives: (i) explore the type of feedback preferred by STs from their supervisors during TP; and (ii) elicit the reasons for the feedback preferences during TP. Interviews and focused group discussions were used for data collection. The findings indicated that STs mostly prefer written (59%) over oral (38%) and blended (3%) types of feedback. However, the rationale for the …

Building Community In An Asynchronous Write-To-Learn Course, Mary K. Tedrow

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This study examines one online asynchronous course, Writing in Literature, devised by the researcher to determine the potential for building a student-centered course functioning as a learning community in spite of the limitations of the lack of shared space or time. The course was examined via student surveys that qualified experiences within the course as well as a review and coding of end-of-course student reflections. The survey and reflective commentary indicate that it is possible for an asynchronous course to effectively build a vibrant learning community. The learner to learner, learner to instructor, and learner to content framework recommended …

Sjsu Erfa Board Minutes, March 7, 2022, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

SJSU ERFA Minutes

SJSU ERFA Executive Board Minutes

March 7, 2022

Introduction To Grant Proposal Budgets, Molly Throgmorton

Research and Innovation Events

This video goes over the primary steps of building a proposal budget, including understanding the funder's requirements, identifying the project's expenses, drafting the budget justification and incorporating the budget into the overall proposal.

Sponsored by the Division of Research and Innovation.

Special Education Teacher Burnout: Examining The Role Of Educator Preparation Programs In Prevention, Brittany L. Straub

Dissertations

Teacher burnout is increasingly problematic, especially for special education teachers who have a unique set of job responsibilities. Survey and interview data was used in this phenomenological study to examine how the educator preparation program (EPP) experience and self-authorship journey of early career special education teachers impact their potential to experience burnout. Data findings regarding level of self-perceived burnout, recollections of being or not being taught stress management and coping strategies in their EPPs, recollections of the self-authorship journey, and intentions for remaining in the career are shared in this dissertation. The essence of this phenomenon can be summed up …

A Review Of Formative Assessment Techniques In Higher Education During Covid-19, Daniel Asamoah, Masitah Shahrill, Siti Norhedayah Abdul Latif

The Qualitative Report

To meaningfully determine how well students have achieved learning targets, instructors must adopt specific formative assessment techniques. During the COVID-19 pandemic, existing studies have discovered the techniques instructors in higher education use in their formative assessment practices. However, there has not been any consensus on the prevalent formative assessment techniques used. In this study, we examined empirical documents to determine to what extent formative assessment has supported formal or informal techniques, or both. A total of 15 samples of published documents on the formative assessment techniques used by instructors in higher education were purposively selected and subjected to summative content …

Sjsu Erfa Board Minutes, February 7, 2022, San Jose State University, Emeritus And Retired Faculty Association

SJSU ERFA Minutes

SJSU ERFA Executive Board Minutes

February 7, 2022