Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

An Exploration Of Fairness In The Assessment And Process Of Student Group Work, Rita Gibson, Emma Geoghegan, Oscar Macananey, Andrew Hines, Lorraine D'Arcy

Practitioner Research Projects

This project was driven by a motivation to be as fair as possible in the assessment of students' group work. Achieving fairness in assessment is a recurrent them in group project assessment literature (Nordberg, 2009). All authors of this report teach modules with group projects, and acknowledged that discrepancies often exist between a mark assigned to a group and an individual's contribution. Our aims were to (a) collectively enhance our understanding of the issues that need to be considered when assessing a group work project and (b) collectively build our confidence in approaches chosen to overcome these challenges. The findings …

Gamification To Improve First Year Engagement, John Colleran, Aoife Lloyd Mckernan, Julie Ann Naughton, Brian Vaughan

Practitioner Research Projects

The purpose of this project was to examine the role of Gamification in increasing first year student engagement within the third level educational setting. A literature review was carried out in order to explore the teaching philosophy behind gamification in education and review the quantitative and qualitative evidence regarding its use. Gamification can be broadly described as the application of gaming methods and elements in non-gaming contexts in order to improve user engagement and user experience (Deterding et al., 2011). Qualitative analysis suggests these factors result in beneficial emotional and social impacts on students, particularly in the area of increasing …

A New Logic Model For Change, Zsa-Zsa Lashawn-Marie Booker

Wayne State University Dissertations

Logic models are defined as visual diagrams that help to explain the theory of change for a program. Over the years the logic model has become a common tool for educational programs who seek to apply for and obtain grant funding. However, the limitations of the logic model make it ineffective at managing evaluations. This study is a retrospective cohort design. The three main goals of this study are to (1) research logic model limitations and adapt a revised logic model that could effectively evaluate an educational program, (2) test both the original and revised logic models on an educational …

Multiple Problem-Solving Strategies Provide Insight Into Students’ Understanding Of Open-Ended Linear Programming Problems, Marla A. Sole

Publications and Research

Open-ended questions that can be solved using different strategies help students learn and integrate content, and provide teachers with greater insights into students’ unique capabilities and levels of understanding. This article provides a problem that was modified to allow for multiple approaches. Students tended to employ high-powered, complex, familiar solution strategies rather than simpler, more intuitive strategies, which suggests that students might need more experience working with informal solution methods. During the semester, by incorporating open-ended questions, I gained valuable feedback, was able to better model real-world problems, challenge students with different abilities, and strengthen students’ problem solving skills.

Effect Of Expert Modeling On Ill-Structured Problem Solving In An Undergraduate General Education Honors Course, Minakshi Lahiri

Wayne State University Dissertations

Abstract

Effect of Expert Modeling on Ill-Structured Problem Solving in an Undergraduate General Education

Honors Course

by

Minakshi Lahiri

May 2016

Advisor: Dr. Ke Zhang

Major: Instructional Technology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation research was based on David H. Jonassen’s recommendation that not all problems are the same and different types of problems require different approaches of instruction and scaffolding (Jonassen & Hung, 2008). Jonassen (2011) provided a set of recommended components (problem types, case components, cognitive supports) for designing effective Problem Based Learning Environments (PBLEs).

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of using expert …

Impression Management Strategies Of College Professors With Disabilities, Chelsie Gaspar

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This qualitative study examined how college instructors with disabilities utilize impression management strategies in order to enhance their ability to teach more effectively in the classroom. Eight instructors from mid-size universities and community colleges across the United States were interviewed. A thematic analysis approach was used to identify emergent themes pertaining to the ways in which college instructors with disabilities use impression management in the classroom. Results showed that instructors in this study use a wide variety of impression management strategies in order to influence how they are perceived in the classroom and to improve their teaching effectiveness. These strategies …

Improv(Ing) The Academy: Applied Improvisation As A Strategy For Educational Development, Jonathan P. Rossing, Krista Hoffmann Longtin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Improvisational theater training (or “improv”) is a strategy employed by many business leaders and educators to cultivate creativity and collaboration amid change. Drawing on improv principles such as “Yes, And…” and “Make your scene partners look good,” we explore the ways in which educational developers might apply principles of improv in 3 contexts: teaching and building classroom community, organizational development, and research collaboration. Faculty developers who successfully engage the principles of improv have the potential to help colleges and universities respond more effectively to complex problems and to manage the uncertainty of the future. By highlighting successful applications of improvisation …

Making An Impact: Transforming Academic Courses Through Student-Centered Teaching, Clarence Maybee

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Describing how the Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation (IMPACT) program supports multiple educational initiatives, including informed learning, this keynote presentation was given on April 21, 2016 as part of the Visiting Scholar Lecture Series hosted by the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

The Challenges Of Promoting Instructional Improvement: Teaching Behaviors And Teaching Cultures At Liberal Arts Institutions In The Associated Colleges Of The South, Kent Andersen, Barbara Lom, Betsy A. Sandlin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

One goal of faculty development is to improve instructional practice (McKee, Johnson, Ritchie, and Tew, 2013; Ouellett 2010; Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy, and Beach, 2006). This goal accords with the design of the Associated Colleges of the South Teaching and Learning Workshop, a faculty development workshop begun in 1992 for 16 residential, liberal arts institutions that comprise the ACS consortium. We surveyed ACS faculty members and observed that they are most likely to engage independently rather than collaboratively to improve their instructional practice, despite stated desires for collaborative opportunities for such work. We recommend that faculty development programs and institutions promote …

Designing An Evaluation Of Instructional Consultation In A Higher Education Context, Karen Elizabeth Brinkley Etzkorn, David Schumann, Beth White, Tiffany Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Individual instructor consultation is a common service provided by centers focused on educational development in higher education. The importance of this service has been reflected in its history, increasing demand, and strong anecdotal evidence to its effectiveness. However, the extant literature reveals that comprehensive assessment of consultation effectiveness has proved challenging. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to (a) provide an overview of consultation and summarize the relevant work evaluating this service, and (b) propose a comprehensive process for evaluating consultation services that was piloted at one large research intense university. The goal is to provide a systematic method …

Beyond Survival: Educational Development And The Maturing Of The Pod Network, Leslie Ortquist Ahrens

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Scholarship about the growth of educational development has charted major shifts in developers’ focuses and roles through time and, especially in recent years, has explored the professionalization of the field around the globe. This essay uses a lifecycle analogy to consider the development of one organization, the POD Network (The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education). After a brief and heady “start up phase,” and a long organizational “adolescence,” characterized by growth and by increasing formalization of processes, governance, and strategy, the POD Network is on the brink of entering a phase of greater maturity.

Good, Fast, Cheap: How Centers Of Teaching And Learning Can Capitalize In Today’S Resource Constrained Context, Michael H. Truong, Stephanie Juillerat, Deborah H. C. Gin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article provides leaders and educational developers of Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL) with innovative and practical strategies on how to increase their centers’ capacity and impact by focusing on quality, efficiency, and cost. This “good, fast, cheap” model represents a promising way that CTL can continue to grow, scale, and innovate in the midst of limited resources. By leveraging existing campus resources, external vendor products, and low cost technologies, CTL are able to remain effective and impactful, without compromising quality or requiring abundant resources. This article will include real use case examples from a CTL at a mid …

Receive, Reorganize, Return: Theatre As Creative Scholarship, Sara Armstrong, Theresa Braunschneider

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article focuses on the use of theatre as a mode of creative scholarship, from the research involved in sketch creation to the presentation of that research to academic audiences. We particularly focus on a specific sketch developed by the CRLT Players—one that explores the consequences of subtle discrimination faced by women scientists in research laboratory settings— to illustrate the ways in which theatre can engage audiences with research results. The article explains how participation in such performances promotes a more active exploration of scholarship than simply reading or hearing a presentation. Interactive theatre directs and focuses an audience’s attention …

The Scholarship Of Educational Development: A Taxonomy, Laura Cruz

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This is a visual representation and commentary on a taxonomy for the emerging scholarship ofeducational development.

The Use Of Song To Open An Educational Development Workshop: Exploratory Analysis And Reflections, Lawrence Lesser, Song An, Daniel Tillman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Song has been used by faculty of many disciplines in their classrooms and, to a lesser extent, by educational developers in workshops. This paper shares and discusses a new song (about an instructor’s evolving openness to alternatives to lecture only teaching) and its novel use to open an educational development workshop. Self reported participant data from an exploratory survey suggest that the song was most effective in reducing stress as well as in increasing motivation, morale, engagement, and connection. Practical implications and implementation considerations are discussed regarding the song as well as related creative work.

Subjectivities In The Sandbox: Discovering Biases Through Visual Memo Writing, Bethany Lisi

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Having insider status at an organization under study can present a researcher with benefits and challenges. Insider researchers may have access to honest dialogue with study participants but may also be vulnerable to uncomfortable conversations and organizational conflicts. Insider researchers also have to contend with their own biases they bring to a study. By using the reflexive practice of memo writing, insider researchers can be mindful of their own subjectivities during data collection and analysis. The purpose of this article is to share one approach to memo writing that incorporates visuals into the analysis and reflection. Through my use of …

High Retention Of Minority And International Faculty Through A Formal Mentoring Program, Susan L. Phillips, Susan T. Dennison, Mark A. Davenport

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In these economic times, retention of new faculty, particularly minority and international faculty, is a high priority. In this study, retention of new faculty from 2006 to 2013 was compared for participants and nonparticipants in a formal mentoring program. Retention was 92% for participating faculty and 58% for nonparticipating new faculty. For African American faculty, retention was 86% for participating and 56% for nonparticipating. Participating international faculty were retained at 100% and nonparticipating at 61%. The results indicate that mentoring programs including both individual and group mentoring provide a supportive community and self validation to new faculty, leading to high …

Connect, Change, And Conserve: Building A Virtual Center For Teaching Excellence, Anne M. Schoening, Sarah Oliver

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In an era of limited fiscal and human resources, educational developers are seeking innovative ways to connect with their constituents. Developing a “virtual” center for teaching and learning (CTL) is one approach to consolidating development resources and reaching busy full time and adjunct faculty. This article will describe the process used to create and sustain a Virtual Center for Teaching Excellence (vCTE) at a diverse, mid sized university campus. This process required connection between departmental faculty developers and stakeholders, change of the campus mindset, and conservation of resources through shared efforts. Challenges faced and recommendations to overcome those challenges will …

Toward A New Creative Scholarship Of Educational Development: The Teaching And Learning Project And An Opening To Discourse, Martin Springborg, Cassandra V. Horii

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This invited essay of To Improve the Academy’s special feature on Creative Scholarship presents one example of creative scholarship in educational development as a forward to other forms and approaches in the special feature. This example, the Teaching and Learning Project, merges documentary and art photography traditions with faculty consultation. Following a review of the literatures of visual interpretation and instructional consultation, along with their intersection, the essay presents the Teaching and Learning Project in three ways: (a) as images, analyzed using the disciplinary grounding of the visual arts; (b) as a consultation methodology and an educational development practice; and …

Don’T Box Me In: Rubrics For Ártists And Designers, Natasha Haugnes, Jennifer L. Russell

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Two faculty developers at a professional art and design university were met with uneasy faculty attitudes toward grading when they opened their CTL 13 years ago. Conversations revealed that the faculty artists and designers suspected that grading would somehow shatter the fragile muse of creativity, which is so central to the processes of producing art and design. The developers’ quest for transparent, consistent grading, and assessment practices resulted in an approach to rubric creation that taps into artists’ reverence for the critique. This narrative account reveals how the approach allowed an interactive introduction of rubrics as teaching tools, ensured their …

Making Your Traditional Text Work: Input, Scaffolding And Communication, Andrew J. Demil

The Coastal Review

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) studies provide evidence that comprehension activities that involve meaningful language production and communication promote language acquisition more effectively than mechanical drills. Recent studies review the state of foreign language textbooks and demonstrate that the majority of foreign language textbooks do not follow SLA research. This article provides ways that a second language instructor can use a traditional text to help lead to meaningful language instruction.

Psyc 287: Psychology Of Personality—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Maital Neta

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In this portfolio, I am assessing student learning in a mid-level Psychology course, Psyc 287: Psychology of Personality. The course introduces students to the major theories of personality, and covers a wide array of topics intended to provide a broad overview of issues in the field. The course attracts a somewhat representative sample of UNL students, including non-majors, and therefore most are from Nebraska. The course is not a prerequisite to any other courses, but it could be a useful foundation course for students pursuing a career in psychology research, and it could also help people to consider issues related …

Anth 474/874: Applied And Development Anthropology—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Wayne A. Babchuk

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

In what follows, I provide an overview of the Benchmark Portfolio developed for the upper level undergraduate/graduate course ANTH 474/874: Applied and Development Anthropology taught in the Spring Semester, 2016 through the Department of Anthropology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Topics include the objectives for the portfolio, description of the course including course goals, enrollment and demographic information, teaching methods, rationale, course materials and activities, analysis of student learning, planned changes based on this experience, and an overall assessment of the portfolio process. As an Assistant Professor of Practice in the Department of Educational Psychology and the Department of Anthropology, …

Nres/Metr/Bsen 479/879: Hydroclimatology—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Rising temperatures and extreme hydrometeorological and climate events are evidences of a changing climate. An increasing population together with their demands for food, energy and water make changes in climate evidence the need to train a new generation of multidisciplinary professionals with a clear understanding of the effects of a changing climate in their activities. Historically, climate sciences were used for scientific and weather operational contexts and engineers applied stationary assumptions for multi-term planning. My goal is to identify elements built from classroom experiences about (a) the suitability of a hydroclimatology course for engineers and scientists; (b) the multidisciplinary skills; …

Civil War Diary Of Private Hawley V. Needham, 134th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, June 10 To October 2, 1864, Dieter C. Ullrich

Faculty Research at Morehead State University

On April 27, 1864, Hawley Varnum Needham left his family farm at Loda, Illinois and traveled to nearby Onarga to enlist in the Union Army. He promised his father he would return before the fall harvest. His adventures in the army would take him to the Jackson Purchase of Kentucky where he was stationed at the Federal bastion at Columbus and at military posts in Paducah and Mayfield. He captured his daily experiences throughout the turbulent spring and summer of 1864 in his diary.

Zines In The Classroom: Critical Librarianship And Participatory Collections, Robin Potter, Alycia Sellie

Publications and Research

This lesson plan outlines using zines in a library classroom with a critical pedagogy approach. It was written based upon the teaching each author did with the Brooklyn College Library Zine Collection.

Developing University Students’ Argumentative Discourse: An Ill-Structured Issue Pertaining To Black African Immigrants And African Americans, Olubusayo Olojo-Adeoye

Wayne State University Dissertations

The overarching goal of this three-article five-chapter dissertation was to develop university students’ argument-counterargument integration abilities in persuasive essay writing on an ill-structured issue pertaining to black African immigrants and African Americans. Article One consisted of using phenomenography as a research approach to identify the qualitatively different ways university students perceive black African immigrants and African Americans. The university participants had 24 perceptions in which 10 pertained to black African immigrants and 14 to African Americans. The perceptions were grouped into six descriptive categories. The variations in perceptions were then used as statements for argumentation. The study implies that university …

The Design Of E-Learning Resources For Part-Time Distance Education Students, Rowena Hennigan

Teaching Fellowships

This research assessed the current e-learning provision for Ibec postgraduate students at DIT. The current e-learning resources are delivered using Webcourses (Blackboard), which is the Institute’s Learning Management System (LMS).1 The first stage of the research involved an audit of the existing e-learning resources on Webcourses, discussions with colleagues and a review of the e-learning literature. This research indicated that there were five key elements required in the programme’s e-learning design, namely: user experience, assessment, module content, interactivity of content and the updating of module content. A number of amendments were made in order to provide standardisation and to enhance …

Informing Instructional Design By Cognitive Load Assessment In The Classroom., Luca Longo

Teaching Fellowships

Cognitive Load Theory is an approach that considers the limitations of the information processing system of the human mind. It is a cognitivist theory that has been conceived in the context of instructional design. One of the main open problems in the literature is the lack of reliable models and technologies to assess cognitive load of learners, thus limiting the application of the theory in practice. This project was aimed at tackling this open problem through the use of a previously developed mobile, responsive web-based prototypical technology, to assess the cognitive load of students in a typical third-level classroom. It …

Effective Teaching Practices In Online Higher Education, Kim Mcmurtry

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

In the context of continuing growth in online higher education in the United States, students are struggling to succeed, as evidenced by lower course outcomes and lower retention rates in online courses in comparison with face-to-face courses. The problem identified for investigation is how university instructors can ensure that effective teaching and learning is happening in their online courses. The research questions were:

1. What are the best practices of effective online teaching in higher education according to current research?
2. How do exemplary online instructors enact teaching presence in higher education?
3. What are the best practices of effective online teaching in …