ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Student Engagement through an Institutional Blended Learning Initiative: A Case Study
Author: Ravenscroft, Brenda
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Learner Engagement,Blended Learning,Longitudinal Studies,Introductory Courses,College Faculty,Teaching Methods,School Policy,Educational Practices,Program Effectiveness,Technical Support,Course Descriptions,Educational Change,Curriculum Development,Large Group Instruction

Tertiary education institutions grapple with how to better engage students in their learning in high-enrolment, introductory courses. This paper presents a case study that examines a large-scale, faculty-level course redesign project in which this challenge was addressed through the use of blended learning models. The main research question was: Are students in blended formats engaged in their learning differently than those in the traditional formats? The first part of this paper describes the institutional policies, processes, and practices that were established to implement the course redesign project. The second part of the paper focuses on the effectiveness of the project, presenting the results of a longitudinal research study that examined changes in student engagement using the Classroom Survey of Student Engagement (CLASSE). The implications of the longitudinal evaluation and institutional strategy, structure, and support components are examined critically, as well as the project's impact on students and on the larger university.
Making Meaning from Student Evaluations of Teaching: Seeing beyond Our Own Horizons
Author: Zhu, Carina Jia Yan
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teacher Effectiveness,Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance,Teacher Evaluation,Undergraduate Students,Nursing Education,College Faculty,Hermeneutics,Foreign Countries,Teacher Student Relationship,Intention,Student Attitudes,Teacher Attitudes,Feedback (Response),Criticism

Within postsecondary education, the assessment of effective teaching has largely relied upon student evaluations of teaching. However, the process through which teachers make sense of their student evaluations is unclear. A research team of six undergraduate nursing students and four nursing educators explored the research question: How do nursing educators make meaning from their student evaluations of teaching? Gadamerian hermeneutics guided unstructured interviews with nursing educators working at a Middle East campus of a Canadian university. The interview transcripts were interpreted through a process of naïve readings, rereadings, interpretive dialogues, and interpretive writing that generated the following hermeneutic interpretations: (1) Teachers make meaning of their student evaluation through generalized subjective characterizations of students and through their expressed &quot;intentions&quot; for their teacher-student relationships; (2) Some of these characterizations and expressed intentions obscured what truths could be learned from the student evaluations of teaching; and (3) The experience of receiving critical student feedback invoked a personal response, at the same time, paradoxically, teachers worked hard to &quot;not take it personally.&quot; We suggest the practice of deep listening as a way to understand students' feedback. The main takeaway message from this research is that teachers need a supportive and sustaining community of peers who are also open to listening deeply to the truths embedded in student evaluations of teaching.
Phenomenology of Surprise: Transformed &quot;Seeing&quot; in an SoTL Scholars&apos; Program
Author: Yeo, Michelle
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Scholarship,Instruction,Learning,Phenomenology,Perception,College Faculty,Foreign Countries

Faculty members participating in a year-long Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) development program experienced various surprises as transformational events. This study is a phenomenological exploration of these surprises. We use Dastur's (2000) understanding of surprise as a phenomenological event that allows for changed perception and the possibility of a different future through an altered state of being in the world. Four different categories of surprise are explored: surprise that doing SoTL changed teaching, surprises about students, surprises about SoTL and the research process, and finally, surprises about communities and disciplines.
Coaching Them through It: How San Antonio Supports First-Year Teachers
Author: Dubin, Jennifer
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Coaching (Performance),Beginning Teachers,Experienced Teachers,Partnerships in Education,Mentors,School Districts,Unions,Teacher Recruitment,Teacher Persistence,Consultants,Elementary School Teachers

The Peer Support Partnership is an intensive, one-year mentorship program in which 11 veteran teachers work with approximately 150 of the 300 to 400 new teachers hired each year by the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD), Texas. A joint effort of the SAISD and the local union, the program was created three years ago to improve teacher recruitment and retention. It is modeled on Peer Assistance and Review programs in other states, where successful teachers leave the classroom for a few years to work full time as one-on-one mentors with new teachers and with veterans who need support. The program pairs consulting teachers (CTs), who must have at least six years of experience, with first-year teachers in some of the district's highest-needs schools. Each CT works full time mentoring 12 to 15 brand-new teachers each year. After three years, CTs return to the classroom, or they have the option to remain CTs for a fourth year. CTs meet monthly to discuss mentoring challenges and bounce instructional ideas off each other. They also meet regularly with principals at the schools where they are supporting new teachers, and they travel to nearby job fairs to promote SAISD and highlight its Peer Support Partnership.
Teaching Academic Literacy Using Popular Science Texts: A Case Study
Author: Wu, Siew Mei
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Teaching Methods,Academic Discourse,Scientific Literacy,Science Education,Communication Skills,Undergraduate Students,Literacy Education,Culture,Essays,Scores,Correlation,Lay People,Reading Materials,Course Descriptions,English for Special Purposes,Connected Discourse,Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction

Developing strong communicative ability amongst science graduates, especially in science communication, has been included as a fundamental learning outcome in some science degree programmes. This article focuses on a compulsory academic literacy course for first-level undergraduates that is aimed at developing academic reading and writing skills beyond the considerations of deficit language proficiency. It straddles the general, discipline-specific dichotomy in the skills aimed at, course content, and materials used. It targets two core science communication skills in addition to general academic literacy. In addition, the content and materials consist of popular science and media texts to facilitate the discussion of scientific ideas made accessible to the lay reader. It investigates course effectiveness on developing coherence in students' writing. Results obtained suggest that indicators of coherence, especially in the integration of source ideas and writers' proposition and the logical progression of textual ideas, are correlated to the difference in improved essay scores.
A College-Community Collaboration: Fostering Developmentally Appropriate Practices in the Age of Accountability
Author: Mages, Wendy K.
Date: 2018-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: School Community Relationship,Faculty Development,Workshops,Early Childhood Education,College Faculty,Teaching Methods,Developmentally Appropriate Practices,Common Core State Standards,Educational Strategies,Preschool Teachers,Accountability,Case Studies,School Districts

Early childhood education faculty from a college collaborated with a local public school district to conduct a series of professional development workshops for early childhood practitioners. The workshop series was designed to address pedagogical concerns identified by district administrators and teachers, as well as to help early childhood educators maintain developmentally appropriate practices in an increasingly standards-based, assessment-oriented climate, defined by the Common Core Standards and state-mandated testing. Participant survey responses indicated that, although all workshops were well received, participants found more value in the application-focused workshops than the content-focused workshops. In an evidence-based, educational climate, professional development opportunities tend to focus on initiatives designed to directly impact student learning outcomes. Yet, professional development initiatives that provide opportunities for teachers to broaden their knowledge and acquire new strategies and skills may also be beneficial. Thus, policies and practices associated with opportunities for teacher professional development should carefully consider practitioner and institutional needs and reflect a range of constituent-identified foci and goals, in order to productively meet the needs of both classroom teachers and their students.
Graduate and Undergraduate Faculty Collaboration Utilizing Peer Observation to Enhance Educational Opportunities for Students and Faculty: A Case Example
Author: Barton, Christopher E.
Date: 2018-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Case Studies,Undergraduate Students,Graduate Students,College Faculty,Anatomy,Teaching Methods,Laboratory Procedures,Faculty Development,Peer Evaluation,Observation,Interdisciplinary Approach,Teacher Collaboration,Student Attitudes,Course Evaluation,Program Development,Barriers

While evidence supports the use of cadavers to facilitate the teaching and learning of human anatomy, cadaver-based teaching may not be present at the undergraduate level at many institutions due to limited laboratory access, financial constraints, and the lack of qualified faculty trained to teach in this type of setting. The following case example outlines a unique program designed to provide cadaver-based instruction to undergraduate students, while simultaneously training undergraduate faculty to teach in this setting through peer observational methods. More specifically, the following teaching collaboration was designed with the intent to achieve the following: (1) expose undergraduate anatomy students to cadaver-based learning; (2) provide education and training to undergraduate faculty so they are better qualified to teach human anatomy in the context of a cadaver laboratory; (3) provide graduate physical therapy students additional opportunities to dissect and reinforce their anatomy knowledge; and (4) demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. Eighty-one undergraduate students were exposed to the cadaver laboratory for four educational sessions throughout the semester. Course evaluations revealed that 93% of the undergraduate students reported that their experiences in the cadaver laboratory served to enhance their learning, and 97% reported that the use of human cadavers should be continued in future courses. This interdisciplinary collaboration allowed anatomy instruction to be expanded to previously unserved student groups as well as provided a mechanism for professional development of undergraduate anatomy faculty. This collaborative model may serve as a template to promote new program development to enhance faculty and student learning, while simultaneously encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration across the university.
Student Motivation and Perseverance: Do They Explain College Graduation?
Author: Ashraf, Rasha
Date: 2018-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academic Persistence,Majors (Students),Graduation,College Students,Time to Degree,Student Attitudes,Achievement Gains,Student Characteristics,Grade Point Average,Grants,College Entrance Examinations,Racial Differences,Ethnicity,Gender Differences

We examine whether college students' persistence in finding a suitable major field of study influences the likelihood of graduation. We find that students who make an effort to select a suitable major early in their college careers graduate in a more timely fashion. Although changing majors is associated with delayed graduation, struggling students can improve graduation likelihood by switching to a more suitable major. However, performance improvement after switching is necessary for successful completion of a degree. These results indicate that colleges and universities should allocate resources to supporting students in their search for an appropriate major and empower students by providing course guidance and counseling.
An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Course Meeting Frequency, Attendance and Performance
Author: Pollak, Micah
Date: 2018-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Academic Achievement,Program Length,Time Factors (Learning),Attendance,Public Colleges,Grade Point Average,College Students,Instructional Program Divisions,Gender Differences,Age Differences

Using data from economics and history courses taught across multiple semesters, the authors show that a triweekly meeting frequency improves student performance relative to a biweekly meeting frequency. There is evidence that this effect operates through two channels. First, there is an indirect effect that operates through attendance. While greater attendance improves course score, this effect is less in a triweekly course. Second, there is a direct positive effect to more frequent course meetings on student performance. These two effects combine to increase student performance by 3 to 9 percentage points when meeting triweekly instead of biweekly. While students perform better overall on a triweekly meeting schedule, there are more absences and less consistent attendance.
Social Media and Higher Education: Does Digitally Enabled Learning Have a Place in Law Schools?
Author: Curro, Gina
Date: 2018-09-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Social Media,Legal Education (Professions),Foreign Countries,Law Schools,Teaching Methods,Law Students,Courts,Computer Mediated Communication,Technology Integration,Educational Benefits,Outcomes of Education,Legal Problems

Recently embraced by the legal profession to make justice more accessible, social media (SM) is fast becoming the primary tool of communication for the courts. In Australia today the Supreme Court of Victoria uses SM to share judgments, media releases, publications, speeches and other information. On the County Court of Victoria home page, one can read the Court's Twitter feed. These innovations have led to the expectations for Australian law schools to adopt twenty-first century technology and enhance student engagement in the classroom. Studies investigating the use of SM as an educational tool in general exist, however, research specifically addressing its application to law curricula is scant. In this article we propose that SM is a useful pedagogical tool, with the potential for creating valuable learning opportunities, such as awareness of responsible usage of SM platforms, thereby ensuring successful communication outcomes for Australian law graduates. Other affordances and drawbacks of SM as a pedagogical tool for legal education are discussed. The complex and contested nature of SM in education leads the authors conclude that implementing digitally enabled learning in the Australian Law classroom is possible, but not without certain pedagogical caveats, in particular, the creation of university policy framework on SM usage.
Profiling Web Technology Adoption of English Language Instructors in Malaysian Universities
Author: Murugaiah, Puvaneswary
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: English (Second Language),Second Language Learning,Second Language Instruction,Foreign Countries,Teaching Methods,Web Based Instruction,Language Teachers,College Faculty,Universities,Technology Integration

Undeniably the use of web technology in language teaching and learning has advanced by leaps and bounds. It not only provides effective learning experiences to the present digitally-inclined students but also assists teachers in creating interesting content and activities as well as in monitoring and evaluating students. Teachers at all educational levels employ web technology in their teaching. However, it has been reported that the technology's potential has not been fully reaped. This paper presents findings from a study investigating the nature and extent of web technologies used by Malaysian tertiary English language instructors. The aim was to examine the nature and extent of using such tools in language teaching. Profiling the web technology adoption by these instructors would provide insights on the degree of use and the range of web potentialities that has been explored; providing vital information to all key players regarding support and training needs, among others. The findings of the study revealed that the English instructors employed a myriad of web tools. They demonstrated a high level of use of these tools for teaching but only a medium level for communication and evaluation.
Augmented Reality from Turkish Researchers&apos; Perspectives
Author: Kiyici, Mübin
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Physical Environment,Simulated Environment,Computer Simulation,Foreign Countries,Researchers,Attitudes,Users (Information),Information Technology,Scientists,Computer Uses in Education

Concept of augmented reality (AR) has been attracting the attention of researchers due to its feature of combining physical environment of students and digital presentation materials and offering them to users. AR applications have made a great impression among scientists working in a wide range of fields from engineering sciences to social sciences and become the subject matter of theoretical and experimental research and different kinds of studies in a process starting from the design and programming steps of AR applications to their usage by end-users. In this research, 191 different studies conducted by Turkish scientists on AR were subjected to a document analysis, and the studies were examined according to their fields, types, research designs and population and sample characteristics. These studies were also subjected to a content analysis and scrutinized. According to the research results, AR applications have become the subject matters of product design/development studies particularly in engineering sciences while their different effects have been tested with quantitative research designs in educational sciences. (A bibliography is included.)
Can Informal Learning and Academic Engagement Mediate the Negative Impact of Social Networking on Academic Performance?
Author: Rostaminezhad, Mohammad Ali
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Informal Education,Learner Engagement,College Students,Social Media,Academic Achievement,Grade Point Average,Foreign Countries,Mass Media Use,Mass Media Effects

College students are the prominent users of social networking sites. Some studies revealed negative effect of social networking on academic performance, so finding some variables which can mediate this negative effect is important. This descriptive-correlational study examined the mediating role of informal learning and engagement in relationship between social networking and academic performance. To this aim, 380 university students were selected using cluster sampling. Social Network Sites Usage, Student's Engagement in School Scale, perceived educational outcome of social networks and student self-reported GPA were used as instruments. Findings from path analysis revealed that the direct effect of social networking on academic performance and engagement was negative but its impact on informal learning was positive. Path analysis showed neither informal learning nor academic engagement can mediate negative effect of social networking on academic performance.
Impact of the Individual Innovativeness Characteristics on Success and Contentment at the Computer Programming Course: A Web-Based Blended Learning Experience
Author: Yagci, Mustafa
Date: 2018-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Programming,Blended Learning,Academic Achievement,Student Satisfaction,Student Characteristics,Educational Technology,Technology Uses in Education,Web Based Instruction,Innovation,Foreign Countries,Student Motivation,College Students

The computer programming knowledge requires high level problem solving skills. Complexity of programming language and the learning attributes, control focus, thought processes and individual differences like individual innovativeness characteristics, have an influence on the success of the students in programming. One of the methods in which information and communication technologies are utilized to secure student participation and retain learning is the blended learning method. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the introduction to programming course which is designed by web-based blended learning method on the academic successes and contentment of the students with different individual innovative characteristics. The results of the research have indicated that the execution of the course with web-based online learning instruments, has positively impacted the academic success and motivation of the students. One other finding is that there are meaningful deviations between the pretest-posttest success scores within each group whose individual innovative characteristics are being pioneering, questioning and skeptical. Furthermore, the analysis results have indicated that there is no meaningful difference between the three individual innovative with regards to achievement test.