Current Issues in Education (E-Journal, Arizona State University)
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More Than Strength from Within: Cultivating Teacher Resilience During COVID-19
Get PDFSignificant added stressors during the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to compound and exacerbate historic concerns about burnout and turnover within the teaching profession. This study used a convergent mixed methods design to investigate experiences of teacher well-being in the beginning months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, quantitative surveys investigated relationships among stress, school connectedness, and teacher efficacy among 146 teachers. Interviews with 16 teachers explored their qualitative perceptions of well-being, how they personally navigated the challenges of teaching remotely, and what their school and/or districts did to support teacher well-being. Interviewed teachers could be classified as growing, coping, or discouraged. Findings suggest that both individual and environmental factors contributed to a sense of well-being among growing and coping teachers
Students’ perceptions of team learning across teaching frameworks and settings
Get PDFThe benefits of team learning include increased achievement, increased motivation, and greater retention of concepts learned. While team learning has been implemented since the early 20th century, instructors in higher education settings may still experience challenges managing implementation, such as unmotivated students and a lack of accountability among group members. One team learning pedagogy is team-based learning (TBL), a structured course design that combines individual preparation with collaborative problem-solving. Given the benefits of TBL in face-to-face settings, including student learning and improved attitudes, educators have also adapted TBL to online settings. This embedded mixed-method study examined students’ perceptions of TBL in face-to-face and online teacher education courses. We found that students in TBL courses, regardless of delivery method, reported positive perceptions of TBL, and commonly identified the course structure and teams as the most effective aspects of the course
Becoming humanizing educators during inhumane times: Valuing compassion and care above productivity and performance
Get PDFThis qualitative inquiry presents a duoethnographic reflection by a pre-service teacher and teacher educator on their individual and collective experiences navigating teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emails of gratitude exchanged between both authors serve as the beginning of their inquiry and analysis. Their narratives reveal the ways in which they experienced humanizing pedagogies, received compassion and care, and engaged in culturally sustaining pedagogies within their teacher preparation program. Implications for reimagining teacher preparation embedded in humanizing pedagogies are explored
Institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic: Faculty and administrator experiences
Get PDFThe onset of the COVID-19 pandemic required shifts in operations for institutions of higher education everywhere. Faculty and administrators were asked to adapt to meet the needs of students. We conducted a qualitative content analysis to understand institutional responses and examine the experiences of faculty and administrators during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of chaos theory. Institutional responses to the pandemic varied. Participants identified supports and resources deemed helpful, as well as those found to be inadequate or unwanted. We also found that the pandemic resulted in some positive outcomes for faculty and administrators, which led to growth in teaching and self-care. Implications for strategic planning and future directions for research are explored
Helping STEM Students Thrive: Adult Learning Pathways
Get PDFSurrounded by stories of underrepresented and first-generation students lagging behind or switching out of STEM majors, three women saw an opportunity to shift the narrative. They created a new online speaker series, The Next 10 Years: Helping STEM Students Thrive; where faculty, staff, and students could share ideas, learn from one another, and build a community. They were all members of the Women in STEM Cooperative, which consists of a group of volunteers who are dedicated to advancing women in STEM in their respective communities. It is now in its third season with participants from 56 institutions, eight organizations, four countries, and 23 states
The Castle and The Paths: A Story with Two Endings
Get PDFThe future of higher education is imagined here in the form of a parable. The reader is challenged to rethink the role and purpose of higher education and the potential paths for evolution in the future
Inclusive Access for All
Get PDFInclusive Access provides a framework for digital course material delivered via the learning management system (LMS) day-one to students. This platform assists instructors with selecting current, quality, affordable material, and supports learning analytics by providing engagement data in Canvas. The University of Nebraska Provost office has funded an initial series of grants to support open educational resources (OER) initiatives at the Lincoln, Kearney, and Omaha campuses for several years. The vast majority of these dollars went to incentivize faculty in the adoption of OER. The OER and Inclusive Access pilots are ready to mature into a service supported by Academic Technologies in ITS at the University of Nebraska. As the launch of the 2019-20 academic year, the services that began as pilots were ready for prime time, which was critical for scaling these services during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the Fall 2020 semester completes in a hybrid, de-densified environment, we have even more data to show the successful adoption of OER and Inclusive Access platform made a difference for both our students and instructors as courses moved online. Initially there was excitement about using inclusive access platforms to help save students money and provide content the first day of the semester. Now our faculty across the NU system are using OER in innovative ways to connect with their students. The Academic Technologies teams at the University of Nebraska will continue to gather feedback from the faculty and students we support, tweaking the services as need be. The initiatives have been successful, and we look forward to hearing from more faculty members who report: “it just works!
Factors Associated with Online Doctoral Student Persistence: A Critical Integrative Review of the Literature
Get PDFOnline students are less likely to complete their program than students enrolled in traditional face-to-face programs. Additionally, doctoral students are less likely to persist to degree completion than undergraduate and master’s students. Consequently, online doctoral students might be at an especially high risk for not completing their program. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize and critically analyze the body of research examining factors associated with persistence among online doctoral students, a relatively understudied population. Consistent with the notion that integration and institutional factors exert more influence on doctoral persistence than student characteristics, with the exception of leadership and motivation, few student-related characteristics examined were found to be associated with online doctoral student persistence. However, findings should be considered in light of the limitations of the existing research. Based on this critical integrative review of the literature, implications for research and practice and recommendations for next steps are offered
Supporting teacher learning during the professional development experience: The case of national board certification
Get PDFAmidst increasing globalized pressures to raise student achievement, nations are heavily investing in various forms of teacher professional development. In the United States, teachers are increasingly electing to pursue National Board Certification, yet few studies have analyzed the experience within the greater complex system of teaching and learning. Viewed from this approach, findings from this study suggest that numerous dynamic forces—relationships, partnerships, structures, and policies—interact in various patterns that can potentially support effective teacher professional development. Implications suggest a need for broader conceptualization, greater cohesion, and more strategic integration of teacher learning in education policy
Inclusive Campus Environments: An Untapped Resource for Fostering Learner Success
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper is to consider new possibilities for higher education, where the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provide a framework for creating digital and physical environments that honor every learner’s unique lived experiences and support the expectations of learners for their individual life goals. Each learner brings their own unique lived experience; multi-level intersectionality; and cognitive and social learning variabilities to their educational journey. Many of these present obstacles to their realizing successful learning outcomes. Understanding the lived experiences in the learner’s journey and creating environments that remove barriers to learning requires a deep understanding of inclusion, which is central to the framework of UDL. How can we create a campus that promotes a sense of belonging, community, and well-being — a campus that has the potential to increase the number of learners who persist to completion? It begins with honoring the uniqueness of every learner