(2012). Social Media for School Communication. Research into Practice. Education Partnerships, Inc. It's easy to dismiss social media as a fascination of young people but to do so minimizes one of the fastest growing trends in technology. The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently found that over 71% of teens have a Facebook profile and 75% of adults have one too. Social media tools have become the way for a school or business to quickly and efficiently disseminate information. Because of the almost universal access to social media across all demographic groups it often reaches people that traditional forms of communication miss. The online presence for many schools has moved beyond the school website. It now includes a Facebook page, a Twitter account, blogs by teachers, principals or the superintendent, and YouTube and Flickr for sharing videos and photos about school events. There are seven reasons to pay attention to social media: (1) It Builds Relationships; (2) It's About Customers; (3) They're Already Talking; (4) Listen as Well as Share; (5) You'll Be Well… [PDF]
(2012). Voices from the Field: Multiple Perspectives on a Co-Teaching in Student Teaching Model. Educational Renaissance, v1 n1 p49-62 Aug. The goal of this project is to reform teacher preparation through the implementation of a research-based model of co-teaching in student teaching at teacher preparation institutions across the country. Four years of research conducted on a co-teaching model of student teaching has demonstrated a statistically significant increase in academic performance for elementary learners in co-taught classrooms. Co-teaching is designed to assist both the cooperating teacher and teacher candidate in collaboratively planning, organizing, delivering, assessing, and sharing the physical space of the classroom, allowing the classroom teacher to partner with the teacher candidate rather than give away responsibility. The Renaissance Group (TRG), a national consortium of teacher preparation institutions, proposed to take the co-teaching model initially developed at Saint Cloud State University and provide the training and support necessary for teacher preparation institutions across the nation to… [PDF]
(2014). Preparing and Supporting Black Students to Enroll and Achieve in Advanced Mathematics Classes in Middle School: A Case Study. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The literature on minority student achievement indicates that Black students are underrepresented in advanced mathematics courses. Advanced mathematics courses offer students the opportunity to engage with challenging curricula, experience rigorous instruction, and interact with quality teachers. The middle school years are particularly significant for mathematics education since the courses students pursue during those years affect later access to rigorous mathematics coursework at the high school level as well as college and career readiness. This case study examined factors that affected Black student achievement in advanced mathematics classes at one middle school. Data included interviews of school personnel, on-site observations, and school-related document analysis. Six major themes that affected student achievement in advanced mathematics classes emerged from the data: (a) mathematics placement innovations, (b) cultural shift towards increased rigor, (c) culture of high… [Direct]
(2010). The Need, Use, and Best Practices for the Implementation of Learning Management Systems in Organizations and Higher Education Institutions. Information Systems Education Journal, v8 n59 Jul. The shortage of skills in the academic sector is a reality. This has led to the excessive work overload for the few academic staff available, leaving them less time to pursue further training and develop their carrier. Furthermore, the excessive work overload means academic staff have less time to learn and use educational technologies that could assist teaching, learning and knowledge sharing, and to seek best practices for the implementation of such educational technologies. Efforts towards alleviating skills shortage and encouraging knowledge sharing as well as the need for e-learning and Learning Management systems can not be over-emphasized. This realization prompts the need for this study and subsequent detailed report for higher education institutions to adopt and use Learning Management Systems while implementing best practices for such systems. The benefits of Learning Management Systems are highlighted, the various Learning Management Systems available and the comparison… [PDF]
(2012). Nonword Reading: Comparing Dual-Route Cascaded and Connectionist Dual-Process Models with Human Data. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, v38 n5 p1268-1288 Oct. Two prominent dual-route computational models of reading aloud are the dual-route cascaded (DRC) model, and the connectionist dual-process plus (CDP+) model. While sharing similarly designed lexical routes, the two models differ greatly in their respective nonlexical route architecture, such that they often differ on nonword pronunciation. Neither model has been appropriately tested for nonword reading pronunciation accuracy to date. We argue that empirical data on the nonword reading pronunciation of people is the ideal benchmark for testing. Data were gathered from 45 Australian-English-speaking psychology undergraduates reading aloud 412 nonwords. To provide contrast between the models, the nonwords were chosen specifically because DRC and CDP+ disagree on their pronunciation. Both models failed to accurately match the experiment data, and both have deficiencies in nonword reading performance. However, the CDP+ model performed significantly worse than the DRC model. CDP++, the… [Direct]
(2012). Participation, Deliberate Learning and Discourses of Learning Online. Language and Education, v26 n2 p139-150. This paper uses a study of the photo-sharing website Flickr to examine new online spaces for writing. On this site, people write titles and descriptions for their photos, they annotate their photos with semantic tags, they provide profiles of themselves and they comment on other people's photos. In these activities, people are engaging in new forms of writing and are extending their vernacular practices into new areas. This paper reports on a study which has analysed more than 100 Flickr sites and carried out interviews with 20 multilingual users of Flickr about their online practices. The paper investigates how people learn to participate in these new vernacular writing practices and contributes to theories of situated learning by developing them to take account of learning in online spaces. It focuses in particular on the ways in which Web 2.0 sites provide new spaces for learning and how people undertake deliberate projects of learning. The paper examines the ways in which people… [Direct]
(2013). Teaching, Communication, and Book Choice Processes. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Wisconsin – Madison. Allowing students to select their own books for independent reading has been linked to increased reading engagement, heightened motivation to read, and greater independence and efficacy in reading. However, there has been little exploration of the processes surrounding book choice in elementary classrooms, particularly teaching practices that encourage or discourage students from selecting particular books and the issues of access and the impact of social relationships on students' selections in authentic classroom settings. This thesis presents a series of three connected articles examining issues of teaching, student access, and communication surrounding the independent book choices of students in a fifth grade class. This grounded analysis of interviews, observations, and artifacts obtained over the course of one school year examines three core categories of teaching and three categories of communication in order to develop recommendations drawn from students'… [Direct]
(2011). Motivational Correlates of Academic Success in an Educational Psychology Course. Online Submission, Paper presented at the Annual Conference on the Teaching of Psychology (25th, Tarrytown, NY, Mar 25-26, 2011). The variables of class attendance and the institution-wide Early Alert Grading System were employed to predict academic success at the end of the semester. Classroom attendance was found to be statistically and significantly related to final average and accounted for 14-16% of the variance in academic performance. Class attendance was found to decline over the semester. The new system of Early Alerts that warned students earning the grade of 2.0 and below during the 6th week of the semester was found to only marginally improve the prediction of at-risk students. A public method of sharing Exam #1 to Exam #2 improvement with the entire class is also presented as a reinforcement tool that protects the name of individual students. The implications of such research on teaching for instructor and student decision making and institutional policy decisions are also discussed in the report. (Contains 3 tables.)… [PDF]
(2011). Methodologies for Motivating Student Learning through Personal Connections. Forum on Public Policy Online, v2011 n3. This paper focuses on the premise that within the instruction process of higher education, the classroom context needs to create an atmosphere of motivational learning that is founded in part on a relationship between the students and professor that is formatted on the concept of mutual sharing of personal experiences, values, beliefs, and obviously course content. This process needs to begin with the instructor getting to know each student, even in large classes with more than 100 students. Through these personal connections, the content can become personally meaningful for the students. Over the past 35 years I have continued to develop and refine guidelines to facilitate this process of creating a significant connection between myself and students, students within and between themselves for each course that I teach. This paper will illustrate these essential and specific techniques, and demonstrate methods in helping students to conceptualize course content within this methodology…. [PDF] [Direct]
(2011). The Functions of Talk within a 4th-Grade Writing Workshop: Insights into Understanding. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, v25 n2 p133-144. Over the past 30 years, writing workshops have been implemented in classrooms around the world. Students are being asked to write across multiple contexts and genres and to use digital technologies. At the same time, high-stakes writing tests are increasing even though the time teachers spend teaching writing is decreasing. This study examines academically tracked 4th-graders' first-time engagement with a writing workshop structure and the functions of students' talk within this curricular venue. During writing conferences, author celebrations, and author sharing, talk functioned as a tool for creating a shared learning space, developing meta-awareness of processes and practices, and building writing identities. These functions of talk have implications for the teaching of writing, in general, and for teaching writing in the intermediate grades, in particular, given that most states have a high-stakes writing test in 4th grade…. [Direct]
(2011). Tuition Fees and Student Financial Assistance: 2010 Global Year. New England Journal of Higher Education, Apr. Since the start of the global financial crisis a little over two years ago, many concerns have been raised on how it might affect funding to higher education and whether or not it might hasten moves toward greater cost sharing. While, globally, some steps have been taken in this direction, in most countries, hard decisions have yet to be taken on this issue. This article presents the results of the authors' inaugural annual survey of global trends, in tuition fees and student financial assistance, which examined the \G-40\ of higher education–that is, 40 countries that, combined, account for 90% of global university enrollments and 90 percent of global scientific research production. Though G-40 is obviously not an exhaustive list, comprehending the main lines of policy in these countries provides an essentially comprehensive global picture without the need to examine policy in all the world's 200-plus states…. [Direct]
(2009). Developing Social Skills in Children Who Have Disabilities through the Use of Social Stories and Visual Supports. Online Submission The purpose of this action research project was to improve the social skills of eight preschool students and four first grade and second grade students through the use of Social Stories and visual supports to create a more positive learning environment. The teacher researchers wanted to increase the social skills of students who had been diagnosed with speech and language delays, learning disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This project was conducted from August 25, 2008 to November 14, 2008.The targeted students had difficulty sharing materials and toys with their peers, and taking turns in teacher-directed activities. The teacher researchers created and implemented two Social Stories with visual supports that addressed sharing and turn-taking. The teacher researchers spent 15 minutes daily on the targeted social skill. The teacher chose a different structured activity each day to work on the targeted skill to promote generalization… [PDF]
(2010). Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Annual Report, 2009-2010. Schools Network The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is an independent, not-for-profit membership organisation dedicated to raising levels of achievement in education. SSAT has a membership of over 5,500 schools and growing numbers of affiliated universities, colleges and local authorities. This 2009/2010 Annual Report shows clearly the practical effect of a 'by schools, for schools' way of working on raising achievement, sharing teaching practice and resources between schools, and on system leadership. The report presents the activities of SSAT in 2009-2010. A glossary is included. [For "Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Annual Report, 2008-2009," see ED525595.]… [PDF]
(2010). Online Role-Play Environments for Higher Education. British Journal of Educational Technology, v41 n6 p992-1002 Nov. As online environments and tools have evolved over the last 15-20 years, their use for role-based learning has expanded. This analysis draws on work for an Australian project that has been sharing and developing knowledge about the use of online role-plays in higher education. We describe the learning needs that online role-play can meet, and give examples of solutions–some using custom-built software and some using standard online learning environments. We use these examples to develop a framework for evaluating how new technologies can support role-based learning activities in universities, taking into account the needs of both learners and teachers…. [Direct]
(2015). Tuition and Fees at Virginia's State-Supported Colleges and Universities, 2015-16. State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Analysis of tuition and fees at public colleges and universities in Virginia must include a discussion of the funding received from the General Assembly. The period covered by this report represents a particularly complicated scenario that impacted not just higher education but all entities that receive general fund tax dollars in Virginia. The first goal of the Virginia Plan for Higher Education, the statewide strategic plan for higher education recently developed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and endorsed by the legislature, is to provide affordable higher-education access for all. The alignment of state appropriations, financial aid and tuition and fees will be critical to achieving this goal. This report focuses on tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates and provides a summary of the following four items: (1) board-approved tuition and fee increases for the 2015-16 academic year; (2) tuition and fee trends in Virginia over the past 25 years;… [PDF]