Focused Discussions
Asynchronous Session
Cultural Competency and Value-based Education in Understanding Culture and Poverty: The Carroll University Cultural Thread View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Scott Hendrix
Gert J.J. Biesta argues that in light of the growing body of work raising questions about evidence-based practice in the classroom we must take the idea of value-based education seriously. This approach recognizes the classroom as a recursive system involving the interplay of all classroom actors. This focused discussion considers how this value-based approach has been used successfully to engage students in the classroom by connecting to their values through conversations about poverty, its effects, and the socially constructed ways in which different societal groups view poverty and those who are poor. Based on a decade of working with first-year students through application of research funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, we will discuss how students learn to deconstruct their own cultures in order to gain greater cultural competency. Student concerns about poverty can be mobilized in various ways that enhance both engagement and learning while decentering the power structure in the classroom. At Carroll University students who improve their foundational cultural competency in their first year go on to take more advanced courses that build upon this competency, which is connected to improving proficiencies in areas such as writing and critical thinking. As we will discuss, I have been able to gauge how students who take a value-based approach such as consideration of poverty compare to those who do not in gaining the foundational skills necessary to advance not only their cultural competency, but also fundamental academic proficiencies.
Meeting Students Where They Are: Differentiated Instruction in Higher Education View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Clarissa Rosas
Higher Education in the United States is dominated by one-size-fits all pedagogical method. This traditional approach to instruction often is a mismatch between instruction and contemporary students’ academic needs. Differentiated Instruction, an evidence based framework used in grades K-12, provides a learner centered approach that successfully can be adapted at the college or university level to promote student engagement, facilitate motivation, and help students make connections between what is being taught and the profession they seek upon graduation. This session will provide an overview of how Differentiated Instruction can be applied to college courses.
School-family-Community Partnerships: Effective Ways to Increase the Social-emotional Learning of US Secondary Students View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Isaac Hubbard, Sylvia Mendez
This study explores how US secondary schools partner with families and their local communities to increase student social-emotional learning (SEL). SEL is the process through which students acquire tools to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, achieve personal and collective goals, sense emotions, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. Extant research supports the positive effects SEL on student academic achievement, targeted student social-emotional competencies, and attitudes about self, others, and school, as well as increases in prosocial behaviors and decreases in conduct activity. Through case study research, based on 15 interviews with a diverse set of US secondary school educators.
An Equitable and Just Learning Environment for Students: What Are the Long-term Effects of Inequality? View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Ronda Gray
Working with pre-service teachers, I have found they were apprehensive about social justice education issues. However, many of them wanted to be placed in schools with challenges related to diversity and inequity for student teaching. Therefore, I challenged one course for one semester by having them reflect and respond to real-life case studies. While I received some differences in responses, most of them were in agreement on solutions. Pre-service teachers saw how the cases might relate to similar incidents they might someday face. They stated the long-term effects that might occur with their students if the incidents were continuous.
Exploring the Use of Popular Culture Texts in Higher Education: Constructed Conversations between Teachers and Students View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Donna Rooney, Francesca Patten, Kaela Jubas
In this paper, we share interview and focus group data from a qualitative multi-case study underway with teachers and students engaged in university-based professional education courses that incorporate popular culture texts (e.g., film, television, music). By “professional education,” we refer to programs delivered in education, nursing, social work, and other fields related to practice. Rather than attending to popular culture resources as texts that can be analysed according to genre, theme or other elements, we are interested in how instructors create ties between cultural texts and core theories, concepts, and sensitive issues covered in the course and regarded as relevant to the development of practitioners who embrace critical thinking, analysis, and reflection—qualities of curiosity that signal responsible, ethical, humane practice. Teacher participants discussed why they used cultural texts, how they used them, and how they saw their use contributing to learning outcomes. Student participants discussed their experience in these classes and how engaging with the cultural texts supported their learning. There were areas of both convergence and divergence of teachers’ and students’ experiences and recollections, as well as some cautionary notes for instructors contemplating this sort of pedagogical move. In structuring this presentation, we put teachers and learners in dialogue to explore complexities that surface when using popular culture texts as pedagogical resources in professional education. Although we spoke separately with instructors and students, we use data gathered with both groups to bring them into conversation with one another.
Music Teacher Education: A Systematic Review View Digital Media
Focused Discussion María Domínguez, Ana María Ortiz Colón
One of the fundamental factors for the improvement of educational quality lies in teacher training. The training of music teachers is undoubtedly a heterogeneous training that presents disparate educational profiles. The aim of this study is to analyze music teacher training at different educational levels by means of a retrospective descriptive design using "music" and "teacher training" as search parameters in the Scopus database. It is concluded that music teacher education is scarce, so it is essential to develop training plans to improve the pedagogical level of music teachers, improving the educational quality of music education at different levels.
eMentoring for Doctoral Student Success : Framework and Strategies View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Claudia Santin
Online doctoral programs attract students from a global audience. Expectations for the faculty-student interface and the perceived roles and responsibilities of the student and faculty may vary among cultures. In addition, most doctoral students have other responsibilities unrelated to their education. These variations can cause poor student performance and increase the potential for attrition and lack of dissertation completion. eMentoring can be a tool to support student retention and increase graduation rates and can help students become scholarly researchers in their field of study. Trained and dedicated mentors can assist students who are returning to pursue their doctorate education and transitioning into the scholarly academic community. Building upon the Holistic Mentoring and Coaching Framework (Hollywood et al. 2016), further discussion regarding integrating appreciative inquiry, systems thinking, focused discussion, and a positive mindset is suggested as part of an effective eMentoring program. Practical strategies for using the online learning management system and effective virtual communication technologies are considered and explored.
Preparing Teacher Candidates Using Learner-centered Teaching for Diverse 21st Century Student Learning View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Ellen Ratcliff Dr., Celina Echols
Learner-centered teaching (LCT) is a method where the teacher releases some control of teaching to their students. The purpose of this study is to establish a rationale for why learner-centered teaching (LCT) should be employed in training teacher candidates so that their future students may become successful citizens in a diverse 21st century. A review of current literature and research shows that when teacher educators employed LCT, it had an impact on teacher candidate knowledge and skills. Further, LCT deepened teacher candidates’ content knowledge, promoted collaboration among their teacher candidate colleagues, stimulated more creative thinking, and lead to a variety of ways to demonstrate their learning. However, teacher educators are reluctant to engage in more LCT because it is "time-consuming." Will teacher educators snub LCT due to time constraints? If LCT is known to be effective, how do we overlook it? How will LCT impact people from diverse cultural backgrounds? How can teacher educators make LCT less time-consuming? Prerequisite skills for LCT to be successful are that teacher candidate must have the ability to think critically, collaborate with others, use metacognition, solve problems, self-assess, and reflect. Are teacher candidates equipped with these prerequisite skills? If not, where do we include explicit training for these skills in an already crowded curriculum? These are examples of questions for discussion.
Artifacts that Reflect the Experiences of Practicing Teachers and Teacher Candidates during COVID-19 and in the Aftermath of Hurricanes View Digital Media
Focused Discussion Celina Echols, Ellen Ratcliff
Climate change affects the curriculum tools and artifacts that schools and universities use in the teaching and learning cultures. Global warming also affects the emotional responses of the teachers and learners. To be effective educators, teachers must refine the element of becoming reflective practitioner; while understanding that learning is lifelong. At the same time, it is essential to teach students to reflect on their own experiences. In this light, learning the practice of reflection is fundamental because it allows people to engage in a thoughtful relationship with real-life; thus experiencing an awakening of one’s lived experience. The method looks at assignments obtained from practicing teachers (graduate students) alongside up-and-coming teacher candidates (undergraduates) and their experience with trauma. This session also considers the trauma of the school-age children with whom they educate in teaching and learning cultures like no other time in the 21st Century. Graduate and undergraduate students’ assignments are created to better understand themselves and their students. The assignment creations are identified as documentaries, poems, short stories, and music that reflect the power and usage of creating safe calming mindsets when physical places might be broken as a result of natural disasters. Specifically, the elements of Trauma-Informed Pedagogy (TIP) during natural disasters are discussed during this presentation. Implications suggest how TIP is continuously hone to best support the well-being, coping strategies and success of both teachers and learners. Students’ assignments and examples are shared during this session.
