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No description available.

Faculty at a private college in the northeastern United States found students lacked prerequisite mathematical skills and were unable to transfer quantitative reasoning skills to upper level business courses. Guided by Mezirow's transformative learning theory and Knowles' approach to self-directed learning, this study examined how undergraduate students learn statistics online. The purpose of this qualitative embedded case study was to examine faculty and students' perspectives about the online statistics course design and delivery while exploring possible barriers to students' learning. Data collection occurred by review of course documents and the learning management system. Archival data generated questions for semistructured interviews with 2 faculty and 4 students. Thematic analysis of data followed the inductive and interpretive approach to identify categories and 5 themes: measuring and assessing student learning, challenges learning statistics online, student readiness and preparation, online faculty roles, and recommendations for improving online statistics courses. Findings identified technical and affective barriers to learning statistics online and the need to create supportive learning environments fostering differentiated instruction, mastery learning, and complying with the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education. The resulting project was 5 professional development webinars designed to assist faculty creating student-centered online statistics courses focused on conceptual understanding. This study contributes to positive social change through implementation of course design leading to student access and online content mastery.

This dissertation is comprised of three separate articles addressing related issues central to the culture and future of higher education. The questions that animate the investigations are: In what ways is writing self-efficacy forged in the learning relationships between student and instructor? In what ways, if any, do traditional assessment practices impact student development? In what ways, if any, does institutional culture shape faculty identity, and what is gained or lost in the process? These queries stem from concerns about possible disconnects between visions of higher education's potential and actual practices in the classroom. The dissertation uses grounded theory to explore the deep nature of student learning needs as articulated by the students themselves, seeks alignment between pedagogical and assessment protocols that foster writing expertise, and uses social reproduction theory and intersectionality to reveal the foundations of faculty identity development that can work across student development needs. Specific recommendations for meaningful reform are identified with an eye on cultivating a culture of collegiality and mutual trust where learning relationships can flourish.

The STEM fields are in the process of expanding and requiring highly trained technicians to support this growth. Community colleges are places that offer technician training to students in preparation for high technology jobs. Unfortunately, community colleges are generally underfunded and poorly positioned to offer professional development for discipline-specific skills or pedagogy training. The National Science Foundation and Advanced Technological Education (ATE) have situated themselves to provide support for the STEM fields through their federally funded programs for technician teachers. A component of ATE grants is a focus on faculty development designed to help STEM teachers in community colleges. ATE helps community colleges fill in the gaps in professional development facing instructors in the STEM fields. The purpose of this study was to analyze the pedagogical characteristics of ATE-funded professional development for community college faculty and its intersections with campus-funded professional development. This study used a qualitative, multiple case-study design. Three interviews were conducted at three different ATE sites in California of the center leader, a professional development coordinator, and a participant. The major findings were 1. ATE provides educational and technical training to adults with common traits in backgrounds and goals. 2. The technical professional development at ATE centers is hands-on and interactive and has shown to provide positive learning outcomes to adult learners. 3. ATE centers address the needs of an evolving workforce by conducting research on new or current industry expectations. 4. Partnerships to industry are important to the curriculum and infrastructure of ATE professional development. 5. Evaluation is necessary for the growth of ATE professional development programs. 6. ATE helps build a collaborative community within a technical field by supporting relationships between professional development participants. 7. Each ATE center provides industry educators with resources they can access after a workshop. 8. One out of three ATE center professional development projects in this study intersects with campus-funded professional development. Understanding how these three ATE centers provide professional development can help inform the professional development practices at newly emerging or already established ATE centers across the nation. This study includes recommendations for future research and implications for practice.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the emergency transition to online instruction due to COVID-19 on faculty self-efficacy for online teaching. A survey was constructed by adapting items from multiple previously vetted instruments into a retrospective pre-test/post-test design. Data were collected in January 2022 from 83 faculty at a private, STEM-focused university in Pennsylvania. On average, respondents increased their online teaching load by approximately 25% as a result of the emergency transition due to COVID-19, after which they showed a statistically significant increase in online teaching self-efficacy with a very large effect size. Dispersion was lower in the post-COVID time period. Also, the more change to their typical course delivery mode a faculty experienced, the greater the increase in their online teaching self-efficacy. These findings suggest that the universal experience of the emergency transition to online instruction due to COVID-19 may have had an equalizing effect on online teaching self-efficacy. Age and scores on measures of teaching self-efficacy not specific to online instruction had statistically significant relationships with online teaching self-efficacy in separate pre- and post-COVID regression models; however, a Chow Test indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the two equations with all parameters taken together. Administrators should consider diversifying the modalities in which faculty teach to provide ongoing exposure to online teaching, which will support faculty online teaching self-efficacy and, thus, help prepare universities for any future unexpected transition to online instruction. / Educational Leadership

This dissertation in practice was designed to provide an evaluation case study of two institutions, one college and one university, in the field of online learning and quality assurance. The writer evaluated these two institutions of higher learning to discover what online teaching criteria are required and what quality assurance processes are being used to assess the quality of the institutions* online courses. An analysis of the data revealed that both institutions were at the appropriate stage of development, support, training and quality assurance measures for their sizes, online populations and for the length of time they have been involved in online learning. Findings revealed that both institutions had a quality assurance process in place that is appropriate to their location, population and faculty. There is much to be learned by examining the two different credentialing and quality assurance approaches to online teaching and learning that these two different institutions employ for anyone interested in improving their institutions* processes.

Internationella studier visar att lärare inom hälso- och medicinutbildningar saknar kompetens att främja studenters interprofessionella lärande. Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur lärare, inom ramen för ett akademiskt lärarskap, arbetar med sin kompetensutveckling för att främja studenters interprofessionella lärande. Fallstudien genomfördes med semistrukturerade intervjuer av 17 lärare vid Linköpings universitet. Data analyserades med tematisk analys. Resultaten visade på behov av ökade kunskaper om akademiskt lärarskap samt samsyn kring lärarens roll och uppdrag. Kompetensutveckling genomfördes på generell nivå och ej utifrån identifierade lärbehov. Den systematiska och kontinuerliga uppföljningen av studenternas interprofessionella lärande försvårades då det saknades kompetens samt tid att kritiskt granska pedagogisk praktik. / International studies show that teachers in health and medical education needs more competence to promote students' interprofessional learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers, within the framework of scholarhip of teaching and learning work with their faculty development to promote students' interprofessional learning. The case study was conducted with semistructured interviews of 17 teachers at Linköping University. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed a need for increased knowledge of scholarship of teaching and learning as well as consensus regarding the teacher's role and responsibility. Competence development was carried out on a general level and not based on identified learning needs. The systematic and continuous follow-up of the students' interprofessional learning was difficult as there was a lack of competence and time to critically examine pedagogical practice.