Ginny’s article response #1

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Ginny

Leatherman, J. M., and Niemeyer, J. A. (2005). Teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion: Factors influencing classroom practice. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 26, (1), 23-36.

This article looks at early childhood education (ECE) teachers’ training about including children with disabilities in preschool classrooms. The ECE teachers’ preparation and implementation of appropriate practices in inclusive classrooms seemed to be influenced by the type of pre-service and in-service training they received and the support offered from administration and peers during the school year.

This study found that pre-service teachers benefit from hands-on experience with young children prior to teaching, and that teacher training should include specific strategies for working with young children with disabilities. The pre-service teachers reported that field experience gave them the opportunity to take the principles and standards from their coursework and apply them to real interactions with children.

Teachers who had previous experience with inclusive classrooms received in-service training of a similar nature to the pre-service teachers, including the strategies for working with a mixed, inclusive classroom. These ECE teachers reported enhanced understanding of the children in their classrooms and renewed enthusiasm for their work after the training.  Of particular interest in the training was the idea of developing individualized education plans (IEP) for all the children in a classroom. While this is mandatory for children with disabilities, most ECE teachers do not have to complete IEPs for typically developing children.

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Jennifer Hitchcock’s summary of CCC article

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Jennifer

Miller-Cochran, Susan K. “Beyond Typical Ideas of Writing: Developing a Diverse Understanding of Writers, Writing, and Writing Instruction”. College Composition and Communication 62.3 (2011): 550-559. ProQuest. Web.  21 Feb. 2011.

In this article, Miller-Cochran presents the ideas about writing instruction from four different recently published scholarly works in the field and focuses “on the ways in which the different approaches to researching writing instruction-though varied and distinct-inform each other because they provide us with a richer, deeper understanding through the diversity of their perspectives.”  She also argues that, “as the field of rhetoric and composition grows, our capacity to incorporate new perspectives into our study of writing and writing instruction will expand our possibilities for understanding how diverse students approach the task of writing.”  One of the pieces the author discusses relates to using the laboratory method for writing instruction, another relates to working with “Generation 1.5” students (or those ESL students who arrive in the US at a young age and receive most of their education here), and the last one is about teaching writing in the community college, which most directly applies to my situation.  Miller-Cochran’s article is useful not only for the ideas about teaching diverse student populations but it also presents some interesting new books, some of which I may be interested to now read myself, especially the one relating to teaching writing at the community college.

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Khanh on Teaching Journal – Week 4

Posted on February 20, 2011 by kbui4

Teach Them When They Aren’t Looking: Introducing Security in CS1

Nance, K.;
Security & Privacy, IEEE
Volume: 7 , Issue: 5
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/MSP.2009.139
Publication Year: 2009 , Page(s): 53 – 55

IEEE Journals

AbstractPlus  |  Full Text: PDF (336 KB)

I selected the paper “Teach Them When They Aren’t Looking – Introducing Security in CS1”, by Professor Kara Nance of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, for my week 4 journal reading.

The title was intriguing. I am familiar with the cybersecurity curriculum for teaching at the graduate level. But I thought, given the recent charge by the White House and government agencies to push and spread cybersecurity to the undergraduates, high school students, and even the public, that article would give a fresh perspective on the teaching agenda for my field.

The professor describes a course in learning a computer programming language (C++) in which students write programs for solving security related issues such as the failure of file backups and  the use of watermarks in identifying where a paper is printed from. The author believes that the assignments for learning about programming language are also effective in helping students to learn associated computer security and software engineering concepts.

A few good teaching techniques are noted. Assignments mimic the real world situations students will encounter in the workplace (e.g. memoranda, real needs and wish lists, deadlines, teamwork, etc.). Discussions are held after each assignment to encourage students to reflect on what they have learned about the team collaboration and individual security awareness. The professor gives assignments that meet prescribed learning objectives, are ordered based on prerequisites, and structured for skill expansion.

The article title “Teach Them When They Aren’t Looking” applies equally well to teaching them Information Security concepts as well as simulated real world team problem solving while they are “looking” at the computer programming skills they are explicitly tasked to learn.

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Khanh on Journal Selection – week 3

Posted on February 20, 2011 by kbui4

A (brief) description of the teaching journal you have chosen to read for the rest of the semester, and an analysis of why you have chosen this particular journal (500 words)

An extensive search on the Web revealed that no journals in cyber security specifically focused on teaching the subject exist. Most journals, in the intersection of education and cyber security, focus on the use of information technology in education or learning experience. That is a different emphasis from the development of teaching scholarships for the benefit of students pursuing the cyber security discipline that I wish to explore.

To be fair, cyber security is an emerging field, with more emphasis on research and application than teaching. However, it is recognized as a critical national priority and President Obama has declared that the “cyber threat is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation” and that “America’s economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cybersecurity.” Subsequently, the White House, http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education, issued its Cyberspace Policy Review that put out a call for the nation to “initiate a K-12 cybersecurity education program for digital safety, ethics, and security; expand university curricula; and set the conditions to create a competent workforce for the digital age.” Shortly after that, the lawmakers began work pushing a sweeping cyber security bill that aims to, among other things, boost cyber security education and help students who pursue a cyber security curriculum.

Thus, I anticipate that because of its great importance, plus the security and ethical issues that can be used to good or bad purposes, a journal will at some point be created as a forum for exchanging ideas on cybersecurity education.
Lacking the existence of exactly what I would like, I will instead look for articles related to teaching coming from any one of the newly cyber security education initiatives, including:

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been enlisted to spearhead a new National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), which focuses on awareness, education, and workforce development

• The National Security Agency is working to advance academic education and promote professional training through NSA’s National Information Assurance Education and Training Program (NIETP), establishing and growing the Centers of Academic Excellence in IA Education Program, http://www.nsa.gov/iad/

• The National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Cyber Security Education Consortium (CSEC), http://www.cseconline.org/, is developing and disseminating information assurance and forensics curricula to two-year colleges, and offering professional development opportunities to instructors from two-year colleges and assisting them in building programs at their own institutions

• International Cyber Security Education Coalition, http://icsec.org/, is a partnership among several colleges and universities to provide information assurance education to members of the government, business and industrial organizations.

• Several states including California, Colorado, and Maryland, have channeled funds into comprehensive cyber-security education such as the creation of certificate programs for cyber-security at two-year and community colleges.

I will also propose articles chosen for this class from a number of journals published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE http://www.ieee.org), the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology. More than a hundred of journals and magazines are listed in http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/journmag/journals_magazines.html, including the IEEE Transactions on Education, which covers education research, methods, programs, and technology in electrical and computer engineering.

In the field of cybersecurity, I believe educators are still deciding what material to teach to which kinds of students, and not yet at the point where there is a volume of scholarship devoted to how to teach cybersecurity that requires a journal. The IEEE is likely to incorporate the latest articles in cybersecurity as they become available and some of those may relate to teaching the subject. Therefore, I will attempt to discover teaching topics by searching the entire IEEE digital library that includes all journals and magazines, conference publications, standards, digital subscriptions, books, and newsletters.

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Textbook or No Textbook? That is the Question

Posted on February 17, 2011 by bassman

“Nope. I don’t use a textbook.” That’s the answer Bruce Forbes gives in his article. It’s about why he chooses not to use one for introductory courses and what he does instead. One of his main reasons for not using one is that he feels that they seldom engage students or leave a lasting impression. He prefers using an eclectic list of reading assignments. However, he does say that new teachers may find them helpful. He goes on to unpack more reasons why he doesn’t use one and more specifics on what he does to replace a single text. I found this helpful as I think about textbooks and/or reading that I wish to include in a syllabus. You can find the complete article by going http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.mutex.gmu.edu/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9647.2009.00532.x/full

If you have trouble accessing it, let me know.

Bass

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Journal Selection

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Brian Melton

The teaching journal I have chosen for this semester is the Journal of Statistics Education.  The journal, first started in 1993, is published by the American Statistical Association (ASA) three times a year.  The editorial board is made up of over 30 academic professionals from a wide range of recognized universities and colleges across the nation.  The journal may be found on-line at http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/.

The mission statement for the JSE states that the journal “disseminates knowledge for the improvement of statistics education…and, in accord with its broad focus, publishes articles that enhance the exchange of…useful information among educators, practitioners, and researchers around the world (http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/jse_mission.htm).”  The JSE is designed for teachers of statistics and researchers of statistical and probabilistic reasoning.

I am interested in teaching statistics at the college level.  I am also interested in using statistical research in higher education.  My professional background has been in government cost estimating where statistics is heavily relied upon.  Currently I receive a quarterly journal titled, “Journal of Cost Analysis and Parametrics.”  However it is focused on actual use of statistics in real cases, and providing insight into how statistical analysis may be best used in different circumstances, or how well certain analysis worked in various real world situations.  But the JSE is one of just a few that looks at how to actually improve and develop the teaching of statistical analysis in the field.

Another key component of the JSE is its access to other scholarly work.  The home page provides links of several other well-recognized journals in the field from around the world, including such places as far as Great Britain and New Zealand.  Other links access statistical journals that are more defined to specific areas such as technology, medicine, business, industry and government.  They also have a complete on-line archive of all there past publications.  As the JSE has a very comprehensive archive of its own published work, it also has very strong ties to other scholarly journals within the field.  If you cannot find what you are looking for in the JSE, you are still more likely to find it through the JSE’s other resources.

In my initial look at the JSE, I have already seen several articles that I am interested in that may help in developing my syllabus for our course assignment.  Some articles address how to approach the teaching of particular statistical techniques; probability, regression, hypothesis testing, etc.  Other articles address the use of specific teaching techniques; case studies, problem solving, interactive simulations, etc.  Still other articles address the use of new tools in the classroom such as the use of DVDs for both residence and on-line statistic courses.

One article discusses the use of computer applications in the classroom.  Statistics is difficult to understand, but there are numerous statistical application models.  How one uses these applications in the classroom will have an impact on the quality of learning a student will receive.  Although the use of a quality application can greatly enhance the learning experience in the classroom, if not used with the learning of the student in mind, it may teach students how to input and generate correct numbers, but have little impact on the deeper learning of analysis, interpretation, and critical questioning of the results.  These types of articles in the JSE from professionals who experience these concerns in the teaching field greatly enhance the value of the journal in helping to improve teaching in the field of quantitative analysis.  These are the primary reasons I chose this journal for my course study.

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Journal Choice – Teaching Theology & Religion

Posted on February 16, 2011 by bassman

Teaching Journal

By Bass Mitchell

Due February 15, 2011

For the Course, “College Teaching,” by Dr. Leslie Smith

The Journal I Choose

I have chosen the journal, “Teaching Theology and Religion.” It is copyrighted by Blackwell Publishing and comes out four times a year. It is international in scope, having writers who are on the frontlines in teaching religious studies at all levels, especially college, graduate schools and seminaries. Its purpose is to foster scholarship, research and apply them in practical ways to the teaching of theology and religion. It’s edited by Patricia O’Connel Killen, Director of the Wabash Center in Indiana, whose purpose is to “provide support for teachers of religion and theology in higher education through meetings and workshops, grants, consultants, a journal and other resources…” I was unaware of this journal and organization until I began searching for a teaching journal. Both their journal and other programs look excellent.

Why I Chose It

First, there are not very many journals or publications out there devoted primarily to the teachings of religious studies. Of the ones I have found, this one seemed to me the best or at least the most relevant for me. Also, it refreshing to read something that directly relates to my area of concern. Bain, as far as I know, never really mentions anything about religious studies (makes me wonder if any religion professors were included in his research). Yes, most of what he shares is certainly applicable to my discipline, but it’s nice to read materials that directly come out and relate to it.

Second, I really like the way the journal is designed. It usually has the following three parts:

Articles. These are in depth pieces from those who teach religious studies from all over the world. They “raise a specific pedagogical issue and demonstrate its relevance to higher education religion or theology classrooms or institutions.” But they do more than this. They also go on to show in practical ways how to address, apply or use these insights in teaching. Here are some sample topics from the January 2011 issue:

Mahatma Gandhi and Character Education in Non-Violence: Its Relevance in Religious Studies Today (pages 3–12)

The Online Theology Classroom: Strategies for Engaging a Community of Distance Learners in a Hybrid Model of Online Education (pages 13–20)

In the Classroom. These are shorter articles. Whereas the Articles may focus on more theoretical issues, this section focuses on the more practical and concrete issues in the classroom setting. Here are some samples from the latest issue:

Using Small Groups, Prepared Questions, and Key Terms in an Introductory Course (page 21)

Higher Order Thinking Through the Synthesis of Theological Models (pages 23–24)

Book Reviews. This section usually reviews at least seven books published within the last couple of years relating to not only the teaching of religious studies but to all areas  of adult education, technology, learning theory, etc. Here are some samples from the January 2011 edition:

Where is Knowing Going? The Horizons of the Knowing Subject – By John C. Haughey (pages 73–76)

Students’ Experiences of E-Learning in Higher Education: The Ecology of Sustainable Innovation – By Robert A. Ellis and Peter Goodyear (pages 79–80)

The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social-Network Sites, Games, and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future – By S. Craig Watkins (pages 84–85)

If a particular article or issue generates a good deal of response, the journal will also include a section called, “Conversations,” in which that feedback is shared.

Third, I really do like the balance the journal brings in exploring theory and practice, as well as being open to the whole range of educational issues and disciplines.

Fourth, this is online. I can get instant access to any of the articles they have published. I have already looked through many of their back issues and identified articles that are of interest to me and that I could recommend to my fellow students. Here’s just one example as we have been discussing the use of questions (Bain mentions this quite frequently):

Building Questioning Strategies: Or, Why Am I Asking These Questions And Where Are They Taking Us? (pages 251–253)

Fifth, the journal encourages persons to submit articles. I can see myself doing this at some point in the future.

Sixth, this is a resource that I will wish to continue getting and using.

If you would like to learn more about this journal, go to:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291467-9647

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Journal of Online Learning & Teaching

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Jonathan Hsu
After browsing through a variety of journals, I settled in on the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching – JOLT.  I chose this journal for a variety of reasons, primarily of which is because I feel at this point my research topic for my doctoral dissertation will most likely revolve around this area.  I would like to combine my expertise with the IT field and my interest in teaching methodologies when I do my research.  The field of online learning and teaching is growing rapidly and quite new.  JOLT itself has only been in publication since 2005.

After reading through a few journals I enjoyed both the subject matter of the articles submitted along with the writing styles and general feel of the content.  After these first three weeks of classes I’m starting to see that most academic works falls into one of two categories:

  • Dense bibliographic writing that continually cites theories, practices, and prominent figures
  • Direct learning driven writing that employs first person accounts, surveying, etc.

While I understand it’s necessary, the latter does not particularly appeal to me as I feel it is disconnected to people and more concerned with “how things should be” instead of getting down in the dirt and finding out “how things are”.  JOLT has a much more practical tone to it.  The journal is peer-reviewed and perhaps the tone and style are indicative of a cultural shift or demographic bias in the field of online learning.  Being such a new topic, I’d imagine many of the proponents and invested researchers are relatively younger than other fields.  It’s an emerging frontier and I want to be in the mix of things if not leading the charge eventually.

Moreover, JOLT contains a range of article formats and not simply research and observation papers.  Each issue has research papers, case studies, concept papers, and position papers.  Having this variety will help me synthesize a “world view” of the field and come to meaningful conclusions that are not myopic.  Continuing on a personal level, I digest case studies and position papers better than research papers.  They feel more real in regard to case studies and position papers give me the opportunity to either agree, disagree, or a combination to the position stated.  JOLT is also a free publication.  Obviously this is a plus in terms of me not having to pay, but they make a point to state that they wish to be “open source” to promote the flow of information, this is an ideal that I strongly believe in.

The primary article I read when choosing the journal was a case study about Google’s collaboration tools being used in a teaching context.  Some of the points such as the ability to easily access the work not only by the instructor but other students raised very interesting points.  This also gives students an action-oriented approach to learning about emerging concepts such as cloud computing.  Concluding the article, I was left wondering about the idea of ownership and intellectual property.  With all of the collaboration and group-think that occurs online, I feel like the boundaries of ownership are diminishing and there is a rise in the idea of a global knowledge.  In my Ways of Knowing course, we discuss viewing the world through different “lenses” often culturally dictated.  In a global setting how will these lenses become blurred?  Or will new characteristics of each culture arise?

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journal choice

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Ginny

Journals in Teaching and Early Childhood Education

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the preeminent professional association for early childhood professionals in America.  The annual conference draws thirty to forty thousand teachers, center staff, and family child care providers (NAEYC, 2010). The bi-monthly journal sent to members of NAEYC is Young Children, and the scholarly journal is Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  Both publications contain peer-reviewed articles that are timely and informative.  I have been an avid reader of these journals for many years and draw on the articles for my research papers.  However, while these publications are about my field of early childhood development and education, they do not cover teaching early childhood educators on a regular basis.

            I have discovered another professional association through my investigations for this assignment that is just what I was looking for.  The organization is the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE), and their publication is called Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education (JECTE).   Previous years’ issues are available for purchase back to 1993, but only the issues from 2005 through 2009 are available through the George Mason library system and EBSCOhost.  The most current year’s issues are not available for perusal.  These limitations are frustrating, but I hope to glean some good information from the available material. I decided to join NAECTE at the graduate student member level, so I will begin to receive the journal.

In an issue of the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education in 2005, the editor talks about the need for those who teach early childhood professionals to create more carefully and purposefully designed courses about curriculum content in literacy and language and mathematics for young children (Williams, 2005).  The change in emphasis in teaching young children is dramatic since the early years of daycare centers and preschools in the 1970s when many young mothers joined the American workforce and needed full time care for their children.  Before licensing and established standards in early childhood education, structured curriculum was not considered necessary for very young children.  As those of us who have been in the field for many decades can attest, the early years of early childhood care were more about keeping very young children in group care safe and comforted.  As the expectations for children’s achievement in grade school, starting in kindergarten, are much higher than previously, there has been a trickle-down effect into the pre-kindergarten years.  Children as young as two are being drilled about numbers and letters, sometimes before they are developmentally able to understand the concepts of reading, writing, and mathematics.

I will look forward to reading the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education in addition to reading Young Children and Early Childhood Research Quarterly.  Two other journals I am interested in are the Journal of Teacher Education and the Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)

            http://www.naeyc.org

Williams, L. (2005) Greetings from the editor. National Association of Early Childhood                 Teacher Educators (NAECTE), 26 (1), 1-2.     http://www.naecte.org/

Ginny

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College Composition and Communication (CCC) Journal

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Jennifer

The College Composition and Communication (CCC) journal is put out by the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC).  According to their website, the journal “supports and promotes the teaching and study of college composition and communication” through a variety of ways, including the following:

  1. Sponsoring meetings and publishing scholarly materials for the exchange of knowledge about composition, composition pedagogy, and rhetoric
  2. Supporting a wide range of research in composition, communication, and rhetoric
  3. Working to enhance the conditions for learning and teaching college composition and to promote professional development
  4. Acting as an advocate for language and literacy education nationally and internationally

I remember that CCC was one of the premier academic journals in the English composition field from when I was in my Master’s of English program at Virginia Tech, and I read many articles from this journal as part of my courses and research while in that program.  In addition to my memory, I also inquired with my former mentor and advisor at Virginia Tech to be sure that there wasn’t another teaching-related journal in the field that might be a better choice.  She reaffirmed that CCC is the best journal for teaching in the composition field, and as a well-known and respected composition scholar, I also trust her judgment very much.

A few of the titles of recent articles from the February issue that I found online also confirm that a significant percent of the articles relate directly to teaching in the field, including “Being There: (Re)Making the Assessment Scene” by Chris W. Gallagher, “Toward Graduate-Level Writing Instruction” by Micciche and Carr, and “Review Essay: Beyond Typical Ideas of Writing: Developing a Diverse Understanding of Writers, Writing, and Writing Instruction” by Susan K. Miller-Cochran.

I also know that the annual Conference on College Composition and Communication, known as “Four Cs”, which is affiliated with the CCC journal, is the biggest conference in the field, so the affiliated journal must also include some of the most well-respected figures in the field, most of whom have been teaching for many years and continue to write about their teaching.

I choose this journal for my teaching journal research, and I look forward to reading articles from it that will hopefully help contribute to my growing expertise in teaching composition.  Bain includes very helpful teaching advice, but this journal includes articles that directly relate to my field and should be a good supplemental teaching text.

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