Beyond the Traditional Essay: Increasing Student Agency in a Diverse Classroom with Nondisposable Assignments

Edited by Melissa Ryan, Alfred University and Kerry Kautzman

This volume offers a range of responses to the problem of “disposable assignments,” essays written just for a grade and then thrown away. The scholars collected here explore how renewable assignments can contribute to public knowledge, eliciting student work that is shared across networks of learning, that does something, that transcends the teacher’s grade. Although there is significant interest in such innovative teaching practices, particularly in this year of pedagogical experimentation, there are few resources for teachers that collect in one place both scholarly context and practical advice for implementing renewable assignments in the classroom. The essays in this volume range widely, from demonstrating how digital tools engage and empower reluctant learners, to raising theoretical questions around intellectual property, to measuring the success of renewable assignments through outcomes assessment.

Poetic Inquiry: Unearthing the Rhizomatic Array Between Art and Research

Adam Vincent, Capilano University; The University of British Columbia, Canada

This book identifies and describes facets of poetic inquiry, a research method/methodology/tool that uses poetry in the research process (information gathering, analysis and/or dissemination). Specifically, this book explores how and why it is in use, provides revelations around its unparalleled function(s) in research, and presents an exemplification of a close reading approach, trialled in the study framed in the book, that can draw further knowledge from the products of poetic inquiry studies. Poetic inquiry studies are somewhat established, and their findings are being published in academic journals and books however, poetic inquiry is currently undertheorized and noticeably missing from notable research methods textbooks and publications that discuss the merits of arts-based research. This may have the negative result of knowledge being lost or overlooked that could hold answers to previously unanswered questions that exist across the disciplines. In response to this problem, this book (drawing from the doctoral research study therein), highlights poetic inquiry’s theoretical underpinnings and pragmatic uses in research and scholarship that can be adopted and adapted by new and established scholars. This is done using the tenets of poetic inquiry as a frame and includes in-depth literature review and an exploration of the findings of interview with four notable poetic inquiry scholars in education in Canada. Detailed profiles for each participant have been created to analyze and emphasize their distinctive poetics and approaches to scholarship. Lastly, this book considers ways that poetic inquiry can inform teaching practices, as poetry is seen to permeate the participants’ lives and influence their approaches to teaching at the post-secondary level. This book is written for both early career and well-established scholars who have an interest in exploring ways that poetic inquiry (which marries art and epistemology) can enhance their research and teaching practices.

So You Want to be a Dean? Pathways to the Deanship

Edited by Kate Conley, William & Mary and Shaily Menon, University of New Haven

This volume comprises chapters by humanist and interdisciplinary arts and sciences faculty who became academic deans, with reflections on how they used their position to further the liberal arts, fulfill special projects, and play a leadership role in shared governance on their campuses. These chapters shed light on how these colleagues were motivated to join the administration in public and private, large and small institutions, how their career pathways led them there, what their jobs entailed, what was some of the satisfaction they derived from their work, and, in some cases, how they felt about the experience. So You Want to be a Dean? provides a critical update to the experience of academic leadership at American colleges and universities during the pandemic because of the focus on leading a liberal arts faculty through Covid-19. The core focus of the volume is on the experience of leadership through personal reflections provided by academic leaders, the spark that motivates them to serve their colleagues and their university in their capacity as deans. This volume will greatly benefit mid-career academics in all fields working at American liberal arts colleges and universities who are curious about possible pathways into administration for faculty and the rewards that such career choices may hold.

A Socially Just Classroom: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Teaching Writing Across the Humanities

Edited by Kristin Coffey, The Evergreen State College and Vuslat Katsanis, The Evergreen State College

This edited collection provides a range of transdisciplinary approaches to the teaching of writing across the Humanities through the lens of inclusion and equity in higher education. In three parts - From Disciplinary Practice to Transdisciplinary Application, The Collective We: Transparent Pedagogy in Praxis, Power in Presence: From Chalkboard to Pavement - the chapters focus on teaching triumphs and challenges, specific learning objectives and best practices, theories and their applications, and concrete examples of campus action within specific institutional or socio-historical contexts. In whole, the book represents what a socially just classroom looks like from first-year university writing classes, to advanced graduate studies, and the impact of learning beyond the university. Building on the scholarship of equity in higher education, the book forefronts transdisciplinary pedagogies with chapters representing language and literature, creative writing, cultural and ethnic studies, women and gender studies, and media studies. While we understand social justice as a multifaceted and ever expanding effort, we affirm the essential role of classroom instructors as the foundational actors in cultivating and sustaining inclusion and equity. We also acknowledge the current challenges of teaching brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which intensifies previously existing issues surrounding housing, employment, healthcare, and the legal residency status of many students. By fostering a conversation around writing pedagogy in a comparative and transdisciplinary context, we encourage educators to translate the resources available in their fields in a collective effort to close the equity gaps. At the same time, we intend for this book to provide a context where younger faculty and diverse students can redefine the college classroom while empowering each other within their chosen institutions.

The Changing Faces of Higher Education

From Boomers to Millennials

Edited by Mitchell B. Mackinem, Wingate University et al.

In a time of rapid change and arising challenges, Millennials are the latest generation to enter high education institutions as junior faculty, administrators, researchers, and scholars. As with each generation they bring new values, perspectives, technological expertise, and expectations. Higher education is facing potentially overwhelming challenges in finances, student debt, relevance, non-traditional hiring, with some institutions facing closure. Academic leaders, often Baby Boomers, attempt to meet these challenges while still tied to traditions from a bygone time. The Changing Faces of Higher Education gives voice to Millennial academics and their perspective of higher education. This thought-provoking volume provides the insights and lessons from Millennials working in higher education across various subfields. The contributing authors speak from divergent institutions including small mid-western private colleges to larger East coast public institutions and many locations in-between. The contributing authors are not limited to faculty but covers a range of professionals working in higher education. While diverse, all the authors focus on the challenges in teaching, mentorship, and leadership, challenges related to diversity, and improving technology and research. The thirteen chapters in this book address ongoing challenges faced by Millennials working in higher education, offers advice and best practices, and addresses the ways that Millennials serve as a bridge between their “Boomer” colleagues and Gen Z who make up the majority of currently enrolled college students. Each chapter presents the experiences of the author(s) and the strategies utilized to navigate the increasingly fast changing landscape of higher education.

Between Truth and Falsity: Liberal Education and the Arts of Discernment

Edited by Karim Dharamsi, Mount Royal University, Canada and David Ohreen, Mount Royal University, Canada

It seems we are awash in information. From the moment we wake until we turn over our phones at night, we are bombarded with images and messages, news and information from a confounding number of sources. But as the amount of information available to us increases ever more rapidly, its quality and reliability seem less credible. Russian troll bots, 4chan, Breitbart, and Rebel Media, challenge our credulity, but they do so by mimicking aesthetic registers consumers expect of “traditional” media outlets. Moreover, traditional news sources, both privately owned and public broadcasters, already weakened by eroding revenue, cuts to budgets, and shifting demographics, are under sustained attack from those who wish to damage their ability to hold powerful people to account. Instead of a multi-perspectival approach, which seeks to report to the public the many ways to address a particular issue, taking the reporter’s role as neutral with regard to outcome, “fake” or “ideologically” driven news sources compete for audience attention and faithfulness, often using emotion to rally people toward a certain political cause or issue. Academics, meanwhile, have their work attacked and undermined by people or groups seeking to advance political or economic interests. They are told they too are political actors, one more voice in a messy public arena instead of a font of reliable information and knowledge. While academics continue to believe that their work, at least in part, enhances our understanding of the world and informs debate, how do we know that their conclusions are indeed more reliable than their critics in the “post-truth” era? ‘Between Truth and Falsity: Liberal Education and the Arts of Discernment’ will aid academics and students seeking to better grasp the value of liberal education within this post-truth era. It seeks to advance pedagogical ideas in order to fight factual erosion and reinforce intellectual capacities that are able to critically assess the chaos of information enveloping all segments of society. This volume will therefore be of particular interest to academics and university educators working in higher education, graduate students theorizing the nature of media and the role of higher education, undergraduates studying liberal education and the nature of the university, and those thinking about liberal education.

Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Spaces: Shaping Futures and Envisioning Unity in Diversity and Transformation

Edited by Zilungile Lungi Sosibo, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa and Eunice Ndeto Ivala, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa

Higher education in post-apartheid South Africa was always likely to attract academic interest, and yet there remains a dearth of research on creating teaching and learning spaces suitable for students from diverse backgrounds. Using examples from higher education institutions across the Southern African Developing Community (SADC) region, this volume explores the ways teaching and learning spaces are being used to advance the transformation agenda of higher education in these regions, and provides concrete recommendations for the future. The book is sure to appeal to academics from a variety of disciplines - from African, African American and ethnic studies to education and sociology. It will be of particular interest to teacher trainers, administrators and policy-makers working in higher education, and anyone else with a stake in managing cultural diversity in education.

Intercultural Education: Kosovo Stories of Struggle and Resilience

Edited by Cameron White, University of Houston and Blerim Saqipi, University of Prishtina, Kosovo

“Intercultural Education: Kosovo Stories of Struggle and Resilience” offers stories that challenge traditional conceptions regarding often unknown or ignored histories. The efforts and fortitude of Kosovo and its people provide a thought-provoking case study to learn from history. Kosovo still suffers from issues of poverty, development, and global recognition. The ongoing story of education in Kosovo comes alive with educators sharing individual perspectives regarding their struggles and resolve as students, teachers and parents. Although the focus is on Kosovo, the hope is that an intercultural awareness arises in place of the traditional international understanding. Celebrating culture, perspective, difference, and similarity is a primary focus of this book, which aspires to encourage readers to build bridges through intercultural education. This collection will be of interest both to faculty, students, researchers, and scholars in education and cultural studies, and to members of international education organizations.

Mastering the Art of Co-Teaching: Building More Collaborative Classrooms

Edited by Nicholas D. Young, American International College et al.

Today, more than ever, greater emphasis is placed on inclusive practices and the collaboration between general and special educators to ultimately ensure student success. 'Mastering the Art of Co-Teaching: Building More Collaborative Classrooms' addresses research-based strategies, practices and theories which can be readily translated into classroom practice. Important issues that commonly arise in co-teaching partnerships, as well as professional and personal challenges faced by teachers are also tackled. Tackling important issues that commonly arise in co-teaching partnerships, as well as professional and personal challengers often faced by teachers, this book provides educators with the most effective co-teaching strategies and tools available, aiding the success of collaborative efforts in the classroom.

The changing face of ESP in today's classroom and workplace

Edited by Nalan Kenny, King's Leadership Academy Liverpool and Linda Escobar, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Spain

Despite the growth and development of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) as an area of study since the 1960s, few books related to classroom applications in combination with other disciplines such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), English Language Teaching (ELT), or English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI), exist. Each section of this volume includes scholarly written studies from across the globe, indicating the extent and the importance ESP has in the current academic world. Filling the present void in available material on this subject, this book contains various useful and effective applications of ESP, teaching activities for classroom settings, as well as insights on how ESP can be combined with, and adopted by, other disciplines. Written from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, this text is sure to contribute to this field and will be of interest to ESP teachers, as well as postgraduate and undergraduate students.

Capital, capabilities and culture: a human development approach to student and school transformation

Cliona Hannon, The University of Dublin

This book applies the capability approach as an evaluative lens through which to explore the range of capabilities that emerged over a three-year period, through the Trinity Access 21 – College for Every Student (TA21-CFES) higher education access project in four schools. Qualitative analysis is presented from a longitudinal study of four schools over a three-year period, drawing on data from four student focus groups involving 21 student participants and 14 individual student interviews. An additional sixteen school personnel contributed in interviews. There are three main findings: first, specific student capabilities emerge because of their engagement in the TA21-CFES core practices of Leadership, Mentoring and Pathways to College. These are: autonomy, practical reason/college knowledge, identity, social relations and networks and hope. Second, students encounter a range of inhibiting social conversion factors in developing capabilities and persisting with higher education aspirations. These are: the negative pull of peer relations; pressure related to the Junior Certificate; limited subject choice and conflicting family expectations. Third, it is the combination of their own emerging capability set along with a network of trusted relationships with others that enables them to overcome potentially corrosive disadvantage and translate their experiences into fertile functionings. It is proposed that these findings have national and international relevance for widening participation interventions. The research makes a methodological contribution as it is the first use of qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) in Ireland within a ‘lived’ project aimed at working-class students over a three-year period. It contributes empirically as it provides new knowledge about the impact of interventions aimed at developing students’ capability set and how these might help them to develop navigational capital and post-secondary educational aspirations. It also makes a conceptual contribution to how we frame the design and evaluation of impact of widening participation initiatives, as it takes a capability approach to considering how students develop higher education aspirations over time, towards what they consider ‘a life of value’. It is useful to researchers, practitioners and policy makers who are interested in taking an evidence-based approach to developing higher education access programmes.

Acceptance, Understanding, and the Moral Imperative of Promoting Social Justice Education in the Schoolhouse

Nicholas D. Young, American International College et al.

This book examines the critical issues associated with the topic of social justice in primary and secondary education. Understanding the challenges related to educational inequity requires a comprehensive and systematic re-examination of educational reform; specifically, this book defines social justice education, offers different perspectives from major thought leaders and examines the challenges faced by different populations when it comes to receiving equal opportunity and treatment. Emphasis will be placed on programs, approaches and strategies to increasingly teach tolerance, respect, and understanding within and between these groups and members of the majority culture. The focus, then, will be on educational practices designed to prepare students from diverse backgrounds to be active, contributing, and fully participatory members of our contemporary society. This book is most appropriate for preservice and veteran teachers, school and educational psychologists, related special education service professionals, educational administrators, guidance counselors, graduate education professors, policymakers, parents, and student leaders who wish to gain a better understanding of how social justice can and should become a valuable part of the educational landscape.

Children and Languages Today

First and Second Language Literacy Development

Edited by Željka Flegar, University of Osijek, Croatia and Ivana Moritz, University of Osijek, Croatia

Motivated by the need to bring together researchers involved in the acquisition, learning and teaching of the Croatian language and foreign languages to learners at lower elementary level, the recurring scientific conferences Children and Languages Today were established in 2001. At the time the Croatian academic community was short of a conference that was dedicated entirely to critical thinking and the exchange of research findings, outcomes and experience in these particular study areas. As it turns out, Children and Languages Today has served as an incentive for other conferences and meetings in Croatia that continue to promote research in the fields of first and second language acquisition of young learners. Children and Languages Today: First and Second Language Literacy Development is the outcome of the conference held in 2017 at the Faculty of Education, University of Osijek. It is a collection of papers by experts on a wide range of topics that include developing literacy in teaching first and second languages and encompassing different fields of science and expertise, such as children's literature, bilingualism, metaphor usage, translation, vocabulary, narrative and orthography. This book hopes to shed light on and open up an array of questions in the area of literacy development.

Empathic Teaching: Promoting Social Justice in the Contemporary Classroom

Nicholas D. Young, American International College et al.

Empathic Teaching: Promoting Social Justice in the Contemporary Classroom is written for those who are committed to employing social justice practices in the classroom. The intent is to educate the next generation to value tolerance and to have respect and empathy for others in society. While this tome will largely focus on understanding the role that equity should play in P-12 education, it will do so with an acute awareness that there are myriad factors that influence student engagement and the motivation to learn. Although some of the subjects under consideration have been written about elsewhere broadly, this tome will offer a unique contribution by examining each from a social equity perspective. As schools move to ensure a more inclusive and well-rounded student body, this book will be a substantial asset to anyone interested in advancing a social justice agenda.

Captivating Campuses: Proven Practices that Promote College Student Persistence, Engagement and Success

Nicholas D. Young, American International College et al.

What role does student engagement play in educational achievement on the post-secondary campus? And, what factors affect each student’s ability and motivation to engage with the full college experience, both in and outside of the classroom? It is now widely acknowledged that post-secondary institutions must not only focus on facilitating the transition from high school to college, but that they must also make a concerted effort to listen to the needs and experiences of their students in order to achieve maximal involvement within the college environment. Students need to be captivated by at least one element of their college experience - whether that be in the classroom, dorm, or extracurricular activities - in order to form a bond with their institution and feel motivated and attached enough to put in the hard work until graduation. Campuses that capture their students’ interests and passions, provide spaces for them to develop as individuals, and opportunities to form meaningful professional and personal relationships have a far greater chance of both retaining their students to graduation and helping them develop as whole human beings who will contribute. This book studies the many facets of student engagement as it attempts to define student engagement, differentiating it from involvement, and covers seminal theories of college student engagement. The contributions to this volume discuss the powerful role that relationships play in helping students identify their interests and talents, and other examples of best practice when it comes to creating engaging classroom experiences, such as collaborative projects with peers, study abroad, and learning that is situated in real-life problems that are of importance to the student.

Design School: After Boundaries and Disciplines

Edited by Paul A. Rodgers, University of Strathclyde, UK and Craig Bremner, Charles Sturt University, Australia

By examining the contemporary situation of the Design School from a global perspective, this book explores how the structure of design learning and teaching, research and practice, is being transformed by a number of internal, external, and contextual factors and the implications of these factors for future iterations of the Design School. Exploring contemporary design education, this book asks whether Design Schools are shaping a new type of designer, or if tomorrow’s designers will emerge from other professions such as business, health care, education, and computing, where design ‘thinking’ is now regularly applied. The book is proposed at a time when governments and markets across the world are reshaping education. In a time of rapid and intensive change, it looks internationally at the shape of the Design School of the future. The book has been developed from a series of summits that explored the future of the contemporary Design School informed by international perspectives from high level invited speakers from design education, culture and industry who were asked: * How can a Design School in the age of the Anthropocene best prepare future designers for this complex world? * How can the Design School maximize the potential opportunities suggested by this future, uncertain world at a time of rapid and intensive change? * Having changed the planet how should the Design School react to the planet changing us? The three summits reflect three significant turns in the contemporary Design School. The first focused on the current issues surrounding the Design School from the academic perspective. The second summit examined the increasingly intensive relationship between industry and Design Schools. The third summit focused on the increasingly close relationship between the Design School and the Cultural Sector. The book includes essays from the expanding landscape of the Design School, including educational providers, the design museum sector, the international design festival circuit and influential practitioners engaged in design education. The essays in this book provide a valuable, comprehensive examination of the future of the Design School and render a unique forecast of its probable trajectory.

From Sentences to Essays: A Guide to Reflective Writing through Reflective Thinking

Student's Edition

Mara Cogni, Oslo Adult Education Center Sinsen, Norway

There is hardly any doubt that reading and writing are related activities, and that both rely on creating meaning. When we read, as well as when we write, we find ourselves in the process of becoming. We change our knowledge and understanding along the way. However, writing is a daunting activity not only for language learners but for anyone who wants to communicate their thoughts and ideas persuasively and accurately. When students engage in speaking activities, they are often able to communicate extraordinarily interesting ideas with few problems. Yet, when asked to form these ideas into coherent texts, they seem helpless. From basic sentence structure to writing persuasively, this book aims to help students tackle the various challenges and difficulties they face when writing. Divided into three accessible sections, Cogni presents a comprehensive and reflective approach to writing that combines grammar, vocabulary, and literature into a simultaneous and coherent whole. Cogni acknowledges that today more than ever learning a language needs to be perceived as a deeply meaningful process, and this book seeks to make that possible.

Artistic Pedagogical Technologies: A Primer for Educators

Katherine J. Janzen, Mount Royal University, Canada et al.

Research has shown that what students desire most in the post-secondary milieu is engagement. As traditional forms of teaching that include lecture or PowerPoint presentations no longer adequately engage today’s technology adept students, educators may find themselves at a loss for where to locate teaching strategies which both engage students, and are tried and tested in an actual classroom setting. This book does just that. It provides a critical look at not only what is lacking in today’s classrooms to promote engagement, but actual solutions and strategies to help nurse educators as they prepare to teach. Artistic Pedagogical Technologies were first envisioned by Dr. Beth Perry in 2005, while over twelve years of research confirms that these arts-based teaching strategies actually work. As theory-based topics can be among the most difficult to engage students, included in this book are selected lesson plans that have been employed in actual classrooms. In total thirty five strategies are provided that can be utilized in a variety of classroom settings and applied to various nursing topics. Students, as part of the human family, have an innate need to be creative. This creativity can display itself within Artistic Pedagogical Technologies as a melding of technology, edutainment and play. The strategies in Artistic Pedagogical Technologies: A Primer for Educators have changed the classroom life of the authors as educators, and they can change your teaching too.

Argumentation Strategies in the Classroom

Chrysi Rapanta, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal

Argumentation as a teaching and learning method in the K-12 curriculum has received increasing attention across the globe. The reason for this is simple: argumentation helps students develop necessary critical thinking skills. However, teaching this method is not as straightforward as it may appear. Placing the classroom at the centre of the investigation, this book seeks to throw light onto argumentation as a teaching practice by asking: What does it take to teach as argument? What does it mean to be ‘argumentative’ teachers? And, how can we create classroom environments that will help and encourage young people to develop their argument skills? Based on first-hand experience and extensive research, this volume guides the reader through argumentation with the focus placed on the relationship between this teaching method and effective learning and the need to investigate the role of teachers in encouraging argumentation in the classroom. Although there are a considerable number of tools and techniques that promote argumentation in the K-12 classroom, many teachers struggle to successfully implement them in the classroom. Aimed at addressing this issue, this book endeavours to instruct teachers on how to apply argumentation effectively in their day-to-day classes and to clarify argumentation as a teaching and learning strategy. As an important contribution to the field of argumentation and education, this book will be of interest to researchers, post-graduate students, and secondary school teachers, alike.

Creating Compassionate Classrooms: Understanding the Continuum of Disabilities and Effective Educational Interventions

Nicholas D. Young, American International College et al.

Throughout the chapters of this book, the reader will be introduced to the thirteen disability categories included in IDEA (specific learning disabilities, emotional/behavioral disorders, autism, other health impaired, intellectually disabled, multiple disabilities, speech or language impairments, traumatic brain injury, hearing impairment, deaf/blind, deafness, visual impairment, and orthopedic impairment), using the legally established definitions. Lengthy descriptions of best practices, modifications and accommodations follow, offering a complete picture of each disability and how educators and parents collaboratively can assist the struggling student. To set the stage, the book begins with chapters that discuss special education in general, response to intervention as an intermediary step in the academic continuum of support, and the individualized education plan process. Subsequent chapters examine each of the thirteen aforementioned IDEA disability categories, which have not been commonly incorporated into one comprehensive resource; however, for the sake of brevity, some disability categories have been combined when doing so did not impact practice implications. Emphasis is placed on effective classroom strategies and interventions associated with each disability category with the intent of providing practitioners and those who support them with the information and tools necessary to support students with identified educational needs. To the extent possible, the primary authors sought to ensure this resource was practical and user-friendly for educators who work directly with students with the range of recognized disabilities. This book demystifies the special education process and disability categories as well as offers educators and their families the tools to help our students, who have one or more disabilities, find life-long success. Ensuring the best for our students with disabilities requires that we first acknowledge and support the hard work and deep commitment of those professionals and parents/guardians who devote their lives to teaching, reaching, mentoring and advocating for those most vulnerable in our classrooms.