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Faculty Excellence Awards From podcasting in distance education to public policy in Argentina, Walden is supporting a range of faculty research. This year, Walden University awarded 11 Faculty Excellence Fund Grants for a range of research projects. Recipients for 2007 are co-researchers Dr. Patricia Brewer and Dr. Iris Weisman, co-researchers Dr. Sherry Harrison and Dr. John Harrison, and individual researchers Kevin Jarrett, Dr. Marilyn K. Simon and Dr. Patrick O’Shea, all in the College of Education; Dr. Stephanie Cawthon, Dr. Bonnie Nastasi, and co-researchers Dr. Steven G. Little and Dr. Angeleque Akin-Little in the School of Psychology; Dr. Jim Goes in the School of Health Sciences; Jason Lum, J.D., in the School of Public Policy and Administration; and Dr. Thea Singer in the School of Management.
First-Generation Students
Dr. Patricia Brewer and Dr. Iris Weisman, both faculty in Walden’s Community College Leadership specialization in the Ph.D. in Education program, designed their collaborative project to explore the experiences of first-generation college students in two graduate-level distance-education programs. First-generation college students have unique academic needs, and relatively little research has been done on these students’ post-baccalaureate educational experiences, notes Brewer.
“Most literature regarding these students and best practices for their retention and success focuses on the experiences of undergraduates … and had traditionally focused on the needs of students participating in traditional classroom-based learning,” says Brewer, who adds that one broad purpose of the research is to see if the unique needs of these students persist as they progress through graduate education. “Another goal is to explore how students’ experiences can enhance our understanding of best practices surrounding graduate student success—including institutional climate, instructional strategies, faculty development and other aspects of institutional support.”
Their project will use focus groups and interviews and is being conducted with Antioch University-McGregor in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
Assessments and Accommodations for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students
Dr. Stephanie Cawthon will use her grant to conduct the third annual National Survey of Assessments and Accommodations for Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, in the context of the Online Research Lab in Walden’s School of Psychology.
“I have a strong interest in language and literacy development for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as in educational policies that may affect their academic achievement,” Cawthon says. “As a person with a hearing loss, I have had to use many different strategies to increase access to important educational and professional opportunities.”
There are approximately 70,000 students with hearing loss in public schools in the United States, Cawthon notes. Her current scholarship focuses on issues of accountability, particularly those laid out in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation.
“I focus on how these guidelines impact what we know about student achievement for deaf or hard-of-hearing students, who have traditionally been served in residential settings with separate curriculum, different communication modes and specially trained professional staff,” Cawthon says. “With the inclusion movement, there has been a significant trend away from separate educational settings toward mainstreamed education. … This results in a change not only in where students are educated, but what they are taught and who teaches them. Under NCLB, students who are deaf or hard of hearing are included in the assessment and accountability frameworks that seek to improve academic achievement for all students. The study itself is a groundbreaking effort to develop a national snapshot of assessment practices.”
The School of Psychology’s Online Research Lab plays a pivotal role in the development and analysis of the survey, in which 35 Walden students have participated over the last two years.
“This model of research training for graduate students draws upon the unique strengths of asynchronous instruction,” Cawthon says. “The first two implementations of the survey (in spring 2005 and 2006) have resulted in multiple presentations and publications for members of the Online Research Lab and have been noted as significant contributions to the current research literature on accommodations use for deaf students.”
Global Warming
Dr. Jim Goes in the School of Health Sciences will design and administer a large-scale, Web-based survey of managers and business executives regarding their attitudes about global warming, if and how they are planning to respond to the crisis, and what global warming means for their organizations and industries.
“The business sector plays a major role in generating carbon emissions that factor into global warming, yet very little is known about what business executives think of global warming—whether they perceive it as a threat or an opportunity, and how they plan to respond,” Goes says.
A study to determine how corporations are responding to the global challenges will serve Walden well, says Walden College of Education faculty member Dr. Marilyn K. Simon, who recommended Goes for the grant. “It is essential to design executive educational content that involves leaders in developing viable resolutions to the [global warming] crisis,” Simon says.
Schools to Watch
Dr. Sherry Harrison and Dr. John Harrison will examine how a school’s earning “Schools to Watch” status impacts its students’ math and reading achievement in grades 6 through 8. Schools to Watch is an initiative launched by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform in 1999. (The forum is an alliance of more than 60 educators, researchers and officers of national associations and foundations dedicated to improving schools for young adolescents across the country.)
John Harrison is co-chair of the national Schools to Watch committee. He and his wife, Sherry Harrison, will conduct research that asks two key questions:
“Research is needed to determine if becoming a School to Watch has positive achievement outcomes for all students,” says John Harrison, who notes that theirs will be the first research published on the impact of a Schools to Watch designation.
Walden is a sponsor of Michigan Schools to Watch.
Second Life
Jarrett, a K–8 educator, will explore SL from a teen and adult learner perspective, conducting research in both the teen and adult “grids,” (areas where members interact). He agrees with learning-community scholars who believe that game technologies present a powerful opportunity to reach today’s learners. “By embracing these emerging technologies as learning tools and building sound curricula into the virtual environment, we get the best of both worlds: We engage our students on their terms while we utilize appropriate, challenging lesson material,” Jarrett says.
Jarrett's research project blog is available at www.storyofmysecondlife.com.
Hurricane Katrina
Dr. Steven G. Little and Dr. Angeleque Akin-Little intend to use their Faculty Excellence grant to videotape children and youth living in New Orleans and Concordia Parish as the youngsters discuss their varied experiences in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Composing their own narratives is an activity that has been found to help children cope with trauma. With their research, the two will focus on identifying specific factors that help individuals of various backgrounds cope, and sometimes thrive, in the face of adversity.
Public Policy in Argentina
Jason Lum, J.D., will use his Faculty Excellence grant to organize meetings, roundtable discussions and a parallel series of interviews with Argentine public policy professionals and the American ambassador to Argentina regarding post-2001 Argentine economic policy. (It was in 2001 that Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, decided to de-link the Argentine peso from the U.S. dollar.)
Dr. Marion Angelica, dean of the School of Public Policy and Public Administration, says that one of Walden’s new hallmarks seeks the inclusion of a global perspective into its courses. “This study will provide rich insights and examples of public policy and globalism that can be applied in several policy and administration courses,” she says.
Global Well-Being
Dr. Bonnie Nastasi’s grant project, “Promoting Psychological Well-Being Globally,” is an extension of her earlier work focused on the development of school-based mental health programs (for which she was awarded Walden’s Faculty Excellence Award in 2006) and programs for adolescents in post-disaster Sri Lanka and New Orleans.
“The project represents a first step in understanding the psychological health of individuals and schools and communities from a social and cultural perspective and subsequently developing programs to promote the well-being of students through individual and ecological change,” Nastasi says. “It is an important next step in meeting my professional goals related to ensuring access to mental health services for children and adolescents and the development of school psychology programs internationally.”
Podcasting in Distance Education
O’Shea sees the delivery method as a way to improve the “human interaction element” in distance learning.
“If podcasting can be demonstrated to be an effective methodology to not only provide feedback, but also incorporate a humanizing element, … then the process is well worth the effort,” O’Shea says.
Math and Computer Literacy in Mexico
Dr. Marilyn K. Simon will use her grant to set up a math and computer literacy program in Tijuana, Mexico, via The Responsibility Project, a nonprofit organization that helps impoverished children living in or near Tijuana’s municipal landfills.
The Responsibility Project was started more than 25 years ago to help indigent Mexican families who lived and scavenged in the local landfills to make ends meet. Since then, the organization has opened schools and set up a number of programs to promote the families’ education, health and well-being.
Critical Thinking
Dr. Thea Singer was awarded the Faculty Excellence grant to pursue her research into helping graduate students develop critical-thinking skills. She plans to compile the results of her research into a compendium that can be used in Walden’s Ph.D. programs and integrate those ideas into her teaching roles.
Singer has already presented seminars on critical thinking to Walden students with great success. “As a result of my attendance at Dr. Singer’s seminar, I was able to successfully create a resource-mapping spreadsheet based on the critical-thinking tools we were given,” Colleen T. Spear, a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences student, says in a letter of support. “Dr. Singer’s suggestions for research, fact-and-fallacy identification, and feedback techniques are important to me as a scholar-practitioner, and I refer to this information on a regular basis.”
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