Educating Change Agents: Teaching Leading Change to Young Honduran Women

Charles P. Seeley

Grand Canyon University

The Leadership Center (Honduras)

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2018.1.2.1

Honduras is the second poorest country in Central America. Historically and traditionally, the Honduran culture is characterized by machismo, the societal domination of females by males. Poverty, homicide, high unemployment and chronic underemployment, drug and gang violence, and single mother-led households are facts of life for Hondurans, especially in rural areas. The scholarly activity described in this professional profile was conducted in the midst of the economic, social, and cultural challenges facing young Honduran women. The focus of this scholarly activity was to prepare young Honduran women to be successful as agents of change in spite of the challenges that arise in the cultural and economic setting that characterizes rural Honduras. The author hopes that other academics will respond to the call to take up their domain expertise to make a difference in the lives of those most in need somewhere in the world.

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Development of a Virtual Faculty Network Using Flipgrid

Maria Quimba

Grand Canyon University

Pascale Lee

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2018.1.2.2

The new landscape of contingent employment in higher education has presented unique challenges for educational institutions preparing working professionals to assume roles as educators. Unlike their traditional counterparts, adjunct faculty possess disciplinary knowledge and expertise but lack formal, academic preparation for teaching (Anderson, 2009; Cangelosi, Crocker, & Sorrell, 2009; Girard, 2003; Spencer, 2013). Consequently, adjunct faculty require additional tools for on-going development and to feel connected to the organization (AACN, 2017; McDonald, 2010). Such faculty supports influence employee motivation and workplace engagement (Bauer, 2011; Meixner, Kruck, & Madden, 2010) and are positively correlated with job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Gappa, 2000; Lew, 2009). To address the complex needs of adjunct nursing and health professions faculty, the College of Nursing and Health Care Professions has implemented an approach to faculty development using Flipgrid, a video discussion platform. Most commonly used in K-12 education as a learning tool for students, the platform was “flipped” to engage adjunct faculty across health disciplines in a virtual faculty network. Twelve faculty participated in a beta test over the course of a semester to evaluate accessibility, functionality, and overall usefulness of the platform to influence faculty engagement. Results were consistent with the literature pertaining to faculty work engagement (Forbes, Hickey, & White 2010; McDonald, 2010; Raman, 2015). Faculty reported that the professional development activity promoted a sense of community among educators and encouraged collaboration. Ability to engage in meaningful dialog, outside of traditional meetings, was reported as a major theme influencing the sharing of best practices. 

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Preparing Psychology Undergraduates for the Future

Laura R. Terry

Grand Canyon University

Laura Chesniak-Phipps

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2018.1.2.3

The American Psychological Association (APA) separates student learning outcomes into two categories: foundational and baccalaureate. Foundational outcomes are generally built into the lower level course curriculum of the major and typically include an introductory course as well as a methods course (American Psychological Association, 2013). Baccalaureate indicators include specific expectations that a student who does not plan to continue their education needs in order to perform in the field at the completion of the bachelor’s degree (APA, 2013). In 2014, when a programmatic review was conducted on the undergraduate psychology program, a need for change was identified to ensure the program aligned to guidelines set forth by the APA for undergraduate programs. The guidelines help to confirm that students are prepared for a career in the field or graduate school. For this reason, changes to the curriculum included the addition of a foundational course focusing on research, Introduction to Psychological Research and Ethics. To ensure relevancy, a Cognitive Neuroscience course was added to the program. Finally, baccalaureate courses are to incorporate “expectations for performance at the completion of the major” for students who plan to further their education and for those who do not (APA, 2013, p. 4). For this reason, a Professional Capstone Project course was added to the program. With instructor guidance, the capstone course provides students the opportunity to explore and solidify choices post-graduation. This course has been successful; therefore, it has been used as a model to create capstone courses in other disciplines in the college (Freeman, 2012). However, improvements can still be made to ensure that students are prepared to transition to life post-graduation. 

Keywords: professional capstone, undergraduate, psychology, career preparation  

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A Professional Profile of an Award Winning Instructional Team

Shelley Evans

Wake Technical Community College

Cynthia Bowers

Wake Technical Community College

Chris Roddenberry

Wake Technical Community College

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2018.1.2.4

A collaborative effort between members of an instructional design team is the focus of this co-authored professional profile. The purpose of the collaboration was to design a unique and pedagogically sound online general psychology course, with the focus of promoting student engagement and retention. The instructional team prepared for the collaboration by attending professional development and coordinating schedules. Weekly brainstorming sessions were used to develop a course to meet the needs of diverse learners. The course was submitted to Blackboard Inc.'s Exemplary Course Program (ECP), and in March of 2018, the team received news of their exemplary award status. This profile highlights the preparation required and the methods used to collaborate to design an award-winning course.

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Teaching Analytical Instrumental Analysis to Undergraduates in Specialized Degree Programs with Heterogeneous Prior Knowledge: Reflections on Inquiry Based Lecture Activities

Kirsten A Tucker

Florida State University

Peter L. Pingerelli

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2018.1.2.5

An adjunct faculty member and graduate instructional assistant (GIA) introduced inquiry-based activities into a 20-student undergraduate analytical instrumental analysis (AIA) lecture course, and reflect on their teaching assumptions, practices and experiences. The increased need for interdisciplinary scientific programs now has an AIA course serving multiple Bachelor of Science degrees in environmental sciences, forensic sciences, molecular biology, and secondary science education. However, we learned degree specialization also introduces into a course, student populations possessing heterogeneous prior knowledge, making an instructor’s rendering of student prerequisite skills a greater challenge. Guided by a pretest assessment, instructional activities were modified or developed by the authors and aimed at enhancing student engagement and motivation to mitigate prior knowledge gaps, improve analytical problem-solving skills, and facilitate a deeper understanding of modern instrumentation design and function. Detailed activity rationale and descriptions are presented. Activities included using readily available Internet bioinformatics and database tools for analytical problem-solving; demonstrating principles of electronic hardware and software design and integration; and creating interdisciplinary scientific narratives using biological, environmental, and industrial molecular exemplars. Our teaching reflections reference weekly post-lecture instructor/GIA discussions, strategic student questioning, collaborative classroom activity observations, and formative assessments. We propose continual instructional reflection is essential for a course serving multiple specialized degrees programs in a scientific field and facilitates preparation for students entering the workforce or graduate school. Further, our observations suggest inquiry-based, real-world activities relevant to modern instrumentation and its applications, assisted students in resolving heterogeneous prior knowledge gaps.

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Reflective Practice on Social Loafing in College-Level Group Projects

Dalia Sherif

University of Houston-Downtown

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2018.1.2.6

While reflecting on my teaching strategies and researching social loafing for my dissertation, I realized this endeavor has given me a stronger grasp of the pedagogical approaches to facilitate cooperative learning. Observing, sharing, and reflecting on specific social loafing experiences using Gibbs’ reflective framework allowed me, with time, to better conceptualize the dynamics of university-level group projects. Leveraging my experience and insightful research analysis on group dysfunctionalities inside and outside the classroom has gradually reshaped my understanding of the social loafing phenomenon. Nurturing my professional development through this reflective practice allowed me to create an ongoing coaching relationship with students (and later with faculty), and to generate a list of best practices for cooperative learning that can result in higher group achievements and improved learning outcomes. 

Keywords: Teaching, learning, Graham Gibbs’ reflective framework, reflective practice, social loafing, team-based learning, cooperative learning, groups, teams, John Dewey reflective theory, group projects, Stephen Brookfield lenses

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Professional Profile: Facilitating Research Education to Research-Naïve, Healthcare Professionals

Sophia R. Miranda

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2018.1.2.7

Having available research education for novice researchers and other healthcare professionals not currently in the field, allows them to gain knowledge of federal regulations and guidelines associated with conducting human subject research in a healthcare setting. Research education also provides optimal procedures to conduct a successful research study. Therefore, the purpose of facilitating the Clinical Research Coordinator (CRC) 101 training to research-naïve healthcare professionals is to further their exposure to the field and expand their knowledge on the foundation of research, theories, design, and methodologies that are used to conduct clinical and social behavioral research.

Additionally, there is an end-of-training exam that allows the learner to demonstrate their knowledge on what they learned during the training, to ensure that each learner retains the knowledge given. As a result, the primary outcome to this activity is the knowledge gained by the learner.

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