Editorial

Scott W. Greenberger

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2020.3.1.1

Since the first issue in June 2018, the journal has had steady, substantial, and transformative growth. With the completion of Volume 3, Issue 1, the journal has now published 33 articles, involving 49 different scholars affiliated with 10 different universities. We have published innovative manuscripts, such as reflective essays, community engagement portfolios, and professional profiles, as well as standard empirical articles. In addition, we have made the manuscripts available in an open access format on our website, and through the continued and gracious sponsorship of Grand Canyon University, we have published more than 50 print copies for each issue.

Read more here

The Reflective Account of Transitioning Teaching Practices Across Instructional Modalities

Ben Vilkas

Wayne State College

Brandon Juarez

Grand Canyon University 

doi:10.9743/JSE.2020.3.1.2

The current paper presents a reflective account of the transition of teaching practices across instructional modalities for one teacher educator in the Midwest region of the United States. The transition between modalities was deemed by college leadership as an essential means for aiding current students in adding additional educational endorsements to their degree programs. The teacher educator volunteered to transition this course across instructional modalities and decided to apply the principles found within Salomon and Perkins’ research pertaining to transfer of learning theory to reach his desired goal. The goal was to improve upon best practices already developed in the face-to-face modality when tasked with teaching the same course in the online modality. Specifically, the teacher educator introduced the concept of providing teacher candidates with assessment options that aligned with the curriculum objectives and promoted a sense of control for the teacher candidates. Three central challenges were explored through the reflective lens: communication of choices to teacher candidates specific to the asynchronous learning environment, development of manageable assessment options for a condensed online course timeframe, and the creation of communication protocols to support collaborative student engagement and provide support regarding assessment options. The qualitative nature of the study allowed for depth of analysis regarding how the teacher educator thought through and implemented revisions to the course with respect to transitioning the teaching practices to the online modality. The authors conclude the paper by providing recommendations surrounding the continued exploration of how the instructional modality plays part in the transitioning of teaching practices between modalities. 

Keywords: Teacher educators, modalities, higher education, reflective practice

Read more here

Learner Engagement in Optional Discussion Forums: A Reflection on An Online Statistics Course

Tianyi Zhang Ulyshen

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2020.3.1.3

When teaching pre-loaded and ready-to-use online courses, online instructors can integrate some optional discussion forums to tailor their instructions and to redirect teaching to meet instructional objectives. My teaching experiences, however, have revealed a lack of learner engagement in such optional discussion forums. Keeping this problem in mind, I explored possible ways to design and incorporate optional discussion forums in a pre-loaded online statistics course. Learners in this course were non-traditional doctoral learners, and they demonstrated satisfying engagement in these optional discussion forums. Therefore, in this reflection paper, I describe the process to design these optional discussion topics, evaluate learner engagement in optional discussion forums through three dimensions, and share major instructional strategies I used during this course to cultivate student engagement to work on these optional discussion topics. 

Keywords: Cognitive engagement, behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, deep learning, expectancy-value motivation theory, classroom assessment techniques

Read more here

Doctoral Student Research Alliance: Unexpected Challenges in Group Formation

Tara Chavez

Grand Canyon University

John Wade

Grand Canyon University

Scott Greenberger

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2020.3.1.4

The purpose of this reflective practice is to explore the unexpected difficulty experienced by two student members, Tara and John, and their faculty mentor of the fledgling Doctoral Student Research Alliance (DSRA) at a university in the Southwestern United States. The identified problem is the unexpected difficulty in forming the DSRA group. The following are the proposed reasons for the problem: (a) program format, (b) family and professional obligations, (c) group dynamics, and (d) identifying a mentor. In evaluating the reasons, the issue of scheduling conflicts is identified as central to all of the reasons. The identification of imposter syndrome is one surprising insight from the reflective practice. Future research is recommended to explore the effect of imposter syndrome on doctoral student participation, specifically in participation on research teams; to examine more thoroughly the role of faculty mentors in doctoral student development, specifically as it relates to small group dynamics; and to investigate the effect of scheduling conflicts and other challenges on the longevity of mentor driven doctoral research groups.

Keywords: imposter syndrome, group dynamics, mentorship, scheduling conflicts

Read more here

Key Elements for a Doctoral Annotated Bibliography

John Bryan

Grand Canyon University

Donna Graham

Grand Canyon University

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2020.3.1.5

The purpose of this article is to present an overview of why annotated bibliographies are needed in higher education, especially in doctoral education programs. The necessity for emerging scholars to build an annotated bibliography is paramount to the development of their research study. However, there are numerous types of annotated bibliographies. This article will discuss the different types of annotations and which format best facilitates the development of a dissertation.

Read more here

Women’s Leadership Development: A Reflective Examination of The Leadership Center in Honduras

Charles P. Seeley

Grand Canyon University

The Leadership Center (Honduras)

Joseph Rahm

The Leadership Center (Honduras)

doi: 10.9743/JSE.2020.3.1.6

The opportunity behind this specific reflective practice is the transition of senior leadership of The Leadership Center in Honduras. The outgoing executive director, a U.S. missionary, is returning to the US with his family.  A successful transition is critically important to all stakeholders because of the significant impact that The Leadership Center is having on young Honduran women and their communities. The authors applied the techniques of reflective practice and the literature of women’s leadership development to analyze two major areas of practice for The Leadership Center: (1) values, and (2) women’s leadership development. This reflective practice seeks to explore and address two critical questions. First, how well are we living out the stated values of The Leadership Center, and what can we do to live out our values more fully (Leitch & Day, 2000; Whitehead, 1989)? Second, how can we improve the practice of women’s leadership development at The Leadership Center (Leitch & Day, 2000; Whitehead, 1989)? The outcome of this reflective practice will be a valuable element in the transition process and will serve as a guide to improve the practice of women’s leadership development at The Leadership Center.

Read more here