Classroom Experience Research Articles

“We don’t feel like we belong”: Graduate Students’ of Color Racialized Experiences in Hybrid HESA Graduate Programs

Using Critical Race Theory and sense of belonging, we examined the racialized experiences of 17 graduate Students of Color in hybrid higher education and student affairs (HESA) graduate preparation programs in the United States to understand how faculty members contribute to their sense of belonging. The experiences of graduate Students of Color in hybrid HESA programs are complex and multi-layered; therefore, this study used a critical phenomenological approach to examine how their racialized experiences influence their experiences in hybrid classrooms. Graduate Students' of Color racialized experiences were shaped by three factors, which are illustrated in the findings: faculty ability to discuss acts of racism, racialized experiences with faculty, and including diverse perspectives in the classroom. Participants’ experiences illuminate the importance of applying culturally conscious approaches to program development, curriculum, advising, and pedagogical practices, especially for graduate Students of Color. Implications and recommendations for hybrid HESA graduate programs coordinators and faculty are described in-depth, including recommendations for how higher education scholars can situate equity and inclusion into hybrid classroom conversations and everyday interactions with graduate Students of Color.

K-12 Teachers’ Perceptions and Experiences in Starting to Teach Computer Science

New curriculum reform across the United States requires teacher educators to rapidly develop and implement professional development (PD) for K-12 teachers, newly assigned to teach computer science (CS). One of the many inherent challenges in providing valuable PD is knowing what it is that novice CS teachers most need. This quantitative research study was designed to inform the iterative development of a K-12 CS Teaching Endorsement program offered at a small college in the rural Rocky Mountain west, based on participants’ perceptions of the program, before and after attempting to teach the CS curriculum provided by the endorsement program. The overarching research question guiding this study is: What differences might exist between teachers’ perceived needs for CS-based professional development before and after actual classroom teaching experiences with CS? To pursue this question, the following null hypothesis was tested: H0: No measurable change exists in teachers’ perceptions regarding the impact of PD before and after teaching. The research study used a 29-item Likert-style survey, organized into categories to measure participants’ perceptions across five subscales. Thirteen teachers completed the targeted K-12 CS Endorsement program in May and July 2021, seven of whom subsequently taught CS in K-12 schools for the first time. Of these seven, 100% participated in this research study. After gaining classroom experience, the survey results showed very few differences before and after the endorsement program. These results suggest that CS-based PD can be more effective if the PD better targets enhancing teachers’ confidence in teaching actual students and providing more useful classroom-ready instructional materials rather than targeting improving teachers’ knowledge of CS concepts.

Start With Cats! Innovative Virtual Opportunities that Bring the Community Into the Classroom

Virtual field trips and programming were one way in which K-12 teacher librarians leveraged their resources, expanded equitable access, and pivoted during in-person school closures of the pandemic. Creative virtual programming provides equity of access and connects classrooms with rich and diverse experiences and perspectives. Virtual experiences can remove geographic and economic barriers, provide access to resources and strengthen community connections. This article discusses practical teaching and programming strategies that leverage video conferencing systems to create virtual classroom experiences which enhance lessons, embrace diversity, build community connections, and provide equity of access to resources.

A Framework for Transitioning to Virtual Classes During Life-Threatening Pandemics Like COVID-19

This research explains the benefits and challenges of virtual classes as experienced by university students during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The limited research on university students' experiences in virtual classrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted physical classes and forced educational institutions to blindly switch from physical classes to virtual classes, served as the inspiration for this study. The absence of a framework for smoothly transitioning from physical classes to virtual classes challenged this process. Furthermore, relatively few studies have been done on the empirical context of a developing nation with distinct social and economic circumstances, concerning university students' experiences of virtual classrooms during COVID-19. Thus a quantitative study using a single case study of a university in Southern Africa was guided by the duality of structure in Giddens Structuration Theory, which explains students' experiences by highlighting both positive aspects—such as flexibility, collaboration, accessibility, and availability of course materials—and negative aspects—such as high costs, boredom, and a lack of resources and training. Analysis was done using Microsoft Excel and the findings also showed how, during the COVID-19 epidemic, structures of dominance, signification, and legitimacy formed as a result of behaviors related to leadership, resources, empowerment, and adoption, which both facilitated and hampered the smooth transition to virtual classrooms. The paper concluded by proposing a framework for transitioning to virtual classes during life-threatening situations like the COVID-19 pandemic. Although not generalizable across all university contexts, these findings provide a foundation for understanding the university students’ experiences in virtual classes during COVID-19. These findings have both practical and theoretical implications since they both provide an explanation of experiences in virtual classes as well as propose a framework for guiding the process of moving away from physical classes towards virtual classes during life-threatening situations.

Ready Player One: Gamification of a Criminal Justice Course

In 2021, the global video game industry was estimated to be worth more than $178 billion. That year, there were more than 2.9 billion active gamers in the world who spent an average of 12 hours a week playing video games. What if we could get our students as invested in their coursework as they are in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare? The purpose of this study was to examine whether gamification techniques could be employed in a criminal justice course and to assess student engagement and attitudes towards the gamified course structure. Class observations and survey data suggested that the gamified structure of the course was received favorably by the students and increased student engagement with the course material. The findings indicate that gamification made the learning experience unique and resulted in a layer of meaning and engagement to the students’ classroom experience.

A REFLECTIVE REVIEW OF INSTRUCTOR AND LEARNER STORYTELLING IN LEADERSHIP EDUCATION

Storytelling is one of many instructional strategies used in leadership education with the promise of providing transformative learning through individual and communal meaning-making. In this application manuscript, we offer examples and discussion of how learners identify storytelling in course design and approach, and their perception of its impact in classroom experiences. We present two undergraduate leadership courses at our former respective institutions and reflect on how learner insights about storytelling can inform future course design and delivery. Framing teaching and learning as a relational enterprise, storytelling can facilitate purposeful, inclusive, ethical, and process-oriented learning when used as an instructional strategy. Additionally, our reflection provides leadership educators with a broader view of the responsibilities incurred when using storytelling and offers strategies to build trust and community in classroom spaces.

Leveraging the epistemic emotion of awe as a pedagogical tool to teach science

ABSTRACT Awe is a complex emotion theorised to impact science learning and practice. In science education, awe has the potential to motivate explanation-seeking, promote conceptual change, and instill feelings of connectedness to the natural world. This exploratory study examined teachers’ experiences with awe as well as their uses of awe in their science instruction. Thirty-four elementary (grades 4-5; n =14) and middle school (grades 6-7; n = 20) teachers completed a survey of awe perceptions and experiences and participated in a semi-structured interview. Results showed that science teachers report using awe-invoking classroom experiences in a variety of science disciplines with the intention of leveraging the emotional response in ways that facilitate learning outcomes and inspire long-term science interest. Teachers also reported numerous dispositional factors they perceived as being influential in governing awe experiences in science instruction including age, prior experiences, interest, curiosity, and the presence of co-occurring emotions. This study adds to the developing body of work around awe and science instruction, supports the findings from other fields related to the epistemic and self-transcendent nature of awe, and suggests that awe can be used to enhance science teaching and learning.

University Student Perceptions on the Use of Online-Based Technology in Flipped Classrooms

This study explores the experiences and perceptions of 59 first-year university students on flipped learning systems over the course of one semester. The students carried out three separate sessions of flipped methodology classes, utilising a variety of online tools for teaching and communicating with each other. Results indicated that while the students had very little prior knowledge and experience in a flipped classroom, they were generally positive in their initial perception of the learning strategy. Furthermore, the students fully embraced the entire process albeit with some apprehension regarding their peer's motivation and efficiency in conducting the flipped sessions. A pre-sessional survey was conducted at the start of the semester as well as post-sessional surveys after each flipped session to gauge any particular changes in the students' perceptions throughout the study. The overall findings showed positive reception from the students regarding flipped classrooms with notable mentions of improved confidence and the development of active learning approaches.

Summer Programming Camps – Exploring Project-Based Informal CS Education in a Rural Community

This paper makes several considerations for organizing short project-based programming camps to support programming knowledge and motivation. The paper addresses how current research has not explored how summer programming camps helped students not only increase interest to pursue computing career, but also increase their programming knowledge. Informal CS education through summer programming camps provides K-12 students the opportunity to learn how to code through fun and interactive activities outside of their typical classroom experiences. For rural communities with limited computing education resources, summer programming camps may be one of few opportunities to learn about computing. A one-week easy-to-implement programming camp curriculum may help students not only have fun with code but also learn fundamental programming and computational thinking skills through game development. Our annual week-long programming camp at a rural community utilized a project-based learning approach through game development in Python. Findings showed that students were able to achieve basic abstraction and algorithmic thinking but not code analysis and debugging skills. On their motivation to pursue computing careers, results did not show any difference before and after the camp due to their prior existing interest in attending the camp.

A flipped classroom experience in the context of a pandemic: Cooperative learning as a strategy for meaningful student learning

Through an initial documentary analysis of the flipped classroom in the context of a pandemic and of the new pedagogical models based on active methodologies or pedagogies and cooperative learning, the experience presented below is part of an innovation project based on the design of cooperative activities focused on students to enhance their meaningful learning and with the aim of improving their satisfaction and motivation and thus, as a consequence, their academic performance. For the evaluation of this experience, in which 29 students from the theoretical-experimental subject of General Chemistry participated from the Technological Bases Engineering training plan of the Universidad Católica del Norte, three data collection instruments were administered based on the use of the questionnaire and the interview with the students during and at the end of the experience. The main results show high acceptance and satisfaction with the design of the innovation; an improvement in the development of teamwork competence; and a significant impact of the active methodologies and cooperative learning strategies implemented in increasing the academic performance of students.

Impact of industrial partnerships in the acoustics program at Kettering University

Kettering University has an experiential learning model in which students typically alternate between academic and cooperative work terms every quarter during their entire undergraduate degree program. In this approach, industrial partners play a particularly critical role. In this talk, we will discuss how partnerships with industry have impacted our classroom experiences and inspired curricular elements that incorporate theoretical, computational, and experimental approaches to solve problems in acoustics. We will highlight some of the work related to acoustics that students have done in their co-op projects and how students have served as a bridge between the academic and corporate environments. The course “Acoustics in the Human Environment” has recently benefited from a grant from the Head Acoustics Foundation. The course was revamped in Spring 2022 to include more detailed analysis and a jury study that make use of this donation. The course “Acoustic Testing and Modeling” uses Siemens Simcenter Testlab to acquire experimental data and Comsol for computer simulations. Recently, this course has added a module on Laser Doppler Vibrometry that makes use of equipment from Polytec. The efforts in these courses have enabled students to be better prepared for acoustic testing projects for a thesis or co-operative employment terms.

Exploring University Students’ Perceptions of Metaverse-Based Classroom in Foreign Language Pedagogy Course

With the metaverse emerging as the next leap in the evolution of the Internet in the post-pandemic era, a wealth of opportunities are expected to emerge in the educational sector. As a pioneer study, this research project is aimed at exploring pedagogical values of the metaverse-based classroom in a university setting. The three research questions for this study are: 1) What are the levels of students’ overall satisfaction in metaverse-based classrooms? 2) What is the user experience of the metaverse platform? and 3) What are the strengths/weaknesses of the metaverse-based classroom as perceived by the students? Twenty university students took a foreign language pedagogy course on Gather.town in spring of 2022 for 11 weeks. Student questionnaire and focus-group interviews were conducted and data analysis revealed two major findings as follows: Firstly, both students’ overall satisfaction of the metaverse-based classroom and user experience of the metaverse platform were positive, excepting only instability problems caused by poor internet connections. Secondly, more perceived strengths than weaknesses were found of the newly adopted program: ‘a realistic classroom setting’ and ‘easy communication in multiple ways’ were mentioned as strengths while the main weakness was ‘newness.’ Pedagogical implications are discussed for teachers interested in adopting the metaverse platform for their future classrooms.

When educator-learner perceptions of instruction diverge: teachers’ perspectives

ABSTRACT Background Research suggests that students and teachers often tend to diverge in their perceptions of instructional practices that are part of their everyday classroom experience. This might include differing views about assessment and feedback, or the effectiveness of task design. Accordingly, there is a need to understand as much as possible about the reasons for such differences. Purpose Whilst it is important to investigate students’ and teachers’ views on the reasons for these differences, the present study aimed to contribute to the ‘why’ and ‘how’ behind student-teacher divergence in perception by specifically focusing on teachers’ perspectives. Method A total of 398 Austrian secondary school teachers responded to an open response question in an online survey. They were invited to reflect on the possible reasons for student–teacher divergence in terms of perceptions of instruction. The teachers’ statements written in response to the question were analysed, in detail, using qualitative content analysis. Data were grouped according to micro, meso and marcrolevel factors. Findings Analysis gave rise to a detailed categorisation of the reasons given by teachers, from their viewpoints, for student-teacher divergence in perception. The resultant categories and sub-categories revealed a wide range of explanations, including socio-demographic, motivational and emotional factors, and consideration of classroom features, and environmental factors. Conclusions As the themes that emerged were largely consistent with factors discussed in previous literature, the findings offer further in-depth insight into the possible underlying mechanisms, as well as highlighting some newly identified explanations, from teachers’ viewpoints, for student-teacher divergence in perception. The study generates some new ways to think about why teachers and students may have different perceptions of everyday instructional practices in the classroom, and draws attention to the significance of this complex area for all concerned with strengthening the quality of teaching and learning.

Circle Pedagogy in Criminal Justice Education at a PWI: A Student/Faculty Collaborative Autoethnography

The restorative justice movement is grounded in the longstanding traditions and philosophies of indigenous and First Nation communities. As a restorative practice, circles have the potential to reactively repair harms and proactively build and strengthen community bonds. More recently, circles have been used to facilitate dialogues in a variety of community settings, including workplaces, schools, and correctional institutions. The authors first met as teacher and student at a Predominantly White Institution in a Race and Crime course where the instructor used circles in a classroom context. The circle as a pedagogy encourages critical thinking and community engagement as an alternative to a traditional banking pedagogy. By emphasizing values such as voluntariness, vulnerability, and egalitarianism, circles mirror a Freirean dialogical pedagogy. The authors went on to form a mentor-mentee relationship and attended online community circles together. This exploratory paper reflects on the authors’ experiences in classroom and community circles in order to share what they have learned about the purpose and application of circles. In the classroom, circles provide students with a safe space to have their voices heard and to listen to the perspectives of others, thus allowing them to engage in productive dialogues about controversial subjects.

We Gotta Have It: Black and Brown ideologies on solidarity

Abstract Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, which highlighted the disparities of healthcare for Black and Brown communities, the tragic and senseless deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Rashard Brooks took place before we were halfway into 2020. Furthermore, while Black deaths at the hands of police are the highest rate compared to all groups, Latinos follow right behind at almost twice the rate compared to Whites, which highlight how both Black and Brown communities face the same crisis and oppression, and both face the greater need for solidarity. Reflecting on a recent historical period of our socio-political culture, this article endeavors to expose how the media’s influence has amplified the need to reignite a rallying cry of race and identities across the globe. Utilizing our educational backgrounds and classroom experiences, we examine what can be learned by amplifying the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy and solidarity through the lens of Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It series on Netflix. We specifically explore the oneness of Black and Brown people and highlight how solidarity is key for upliftment and well-being.

Data analysis using the R programming: a virtual learning experience in the flipped classroom

En años recientes, R se ha vuelto una herramienta indispensable para el análisis de datos en muchas áreas de las ciencias básicas, aplicadas y en la industria. En lugar de aprender múltiples herramientas, los estudiantes pueden utilizar un entorno único para una gran diversidad de métodos de análisis de datos. Más que un lenguaje de programación, R ofrece nuevas vías para la enseñanza de la estadística, debido a que los problemas de análisis de datos pueden ser desarrollados paso a paso y analizados de manera transparente y reproducible, p.ej. usando R Markdown. Esto permite un aprendizaje interactivo y orientado a resolver problemas, combinando la teoría y la práctica.

Can Gamification Help in Increasing Motivation, Engagement, and Satisfaction? A gamified experience in teaching CS to students from other disciplines

The digital revolution is causing the new generations to demand new ways of learning. Motivating students is one crucial element of the learning-teaching process to achieve students’ learning, which is the main objective of education. Using typical gaming elements in non-game environments, gamification transforms the learning process into a more motivating and enjoyable experience. Therefore, gamification offers adequate solutions for the educational needs of the new generation of students. Although most studies have found benefits from gamification, the results have not been encouraging in some cases. Several review studies suggest that more empirical studies are needed to investigate the motivating effects of using gamification in different educational settings and for specific student types. This study wants to answer whether using the proposed gamification design affects motivation, engagement, and satisfaction in teaching computer science to university students from other disciplinary areas such as journalism and audiovisual communication. The experiment consists of a gamified experience in a virtual classroom in Moodle for four weeks on general computer science content. A control group and a test group were used. The difference between the two was the use of gamified elements (points, badges, levels, task unlocking...). From the data obtained in this study, no significant differences were found in motivation and satisfaction between the different groups or the different methodologies. Our results demonstrate a specific positive correlation between engagement, motivation, and satisfaction. It is worth noting the positive values obtained in this type of course among all the students who were part of this experience and methodology.

A Collaborative Syllabus on Kinship: Feminist Theories of Race & Reproduction

This syllabus centers on the lived concept of kinship. We have developed this collaborative syllabus together in our Kin: Race & Reproduction graduate seminar as a living archive and demonstration of what can emerge from an intentional classroom experience. We are all graduate student scholars and have been able to cultivate a mode of kinship through meaningful discussions; our work and the syllabus we have put forth here is the product of our building community in this space. We view kinship not only as a theoretical concept but a praxis of care that when practiced in the classroom allows students to bring their whole selves into the space, forging meaningful relationships and an intimate engagement with the class readings and assignments. By this we mean to invite students to incorporate their personal experiences, whether it be regarding how they feel about the course materials or applying theory to their everyday lives. The articles and essays appearing before this syllabus are the product of this intentional engagement and kinship positionality. Through our collaboration, we aim to illustrate how kinship offers a way of navigating the world as an individual and within a community. Through our curated questions, selected readings, and our own experiences reflecting on these themes, our hope is for other students to grapple with the profound ways kinship and relationality shape our lives in both intimate and structural ways. In moving through the syllabus, we begin with large-scale forms of connection, focusing on ecological kinship and community, political structures governing kinship, and the theorizing of experiencing kinship as a spatial, temporal, and material phenomenon before moving into sections which ground these approaches through grounded explorations of intimacy, performance, familial construction, and resistance as opportunities through which to explore how kinship formations shape and inform the everyday, and what our understandings of kinship can mean for moving towards a more relational and communal mode of being-together. Each theme can be taught as a class on its own, as a sub-section in part of a larger syllabus or combined and extended based on what desire one has for a seminar learning outcome. We must emphasize that this syllabus is unbounded, as mentioned prior, because every theme is entangled in the broader, overall concept of Kinship.

'Adele Nye and Jennifer Clark (Editors), Teaching History for the Contemporary World: Challenges and Classroom Experiences in Higher Education'

Heather Gray Lamm University of Alberta graylamm@ualberta.ca https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8704-5871 Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies 2 (September 2022): 88-89, https://doi.org/10.52230/ZBCS3383 Book Review

Prioritising students in Assessment for Learning: A scoping review of research on students' classroom experience

AbstractAssessment for Learning (AfL) is important in policy and practice in secondary schooling across the globe. It is associated with teacher expertise, student agency, a dialogic classroom climate, and a commitment to the needs of all learners. Research about AfL often includes measuring the efficacy of selected practices or foregrounding the role and experience of teachers. Less prominent is literature examining student experience, which is problematic, given AfL's generally agreed aim of orienting learners as evidence seekers, interpreters, and decision‐makers. This scoping review examined 75 empirical studies published since 2002 that provided evidence of the lived experiences of secondary school students when teachers facilitated AfL pedagogical practices. A conceptualisation of student experience as comprising six interrelated dimensions, ranging from recognition of classroom practices to integration with experiences beyond the classroom, is proposed in the thematic arrangement of results. Findings show student experience as responsive to changes in teacher practice when students are co‐practitioners of AfL and developers of disciplinary expertise. The pedagogic power of students as evaluators is affirmed in evidence that positive student evaluation of the worth or value of a practice is an important precondition for productive student experience. AfL further contributes to a generative experience of learning when it enhances dialogic interactions, with students and teachers as partners in moving learning forward. Inclusive AfL and discipline‐specific AfL practices are evident but under‐represented in the field. The video abstract for this article is available athttps://youtu.be/L8HI‐KIskLs.