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Objective: Although there has been increased attention to campus interpersonal violence, there is limited information on survivor advocacy services. Participants: We recruited participants from 155 U.S. institutions of higher education responsible for advocacy services on their campus. Methods: We used a community participatory action approach in partnership with the Campus Advocacy and Prevention Professionals Association to develop and disseminate a survey regarding campus advocacy services. Results: Participants shared critical insights about (a) advocacy staffing/caseload, (b) program structure, (c) advocacy practices, and (d) connection to services for people who had caused harm. We found that advocacy programs are often providing best practice services for survivors of violence but operating with few staff and unclear privacy protections. Conclusions: This study provided crucial preliminary information about how campuses provide advocacy services, but more researcher-practitioner engagement is needed to build on this study and establish clear practice guidelines.

Individuals with disabilities have been less involved in school activities than their peers of the same age and this includes career preparation in science and math (Agran et al., 2019; Eriksson et al., 2007; Jackson et al., 2022). Students with disabilities often lack access to facilities, programs, and equipment, and acceptance by educators, employers, and co-workers (Burgstahler, 1994). The effects of a virtual reality (VR) human anatomy application as the means of teaching science vocabulary definitions and locations acquisition for three different human anatomy systems (digestive, respiratory, and integumentary) to college-age students with intellectual disability (ID) are reviewed. This single subject, multiple baseline study included two transition age youth with ID. The intervention package included both a guided and exploratory portion. Data were collected on the participants' accuracy on the definitions and locations of ten vocabulary words for each of the three body systems on a paper assessment. Findings indicated that a functional relation existed between the implementation of the intervention package and an increase in the accuracy of scores in both definitions and locations for each of the three body systems for each participant.

Land Acknowledgements have become a ubiquitous part of universities. They purport to remember, honor, and bear witness to the future of Indigenous nations and to recognize the land and honor local Indigenous communities. While acknowledging the Indigenous peoples upon whose lands we work is an essential gesture, the authors join other scholars who argue that we must go beyond a mere statement. The Land Acknowledgement must also propel the learning community of the institution to take action, to embrace relationships with the environment (land), and to take responsibility for its care for Indigenous generations to come. Our attempts to recognize the importance of Indigenous epistemologies and commitments to the land have enriched the whole learning environment of the University. This report describes the interdisciplinary, collaborative approach we have been taking as we attempt to go beyond the mere performance of acknowledgement towards making substantive change. At the time of writing, the authors live on the traditional territories of the Hasinal and Wichita, Caddo, Comanche, and Cherokee Nations.

Programs within the Cooperative Extension Service often develop partnerships with other agencies and organizations to better meet their common goals. While there are many benefits of partnerships, they can be challenging when the partners are unequal or have dissimilar needs. Using a survey and interviews with faculty and administrators at two land-grant institutions we explore the similarities and differences that pull and push at their partnership. Recommendations to strengthen partnering opportunities at the institutional and program levels are provided. [Note: The volume and issue number 61(4) shown in the footer on the PDF is incorrect. The correct volume and issue number are 62(1).]

First-year students often struggle with self-regulated learning, particularly in monitoring and accurately assessing their level of understanding and translating that into appropriate preparation for rigorous post-secondary coursework. When their academic struggles become extreme, they can be placed in probationary programs. An intervention involving weekly reflective surveys focused on study strategies and metacognitive skill development was integrated into one such probationary program for first-year students. During the intervention, a slightly higher rate of successful completion of the program was observed compared to previous years. The self-reported experiences and patterns of engagement of the students suggested that the intervention positively impacted metacognitive skill development and additionally provided evidence of the importance of motivation at various points throughout the process. Identifying appropriate timepoints for intervention can better prepare stakeholders to support those students who may not be retained.

Expectations of campus safety and security are inherent in the development of policies internal to the campus environment as well as to national regulations inclusive of Title IX, the Clery Act, and so forth. Yet, there seems to be an ongoing concern that international students may have heightened risk or are less likely to report violations of policies and regulations. This research is focused on determining to what extent awareness of policies and regulations often linked to equality on campus are a part of international student orientations and outreach. By examining the timing, manner, and extent of training, this article seeks to add to the study of ways that campuses may better engage, prepare, and serve students engaged in international education experiences.

Teaching-focused professional development (PD) programs offered at institutions of higher education (IHEs) are uniquely positioned to be levers of change that improve the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in ways that broaden participation in STEM education, workforce development, and career pathways in the United States (US). PD programs and their potential to transform undergraduate STEM education, however, are understudied. This multiple-case study compares suites of PD programs offered at three IHEs in the US: a community college, an emerging research institution, and a research-intensive university. Each suite of PD programs is characterized in terms of program structure, implementation, and potential to transform undergraduate STEM education. The presented results illustrate the existence of a wide range of ways in which PD programs are structured and implemented. A key finding is a suite of PD programs offered at these IHEs has greater potential to transform undergraduate STEM education when embedded in an institutional culture that highly prioritizes the teaching enterprise. Lastly, the results are synthesized into an innovative framework. The framework can be used as a tool to design, implement, and evaluate PD programs so they have greater potential to transform undergraduate STEM education in the US.

Providing reflective opportunities for students to independently develop their metacognition and expand their abilities to make judgments about themselves as learners, including which learning strategies are personally most effective for any given task, have been shown to improve academic performance. We designed a metacognition-based intervention that was structured to provide four weeks of reflective opportunities for students following a metacognitive learning strategies workshop. Qualitative analysis of student responses from the first week's survey found evidence of metacognitive skill development and self-reported improvements in learning, including an improvement in confidence and preparedness for classes and exams, and better understanding and retention of course content. Our results suggest that students who described an increase in their confidence during the first week were two times more likely to complete the intervention. This completion was correlated with a higher semester GPA, regardless of student identity, prior academic performance, and strategy choice or outcome description during the first week.

Background: Tests are commonly and heavily used in fundamental engineering courses (FECs) to assess student learning of concepts. With existing literature presenting mixed benefits and disadvantages of testing to students' motivation to learn and documenting widely alternative assessments, the lack of questioning of heavy and common test usage must be addressed to diversify classroom assessment and promote intentionality in test usage. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study begins to address the lack of questioning by exploring and uncovering test usage beliefs and behaviors of seven FEC instructors from two engineering departments in a land-grant, public, Research 1 university. Design/Method: Grounded in the Situated Expectancy--Value Theory (SEVT), we conducted a multicase study. Data include two interviews, course syllabi, and sample tests provided by the participants, and public documents from the institution and departments. We conducted a priori and emergent coding and thematic analysis to identify the beliefs and behaviors before developing individual case summaries for cross-case analysis to identify groupings. Results: Three test usage groups emerged: enthusiastic, default, and questioning. All test usage groups featured tests heavily in their FECs, resulting in varying alignment between these participants' test usage beliefs and behaviors. Conclusions: Our findings reveal the various factors that can shape FEC instructors' test usage beliefs and behaviors, and the complexity in terms of alignment. This work lays important implications, including laying the foundations for future scholarship on testing in engineering education research and leveraging findings to begin efforts in diversifying assessment approaches and promoting intentional test usage in FECs.

Background: The American Psychological Association has identified information literacy as a crucial component to undergraduate education. One major barrier to comprehensive information literacy instruction has been a lack of guidance integrating this into survey courses, particularly with reduced pedagogical resources available. Objective: This research evaluates the effectiveness of a scaffolded information literacy curriculum that may be integrated into psychology courses. Method: Students in introductory psychology courses were taught with either an information literacy curriculum or the typical science-focused curriculum. Information literacy knowledge was evaluated using a multiple-choice test. Results: Students who received the specialized curriculum demonstrated significant improvements on an objective information literacy test by the end of the course, while students in the control group did not. Conclusion: Evidence suggests that this easily adaptable information literacy curriculum is effective in meeting psychology information literacy goals, more so than the traditional science-focused curriculum taught in introductory psychology classes. Teaching Implications: Instructors and faculty should be encouraged to utilize this adaptive curriculum, available on Open Science Framework, as a way of improving information literacy. Other implications, including feasibility and content, are discussed.

Mastery-based assignments typically provide students with multiple opportunities to improve their performance, but getting students to take advantage of these opportunities is difficult. We report on the implementation of a two-part series of nudges designed to improve students' engagement with and performance on mastery-based assignments in high-enrollment, introductory undergraduate courses. Students received one or two email-based nudges for each assignment, providing both decision information and decision assistance. Delivered via email by a digital coaching system that provides tailored support to students, we evaluated the effectiveness of viewing versus not viewing these personalized nudges across introductory courses in mathematics, computer science and engineering over five terms at our large, research-intensive university. We used multilevel modelling with a sample of 30,693 assignment scores nested within 79 assignments and 5349 undergraduate students to explore the relationship between students' viewing the nudges and their scores while controlling for performance in other courses and students' baseline proclivities to read email from the coaching system. We find that viewing versus not viewing nudges is significantly related to improved outcomes. Viewing the first of the two-part nudge series is associated with a 3% increase in scores on average. Importantly, we found a significant interaction with prior academic performance such that students with the lowest average academic performance across all courses are predicted to benefit the most--up to 9%--from nudging. Positive impacts are observed in most courses where nudges were implemented and are found to be most impactful for later versus earlier assignments within a term. We discuss the implications of these results for supporting students' decision-making within mastery-based assignment schemes and suggest future research for tailored nudges to support student success.

This short article gives an account of introducing the tradition of communal singing to Fircroft College of Adult Education in Birmingham, UK. Fircroft is an adult residential college and has its roots in the Danish folk high school movement. Communal singing is a strong tradition of this movement, but the practice has not been used in Fircroft for many years. During the academic year 2023-24, we incorporated this practice as a new tradition in the college. Here, we explain the reasons for introducing the tradition and reflect on our experiences, including identifying the challenges of developing truly inclusive collective practices.

Experiential learning in biomedical engineering curricula is a critical component to developing graduates who are equipped to contribute to technical design tasks in their careers. This paper presents the development and implementation of an undergraduate and graduate-level soft material robotics design course focused on applications in medical device design. The elective course, offered in a bioengineering department, includes modules on technical topics and hands-on projects relevant to readings, all situated within a human-centered design course. After learning and using first principles governing soft robot design and exploring literature in soft robotics, students propose a new advance in the field in a hands-on design and prototype project. The course described here aims to create a structure to engage students in fabrication and the design approaches taken by practitioners in a specific field, applied here in soft robotics, but applicable to other areas of biomedical engineering. This teaching tips article details the pedagogical tools used to facilitate design and collaboration within the course. Additionally, we aim to highlight ways in which the course creates (1) opportunities to engage undergraduates in design in preparation for capstone courses, (2) outward facing opportunities to connect with practitioners in the field, and (3) the ability to adapt this hands-on experience within a typical lecture structure as well as a hybrid online and in-person offering, thus expanding its utility in bioengineering departments. We reflect on course elements that can inform future design-based course offerings in soft robotics and other design-based multidisciplinary fields in bioengineering.

Biomedical engineering (BME) is a multidisciplinary, constantly advancing field; as such, undergraduate programs in BME must continually adapt. Elective courses provide opportunities for students to select topic areas relevant to their interests or future careers. Specifically, laboratory courses allow experiential learning in specialized topics in a hands-on manner that is suitable and accessible to undergraduate students. In recent years, neural engineering has emerged as a research sub-specialty within BME, and students preparing to pursue careers in this field will require a broad range of fundamental and experiential training. We sought to demonstrate this possibility by implementing a neural tissue engineering module into an existing upper-level undergraduate biofabrication elective. Organoids, which are self-assembling aggregate cell culture models that mimic a tissue or organ in both function and structure, have been made more accessible by genetic tools and commercially available resources. These experimental tools can be incorporated into basic laboratory experiments to model neurological systems that are otherwise difficult to study. In this paper, we describe the execution of this new module in which teams followed an adapted protocol for producing human neural organoids and then designed and manufactured a 3D-printed 'solution' to a common problem in the fields of neural engineering and organoid research. Additionally, we include student feedback as well as advantages, disadvantages, and opportunities for improvement of this laboratory module in future implementations. Skills gained in this project-based setting could be beneficial in subsequent capstone design courses as well as translated into future courses or graduate research studies.

Diabetes mellitus and obesity are major public health issues that significantly impact the health care system. The next generation of health care providers will need a deep understanding of the pathophysiology of these diseases if we are to prevent, treat, and eventually cure these diseases and ease the burden on patients and the health care system. Physiology core concepts are a set of core principles, or "big ideas," identified by physiology educators that are thought to promote long-term retention, create a deeper understanding, and help with formation of critical thinking skills. Here we describe our scaffolded teaching approach in an upper year undergraduate pathophysiology course to educate students about these two diseases and discuss how learning about the basis of these highly integrative diseases from the biochemical to whole body level is a meaningful tool in the physiology educator toolbox to reinforce physiology core concepts. This teaching strategy is designed to engage students in the scientific process and hone their problem-solving skills such that they are hopefully equipped to treat and eventually cure these diseases as they move forward in their careers.

In this laboratory experiment, first-semester organic chemistry students use mechanistic reasoning to propose possible outcomes for the reaction of vanillin isobutyrate with a hydride source. The students subsequently run the reaction, isolate the product, and acquire its infrared spectrum. The experiment provides students with the opportunity to hone their skills at proposing mechanisms and interpreting IR spectra. It also serves as an introduction to the chemistry of carbonyl-containing functional groups.

This paper introduces hands-on curricular modules integrated with research in atmospheric ice nucleation, which is an important phenomenon potentially influencing global climate change. The primary goal of this work is to promote meaningful laboratory exercises to enhance the competence of students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by applying an appropriate methodology to laboratory ice nucleation measurements. To achieve this goal, three laboratory modules were developed with 18 STEM interns and tested by 28 students in a classroom setting. Students were trained to experimentally simulate atmospheric ice nucleation and cloud droplet freezing. For practical training, this work utilized a simple freezing assay device called the West Texas Cryogenic Refrigerator Applied to Freezing Test (WT-CRAFT) system. More specifically, students were provided with hands-on lessons to calibrate WT-CRAFT with deionized water and apply analytical techniques to understand the physicochemical properties of bulk water and droplet freezing. All procedures to implement the developed modules were typewritten during this process, and shareable read-ahead exploration materials were developed and compiled as a curricular product. Additionally, students conducted complementary analyses to identify possible catalysts of heterogeneous freezing in the water. The water analyses included: pH, conductivity, surface tension, and electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. During the data and image analysis process, students learned how to analyze droplet freezing spectra as a function of temperature, screen and interpret the data, perform uncertainty analyses, and estimate ice nucleation efficiency using computer programs. Based on the formal program assessment of learning outcomes and direct (yet deidentified) student feedback, we broadly achieved our goals to (1) improve their problem-solving skills by combining multidisciplinary science and math skills and (2) disseminate data and results with variability and uncertainty. The developed modules can be applied at any institute to advance undergraduate and graduate curricula in environmental science.

The cost of textbooks is a significant concern for undergraduate students, particularly at institutions serving marginalized populations. This study explores this issue at the University of New Mexico, a Hispanic-Serving R1 institution. A comprehensive survey was conducted among undergraduate students to understand their perceptions of textbook costs and its impact on their academic success. The survey covered aspects such as the perceived reasonableness of costs, budgeting practices, and strategies to manage expenses. The results revealed that high textbook costs significantly affect students' financial well-being and academic success. Many students perceive these costs as unreasonable, leading to financial strain. Students employ various strategies to manage these expenses, including purchasing from vendors other than the campus bookstore, renting, or sharing books with classmates. This study underscores the need for enhanced support and resources to alleviate the financial burden of textbook costs on students, contributing valuable insights to the literature on this subject.

Purpose: Higher education, as a field of study, is one of the few programmatic areas that offer two doctoral degrees: The Doctor of Education (EdD) and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). In the United States, the two degrees are often conflated. Conversations, to this point, have done more to contribute to the theoretical debate than to operationally distinguish between the two degree paths. Method: The current study analyzed data collected from a review of the 188 doctoral programs at 145 institutions listed with the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). Results: Results suggest that while there is a shift toward operational differences between the EdD and the PhD in higher education, the similarities in entrance requirements, formats, and research expectations, to list a few, suggest that the EdD and PhD still require further refinement to reach the theoretical clarity common in many conversations about the education doctorate.

The study covers the development and testing of the alternative mechanics survey (AMS), a modified force concept inventory (FCI), which used automatically marked free-response questions. Data were collected over a period of three academic years from 611 participants who were taking physics classes at high school and university level. A total of 8,091 question responses were gathered to develop and test the AMS. The AMS questions were tested for reliability using classical test theory (CTT). The AMS computer marking rules were tested for reliability using inter-rater reliability (IRR). Findings from the CTT and IRR studies demonstrated that the AMS questions and marking rules were overall reliable. Therefore, the AMS was established as a physics concept inventory which uses automatically-marked, free-response questions. The approach used to develop and test the AMS could be used in further attempts to develop concept inventories which make use of automatically-marked, free-response questions.

Authors examine the impact of honors education on four early career scholars who each spent two years in a postdoctoral position (2017-2023), highlighting how initial in-depth exposure to honors curricula and culture positively influences professional identity and teaching practice. Fellowships in a Teaching, Research, and Mentoring (TRM) Program offer nascent scholars from a range of disciplines the opportunity to work with students, extend curricular offerings, and launch career trajectories in a variety of ways. Accounts of these experiences should encourage honors program administrators to look to the ranks of early career scholars as desirable instructors.

Peer review exercises are an essential part of many educational pedagogy models and have been shown to successfully provide undergraduate students with requisite active learning and critical reflection skills. Teaching the peer review process in an interdisciplinary honors research methods course, however, presents its own set of challenges. As students are exposed to new processes of editorial review, they are also tasked with evaluating material across subjects and discipline areas, making subjective components of editing more difficult. Authors describe a scaffolded model of peer review piloted in an interdisciplinary, upper-level honors research methods and ethics course and provide qualitative analyses of student reflections and assignment attributes to demonstrate the model's potential for student success. By presenting the peer review exercises as a series of sections that build incrementally in complexity and subjectivity (scaffolding) and dedicating class time for implementing peer-directed edits, authors provide an adaptable model that further strengthens research editing practices in honors education.

Female faculty remain a minority in academic research and women are often perceived to lack the qualities needed to be successful scientists, which may contribute to discrimination and prejudice against female researchers. Research administrators play a pivotal role in the development of strategic, catalytic, and capacity-building activities designed to encourage faculty in attracting extramural research funding. The purpose of this investigation was to explore whether research administrators evaluate extramural grant applicants differently based on gender and different career ranks. Contrary to previous research examining faculty gender biases and stereotypes, our study showed that applicants were rated similarly in researcher competence across both male and female applicants by research administrators (Hypothesis 1). Our research also showed that female candidates were generally seen as more likeable (researcher collegiality) and were rated higher for mentoring potential than male candidates (Hypothesis 2). Furthermore, consistent with prior research, findings suggest that those in the senior career rank were more highly rated for research competence and skill (Hypothesis 3). Although we did not list a formal hypothesis, our findings did support the notion that senior career rank applicants are more highly rated for biosketch design and comprehension, most likely due to their perceived competence and advanced experience. These findings, while preliminary, suggest that traditional barriers related to perceived female researcher competence are not experienced as they interact with research administrators. The main implication of this study is that research administrators do not appear to significantly contribute to the previously reported discrimination and prejudice against the competence of female researchers.

This research was guided by a problem of practice experienced by an EdD program, which transitioned to a fully online modality during the pandemic and rapidly grew in enrollment. The problem evaluated was ensuring the redesigned program milestones -- capstone and comprehensive exam -- are feasible given the size of the program. The current study utilized descriptive research design to provide a comprehensive description of educational phenomena. The study was conducted at a large, public research university in the South. A total of 316 students enrolled in the program and were invited to complete the survey, of which 131 responses were analyzed. Results revealed differences in students' attitudes toward capstone projects and comprehensive exams, with a strong correlation between students' experiences with capstone projects and comprehensive exams and their overall academic self-efficacy while in the program.

The rate of online graduate education programs grows annually. Yet, dropout rates and student satisfaction rates continue to lag behind in-person programs. Advising practices may offer unique opportunities to reverse or alter these challenges. While the body of literature about undergraduate advising and online advising is robust, literature on current online graduate-level advising is sparse. Therefore, a scoping review of the literature was undertaken to answer the research question: What does the literature tell us about advising in online graduate programs? The search revealed ten relevant studies, and after conducting a thematic network analysis, two global themes and five organizing themes were presented. There are two global themes, "Create Connections" and "Know Your Program." The "Create Connections" global theme is supported by three organizing themes: (a) Communication and Feedback, (b) Building Relationships and Community, and (c) Investment in student's personal and academic growth. The "Know Your Program" global theme is supported by organizing themes (d) Program Requirements and Policies and (e) Technical skills. Based on the data, three recommendations are presented to aid online graduate advisors, including building trusting relationships with advisees, building a community of students, and knowing program policies, requirements, and technology platforms.

This study explores how higher education professionals develop and demonstrate cultural competence in their professional roles. Through a mixed methods case-study approach, the study investigates how perceived levels of cultural competence in higher education professionals are shaped by participation in an extended diversity training program. Additionally, this study explores implications for individual career trajectories as a result of program completion and implementation of new learning. Study findings indicate that participants anticipate lasting effects from the training experience. The training introduced and ignited a reconfiguration of what it means to engage and work in spaces where institutional and organizational commitments are aligned with personal commitments. Following training, all participants expressed deep commitment to intentionally and actively cultivating a sense of belonging and inclusion in the workplace through shared language, shifts in policy, and more thoughtful interpersonal interactions with colleagues and peers.

Purpose: We used a complementary mixed methods approach, grounded in situated expectancy-value theory, to explore the relationship between completing an internship and engineering undergraduate students' preparedness and expectancy of success in obtaining their preferred first position after graduation. We disseminated a survey to institutions in the United States and received 1,583 responses; from this sample, we interviewed 62 students. Design/methodology/approach: Internship experiences are considered among "high impact practices" in higher education. Despite calls to increase the quality and quantity of internships, little is known about relationships between internship participation and how prepared students feel for future work, specifically their first position after graduation. Findings: Our findings showed that the students who participated in internships had positive perceptions of preparedness and expectancy of success compared to their peers. We found that participating in multiple internships was beneficial to these outcomes until a student participated in five internships. After five internships, our data did not show a correlation between increasing numbers of internship experiences and increased preparedness or expectancy of success. Practical implications: While there are benefits to internship participation, after six experiences, additional internships are unlikely to increase confidence in job success and preparation. If that still is lacking, a different approach or conversation on career choice may be warranted. Originality/value: Our findings are unique in identifying (1) the aspects of internships that increase perceptions of success, including tying theoretical concepts learned in the classroom to engineering practice and (2) the point at which further internships do not seem to offer further benefits.

The Dialectical Map (DMap) is an open-source, web-based argument visualization tool developed and used at a Canadian University to scaffold argument construction. To illustrate the ways that argument mapping can be used in undergraduate courses, this article presents five cases selected from courses in biology, psychology, computing science, and English as a foreign language offered at three post-secondary institutions. Each case explains how argument mapping with DMaps (DMapping) was implemented and assessed in a course. Students responded to a questionnaire that gathered their attitudes toward DMapping as a learning activity. In each course, students were also interviewed about their DMapping experiences. The interview and questionnaire data indicated that students believed DMapping was an effective way to meet the knowledge objectives of their course and to learn about argumentation. The authors explain how DMap assignments added value to their courses by helping students think critically about course topics while developing their argumentation ability and information literacy. Finally, we summarize the lessons learned across the cases and discuss ways of maximizing the benefits of argument mapping activities for postsecondary learning.

Gateway science courses are an ongoing obstacle to recruitment into STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Students come into courses that have a high cognitive load, which makes success in the course challenging. Instructional design can be used to reduce cognitive load. The findings demonstrate that leveraging pre- and post-lecture quizzes has the capacity to reduce cognitive load. Over three semesters, assessed 164 students were assessed while taking SCB201 (General Biology I). Students in the participant and control groups were given surveys to gauge the experiment's effectiveness. These surveys were given at the beginning, midterm, and end of the semester. The surveys collected student feedback concerning attendance habits, reading for knowledge, and course difficulty each semester. The participant group findings showed favorable increases in attendance and reading for knowledge. Additionally, students in the participant group found the quizzes helped them to better understand core concepts as the semester progressed. It was determined that these quizzes helped focus learning by causing a decrease in cognitive load for students. This methodology has universal application to any type of course needing to reduce cognitive load.

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of virtual reality, an emerging technology, to teach college-age students with intellectual disability and autism to acquire science vocabulary words relating to human anatomy. One student with autism and two students with an intellectual disability participated in a multiple baseline across skills (i.e., acquisition of science vocabulary words) design. Data were collected on the three students' abilities to define and label three sets of human anatomy vocabulary words (i.e., bones, muscles, and organs) while using Organon 3D. Students used this application while using the Oculus Rift S, a virtual reality head-mounted display. Results indicated that all students acquired definitions and labeling knowledge for the new science vocabulary terms in the area of human anatomy.

Higher education accreditation has spread internationally as a vehicle for quality assurance and improvement but is strongly influenced by accreditation practices in the United States. The organisational structure and processes of seven United States health professions accreditors were analysed to identify common characteristics that reflect general fitness for purpose and infrequent features that show potential to enhance the effectiveness of accreditation processes, increase engagement of and support by accredited institutions and programmes and provide greater transparency.

Consistent, sensitive caregiving across home and childcare contexts supports optimal development. In this paper, we share the story of the development of Hearts and Minds on Babies (HMB) for Early Head Start (EHS) administrators, teachers, and parents. HMB was designed to support caregiver reflective functioning and sensitivity and reduce caregiver stress. This paper describes a series of Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles used to adapt an existing parenting intervention into the HMB programming for EHS. Throughout the paper, we present HMB concepts and learning objectives and share teachers' and parents' feedback and adaptations to content and delivery options that support implementation by EHS programs. Feedback from the final cycle suggests that HMB supports EHS administrators, teachers, and parents in their roles and improves relationships. The paper highlights the importance of research-practice partnerships in developing programming that meets the needs of EHS.

This article presents an inquiry-oriented lesson for teaching Lagrange's theorem in abstract algebra. This lesson was developed and refined as part of a larger grant project focused on how to "Orchestrate Discussions Around Proof" (ODAP, the name of the project). The lesson components were developed and refined with attention to how well they supported active and broad student participation. By guiding student exploration of a few key example groups and structuring the exploration to identify recurrent structure, students formulate key lemmas that they can combine to prove Lagrange's theorem.

Academic misconduct remains a perennial concern in tertiary education around the globe. Research intended to explain this phenomenon has been conducted for almost 100 years. One of the most cited researchers is Donald McCabe, whose work was rooted in a survey instrument he developed in the late 1980s and distributed to 100,000 + students over the following two decades. Recognizing the need to continue to understand academic misconduct in the 21st century context, the present study updated and validated the original McCabe instrument as an inventory of academic misconduct behaviors, and derived psychometrically sound factors of the same to enable researchers to examine the predictors of these behaviors. Specifically, our updated instrument (named MIAMI: McCabe/ICAI Academic Misconduct Inventory) was shown to have construct validity through associations with the following predictors in a survey of tertiary students (n = 2329): academic integrity climate, peer norms, moral attitudes, and achievement goal structures. The updated survey will facilitate further research that will advance our understanding of academic misconduct and test the efficacy of interventions designed to promote academic integrity.

To help students become better learners, educators need to be able to provide feedback to students on their learning processes. However, this can be challenging for educators due to the customized nature of such feedback. To that end, we have created and evaluated the Acknowledge, Affirm, Challenge, and Encourage (A[superscript 2]CE) framework as a practical and scalable way to provide formative feedback for engineering students. The A[superscript 2]CE framework was: (1) developed through a research project focused on developing metacognitive skills in engineering students, and (2) evaluated for functionality in a workshop setting where we taught educators how to use the A[superscript 2]CE framework. Within the workshop, we collected participants' feedback on the framework in the form of open-ended surveys. Analysis of responses revealed that workshop participants believed the A[superscript 2]CE framework was useful as a method for having caring conversations with students about their learning, while giving constructive feedback that students can use to improve their learning in and out of the classroom; prior to the workshop, participants indicated a need for more support in having meaningful conversations with their students about learning processes. We conclude that the A[superscript 2]CE framework is an accessible tool educators can leverage to help students improve as learners.

Each year nearly 70% of community college students nationwide are required to enroll in non-credit developmental education courses because they scored below college-ready on a placement test in reading, writing, and/or mathematics. Yet, prior research has demonstrated that these placement tests tend to inaccurately place students into courses that are not a good fit with their level of college readiness. In response, an increasingly popular reform effort is to use alternative methods such as high school grade point average (GPA) to place incoming students into the appropriate level of coursework. Florida stands at the vanguard of this placement reform movement, as one of the first states making policy changes to authorize systemwide use of alternative methods in lieu of (or in addition to) common placement tests. This study includes a document analysis of institutional website sites and virtual site visits to Florida College System institutions to enhance our understanding of the variation in placement policies used across the FCS institutions, the rationales for these decisions, as well as benefits and challenges encountered during implementation. It concludes with recommendations that can support institutions in Florida and beyond as they develop future plans about how to further reform or modify placement systems.

The purpose of this survey study was to describe how teacher preparation programs prepare undergraduate preservice music teachers to consider P-12 learners' socioemotional development. Music teacher education programs (N = 665) were identified from the 2019 Title II Report of National Teacher Preparation Data. Program representatives were invited via email to complete an online questionnaire; data from respondents (n = 133) were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Findings revealed that programs varied greatly in providing opportunities, conceptions, and practices. Relevant, embedded coursework existed in most music teacher education programs. Just under one quarter of respondents reported requiring socioemotional development coursework, and 4.51% indicated at least one music-specific course. Course topics were directed at specific populations and teaching methods; courses were often housed in education, psychology, or sociology departments. Required experiences included fieldwork in general music, practicum, student teaching, or "diverse," rural, or urban settings. Methods of delivery for optional experiences were similar to required experiences, with the addition of conferences and partnerships with organizations.

This case study is designed for graduate students interested in higher education finances. It presents the challenges that higher education is facing regarding financial exigency elements that have led to responses with a primary focus on mergers. This financial exigency process has also caused increased legal considerations in higher education settings as administrators, faculty, staff, and alumni challenge finances in academic settings. This case highlights the complex issues that administrators must confront while considering mergers that will provide students an opportunity to evaluate the complex issues related to the financial status of an institution of higher education.

Increasing rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among college students were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This report describes how components of the Johns Hopkins Suicide Prevention Awareness, Response and Coordination (JH-SPARC) Project aligned with a multi-faceted strategy for suicide prevention. Key programs included suicide screening, gatekeeper trainings, and the use of third-party mental health services. Regarding suicide screening outcomes, staff sent 36,148 individual emails inviting students and trainees to participate in stress and depression screening. This approach garnered 2,634 responses and connected 130 students to care, 66 of whom (50.8%) indicated suicidal thoughts, plans, or behaviors. We estimate this screening cost $2.97 per student. Important lessons included the reliance on virtual platforms and the need to coordinate efforts across multiple campuses. Our manuscript provides an example of a transferable strategy for suicide prevention on college campuses in the pandemic era.

Background: Attentiveness during class is critical for learning. Teachers have strategies to promote active engagement and active learning, yet little control over students' baseline level of alertness and focus upon arriving to class. Objective: To evaluate the effect of pre-lecture cognitive exercise on attention and learning in lectures. Method: In Experiment 1, college students (n = 28) in Introductory Psychology participated in a brief battery of complex cancellation tasks prior to a subset of lectures. Effectiveness measures included course exams and post-study student surveys. Experiment 2 replicated the first in a subsequent class (n = 35) with the same instructor and the addition of post-lecture quizzes. Results: In both experiments, students performed higher on exam content from post-exercise lectures relative to control lectures. No effect was observed on post-lecture quizzes. On post-study surveys, students reported improved attentiveness to lecture after cognitive calisthenics. Conclusion: Pre-lecture cognitive activity appears to benefit student attention and learning in lectures. Teaching Implications: With so many students arriving to class either distracted or sleepy, the inclusion of a brief pre-lecture cognitive exercise program may be an engaging and effective method for optimizing student attentiveness and learning in lecture-based courses.

This article explores the library space needs and wants of graduate and undergraduate students at a medium-size state University in Southwest Florida. The researcher conducted a sequential explanatory mixed methods study in which they administered a survey to all currently enrolled graduate and undergraduate students at the university and followed up with semi-structured interviews to better understand students library space needs/wants and how those elements contribute to student success through a lens of academic and social engagement. The researcher identified several library space needs that were common to both graduate and undergraduate students including: comfortable and functional furniture, a variety of study spaces including a mix of individual and group spaces, conducive noise levels, technology, whiteboards, windows to let in natural light, seclusion food and drink options nearby, safety and security, adequate lighting and electrical outlets, and effective wayfinding. An additional need of separate graduate student space was also identified. Findings from this study can help inform the design of library spaces to better support student success through engagement.

Mental health is a rising concern in higher education, with increasing numbers of students experiencing mental health challenges. Stress is a common experience for undergraduate students and the first semester of college can be especially stressful for students as they navigate new coursework and surroundings and being without familiar supports. Simultaneously, engineering students report high workloads and competition that may exacerbate stress. Narratives of extreme resilience required for success in engineering may negatively impact student perceptions about norms of stress and how students care for their mental health and wellness. In order to best support students, we need to understand how students approach taking care of their mental health and wellness to inform curriculum and resources provided to students. In this study, we sought to understand how first-semester bioengineering students approached caring for their mental health and wellness and how these perceptions may be influenced by perceptions of engineering culture. Towards accomplishing these goals we measured (1) how students cope with stress, (2) whether they planned to use campus wellness resources, and (3) perceived barriers to mental health care. Students in a first-semester bioengineering course were surveyed during the second week of their first semester. Most students reported at least one coping mechanism for high stress and the most commonly reported mechanism was talking with peers. Only about 35% of students indicated that they would be likely to use campus wellness resources, often citing that limited time prevented them from doing so. While perceived barriers to mental health care were low on average, some students (between 5 and 10.5%) rated these barriers as severe. Students who rated barriers as severe most commonly held beliefs that mental health supports on campus, such as counseling centers, would not be effective. Engineering identity scores for students surveyed in this study were similar to national peers, suggesting that incoming students may identify strongly with engineering culture (e.g. shared expectations and norms commonly held in engineering). Understanding the barriers to help seeking and current approaches to wellness of incoming students will equip colleges and universities to implement proactive interventions and wellness curriculum to support student mental health and reduce perceived barriers to accessing mental health care.

Individuals with disabilities are less likely than their peers without disabilities to be employed or enrolled in postsecondary education. Even with federal legislation efforts designed to provide targeted supports to this population, the discrepancy persists. Students with disabilities who attend schools in rural settings may experience additional barriers to employment and postsecondary enrollment not faced by those in urban and suburban locales. This article reviews post-school outcomes and barriers that youth with disabilities in rural areas may encounter. These may include concerns related to transportation, limited opportunities, and varied perceptions on the value of higher education. In addition, special educators in rural schools may have limited training opportunities and a wide range of position responsibilities that require expertise in many areas. Then, to help address these discrepancies, strategies to support students and improve services are presented in four broad areas, including (a) augmenting teacher training and practice, (b) partnering with vocational rehabilitation, (c) improving public policy, and (d) leveraging the strengths of rural communities.

Teacher candidates in North Carolina must earn a passing score on the edTPA assessment to get certified. The middle grades education program at Western Carolina University integrates aspects of the edTPA assessment throughout pre-student teaching coursework and field experiences to prepare candidates for this high-stakes assessment. Some of the edTPA practice assignments serve as key assessments that help the middle grades program faculty evaluate the program and make decisions about curriculum. The pivot to remote and blended learning formats on campus and in partner middle level schools affected the implementation of the edTPA-related assignments. The authors share some of the challenges of implementing edTPA practice portfolios during the pandemic as well as insights gleaned from their assessment of the data.