scholarly journals Predicting Teacher Effectiveness Based on Various Preservice Factors: Implications for Higher Education and the Evaluation of Teacher Preparation

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
John R. McConnell ◽  
Benita G. Bruster ◽  
Vicky B. Smith

The purpose of this study was to investigate a set of teacher-level factors that educator preparation providers (EPPs) may be examining to anticipate how effective teachers might be in the classroom. An ordinal logistic regression was performed to determine impact on teacher effectiveness, given five predictor variables: level (undergraduate vs. graduate), age, GPA, ACT, and Praxis II scores. The findings demonstrated that only level made a significant individual contribution to prediction, suggesting that undergraduate students were less likely to have higher teacher effectiveness scores than graduate students. The major implication for states may be to evaluate EPPs and their abilities to impact the quality of preservice teacher candidates separately based on whether they serve primarily undergraduate or graduate student populations.

2016 ◽  
pp. 1252-1272
Author(s):  
Dana L. Grisham ◽  
Linda Smetana

This chapter reports on a study conducted by two teacher educators in literacy instruction and provides examples of the ways teacher educators can “distribute” technology-rich writing instruction across their coursework. Using the TPACK model, 21 graduate students in a preservice course on curriculum planned, taught, and reflected on generative technology lessons with real students in real classrooms. Data collected included the lessons and reflections, ePoster presentations, and other writings by students on the topic. Findings indicate that graduate students chose a diverse array of technology tools, and planned carefully, matching tools with desired learning outcomes. Although graduate students initially felt “pushed” by the assignment, post lesson reflections showed positive changes in attitude and appreciation for the motivation and engagement of their K-12 students with the technology lessons. Graduate students also derived a more realistic picture of planning for instruction. Implications involve the necessity of supporting 21st century literacies in teacher preparation programs. Examples of lessons and tools used are included.


Author(s):  
Kristen Merrill O’Brien ◽  
Kelley Regan ◽  
Christan G. Coogle ◽  
Jennifer R. Ottley ◽  
Sarah A. Nagro

Clinical experiences are a critical component of teacher preparation programs. Two technology-based approaches used during clinical experiences in special education teacher preparation that have shown promise are eCoaching and video-based reflection. When used in combination as a comprehensive intervention, eCoaching and video-based reflection may offer teacher candidates increased learning opportunities to promote improved fidelity of evidence-based practices. Thus, using a multiple-probe single-case research design, we examined the effect of eCoaching with video-based reflection on special education teacher candidates’ use and quality of target teacher strategies and on focus student responses. We found an increase in the use of target teacher strategies for two of three participants, and an increase in the quality of participants’ strategy implementation and students’ responses for all participants. Participants improved their ability to provide high-quality opportunities for choice making and open-ended responding with consistency. Implications for research and practice are discussed.


Author(s):  
Marwah Alian ◽  
Arafat Awajan ◽  
Ahmad Al-Hasan ◽  
Raeda Akuzhia

Measuring semantic similarity between short texts is an important task in many applications of natural language processing, such as paraphrasing identification. This process requires a benchmark of sentence pairs that are labeled by Arab linguists and considered a standard that can be used by researchers when evaluating their results. This research describes an Arabic paraphrasing benchmark to be a good standard for evaluation algorithms that are developed to measure semantic similarity for Arabic sentences to detect paraphrasing in the same language. The transformed sentences are in accordance with a set of rules for Arabic paraphrasing. These sentences are constructed from the words in the Arabic word semantic similarity dataset and from different Arabic books, educational texts, and lexicons. The proposed benchmark consists of 1,010 sentence pairs wherein each pair is tagged with scores determining semantic similarity and paraphrasing. The quality of the data is assessed using statistical analysis for the distribution of the sentences over the Arabic transformation rules and exploration through hierarchical clustering (HCL). Our exploration using HCL shows that the sentences in the proposed benchmark are grouped into 27 clusters representing different subjects. The inter-annotator agreement measures show a moderate agreement for the annotations of the graduate students and a poor reliability for the annotations of the undergraduate students.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-der Wu ◽  
Shih-chuan Chen

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine how graduate students perceive and use Google Scholar. Google Scholar has provided a convenient alternative for finding scholarly documents since its inception in 2004 and has become a favoured tool for numerous academics. Knowledge of patrons’ usage patterns and attitudes towards Google Scholar will assist librarians in designing appropriate instruction programmes to improve students’ research abilities. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, 32 graduate students from the National Taiwan University were interviewed whose fields of study are the humanities (10), social sciences (11) and science and technology (11). Findings – Students prefer the usability of Google Scholar over library databases. However, they appreciate the quality of documents retrieved from library databases and regard these databases as crucial tools for finding scholarly documents. Science and technology students favoured Google Scholar more than those who study the humanities and social sciences. Research limitations/implications – This study only examines the perceptions and behaviour of graduate students. Future studies should include undergraduate students to investigate their use of Google Scholar, thereby obtaining a comprehensive understanding of various patrons of university libraries. Practical implications – This study shows that graduate students appreciate and use Google Scholar to find scholarly documents, although some students experience difficulties. The findings of this study may assist university libraries in improving their instruction programmes. Originality/value – The majority of previous studies have focused on coverage, quality and retrieval performance of Google Scholar. However, this study evaluates Google Scholar from a user’s perspective.


Author(s):  
Chinwe H. Ikpeze

This chapter highlights the strategies that facilitated reflective thinking in teacher education through the integration of technology. Graduate students enrolled in a literacy course provided the data for the study. Major findings indicated that the reflective ability and quality of reflection among the teacher candidates increased because a structure that supported reflection was put in place. In addition, the teacher candidates engaged in a variety of multifaceted activities with new technologies in authentic contexts. The implications were discussed.


Neofilolog ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 193-207
Author(s):  
Krystyna Mihułka

The article presents and discusses the results of a questionnaire conduct-ed among third-year undergraduate students and second-year graduate students of German Philology at the University of Rzeszów taking the specialization in the teaching of German . The aim of the questionnaire was to draw attention to and assess the current state of the students’ preparation for work in the teaching profession. Analysis of the results reveals to what extent the programme of studies in the Department of German Philology, particularly within the teaching specialization, fulfils the students’ expectations. In addition, the respondents’ proposals con-cerning how the quality of teacher education in the Department of Ger-man Philology could be improved are presented and discussed by the author.


Author(s):  
Dana L. Grisham ◽  
Linda Smetana

This chapter reports on a study conducted by two teacher educators in literacy instruction and provides examples of the ways teacher educators can “distribute” technology-rich writing instruction across their coursework. Using the TPACK model, 21 graduate students in a preservice course on curriculum planned, taught, and reflected on generative technology lessons with real students in real classrooms. Data collected included the lessons and reflections, ePoster presentations, and other writings by students on the topic. Findings indicate that graduate students chose a diverse array of technology tools, and planned carefully, matching tools with desired learning outcomes. Although graduate students initially felt “pushed” by the assignment, post lesson reflections showed positive changes in attitude and appreciation for the motivation and engagement of their K-12 students with the technology lessons. Graduate students also derived a more realistic picture of planning for instruction. Implications involve the necessity of supporting 21st century literacies in teacher preparation programs. Examples of lessons and tools used are included.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Knutson ◽  
Em Matsuno ◽  
Chloe Goldbach ◽  
Halleh Hashtpari ◽  
Nathan Grant Smith

Nearly 50% of graduate students report experiencing emotional or psychological distress during their enrollment in graduate school. Levels of distress are particularly high for transgender and non-binary graduate students who experience daily discrimination and marginalization. Universities and colleges have yet to address and accommodate the needs and experiences of transgender and non-binary graduate students. Given the multitude of challenges these students may face, educational settings should not present additional barriers to educational success and well-being. In an effort to improve graduate education for transgender and non-binary students, we add to the existing scholarship on affirming work with transgender undergraduate students by addressing the unique concerns of graduate students. We utilize a social-ecological model to identify sources of discrimination in post-secondary education and to provide transgender- and non-binary-affirming recommendations at structural, interpersonal, and individual levels. For practitioners who wish to do personal work, we provide guidance for multicultural identity exploration. A table of recommendations and discussion of ways to implement our recommendations are provided.


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