Play Is the Game

Drawing on a multimodal framework, this chapter looks at the ways engagement and embodiment of learning are mediated through play as sixth graders learn to skin or repurpose board games to represent the story of The Lightning Thief. Studying game design for the purpose of skinning, that is, applying a new theme or skin to a game, provides a literacy learning process that can foster collaborative, creative, and authentic learning. Outcomes demonstrated gains in social skills and interactions, critical thinking, reading comprehension, visual representation, graphic design, and writing for specific purposes. Analysis revealed that students were immersed in the learning process to the extent that they felt comfortable acting informally, responding in the moment, and being playful. This chapter shows a way to foster academic growth, engagement in learning, and collaboration is to engage students in skinning games based on literature and integrated a playful learning environment.

Deciphering dimensions of overlapping publications

Proving research efficiency and academic growth by the number of publications flag the researchers to publish more articles from a single dataset. They are crossing into unethical practices such as self-plagiarism, duplicate publication, and other research misconducts, which warrant disciplinary action against them. The thrust of this review is to draw the attention of the authors, reviewers, editors, and readers toward different dimensions of overlapping publications in research. Various guidelines and ethical bodies such as Committee on Publication Ethics and International Committee of Medical Journal Editors were considered for the review. The present review provides an expansive outline of publication overlap available in the literature. The reasons for conducting and problems associated with different types of overlapping publications are identified. Preventive and remedial measures as well as recommendations for authors, editors, and reviewers have been highlighted. Because of the strain to “publish or perish” from the researchers’ end, journals are ending up being flooded with overlapping publications.

Grounded Framework for Culturally Relevant and Responsive Music Teaching

Building upon the work of Ladson–Billings, Lind and McKoy, and Shaw, our proposed framework takes into consideration the depth and breadth of musical experiences and contexts, musical content, and the diversity of musical cultures. The proposed framework includes four quadrants: (a) teacher competencies, (b) informed choices, (c) authenticity, and (d) holistic and comparative lessons. The framework provides K–16 teachers with tangible, accessible, and actionable methods for implementing a teaching pedagogy that has often been misunderstood or implemented without fidelity, and therefore ineffective. Each quadrant’s description and detail provide educators with guidance, supporting their individual musical growth, facilitating authentic relationships with students, authentic performances, and careful idea development for lesson planning that is inclusive of multiple musical perspectives and origins. Muñiz and Richards et al. acknowledged that community support and teacher capacity are essential for culturally relevant pedagogy to be implemented effectively, thus increasing students’ academic growth.

Comparative study of learning styles of college students

The research approach of this article was to observe which were the main differences of opinions between the groups and their learning styles, the methodology used was quantitative, observational, descriptive and comparative. A standardized ILP-R instrument was used, evaluates four complementary dimensions related to learning styles and processes in academic study that we will comment on later: (Deep Processing, Methodical Study, Retention of Facts and Elaborative Processing).with a sample of 1412 university students; the statistical analyzes that were carried out were descriptive and comparative. The main conclusion of the study is that students with an average of 90 percent develop an interest in continuing to learn and discover not only academically but personally, they are more expressive to people, they tend to make minimum mistakes because they have confidence in everything they do, Likewise, if the student works while studies , that provides an ability to relate to others, but dedicating solely to study allows more space to enjoy daily learning and full dedication to academic growth.

Online Adjunct Faculty Perceptions of Professional Development to Support Personal and Professional Academic Growth During COVID-19

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand what online adjunct faculty value as support services, specifically professional development opportunities, provided by their respective higher education institutions. Method: This qualitative narrative inquiry study centered on exploring perceptions and experiences of online adjunct faculty members from higher education institutions and their experiences and expectations of professional development (PD), prior to and during COVID-19. Results: The study resulted in the identification of possible improvements and enhancements to existing PD content that would further support faculty personal development, mental health, wellbeing, and academic growth. Conclusions: This study reminds us that there are numerous variables, including unforeseen crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that need to be considered when developing, implementing, and presenting PD for online adjunct faculty professional and personal growth. Because faculty want to be listened to and heard, the PD development and implementation process needs to be interactive to support online adjunct faculty, regardless of whether the university is for-profit or not-for-profit. Implication for Practice: The results based on online adjunct faculty experiences could lead to updating professional development opportunities employed in different higher education institutions to promote faculty self-actualization and ultimately, student success.

Of School Boards and Superintendents

A beloved, respected, and highly accomplished superintendent in a rural, high-risk district, Mr. Carroll, is confronted with dissident board members for the first time in his 7-year tenure. Two newly elected members have strained relationships between current board members and are calling for his resignation based upon what they perceive as low SAT scores, the excessive amount of Carroll’s salary, and the district’s focus on academic growth, rather than achievement, of students. Despite mediation from the state aimed at easing tensions on both sides, the issue reaches a boiling point at a board meeting.

Exploring the Cross-Level Impact of Counseling Satisfaction from the Longitudinal Study of Learning Outcomes: A Case Study of Economically Disadvantaged Students

This paper discusses the connotations between the learning outcomes of economically disadvantaged students and time factors. We recruited 1,053 economically disadvantaged students from a private university as participants and collected their mean scores in professional courses for 4 years. After observing the initial learning outcomes and academic growth rates of the students, this study concluded that counseling satisfaction had a cross-level moderating effect on learning outcomes. Additionally, the learning outcomes of economically disadvantaged students in professional courses exhibited decelerating growth with time, whereas cross-level counseling satisfaction had a significant influence and moderating effect on academic growth rate.