2022-23 Georgia Southern University Basketball Roster

2022-23 Men\u27s Basketball Roste

EmpathVR: Teaching Empathy for ADHD Through Virtual Reality

This presentation will share the in-progress designs and research surrounding an interdisciplinary project to create a virtual reality-based “empathy game” designed to teach future counselors and others about the experience of living with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In addition, we will share literature that is being used to support the development of this project and current trends and issues regarding virtual reality research and implementation, especially with regard to “empathy” and “serious” games

Higher Level Thinking with Math Assessments

This paper examines the use of higher level thinking with formative and summative math assessments. Here, the foundational assessments include fact based knowledge and comprehension types of questions. Upon the demonstration of a solid math understanding, the assessment questions then begin to look at applying and analyzing mathematical understanding through real world problem solving. Assessments addressed at these levels of thinking look more deeply into student thinking. They apply mathematical knowledge by selecting problem solving strategies for non-routine challenges. The students discuss problem solving strategies with classmates to compare different methods of solving problems. Next, formative assessments are used that ask students to evaluate and create using mathematical knowledge. Here, they design projects based on foundational knowledge. They create models and useful applications using what they know about math. Examples include engineering projects and scientific studies using data. After feedback, these same projects can be used for summative assessment as well. This paper examines this framework with specific examples

A Pervasive, Yet Rectifiable Taboo: Addressing the Mental Health Challenges of International Doctoral Students in STEM Fields

International students are critically important to doctoral education in the United States due to their significant contributions to teaching, scholarship, and the campus environment. Literature indicates that international doctoral students exhibit remarkable agency while transcending complex geopolitical, social, and institutional problems to successfully navigate doctoral programs (e.g., Nguyen & Robertson, 2020; Sun & Wu, 2024). Nevertheless, open discussions about international students’ mental health challenges remain taboo. The taboo nature of mental health is especially powerful in doctoral STEM environments which celebrate “grit,” resilience, and self-sufficiency while either tacitly or openly discouraging students from seeking help. This qualitative phenomenological study investigates the taboo of international doctoral students’ mental health challenges by drawing upon multiple interviews with eight international doctoral students working in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields at a U.S. research university. Data pertaining to mental health challenges point to four themes: 1) cultural isolation and displacement, 2) financial insecurity, 3) advising relationships, and 4) support networks. Analyzing data through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, this article then argues that institutions must consider how to address challenges on all five levels - micro, meso, exo, macro, and chrono - to better support international doctoral students

Structural Barriers to Multilingual Learners’ Literacy Outcomes in Georgia Schools

This study investigates structural predictors of literacy outcomes for multilingual learners (MLs) in Georgia public schools. Drawing on ecological systems theory and the educational debt framework, it examines how chronic absenteeism, teacher preparedness, and school funding influence MLs’ English Language Arts performance on the Georgia Milestones assessment. Using multilevel modeling with 2024 data from 1,929 schools across 205 districts, findings reveal that chronic absenteeism and underqualified teaching staff significantly predict lower literacy scores, while targeted instructional investment predicts higher outcomes. General per-pupil spending was not a consistent predictor. Results highlight systemic rather than student-level barriers to ML achievement and emphasize the need for policy solutions addressing attendance, staffing equity, and resource allocation to improve literacy outcomes for multilingual learners

Research Methodology: ChatGPT as a Tool for Coding 4,000 Dissertations

This research study is in the process of examining over 4,000 Ed.D. dissertations collected from 56 doctoral programs nationwide. The long-term goal is to conduct a meta-analysis, but the project is currently focused on developing a methodology for large-scale data extraction. Initially, a graduate student was manually reviewing and coding each dissertation into a spreadsheet. Over the course of a year, this yielded data from approximately 400 dissertations. This data includes the population of the study (P-12 or higher education), research methodology (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods), chapter lengths, and the number of citations used. While this process was effective, the time to do so makes it impractical to analyze the full dataset. To address this, the researchers have explored using artificial intelligence to automate this process. Using ChatGPT, the data was extracted from the PDFs of the dissertations into tables that can be exported. To ensure the reliability and accuracy of using AI in this process, the ChatGPT-coded data was compared against the 400 manually coded dissertations. The initial findings suggest that AI-assisted coding can accurately extract such data while drastically reducing the time to do so. This presentation will discuss this methodology and findings

The Use of Praise to Encourage Behaviors in a Kindergarten Classroom

When it comes to classroom management, teachers often struggle with knowing what effective strategies can proactively help their students. Behavior-specific praise is an evidence based practice where a teacher directs praise towards a specific learner based on their behavior. In this study a general education kindergarten teacher will be observed on her use of BSP during the school day. The purpose of this study is to observe how the use of BSP encourages target behaviors in a kindergarten classroom. The teacher being observed has 29 years of experience teaching kindergarten. Observing this teacher will be useful in understanding when an experienced teacher implements BSP versus general praise to her students. The observations were conducted by an undergraduate special education teacher candidate in a rural school district in Georgia

Midweek Memo

Applaud Remember Share Experience Around the Nes