The lessons learnt from Willy Wonka (includes alternate ending)

Despite all that research has taught us, lectures and seminars still continue to be largely delivered in the classroom, with students sat in rows for far too long. Lecturers offer information, which some students choose to absorb. Some students choose not to, or don’t have the nature to be able to. So, what if we change this? What happens? And even more crucially, what can we do to use the ‘student voice’ to enhance how they learn and what they learn? Following a successful pilot in Experiential Education which we presented at the LJMU conference in 2013 we made developments which allow students to shape their own learning experience - truly engaging them in delivery. With Nick changing institutions at the beginning of this academic year we have both continued to explore Experiential Educational but in different ways. This presentation examines these developments and looks at three key areas: 1) The needs of students (which they weren’t shy in making clear to us!) and the differing learning styles they have, to see how teachers can use them to deliver an all-encompassing experience which is interactive, engaging and informative. 2) A taster of the technologies involved in flipped classrooms and the benefits of experiential education. 3) The reflective nature of learning journals to encourage the student voice to be raised (and then heard). Charlie got the Golden Ticket because he dreamt about it, because he did everything he could to get it. So, where did the others go wrong? And what could Wonka have done about this

Career Focused Education: Evaluating Career Academies in a Large Midwestern District

It is generally agreed upon that in order to be an effective, contributing member of society one must work. The current axiom in education today revolves around preparing students to be college and career ready, with the ultimate goal of preparing students for the workforce but very little research has gone in to identifying the most effective way to do this. The purpose of this study was to analyze data collected from students in one Midwest Suburban School District to determine if Career-Focused Embedded Academies improve student success as noted by the likelihood to take the ACT and a students’ GPA compared to students of the same gender and similar racial, socioeconomic, and academic history using propensity scoring. Looking at this data, it was determined if there is a statistically significant difference between a student who attended an academy versus a student who did not. This research identified an effective way to prepare a student for both college and career, ultimately preparing them for the future workforce as an effective, contributing member of society

Faculty open educational practices at a regional university

Open educational resources (OER), which are cost-free, openly licensed educational materials available in a variety of languages and formats, have in recent years accumulated abundant evidence of disruptive potential to surmount barriers to learning. This is certainly good news to the world of education, especially higher education, which has experienced steady growth in its cost to students. Evidence also shows, however, a low uptake of this concept in higher education. A key reason for this is a lack of awareness, understanding, and acceptance of OER and their related practices amongst faculty. If one intent of a higher educational institution, such as is that of the University of the South Pacific (USP), is to provide greater affordability for students through OER, ushering faculty towards OER is thus paramount, for they are the ones who normally choose and assign educational resources. As an initial step toward moving the USP closer to its aspirations, a survey study was undertaken aiming to describe the current status of OER uptake and open educational practices (OEP) by faculty, with the purpose of gathering information for planning future activities in this area. This paper reports results from the survey examining USP faculty: teaching practices, OER awareness, OER use, participation in OEP staff development, awareness of student OER use, barriers to OER adoption, and impact of OER use. The paper concludes with a discussion of current status and expected future steps for propelling faculty towards integrating OER in USP courses

All you Need to Know About: The Cultivation Theory

In this paper the researcher comprehensively examines the cultivation theory Conceptualized by George Gerbner in the 1960s and 1970s the theory has been questioned with every media technological development In the last six decades the mass communication field witnessed the propagation of cable satellite video games and most recently social media So far the theory seems to have survived by continuous adjustment and refinement Since 2000 over 125 studies have endorsed the theory which points out to its ability to adapt to a constantly changing media environment This research discusses the theory since its inception its growth and expansion and the future prospects for it In the first section of the paper an overview is given on the premises founding concepts of the theory Next is a presentation of the added components to the theory and their development over the last sex decades including The cultivation analysis the conceptual dimensions types and measurement of cultivation and the occurrence of cultivation across the border

Higher Education Exchange: 2009

This annual publication serves as a forum for new ideas and dialogue between scholars and the larger public. Essays explore ways that students, administrators, and faculty can initiate and sustain an ongoing conversation about the public life they share.The Higher Education Exchange is founded on a thought articulated by Thomas Jefferson in 1820: "I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."In the tradition of Jefferson, the Higher Education Exchange agrees that a central goal of higher education is to help make democracy possible by preparing citizens for public life. The Higher Education Exchange is part of a movement to strengthen higher education's democratic mission and foster a more democratic culture throughout American society.Working in this tradition, the Higher Education Exchange publishes interviews, case studies, analyses, news, and ideas about efforts within higher education to develop more democratic societies

Universities as Arts and Cultural Anchors: Moving Beyond Bricks and Mortar to Entrepreneurship, Workforce, and Community Development Approaches

Economic developers refer to universities as anchor institutions because they are rooted regional economic drivers that are sites for development, incubation, entrepreneurship, workforce training, and knowledge transfer. Most anchor research speaks generally about the university or focuses on STEM. Our study asks: to what extent are public universities arts and cultural anchors? Through a comparative case analysis supplemented with interviews of field innovators and a translation of transdisciplinary literature, we deepen the anchor concept, and we propose a conceptual assessment tool. Our applied research helps universities move from being an arts patron to an arts entrepreneur, investor, innovator, and catalyst