Exploring Critical Thinking and Negotiation of Meaning Through \u3cem\u3eMinecraftEDU\u3c/em\u3e: A Case Study of Elementary Language Learners

Critical thinking and problem solving are identified as 21st century skills crucial to the process of foreign language acquisition, and include negotiating and co-constructing meaning in order to effectively communicate with others (Committee for Economic Development, 2006). The purpose of this study was to replicate earlier research in which university-aged French language learners participated in task-based activities within the social game environment of SecondLife to produce discourse representing critical thinking and negotiation of meaning. Through purposeful modifications, this replication study investigated the collective discourse produced by a group of elementary-aged English Language Learners (ELLs) engaged in task-based activities within the social gaming environment of MinecraftEDU in order to determine if patterns of critical thinking, problem solving, and negotiation and co-construction of meaning were present. This qualitative study employed a case study methodology, utilizing Hull and Saxon’s (2009) Coding Table for Social Constructivist Interactions to determine levels and occurrences of critical thinking, problem solving, and negotiation and co-construction of meaning. Through the course of the nine-day intervention, patterns of negotiation and con-construction of meaning were not identified. Students overwhelmingly engaged in conversations containing simple observations and opinions, as well as clarifying questions that reflected lower-order thinking skills. Additionally, the researcher used qualitative content analysis to identify emergent themes indicating the ways in which the students communicated with one another in the target language. From this analysis, three themes emerged that are classified as Independent Game Play, Importance of Objectives, and Deviant Behavior. Implications from this study include social game design and use within foreign language instruction, identity exploration within an online environment, and reduced fear of failure when participating in a social game. Recommendations for future research are suggested

Customized Employment: Applying Practical Solutions for Employment Success (Volume 1)

[Excerpt] The Customized Employment process is a flexible blend of strategies, services, and supports designed to increase employment options for job seekers with complex needs through voluntary negotiation of the employment relationship with an employer. The job seeker is the primary source of information and drives the process. The Customized Employment process begins with an exploration phase, which lays the foundation for employment planning. Planning results in a blueprint for the job search where an employment relationship is negotiated to meet the needs of both the job seeker and the employer

Customized Employment: Practical Solutions for Employment Success

[Excerpt] Customized Employment offers the chance for a job to fit who we are, what we need, and what we have to offer. It provides an avenue to employment for any job seeker who feels that traditional job search methods do not meet their needs. Customized Employment means individualizing the relationship between job seekers and employers in ways that meet the needs of both. It is based on an individualized determination of the strengths, requirements, and interests of a person with a complex life. The process is designed to meet the workplace needs of the employer and the discrete tasks of the position. When a customized relationship is developed, a shared employment alliance results

An Analysis of College-aged Women’s Personal Relations

Current communication literature regarding personal relations is limited by its focus on romantic, friendship and friends with benefits relations. To better understand the types of relations college-aged women practice, this study sought to explore (a) the types of cross-sex relations college-aged women practice (b) the reasons they give for practicing the relations and (c) the identities they construct by practicing the relations. Results indicated a myriad of relational types. Types were categorized under three supra-categories and were explored in terms of their description, initiation, maintenance and communication rules, as well as their benefits and drawbacks. Identities associated with the relations were also examined, along with relational fluidity, commitment and intimacy

The malleability of disciplinary identity

Master's Project (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017This paper tracks the progress of a beginning undergraduate writer's disciplinary becoming. Much research in disciplinary identity focuses on graduate students and advanced undergraduate writers; however, sites of disciplinary identity formation also occur early on during the required first-year writing course. These sites are crucial because they inform the student writer's entrance into the academic conversation, and reveal the extent to which early assumptions about disciplinary roles affects further disciplinary identity formation. Drawing from Ivanič's framework of writer identity, this case study reveals the ever-shifting tensions of "disciplinary becoming." The analysis captures how a writer's discursive self shifts from a static disciplinary identity to a more malleable disciplinary identity through a cross-analysis of two separate writing assignments in order to learn how the student's petroleum engineer identity is performed, contradicted and re-negotiated. I argue that this shift will enable writing knowledge transfer and overall identity formation