Centering Students
Asynchronous Session
Disciplinary Practices to Support Innovation, Interaction, and Human Values View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Zartasha Shah
Technology supports involvement, connectedness, and interfaces to support human values in a novel way. It is modern and contemporary, and it expands knowledge in the classroom. The research investigates learning issues to make it work for learners' hesitancy, tentativeness, and uncertainty. The process also discusses countenance, intelligence, and articulation of learning in education. The investigation supports the check of the effects of the practices on individualities, eccentricities, and learners' independence. The procession, values, and arguments inform more about the impacts on learners. Social, educational, and personal learning should support collaborative work in order to know and understand the methods of using new tech tools for instructional designs to support innovation, engagement, and interactions in education. The research revolves around the qualitative method, ethnography, and interviews; the collected data are transcribed, coded, and the chosen themes are used for the analysis to inform more about the entire process for it. The analysis and the conceptual interpretation help check the details of the structural assessments, observations, and critical approaches. The details lead to finding the details of the self-expression, manifestation, and extraction of the entire work in it. Personal immersion is represented through involvement, engrossment, and enthusiasm. Civic engagement should be able to support moral ethics in education. Self-motivation should be supported by the teachers for self-expression, provocation, and incentives. The impetus, stimulus, and spur should also be reflected in them.
Digital Onramps to Gateway Mathematics Courses: Empowering Success after Initial Challenges View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Alison Reddy
This paper highlights the development and implementation of three adaptive, one-credit, second 8-week mathematics courses at the University of Illinois, designed to support at-risk student populations in gateway math courses. Aimed at addressing disparities in access and opportunity, these courses seek to enhance student success in higher education. By leveraging adaptive technology, the courses offer a targeted approach to closing the quantitative preparedness gap. The goal is to not only increase access to gateway mathematics but also improve student retention and progression in STEM fields. Focusing on key foundational mathematical concepts, the courses are tailored to meet the diverse needs of students through inclusive pedagogy and adaptive learning methods, maximizing both engagement and outcomes. Delivered asynchronously, they provide flexibility to accommodate students' schedules. Supported by data on educational disparities, this study underscores the necessity of targeted interventions. Drawing from the two years of implementation, insights include the impact and effectiveness of the courses in fostering success in STEM after initial challenges. We consider how this innovative onramp program is driving positive change, empowering students to reach their full potential.
All Along the Ivory Tower: Black American Identity as Voiced by Poetic Youths View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jeremy Greene
The purpose of this study was to amplify Black American elementary student voice in a post-2020 world. Discussions and writings were conducted with elementary aged students’ who voiced what it meant to be a Black American youth. A qualitative study, discussions and creative writing were used to help participants make sense of their identity in their school, community, and the United States. Students produced counternarratives to stereotypes associated with being Black American students, focusing on how such spaces can positively impact Black American students. A narrative inquiry via youth participatory action research with critical race theory served as its theoretical framework. When discussing the Black American experience in predominantly White spaces, an analysis of themes revealed fourth- and fifth-grade Black American student participants felt personality mattered most when defining oneself as a Black American. Participants also discussed themes related to racial battle fatigue and an awareness of how their Blackness in predominantly White spaces had been racially profiled/policed. Participants discussed the USA's historically violent nature toward Black Americans, wanting to be representatives of representation in predominantly White careers, a desire for equitable treatment from White adults, and an appreciation for trusted adult allies. Participants also noted a desire for changes in their communities and an appreciation for engaging in this work with one another. Findings suggest elementary-aged Black American students wish to work in community with one another and to share information regarding their experiences to assist educators in cultivating more welcoming spaces in their overall communities.
Planning for Failure?: A Bourdieusian Analysis of Personal Education Plans in Northern Ireland View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Patricia Nicholl
This study explores perspectives of primary school teachers regarding Personal Education Plans designed support the education of children in care. The study explored current policy and practice initiatives for supporting the educational rights of children in care, explored the views and experiences of teachers of Personal Education Plans, the experiences of teachers regarding multi-professional collaboration in respect of Personal Education Plans, to what extent teachers are aware of and informed of children’s education rights and considered whether there are more suitable practice models that might better support children in care achieve their potential in education. The study utilises an interpretive qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews with 20 professional teachers, and an in-depth focus group to elicit their views regarding the effectiveness of Personal Education Plans. It is informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s (1984) concepts of field, habitus and capital and a children’s rights framework. Thematic data analysis elucidated four overarching themes in relation to the effectiveness of the PEP in Northern Ireland: Performance, partnership, promotion of rights and participation. The findings highlight concerns regarding education planning practices for children in care related to differences in aims versus operational reality evidencing adult-centric, paternalistic and protectionist exclusionary practices, subordinating the voice of the child, privileging academic, target driven knowledge over social and emotional knowledge of the child and encompassing professional power differentials in PEP processes. Recommendations for a more children’s rights based Personal Educational Planning process are outlined to contribute to improvements in realising the education rights of children in care.
