HEAM

HEAM PhD Candidate Steve Syoen’s Virtual Writing Retreats Create Global Community

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Steve Syoen

Steve Syoen, Organizer of Virtual Writing Retreats

How do extroverts and social learners cope with the loss of community during a pandemic, which only intensifies the oftentimes lonely dissertation stage?

Well, if you’re ELPS PhD candidate Steve Syoen, you don’t struggle with the loss of community, you just create a new one.

Syoen began organizing his Virtual Writing Retreats in the spring of 2020 after passing comps and entering the dissertation phase of his degree: “I do best with others around me pursuing similar goals. COVID-19 struck, they closed libraries on campus, and I started working from home. My other go-to used to be McDonald’s for free WiFi, but then restaurant dining rooms closed. I needed SOMETHING… so when your natural community isn’t available, I decided to make one.”

Syoen builds community with guided chat between writing sessions.

Most of Steve’s Virtual Writing Retreat attendees are “working folks” with full lives outside their PhD pursuits, so each event usually runs from 9:15am-3:30pm EST. Syoen describes what to expect: “We start with people getting settled in, we write for 75 or 90 minutes, we take 15 minute breaks (30 for lunch), and then we write more. Before each writing session starts, participants are offered an opportunity to either speak or chat their goals for the next work period into existence. At the end of a session, participants are invited to share what they accomplished. The goal is progress, and whether that is one paragraph, one article, or an entire chapter – we celebrate it all.” Between sessions, participants chat with questions guided by Syoen about everything from favorite snacks for focus to favorite productivity tools and writing implements. “I was able to complete my detailed outline for my section! This was terrific, Steve!” one attendee reports during a break.

The goal is progress, and whether that is one paragraph, one article, or an entire chapter – we celebrate it all.

Steve Syoen HEAM PhD Candidate and Organizer of global Virtual Writing Retreats

Since beginning his Virtual Writing Retreats, Syoen’s new community has gone global. “We have people from India, China, and the Netherlands who’ve joined each of the last two sessions. The person in India has asked me to help start coordinating these for her program so she can do them in her time zone (they are 8.5 hours ahead of us) instead of attending ours in Eastern time.”

Students interested in joining one Syoen’s Virtual Writing Retreats can either send him an email or stay in the know of future events by joining the Working Folks Guide to a PhD Facebook group.

ELPS News

New Works Explore Challenges and Future of Fraternities and Sororities

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ELPS Professor Patrick Biddix’s latest co-edited volumes explore conversations about the challenges and future of fraternities and sororities.

Book cover for "Foundations, Research, and Assessment of Fraternities and Sororities"Foundations, Research, and Assessment of Fraternities and Sororities (2019) features continuing conversations about the challenges facing fraternities and sororities on campuses across the country. Faculty, administrators, and alumni/ae will find inspiration as higher education scholars and practitioners that examine the past and future constructs of fraternity and sorority institutions. The volume opens with a historical section on the origins of fraternities and sororities, then moves to examine values, legal issues, and research before concluding with an overview of fraternity/sorority scholarship that includes profiles of large, national benchmark surveys.

“As higher education professionals seek to build leaders and programs that align with institutional values, this text provides thoughtful study and practical assessment of the fraternity and sorority experience.”

-Kathryn Cavins-Tull, Texas Christian University Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Book cover for "Supporting Fraternities and Sororities in the Contemporary Era"Biddix’s second volume, Supporting Fraternities and Sororities in the Contemporary Era (2019), follows conversations and scholarship suggesting that not just change is necessary, but that there ought to be a fundamental reconceptualization of the fraternity and sorority construct.

“The authors’ focus on collaboration between campus based and Headquarters based fraternity and sorority professionals adds an important new perspective to the administration of fraternity and sorority affairs.”

Charles G. Eberly, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Counseling and Higher Education, Eastern Illinois University

Including summaries of national organizations from authentic, represented voices, chapters in Supporting Fraternities and Sororities in the Contemporary Era focus on solutions to support the fraternity and sorority experience and provide strategies and emerging explanations for the issues described in this text.

Both titles are available online via Myers Education Press.

Trends in Community College Course Material Costs and Their Impact on Student Success

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Community college students throughout Tennessee are taking fewer classes, avoiding certain majors, and not purchasing required materials due to their cost, according to the 2019 Tennessee Community College Student Course Materials Survey Report released by The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Postsecondary Education Research Center (PERC). This survey, the first to specifically survey Tennessee community college students’ experiences, illustrates the impact that high course material costs have on students’ academic decisions and ability to progress toward graduation.

“The state of Tennessee is a national frontrunner in resolving barriers related to the cost of tuition, but the issues students experience due to the oftentimes high cost of course materials indicate that simply enrolling students is not enough,” said Elizabeth Spica, Principal Researcher working in partnership with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Postsecondary Education Research Center. “We not only want students to enroll, but also to succeed and earn the degrees and credentials that will help them be more successful in life. The negative points of impact evident in this research report indicate we have more work to do.”

The report results could help inform educational leaders and policymakers further develop recommendations and initiatives for increasing the affordability of required course materials and, as a result, the overall affordability of college. According to the report students spent an average of $119.18 per course on required materials in the Fall 2019 semester, and while they relied most heavily on campus bookstores, they also frequently turned to online services like Amazon and Chegg to purchase and rent materials.

“It is our hope that this report will help illuminate the struggles that students face related to the unanticipated costs incurred after enrolling in a postsecondary program,” said Spica. “Course material costs represent a great proportion of the investment beyond tuition, and by addressing this challenge, Tennessee will pave the way for students to more easily realize the opportunities that come with successful completion of a higher education degree.”

In a partnership with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Postsecondary Education Research Center, the Tennessee Board of Regents Office of Policy and Strategy, and Offices of Institutional Research at 12 participating community college campuses, the 2019 Tennessee Community College Student Course Materials Survey was completed by almost 2,000 students across the state, half of which intended to transfer to a four-year institution upon completion of their current program. The survey asked students about their spending, purchase behaviors, and points of impact for course material costs on academic decisions and their ability to progress to graduation. The survey also addressed the extent to which required materials were being used in the classroom.

Download the Press Release by clicking here, and for additional information and to view a full copy of the report, visit perc.utk.edu/reports/.

 

About PERC: The mission of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Postsecondary Education Research Center (PERC) is to identify, conduct, and coordinate research on initiatives and ideas designed to enhance higher education at the institutional, state, and national levels to enhance policy and practice.

Spica Presents Policy Analysis at 2019 Open Education Conference

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Elizabeth Spica, doctoral student in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies interning with UT’s Postsecondary Education Research Center, presented research exploring Open Educational Resources (OER) and state-level policies at the 16th annual Open Education Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Elizabeth Spica presents poster at OpenEd 2019

Elizabeth Spica, ELPS doctoral student

Open Educational Resources (OER) have been shown to positively impact issues related to student access and success, from course material affordability to course completion and enrollment intensity (Fischer, et al, 2015; Hilton, 2018). Despite  progress over the past decade, faculty still consistently report the effort required to find readily available, high-quality materials to be a barrier to the use and adoption of OER (Barker, et al, 2018; Braddlee, 2018; Jhangiani, et al, 2016; Seaman and Seaman, 2017).

While almost half the states in the United States have considered or adopted legislation to support the development and use of OER, little research has elucidated the practical impact of state-level policies on contributions from faculty at institutions within those respective states. Spica’s research, entitled Open Educational Resources (OER) and State-Level Policies: A Network Analysis, examined the relationship between state-level policies and OER contributions from faculty at institutions within those respective states. Results from the data analyzed showed that faculty affiliated with institutions in states with existing textbook affordability and/or OER policies contributed significantly more OER than faculty affiliated with institutions in states without existing policies.

You can view and download the poster by clicking this link.

National Panhellenic Conference Graduation Rate Study

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ELPS faculty Dr. Patrick Biddix and Dr. Terry Ishitani, along with ELPS alumnae Nicole Nicholson and Kaitlin Singer, completed and published a study that demonstrated women in sororities across 18 four-year institutions were more likely than non-members to graduate in four years, with the graduation rate between the two groups stabilizing for years five and six. Recommendations for practice to strengthen the educational component of sorority membership were also provided.

The article, “The Influence of National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) Sorority Membership on Graduation and Time-to-Degree: A Multi-Institution Study” was published in the Journal of Women and Gender in Higher Education (subscription required for access). 

PERC Explores Policies that Promote Course Material Affordability

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Mergers of major publishers and the ever-rising cost of course materials have catalyzed UT’s Postsecondary Education Research Center examination of policies  that promote course material affordability, namely through the use of Open Educational Resources (OER).

The Hewlett Foundation (hewlett.org) defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as “high-quality teaching, learning, and research materials that are free for people everywhere to use and repurpose.” In contrast to the restrictive copyright license tied to traditional course materials, authors of OER apply a “Creative Commons” (CC) license to their work that legally enforces free access and sharing. Similar to authors of traditionally copyrighted materials, credit is also given to authors of OER, with the added benefit that others may freely use, build upon, and enhance their work.

The full report and executive summary are now available on PERC’s Research Report site.

In addition to the PERC publication, ELPS PhD student and PERC research affiliate Elizabeth Spica recently presented on Best Practices and Institutional Models in textbook affordability during the June 2019 Textbook Affordability Summit hosted by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission in Nashville, TN.

 

Nate Koerber Presents at AERA Annual Meeting in Toronto

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Nate Koerber, a student in the Leadership Studies program, presented a paper, which he co-authored, titled Allies in Resistance: Black-White Mentorship for Engaging Post-Truth Narratives Within an Urban Teacher Program at the AERA annual meeting in Toronto, Canada, on April 8.

This study examines the mentoring relationship between two Black women professors and two White men working as graduate assistants (GAs) in an Urban Teacher Program (UTP). This work presents an example of mentoring, collaboration, and allyship in anti-racist teacher education that pushes back against “post-truth” and “fake news” as they manifest in narratives about urban schools in the conservative Appalachian region.

Instrumental case study methodology informed by Critical Whiteness Theory and tenets of CRT is used to analyze the relationship carefully crafted within this UTP by Black women professors mentoring White men GAs. Findings hold significance for future research on allyship, teacher education program design, and real-world education contexts P-16+, particularly within an urban education context.

Marisa Moazen named Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement

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Marisa Moazen, director, Office of Undergraduate Research at the University of Tennessee, has been named Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research & Engagement. Marisa is an alum of and adjunct assistant professor with the Higher Education Administration program in the department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. Congratulations to Dr. Moazen!