Presentations

College Students Change the World Forum

2020 College Students Change the World Forum

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The inaugural College Students Change the World Forum, sponsored by the Leadership Studies program within the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS), will take place March 7, 2020 from 1:00-6:30pm in Strong Hall.

The Forum brings together high school and college students for networking, visioning, critical thinking, and oral communication exercises that help students see themselves as leaders within their communities and promote the ability for students to make positive, responsible contributions.

“We hope this opportunity will give Knoxville students a glimpse into how college and leadership studies can help them be better student citizens, as well as inspire these students to make their own impact on their world,” said Dr. Karen Boyd, Associate Professor of Practice and ELPS Director of Undergraduate Education. The highlight of this event will be a keynote from Dr. Theotis Robinson, Jr., with the remainder of the afternoon including connection activities, project presentations from current Leadership Studies students, and a facilitated Deliberative Dialogue about leadership challenges.

You can view the event flyer below. Click the flyer to download a PDF copy that includes the full event schedule.

 

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.

McIntyre Moderates Panel at UT Teacher Preparation Summit

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On September 19, the University of Tennessee hosted a Teacher Preparation Summit in Nashville.  Participants in the successful event included University of Tennessee President Randy Boyd, and the Chancellors of the Chattanooga, Knoxville and Martin campuses, as well as many elected officials, state policy-makers, deans, provosts, faculty members and advocates.  The summit brought together key stakeholders to discuss increasing the effectiveness of UT’s teacher preparation programs, share best practices and information and address increasing performance on the Tennessee State Board of Education’s Teacher Preparation Report Card.McIntyre at Teacher Preparation Summit 2019

The Director of the University of Tennessee’s Center for Educational Leadership, Jim McIntyre moderated a productive and incisive panel discussion regarding the state perspective on high-quality teacher preparation.  Panelists included Tennessee Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn, State Representative Mark White, who serves as Chair of the House Education Committee, Executive Director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission Mike Krause, and Executive Director of the Tennessee State Board of Education, Sara Heyburn Morrison.

PERC Examines UTK Student Debt

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In the age of the student loan crisis, The University of Tennessee Knoxville has been a leader in helping students minimize and manage the debt they accrue while pursuing degrees. In 2017, for instance, UTK’s proportion of graduates in debt fell not only below the state average, but 15% below the national average as well. 

These and other findings were just released by UT’s Postsecondary Education Research Center from Data Science and Engineering PhD student and PERC Graduate Research Assistant Kriss Gabourel. Gabourel’s report, entitled “Student debt profile: A brief look at a decade of graduates from UT Knoxville” was also presented at the July 2019 Tennessee Association for Institutional Research (TENNAIR) Conference in Franklin, TN.

You can click here to view the report summary. The next phase of analysis is anticipated to include income data for those same graduates, which will provide deeper insight into the relationship between student debt and earnings for graduates at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

 

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.

 

AERA Derrington Hayes Martinez

ELPS Faculty Attend AERA in Toronto, Canada

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Mary Lynne Derrington, Sonya Hayes, and James Martinez attended the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada. The theme of this year’s meeting was “Leveraging Education Research in a “Post-Truth” Era: Multimodal Narratives to Democratize Evidence.”

Sonya Hayes presented a paper titled Using Improvement Science to (Re)design Leadership Preparation: Exploring PLEs Across 5 University Programs in a symposium on Improvement Science. She also facilitated the selection of the LTEL SIG’s Kottcamp award winner and presented the award at the LTEL SIG’s business meeting. Hayes attended both the DIV K planning meeting, where she is the Co-Chair for Section 10 Teacher Education Learning and Practice (she is on the DIV K planning committee for the 2020 AERA conference in San Antonio), and the DIV A newsletter editorial meeting, where she is one of the Associate Editors for DIV A.

Derrington at SAGE Publications reception for her bookMary Lynne Derrington presented a paper titled Teachers and Principals: Allied or at Odds After Five Years of New Evaluation Policy Implementation. She also attended a SAGE Publishing reception for her recently published book Qualitative Longitudinal Methods: Researching Implementation and Change.
 

Heather Hagenbuch and James Martinez at AERA

 

James Martinez was paired with Heather Hagenbuch (both pictured at right) as her mentor as part of the Boyd Mentorship Program that matches tenure-track professors with doctoral students across the U.S. Heather is a candidate in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Buffalo who is using longitudinal data from the same large National Center of Educational Statistics (NCES) database that he uses in his research. He will be mentoring her for the next year as she completes her doctoral studies in Educational Administration.

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.

Rachel Hodges and Michelle Clayton, from Cohort 8 of the Leadership Academy

Angelle and McIntyre to Present at Annual UCEA Convention in Houston

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Pamela Angelle and Jim McIntyre will jointly present a paper entitled “Aspiring Leader Internship Experiences in a Full Time and Online Internship” at the annual meeting of the University Council for Education Administration in Houston, Texas, on November 16, 2018. The paper explores the common elements of success between the non-traditional aspiring school leader internships offered by the University of Tennessee’s two prinicpal preparation programs, VOLS Lead and the Leadership Academy. (Pictured above are Rachel Hodges and Michelle Clayton, from the 2017-2018 Leadership Academy Cohort)

Patrick Biddix to Teach NASPA Online Course on March 26, 2018

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Patrick Biddix will join Joseph Levy and Rishi Sriram in teaching an online course hosted by The NASPA Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Knowledge Community.  The course titled, “Assessment versus Research.  What is the Difference?  Why Does It Matter?”, will help students to establish and clarify the language used for assessment and research, expectations of practitioners at multiple levels, and trends in the field.

As a result of attending the course, students will:

  • gain foundational knowledge about the concepts of assessment and research;
  • learn approaches to assessment and research based on definitions and philosophy;
  • apply assessment and research processes to student affairs practice; and
  • articulate the need for assessment and research skill development as professional practice.

The course will take place on March 26, 2018 at 1:00pm est.  It is free for members of the Assessment, Evaluation, and Research KC and $99 for non-members.

Read more about the course here