CEHD Inside / Out

George Veletsianos (Ph.D. candidate, learning technologies), Cassie Scharber (Ph.D. candidate, learning technologies and literacy), and Assistant Professor Aaron Doering, have contributed a paper titled "When Sex, Drugs, and Violence Enter the Classroom: Conversations between Adolescent Social Studies Students and a Female Pedagogical Agent" for the latest issue of Interacting with Computers.

The paper investigates the discourse between a female conversational pedagogical agent and 59 adolescents in the context of a social studies lesson. A close look at learner–agent discourse revealed that learners readily misuse and abuse virtual characters while treating them as subordinate and inferior objects.

Veletsianos, G., Scharber, C., & Doering, A. (2008). When sex, drugs, and violence enter the classroom: Conversations between adolescent social studies students and a female pedagogical agent. Interacting with Computers, 20(3), 292-301.

Posted by Anitra Budd at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Assistant Professor Mistilina Sato, Assistant Professor Benjamin Jacobs, and Professor Patricia Avery published “Preparing Minnesota Teachers for Diverse Contexts” [PDF] in the Spring 2008 issue of CURA Reporter. The article summarizes initial findings from an ongoing study being conducted by the Minnesota Teacher Education Research Consortium (MNTERC)—a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minnesota State University-Mankato, and the College of St. Catherine—on how teacher preparation experiences contribute to the instructional practices of teachers in Minnesota’s increasingly diverse schools. The first phase of the project was supported by a Faculty Interactive Research Program grant from the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs here at the University. Other members of the research team include Mary Bents (UMN), Linda Distad (St. Kate’s), Jane Gilles (UMN), Taeho Jung (UMN), Daria Paul Dona (MSU-Mankato), Maia Sheppard (UMN), and Ken Vos (St. Kate’s).

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Assistant Professor Bic Ngo (Curriculum and Instruction) has been named one of the University’s Interdisciplinary Graduate Faculty Teaching Fellows for 2008-10. Interdisciplinary Graduate Faculty Teaching Fellowships are intended to foster and support best practices in interdisciplinary graduate research, teaching, and writing at the University. Faculty fellows engage with each other as members of a mutual interdisciplinary intellectual community while simultaneously working to develop and teach new interdisciplinary graduate dissertation seminars. The seminars seek to exemplify best practices in interdisciplinary graduate education and to serve as institutional models for interdisciplinary pedagogy and dissertation writing support.

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On April 12 postdoctoral associate Christine Greenhow (Curriculum and Instruction) was interviewed on WCCO Radio on the topic "Social Network Sites like MySpace and Facebook among Teens." Download the interview. [.mp3]

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Assistant Professor Misty Sato (Curriculum and Instruction) recently received a Young Scholars Research Fellowship from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation. One of only four awarded nationally, the award provides support for the recipient’s research over a two-year period.

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Teaching Specialist Peggy DeLapp (Curriculum and Instruction) was recently awarded one of only 15 prestigious State’s Impact on Federal Education Policy (SIFEPP) Conference Fellow Awards. This honor is for doctoral candidates, advanced degree recipients, and persons engaged in early career research, and recipients will participate in the SIFEPP conference, which takes place at the Holiday Inn Capitol in Washington, D.C. on May 8 and 9, 2008.

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The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) College of Education is establishing the Dr. Barbara Swaby Endowed Professorship to honor CEHD alum Barbara Swaby (M.A., '73, elementary education; Ph.D., '77, education). A $500,000 community fundraising effort is under way to create the endowed chair. This is the first endowed professorship for the UCCS College of Education.

Creating readers, one child at a time
Gazette (Colo.) April 6, 2008

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Graduate student Rachel Pike (elementary education) answered the Daily's question of the week in Friday's issue. Read Rachel's response on page 2.

Question of the week: What are you doing over spring break?
Minnesota Daily (Minn.) March 14, 2008

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Professor Barbara Taylor (Curriculum and Instruction), director of the Minnesota Center for Reading Research, comments on recent cuts to the federally-funded Reading First program.

Popular Minnesota reading program may fall victim to Washington politics
Minnesota Public Radio (Minn.) March 14, 2008

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News about the latest GoNorth! expedition to Fennoscandia is popping up all over:

GoNorth! Team Prepares for Fennoscandian Expedition
KARE-11 (Minn.) Feb. 21, 2008

GoNorth! team prepares to take off
KARE-11 (Minn.) Feb. 28, 2008

K-12ers watch Arctic explorers 'GoNorth'
Minnesota Daily (Minn.) March 12, 2008

Assistant Professor Aaron Doering is the Education Director of GoNorth!

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Doctoral student Brock Dubbels (Curriculum and Instruction) recently had a book chapter accepted for publication:

Dubbels, B.R. (in press) Video games, reading, and transmedial comprehension. In R. E. Ferdig (Ed.), Handbook of research on effective electronic gaming in education. Information Science Reference.

Dubbels was also quoted in an article on classroom blogging practices:

Web 2.0: 5 don't s of classroom blogging pages
Technology Horizons in Education (THE) Journal (Calif.) Feb. 2008

Congratulations Brock!

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“Immigrant Families and U.S. Schools” is the theme of Theory Into Practice, Winter 2008, Volume 47, Number 1, guest edited by Assistant Professor Bic Ngo (Curriculum and Instruction). This issue illustrates the complexity of immigrant education and the critical role of teachers and schools in the transformation of culture and identity and academic achievement. Authors for the issue are: Bic Ngo; Nina Asher; Lesa M. Clarkson; Martha Bigelow; Xue Lan Rong and Paul Fitchett; Nancy López; Stacey J. Lee and Margaret R. Hawkins; Loukia K. Sarroub; and Cindy Cruz.

Read the full press release.

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Emeritus Professor Harlan Hansen (Curriculum and Instruction) and his wife Ruth Hansen (Ph.D. '81, curriculum and instruction) have published The Literate Child: A Developmentally Appropriate Program for Helping Four-Year-Old Children Acquire Basic and Literacy Skills. The manual was developed with a grant from the Naples (Fla.) Foundation and includes 36 outcomes and related activities.

The Hansens have been conducting free workshops for teachers and by the end of February all teachers of four-year-olds in Collier County, Florida, will have received a free copy.

Posted by Anitra Budd at 08:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new edited volume on language immersion education, co-edited by Tara Williams Fortune (Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition) and associate professsor Diane J. Tedick (Curriculum and Instruction), has just become available from Multilingual Matters, Ltd. The volume, Pathways to Multilingualism: Evolving Perspectives on Immersion Education, features chapters by many of the world’s leading scholars in the field of language immersion education.

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This past Tuesday the MAIN Immersion Celebration was held at Northrop Auditorium. MAIN — Minnesota Advocates for Immersion Network — is a non-profit organization comprised of educators that represent Minnesota’s immersion programs and University members representing CEHD’s second languages and cultures education program in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) Immersion Projects.

See a 5-minute video clip of the event from WCCO.

Continue reading "Immersion celebration a rousing success" »

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The American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) will hold its annual meeting in New Orleans Feb 6-10. College faculty and staff will make several presentations at the meeting.

Continue reading "Faculty, staff present at AACTE annual meeting" »

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Postdoctoral associate Christine Greenhow (Curriculum and Instruction) recently published an article.

Continue reading "Greenhow: Recent publications" »

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Professor Barbara Taylor, director of the Minnesota Center on Reading Research, is a member of the Wireless Generation advisory board. Wireless Generation is the creator of FreeReading.net, a free, sequential, research-based reading intervention program designed for students in kindergarten through first grade.

Florida adopts open-content reading platform
eSchool News (Md.) Jan. 24, 2008

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Alumnus Bill Green (M.A., educational psychology; Ph.D., education), superintendent of Minneapolis public schools, will deliver a homily at Gustavus Adolphus College in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Mixed Blood Theatre to perform on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Gustavus News (Minn.) Jan. 11, 2007

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The College has received a $2 million gift commitment from alumnus Dan Huebner for the creation of the Bonnie Westby Huebner Endowed Chair in Education and Technology. The endowment fund will support faculty in the field of school-based learning, with a strong emphasis on the value of technology in education.

Aaron Doering will be the first faculty member to hold the chair. Aaron is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and education director of GoNorth!, an adventure learning project for K-12 classrooms. Read the full press release here.

Congratulations, Aaron!

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Professor Deborah Dillon will fill the College's Guy Bond Chair in Reading. One of the nation’s leading reading education scholars, Deborah began her career as a classroom teacher in rural Nebraska working with students in grades four through six. She holds a doctoral degree from the University of Georgia and has taught in CEHD’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction since 2001. Read the full press release here.

Congratulations, Deborah!

Posted by Anitra Budd at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Professor Cynthia Lewis (Curriculum and Instruction) and her fellow co-editors of the recently published Reframing Sociocultural Research on Literacy: Identity, Agency, and Power have won the Edward Fry Book Award from the National Reading Conference. The award is given annually to recognize a book that makes a noteworthy contribution to research in the field of literacy. Read the previous news entry about the book here.

Congratulations Cynthia!

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Professor David O'Brien (Curriculum and Instruction) comments on the need for literacy programs aimed at boys to attract more non-readers (as opposed to boys who are already avid readers).

"Boys and books: How do you get them together?"
Star Tribune (Minn.) Dec. 18, 2007

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Faculty and graduate students in the learning technologies program within the Department of Curriculum and Instruction have recently published several book chapters.

Continue reading "Learning technologies: Recent publications" »

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A team of researchers recently presented at the National Reading Conference in Austin, Texas. "Motivating Boys to Read: An Evaluation of a Community Library Book Club Program" was presented by literacy education graduate students Cassie Scharber, Kristen Nichols-Besel, Brad Biggs, and Beth Brendler and professors Deborah Dillon and David O'Brien from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

Posted by Anitra Budd at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sophmore Emma Yang and senior Manu Kuffour, both in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, have been awarded UROP grants to support research on learning technologies. Both students will be exploring learning with social computing technologies as part of Dr. Christine Greenhow’s Social Networks Research Collaborative.

Congratulations to these motivated students!

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Assistant Professor Bic Ngo (Curriculum and Instruction) recently published the following article.

Continue reading "Ngo: Recent publication" »

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Postdoctoral associate Chris Greenhow (Currculum and Instruction) and her research on social networking technologies were recently featured in a UMN Brief article discussing how seed grants from the Office of Public Engagement are impacting University researchers.

"Seeds of change"
UMN Brief (Minn.) Nov. 7, 2007

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Chris Greenhow, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was recently awarded an RCR Grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research to create two seminars on Internet research ethics:

• Internet Research Ethics: Issues and Guidelines for Ethical Decision-making, February 2008


• Internet Research Ethics: Strategies from the Field, March 2008

Congratulations Chris!

Posted by Anitra Budd at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sharon Cormany Ornelas, CEHD professional practice school coordinator and alumna (M.Ed. ’00, second languages and cultures), recently received the Milken National Educator Award. Ornelas received the award at her school, Patrick Henry High School. The Milken Award provides public recognition and an unrestricted financial award of $25,000 to teachers, principals, and specialists who are furthering excellence in education. Read more at "Minneapolis teacher surprised with national honor" on WCCO.com.

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In a recent Independent Review article, curriculum and instruction professors David O'Brien (pictured right) and Richard Beach commented on how technology is changing children's reading and writing experiences.

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Doctoral student Brock Dubbels (Curriculum and Instruction) was an invited speaker at the Games in Education symposium this summer. The conference, held on July 23 in Troy, New York, focused on the use of video games in education.

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Brock Dubbels, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was featured in an article in the October 2007 edition of NEA Today. In the article, titled "Educators Got Game," Brock praises the use of video games to augment teaching practices. He also offers a list of useful educational games for teachers.

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Postdoctoral associate Christine Greenhow (Curriculum and Instruction) recently submitted a proposal to convene a multidisciplinary research symposia on “Networks & Neighborhoods in Cyberspace: Exploring Implications for Education, Humanities, Government, Business and Technology” (with Dr. Ann Hill Duin, OIT and Dr. Joanna O’Connell, CLA). The proposal was one of three grant proposals selected for Phase 1 funding ($25,000) in the MN Futures Grant competition. The symposia will convene researchers from over 10 different disciplines and will be held in Winter 2008. Participants in Phase 1 funded symposia are then eligible to compete for Phase 2 funding of up to $250,000 per project. Contact Christine at greenhow@umn.edu for more information.

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Christine Greenhow, a learning technologies postdoctoral associate in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was recently invited to participate in the International Society of Teacher Education (ISTE) NETS Stakeholders Advisory Council. This 15-person council of representatives from education, business, and government will be working this year to generate a revised set of National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T).

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George Veletsianos, curriculum and instruction Ph.D. student, recently published the following article.

Continue reading "Veletsianos: Recent publication" »

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Lisa Kimball, lecturer in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, discusses traditional and modern godparenting practices in this Robertson County Times article.

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GoNorth!, the adventure learning program developed and managed by Assistant Professor Aaron Doering (Curriculum and Instruction), was recently featured not once, but twice on KARE-11. You can read about the program and view the two television clips here and here. And don't forget to submit your name for one of the newest members of the GoNorth! team: a one-month-old female husky pup!

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Professor Emeritus Thomas Slettehaugh (Curriculum and Instruction) recently received the Archimedes Award from the International Biographical Centre in the United Kingdom. The award, which includes the Archimedes Medal of Honour and the Archimedes Certificate of High Achievement, honors Slettehaugh for his life science research on the creative intellect.

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Amanda Thien, a 2005 graduate from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, received a 2007 Promising Researcher Award from the National Council of Teachers of English. Thien, who completed her doctorate with CI Professor Richard Beach, is currently an assistant professor of English education at the University of Pittsburgh. Her dissertation is entitled, "She's not a prostitute!: Re-reading working-class girls' responses to literature through an examination of interpretive practices."

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Several members of the College community received awards from the Women's Philanthropic Leadership Circle (WPLC) this year:

• Faculty/Staff award: Michelle Everson, Educational Psychology
• Graduate student awards: Eva Lynn Boehm, Curriculum and Instruction; Julia Conkel, Educational Psychology; Kaoru Kinoshita, Educational Policy and Administration; and Kyoung-Ah Nam, Educational Policy and Administration.
• Rising Star awards: Kristen McMaster, Educational Psychology; and Karen Miksch, Post Secondary Teaching and Learning.

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Professor Cynthia Lewis (curriculum and instruction) recently published a co-edited book. Reframing Sociocultural Research on Literacy: Identity, Agency, and Power articulates and develops the argument that new directions in sociocultural theory are needed in order to address important issues of identity, agency, and power that are central to understanding literacy research and literacy learning as social and cultural practices. The book has been nominated for the Edward Fry Book Award from the National Reading Conference. The award winner will be announced in November of 2007.

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Assistant Professor Aaron Doering (Curriculum and Instruction) gave the keynote speech at the meeting of the Computer and Internet Applications in Education Special Interest Group at the 2007 American Educational Research Association conference. The presentation, entitled “GoNorth! An American adventure goes global!” focused on his adventure learning programs.

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Bic Ngo, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, is co-editor of Six Lenses for Anti-Oppressive Education: Partial Stories, Improbable Conversations, recently published by Peter Lang Publishers. The book offers a variety of resources for elementary and secondary educators and teacher educators interested in exploring new and innovative ways to challenge racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of oppression in the classroom.

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Aaron Doering, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, received a $150,000 grant from the National Geographic Society for his project Learning Geography through Geospatial Technologies. Through this project, an online course will be developed on ways pre- and in-service K-16 teachers can effectively teach geography using a range of geospatial technologies. Although the course will be completely online, it will also be designed to be delivered in a hybrid (online and face-to-face) environment as well. Doering also received a $145,000 grant from the Best Buy Children’s Foundation for his adventure learning project, GoNorth! This grant supports the current phase of this program, GoNorth! Chukotka 2007, an adventure learning program focused on the region of Chukotka, Russia.

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