No abstract

While literature suggests that college students may be less reluctant to seek help in online rather than traditional courses, little is known about how online instructors give help in ways that lead to increased student help seeking and academic success. In this study, we used theories and research on learning assistance and scaffolding, teacher immediacy, social presence, and academic help seeking to explore through a cross-case study design how three online instructors differed in their use of cognitive and social supports and how those differences related to student perceptions of support, help seeking, and performance. Primary data sources included all course postings by the instructors, interviews with the instructors, observational field notes on course discussions, student interviews, and final student grades. Archived course documents and student discussion postings were secondary data sources. Data analysis revealed that while all instructors provided cognitive NOT THE PUBLISHED VERSION; this is the author's final, peer-reviewed manuscript. The published version may be accessed by following the link in the citation at the bottom of the page. Research and Development, Vol. 57, No. 2 (April 2009): pg. 169-192. DOI. This article is © Springer and permission has been granted for this version to appear in e-Publications@Marquette. Springer does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Springer. Educational Technology 2and social support, they varied in their level of questioning, use of direct instruction, support for task structuring, and attention to group dynamics. This variation in teaching presence related to differences across the courses in student perceptions of support, student help seeking in course discussions, and final course grades. Implications for online teaching and suggestions for further research are offered. IntroductionMany students in higher education are reluctant to seek academic help for reasons that include low self-efficacy and threat to self-esteem, a competitive classroom climate, and teachers who appear to be unresponsive or inflexible (Karabenick 2003(Karabenick , 2004Kozanitis et al. 2008). Recent studies of student help seeking in courses where all or most of the class is conducted online, however, suggest that students are less reluctant to seek academic help in these environments and, in fact, do so more frequently than in face-to-face courses (Kitsantas and Chow 2007;Kumrow 2007). In a study of 472 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate face-to-face classes in educational psychology and geography and distance courses in information studies, Kitsantas and Chow (2007) found that students in the distance courses sought help more often and reported less reluctance to seek help than students in traditional learning environments. In a similar study of 38 graduate nursing students, Kumrow (2007) found that students in a health care economics course (with 50% of the class online) engaged...

Correlation analysis was used to analyze what experiences before and during teacher preparation for 72 graduates of an urban teacher education program were associated with urban commitment, first job location, and retention in urban schools for 3 or more years. Binary logistic regression was then used to analyze whether urban K-12 schooling, volunteer service, and student teaching in a high-poverty urban school predicted urban commitment, employment, and retention for at least 3 years in an urban school. The regressions revealed that all three factors predicted strong urban commitment and that urban commitment strongly predicted first job location and retention.The high turnover of teachers in American urban high-poverty schools (defined in this article as those with more than 50% eligible for free/reduced

This article addresses the current debates about the definition and assessment of dispositions in teacher education. Competing perspectives on the definitions and assessment of dispositions in teacher education are examined and critiqued, and a renewed commitment to foregrounding the moral nature of teaching is suggested. Recommendations for understanding and assessing the moral in teacher education, including the development of a code of ethics for the profession, are provided.

Dentistry as a profession has often been considered both art and science. Traditional dental education has attempted to address both; however, in many places only the science of dentistry is emphasized. The move toward competency‐based curricula in dental education requires an expansion of what constitutes meaningful knowledge in the curriculum and what pedagogies best support that curriculum. The scientific and technical knowledge considered foundational to clinical practice is not sufficient to teach competencies associated with the art of dentistry. Habermas, a social scientist, offers a way of looking beyond technical knowledge to consider two other forms of knowledge: practical and emancipatory. Pedagogy that supports development of practical and emancipatory knowledge includes problem‐based learning and case methods, heuristics, reflective practica, journals, storytelling, and performance‐based assessment methods. These important teaching strategies are being integrated into various dental curricula including a new competency‐based dental curriculum at Marquette University's School of Dentistry. It will be critical for dental educators to continue developing these methods to provide efficient and effective education for future practitioners in both the art and science of dentistry.