Research projects will be ongoing in the FCTL. Most of these research projects will fall under the rubric of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). This section of the website will showcase SoTL projects led by the Center, or SoTL projects that the Center supported in some way through funding or personnel support. Research reports and examples of research projects at various stages of completion will be posted here and discussed.
Living Learning Communities
In 2007-2008, Missouri State initiated a pilot year of Living Learning Communities, which were expanded in 2008-2009 and continue to undergo an evaluation and revision process. The Living Learning Communities were designed to engage students through increased faculty interaction, academic, civic and cultural opportunities, reflection and learning strategies. The Living Learning Communities are also designed to increase students’ awareness of academic and community resources that support their learning, development, and contribution to the public affairs mission. As Provost Fellows for Teaching and Learning, Chantal Leveque-Bristol and Jeffrey Cornelius-White analyzed data collected by Denise Bauman during the Living Learning Community pilot year.
In summary, the results of the pilot Assessment (PDF) showed that students in Living Learning Communities reported significantly more improvement than regularly placed residence life students in the area of Time and Task Management, regarding perceived ability to coordinate multiple tasks, study effectively, and facilitate group interactions. Students in the Living Learning Communities also reported somewhat greater improvement in the area of Ethical and Cognitive Competence and Leadership compared to students in the Regular Residence Life program. Improvements for evaluating the second year of the program are underway.
Assessment of Living-Learning Communities and Regular Residence Life Programming
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Public Affairs Scale
The Public Affairs Mission at Missouri State University involves the facilitation and development of community engagement, cultural competence, and ethical leadership. This document summarizes the process the authors followed to construct the Public Affairs Student Self-Report Scale and the results of the scale validation. This work was conducted by the 2008-2009 Provost Fellows for Teaching and Learning, Chantal Levesque-Bristol and Jeffrey Cornelius-White. The development and validation work for the Public Affairs Scale has recently been submitted for publication to the Journal of Public Affairs Education. When the paper is accepted for publication, it will be referenced here and made available.
To develop the items included in the Public Affairs Self-Report Scale, the authors examined information from various organizations including the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), Transcultural Nursing, and US Department of Health and Human Services: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The authors also consulted with the Missouri State Faculty Senate and three Provost Public Affairs committees, the Citizenship and Service-Learning office, Residence Life, the Provost’s working definitions (http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/41685.htm), Associate Provost for Student Development and Public Affairs Dr. Rachelle L. Darabi, and the Public Affairs Reports from the Missouri State colleges. The link below provides the adopted Public Affairs Mission Goals at Missouri State University
(http://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/mission.htm).
Public Affairs Self - Report Scale Validation
(Further validation work on the short version of the Public Affairs scale is currently under way.)
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Instructional Community SoTL Project Reports
Hybrid Vigor in Education?
Lora Hobbs explains how combining two traditional class formats can create a better whole . . . and her students love it! “One can see that the strengths of one class format respond directly to the liabilities of the other format. "
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