Current Projects
FLC IV (Spring 2013 Implementation) Field-Based Learning
Dr. Charlotte Allen Nelson Rusche College of Business Department of Management, Marketing, and International Business
Course: MKT 425 Systems and Internet Marketing
Name of Project: Social Media Plan for College of Business (COB)
Project Idea: To give marketing students hands on experience in creating a social media marketing plan which provides them with skills critical to their professional success. The major project for this semester will be a group project in which each group will design a social media marketing plan for the College of Business for 2014. The class will need to divide itself into groups of five students. Each group will need to then turn in a project memo to Dr. Allen which identifies the group members and a group name, if the group decides to name itself.
Dr. Chris Sams College of Liberal and Applied Arts Department of English
Course: ENG 411 Teaching English as a Second Language
Name of Project: Teaching English as a Second Language: Pedagogy and Field-Based Practicum
Project Idea: Students in ENG 411 come from fields such as Linguistics, Education, Foreign Languages, and Speech Language Pathology. The first month of the course will introduce the students to the pedagogy of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) emphasizing the sound structure, word formation processes, sentence formation, pragmatics (e.g., formality), information structure, and conversation analysis of the English language. We will discuss linguistic typology (how languages from other language families differ) from English to identify where there will be problem spots for second language learners of English. We will discuss second language acquisition, language and culture, and language testing and assessment. After the first month, students will be paired with a student from the Office of International Program's English Language Institute who is a non-native English speaker and will meet with the student weekly for 22.5 hours. We will still meet as a class once a week to discuss progress and allow students to help each other to see if common issues are arising and brainstorm solutions. Each 411 student will create an initial language profile of the native language of their speaker and attempt to predict where interference or developmental issues will occur, make an initial assessment of their speaker's abilities, develop a plan of action, implement the plan of action, and create a final assessment.
Dr. DawnElla Rust James I. Perkins College of Education Department of Kinesiology and Health Science
Course: HSC 475-004 Worksite Health Promotion
Name of Project: Healthy Nacogdoches Coalition Lighten Up
Project Idea: According to the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS) Selected Health Facts 2010, the mortality rates in Nacogdoches County due to certain chronic diseases related to obesity and physical inactivity are significantly higher than the state mortality rates. HSC 475 will support the efforts of the Healthy Nacogdoches Coalition's program titled Lighten Up. Lighten Up is an 18 county weight loss competition. The activities in HSC 475 will act as a resource for Lighten Up participants.
Dr. Marlene Kahla Nelson Rusche College of Business Department of Management, Marketing, and International Business
Course: MKT 352 Advertising and Promotion
Name of Project: Advertising and Promotion Plan for Civil Air Patrol Nacogdoches
Project Idea: Civil Air Patrol (CAP) contacted Dr. Kahla in Fall 2012 to seek the MKT 352 001 students in Spring 2013 Semester to prepare an Advertising and Promotion Plan for the CAP with its additional location just recently acquired in Nacogdoches County: Issue: CAP owns a new location in Nacogdoches County and wants the community to learn more about the acquisition, the mission and presence of CAP. Overall, the advertising and promotion plans book is designed to increase awareness of CAP in Nacogdoches County by at least 25% within one year of implementation.
Dr. Matthew Kwiatkowski College of Sciences and Mathematics Department of Biology
Course: BIO 437 Herpetology
Name of Project: Effects of Student Research Projects on Higher Order Thinking Skills
Project Idea: Higher order thinking skills are inherent in the scientific method, where observations lead to hypotheses that can be tested through data collection. Unfortunately, students in Biology rarely get the opportunity to actually practice the scientific method. Hence, higher order thinking skills may suffer as a consequence. I will investigate whether research experience helps students understand the scientific method and develop higher order thinking skills. Students will help design and conduct two studies.
Grey Treefrogs. Students will investigate whether a previously unstudied color patch is associated with call variables that are known indicators of male genetic quality.
Snake Facial Stripes. Students will investigate whether dark facial stripes act as predator warning signals using plasticine models.
Course: HMS 414 and HMS 414L Commercial II
Name of Project: Standardization of Classrooms for SFA
Project Idea: Involve students in evaluating, ranking classrooms spaces on SFA Campus and generating standards (paint, floorcovering, wall covering, ceiling, lighting and furniture) for each academic building on campus. Collaborate with faculty on campus to explain how classroom spaces are used and the methodology of how they teach. Collaborate with researchers outside of the campus to share research on innovative classrooms of today and the future. Meet with the top manufacturers of furniture of universities. Generating a standard classroom package of furniture and finishes that can be submitted to SFA to utilize in the academic classrooms.
Dr. Jannah Nerren James I. Perkins College of Education Department of Elementary Education
Course: ELE 351-401 EC-4 Learners-Planning Instruction in the Classroom Environment
Name of Project: Service Learning with Peer Evaluation Circles for Practicum I Students
Project Idea: Many students in East Texas rural schools are from low SES families and struggle academically because of limited resources and lack of support systems. Teacher candidates will take part in a Service Learning Project in rural school settings to provide support by mentoring students. They will work to identify areas of academic need and implement strategies to reduce these deficits.
Teacher candidates enrolled in ELE 351 will be assigned a student from an elementary classroom in grades K-3 at Huntington Elementary School. The teacher candidate is responsible for collaborating with the student's classroom teacher to schedule times when the pair will interact. The teacher candidate is responsible for mentoring the student a minimum of 45 minutes (in a single block of time) weekly. The teacher candidate is responsible for maintaining effective communication with the classroom teacher to discuss the student's needs and progress.
Teacher candidates will also engage in Peer Support Systems to collaborate about the project, the students' needs, and effective strategies.
Dr. Mary Catherine Niño James I. Perkins College of Education Department of Secondary Education
Course: SED 372 Reading and Information Literacy
Name of Project: Urban Experiences in Teaching
Project Idea: Preservice teaching candidates have preconceived notions of urban teaching and learning. Additionally, preservice teachers have preconceived notions of the types of students who are able to access higher order thinking and engage in rigorous learning. Discussing the possibility of diverse students achieving high expectations does not have enough impact for preservice candidates to change their perspectives. Service learning in KIPP Sunnyside in Houston will engage preservice teachers in authentic contexts in which they can apply methods designed to engage students in higher order thinking.
Dr. Robin Johnson James I. Perkins College of Education Department of Elementary Education
Course: ECH 332 Cognitive/Language Development of Young Children
Name of Project: Promoting Oral Language Development in an Early Childhood Classroom: From Theory to Practice
Project Idea: ECH 332 students will learn the theories of language acquisition and their connection to the development of literacy skills in school (reading, writing, listening, and speaking). Based on those theories, their knowledge of child development, and the state standards for K-2 classrooms in Texas, students will design, create, and implement multiple hands on activities that promote oral language and literacy development throughout all subject areas in an early childhood classroom. Students will be paired with either a kindergarten, 1st, or 2nd grade classroom in an elementary school in Nacogdoches ISD where they will engage in field based service learning with the teachers and the children.
To complete the components of this project, the students will:
• Learn the theories of language acquisition through collaboration, use of technology, and discussion.
• Observe children and their use of language in a classroom setting; record the use of language with a rubric, and evaluate needed steps for increasing the use of oral language
• Evaluate oral language activities that are commercially produced, including manipulatives and technology applications
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of state standards for an early childhood classroom by matching oral language and literacy activities to the correct grade level and subject area.
• Demonstrate knowledge and application of choosing appropriate grade level children's books that are beneficial for increasing oral language development.
• Design and create 5 activities to implement in an early childhood classroom setting: book souvenirs, book with props, a social studies learning center, a science learning center, and trail games.
• Communicate with their partner classroom teacher about the activities and skills they already use with their children to increase oral language.
• Present the activities created in multiple ways: in the field with students, in class with technology, published on a web sharing site, and through poster presentations
Reflect on the value, the impact, and the application of the activities in relation to increasing oral language and literacy skills.
Dr. Daniel Scognamillo Arthur Temple College of Forestry Department of Forestry
Course: GIS 415 Spatial Analysis
Name of Project: Spatial Analysis
Project Idea: Elements, entities, and events occupy a given geographic location in the real world. We can ask questions about spatial relationships between those entities considering their location. Some examples of those questions are: •What is the best location for a new police station based on the location of crimes? • What is the best location for a Fire Department based on location of emergencies? • Where is more likely to find suitable habitat for certain endangered species based on known locations for that species? We try to answer questions that have a spatial component every day in our life. Once the question has been identified, the challenge is to define and collect the necessary data and appropriate statistical tools for their analysis. In this course students will be exposed to real world situations, they will be asked to identify problems and issues, develop research questions, and select and apply the right analytical tools to help find answers to those questions.
Dr. Carolyn Stufft James I. Perkins College of Education Department of Elementary Education
Course: ELE 450 EC-6 Practicum II
Name of Project: Writing-Enhanced Peer Learning Communities
Project Idea: Practicum II students spend 3 hours a day, 4 days a week in K-5 classrooms during the semester. Practicum II students teach whole group lessons and interact with their mentor teacher and students on a daily basis during the field-based experience but do not generally have the opportunity to interact and debrief with other Practicum II students. In past semesters, students have been responsible for submitting lesson plans and lesson reflections for math, science, and social studies lessons directly to the instructor. Students also have completed weekly double-entry journal assignments based on a math textbook and have submitted the assignments to the instructor. One aspect of the Practicum II experience that has been missing is the presence of a learning community to promote students' reflection of their daily teaching experiences by sharing information with and interacting with other Practicum II students. This project seeks to promote students' peer interactions and to enhance peer-instructor interactions through small focus groups whose members will support one another and share ideas, challenges, and questions throughout the semester. Students will each be responsible for maintaining a reflection journal that includes individual and group reflection activities.
Dr. Kelly Noe Nelson Rusche College of Business Gerald W. Schlief School of Accountancy
Course: AIS 453 Accounting Information Systems
Name of Project: Atkinson Candy
Project Idea: Students will spend the first 6 weeks of the semester learning about and how to flowchart the Revenue, Expenditure, and Payroll of the Accounting System. Students will be assigned to groups. The students will meet in groups with 8 accounting professionals at Atkinson Candy and create a flowchart of each "desk" of the accounting professionals. The term "desk" refers to the documents that cross the professional's desk related to the Accounting Information System. The students will spend the next 6 weeks in the field working with the professionals, each other in the group as well as me in documenting and developing the flowchart for the tasks. Students will document the duties and then present them in flowchart form.
Phyllis Gilbert James I. Perkins College of Education School of Human Sciences-Child Development Family Living
Course: HMS 420 Practicum
Name of Project: Grant Writing: Understanding and Measuring the Needs of an Agency as an Intern
Project Idea: Interns in this course will work with a variety of public and private agencies with diverse needs. During the internship, students will investigate the challenges, goals, and needs of their agencies. The field-based learning experience will direct interns through the grant writing process: identifying a potential donor, researching measurable goals for the agency, and writing the grant. Students will submit the grant upon completion of their internship. CDFL students need grant writing skills for their professional careers.
Dr. Jessie Sams College of Liberal and Applied Arts Department of English
Course: ENG 440 Invented Languages
Name of Project: Tapping into Creativity to Learn Linguistic Concepts
Project Idea: In the ENG 440 course, students will learn features of natural languages and analyze existing constructed languages in order to invent a language of their own. Each student will be paired with a client who has a specific need for an invented language (the clients range from authors to video game developers). Students will have to collect information from their client and assimilate what their client wants with what we are learning in the classroom about features of languages. Their final project will be a written mini-grammar of their language, which will be presented to the client; they will also be required to participate in a conference at the end of the semester by presenting a poster or interactive presentation based on their experience.