Tuesday, May 30, 2023

6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. TECO Hall, USF College of Education


Reciprocity Between Practice and Research: Vexations & Ventures in Literacy Professional Development

Vexation: Pressures for student performance during an era of accountability often include literacy coaching as a driving force for school reform (Kurz, 2017). Coaching has the potential for effective professional development (Gibbons & Cobb, 2017), yet impact is minimized as access is limited to educators. Venture: This interactive poster session seeks to examine the research on coaching, understand possible influences equitable access to literacy coaching, and discuss the impact on the field of teacher and leadership development.

Mellissa Teston

Preservice Teachers’ Emotional Experiences in a Virtual Teaching Simulation: Analysis of Facial Expression Recognition

This study investigated preservice teachers’ emotional experiences while interacting within a virtual scenario-based teacher-training system called Simulation for Teaching Enhancement of Authentic Classroom beHavior Emulator (SimTEACHER). Three research questions were (1) What are the effects of the type of interactions designed within SimTEACHER on preservice teachers’ key performance indicators (KPIs)? (2) What are the effects of the type of interactions designed within SimTEACHER on preservice teachers’ emotional valence? (3) What are the effects of the type of interactions designed within SimTEACHER on pre-service teachers’ key emotions? We created three types of interactions (no interaction, unexpected interaction, and expected interaction) within SimTEACHER and examined the influences of the interaction design on preservice teachers’ emotional responses in three aspects: key performance indicators (attention, emotional engagement, and sentiment), emotional valence (positive, neutral, and negative), and four basic emotions (joy, sadness, fear, and anger).

Fourteen preservice teachers from a 4-year public university in southwestern South Korea participated in this study. The data of the participants’ emotional expressions were collected using the Emotient software, which has been widely used for automated facial expression recognition and analysis. A series of one-way repeated-measured Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicated that participants experienced higher positive and neutral emotions, higher emotional engagement, and a higher feeling of joy when they engaged in unexpected interactions than when they engaged in expected interactions or no interactions.

Dr. Jeeheon Ryu

Educational Stakeholders’ Perspectives about Entrepreneurship education in the Primary School Curriculum in Antigua and Barbuda

In Antigua and Barbuda, as in many other countries, there is a growing recognition of the importance of entrepreneurship education in developing students’ skills and abilities to succeed in the 21st-century workforce, within a rapidly changing global economy. To ensure the successful implementation of entrepreneurship education in primary schools, it is important to gather the perspectives of key educational stakeholders such as teachers and administrators. This study explored the views and opinions of educators and educational officials on the inclusion of entrepreneurship education in the primary school curriculum in Antigua and Barbuda. The research was conducted in seven public primary schools within one educational district, with a sample of 56 instructors and 11 educational administrators, which included school principals and curriculum officers at the Ministry of Education. The researchers collected data through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis of interview transcripts . The findings suggest that although opinions on the implementation of entrepreneurship education differ, the participants collectively agreed on its potential to foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills, promote creativity, and encourage social responsibility. Overall, this study highlights the importance of entrepreneurship education in Antigua and Barbuda and provides valuable insights for future policies and academic research on the topic in the Caribbean, where limited research has been conducted. Further studies could explore the impact of entrepreneurship education on developing 21st-century skills at all educational levels, and help to ensure that students are well-equipped and thrive within the 4th Industrial revolution.


“Investigating the Relationship between academic burnout and perceived academic performance among students at a Tertiary Institution in Trinidad and Tobago”

Academic burnout is a common phenomenon experienced by students in a college or university setting, which can lead to feelings of disillusionment, disengagement, and a sense of inadequacy, resulting in decreased academic performance, reduced motivation, and a loss of interest in learning (Schaufeli et al., 2002; & Zhang et al., 2007). The negative consequences of academic burnout can have a significant impact on a student’s mental and physical health, as well as their educational and career prospects. Students who experience academic burnout will not thrive academically and may be more likely to drop out or take longer to complete their degree programs (Levecque et al., 2017). While it is essential to recognize the warning signs and seek support from academic advisors or counselors to address the underlying causes of stress, little is known about the interplay of academic burnout and academic performance within the context of online college courses. To fill this research gap, a group of student researchers investigated the possible relationship between academic burnout and the academic performance of students post-COVID-19 at a tertiary-level institution in Trinidad and Tobago.

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