Believe and Prepare: LADOE Celebrates Louisiana Tech's COE and Lincoln Parish Schools' Successes

At 9 am in the Claiborne Building in Baton Rouge, LA, the Believe and Prepare Community Meeting was hosted by the Louisiana Department of Education. Featured was Mrs. Lisa Allen, a Louisiana Tech graduate, Fourth Grade educator at Ruston Elementary School and collaborator with Drs. Dawn Basinger and Amy Massey Vessel of the Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership on the Louisiana Tech University Believe and Prepare project. The project is focused on mentor teacher preparation to support teacher candidates before and during year long clinical residencies.  A variety of sessions were hosted during the event and included the following :

Mentor Training
Communicating to Ensure Candidate Success
Digital Support Tools
First, Are Students Learning? Using Data to Strengthen the Preparation Experiences
Preparation Program Inspection: Process and Outcomes
Teachers' Guide to PARCC Results

The Louisiana Tech University Believe and Prepare project has been incredibly successful. More than 70 educators have attended multiple workshops and conference sessions in the College of Education since the beginning of 2016. State Superintendent John White has also visited the district on multiple occasions to see the great things happening as a result of the grant program. We are proud of the work of the COE faculty and the amazing mentor teachers in Lincoln, Ouachita, and Union parishes!

Health Fair hosted at Ruston Elementary School by Faculty and Students from Kinesiology

On Friday, February 5, students and faculty from Louisiana Tech University hosted a health fair that promoted health and wellness at a local elementary school, Ruston Elementary. This is the second time this year, the University group has served the local school.  Students from KINE 255 and 402 and from Nursing 212 were assigned to different stations.  In addition, the Student Dietetics and Kinesiology students talked with the elementary students about the importance of health and wellness, and they physical demonstrated each of the exercises for the elementary-age children. In addition, the Louisiana Tech students encouraged them to participate in such physical activities in their spare time, especially after school and on the weekends. Three rotations were created for 344 third-fifth graders to rotate through. During the interdisciplinary service effort, there were 14 nursing, 1 dietetics, and 1 child life booths at the exhibition area, representing both the College of Applied and Natural Sciences (CANS) and the College of Education (COE). Four health-related fitness workout stations were implemented by the kinesiology students and faculty. The Ruston Fire Department also brought one of their fire trucks to provide fire safety education.

The four workout stations included:

o   line jumps, clap jacks, mountain climbers and standing elbow-and-knees for the cardiovascular endurance component;

o   partner claps, leg shuffle, inchworms and burpees for the muscular strength/endurance component

o   hip flexor, seated hamstring strength/spinal twist, abdominal stretch and stranding quad stretch/toe touch kicks for the flexibility component; and

o   BMI calculation and identification. 

The event would not have been possible without the leadership of Dr. Jean Chen, faculty from the Louisiana Tech Nursing Department, Mrs. Sarah McVay and Mrs Tanya Sims, and most importantly without the support of the teachers, administrators, and students at Ruston Elementary school! Below are just a few quotes from some of the participants and leaders. Thanks, also, to Dr. Chen for submission of this great story!

o   “I think it is important to encourage our youth to stay active and healthy. In our country, childhood obesity is a problem. By teaching our young people how to exercise, hopefully we can help fight childhood obesity.” – Matt Gunsallus, Kinesiology major

o   “I had a great time at the health fair. I really enjoyed being around the kids all day. It was great to see the kids so excited to exercise. That is the reason I am in this field of study. I want kids to be able to learn how to lead a healthy life.” – Dustin Horton, Kinesiology major

o   “It was great to see the kids’ engagement in all of the activities! As a student myself, I can relate to their excitement to being out of the classroom. The kids definitely kept us on our toes and we almost had to keep up with them!” – Sara Jones, Kinesiology major

o   “I felt great and energized teaching those little kids. They made me so happy and welcomed. They helped me improve my communication skills too. I hope to go back on day!” – Emily Rodrigues, Kinesiology major

o   “The health fair was a great opportunity to show my students how to deliver health content using physical activities. I had been “preaching” in class and we, as a class, had practice sessions on the stations/exercises, but nothing is more powerful than a reality shock. It was quite interesting to see how our students reacted to the “organized chaos” when at one point for the entire hour there were 106 children in the gym!” – Dr. Chen

o   “The Health Fair is a great way to introduce our children to the different types of health care.  The children in my classes enjoyed every aspect of the fair - from learning how to brush their teeth to crawling through a simulated fire tunnel, to learning how different exercises make one stronger - to name a few.  Not only are the students at RES learning how important it is to take care of their bodies, they are being taught by an excellent group of role models from Louisiana Tech.  It is always exciting to be able to bring these two schools together” – Patti Scheaffer, third grade teacher at RES

Meet our new COE Advancement Director: Ms. Penny Murray Humphries!

We are so pleased to announce that Ms. Penny Murray Humphries has officially joined our COE Team as Director of Advancement! As such, Ms. Humphries will spearhead our fundraising efforts and ensure we are doing all we can to connect with our COE alumni by engaging, developing and cultivating relationships. She, too, will also be charged with helping tell the story of our COE.  Ms. Humphries is a 1979 Louisiana Tech University graduate and has over 20 years of service in Louisiana Tech Advancement. She will be meeting with faculty and staff over the coming weeks to learn more about what great things you are doing. We are so excited that she is on board and look forward to great things from Penny in the 2016 year!

                                 

 

eLearning Research Institute is Gaining Traction

The eLearning Research Institute (eLRI), located in the College of Education, is providing a valuable resource to the College and university as faculty and staff members complete professional development sessions to earn various Quality Matters certifications. The eLRI,  under the direction of Acting Director, Dr. Pamela Morgan, has been established to provide a central location for instructional training for formal and informal educators. Within the last quarter, much activity has taken place. 

Comments from Dr. Morgan  - The eLearning Research Institute is proud to announce that Dr. Randy Parker and Dr. Dawn Basinger have recently completed the online Peer Reviewer Course with Quality Matters, Inc. The Peer Reviewer Course is an intensive professional development activity designed to prepare faculty members for the rigorous review of online and hybrid courses using the research-based Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric. Quality Matters uses a peer review process to partner faculty reviewers with course instructors or developers to review and provide specific, detailed, and constructive feedback in order to improve the quality of online and hybrid course design. The College of Education Department of Curriculum, Instruction, and Leadership houses the eLearning Research Institute which is working throughout the LA Tech University to provide training and support for the development and improvement of online and hybrid courses.

The eLearning Research Institute would like to congratulate the following College of Education Staff and adjunct faculty members who recently  graduated from the  Applying the Quality Matters Rubric Professional Development Course: Mr. Glenn Larson, Mr. Chris Campbell, Mrs. Lindsey Keith-Vincent, Ms. C. Smiley Reeves,  Mrs. Melanie Gleason, Dr. Jean Chen, Dr. Jordan Glenn, Ms. Lacey Deal, and Mrs. Susan Rogers. This two week, online course is designed to teach faculty and course designers the process of using the Quality Matters Rubric to review his or her own course and is a precursor to training to become a Peer Reviewer. Through a variety of learning objectives, participants learned to apply Specific Standards developed from research and best practices, how alignment of course components is critical to valid assessment, and  how to draft helpful recommendations and feedback for colleagues.

To learn more about eLRI and opportunities available for you to engage, you can email Dr. Morgan and pmorgan@latech.edu.

Keith-Vincent Selected by LACUE as Post-Secondary Educator of the Year for Region VIII

The Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators (LACUE) recently honored Lindsey Keith-Vincent as the Post-Secondary Educator of the Year for Region VIII in New Orleans at the Annual LACUE Conference. Over 400 educational leaders were in attendance at the conference and ceremony.  Keith-Vincent serves as the director of Outreach and External Funding and as the director of the Science and Technology Education Center (SciTEC) for the College of Education at Louisiana Tech University. 

In her capacity at SciTEC, she collaborates with colleagues across the nation and develops STEM-focused funding and outreach initiatives in the PK-20 arena. She manages the Office of Professional Education Outreach (OPEO), the IDEA Place, Louisiana’s only NASA Educator Resource Center, the Funnery makerspace, the CenterG research collaborative, and the Louisiana Tech Planetarium. OPEO provides online hybrid and extension opportunities for professionals in various fields. SciTEC has been a critical contributor to the design, development, and support of recent large scale University initiatives including the UTeachTech Program, partially supported through a 1.5 million dollar grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Math and Science Initiative. In addition to her role in SciTEC, Mrs. Keith-Vincent serves in the Office of Outreach and External Funding and provides leadership on effort related to growing and enriching personal and professional connections between the College of Education and its constituents and stakeholders..

 “I was honored and humbled when contacted about the selection by Mrs. Debbie Pender,” Keith-Vincent said. “LACUE is comprised of an amazing group of educators that are making great strides in e-learning. I am fortunate to get to work with many in LACUE through SciTEC’s Office of Professional Education Outreach (OPEO). I definitely believe I learn much more from those I serve than they do from me.” 

LACUE provides a forum and support for educators to share ideas and materials as well as representing the needs of educators and students as they relate to the use of technology, especially computers, within instructional environments to regional, state, and national agencies. As noted on their website, “the purpose of LACUE is to provide a professional nonprofit organization in the State of Louisiana which recognizes and promotes the use of computers in education.” The ultimate “goal is to achieve significant and increasing improvement in the understanding of technology and to have available the more specific information and technical training necessary to all those who would beneficially apply technology in their endeavors.”

Don Schillinger, dean of the College of Education added, “As Director for Outreach and External Funding for the College of Education, Lindsey Keith Vincent personifies the vision and spirit of our college in that she exemplifies Excellence through Education. Through the multiple units she directs, including the Science and Technology Education Center (SciTEC) and the Office for Professional Education Outreach (OPEO), Mrs. Keith-Vincent provides the resources, support and collaborative environment necessary for educators to grow professionally. I am very pleased that she is a key member of our leadership team, and speaking for the entire College of Education family, we are very proud of her for achieving this award.”

In addition to Mrs. Keith-Vincent’s recognition, Mr. Dustin Whitlock of Ruston High School was named Region VIII Secondary Educator of the Year and received the State award in the same category.

To learn more about the award or how you can become involved with LACUE, you can visit the following links : http://www.edline.net/pages/LACUE/

http://www.edline.net/pages/Lacue/Contests/2015_Educator_of_the_Year_Award

Meet our New COE Undergraduate Recruiter: Mr. Tyler Shockey

There is a new addition to our College of Education Team, Mr. Tyler Shockey! We want to welcome Mr. Shockey as he joins to serve as our Undergraduate Admissions Recruiter exclusively for our College of Education.   Tyler will also provide assistance for our Time Out for Tech and tour efforts.  Please join us in welcoming, Tyler Shockey to our COE! Below is a brief biography provided by Tyler and a description about why he chose to return to Louisiana Tech. Included are images of Tyler's wife and furbaby, too!

I am a Christ-follower, husband, father to a fur baby, two-time Tech graduate, and overall nerd (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings… you get the point)! I recently returned to the College of Education and Louisiana Tech after receiving my B.A. in Psychology (2012) and my M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (2014). Throughout the majority of my college career I worked at the Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home here in Ruston and also served as a PLPC at the Center for Children and Families in Monroe, LA.
Upon graduating, my wife and I left for the hustle and bustle of New Orleans in order to pursue my Ph.D. in Counselor Education at UNO. However, the big city life proved to be overwhelming for a couple from Bastrop, LA. After a lot of prayer… and I mean A LOT… we decided to settle back down in northeast Louisiana. We were ecstatic when I was offered the position of Admissions Specialist for the College of Education. We both have a deep love for LA Tech and are excited to be back in our old stomping grounds. I’m also very grateful to be working alongside the great professors that influenced me during my studies.
I look forward to meeting the various faculty and students within the College of Education. My office will be located in the Dean’s Suite, so please feel free to stop by if you ever have any questions… or if you just need to escape from your desk and talk for a moment.

Love God… Love Others,

Tyler Shockey

AROS Advises the New Orleans Police Department

AROS, the I-O Psychology PhD program's consulting group, has been working with the City of New Orleans to conduct job-analysis work and to design a new written test for police recruits for the New Orleans Police Department. To complete this work, students have traveled to New Orleans, met with a federal judge, attended a consent-decree hearing, sat in on police-academy sessions, ridden along with on-duty police officers, and conducted numerous interviews, focus groups, and meetings with police officers of all ranks, members of New Orleans Civil Service, and the Consent Decree Monitor. The experience that students gain through doing this type of hands-on, real-world work is immensely valuable in preparing them to leverage their doctoral education!

 

This blog was submitted by Dr. Steven Toaddy of the Department of Psychology in the COE.  Above and below are images from the educational adventure. To learn more about AROS or the partnership with New Orleans Police Department, you can contact Dr. Toaddy at toaddy@latech.edu or visit the AROS webpage.

Superintendent John White Visits Lincoln Parish and the Louisiana Tech TEAM

Louisiana Tech's TEAM Model Clinical Residency Program in Lincoln  Parish elementary schools received a state visit today from Louisiana  Believe and Prepare officials, Julie Stephenson and Rebecca Freeland.  At Cypress Springs Elementary, Lead Mentor Teacher, Michelle Chauvin,  modeled the TEAM evaluation system with intern, Laura Davidson. At  Glen View Elementary, mentor teacher Candice Cole co-taught  mathematics using the parallel teaching strategy with intern, Destiny  Maxwell, and Glen View interns were interviewed. After school, school  team interviews continued at Ruston Elementary with a surprise visit  from Louisiana State Superintendent, John White.

White praised the continuous strength of the university district  partnership in this clinical residency program and gave the TEAM  members a chance to share their reflections on the experience.  According to Program Co-Director, Dr. Amy Vessel, "The success we are  seeing in the TEAM model is a testament to every single team member of  our model from the principal to the district leader to the university  leader to the intern. However, the true key to the clinical residency  program success continues to be the mentor teacher."

Louisiana Tech's College of Education and Lincoln Parish School Board  began the first pilot of a full-year student teaching program with 11  volunteers during the 2014-2015 academic year. This year, 14 interns  are placed in three local elementary schools. This national and state  trend toward longer clinical experiences will have effects extending  to university initial certification program, teacher-to-student ratios  in the classrooms, and ultimately impacts on student success. In  August 2015, the Clinical Residency Research Center was established in  Woodard Hall to conduct such studies. Through additional grants, new  mentor teams have been identified, and training is extending beyond  Lincoln Parish to Ouachita, Claiborne, and Union Parishes this spring.

This blog entry was submitted by Dr. Amy Vessel, Acting Director for the CRRC. You can contact Dr. Vessel at avessel@latech.edu for more information.

Pictured above are John White, Julie  Stephenson, Rebecca Freeland,  Dr. Amy Vessel,  Dr. Dawn Basinger,  Dr. Don Schillinger, Dr. Bryan McCoy, Kay Bradford, Mike  Milstead,  Sherry Boyd, E Lisa  Mangum, District Clinical Liaison, Amy Brister, Mandy  Brown, Jasmine Hall-Archangel,  Lisa Allen, Belinda Birch, Jillian  McAlpin, Maryanne Smith, Evelyn Skinner, Dana  Reno, Mary  Riggs, and Sarah Sullivan