This research is about the underlying process language learners rely on to be able to engage effectively in unscripted conversations without premeditation, or "improvisation." To engage in improvisation in another language, one needs to recognize those elements of the evolving cultural context that are significant at the moment. By…

This reflective essay advances a model of transformative education based on the collaborative experiences of a professor and three students who sought greater opportunities for flourishing through reflective and contemplative methods in an instructor-created open space. Open space derives from research in education, child psychology, and…

This brief highlights examples of career pathway models funded by TAACCCT [Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training] that were designed for adult students who require accelerated timelines because they are often under pressure to enter or reenter the workforce quickly to support their families. In each of the cases chosen,…

This study evaluated the experiences of faculty-practitioners, graduate students, and a community partner within the context of a professional development (i.e., career education) course at a large, research-intensive institution. Over the course of a 16-week academic semester graduate information technology students worked in collaborative…

Facilitating successful informal STEM learning experiences is essential for building knowledge and comfort with STEM content for children and teachers alike. Informal learning experiences are by nature hands-on and interdisciplinary and provide play-based, real-world, authentic learning experiences. This article describes what elementary teacher…

Science and mathematics literacy are fundamental to the basic understanding of food and health and/or the pursuit of science-based careers. In 1999, the FoodMASTER Initiative (FMI) was created to provide an opportunity for youth to experience authentic, real-world health science activities in K-12 learning environments. FMI administrative…

Transdisciplinary approaches increasingly are needed to address complex environmental problems. Students can benefit from research and learning opportunities in which they investigate issues, integrate knowledge across disciplines, engage with stakeholders, collaborate with others, and devise solutions. This paper presents information on a 1-week…

The purpose of this reflective essay is to encourage the discussion of community-engaged scholarship (CES) that does not progress as planned. Insufficient attention is given to lessons gleaned from missteps and outright failures experienced by scholars in the field, which results in a paucity of documented cases and recommendations for…

Professionals working in technology fields face continuing challenges to be involved in the decision-making process about how technology is used by organizations rather than just implementing these decisions. Developing skills for thinking and acting strategically are key skills for our students. This has been recognized by the addition of an IS…

The United States economy currently suffers a significant skills gap in its workforce, one that approaches crisis proportions. This skills gap (Christo-Baker et al., 2017; King et al., 2017; Laboissiere & Mourshed, 2017) will have profound effects on future U.S. economic growth and, by extension, on global economic growth. Researchers have…

This study explores a Capstone course's pedagogical process and considers both the challenges and triumphs that emerge from experiential learning within a news desert region. The research employs micro-ethnographic methods to analyze the learning outcomes gleaned by both students and instructors of one magazine publishing Capstone course over the…

College graduation rates have been on the academic and political agenda. The United States graduation rate is 59%, however, 68% of nontraditional students do not graduate with baccalaureate degrees within the time frame of six years. Scholars are attributing the decreasing graduation rates to barriers encountered by nontraditional undergraduate…

Two 4-H Camp-related bus tours offered new nontraditional professional development (PD) experiences that better align Extension's PD opportunities with the organization's experiential education pedagogy. Creating quality PD opportunities for employees is important because such experiences can affect overall work performance, community connections,…

With continuing changes in all aspects of the technology field, especially the emergence of cloud and "as a service" offerings, developing skills for strategic thinking about technology is of increasing importance to our students. However, the presence of formal IS/IT strategy courses in programs of study trails that of more traditional…

Students in a course on the psychology of language and thought first wrote flash fiction stories and analyzed them using course concepts. As an experiential learning exercise, they subsequently analyzed those stories for a number of psycholinguistic variables using the discourse technology Coh-Metrix. Their assignment was to change a number of…