In response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions of higher learning locked down their campuses and altered their ways of teaching. This article discusses changes made to courses at five highly varied public universities in New England participating in the multiyear Campuses for Environmental Stewardship (CES) program. The…

The COVID pandemic has exacerbated structural, demographic, and financial challenges faced by American higher education institutions and their honors programs and colleges. Likewise, the Black Lives Matter movement has made plain the inequities in the higher education sector. The new "normal" post-COVID will challenge honors…

This empirical study examined undergraduate college students' perceptions about HyFlex/hybrid courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 305 students (73 male, 234 female) completed an online survey that assessed technological strategies, instructional strategies, and perceptions about HyFlex classes. Students indicated that most of their…

In recent years, American universities have implemented many innovative strategies to enhance the academic success of students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds. Yet first-generation and/or low-income (FLI) college students continue to encounter barriers to success because they do not have authentic access to digital technology…

Blogging is an excellent way to implement students bringing their further insights to their classmates following an exciting class discussion, continuing an exchange of ideas and providing students with another tool to improve their writing skills. Student class blogging offers many benefits--for student and instructor alike--compared to assigning…

Mobile technology plays a prominent role in teaching and learning. To address this vital component of teacher preparation, the education department of a small college provided the freshman class with iPads. iPads were selected because they are common in public schools, lightweight, portable, touch-screen controlled and have an abundance of…

This current study describes an object-based learning approach to teaching "Don Quixote" as part of the curriculum for Spanish majors at a small liberal arts college. In order to maximize students' engagement with the narrative and the material culture of the novel, students worked with rare books, collaborative translation using Google…

The Early Childhood Opportunity (EChO) Scholars project was designed to address the following significant needs in Maine: (a) prepare highly qualified early interventionists and early childhood special educators through distance education, (b) develop a system of support through a mentor network, (c) provide a graduate-level early childhood…

At the University of Maine, middle and high school teachers observed more than 250 university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes and collected information on the nature of instruction, including how clickers were being used. Comparisons of classes taught with (n = 80) and without (n = 184) clickers show that, while…

This study examined undergraduate college students' perceptions, general preferences, emotional responses, and comment themes with the transition to a virtual learning classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic from a college in the northeast United States. A total of 148 students (44 males, 104 females) completed an 18-item transition to virtual…

Thomas College is leading the field of teacher preparation through the design of its three-year programs in Education, which are now being offered across our suite of early childhood, elementary and secondary programs. Students can earn a teaching degree and be recommended for certification in three years. There is a need for practical answers to…

Experience from the fall 2020 semester suggests that fast, frequent testing can help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in a large and diverse university community, but it must also be emphasized that testing is only one component of a coherent mitigation strategy. A comprehensive approach requires the application of epidemiology and science; rapid…

When students share and explore chemistry ideas with others, they use gestures and their bodies to perform their understanding. As a publicly visible, spatio-dynamic medium of expression, gestures and the body provide productive resources for imagining the submicroscopic, three-dimensional, and dynamic phenomena of chemistry together. In this…

States are taking several distinct approaches to implement reverse transfer policies. Although contextualized by state-specific factors, approaches to policy implementation commonly include determination of a group or regulatory body responsible for policy oversight, technology, funding and identification of students eligible to participate in…

As states have begun to fully implement reverse transfer policies, their reported student-level outcomes data varies widely. Given the infancy of most reverse transfer policy, it is premature to pinpoint any single state action that has served to accelerate or hinder successful degree conferrals. However, taking a deeper look at exemplar state…