During the 2018-2019 academic year, the authors had the opportunity to begin work on a unique multi-year virtual heritage "Virtual Shikoku Pilgrimage" (VSP) project. The main goal of this project is to design and develop an immersive virtual landscape exploration platform that uses 3-D digital technologies, including the Unity video game…

Visuals and images are ubiquitous on college campuses and with the lives of students, faculty, and staff. Increasingly students, administrators, and faculty have access to the means of creation, production, and distribution of images. While particular images are crafted by institutions to communicate particular messages, the use of visuals and…

This report describes partnerships between researchers and state early childhood agencies in Georgia, Oregon, and South Carolina. Two of these partnerships are with researchers who are external to the state agency, and one is with a research team inside the agency. The report provides examples of how partnerships have made use of administrative…

Winthrop University is a public comprehensive university of about 6000 students, 5000 of whom are undergraduates. The Department of Mathematics offers a baccalaureate degree in mathematics, but has no graduate degree programs. As late as 2009, there was essentially no undergraduate research in the department. At this time, faculty made efforts to…

Rural school districts throughout the country face increasing challenges with recruiting and retaining beginning teachers due to job demands that include a lack of mentoring, lower salaries than their urban and suburban counterparts, geographic isolation, requirements to take on additional nonteaching duties, and teaching assignments that include…

Students who write essays on research topics in which no outside sources are cited and where accuracy is treated as negotiable should generally not expect to receive good grades, especially in an information literacy course. However, asking students to do just this was the first step in the "un-research project," a twist on the familiar…

Educators in higher education often seek innovative pedagogies to include in their classrooms. This article describes an integrative learning experience and details the planning, implementation, considerations, and benefits of creating a major-specific undergraduate research day. The event created an opportunity for students to gain confidence and…

Mobile learning is an incredible way to engage students in activities that encourage exploration and critical thinking. This type of learning is defined by the use of portable technology, such as laptops, tablets, and smart phones, to support learning in various environments and in various ways. Depending on the technologies and resources already…

The potential of social media to give insight into the dynamic evolution of public conversations, and into their reactive and constitutive role in political activities, has to date been underdeveloped. While topic modeling can give static insight into the structure of a conversation, and keyword volume tracking can show how engagement with a…

Over the last year and a half, a number of scholars, pundits, and journalists have criticized college campuses for coddling students by constructing environments that protect them from offensive opinions and evidence that disconfirms their prior attitudes. In this article, I suggest two pedagogical techniques that can help students encounter and…

The Metropolitan Studies Institute (MSI) at the University of South Carolina Upstate (USC Upstate) demonstrates a robust and unique record of community impact through community indicators research and other translational research. The MSI's work drives programmatic priorities and funding decisions, generates revenue, and increases the community's…

The "South Carolina Higher Education Statistical Abstract" is a comprehensive, single-source compilation of tables and graphs which report data frequently requested by the governor, legislators, college and university staff, other state government officials, and the general public. The 2023 edition of the Statistical Abstract marks the…

In a multisemester Popular Science Journalism course that met for 2 hours once a week at Clemson University, students produced science news articles for the university newspaper by using primary literature, the internet, and interviews with researchers. Short lectures were given on topic choice, story development, literature surveys, common…

Several comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) professional preparation and research initiatives are underway in the Department of Physical Education and Athletic Training at the University of South Carolina. The CSPAP learning experiences have been mostly integrated into existing courses to help candidates in physical education…

This essay concerns the methods I use in my 300-level Shakespeare course at Winthrop University to foster research worthy of frequent conference presentation and occasional publication. In short, my approach is to provide suitable topics and to require multiple stages in the composition and research process. The results, I have discovered, are…