College of Education News

Congratulations, Dr. Lewis

by

The research of Dr. Kayla Lewis has been selected for the 2023 issue of Mind’s Eye, a Missouri State University research publication. Lewis is an associate professor of literacy. 

Her research delves into how children’s books can help combat misinformation and educate the youth about Native American heritage.   

The following is an excerpt from the story:   

The lack of proper education about native heritage contributes to racism and reinforces stereotypes.   

“Children’s books can help combat these issues by providing an outlet for teachers to honor, support and teach native heritage,” Lewis said.   

“They can also help preserve endangered indigenous languages.”   

She partnered with her former professor and longtime friend, Dr. Sarah Nixon, another MSU literacy professor. Together, they curated a collection of books for teachers to use in their curriculum.   

The duo evaluated 95 children’s books from their personal and local libraries. The books were fiction or non-fiction written by or about Native Americans.   

Read the full article online 

Dr. Kewman Lee featured in Mind’s Eye magazine

by

Dr. Kewman Lee studies modern communication to understand language development. His most recent research into spontaneous language creation in global online spaces is featured in the 2022 issue of Mind’s Eye.   

The full story is available on the site now.  

Here is an excerpt:  

In his research, Lee observed a website called Asianfanfics.com. Here, Korean pop music (K-pop) fans write and share stories about K-pop icons and celebrities. 

“Contributors create their own social language spontaneously. There is intrinsic motivation to learn the language to become an insider of the group,” Lee said. “It is quite similar to the history of the development of language thousands of years ago.” 

The conditions for this modern, spontaneous social language creation are unique. 

“English speakers use the translanguaging of English and Korean or the K-pop social language. Some Spanish speakers or Japanese speakers also mix their language using Japanese and Spanish words,” Lee said. “They’ve created their own standard of reading and writing.” 

Read the full story 

Congratulations, Dr. Lee!  

Supporting English language learners

by

When Dr. Kennedy Ongaga, assistant professor in the department of counseling, leadership and special education, found out he won the Spencer Foundation research grant, he ran to his front yard and shouted, “Thank you, God!”  

“When we have a crisis, marginalized students and English learners are always left behind,” Ongaga said. “During COVID-19, our homes, our students’ homes, became the schools when schools moved to remote. The question becomes, what resources are available or did schools leverage to support student learning?” 

Ongaga’s research seeks to assess the education of English language learners (ELL) in Springfield Public Schools (SPS) during the pandemic. 

The data he collects will serve as a foundation for improving and creating support services for ELLs in times of crisis.  

Working in social justice 

Ongaga’s work in SPS specifically addresses ELLs. Many of them are refugees from around the world including Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Malawi and Tanzania.  

“I try to acculturate them and help them to understand what life is like in America,” Ongaga said. “I also do interpretation for students who don’t speak English for the K-12 schools within this region.” 

The pandemic caused transitions in class delivery, communication and the structure of school. Ongaga’s research questions address how accommodations were made to assist ELLs during this transition and the ongoing pandemic.  

Asking the right questions  

Ongaga will officially begin this research project in October 2021 and plans to conclude it in September 2023. 

The data collection will occur in four phases: 

  • Surveying students, administrators, EL specialists, teachers and other staff members.  
  • Interviews with counselors, school nurses, social workers and psychologists.
  • Focus groups with parents, teachers and students.
  • Secondary data including assessment results and test scores from DESE. 

“Using secondary data, in connection with the qualitative data that we’ll get from the participants, we should be able to make evidence-based projections of what is going on,” Ongaga said. 

He hopes this data will help answer questions such as:  

  1. What services, strategies and special accommodations did SPS implement to support ELLs learning during the pandemic? 
  2. To what extent do ELLs perceive that their academic needs were actually met during the pandemic? 
  3. What is communication like between the school, teachers and parents to keep the momentum of student learning going? 
  4. What guidance and supports are educators provided with to address EL learning needs?   

“For some students, school is where they take their breakfast, their lunch and sometimes that’s where they get that sandwich that they take home for dinner,” Ongaga said. “I want to know what services and programs have been used to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the ELL’s social-emotional development and their family’s wellbeing.” 

Ongaga hopes to make research-based recommendations for SPS and other K-12 districts so they can be more specific in addressing the needs of such sub-groups and marginalized students.  

“We have a lot of resources to rehumanize education in times of crises – if only we can know how to leverage those resources to reach students,” Ongaga said. 

Spencer Foundation Funding  

Ongaga’s research is funded in part by the Spencer Foundation research grant that he won this fall. The Spencer Foundation awards grants nationally and applicants have only a 5% chance of receiving funding.  

Ongaga submitted the application himself, but he is grateful for the support he found in his department. 

“Dr. Reesha Adamson, who was my answering department head, was absolutely helpful in calming me down,” Ongaga said. “She’s very good with grant writing and shared sort of a toolbox of what I needed to do.” 

The pandemic continues to reveal inequities that ELLs and children from immigrant families experience in U.S. schools and their communities.  

Support from the Spencer Foundation is an acknowledgment of how important this kind of work is in making a difference in the lives of students.  

“I’m very sure, through these small grants, we will be able to make an impact and meaningfully partner with our K-12 school districts in addressing challenges of reaching vulnerable populations,” Ongaga said. 

Making a difference 

Ongaga’s research connects to the ways Missouri State is working to improve the community through the public affairs mission. Ongaga hopes the work he is doing will inspire others.  

He referenced a well-known quote: “You don’t get harmony when everyone sings the same note. Only notes that are different can harmonize. The same is true of people.”  

Ongaga encourages people to find their own ways to help the people around them.  

“When you look at what’s going on around the world and see what people are going through – they’re not worse than me and you. They’re just human beings caught up in some kind of mess,” Ongaga said. “We have a moral responsibility to be our brother’s keeper, and I’m very sure we can do it.” 

Learn more about the public affairs mission   

Cheating in the time of COVID-19: An ongoing study

by

Are my students cheating? 

That question looms over every teacher. With the shift to virtual learning due to the pandemic, some questioned if there was a way to prevent cheating at all. 

Professors at Missouri State, Marshall and Kansas State universities are examining the issue of cheating, specifically, whether the conditions of the pandemic caused an uptick in academic dishonesty.  

The original study  

Eleven years ago, while working at Marshall University, Dr. James Sottile, professor in MSU’s counseling, leadership and special education (CLSE) department, conducted research to determine if college students were cheating. Then, he compared cheating in seated courses to that of online classes.  

The results of the 2010 study showed that while some students were cheating, there was not a significant difference between the likelihood of cheating in person versus online.  

“Everybody assumed people would cheat more online, but that wasn’t the case,” Sottile said. “If people are given the opportunity to cheat, they’re going to cheat. That’s pretty similar for being online or face to face.” 

Data during the pandemic  

Considering the changes in class delivery during the pandemic, Sottile, along with Dr. Bonni Behrend, also a professor in the CLSE department, embarked on a follow-up cheating study.  

Not only did the pandemic present an interesting environment, but technological advancements over the past decade were also factors to consider.  

“Classes that were traditionally brick and mortar now have this virtual component,” Behrend said. “When you’re forced into a virtual setting, you maybe don’t have the time or the capabilities to think outside the box about what students could be doing whenever you’re giving them a test.” 

Sottile and his colleagues collected data through a survey like the one used in the original study. They added additional questions to gauge if students were more likely to cheat since the pandemic began. 

Survey results from 698 college student participants show that students may have cheated more during the pandemic.  

Survey results to the question: Have you cheated more or less since the COVID-19 pandemic (February 2020) than before the pandemic?

Sottile, Behrend and their co-researchers will return to the study for a third time with more specific questions including:  

  • What percent of students in your live classes do you believe cheat at least once during the semester? 
  • What percent of students in your online classes do you believe cheat at least once during the semester? 

They hope to narrow down their results to the most accurate depiction of what has happened during the pandemic.  

“It needs to be also stated that a lot of people said they don’t cheat at all, and that’s good,” Behrend said. “But I think as we get more sophisticated with technology, our curriculum and the ways that we deliver education, we have to anticipate the needs.” 

Addressing the issue of cheating 

According to major psychological theorists, people who cheat are often motivated by how cheating will benefit them.  

When it comes to academics, Sottile explained that the more competitive the atmosphere is, the higher the rates of cheating tend to be.  

For example, the original research showed that:  

  • Graduate students tend to cheat slightly more than undergraduate students. 
  • Athletes tend to cheat slightly more than non-athletes.  
  • Men tend to cheat slightly more than women. 

However, Sottile and his colleagues proposed that the solution is not to remove the competitive element. Rather, they would like to raise the moral standards students are held to in academics.  

“The way you increase a person’s moral development, which is backed up by research, is to provide them with ‘what if’ scenarios and codes of ethics,” Sottile said.  

Academic integrity at Missouri State  

Sottile affirmed academic integrity policies in place at Missouri State are adequate if they are supported by teachers and administrators.  

“I think everyone needs to be more aware of what we can do to prevent people from cheating, or decreasing the chances of cheating, as well as increasing a person’s moral development,” Sottile said.  

Behrend notes the purpose of conducting research on topics like this is not to highlight the negative, but to acknowledge that there is room for improvement.  

“People are going to cheat to meet a need,” Behrend explained. “We have to think about what we can do on the backside to be proactive about it as educators, as people who are educating the next leaders. At Missouri State, we talk about the public affairs mission in that way – how it helps to create greater thinkers.” 

MSU academic integrity policies   

Academic integrity resources for students  

Congratulations to Dr. Megan Boyle

by

Dr. Megan Boyle’s in-depth research into treatment options for children with autism spectrum disorders is featured in the 2021 issue of Mind’s Eye. The full story is available on the site now.  

Here is an excerpt:  

Wandering and bolting are both considered eloping – a term used for leaving an area without permission. It’s a problem behavior, especially for children with autism. 

That’s why Dr. Megan Boyle, associate professor of special education at Missouri State University, researches the whys behind this largely under-studied behavior. 

She’s a board-certified behavior analyst, runs a clinic for children with autism spectrum disorders and prepares the next generation of educators for behavior issues in the classroom. 

Read the full story  

Congratulations, Dr. Boyle!