Alicia Fedelina Chávez

Underlying Paradigms in Student Affairs Research and Practice

Student affairs professionals benefit from understanding paradigms, worldviews, and ways of being among diverse faculty, staff, and students. It is challenging to understand core differences of paradigms, design student affairs practice and research in congruence with or across specific philosophies, and work effectively with individuals operating in paradigms different from our own. For most, it is more comfortable to develop practice and research within our worldview, hoping what works for us will work for everyone. This article summarizes, illustrates, and critiques underlying paradigms in research and practice including positivism; feminism and embodied; racialized/border/liminal; critical; cultural; blended perspectives; and constructivism.

Identity Presence and Knowledge Building: Joint Emergence in Online Learning Environments?.

This study examined the presence of identity in diverse online courses and explored how presence of identity correlated with content and students’ participation in online discussion and hence knowledge building in online educational spaces. Epistemic and participation data regarding online interaction and knowledge building were collected from a diverse group of students enrolled in seven multi-disciplinary online courses. Both qualitative and quantitative findings of the study suggested that online discussions with identity presence were associated with more follow-up participation and reinforced a more dialogic online interaction. Identity presence was also correlated with online interactions of knowledge sharing and egocentric elaboration.

Health-related quality of life is maintained in hemodialysis patients receiving pharmaceutical care: A 2-year randomized, controlled study

End‐stage renal disease and initiation of hemodialysis (HD) adversely affect health‐related quality of life (HRQOL). There are currently no data evaluating the effect of pharmaceutical care (PC) on HRQOL in HD patients. HD patients were randomized to receive PC; one‐on‐one, in‐depth medication reviews conducted by a clinical pharmacist or Standard of Care (SOC); and brief medication reviews conducted by dialysis nurses. The renal quality of life profile (RQLP) was administered at baseline and then at 1 and 2 years after study initiation. The RQLP is a 43‐item questionnaire that has 5 dimensions: Eating/Drinking, Physical Activities, Leisure Time, Psychosocial Activities, and Impact of Treatment, where increasing scores reflect worsening of HRQOL. A total of 107 patients were enrolled (SOC: n=46; PC: n=61). Besides gender, there were no differences in the demographics or the baseline total RQLP scores. The mean±SD total RQLP scores at Year 1 were significantly worse in SOC compared with PC (88±31 vs. 71±34, respectively; P=0.03). Significant worsening of Eating and Drinking (5.9±3.3 vs. 4.4±3.1, respectively; P=0.04), Physical Activities (37±13.6 vs. 30±16.3, respectively; P=0.04), and Leisure Time scores (8.3±3.4 vs. 5.9±3.6, respectively; P=0.03) was also observed in the SOC group. After 2 years, only the SOC patients had worsening of Leisure Time (7.5±3.0 vs. 5.2±3.9, respectively; P=0.04). No other parameters were different between the groups after 2 years. These data indicate that patients who have clinical care provided by pharmacists do not have worsened HRQOL after 1 year and are able to maintain HRQOL for an additional year.

Web-based teaching and learning across culture and age

Preface.- Part I Diversity in Online Learning Contexts.- 1.Introduction and Background.- 2.Multicultural and Intergenerational Teaching and Learning: Current Research.- 3.A Two-Year Research Project on Web-Based Teaching and Learning.- Part II Study Findings.- 4.Diversity in Online Learning Interaction and Participation.- 5.Cultural Constructs in Teaching and Learning.- 6.Online Interaction and Learning Contexts Design and Learner Success.- Part III Designing for Success in Online Learning Contexts.- 7.Inclusive Design of Online Teaching and Learning.- 8.Promoting Inclusive, Deep Learning in Online Contexts.- 9.Concluding Thoughts on Web-Based Teaching and Learning across Culture and Age.

Inclusive Design of Online Teaching and Learning

In this chapter, we explore an adaptive and inclusive approach to instructional design for cross-cultural and intergenerational online learning. We start with a review and synthesis of existing instructional design propositions for culturally and age-related learning diversity, and then provide a review and discussion of our project findings in relation to prior research. Based on the research findings as well as the literature, we advocate a participatory, fluid design process to select online instructional strategies for content, interface, activity, and technological infrastructure design.

Multicultural and Intergenerational Teaching and Learning: Current Research

Little empirical research is available about online college teaching and learning across culture or age. Research is needed to ascertain learning environment pedagogies that positively impact a diversity of students in online contexts. Because collegiate instruction, including online forms is often culturally based in Germanic and English based traditions of American higher education (Chavez, A. F., & Guido-DiBrito, F. (1999). Racial and ethnic identity and development. In C. Clark, & R. Caffarella (Eds.), An update on adult development theory: New ways of thinking about the life course. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education (Vol. 84, pp. 39–48). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; Chavez et al. American Educational Research Journal, 49(4), 775–806, 2012; Ibarra, R. (2001). Beyond affirmative action: Reframing the context of higher education. Madison: University of Wisconsin; Rich, A. (1993). Toward a woman centered university. In J. Glazer, E. Bensimon, & B. Townsend (Eds.), Women in higher education: A feminist perspective (pp. 121–134). Needham Heights: Ginn Press; Tisdell, E. (1995). Creating inclusive adult learning environments: Insights from multicultural education and feminist pedagogy (Information Series #361). Columbus: Center on Education and Training for Employment. Retrieved from ERIC data base. (ED384827)), it is important to conduct research on all types of instruction across the more diverse cultural, age, and other identities of learners (Chavez, Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 21 (4), 49–74, 2011; Tisdell, E. (1995). Creating inclusive adult learning environments: Insights from multicultural education and feminist pedagogy (Information Series #361). Columbus: Center on Education and Training for Employment. Retrieved from ERIC data base. (ED384827)). This review of literature covers areas of study found to some extent in the literature including: constructs of culture in higher education, nontraditional student success and intergenerational online instruction, and cross cultural online education, as well as overviews of methodologies, populations studied, research questions of focus, and major findings.

Diversity in Online Learning Interaction and Participation

In this chapter, we focus on describing our research findings on cultural and age-related diversity in online learners’ performance and perceptions of student-student, student-instructor, and student-content interactions. These findings emerged from the data collected through a learning experience survey, interviewing, content analysis of online discussion transcripts, and analysis of online learning activity log files over two academic years. They highlight the role of technology-mediated learning interactions in framing learning and success for learners across cultures and intergenerational learners.

Cultural Constructs in Teaching and Learning

In our 2 year study, we compared student narratives about their learning and experiences in collegiate learning environments with this model and eight cultural construct continua emerged. This chapter includes a visual, working model of eight cultural constructs as well as interpretations and illustrative student narratives of ways each construct manifests in web-based collegiate teaching and learning.

A Two-Year Research Project on Web-Based Teaching and Learning

During the academic school years of 2008–2010, a 2-year in-situ study was conducted on web-based teaching and learning at a major research university in the southwest United States. We utilized a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques to explore the impact of online pedagogies and contexts on the learning experiences of a diversity of college students living in rural and urban areas, with an emphasis on learners of non-traditional age and/or minority status.

Promoting Inclusive, Deep Learning in Online Contexts

Developing the design, climate, social, and academic presence of instructors and students, as well as pedagogical activities both online and outside the web-based learning context, is a complex endeavor. This complexity and flexibility is necessary to developing an inclusive learning culture in web-based instructional contexts. In this chapter, we discuss key considerations and specific design and instructional techniques for constructing an inclusive online instructional context. These design considerations and techniques are both data-driven by the project findings on the learning or instructional contexts of the online courses examined and model-driven syntheses of the prior research on e-learning design and our Cultural Constructs and Online Instructional Context framework presented in Chaps. 5 and 6.