Bridget A. Walsh

Classroom-to-Home Connections: Young Children's Experiences With a Technology-Based Parent Involvement Tool

Research Findings: DVD classroom newsletters are one proposed technology tool to promote classroom-to-home connections. The present study explored the experiences of prekindergarten children from predominantly Spanish-speaking homes with bilingual (English and Spanish) DVD classroom newsletters. On average, parents reported that children watched each DVD nearly 3 times. Interviews with children and other sources, including parent logs, teacher logs, and a teacher focus group, also captured childrens experiences. Findings indicate that children have overall positive experiences with watching DVD classroom newsletters at home. Practice or Policy: Overall the findings support the use of DVD newsletters in prekindergarten programs as a way to create an opportunity to empower children, strengthen their digital literacy, extend the learning environment, and provide opportunities for meaningful conversations in the classroom and home.

Grant-Writing Courses in the United States: A Descriptive Review of Syllabi and Factors That Influence Instructor Choice of Course Texts

Little information exists about the structure and content of grant writing courses offered in the United States. To fill this gap, we used multiple data sources, including a content analysis of syllabi from 93 graduate-level grant writing courses in the United States, and an online survey that sought insight into (a) the ways in which textbooks for graduate-level grant writing courses are selected and, (b) the specific features that instructors value in grant writing textbooks. Syllabi data included course department, structure, description, requirements, and objectives, as well as required and recommended readings. The themes derived from the data attested to an applied focus on proposal writing, budgeting, and the identification of funding sources. The survey data suggested that instructors valued the inclusion of example proposals and would like to see logic models as they apply to writing grant proposals in course textbooks.

Undergraduates’ Satisfaction with Peer Collaborative Activities about Developmental Theories

Four collaborative learning activities were implemented in a lifespan development course. We explored 35 undergraduates’ experiences with collaborative activities designed to promote breadth and depth of students’ understanding of developmental theories. The findings of this study attest to students’ satisfaction with collaborative learning experiences. Five themes emerged from the study: application of theory, learning/teaching one another, personal growth, engagement, and theory acquisition. The undergraduates’ positive accounts suggest that they applied theory to practice, strengthened their own understanding of theory, experienced personal growth, and were engaged in the class as a result of the collaborative learning activities focused on developmental theories.

Family Concepts in Early Learning and Development Standards.

This exploratory study investigated the use of concepts related to families, parents, and the home in 51 state-level early learning and development standards documents. Guidelines from six national family involvement, engagement, and school-partnership models were used to create the Family Involvement Models Analysis Chart (FIMAC), which served as this studys analysis tool. Results showed that the vast majority of units examined did not align with family involvement guidelines from the six national models. In addition, the small percentage of units that aligned with national models – as well as the units related to family concepts that were not aligned with these models – tended to incorporate family concepts in the contextual narrative of the standards documents and not within the letter of the standards in their strict sense (the statements describing what students are supposed to know and be able to do). States desiring to implement early learning and development standards congruent with research-based practices should integrate families into standards documentation.

Teaching Undergraduate Research in Human Development and Family Studies: Piloting a Collaborative Method

Students are often apprehensive about completing an upper-division, introductory research methods course in Human Development and Family Studies. To allay this apprehension, the instructor developed a different method of teaching the course with the intent of lessening their stress in order to facilitate a more positive experience. Students developed and wrote research proposals in collaborative small groups. The purpose of this paper is to describe the educational context and main features of the collaborative research proposal assignment. The authors also provide student feedback on the assignment. The article concludes with a discussion of the limitations and implications of this kind of pedagogy-centered research.