Student-teachers must be afforded opportunities to seek guidance on challenges that arise during teaching experiences, such as addressing student behavior, creating meaningful lessons, and fostering open and welcoming learning environments. Student-teachers can undergo negative experiences, which can lead to frustration, anger, and lack of interest in the profession. One way to address these challenges is through dialogue (Kumar & Downey, 2018). In this qualitative study, the researcher investigated whether a nuanced version of the Socratic method, developed by Leonard Nelson (1882-1927), can be an efficacious instructional strategy for finding solutions to student-teachers’ classroom challenges. The research study consisted of five undergraduate students enrolled in a student teaching seminar at a private midwestern university. The course prepared students for roles as new teachers by reading, discussing, and sharing challenges about teaching. Both the researcher and research participants worked together to faithfully follow the essential steps of a Nelsonian Socratic method approach. Once the preparation was settled, the researcher, as the external analyst, facilitated a Nelsonian Socratic dialogue with the student-teachers on a specific challenge a student teacher within the group was facing. After the dialogue, participants were assembled in a focus group and asked several questions about their experiences participating in a Nelsonian Socratic dialogue. Descriptive, categorical, and analytical coding of data indicated that participants reached consensus on a solution for the student-teacher’s challenge and perceived the Nelsonian Socratic method approach as an effective dialogic strategy that generated feelings of belongingness and empowerment as a group, a shared understanding about the challenge, and a healthy respect for dialogue.

This paper demonstrates the value of an innovative test preparation strategy, applied over multiple semesters to one principles of macroeconomics class. The professor makes a video of himself taking a copy of the test students are preparing for, talking aloud about how to think about the question and work through the solution. A natural experiment occurred one semester when the professor was unable to provide the think-aloud preparation video, but other, standard preparation materials were in place. It is demonstrated that students increase their scores on other questions in the same modules by an average of 7.6 percentage points with think-aloud videos. Think aloud interventions are shown to be an effective tool to enhance student content learning.

For Students of Color in the United States, to attend university is to live and work within a social reality that reproduces a hegemonic social order. Professors can and should assist students in recognizing the dominant social standpoint embodied in much of university instruction, while also recognizing the equal validity of their own and their students’ socially situated standpoints. Building upon the scholarship of teaching and learning, I here present two pedagogical frameworks that have been constructed to recognize particular standpoints and work from them towards justice: bell hooks’ engaged pedagogy and Yosso and Solórzano’s community cultural wealth model. I also present practical applications of both, drawing on my own university teaching experience.

This study explores the complex dynamics of academic enculturation and its influence on perceptions of plagiarism within higher education. Plagiarism presents an enduring challenge for educators and administrators, manifesting in various forms that often extend beyond simple deceit or theft to include profound misunderstandings shaped by cultural, generational, and educational factors. Prior research has identified multiple layers of misunderstanding associated with plagiarism, emphasizing the need for a nuanced approach to this issue. This paper specifically explores how the dimension of academic enculturation (a process through which individuals are inducted into the norms and values of the academic community) impacts perceptions and handling of plagiarism. By examining the responses of online faculty members, this study highlights the significant role that academic enculturation plays in shaping educators’ approaches to plagiarism, revealing that misunderstandings often stem from deeper educational and cultural contexts rather than mere intent to deceive. Through a comprehensive analysis of responses from online faculty members (n = 333) across various disciplines, this manuscript offers new insights into the subtleties of plagiarism as influenced by academic enculturation, thereby contributing to more effective strategies for addressing this pervasive issue in higher education.