College of Education Newsletter

Hello All,

I'm pleased to announce that the College of Education at UCA has been selected as an Apple Distinguished School for 2018-2021. The honor comes as recognition for our "continuous innovation in learning, teaching, and the school environment." Those of you involved with the Apple 1-1 Mobile Initiative, have first hand knowledge that the project is not about technology, it's about creating a learning environment where student voice, accessibility, and engagement are the key to instruction. Although I'm immensely proud of all of the instructors, I'm particularly proud of those who went into this initiative with little to no background in mobile learning. The grit, perseverance, and dedication to highly effective teaching practices are the qualities that have made us successful. You are an example for our students. Although, I've had the privilege of being awarded other honors, this one is special. It speaks to the community of scholars, teachers, and learners that we have built within and among programs/departments. Thank you to the faculty and staff who participated, supported, and encourage our 1-1 Mobile Initiative.

Vicki

On September 28th, local school administrators came to the College of Education to hold mock interviews with our MAT, Middle Level, and Secondary Education interns. Mock interviews are always a great experience for our students.

Administrators participating in the event were: Ms. Vanessa Herrera, Associate Director of Talent Management for Lighthouse Academies, Mr. Jeff Cox, Assistant Principal at Mayflower High School, Ms. Amy Jordan, Principal at Courtway Middle School, Ms. Kimberly Koch, Principal at Mayflower Middle School, Mrs. Trinina Pouncy, Assistant Principal at Carl Stuart Middle School, and Mr. TJ Slough, Principal at Mayflower High School.

On Saturday, September 29th, UCA's Student Council for Exceptional Children (SCEC) students worked with the UCA Bears for CARE event held at Compass Academy.

SCEC and UCA COE faculty worked for weeks to prepare a full afternoon of fun learning activities for children with disabilities and their siblings. UCA Bears for CARE provided respite care for the families of these amazing children. This SCEC service event benefited over 16 children across ages 4 through 16.

Kappa Delta Pi, an international honor society for education majors, held their Fall 2018 initiation on October 18th. Those initiated were:

Megan Scrape, Heather Bittner, Janet Smyth, Tracy Johnson, Timneshia Harris, Kathryn Thrash, KristiAnna Arechiga, McKenzie Escovedo, Cara Barrett, Amanda Banda, Cheryl Paul, Stefani Jackson, Macy Blanton, Misty Atkin, Hailey Cockerham, and Michelle Blancher.

For more information about the Pi Beta chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, please contact Mrs. Crystal Voegele (cvoegele@uca.edu) or Dr. Nancy Gallavan (ngallavan@uca.edu).

UCA Library Media and Information Technologies (LIBM) student, Maria Holifield, was recently awarded a $5000 grant for her school library. The grant, awarded by Capstone, enables the awarded school to purchase additional Capstone Interactive e-books with up to $5,000 matched.

The grant must target a minority student population and the purpose is to prompt a love of reading by all.

Congratulations, Maria!

UCA College of Education and Graduate School faculty participated in the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff Career Fair held on Wednesday, October 3rd at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.

Faculty participating in the graduate program recruitment were: Dr. Janet Filer (Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education), Mrs. Sunny Styles-Foster (Teaching & Learning), Dr. Angela Barlow (UCA Graduate School Dean), Dr. Stephanie Huffman (Leadership Studies), and Dr. Rhonda McClellan (Director of the PhD in Leadership Program).

UCA College of Education (COE), in conjunction with the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, hosted the Literacy Roundtable today. The Literacy Roundtable included UCA COE faculty sharing ideas about vocabulary and fluency instruction.

COE Faculty presenting were: Dr. Victoria Groves-Scott (COE Dean), Dr. Tammy Benson (Teaching & Learning), Dr. Amy Thompson (Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education), and Mrs. Dee Dee Cain (Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education).

On October 18th, Dr. Victoria Groves-Scott, Dean of the College of Education, and Dr. Angela Barlow, Dean of the Graduate School, presented their research at the School Science and Mathematics Association Convention in Little Rock, AR.

Their presentation, M-Learning: Preservice Teachers’ Views of Mathematics and iPads, focuses on pre-service elementary teachers’ views of teaching mathematics and M-learning (i.e., learning that is mediated by a mobile device). Drs. Groves-Scott and Barlow will present the conceptual framework for this research, which blends M-learning features with the purposes for technology in teaching mathematics, along with their preliminary findings.

Congratulations to Drs. Stefanie Sorbet and Patty Kohler-Evans. They signed a book contract with Rowman & Littlefield on October 23rd. The book is entitled, "Success is Possible: A Mentoring Program to Assist and Support K-12 Teachers."