Brenau University

A bstract As the educational landscape becomes increasingly complex due to rapid technological advancements, shifting demographics, and evolving societal needs, traditional hierarchical leadership models are no longer sufficient. This paper explores the transformative role of teacher leadership in navigating 21st-century educational challenges, emphasizing the importance of empowering teachers as agents of change. Drawing from qualitative research and lived experiences, the authors examine the Seven Domains of Teacher Leadership as articulated by the Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium (2011), providing historical context and evidence-based best practices for implementation in school settings. The work synthesizes key leadership theories – including relational, distributed, and complexity leadership – and underscores the essential 21st-century competencies such as Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication, and Collaboration. Veteran teachers, with their extensive classroom experience and institutional knowledge, emerge as vital contributors to instructional Leadership, mentoring, and school-wide improvement efforts. However, the paper also confronts the challenges inherent in implementing teacher leadership, such as technological readiness, institutional barriers, and role ambiguity. By integrating theory, research, and field-based insights, this study not only contributes to the growing body of scholarship on teacher leadership but also offers practical strategies for fostering leadership capacity among educators. Ultimately, it argues that cultivating strong teacher leaders is imperative to enhancing student achievement and ensuring educational equity in the 21st Century.

The university instructor experience around leading a course learning experience that includes multigenerational students with different levels of subject matter knowledge and understanding, as well as different levels of life experience, is the focus of this qualitative multiple case study. In addition to the university instructor participants, a student participant was also engaged in the study. The relational, international differences, similarities, conflicts, and strengths, as reflected through the participant interview reflections, resulted in discussions focused upon the primary themes of course design, course engagement, instructor collaboration, instructor community in-course efforts, assessment considerations, instructor-sustained emotional engagement or support, the journey through differentiated instructional efforts that may be impacted by generations intermixing within the course learning environment, as well as the potential generational differences and similarities between the university instructor and the course learners.

Abstract Subjective perception of time is altered during vigorous exercise. This could be due in part to the fatigue associated with physical activity at high intensities. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of fatigue, specifically, on subjective time perception. Twenty-six healthy, untrained subjects (17 men/9 women; age = 26.0 ± 4.3 years; V̇O2peak = 38.13 ± 5.62 mL/kg/min) completed a maximal aerobic exercise test on a cycle ergometer. Time perception was assessed before (PRE) and after (POST) the exercise test using a time production task. Relative error of the timing task was significantly higher for POST (0.112 ± 0.260) than for PRE (0.028 ± 0.173), p = .032, η2 = .178. Subjects produced ~ 8.4% more time than the target intervals when fatigued, which is indicative of a slower sense of time perception. A shift in attentional focus from timing to the sensations associated with fatigue is a possible factor to explain this result. Future studies which investigate the effects of exercise on time perception should consider the impact of fatigue experienced during exercise.

Abstract Date Presented 04/01/2022 Adults with autism are under-employed, often because of deficits in social skills and related executive functioning skills. Video modeling (VM) is an effective, efficient intervention for adults with autism. This poster describes a single-case design, ABA study in which three subjects engaged in a VM intervention targeting interpersonal and social skills participation embedded in job performance. Results suggested improved participation in social skills embedded in job performance tasks. Primary Author and Speaker: Laura J. Carpenter Additional Authors and Speakers: Haley Irene Griffin, Sarah McKellar

Abstract Date Presented 04/01/2022 Older adults’ general decision-making processes and strategies often differ from those of younger adults. This two-phase study used a qualitative grounded theory approach to better understand community-dwelling older adults’ decision making regarding assistive technology (Phase 1) and then narrowed its focus to explore differences and similarities between young-old and old-old adults (Phase 2). Older adults in this study made choices to make life better. Old-old participants sought less information and fewer options. Primary Author and Speaker: Kathleen (Kay) Cahill Graham Additional Authors and Speakers: Laurie Tison

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges and opportunities to higher education, including a renewed focus on efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This chapter highlights some of the challenges made worse or highlighted by the pandemic, including unequal internet access, mental health disparities, teaching challenges, and barriers to student belonging. However, the authors also provide possible solutions for how to begin addressing these problems practically through community, institution, and individual instructor efforts, including practical course design and classroom strategies. The chapter ends with a discussion of future directions and conclusions for fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the higher education setting during the ongoing pandemic and beyond.