digital storybook of joel berrien jr
TRANSCRIPT
Digital Storybook of Joel Berrien, Jr
CEP 900/930 Hybrid Cohort 2
“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
- John Dewey
My name is Joel Berrien, Jr. I am a first-year doctoral student in the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology Hybrid Doctoral
(Ph.D.) Program at Michigan State University.
My research interest focuses on the utilization of educational technology to improve the academic achievement and self-efficacy of at-risk students who have been victims of psychological trauma.
Conducting research on this topic is important to me because I am a survivor of psychological
trauma resultant from experiencing and witnessing domestic violence, community
violence, and peer victimization throughout much of my childhood and adolescent years.
After receiving my first two degrees in psychology and clinical psychology, I became a therapist
and worked in mental health for 15 years serving children, adolescents, and adults who had personally and/or vicariously experienced
variations of psychological trauma and its residual detrimental effects. For the past four
years, I have been teaching in a psycho-educational setting and have seen firsthand the
negative effects of psychological trauma on academic achievement on students of all ages
and across cultures. The championing desire to best serve my students has encouraged me to
pursue my research interest.
There exists a wealth of research on the effects of trauma on academic achievement among
students but significantly less research available on how technology (specifically, educational
technology) can improve the academic achievement and self-efficacy of these students.
My future research will address this gap in the present research.
Research
Some pertinent research findings that address my research interest examine the effects of
psychological trauma, community violence, domestic violence, peer
victimization, and educational technology on students’ academic achievement and self-
efficacy.
Bowen and Bowen (1999) described psychological trauma as being in a state of
emotional or psychological distress as a result of experiencing a traumatic event. Bowen and Bowen further stated that young people who
witness or are victims of violence are found to exhibit symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder, hopelessness and/or expectations of a violent death, generalized anxiety, and
impaired student achievement and development.
Community violence can be defined as violence witnessed or experienced in one’s community, such as fighting, mugging, stabbing, murder,
rape, verbal threats and threatening behaviors, etc.
Schwartz and Gorman (2003) concluded that community violence exposure was associated with poor academic performance and that the relations between the two appeared to be mediated by symptoms of depression
(i.e., intrusive thoughts, poor concentration, low energy, and decreased motivation) and disruptive
behavior (i.e., aggression, hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and off-
task behaviors).
Domestic violence can be defined as violence witnessed or experienced in one’s home, such
as abuse [physical, sexual, emotional] between spouses or parent-child, destruction of
property, sibling violence, animal cruelty, etc.
Chiodo et al. (2007) suggested that children exposed to domestic violence against women and children who were physically abused experienced
poor adjustment reflected in grade repetition, involvement in delinquency, and on
overall risk.
Ghazarian and Buehler (2010) examined the association between inter-parental conflict and academic achievement and found that inter-
parental conflict is a risk factor for lower academic functioning.
Thompson and Massat (2005) discussed community violence and domestic
violence independent of each other but still concluded that the level of exposure
to family violence and community violence was significantly related to
levels of behavior problems and negatively related to school
achievement.
Peer victimization can be defined as bullying, fights, stealing, destruction of a peer’s
property, verbal and physical abuse of peers, gang fights, sexual harassment, etc.
Thijs and Verkuyten (2008) conducted a study in the Netherlands during which their findings
indicated that peer victimized students did less well academically because they considered
themselves to be less competent and exhibited lower global self-esteem and depressed affect.
Educational technology can be defined as the use of technology to facilitate learning and improving
academic performance.
Laffey et al. (2003) assessed the potential of interactive computer technology (ICT) to contribute to learning and behavior improvement in young, urban, African American children from low-socioeconomic status who were labeled
at-risk because of behavioral problems. The results indicated that ICT experiences could potentially diminish behavioral problems and increase academic achievement.
McCall (2009) reported that research conducted on youth with behavior problems indicates that achievement levels are greater with computer
assisted instruction than with conventional instruction alone.
Gray (1991) suggested that what is needed now and in the future is greater utilization of the microcomputer as an effective tool which can
help alleviate the at-risk problem.
Thank you for viewing my digital storybook. I
hope it provided you with a greater
understanding of the significance and urgency of my research interest.
Creditshttp://crazyyetwise.com/2011/03/08/verbal-abuse/http://www.kidscom.co.za/index.htmlhttp://cutcaster.com/photo/100026298-Computer-chip/http://edup3006assignment2.wikispaces.com/Resourceshttp://www.cherwell.org/news/academic/2012/02/02/keble-clamp-down-on-poor-academic-performancehttp://www.solveviolence.com/
http://flighered.com/2011/07/12/stuck-in-a-stereotype-how-psychological-cues-can-limit-black-students-academic-learning-and-success/raylitpoems.blogspot.comblog.lincolnwoods.lincolnapts.com http://www.singleblackmale.org/2012/05/22/deion-sanders-pilar-domestic-violence-and-me/http://www.ace.edu/academics/department-of-digital-learning-teaching/m-ed-in-educational-technologyhttp://www.bing.com/images/search?q=at+risk+youth&view=detail&id=6423F752B8027A309F1A
DC5D49DDB3118B630E79
http://mybrownbaby.com/2012/02/a-black-moms-lament-how-can-we-parents-stop-schools-from-
failing-our-kids/
http://www.ontariofamilylawblog.com/articles/children-custody-and-access/
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=teaching+with+technology&view=detail&id=F73E89E5B8
A6C6250BAECD8470E24CAD974EEFC1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDznI9QMiSU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl49tDPMZ1U