Faculty Research and Updates

Jessup faculty’s Spring Research Colloquium is slated for March 13 this year. The topics and faculty presenting are:

Professor Ray Bryant, MBA

Topic: Leveraging AI for Impact: Using Natural Language Processing to Analyze Large-Scale Feedback in Human Trafficking Prevention Education

Overview: An anti-human trafficking nonprofit’s prevention education program generated valuable, extensive written feedback from participants. The agency believed this feedback contained insights that could measure impact and inform program improvements.

However, when faced with 40,000 responses, traditional qualitative analysis methods become impractical. This presentation explores how artificial intelligence — specifically natural language processing (NLP) — can assist in conducting large-scale feedback analysis.

By employing AI-driven techniques such as sentiment analysis, this presentation demonstrates how NLP can efficiently identify key themes, trends, and actionable insights from participant responses. The presentation will discuss the methodology used, challenges encountered and the applications of this specific effort. Attendees will learn how AI can turn vast amounts of unstructured feedback into meaningful, data-driven conclusions.

Professor Abigail Feely, Ed.D.
Instructional Designer, Jessup Global Online

Topic: Approaching Apprenticeship: Student-Centered Learning in the College History Classroom

The core of this research concerns higher education’s ability to navigate and remain effective in the face of a changing technological and socio-cultural landscape. Current issues and events revealed in this research, including the advent of widespread AI capabilities, are swiftly disrupting traditional teaching methods and assessments, both in person and online.

This disruption poses challenges and opportunities that may necessitate a significant reimagining of the college history survey course and other institutional structures. The challenge of AI could serve to generate a wider adoption of research-informed student centered teaching, including history apprenticeship. With a better understanding of these issues, stakeholders can make better-informed institutional decisions that have the potential to increase instructor effectiveness, support student success, and successfully navigate the future of higher education.

Two research questions guided the study’s design. First, how do individual and situational characteristics influence college history instructors’ decisions to use student-centered learning strategies in their classrooms? Second, how do college history instructors use elements of student-centered learning in their classrooms?

Professor Pete Constant and Ed Laverone

This study examined the implementation, impact and discussion surrounding the adoption of First Responder Emergency Medical fees by cities in Placer County. Specifically, the fees adopted by Roseville and Rocklin, while providing a comprehensive overview of how these fees function within the broader context of California emergency services funding.

Findings indicate that cities and counties are not statutorily authorized to charge fire department emergency medical first responder fees in California and these fees are, in fact, taxes as defined in Proposition 26 which require voter approval.