Joel Berrien Jr. is a first-year doctoral student interested in researching how educational technology can improve the academic achievement and self-efficacy of at-risk students who have experienced psychological trauma. Berrien has experience as a therapist working with trauma victims and has seen the negative effects of trauma on students' academic performance as a teacher. His research will address the gap in understanding how technology can help trauma-impacted students succeed academically by improving concentration, motivation, and self-esteem.
2. “If we teach today as we
taught yesterday, we rob
our children of tomorrow.”
- John Dewey
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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).
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. Educational technology can be defined as the use
of technology to facilitate learning and improving
academic performance.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.