Digital Commons Network^™

College Readiness And Digital Badges: A Middle School Approach, Blake C. Nemelka

Open Access Dissertations

Post-secondary education attainment results in higher salaries (Pew Research Center, 2014) and an increase in positive societal benefits (Baum, Ma, & Payea, 2013). Nevertheless, only 31% of U.S. citizens over the age of 25 have a bachelor’s degree (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). While tradition would dictate the preparation for going to college begins in the later high school years (Gaertner & McClarty, 2015), a recent push has emerged for shifting the beginning of such conversations to middle school (Curry, Belser, & Binns, 2013; Gaertner & McClarty, 2015; Mattern, Allen, & Camara, 2016; Nemelka & Nemelka, 2016). Furthermore, advances in educational …

Facebook Engagement On College Students' Interpersonal And Intrapersonal Functioning, Scott S. Deatherage

Open Access Dissertations

In recent years college students have incorporated social-networking sites, and more specifically Facebook, into their daily lives. Facebook has received empirical attention; attention focused on what students are doing on Facebook, who its users are, and, more recently, why students access Facebook. However, researchers who have assessed motivations for accessing Facebook have emphasized how motivations are associated with certain activities, and have not simultaneously and directly examined how activities and motivations are associated with both maladaptive and adaptive factors of students’ interpersonal and intrapersonal functioning. The purpose of the present study was to examine how Facebook engagement is associated with …

The Efficacy Of The Protection Motivation Theory In Predicting Cruise Ship Passengers' Intentions Regarding Norovirus Disease Incidence, Jeff Fisher

Open Access Dissertations

The cruise industry is the fastest growing segment of the travel industry. Concurrent with its growth is the challenge of mitigating the risk associated with shipboard outbreaks. Norovirus is the leading cause of shipboard outbreaks. This study examined the efficacy of the protection motivation theory for predicting passengers’ intentions towards healthy behaviors in regard to norovirus disease incidence. Outbreaks of norovirus have serious health and economic consequences. Presently there is no vaccination available; however, handwashing and social distancing can have significant impact upon the course of an outbreak. The respondents of this study completed a scenario-based questionnaire regarding norovirus disease …

Preservice Teacher Motivation, Jennifer Moss

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation project highlights some positive news about college students who have chosen to become teachers, also known as preservice teachers. Two studies were conducted: one that examined the students’ open-ended answers to the direct question of why they want to become teachers; the other that examined the preservice teachers’ motivations overall, in the context of becoming a teacher, and in the situation of their education coursework. The findings in both studies suggest that students are choosing teaching for positive reasons including for the social utility value of the profession and their intrinsic interest in teaching. In addition, when examining …

The Effects Of A Humorous Instructional Video On Motivation And Learning, Hans P. Aagard

Open Access Dissertations

This study examines the effects of humor within an instructional video on student learning and motivation. Humor in education has been shown to improve students' perception of the instructor and learning environment, with mixed results on gains in actual learning. Humor has been suggested as a strategy to gain and maintain attention, improving motivation to learn. With the dramatic increase of online multimedia instruction, research on the use of humor on multimedia instructional materials can help us determine if it can be used to improve learning and motivation.

In a pretest-posttest controlled design, students viewed a short multimedia instructional video. …