Digital Commons Network^™

An Evaluation Of The Impact Of Professional Development On Accessibility To Online Courses By Students With Special Needs At A Regional Four-Year Public Institution Of Higher Education In West Texas, Dallas Anne Swafford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evaluation research, including qualitative and quantitative data, was used in this study to determine the impact of professional development on online courses’ accessibility by students with disabilities. The study focused on online courses and course content. Data collection took place in phases and included self-paced, online professional development and one-on-one support sessions, a pre- and postsurvey, and a focus group interview. The study took place at a regional 4-year public institution of higher education in West Texas. Change theory emerged as the primary theoretical lens guiding the research as the study unfolded.

The Corporatization Of Educational Materials And Its Effects Or Influence On The Ways That University Instructors And Professors Teach In An Age Of Globalization, Syed Ali Nasir Zaidi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized a qualitative case study design methodology to explore the corporatization of educational materials and its effects and influence on the ways university professors or instructors teach in an age of globalization. The study’s fundamental purpose was to investigate the views of university professors’ use of pre-designed, pre-selected teaching materials such as textbooks, workbooks, teaching manuals, and coursewares for teacher education program at one mid-sized comprehensive Canadian university. The researcher investigated the pedagogical experiences of nine university professors recruited through the Dean’s Office in the faculty of education via random sampling. The study findings revealed that textbooks are …

Thriving On A Faith-Based Campus: An Exploratory Study On Sense Of Belonging, Spirituality, And The Student Experience For Students Of Color, Hannah Felice

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While enrollment for students of color has increased by nearly 15% over the past 20 years, universities have struggled to retain and graduate students of color in comparison to their White peers, including Christian universities. Looking to foster success for all students, higher education has sought to better understand the factors that impact student retention and graduation, particularly for students of color. Thriving has been shown as an effective metric for understanding the student experience through a more holistic framework as it pertains to the student success. The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of thriving as …

Black Women In Higher Education Leadership: Examining Their Lived Experiences Utilizing Cross-Race And Cross-Gender Mentorship, Jerica C. Nickerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Literature has suggested that mentorship is one of the most crucial and influential components for career advancement. However, Black women leaders in higher education are faced with a difficult task of selecting a mentor based on similar characteristics, which leads Black women who are seeking mentoring opportunities to select a mentor of a different race or gender. This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to understand and describe the lived experiences of cross-race and cross-gender mentorship for a select group of Black women leaders in higher education, using Black feminist thought and intersectionality as the theoretical framework. A purposive sample of …

Emotional Intelligence And Decision-Making In Higher Education Administrators In Post-Secondary Institutions In Eastern Tennessee, Rachel Ellis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the impact of emotional intelligence on decision-making in higher education administrators. A qualitative research design was used for this study. Data was collected in three phases from the following sources; survey, case study submissions, and open-ended face-to-face interviews. The research data, about emotional intelligence and decision-making, were collected form ten higher education administrators. Constant comparative method was an important part of the data collection process for this study. Range of participant leadership experience was 3-8+ years and participant roles were either, Department Chair, Program Director, Dean, Provost, and President. The findings …

Performances Of An Able, Academic Mind, Caleb Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Western culture individualizes issues of public health. This is especially clear in academic life, where the structures of the university disable atypical bodies and minds in order to force them to simultaneously perform the roles of scholar, teacher, and colleague. The university not only fails to accommodate afflicted minds and bodies, it also produces more precarity in the process. This project is a performance ethnography of my time in the academy, starting with my life as an undergraduate being disciplined into academic life, moving toward recruitment for graduate school, and ending with events surrounding the construction of this very project. …

Dis/Ableist Consumption: A Critical Thematic Analysis Of Avowed And Ascribed Neuro-Identities In The Classroom, Shaundi C. Newbolt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, faculty and students are publicly claiming neurodivergent identities and support for the neurodiversity movement. This study uses Collier and Hecht’s cultural identity theories with Lang and Chen’s two-step process, critical thematic analysis (CTA), to examine avowals and ascriptions with four diagnostic terms, ASD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and dyslexia, of students and professors from Rate My Professors (RMP) with Ritter’s frame of RMP as a phenomenon.

A total of 1,022 posts are analyzed to understand how students resist or re-inscribe popular medical model/deficit discourse in the classroom: student avowals (N = 232), professor avowals (N = 51), …

Lessons Not Learned Are Lessons Learned: Historically Black Colleges And Universities Decades Long Battle With Racism, Privilege, And Dual Systems Of Higher Education, Adrian Jamal Mclain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation follows a three-paper format. The three papers discuss the anti-Black policies that often marginalize Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and efforts to remedy historic discriminatory wrongs have continued to deny educational equity to Black people and Black institutions. Chapter Two, discusses the anti-Blackness of higher educations affirmative actions diversity rationale and its relationship to Critical Race Theorys interest convergence tenet, and a case study of the cases of Ayers in Mississippi. Chapter Three focuses on legal cases that pertain to dual systems of higher education in four states: Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Maryland. Settlements of these cases …

Photographs In My Mind, Through Darkness And In Light: An Auto-Criticism Of A University Teacher, Melanie Renee Witt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an auto-criticism, a new qualitative inquiry founded in educational criticism and arts-based research, which describes and analyzes my lived experience as a female university teacher. The purpose of this study is to describe, interpret, evaluate and thematize my experiences with professional stress, pregnancy loss, and self-care. Secondly, it illuminates auto-criticism as a methodology with potential contributions to qualitative research and higher education.

Personal documents, internal artifacts, and external artifacts generated during a challenging period of my life as a university teacher are used as data. Language and photography combine to story my lived experiences and findings.

This …

A Look At Vision: Perspectives Throughout The Organizational Hierarchy Of The Christian University Context, William Kyle Brantley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research supports vision as a central tenet to leadership. Just as important as the content of vision is how it is communicated. However, once a vision is cast, far less is known about how it is communicated throughout the organization and how it influences members throughout the organizational hierarchy. For faith-based organizations like Christian colleges and universities, vision is particularly important as it serves to steer the institution toward a greater realization of its faith-based identity. This study contributes to the empirical research on vision, its communication, and its effect, as both the nature and impact of vision communication within …

50-State Higher Education Disability Policy Review 2008-2019: A Content Analysis, Marie Orlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More students with disabilities are present on higher education campuses. This study examines enacted legislation of the 50 United States throughout an 11-year period of students with disabilities in higher education. Racialization of disability and representation in states’ legislation is examined. As the student body expands on higher education campuses, diversity comprehensively racially, ethnically and culturally grows. Four major federal laws: Americans with Disabilities Act and Amendments Act, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 form the state disability legislation backbone applicable to postsecondary students. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 …