Digital Commons Network^™

The Impact Of Job-Embedded Professional Development Coaches On Teacher Practice., Donna T. Hamblin Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this qualitative study was to understand the impact of job-embedded professional development coaches on teacher practice. Coaches in this study worked with teachers to plan lessons, model lessons with feedback, and disaggregate data. This qualitative study was conducted using interviews of coaches to gain their perceptions of the work they did with teachers and how this work influenced teacher practice. Teachers were interviewed to determine their perceptions of the impact coaches' work had on their classroom practices. Analysis of the coaches and teachers' reflective journals was also conducted to establish the participants' perceptions of their work together …

From The Sacred Canopy To The Civic Canopy: Social Transformation Through Dialogue, Collaboration, And Civil Society, William K. Fulton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American creed of e pluribus unum--out of many, one--has proven to be an elusive aspiration for societies throughout history. Research suggests that as the diversity of a community increases, its stores of social capital decline. Yet, there exists a growing body of evidence that suggests under certain conditions, patterns of inclusion and collaboration are not only possible but predictable. This project explores theory on effective communication practices, grounded in Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action, as well as research on effective group interaction to suggest that certain communicative capacities and collaborative processes that successfully face the challenge of e …

Developing Intelligent Engineering Collaboration Tools Through The Use Of Design Rationale, Jordan David Ryskamp

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a new method that improves upon the existing approaches to developing collaborative tools. The new method uses automatically inferred and manually recorded design rationale to intelligently filter the information that is shared by a collaborative tool. This represents an improvement upon the existing state of the art in collaborative engineering tools. To demonstrate the viability of the method three collaborative tools were created. The first is a multi-user collaborative design environment tool named SimulPart and built upon the NX CAD package. SimulPart uses the new method to limit the amount of communication required to keep every user …

Working Together: The Role Of Collaborations In Promoting The Use Of Academic Technologies In Higher Education, Kate Hudson

Open Access Dissertations

Through the centuries, institutions of higher education, and the people who labor in those institutions, have helped countless millions to learn--to stretch their boundaries, to think creatively, to find joy in discovery, and to create new knowledge that benefits the world in a myriad of ways. Yet while the knowledge produced through our educational process has transformed the world, the process of teaching and learning within these institutions has remained largely unexplored and unchanged over the centuries (Bass, 2009; Duderstadt, Atkins, & Van Houweling, 2002; Woolsey, 2008). In recent years, the advent and rapid development of information technology has provided …

On The Design-Build Of Small Pavilions, Agrippa Spence Kellum

Theses and Dissertations

Design-build is the process whereby a project is constructed by the same entity that designed it. Detailed narratives are provided for the collaborative, integrated designbuild of two small, relatively contemporary pavilions. The first was constructed as part of a design-build workshop taught by Steve Badanes, director of the Neighborhood Design/Build Studio at the University of Washington Department of Architecture and founder of the international architecture firm The Jersey Devil. The second, a multi-use pavilion on the site of a former junkyard, was implemented as a local volunteer community service project using Badanes' method. A third proposal is also described; an …

A Tale Of Two Silos: Collaborative School Facility Planning In Post-Katrina New Orleans, Lauren Mikulak

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Cities and schools are traditionally planned in separate silos by local governments and school boards. Collaborative school facility planning (CSP) unites these two silos and integrates decision-making by city and school entities. This research addresses the relationship between urban planning and school facility planning in New Orleans, Louisiana, where CSP is particularly important in light of rebuilding efforts since Hurricane Katrina. The researcher examines the extent, challenges, and opportunities for CSP in New Orleans. Based on interviews and recent planning texts, little collaboration existed in the past; but the decommissioning of 52 New Orleans public school facilities presents an unmistakable …

Environmental Management Reform Through The Watershed Approach: A Multi-Case Study Of State Agency Implementation, Julie H. Mawhorter

Doctoral Dissertations

In the past two decades, there has been a growing consensus regarding the inadequacies of the existing environmental policy regime and the need for reform to address complex, cross-jurisdictional sustainability challenges, such as nonpoint source pollution. Reform theory has focused on the need for more integrated, collaborative, adaptive, and results-oriented environmental management, while empirical studies have highlighted the wide implementation gap due to an array of institutional obstacles. Key principles and challenges of these four reform dimensions were synthesized in this study and used to assess implementation of the watershed approach by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and states since …

Inspiring Creative Solutions: An Experimental Investigation Of Three Ideation Methods In Generating Creative Product, Thomas P. Hanlon

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

This study examines strategic, collaborative decision making with the goal of producing more creative solutions. Our experimental approach compares the results of three methods of ideation: manual free brainstorming, manual carousel brainstorming, and electronic carousel brainstorming (as implemented by a group support system). Our finding is that manual and electronic carousel brainstorming yield more creative solutions than does free brainstorming. However, there is little difference between the former methods. Both the manual and electronic forms of carousel brainstorming are equally effective at yielding creative solutions. Strategic, collaborative decision making, when well implemented, results in full consideration of the operational environment …

Understanding Teachers' Change Towards A Reform-Oriented Mathematics Classroom, Linnae Denise Williams

Theses and Dissertations

Within the current mathematics teacher population there are teachers that want to change from traditional teaching styles to become more reform-oriented (i.e. focusing on student understanding rather than procedures). Many of these teachers do not know how to begin this change. This research looks into the tools that are most valuable for teachers as they change from traditional teaching practices to include more reform-oriented teaching practices. Through this phenomenological study, six successful reform-oriented teachers were interviewed to understand what tools they found to be most valuable in their process of change. The interviews uncovered a common guiding principle that facilitates …

An Evaluation Of The Process And Outcomes Of Teacher Collaboration In Vocabulary Instruction, Joanne Morgan

Open Access Dissertations

The current case study evaluates a program of professional development aimed at engaging two groups of elementary teachers in communities of practice (CoPs) focused on improving teachers' vocabulary instruction and students' vocabulary learning. The professional development program took place over five months in the 2008-2009 school year. The purpose of the evaluation was to evaluate the merit and worth of the professional development program and identify changes that could be implemented by the primary evaluator in future efforts to develop and refine an effective method for teaching teachers about vocabulary instruction. An explanatory case study design was used to achieve …

Elementary Principals' Follow-Through In Teacher Evaluation To Improve Instruction, Suzanne Elizabeth Arrington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author's abstract: Today, school administrators view teacher evaluation as a way to improve instruction and remove mediocre teachers from the system; however, while much is teacher evaluation, there is still much to learn. This study explored how school principals being written about employed follow-through with teacher evaluation systems for the purpose of increased student learning. This study makes both theoretical and practical contributions to the fields of education and school leadership. This was a qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and a thorough review of the teacher evaluation documents in a small county in Georgia as the method of …

Strategic Planning: Contextual Factors That Facilitated And/Or Challenged The Implementation Of Strategic Planning In Two Nonprofit Organizations, Devadhasan Masilamony Phd

Dissertations

As the nonprofit sector continues to grow in size and importance in American society, successful organizations proactively initiate strategic planning so they can be more responsive to changing circumstances, underlying trends, and shifting demands. At times, however, organizations develop elaborate plans that are never implemented. Unfortunately, there is less systematic research about strategic planning in the nonprofit sector than in the for-profit sector and even less research documenting whether or not the plans that get developed in nonprofit organizations actually get implemented. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how strategic planning improves the effectiveness of two nonprofit …

The Closed Cohort Learning Model: Enabling Innovation And Organizational Success, Frederick D. Ellrich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

AbstractThis study examines the development of trust, communication, and collaboration in a closed cohort academic community. The closed cohort has gained in popularity in recent years and is now common at the graduate level, especially in the colleges of business and education. A closed cohort is a group of students who begin and end together, and proceed in lock step through a sequence of courses. The research is a case study of a master’s program in leadership at a university in the mid-south area of the United States. The research approach is phenomenological in that the researcher was an instructor …

Historical Geocollaboration: The Implementation Of A Scoring System To Account For Uncertainty In Geographic Data Created In A Collaborative Environment, Anthony D. Contreras

Theses and Dissertations

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an existing tool to create, manage, analyze and visualize data with a spatial component, and is used by many types of organizations in many fields. For most of the tasks and projects within these fields, a GIS provides highly accurate results. Under certain circumstances (Massive Scope, Widespread Expertise and Multivalency), a GIS fails to provide adequate results in the field of historical geography, for example. Crowdsourcing tools like Wikipedia and Open Street Map (OSM) address some of these issues, but not all, and introduce new problems. This project focuses on geographic data dealing with …

Re-Composition: Considering The Intersections Of Composition And Creative Writing Theories And Pedagogies, Danita Berg

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Maintaining composition studies and creative writing as discrete disciplines may not be in the best interests of either field. But so long as the majority of scholars and practitioners of either field remain largely uninformed about one another, it is unlikely that any progress toward conjoining the two fields will occur. Various important and constructive efforts have been made for more than thirty years to establish a scholarly, interdisciplinary community that dedicates itself to examining points of intersection between composition and creative writing. Initially, such efforts appear to attract the attention from the broader communities of each discipline. Before long, …

Contextualized Motivation Theory (Cmt): Intellectual Passion, Mathematical Need, Social Responsibility, And Personal Agency In Learning Mathematics, Janelle Marie Hart

Theses and Dissertations

Student motivation has long been a concern of mathematics educators. Here, I characterize motivation, defined as an individual's desire to act in particular ways, through analysis of students' extended, collaborative problem solving efforts. Grounded in a longitudinal research project in calculus learning and teaching, Contextualized Motivation Theory (CMT) offers a means for understanding the complexities of student motivations in mathematics learning. Students in this study chose to act upon various intellectual-mathematical motivations and social-personal motivations, existing simultaneously, within a supporting "web" of motivations. Students exhibited intellectual passion in persisting beyond obtaining correct answers to build understandings of mathematical ideas. CMT …

The Effects Of Ethnic Diversity, Perceived Similarity, And Trust On Collaborative Behavior And Performance, Jessica Wildman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent issues such as global economic crises, terrorism, and conservation efforts are making international collaboration a critical topic. While cultural diversity often brings with it new perspectives and innovative solutions, diversity in collaborative settings can also lead to misunderstandings and interaction problems. Therefore, there is a pressing need to understand the processes and influences of intercultural collaboration and how to manage the collaborative process to result in the most effective outcomes possible. In order to address this need, the current study examines the effect of ethnic diversity, perceived deep-level similarity, trust, and distrust on collaborative behavior and performance in decision-making …

Students' Perceptions Of Collaboration Tools In A Higher Education Online Collaborative Learning Environment, Kirk Henry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Higher education funding and student behavior has been changing rapidly (Dervarics,2008). Because of this, there has been an increased focus on the use of alternative tools for course delivery. One of the emerging areas of focus has been an increased interest in the use of communication and information technologies (Curtis & Lawson, 2001). Currently, there are a wide variety of flexible delivery methods that have been used as well as their associated tools. Naturally, questions have been raised about the efficacy of these tools on the quality of student-student, student-teacher, and student-content interaction (Curtis & Lawson, 2001). Interaction and Collaboration …

Perceptions Of Web 2.0 Tools As Catalysts For Teacher And Librarian Collaboration: A Case Study, Peggy Milam Creighton

Presidential Alumni Research Dissemination Award

Scheduling collaborative planning sessions with classroom teachers is a substantial challenge for school librarians. Research indicates that lack of time is a major barrier to collaboration. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of Web 2.0 tools as a potential means of overcoming the time barrier to collaboration. Participants were school librarians and classroom teachers from a large suburban school district. Loertscher's taxonomy and school library 2.0 provided a conceptual framework for the design of this case study. Research questions focused on (a) ways Web 2.0 tools can be used to collaborate and (b) which tools are most …

Collaborative Problem Solving: The Role Of Team Knowledge Building Processes And External Representations, Michael Rosen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates the relationship between five team knowledge building processes (i.e., information exchange, knowledge sharing, option generation, evaluation of alternatives, and regulation), the external representations constructed by a team during a performance episode, and performance outcomes in a problem solving task. In a broad range of domains such as the military, and healthcare, team-based work structures used to solve complex problems; however, the bulk of research on teamwork to date has dealt with behavioral coordination in routine tasks. This leaves a gap in the theory available for developing interventions to support collaborative problem solving, or knowledge-based performance, in teams. …

Student-Consultant Continuum: Incorporating Writing Center Techniques Of Peer Review Into The Composition Classroom, Maria Lynn Soriano

Masters Theses

Peer collaboration about writing often functions as a required step in the writing processes of first-year writing students. Within the composition classroom, students read and respond to the writing of their peers, sometimes obtaining useful feedback, and sometimes just getting “You did a good job” as an evaluation. Outside of the classroom, the Writing Center exists as a space where students can work with a trained consultant to receive helpful suggestions and a thorough evaluation of their writing. Though the first-year writing classroom and the Writing Center exist as physically separate places, both rely on principles of collaboration and conversation …

Nurse Perceptions Of Physician-Nurse Collaboration In The Home Health Setting: A Pilot Study, Tameki Mongo

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

This quantitative, descriptive study surveyed 20 registered nurses in a single home health setting for the purpose of uncovering nurse attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration. Particularly, the researcher was interested in whether the nurses held "positive" or "negative" attitudes. The data collection instrument was the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration (JSAPNC). Study data was analyzed via means of descriptive and inferential statistics.

Although non-significant, the findings of this study indicate that nurses in this particular home health setting demonstrated positive attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration. Age and number of years in nursing practice had no effect on total scores on …

The Art Of Collaboration: Interlocal Collaboration In The Provision Of Fire Services In The Metropolitan Detroit Area, William David Hatley

Wayne State University Dissertations

Metropolitan regions have emerged in the United States as important economic units with numerous small local governments each providing various public services. The movement toward city-county consolidation has frequently been defeated at the polls. Frederickson (1999) argues that metropolitan areas have become so fragmented in their approach to service delivery that they constitute what he describes as a "disarticulated state", characterized by the declining salience of jurisdiction, the fuzziness of borders and an erosion of the capacity of the local jurisdiction to contain and, thereby, manage complex social, economic and political issues. Feiock (2009) contends that much of the urban …

Pre-Disaster Planning For Transportation Infrastructure Recovery, Stephanie Victoria Watson

All ETDs from UAB

The US is dependent upon a functioning transportation network for many aspects of daily life, and those aspects that become largely important during times of disaster. For example, emergency medical response is a crucial activity that relies upon a functioning transportation network during regular daily operations as well as during times of emergency. The US has experienced several natural and manmade devastating events within the past decade including the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina and Rita, and record flooding in Tennessee. When disasters occur, the potential of disrupting various infrastructures either individually or simultaneously exists. During a …

Collaborating With Parents Beyond Parent/Teacher Conferences, Selina Merrill

Honors Capstones

Collaboration between parents and teachers is often disregarded. Communicating with the students' parents will offer insight regarding the child's background including personal, academic, and sometimes important medical information that may be undisclosed to individual school records. The parents know the child more than the teacher ever will in the school year and can provide perceptions that may be otherwise overlooked. Thorough research integrated primary and secondary sources through interviews with parents, scholarly journal articles, web sites, and educational templates for improving communication. According to research, parents are to be considered valuable allies rather than disruptions in the teachers' day. An …

Regionalization Of Selected Police Services Through A Law Enforcement Council : Is It Worth The Cost?, Julie Schnobrich-Davis

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research study presents results from an evaluation and cost effectiveness analysis of a regionalization of selected police services into a Law Enforcement Council approach, as practiced by the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council (Metro-LEC). The Metro-LEC is a non-profit organization comprising forty three law enforcement agencies in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The results from wave two surveys administered to officers in the organization as well as a survey distributed to the Chief Executive Officers of the participating law enforcement agencies illustrate the overall effectiveness of the organization. Additionally, a cost effectiveness analysis presents data from the costs of operating regionalized …

Developing And Building Collaborations Between A Cooperative Extension Service And A Local School And Its Community, Robin Boudreaux Landry

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine the relationships and collaborations that have been established between a southern Louisiana parish Cooperative Extension Service and a low socio-economic school and its community as measured by the number of collaborations created and new programs launched, that has created a school and community partnership with the school with the planning, implementing and planting of a school garden. A qualitative study using the interview method was used to gather data. Analysis consisted of examining data for themes and discriminate cases. Guiding questions that centered on specific data were developed. Personal interviews were conducted …

Collaboration Via Wikis: Social Aspects And Adapting Teacher Feedback In An Online Environment, Madeline Boudreaux

LSU Master's Theses

The primary goal of this thesis is to investigate the way in which learners interact when asked to work together to write and revise a composition in an online environment. Specifically, the first research question explores the working styles of learners in the context of a wiki. It seeks to determine whether the various dyads work collaboratively or cooperatively to write and revise a composition in Spanish. The second research question deals with the type and degree of politeness that students express towards each other when working together to write and revise their composition. Specifically, it investigates the nature of …

Exploring The Impacts Of Wiki Collaborative Technologies Within The English Writing Environment, Valarie D. Dufrene

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The use of technology in the writing classroom has been a staple since the early-1990’s when the personal computer made its way onto the desks of teachers and students across America. Since that time, the challenge has been for educators to incorporate the most recent technologies in an effort to stimulate student writing. This study examined the effects the use of a web-based wiki technology can have on the writings of high school students. The primary goal of this study was to explore how the web-based collaborative technology in Google Docs and used in a secondary English IV classroom can …