Digital Commons Network^™

Civitas: A Game-Based Approach To Ap Art History, Anna Davis

Theses and Dissertations

To increase student engagement as well as cover the content of Ancient Rome, the author developed a game named Civitas for an AP Art History course. The question driving this research project was, "Will incorporating a game into this Ancient Rome unit increase engagement without sacrificing the academic integrity of the class?" Research about engagement as well as others' success incorporating games into the classroom was examined to determine the benefits and difficulties. Much of the work for this unit came before any teaching occurred: designing all aspects of the game as well as carefully determining how it would contribute …

Work/Family Conflict As A Predictor Of Employee Work Engagement Of Extension Professionals, April B. Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

This study utilizes stress theory to explore the effects of work-family conflict and family-work conflict upon the work engagement outcomes of employees. Using a web-based questionnaire with a primary data sample of 2,782 full time Extension professionals in 46 states, this study incorporates the structural equation modeling analytic technique. This study confirmed the single, second order work-family conflict construct consisting of six first order constructs of work-family time, strain and behavior and family-work time, strain, and behavior. The bi-directionality of work-family conflict and family-work conflict was sustained, as numerous research studies have recommended. The structural equation modeling analysis found the …

Directing, Orienting And Orienteering: Supporting Students To Engage Consequentially, Nicholas Kvam

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

It is often difficult for teachers to support students to engage at a consequential level. The purpose of this study is to explore how learners orient themselves in learning environments and how this can support consequential engagement. I report on analyses that focus specifically on orienteering and orienting framing of learners in new environments, and contrast this with a traditional classroom in which teacher directing dominated. This study includes four cases. The first case involves a teacher using a starter at the beginning of class to review a science concept. The second case involves students using manipulatives as a way …

The Independence Of Burnout And Engagement: Incremental Predictive Validity And Construct Reappraisal As Different Combinations Of The Same Components (Energy And Evaluation), Joe Choi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The present investigation was conducted in response to recent concerns regarding the redundancy/independence of two related constructs in I/O Psychology: Burnout and engagement. Using students in an academic context, I first addressed this issue by investigating the incremental validity of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) over the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) and vice versa in the prediction of six criterion variables (academic performance, physical ill-being, positive affect, negative affect, subjective experience of growth, eudaimonic well-being) in a sample of undergraduate students. Contrary to the recent meta-analysis by Cole, Walter, Bedeian, and O’Boyle (2012), I did not find evidence for …

Approach: Romancing The Inanimate, Julia Gray Hines

Art and Design Theses

Objects intended as elements in interior spaces generally do a great job of meeting the standard criteria of form and function, but they can do more. By becoming something other than what they normally are, common elements can change a viewer's response to the space itself. This subtle but unexpected expression by an object impacts the viewer on many levels, heightening awareness and changing the viewer's cognitive interpretation of the space itself. This document examines the activation of space through objects capable of responding to a viewer's presence, using as a focus a light fixture that uses motion sensors to …

Interactive Empathy And Leader Effectiveness: An Evaluation Of How Sensing Emotion And Responding With Empathy Influence Corporate Leader Effectiveness, Gerald Burch

Theses and Dissertations

Empathy has been shown to be a very powerful social and work ability. This study surveyed 754 employees of a privately held eastern United States company, and incorporated annual performance evaluations to empirically link interactive empathy to leader performance of 102 leaders. Data was collected from the leader’s followers, peers, and supervisors and from self-report personality evaluations. The results of this study show that leaders that are willing to engage their followers with empathic displays are seen as better leaders from their supervisors and have more engaged employees. Other contributions of this study include validation of the interactive empathy scale …

The Relationship Between Holland's Personality Types And School Activities With Middle School Students, Fredric Garner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The study examined the preferred enjoyment and participation in school related activities using Holland's (1985) (RIASEC) theory of vocational personality types as a foundation for the study. Using a quantitative exploratory research approach, the proposed study examined two assumptions: (a) each student anticipating how much he/she would enjoy or prefer to participate in certain activities is related to his or her dominant personality type more than activities chosen by students with other dominant personality types and (b) the extent in which each student has participated in certain activities is related to his or her dominant personality type more than students …

Listening To Voices Of Exceptional Students To Inform Art Pedagogy, Christina Yarmol

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study explored the pedagogical practices that fostered engagement for seven participants with physical disabilities and in some cases multiple exceptionalities who successfully earned a credit in a high school Visual Arts course. It answered the key question: What can art educators learn from students' stories of art education that would better enable art educators to enact a pedagogy that engages students with disabilities in the Visual Arts classroom? A narrative inquiry methodology was employed to gather stories and art work from these key informants acting as active agents in their own storied responses that were triangulated with field notes …

Examining Parents' Interactions With Their Children During Literacy Activities, Kerianne Frodsham Allsop

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of conversational interactions between parents and their children during early literacy instructional activities. Parents engaged their children in interactions within hands-on activities designed to teach specific literacy skills as part of a kindergarten project entitled Systematic and Engaging Early Literacy (SEEL). Data for this study were extracted from audio and video recordings of parent-child interactions during three targeted literacy activities. Specialized software (LENA Pro) was used to analyze the interactions regarding adult and child use of targeted words (word count) and turn taking. To gain additional information about the exchanges, …

The Influence Of Game Design On The Collaborative Problem Solving Process: A Cross-Case Study Of Multi-Player Collaborative Gameplay Analysis, Nilay Yildirim

Dissertations - ALL

This cross-case study examines the relationships between game design attributes and collaborative problem solving process in the context of multi-player video games. The following game design attributes: sensory stimuli elements, level of challenge, and presentation of game goals and rules were examined to determine their influence on game player's collaboration and joint problem solving processes. Six participants were placed into four collaborative teams and asked to play at least one video game. Three multi-player video games were utilized: Portal 2, Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, and Borderlands. Seven cases were identified based on a combination of teams and video …

Generational Differences In Empowerment, Professional Practice Environment, Incivility, Authentic Leadership, Job Satisfaction, Engagement And Intent To Leave In Acute Care Nurses, Lisa Marie Haddad

Doctoral Dissertations

Aim. The aim of this study was to examine generational differences among acute care nurses on empowerment, professional practice, authentic leadership, incivility, job satisfaction, engagement and intent to leave the current job.

Background. Empowerment in nursing is a well-studied subject. Perceptions of professional practice environments, authentic leadership and incivility are related to empowerment. An increase in empowerment has been linked to job satisfaction and the likelihood of leaving one’s job or the profession. The nursing shortage forces attention to job satisfaction and keeping the professionals we currently have in the profession. Generational differences exist within different cohorts of nurses and …

Social Workers Reflect On Engagement With Involuntary Clients, Courtney A. Jacobsen

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

For social workers, engagement refers to the process through which clients become active and involved in their treatment. Involuntary clients, or clients who are legally mandated or feel pressure to seek treatment, struggle with engagement and are often viewed as being resistant. This study examined the engagement process through interviews conducted with social workers who have experience in working with involuntary clients. Five social workers discussed the engagement process and strategies they use to encourage the engagement process with involuntary clients. They emphasized the importance of giving the clients choice and control over their treatment, and having the capacity to …

Student Engagement In Lds Seminaries, Thomas P. Aardema

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This qualitative study examined student engagement in seminaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). This study sought to answer the following question: "What are seminary teachers, who have been identified by content experts as having high levels of student engagement, doing to generate high levels of student engagement in their classrooms?" Ten LDS Seminary teachers were selected as participants for this study. The findings from this study were organized around the concepts of: competence, school membership, clarity of purpose, fairness, personal support, caring, authentic work, extrinsic reward, intrinsic interests, sense of ownership, connection to real-world application, …

The Internet And Mass Society: Civic Engagement In The Digital Age, Simon J. Purdy

Masters Theses

In this study, the relationship between Internet use and civic engagement is examined. Building off of the work of previous researchers, which has found no clear relationship between Internet use and civic engagement, this analysis attempts to find differences between those who are civically engaged at different levels, in terms of Internet use, types of civic engagement and feelings of being able to affect change through civic engagement. Several hypotheses about this relationship are tested using data collected from undergraduate students at a medium sized Midwestern university with an online survey method. The statistical analysis entails building a series of …

Fostering Creativity Within The Classroom, Donna C. Crossman

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

ABSTRACT

This project focuses deliberately bringing humor, magic, and Creative Problem Solving (CPS) tools into the classroom. The author aims to encourage creative talent by providing children with a refuge from the conventional limitations of the world and accepting their divergence while embracing their creative talents. The underlying techniques and skills for stimulating creativity within the classroom are examined and best ways to foster creativity within the educational systems are identified. The author focused on the following questions: (a) How might humor create a classroom community? (b) How might magic engage and create a positive learning environment for second grade …

Utilizing Ipads To Enhance Student Engagement In Vocabulary Learning: A Case Study, Sarah Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to research evidence, the relationship between vocabulary and reading proficiency is so powerful that it is a valuable predictor of reading comprehension and academic achievement in the later school years (Scarborough, 2011). The major contributor to reading problem is the vocabulary demand of texts that students are assigned in school (Mckeown, Corsson, Arts, Sandora, & Beck, 2012). National Assessment of Education Progress (National Center for Education Statistics, 2012) stated the essential link between the words students know and students’ ability to use those words to understand what they read. Therefore, researchers and educators have both agreed the importance of …

The Relationship Between Student Engagement And Recent Alumni Donors At Carnegie Baccalaureate Colleges Located In The Southeastern United States, Joshua Truitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2011, over 30 billion dollars were given to colleges and universities across the United States; donors included individuals, corporations, foundations, and religious organizations. Of the 30 billion dollars, 43% of this financial support came directly from individual and alumni donors (Council for Aid to Education, 2011). Leslie and Ramey (1988) stated that “voluntary support is becoming the only source of real discretionary money [that a college or university has]” (p. 115). The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of responses from senior class students on the 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement to be used …

Moving Engagement Research To A Higher Level: The Impact Of Unit-Level Engagement On Business Metric Outcomes, Tara Kristen Mcclure

Wayne State University Dissertations

Although engagement has been slow to take hold within the academic literature, it has quickly become a hot topic within the applied and business environments. Because of the rapid growth within these areas, there has been a great deal of conceptual confusion and mystery surrounding the engagement construct. Recent research within the literature has sought to define engagement, differentiate it from existing job attitude constructs, and link it with both personal and organizational outcomes. To date, a majority of the research demonstrating the impact of engagement has been conducted at the individual-level. While individual-level outcomes are of use to organizations, …

Linkedin: Key Principles And Best Practices For Online Networking & Advocacy By Nonprofit Organizations, Andrew M. Calkins

Julie Belle White-Newman Award for Outstanding Research

This research investigated the question:

What are the key strategic principles and the best practices of using LinkedIn for online interactive engagement and networking that nonprofit advocacy organizations can utilize to bolster constituent activism in support of shared goals? The methodology included a comprehensive literature review as well as a series of formal and informal conversations with thought leaders and practitioners of online advocacy. Analysis of research data provided the basis for recommendations and considerations for nonprofit organizations contemplating LinkedIn’s potential value for advocacy and networking efforts. These principles, best practices, recommendations and considerations for using LinkedIn’s networking toolset establish …

Using Academic Advising To Increase Motivation And Engagement In First-Year College Students, Lisa Remsing

Wayne State University Dissertations

According to ACT Educational Services (2010), more than one-third of college freshmen will not progress to their sophomore year. Several states, including Michigan, have proposed higher education performance funding models, which directly correlate state funds to student retention and graduation rates (Jesse, 2012). As higher education suffers from diminishing resources, there is a heightened focus to increase retention and graduation rates (Tinto, 2007).

The transition from high school to college can be a traumatic time for adolescents. This age group has unique motivational needs as they adjust to an unfamiliar academic environment (Perry et al., 2005). The first year of …

Immortal Stalemate: U.S.-Iranian Relations & The Diversionary Theory Of War, Namdar Hosseinzadeh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plagued by diverging security interests, the United States and Iran have been unable to formally reestablish diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Since 1989, the political environment in Iran underwent drastic changes with the passing of Ayatollah Khomeini. For the next sixteen years Iranian presidents attempted to normalize relations with the U.S. through various political, economic and social initiatives. It appeared as though the hostile relationship between the two countries was slowly becoming friendly. With the emergence of controversial populist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the years of diplomatic progress between the U.S. and Iran were quickly reversed. In this …

A Conceptual Model On The Impact Of Mattering, Sense Of Belonging, Engagement/Involvement, And Socio-Academic Integrative Experiences On Community College Students’ Intent To Persist, Esau Tovar

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges continue to experience high levels of student attrition and low degree/certificate completion rates. Given extant literature, there appears to be a need to reexamine how interactions between students and the institution, and students and institutional agents are taking place, with the aim of identifying institutional practices that deleteriously or positively impact degree completion and thus guide colleges to develop action plans to improve conditions for student success.

This study examined how factors such as institutional commitment to students, mattering, sense of belonging, interactions with diverse peers, perceptions of the campus climate, engagement/involvement, socio-academic integrative experiences, and goal commitment …

Broadening The Learning Community Experience: An Outdoor Orientation Program's Impact On Engagement, Persistence, And Retention, Christy David Nolan

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Keystone Learning Community was implemented by the Department of Campus Recreation to address retention at the institution. This learning community for incoming freshmen consists of two phases. Phase I is as an outdoor orientation program that includes a three day, two night canoeing and camping experiencer lead by upperclassmen leaders. Faculty and staff from the institution complete every aspect of Phase I with the freshmen. Phase II is class time that concentrates on development of critical thinking and writing skills.

Through surveys and interviews, participants in the Keystone Learning Community reported strong peer, faculty, and upperclassmen engagement initiated by …