Education Commons^™

Investigating The Role Of The Internet In Women And Minority Stem Participation: A Case Study Of Two Florida Engineering Programs, Arland Nguema Ndong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite our awareness of the fascination modern humans have with the Internet, little is known about how and why colleges and universities create and maintain Websites. At the most general level, in this case study, I hypothesize that university Websites serve as communication and marketing tools in attracting students. At the most specific level, I postulate that civil engineering programs with Web pages depicting images of women and minorities would be more successful in recruiting and retaining women and students of color than civil engineering programs with Web pages displaying fewer or no images of women and minorities. The primary …

Exploring Instructional Strategies And Learning Goals In Undergraduate Leadership Education, Daniel Jenkins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leadership education has been integral to the undergraduate curriculum since the early 1990's. Today, more than 1,000 colleges and universities in the United States offer undergraduate courses in leadership studies and many offer academic credit in the form of a bachelor's degree, academic minor, or certificate. Yet, little is known about those who teach leadership studies courses to undergraduates, the instructional strategies they employ, or the learning goals they set. The purpose of this study was to identify the instructional strategies that are most frequently used by instructors when they teach academic credit-bearing undergraduate leadership studies courses, identify signature pedagogies …

An Analysis On The Experience Of Mentoring Support In A College Alternative Teacher Certification Program, Debra Voutsinas Kilgore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to explore how college alternative teacher certification (ATC) participants experience mentoring support. The goal was to obtain a rich and deep understanding of the nature of the mentoring experience in a college ATC program through the perspectives of mentees and their mentors. The ATC program was the Educator Preparation Institute (EPI).

Semi-structured interviews were conducted. Eight individuals participated in the study, four were mentors and four were EPI students. A triangulated set of research methods for data collection and analysis was used, including member checks, validation forms, and peer reviews. All the interviews …

Perceptions On Collaborative Learning: A Case Study Of Female Community College Instructors, Marilyn Christine Armstrong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the 1980s, academic assessments called for "the ability of individuals and groups to talk, listen judge, and act on issues of common interest" (Morse, 1989, p. 30). More recently, corporate research findings, Are They Ready to Work? Employers' Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce (The Conference Board, Inc., Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Corporate Voices for Working Families, & Society for Human Resource Management, 2006), report the workplace is seeking college graduates with skill in collaboration (e.g. build diverse relationships, negotiate, manage conflict). While the interest in …

Revision And Validation Of A Culturally-Adapted Online Instructional Module Using Edmundson's Cap Model: A Dbr Study, Marie A. Tapanes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the present study, the Cultural Adaptation Process Model was applied to an online module to include adaptations responsive to the online students’ culturallyinfluenced learning styles and preferences. The purpose was to provide the online learners with a variety of course material presentations, where the e-learners had the opportunity to select their preferred structure for learning. The research methodology for the study is Design-Based Research (DBR), which has been identified by many prominent researchers in Instructional Technology as the most productive research approach for the field. DBR integrates different data types and data collection methods (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed) with …

The Role Of Program Climate And Socialization In The Retention Of Engineering Undergraduates, Heather Elizabeth Ureksoy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasing women's participation in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) can promote a healthy economy by ensuring a diverse and well-qualified STEM workforce, not only in the quantity of females in the workforce, but diversity in thinking and creativity. It will also send a positive message to young women about the breadth of educational opportunities and career choices they have available to them. However, women continue to participate in engineering education in a far lower rate than men. Attracting and retaining female students has become a challenging problem for the academic engineering community. In this study, a …

The Influence Of Time Spent By Students Engaged In Co-Curricular Involvement, Online Social Networking And Studying And Doing Coursework On Their Academic Achievement, Regina Young Hyatt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between time spent by students engaged in student co-curricular involvement, online social networking, and studying on their academic achievement. Additional factors such as student residence, gender, ethnicity, class standing and work for pay were also considered. Existing literature supports the concept that the more time students spend in educationally purposeful activities, the more likely students are going to be successful. Little research exists regarding the use of current versions of online social networking, and the relationship it might have to student academic achievement as measured by grade point average. Therefore, …

A National Survey Of Instructional Strategies Used To Teach Information Systems Courses: An Exploratory Investigation, Yenni Merlin Djajalaksana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many universities and colleges have placed increased emphasis on teaching excellence in higher education. Efforts to promote teaching excellence vary from the development of alternative new pedagogies as well as research exploring strategies to improve existing teaching practices. Logically, different disciplines employ different instructional strategies to prepare their graduates with specific skills, knowledge, and attitudes. This study examined the instructional strategies used most frequently in the information systems discipline and was inspired by Shulman's (2005) concept of signature pedagogies - the unique but pervasive ways of teaching within a discipline or profession.

This dissertation reports a national survey of instructional …