Education Commons^™

Relationships Between Religious Orientation And Academic Attitudes, Lauren Everitt

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this study was to examine whether there is an underlying consistency between college students' approaches to religion and their approaches to higher education. A sample of 234 undergraduate students completed the Religious Life Inventory (Batson, Schoenrade, & Ventis, 1993), which assesses orientation to religion, and the Academic Attitude Scale (Wong, 1998), which identifies factors that motivate students to pursue higher education. The three dimensions (Means, End, and Quest) extracted from the Religious Life Inventory were compared to the six subscales (Intrinsic, Instrumental, Personal Development, External Pressure, Social Interest, No Better Option) of the Academic Attitude Scale to …

Effect Of A Mindfulness Intervention On Community College Students' Writing Apprehension And Writing Performance, Megan E. Britt

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This experimental study used a quantitative data collection strategy to examine whether a mindfulness intervention, a three-minute breathing exercise marked by focused attention on the sensations of breath, would affect writing anxiety and writing performance measures. The researcher compared Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension surveys and narrative writing samples from 277 students enrolled in a freshman composition course at a southeastern community college, half of whom practiced the mindful-breathing technique at class onset.

Quantitative results revealed students in the mindful-breathing group experienced a statistically significant decrease in writing apprehension and mechanical error scores from pre- to post-measures when compared to controls. No …

Teaching Interactively Using Web-Conferencing: The Student Perspective, Pilar Pazos, Holly Handley, Shannon Bowling, Charles B. Daniels, Kim Sibson, Patrick Hester

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Department (EMSE) of Old Dominion University (ODU) Batten College of Engineering and Technology (BCET) has employed distance-learning technologies for well over three decades. Although the current technologies provide a valuable service for many geographically dispersed students, the faculty continues to explore additional distance learning tools, technologies and methods to promote more student participation and active learning. The goal of this paper is to describe and evaluate an innovative instructional approach using interactive web conferencing in hybrid courses. This paper will explore the use of web conferencing to teach graduate-level courses and explore the impact …

How “Struggling” Readers Engage In Literacy Events In Middle School Science: An Analysis Of Interactions In Literacy Events, Kristin Cartwright Palmer

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This study examined opportunities for participation and learning for "struggling" readers in a sixth grade science classroom. Literacy practices, language differences, activity structures, and the social and cultural identities and associated practices and everyday funds of knowledge of both "struggling" and nonstruggling readers in one sixth grade science classroom were documented and analyzed using a qualitative research design. Over sixteen hours of audio and video recordings as well as numerous student work samples were transcribed and analyzed. Analyses of the classroom interactions and artifacts documented in this study revealed several important affordances available in the context of this classroom related …

Redefining Faculty Workloads In A Physical Therapy Department: A Case Study, Douglas C. Keskula, Shelley Mishoe, Elizabeth T. Wark

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The purpose of this case study is to describe the creation and implementation of a sustainable workload model in the physical therapy department, as well as the outcomes resulting from that structure. Between 2002 and 2009, both scholarly productivity and faculty practice activity increased as a result of the redistribution of faculty efforts created by the new workload structure. This case demonstrates how the department has been able to successfully expand research and faculty practice while maintaining a high quality educational experience. The workload guidelines have enabled the collective core faculty to be productive in teaching, research/scholarship and service.;

The Use Of Virtual Environments In Teacher Preparation, Sharon Judge, Petros Katsioloudis, Theo Bastiaens (Ed.), Martin Ebner (Ed.)

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

While virtual technology for training in the simulation field has had a long history in medicine and the military, the application of emerging and innovative technologies in teacher preparation and education has been limited. TeachME™ (Teaching in a Mixed Reality Environment) is an innovative mixed-reality environment (the blending of real and synthetic content) where prospective teachers can interact with a group of virtual students. The purpose of the virtual teaching environment of TeachME™ is to positively impact teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention in education by allowing teachers to improve their skills with virtual students, providing a more ethical approach to …