Education Commons^™

Acculturation And Alcohol Drinking Behavior Among Chinese International University Students In The Midwest, Shuangshuang Cai

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between alcohol consumption and acculturation among Chinese international university students in the Midwestern part of the United States. A sample of 91 students from a university in the Midwest participated in the study. All were Chinese and included undergraduate and graduate students. Measures used included the General Ethnicity Questionnaire–Chinese Version (Abridged); the General Ethnicity Questionnaire–American Version (Abridged); the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ-3); the Alcohol Use Questionnaire, consisting of two subscales, drinking frequency and drinking quantity; and a demographic form created by the author. Results indicated that older Chinese international students …

The Impact Of A Common Approach To Instruction Within A Nebraska Rural School District, Bret Allan Schroder

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the instructional understanding and effectiveness of a district wide implementation of a Common Approach to Instruction. This research study provided a greater understanding of the affects that such an implementation had on certified staff regardless of grade level, experience, subject, or gender.

This explanatory, sequential, mixed methods study was conducted during the summer, spring, and fall of 2014-2015. The study initially gathered data using an online survey, based on Marzano’s 41 instructional elements, in a single class-B school district in Nebraska. All certified staff members within this school district were …

A Fiscal Model Program Theory Proposal For Training Reentry Citizen Ex-Convicts To Remodel Abandoned Houses, James A. Hanson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to develop and examine a fiscal program theory model and proposal for training reentry citizen ex-convicts to remodel abandoned houses. A sustainable program theory model describes ways that training and employing these citizens to remodel abandoned houses may be expected to have benefits to a community. The recently released ex-convicts will learn a construction trade, earn a sustainable wage, and the once-abandoned houses will be returned to the city tax rolls. Vocational education and workforce training are key to this program. The literature indicates that national jobless rates for recently released inmates is well …

Open Educational Resources: A Catalyst For Innovation, Dominic Orr, Michele Rimini, Dirk Van Damme

Concepts in Animal Parasitology Textbook

Foreword:

Open educational resources (OER) are rapidly becoming a major phenomenon in education across OECD countries and beyond. Initiated largely at the level of institutions by pioneers and technology advocates, the OER community has grown considerably over the past ten years and the impact of OER on educational systems has become an issue of public policy. The open education community is increasingly well organised and enjoys support from various institutions and foundations. National governments have developed, or are in the process of developing, open policies to support access to and use of OER.

It is the task of the OECD …

Leadership Stories: Defining Gender In University Leadership, Tania Carlson Reis

Journal of Women in Educational Leadership

The leadership paths of successful women university presidents leading schools listed in the 2010 Carnegie Classification as being Research Universities, Very High Research are identified and described in the following manuscript. Two research questions guided the study: What is the path to the presidency? How do women university presidents recognize and negotiate barriers? Four female presidents were interviewed. The interviews were conducted at the president’s institution. Interviews were hand coded for themes related to the research questions. Findings indicated that women university presidents experience an uneven path to leadership that mirrors the labyrinth described by Eagly and Carli (2007). Participants …

Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives Of Cooperative Learning To Create Music In Orff Schulwerk Classrooms, Nicole A. Chapman

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The Framework for 21st Century Learning identifies four learning and innovation skills to prepare students for a changing world. The 4Cs identified are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity (Framework for 21st Century Learning, 2015). With the adoption of this new teaching framework, it is important that music educators evaluate their own teaching methods to meet the needs of their students in a changing society. The purpose of this study was to examine how cooperative group learning is currently integrated in the Orff-Schulwerk certified teachers’ elementary music classroom as part of the creative music process. In this qualitative study, I …

Lest I Forget: Case Studies In Listening To High School Students Struggling With Academic Literacy, Lois M. Todd-Meyer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adolescents who struggle with the academic literacy demands of high school have often experienced years of frustration and even failure with literacy learning. School districts are now accountable for making sure all students achieve a prescribed level of proficiency as measured by standardized and performance assessments. How can educators best help adolescents who struggle with literacy reach a level of proficiency that will facilitate their success not only on standardized tests, but will also help them become engaged citizens of our democracy? The purpose of this study was to listen closely to high school students who were identified as struggling …

Latina/O First Generation College Students And College Adjustment: An Examination Of Family Support Processes, Patricia R. Cerda-Lizarraga

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

First generation Latina/o college students are at a higher risk for not completing their college degrees when compared to other ethnic minorities due to added barriers and challenges of being the first to go to college. Researchers reported that poor college adjustment is one of the factors contributing to the lack of college completion among Latina/o college students. A few studies exist on the role that family support has on the college adjustment of Latina/o students and these yielded mixed findings. The central role of the family among Latina/o students and their support during the college adjustment period merits attention. …

Evaluating Count Outcomes In Synthesized Single-Case Designs With Multilevel Modeling: A Simulation Study, Kirstie L. Bash

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Complex statistical techniques such as multilevel modeling (MLM) ideally require substantial sample sizes in order to avoid assumption violations. Unfortunately, large between-subjects sample sizes can be impractical and, in some cases, impossible in real-world applications. The use of single-case designs (SCD) allow researchers to overcome this issue. The ability to handle non-normal outcomes appropriately in such single-case designs, however, remains unclear, especially when the outcome reflects recurrent event (count) data.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of MLM for evaluating recurrent event outcomes in synthesized single-case designs. More specifically, this study seeks to determine the effects …

Trust Within Higher Education Consortia – A Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Directors And Leaders, James A. Yankech

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Trust is a foundational element for success within a higher education consortium. Defined as a group of colleges and universities united through collective effort, a consortium allows member institutions to achieve more cooperatively than alone. However these same institutions still compete in many ways – for students, government appropriations, and research dollars as examples. Therefore a balance must be struck between institutional and consortium interests. As a result trust between and among member institutions of a consortium becomes an important phenomenon to be understood. This study examined the phenomenon of trust from the perspective of consortia directors and leaders. Two …

From Literacy To Literacies: Negotiating Multiple Literacies In The English Classroom, Breanne S. Campbell

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation is a narrative description of my teaching moves as I attempted to negotiate within my classroom both traditional print literacy and new literacies afforded by emerging technology. In this study, I sought to reconcile my rhetoric with my reality (Zeichner, 1999) by teaching students how to read and design multimodal compositions within the traditional framework and curriculum required by my school district. Students composed traditional memoirs and then participated in the synaesthesia process by remediating their memoirs using technology. Students were also asked to write a Statement of Goals and Choices (Shipka, 2011), reflecting on their own rhetorical …

Teacher Perspectives On Professional Development Needs For Better Serving Nebraska's Spanish Heritage Language Learners, Janet Marie Eckerson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A growing number of heritage language speakers of Spanish are enrolling in Spanish language courses during secondary school. Current scholarship has suggested that these heritage language learners (HLLs) have very different instructional needs than learners of second or foreign languages. Because Spanish language instruction in Nebraska secondary schools has been traditionally conceptualized only as foreign language instruction, classroom teachers may not be adequately prepared to meet the needs of HLLs. This dissertation examined the experiences of Nebraska secondary Spanish teachers who worked with HLLs in order to inform the creation of relevant professional learning experiences for pre- and in-service teachers. …

Hexapod Herald - Vol. 27, No. 5, December 2015

Hexapod Herald and Other Entomology Department Newsletters

Contents: Welcome - Congratulations - Student News - Faculty News - Grants - Publications

Addressing Security Risks For Mobile Devices: What Higher Education Leaders Should Know, Casey J. Gordon

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative study examined the topic of mobile device security at higher education institutions in the Midwestern United States. This study sought to answer the question of how higher education institutions have responded to threats to campus data security posed by mobile devices. It explored the questions of what institutions are doing currently, the policies and procedures they have in place, and what leaders should do in the future.

This research study consisted of four case studies, compiled through interviews with key Information Technology (IT) professionals and faculty at each of the four institutions studied as well as an examination …

Parents’ Reasons For Choosing Non-Public Non-Denominational Elementary Schools For Low Socioeconomic Students In Alabama: A Mixed-Methods Study, Kyle A. Francis-Thomas

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine parents’ reasons for choosing Non-Public Non-Denominational Elementary Schools for low socioeconomic students in Alabama. Low socioeconomic students were defined as students who qualified for free/reduced lunches. The research was designed as a mixed methods study with data being collected via an online survey and interviews. This study fills a gap in the literature about parents’ reasons for choosing Non-Public Non-Denominational Elementary Schools for low socioeconomic students in Alabama.

Based on the literature there are many possible reasons for parents choosing to send their children to private schools. The literature indicated that …

An Evaluation And Exploration Of Nutrition Education In Elementary Schools, Elisha M. Hall

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Childhood obesity is a significant problem in the United States. Obese children suffer from a variety of physical, emotional, and social consequences. To curb or reduce this problem, school-based nutrition education interventions have become more common. However, little research has been conducted concerning nutrition-related socioeconomic disparities in behavior change constructs for low and high income children, which is integral to forming appropriate theory-based interventions and allocating resources appropriately. Research into classroom teachers’ perspectives is also an area in need of strengthening to better inform interventions. Finally, the School Enrichment Kit Program (SEKP), a current interactive, classroom-based, nutrition and physical activity …

Teacher Reaction To Change In The Lutheran Elementary School: A Grounded Theory Approach, Kim D. Marxhausen

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Schools, and the teachers and administrators who work in them, need the flexibility to adapt to current student needs. Past research has focused on organizations and plans for change; little research has been done on individual teacher reaction to change situations leaving a gap in the literature. The goal of this constructivist grounded theory study was to explore how individual teachers, in LCMS Lutheran elementary schools, react when presented with change. Data were collected through interviews involving an event history calendar to facilitate memory. A theoretical sampling process was used to collect and analyze data utilizing a constant comparative method. …

A Correlational Case Study On Distance From Home And Attrition Of First-Time, Full-Time Students, James L. Baldwin

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

As institutions face increasing demands to maintain or increase enrollments, colleges and universities have begun to recruit students from greater distances. The purpose of this ex-post facto case study was to determine the existence of a relationship between the institutional distance from home and the attrition of traditional-aged, first-time, full-time students prior to the second year at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, one of the four-year campuses of the University. Following the correlational analysis, further analysis was conducted to determine if a non-linear relationship existed between the institutional distance from home and attrition of first-year students prior to their …

International Doctoral Students, Their Advising Relationships And Adaptation Experiences: A Qualitative Study, Katherine Najjar

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Thirty four international doctoral students were interviewed to determine what types of advising and mentoring experiences were effective and beneficial, and what experiences had been difficult or unhelpful. The students reported a high level of satisfaction with their advisors and with their program of studies. However, during the interviews, students began to describe other factors that contributed to their well-being and their experiences.

Issues described included language difficulties and problems developing relationships with other students. Although most students developed close, personal relationships with advisors or departmental colleagues, few students reported having large numbers of friends and associates outside of their …

Strategies And Resources To Enhance Test Evaluation And Selection, Janet F. Carlson, Nancy Anderson

Buros Center: Professional Staff Publications

Testing serves an important function for SLPs in offering an evidence base that is useful in screening, diagnosing, monitoring progress, and documenting outcomes. Tests are used to measure diverse constructs such as communication, literacy, oral and written language, receptive and expressive vocabulary, articulation, phonological awareness and processing, and auditory perception and processing. In addition, specific impairments may require specialized measures to evaluate conditions such as stuttering and orthographic competence.

When using tests to diagnose language impairments, Betz, Eickhoff, and Sullivan (2013) suggest that SLPs consider carefully a test’s psychometric properties, particularly because of the “increasing emphasis on evidence-based practice, specifically, …

How A Healthy Population Acquires Nutrition And Exercise Information: A Mixed Methods Study, Sally J. Hillis

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Faced with an overwhelming amount of available sources and different perspectives, researchers in the field of Nutrition and Health Sciences continually strive to identify key factors that shape a healthy lifestyle. Employing an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, phase one of this research utilized a constructivist grounded theory approach to develop a model explaining the process by which healthy individuals acquire nutrition and exercise information. Interested is studying a population identified by good nutrition and daily exercise, the researcher set the participant criteria to include daily consumption of 2-3 balanced meals, 45-60 minutes daily moderate-intensity exercise, and a normal BMI. …

The Quest For Success: A Phenomenological Study Aimed At Understanding The Experiences Of Successful African American Females In High School, Vanntaccale Price

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This phenomenological research study was conducted to better understand the experiences of successful African American females in a high school setting and to draw implications for learning related to their perceptions of success in school. The study describes African American female students’ perceptions of factors that influence their achievement in school. Participants included six African American female students attending high school in the Midwest. Data was gathered from student interviews, parent/guardian questionnaires, informal observations, and student visual displays. From the analysis of the aforementioned data several themes emerged which include the importance of the students’ family and teachers to their …

Using Group Video Self-Modeling In The Classroom To Improve Transition Speeds With Elementary Students, Matthew T. Mcniff

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Video self-modeling has been proven to be an effective intervention for individuals with a variety of disabilities and behavioral issues. Very few studies have addressed the impact of video modeling on behaviors that are displayed by groups of students and no studies have tackled the issue of group behaviors with video self-modeling as an intervention. This study focused on analyzing the effects of video self-modeling on students in an elementary classroom in order to increase the speed at which the students lined up and transitioned. Further, the study addressed the question of whether the intervention had a differential impact on …

The Power Of Nature: Developing Prosocial Behavior Toward Nature And Peers Through Nature-Based Activities, Ibrahim H. Acar, Julia C. Torquati

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

An early childhood teacher nurtures children’s perspective taking and respect for another living thing. These interactions happen daily at the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center (SANC) Preschool in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Experiences like this promote children’s development of prosocial behavior, consistent with the Early Childhood Environmental Education Programs: Guidelines for Excellence (NAAEE 2010). This article examines the research question, How can teachers nurture the development of prosocial behavior for preschool-aged children through nature-based play and activities? To address this question, five researchers (including the second author) conducted 74 running record observations of children’s behavior and social interactions over the course of two …

The Organization And Structure Of The Governmental Relations Function In Community Colleges: A Case Study At Five Texas Community Colleges, Steven E. Johnson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Governmental relations, how institutions of higher education interact with appointed and elected governmental officials, has not been well defined or widely researched. This is especially the case at community colleges. Today, community colleges enroll half of all students in the United States in higher education and have become the largest sector of higher education in Texas. The need for community colleges to understand and to influence policy and funding decisions through governmental relations has intensified as Texas has faced pressure on state revenue as a result of two economic recessions over the past decade.

To understand how Texas community colleges …

Understanding Student Motivation And Strategic Engagement In Computer Science And Stem Courses, Duane F. Shell, Leen-Kiat Soh

DBER Speaker Series

Students’ motivation and strategic engagement have been identified as playing crucial roles in their success in STEM and CS classes. Numerous motivational constructs have been identified including goals, instrumentality of the course, mindsets, emotional/affective reactions, and self-efficacy. These are thought to motivate students’ to achieve and to drive the self-regulation and engagement necessary for student-centered learning. Despite sometimes lengthy histories of research in these constructs and behaviors, there are still many questions about how students are motivated in their courses and how they can become effective self-directed, engaged learners. This talk will discuss research findings from five years of classroom …

The Digital Incunabula: Rock • Paper • Pixels, Patrick Aievoli

Zea E-Books Collection

“The Digital Incunabula is Patrick Aievoli’s personal sonnet through media, interaction and communication design. He carefully crafts each evolutionary step into ripples that are supported by his own storied professional and academic experiences. It’s full of facts, terms and historical information which makes it perfect for anyone looking to flat out learn!” ● James Pannafino, Professor, Millersville University & Interaction Design

“This is a serious work that will find a broad community of readers. The depth and breadth of Aievoli’s experience in the publication industry give his voice and ideas credibility in the extreme. This book will inspire deep reflection.” …

Blogging With Students Across The Curriculum, Laurie A. Friedrich, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, Art, and Design

This infographic helps explore the role of blogs in writing across the curriculum.

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/8635464-blogging-with-students-across-the-curriculum

Amanda understands the developmental needs of young children. She knows that each child learns differently and that students need structure and creativity in the classroom. I know she will always do what is best for students.

Measurement Of Faculty’S Fidelity Of Implementation Of Peer Instruction Following An Intensive Professional Development Workshop, Trisha Vickrey, Kaitlyn Rosploch, Marilyne Stains

DBER Speaker Series

Peer Instruction is an evidence-based instructional strategy that has been empirically shown to improve students’ learning and attitude in a variety of STEM disciplines. Peer Instruction involves students individually voting on a multiple choice question using a clicker or flashcards. If the majority of students answer incorrectly, students engage in peer discussion and vote again, which is followed by instructor explanation. Research investigating faculty’s implementation of evidence-based instructional strategies indicates that faculty often adapt practices as opposed to adopting them fully. Unfortunately, low fidelity of implementation often reduces the efficacy of an instructional strategy. Physics education researchers have previously demonstrated …

Rfx Transcription Factors Are Essential For Hearing In Mice, Ran Elkon, Beatrice Milon, Laura Morrison, Manan Shah, Sarath Vijayakumar, Manoj Racherla, Carmen C. Leitch, Lorna Silipino, Shadan Hadi, Michèle Weiss-Gayte, Emmanuèle Barras, Christoph D. Schmid, Aouatef Ait-Lounis, Ashley Barnes, Yang Song, David J. Eisenman, Efrat Eliyahu, Gregory I. Frolenkov, Scott E. Strome, Bénédicte Durand, Norann A. Zaghloul, Sherri M. Jones, Walter Reith, Ronna Hertzano

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Sensorineural hearing loss is a common and currently irreversible disorder, because mammalian hair cells (HCs) do not regenerate and current stem cell and gene delivery protocols result only in immature HC-like cells. Importantly, although the transcriptional regulators of embryonic HC development have been described, little is known about the postnatal regulators of maturating HCs. Here we apply a cell type-specific functional genomic analysis to the transcriptomes of auditory and vestibular sensory epithelia from early postnatal mice. We identify RFX transcription factors as essential and evolutionarily conserved regulators of the HC-specific transcriptomes, and detect Rfx1,2,3,5 and 7 in the developing HCs. …