Education Commons^™

Define “Learning Engineering” With The Trap Framework, Ke Zhang, Meina Zhu

Administrative and Organizational Studies

While the term “learning engineering” was first coined by Herbert [1]; it is becoming more salient recently. But there is not a commonly shared understanding of learning engineering as a professional or an academic field. Thus, we explored a range of resources, including scholarly publications and discussions, websites and initiatives of selected professional organizations, resources from related USA government and agencies, recent job posts and learning engineering degree programs to find relevant rhetoric, descriptions, curricula, task forces and other resources on learning engineering. Based on a critical synthesis of the above-mentioned materials, we argue that learning engineering is an emerging …

Enhancing Student Engagement In Wayne State University School Of Medicine (Wsusom) Curriculum Design, Development, Evaluation, And Implementation, Connor Buechler, Heidi T. Kromrei, Leo M. Hall

Medical Student Research Symposium

Purpose: There are a variety of ways in which the 1200 medical students at Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) can formally participate in curricular efforts. To date, a formal inventory and evaluation of these programs has not been reported.

Methods: We compiled a list of students involved in courses, committees, and formal activities related to the medical school curriculum. We then developed and delivered a survey to measure student perceptions utilizing the following constructs: 1) Guidance/Support for Student Role, 2) Project Successes and Challenges, 3) Curricular Project Measurement and Monitoring, 4) Curriculum Management Committee Engagement and Accessibility, 5) …

Exploring Sensemaking Of The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act Of 2010, Taylor Mary Barczyk

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 was reauthorized to create school environments that provide nutrient-dense meals to students who are living in poverty. The free and reduced-price lunch program helps 19% of students who are living in poverty in America (Kids Count Data Center, 2017). These students arrive at school hungry and often times are more concerned about their hunger than the content they need to learn. In order to assist them in learning, the school lunch program has been established. With the policy reauthorization of Public Law 111-296, students have been able to receive nourishment in the school …

Gender And Work: An Analysis Of Mid-Level Women Administrators In Student Affairs, Eboni Turnbow

Wayne State University Dissertations

Research has examined the experiences of women faculty in higher education. However, the experiences of non-faculty mid-level women administrators within higher education continues to be understudied. Women are often the majority in non-faculty positions, yet men dominate senior level positions. Instead, women are frequently clustered in entry and mid-level administrative roles within student affairs divisions or departments, often with limited access to career ladders. Drawing on the theoretical framework of gendered work organizations, this study explores the experiences of women working in non-academic departments, and analyzes how these experiences impact their career advancement at four-year public universities. More specifically, I …

Stereotype Threat And Its Effect On Christian Women In Secular Higher Education Administration, Kimberly Morgan

Wayne State University Dissertations

Stereotype threat is a highly supported phenomenon in social psychology. It is the fear, whether consciously or subconsciously, that one will confirm within oneself a negative stereotype about one’s social or identity group, through poor performance or self-evaluation. This study attempts to determine if stereotype threat could be a contributor to the underrepresentation of women, and therefore Christian women, in higher education leadership. To investigate possible causes of this a set of surveys was completed. The first included questions regarding employment, race, religion, education, and politics. It was used to determine stratified samples for the second survey. The second survey’s …

Competencies And Strategies Utilized By Higher Education Leaders During Planned Change, Dawn Aziz

Wayne State University Dissertations

In a mixed methods study designed to explore the competencies and strategies utilized by self-described successful leaders of public, four-year U. S. institutions, this study confirmed that there was little difference among academic and non-academic leaders in their approach to successful change beyond that found in terms of non-academic preference for resilience and an academic preference for personal learning. Both leaders (N=47) showed high agreement for the nine proposed competencies, five of which were statistically higher in perceived importance (personal learning, resilience, emotional engagement/creating a safe space, networking/coalition building, and project management). Adapting Bolman and Deal’s four frames (2013) as …

An Analysis Of Gateway Programs On African American Student Retention: A Case Study In An Urban Higher Education Setting, Janice Cook Johnson

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AN ANALYSIS OF GATEWAY PROGRAMS ON AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENT RETENTION: A CASE STUDY IN AN URBAN HIGHER EDUCATION SETTING

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JANICE COOK JOHNSON

MAY 2017

Advisor: Dr. Carolyn Muriel Shields

Major: Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Existing policies and processes have not gone far enough to eradicate the persistent academic achievement gap at Wayne State University. Nor has identifying poor student academic preparation prior to enrollment. By accepting this reality and responsibility, officials and members within the university community can affect change, bringing parity to retention through graduation, by becoming proficient at serving the students …

Reflection And Professional Identity Development In Design Education, Monica W. Tracey, Alisa Hutchinson

Administrative and Organizational Studies

Design thinking locates the designer as the arbiter of the design space, personally responsible for managing uncertainty, leveraging failures, and gaining insight through reflection to maintain momentum and deliver meaningful design outcomes. As design education becomes more closely aligned with design thinking, the field will need to shift its understanding of the role of the designer and support students in developing professional identities that reflect this understanding. This study investigated the use of reflective writing in an introductory design course to help students explore and interpret their design beliefs, experiences, and self-awareness. The results indicate that authorial presence, analysis, and …

A Measure Of Efficiency Between Charter Schools And Traditional Public Schools In Michigan, Michael Brian Carrauthers

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure the efficiency between charter schools and traditional public schools in Michigan. 1,628 schools, both charter and traditional public schools were examined in the study. Archived 4th grade MEAP reading and math assessment data was examined. In addition, financial data was examined for all of the schools.

Regression analysis utilizing SPSS was employed with MEAP reading and math scores as the dependent variable and the following independent variables: enrollment economically disadvantages students, percentage of white students, percentage of male students, average total instructional expenditures, and charter schools.

The results of the descriptive statistics …

Uncertainty, Reflection, And Designer Identity Development, Monica W. Tracey, Alisa Hutchinson

Administrative and Organizational Studies

Uncertainty is a defining quality of the design space and it stands to reason that designers’ personal attitudes toward uncertainty may influence design processes and outcomes via cognitive, affective, and/or behavioral channels. Individual attitudes and behavior patterns related to uncertainty may constitute a critical element of designer identity, which represents the synthesis of knowledge, action, and being. This qualitative study examined how graduate students in an instructional design course reflected on their experiences and beliefs regarding uncertainty. Participants were more reflective when discussing a general experience with uncertainty than their current attitudes toward uncertainty in design. Findings support the use …

Relationship Between Principal And Teachers In Urban Schools: An Examination Of Principal Leadership Practices And Teacher Morale, Tonya Renee Norwood

Wayne State University Dissertations

A pervasive issue facing today’s educational environment is teacher morale in schools. Recognizing that teacher morale in urban schools is an area of concern, and the behavior of the principals may be a contributing factor, the primary purpose of this quantitative research study was to analyze and measure the relationship between principal leadership practices and teacher morale in urban schools. The research questions focused on the relationship between principal leadership practices and teacher morale, significant differences among schools in reference to principal leadership practices, significant differences among schools in reference to teacher morale, and the principal leadership practices that had …

The Impact Of Classroom Observations And Collaborative Feedback On Evaluation Of Teacher Performance, Based On The Danielson Framework For Teaching, Christine L. Hofer

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE IMPACT OF CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS AND COLLABORATIVE FEEDBACK ON EVALUATION OF TEACHER PERFORMANCE, BASED ON THE DANIELSON FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING

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CHRISTINE L. HOFER

December 2016

Advisor: Dr. Thomas Edwards

Major: Education

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Teacher evaluation systems in Michigan are undergoing major reforms driven by recent legislation at both the federal and state levels. Multiple teacher observations, as well as student achievement data, are now required to be a major indicator of teacher effectiveness for evaluative purposes. The reformed system is high-stakes, as employment decisions such as layoffs and termination rest squarely on evaluation results. Implementation has …

An Exploration Of Student Experiences With Learner-Centered Instructional Strategies, Jill E. Stefaniak, Monica W. Tracey

Administrative and Organizational Studies

In this exploratory study, we examined how undergraduate students experience learning in a learner-centered teaching environment and their perceptions of motivation towards learning material in an introductory public speaking communications course. Six faculty members participated in a semester-long study where their teaching strategies were observed. Three faculty members participated in a cognitive apprenticeship where they were taught how to implement learner-centered instructional strategies into their coursework. Participants were 109 students who were enrolled in an introductory public speaking course. Data was collected by means of classroom observations, interviews, and the administration of a survey. Our findings indicated that students who …

Design Ideas, Reflection, And Professional Identity: How Graduate Students Explore The Idea Generation Process, Alisa Hutchinson, Monica W. Tracey

Administrative and Organizational Studies

Within design thinking, designers are responsible for generating, testing, and refining design ideas as a means to refine the design problem and arrive at an effective solution. Thus, understanding one’s individual idea generation experiences and processes can be seen as a component of professional identity for designers, which involves the integration of knowledge, action, and being in support of the professional self. Using written journal responses from graduate students in an introductory course in instructional design, this study explored how students used reflection to reconstruct experiences relating to the emergence of design ideas. Findings indicate that students were able to …

The Impact Of Academic Optimism On Student Achievement In Five Middle Schools, Rita Hickey Teague

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study addressed the research question: To what extent do the measures of academic optimism predict academic achievement? The study was conducted in two suburban, adjacent school districts with 102 middle school teachers from five middle schools participating.

A non-experimental, multiple regression research design was used as no treatment or intervention was provided. Data collection tools were a revision of three surveys that purport to measure the three components of academic optimism, and school level outcomes from the Michigan Education Assessment Program and the Measures of Academic Progress. Using Google Forms, data were collected electronically at faculty meetings with submission …

Instructional Designers As Reflective Practitioners: Developing Professional Identity Through Reflection, Monica W. Tracey, Alisa Hutchinson, Tamme Quinn Grzebyk

Administrative and Organizational Studies

As the design thinking approach becomes more established in the instructional design (ID) discourse, the field will have to reconsider the professional identity of instructional designers. Rather than passively following models or processes, a professional identity rooted in design thinking calls for instructional designers to be dynamic agents of change who use reflective thinking to navigate the design space and develop solutions to ill-structured problems. Graduate programs in ID will also need to prepare students to manage the complexities they will encounter in their professional practice, including the establishment of design precedents, reflective thinking skills, and the foundations of professional …

Competencies For A Leadership Role In Educational Development, Kristi Jordan Verbeke

Wayne State University Dissertations

Because the field of educational development (also known as faculty development, academic development, and staff development) is relatively new, very little is known about the competencies required for those who work in the field. Additionally, there are no formal pathways or means of formal preparation for educational developers. This study utilized a mixed-methods research design to explore the competencies required for a leadership role in the field of educational development.

The first part of the study sought to identify these competencies by using the Delphi technique to survey experts in the field. The second part explored whether these competencies were …

Graduate Students In A Service Learning Design Case: The Development Of A Parenting Program, Monica W. Tracey, Sara Elizabeth Kacin

Administrative and Organizational Studies

The following design case illustrates the approach a group of advanced graduate onlinedesign students, two design coaches, and an instructor used to design an online instructional intervention as a service-learning project for parents interested in improving their parenting skills with their pre-teens. This design case is distinctive in that it explores the online collaboration for this service-learning project using email, instant messaging, Google Hangout, Google Documents within Google applications and Skype.

Mpati: The Midwest Program On Airborne Television Instruction (1959-1971), Monica W. Tracey, Jill E. Stefaniak

Administrative and Organizational Studies

It is 1964 and high in the sky, flying in a figure-eight formation over a 200-mile radius and six Midwestern states, is a plane with a large 24-foot antennae hanging from its belly. Transmitting 24 separate courses recorded ahead of time then played back to member schools in six states, the Midwest Program on Airborne Television Instruction (MPATI) was designed to meet the need of providing educational television to a wider audience. In the late 1950s, the FCC decided that certain channels would be allocated for non-commercial educational use. Schools were bursting with students; teachers were in high demand and …

A Multidisciplinary Examination Of The Decision-Making Process Used By Designers, Jill E. Stefaniak, Monica W. Tracey

Administrative and Organizational Studies

Design-thinking is an abductive and participatory process in which designers are required to manage constraints, generate solutions, and follow project timelines in order to complete project goals. This exploration study sought to look at how designers in various disciplinary fields approach design projects. Designers were asked to describe a project and a decision that they had to make. Decisions were analyzed to determine whether they were ready-made versus custommade solutions and the process by which the designers arrived at the decisions was categorized as idea-imposition or discovery. Results indicated that designers work with multiple constraints while designing and the majority …

Engaging Multiple Teams To Design A Blended Learning Course, Monica W. Tracey, Tamme Quinn Grzebyk

Administrative and Organizational Studies

In the following design case, a blended learning program was designed and developed for parents interested in improving their parenting skills with their children. Numerous design teams developed the program, consisting of both synchronous live events and asynchronous web-based instruction. Teams were comprised of novice students, professors, and expert designers. This design case explores the design space and design decisions made in light of varied and unique stakeholder involvement. It also illustrates the products developed.

The Role Of Academic Factors, Self-Efficacy, Mentoring Relationships, And Learning Communities In Persistance And Academic Success Of Freshmen College Students, Stefanie Theresia Baier

Wayne State University Dissertations

Many U.S. universities are concerned with student retention. The current study surveyed 237 first time college students at a Midwestern university to determine the extent to which social-cognitive factors, such as high school GPA, ACT scores, first semester college GPA, college self-efficacy and perceptions of mentorship support influence freshmen's intent to persist and academic success.

Pearson Correlations, Standard Multiple Regression Analyses, PROCESS for Mediation and Moderation, and a MANOVA were performed. The study's findings show that college self-efficacy and perceptions of mentorship were the strongest predictors for intentions to persist past the first college semester. High school GPA was the …

Developing Designer Identity Through Reflection, Monica W. Tracey, Alisa Hutchinson

Administrative and Organizational Studies

As designers utilize design thinking while moving through a design space between problem and solution, they must rely on design intelligence, precedents, and intuition in order to arrive at meaningful and inventive outcomes. Thus, instructional designers must constantly re-conceptualize their own identities and what it means to be a designer. Within instructional design, professional identity development is intimately linked to the concept of design precedents. Reflective practice appears to be a natural avenue for supporting identity development in student designers, as it challenges them to think deeply about concepts and experiences through interpretation, evaluation, and revision. The authors conducted a …

Examining The Factors Of A Technology Professional Development Intervention, Kelly L. Unger, Monica W. Tracey

Administrative and Organizational Studies

This article discusses technology integration literature used to guide the design and implementation of a technology professional development intervention (TPDI) for secondary education teachers. Qualitative multiple-case research methods were used to examine teachers’ perceptions of the TPDI factors to provide a deeper understanding of which factors teachers’ perceived to be beneficial to the quality of the TPDI. A content analysis methodology was used to compare teachers’ perceptions at two different phases throughout the study:

• Phase 1: while participating in the TPDI and,

• Phase 2: after transferring the knowledge and skills taught in the TPDI to teaching practice.

The …

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 …

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 …

Estimating The Efficiency Of Michigan's Rural And Urban Public School Districts, Rita Ann Maranowski

Wayne State University Dissertations

This study examined student achievement in Michigan public school districts to determine if rural school districts are demonstrating greater financial efficiency by producing higher levels of student achievement than school districts in other geographic locations with similar socioeconomics. Three models were developed using multiple regression analysis of student achievement for high school graduation rates and student proficiency rates for eleventh grade students in mathematics and English language arts as reported from the Michigan Merit Examination results. These models compared student achievement by geographic location which included a selection of 10 independent variables and a sample size of 496 Michigan public …

A Design-Based Research Case Study Documenting A Constructivist Id Process And Instructional Solution For A Cross-Cultural Workforce, Monica W. Tracey, Kelly L. Unger

Administrative and Organizational Studies

As the need for instructing a globalized workforce increases, instructional designers must embrace the constraints and the opportunities these projects provide in order to move the field of cross-cultural instructional design (ID) forward. Cross-cultural projects offer multiple avenues for growth in ID practice, overcoming cultural barriers, and a venue to apply and test contemporary models, methodologies, and theories in ID. This design-based research case study employed a rapid prototyping methodology and the constructivist ID model, Layers of Negotiation, to collect critical cultural information for the design of this cross-cultural instruction. Instructional strategies deemed effective for instructing an unskilled workforce in …

African-Centered Education In Middle Schools: The Decision-Making Process In A Parental Engagement Model, Latrice Nichol Hicks

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

AFRICAN-CENTERED EDUCATION IN MIDDLE SCHOOLS: THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN A PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT MODEL

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LATRICE N. HICKS DUNN

May 2012

Advisor: Dr. David Whitin

Major: Curriculum and Instruction

Degree: Doctor of Education

The ways in which key stakeholders influencing decision-making processes in African-centered schools in urban areas are qualitatively different from that of parental involvement in mainstream schools; these perceived differences influence decision-making in various ways. The purpose of this research is to investigate ways in which parents, teachers and administrators of African American middle-school student's talk about the decision-making aspect of parental engagement in African-centered school settings. Parental …

An Assessment Of The Readiness Of King Fahad Medical City, Saudi Arabia, In Adopting Effective Online Staff Development Programs, Adnan Dhafer Alwadie

Wayne State University Dissertations

Internet access has grown in Saudi Arabia between 2000 and 2005 by more than 1000% and many governmental organizations are starting to provide part of their services using the internet. In addition, the Ministry of Higher Education has provided funding to all governmental universities to start developing strategies and guidelines for online education. Healthcare services in Saudi Arabia are funded by the government and are provided to all citizens free of charge. In addition, the majority of healthcare workers are expatriates. King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) is a tertiary healthcare organization that provides specialized medical care. To assure quality of …