Education Commons^™

Centering Culture And Relationships In Learning: Culturally Responsive Teaching In Higher Education, Valerie Vistain

Dissertations

In colleges and universities all across the United States, the amount of culturally and linguistically diverse students has increased significantly. Research has shown that when educators can develop educational practices and curricula that account for and incorporate students’ cultural frameworks, outcomes improve for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Culturally responsive teaching is a pedagogical approach that does just that. This research project aimed to bring to light the various ways that general education professors define and enact culturally responsive teaching practices. It further illustrates how students receive and interpret these culturally responsive approaches. Using the general education college within a …

A Glimpse Into The Multilingual Experience: A Phenomenological Study On How Nonnative English-Speaking Students Leverage Personal And Academic Support In Completing The Doctoral Journey, John Pervez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study is to use Activity Theory to identify and describe the personal and academic supports of multilingual doctoral alumni at a private, non-profit university in California.

Methodology: This study was a phenomenological study that identified and described the lived experiences of 15 multilingual alumni that completed a doctorate program at a private, non-profit university. Participants were selected using criterion sampling. Data was collected, analyzed, and triangulated between interview data and artifacts. Data was then coded, themed, and organized with reference to Activity Theory.

Findings: Examination of the data found that multilingual …

Adopting Educational Technology: A Study Of Dominican Republic Higher Education Faculty Related To Their Classroom Usage, Attitudes, Barriers, And Motivations, Leipzig Elizabeth Guzmán Mena

Dissertations

Previous research has revealed that the integration of technology in education produces an improvement in the traditional teaching and learning process, but that there is a disconnect between faculty adoption of educational technology and the requirements of our current generation of students (Rhema & Miliszewska, 2014; Selwyn, 2009). While students are now fully immersed in technology, some faculty still do not give adequate significance to its adoption in their classes. This disconnect represents a problem for these students’ learning experiences.

The purpose of this study was to explore faculty experiences regarding the adoption of educational technology within a private HEI …

In Pursuit Of Transformative Learning: Exploring The Stimulation Of Curiosity Through Critical Reflection In The College Classroom, Bo Y. Bae

Dissertations

Educators in higher education are faced with growing pressures to shift pedagogical practices in order to accommodate the growing population of learners and improve student learning outcomes. While the acquisition of knowledge and skills are important to the learning process, they are insufficient in preparing students to function in rapidly changing environments. Curiosity is a vital component in the learning process that, when stimulated, has the potential to increase students’ capacity to think critically. Implementing teaching practices that intentionally focus on how curiosity can be stimulated and enhanced develops students’ abilities to access higher levels of thinking that are essential …

Accelerated Degree Completion Programs: The Effects Of Core Professors In Nontraditional Higher Education, Dale Frederick Gadd

Dissertations

Nontraditional Accelerated Degree Completion Programs (ADCPs) became popular in the 1980s at many private, higher education institutions, and involved cohort groups facilitated by core or major professors. There has been little research addressing the effectiveness of a core-professor or multiple-professor approach within ADCPs, or research on how students view their learning experiences under this unique concept. This study therefore examines: (1) the effects of using a core-professor concept within nontraditional ADCPs, and (2) students' experiences under the core-professor and multiple-professor concepts.

Two sources of data were used, as obtained from students who had been involved in an ADCP program at …

Legal Discourse, Conceptual Metaphors, And Basic Writing Programming: A Study Of Ayers V. Fordice, Joyce Olewski Inman

Dissertations

In what ways does legal discourse influence our perceptions of students labeled as basic writers and these students’ perceptions of themselves? How does standards-based discourse affect student writers’ abilities to define themselves in academe? This dissertation involves an examination of legal and public discourse surrounding Ayers v. Fordice, one of the most prominent desegregation cases in higher education, in an attempt to answer these questions. Its intent is to explore how conceptual metaphors prevalent in these discourses affect our understandings of basic writing programming in the state of Mississippi but also in the field of composition more globally.

My …