Education Commons^™

Factors Which Influence The Use Of Active Learning Strategies By Nursing Faculty, Deborah Lowell Shindell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nursing education is facing a crisis. Anachronistic teaching methods are no longer keeping up with the needs of new graduates entering practice. Despite a body of knowledge which supports the use of active learning in higher education, nursing faculty continue to rely on lecture as their primary pedagogical approach. Previous study of the use of research products in clinical nursing practice identified systematic factors such as characteristics of the communication of research findings and characteristics of the organization form the greatest barrier to use. This study discovers if these same barriers face nursing educators.

Using Roger‟s Theory of Diffusion of …

The Impact Of Regulating Social Science Research With Biomedical Regulations, Brenda Braxton Durosinmi

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Impact of Regulating Social Science Research with Biomedical Regulations Since 1974 Federal regulations have governed the use of human subjects in biomedical and social science research. The regulations are known as the Federal Policy for the Protection of Human Subjects, and often referred to as the "Common Rule" because 18 Federal agencies follow some form of the policy. The Common Rule defines basic policies for conducting biomedical and social science research. Almost from the inception of the Common Rule social scientists have expressed concerns of the policy's medical framework of regulations having its applicability also to human research in …

College Choice Influences Among High-Achieving Students: An Exploratory Case Study Of College Freshmen, Derek Takumi Furukawa

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

College choice is an important process on the way to college matriculation. Understanding the motivators and influences of college choice can help an institution establish more effective methods of influencing the choice decision. This influence is even more significant among populations that are low in supply and high in demand, such as high-achieving students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore high-achieving student perceptions of the areas that may influence their college choice. In-depth focus groups and interviews were conducted with high-achieving students at a single institution in the Southwestern United States to establish perceptions of influences …

Faculty’S Perceptions Of Students’ Abilities To Utilize Self-Regulated Learning Strategies To Improve Critical And Reflective Thinking In Making Clinical Decisions: A Methodological Study, Amber Lynn Donnelli

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

With the rapidly changing health care system, new nurses are expected to be able to collect pertinent data, access resources, prioritize information, solve problems, and ultimately make sound clinical decisions (Kuiper, 2005). Supporting evidence has shown that using self-regulated learning strategies (SRLS) increases the development of critical and reflective thinking within the clinical reasoning context (Kuiper & Pesut, 2004). Despite the fact that instruments have been developed to examine students’ perception of the use of SRLS, there is no existing instrument to measure nursing faculty’s perceptions of a student’s ability to utilize self-regulated learning strategies in the clinical setting. This …

Engaging Non-Alumni Advisory Board Members In Hospitality Education, Judy A. Nagai

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Hospitality education programs within higher education institutions often rely upon members of the hospitality industry to serve as volunteer advisory board members. A common role for volunteers of an academic program advisory board is to serve as a credible link between the formal education and degree earning process to the hospitality industry, provide insight and advice on current issues and trends, assist in developing industry relationships, and share their time and resources to help promote the program (Edwards, 2008; Merrill, 2003). While volunteer advisory boards within higher education are often made up of both alumni and non-alumni, this study focused …

The Interface Of Technology In Culinary Arts Education, Robert C. Cawley

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Introduction:

A culinary educator must make many decisions that affect the day-to-day activities in both the classroom and the lab. One of the more important decisions is how to select the most appropriate technology to implement for use in teaching and administrative activities. The research presented here is intended to help the educator identify specific needs, decide where the use of technology is desirable, and offer information designed to help the educator make an informed decision about using technology as a teaching tool.

Purpose Statement:

The purpose of this paper is to inform the culinary educator about the technology available …

A Grounded Theory Approach To Faculty’S Perspective And Patterns Of Online Social Presence, Rebecca A. Cox-Davenport

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research study was to generate a grounded theory regarding the patterns and perceptions of nursing faculty in the formation of social processes in an online course. Employing a grounded theory approach, this researcher built upon the theoretical concepts of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000). The CoI model illustrates the inner workings of the educational experience. The model consists of three main components: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence. These three elements overlap to demonstrate how each factor influences the other forms of presence. This study sought to better understand …

Assessing The Effect Of Simulation Models On Systems Learning In An Introductory Environmental Science Course, Heather J. Skaza

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

While there is plenty of anecdotal evidence within the systems dynamics community supporting the use of systems simulations in the classroom to improve student understanding, there is little published, controlled, experimental research. This paper describes the results of a paired experiment testing the effect of using system dynamics simulations to increase systems understanding in an introductory environmental science course. We believed that the students using the systems simulations would demonstrate a greater systemic understanding of environmental issues than those who did not.

We conducted an experiment during the fall semester of 2009, with 304 students enrolled in four sections of …

A Comparison Of Face-To-Face And Online Learning Environments To Prepare Teachers To Use Technology, Ashley Janel Addis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated the similarities and differences in the implementation of face-to-face and online versions of an undergraduate educational technology course for elementary teacher candidates. A common course project, the Innovations Mini-teach , was the focus of the investigation. Twenty-four students participated in the face-to-face section, 22 were enrolled in the online section, and the instructor was the same for both classes. Through this investigation, similarities and differences were identified in the nature of the learning experience as well as student outcomes. Similarities included how the project was introduced, structured, and facilitated. Key differences pertained to the nature of collaboration …

Quality Assurance Policies In The European Higher Education Area: A Comparative Case Study, Joanna Maria Jezierska

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

European tertiary education became an important topic of the main leaders of the world academia a decade ago, when 29 European countries voluntarily signed the Bologna Declaration of 1999. This intergovernmental European initiative of educational reform, known as the Bologna Process, defines a common framework for higher education systems, and encourages the development of quality assurance within and between institutions of higher education. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the implementation process of quality assurance policy, The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, in two European countries: the United Kingdom and Poland, including the quality …

Determinants Of Academic Achievement And Intention To Complete The Program Among Pga Golf Management Students, Brian James Soule

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Students enrolled in PGA Golf Management programs at five public universities were surveyed to determine what contributed to their academic achievement, i.e., grades, and their intention to successfully complete their academic program. The Eccles expectancy-value model of activity behaviors was used as the theoretical framework for this study. The results of regression analyses indicated that the students' perceptions that their parents and peers believed that they could successfully complete their degree requirements, as well as their own self-efficacy beliefs, predicted their academic achievement, but not their intention to complete the program. The results of regression analyses indicated also that the …