Education Commons^™

Building A Cognitive Readiness Construct For Violent Police-Public Encounters, James Eric Preddy

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this multi-methods study was to explore police use-of-force (UoF) instructors’ perceptions about cognitive readiness in the context of violent police-public encounters, examine how experience influences those perceptions, identify competencies of cognitive readiness deemed essential for preparation and response to violent encounters, and align those competencies deemed essential with current UoF training strategies. The results of the study suggest that UoF instructors generally feel that police officers are not adequately prepared for violent police-public encounters. They cited deficiencies in the range of tactics taught, the frequency with which UoF training is delivered, and obstacles such as: time, resources, …

Decision Making In The Sciences: Understanding Heuristic Use By Students In Problem Solving, Elizabeth Csikar

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of heuristics by students and gain insight into the thought process behind their problem-solving skills. The study used an adaptive narrative as the information delivery medium. An adaptive narrative was chosen because it could be designed to simulate decision making processes encountered in real world situations. Students enrolled in an introductory biology major class were chosen for the study because their fields of interest all require complex problem solving and decision-making skills. It was of interest to investigate what decisions were made when heuristics were given and how that may …

School Connectedness And Academic Success, Keyondra Michelle Wilson

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Using data collected from the Portsmouth Needs Assessment (2017) in Portsmouth, Virginia, this study focused on examining the relationship between school connectedness and academic success. The purpose of the study was to examine how aspects of school connectedness affects academic success. School connectedness was measured by examining self-report data regarding students’ sense of belonging, sense of culture and ethnic acceptance, classroom participation, and extracurricular activities. Academic success was measured by students’ self-reported grades and how often did they think that they would use the materials that they learned in the future. The results indicated that a student’s sense of belonging …

Incivility As A Barrier To Embeddedness Among Engineering Students: Does Gender Matter?, Katelyn R. Reynoldson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

To meet the current demand for engineers, research has focused on how to attract and retain qualified candidates in the field, especially those that are underrepresented (e.g., women; NSB, 2016). The present study investigates incivility and embeddedness, which have been found to be antecedents of retention in both the workplace (Cortina, Magley, Williams, & Langhout, 2001; Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001) and the collegiate setting (Caza & Cortina, 2007; Major et al., 2015). To extend previous research, both constructs were examined simultaneously among undergraduate engineering students. Undergraduate, first-year engineers completed an online survey indicating the extent to which …

Motivating And Enabling Factors For Military Service Members Earning A Post-Secondary Degree, Rossie Dean Johnson

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivated and enabled military service members to earn a post-secondary degree. This problem was investigated to better inform institutions of higher education regarding how to recruit and retain military-affiliated members and how to provide career-enhancing information to service members at institutions of higher education.

Education for military service members was a process that facilitated the growth, learning, and maturity of individuals in an effort to achieve their goals while simultaneously achieving the collective goals of the organization. This study sought to identify the enabling and motivating factors that empowered service members …

Community College Students' Deep Learning Approaches In Oer Courses, Kim Ellen Grewe

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Open Educational Resources (OER) have the potential to bridge the gap for community college students not only because they are more affordable or provide access but also because they have the potential to make learning more meaningful for these same students. Although issues related to access and affordability have been extensively researched, less is known about the ways in which OER use may impact community college students’ deep approaches to learning. More qualitative research around OER efficacy from the student perspective is needed. The purpose of this study was to describe the ways students use OER and how students’ OER …