Education Commons^™

An Evaluation Of Interprofessional Education: The Medical And Pharmacy Student Experience, Daniel Mickool

All Theses And Dissertations

Interprofessional education (IPE) in health professions continues to garner attention and is widely encouraged in the overall improvement of health care delivery in the U.S. The lack of communication and cross-profession collaboration contributes to errors and lower patient outcomes. As a result, medical education is undergoing transformation as new models are sought to deliver curricula that foster collaboration among health care disciplines. The purpose of this mixed methods program evaluation was to explore pharmacy and medical students’ perceptions of interprofessional learning after a six-week clinical rotation in a family medicine setting, as well as describe student perceptions of patient benefits …

Teachers’ Self-Efficacy When Differentiating Between Language Acquisition Difficulties Or Possible Learning Disabilities In English Language Learners, Elizabeth Hallett

All Theses And Dissertations

This multiple-case study examines teachers’ self-efficacy, or perceptions of their effectiveness, when differentiating between typical language acquisition difficulties and possible learning disabilities in English Language Learners (ELLs) who are challenged academically. Five mainstream elementary teachers from a mid-sized urban school district in the northeastern United States participated in the study. Data from individual interviews, meeting observations and artifacts were collected from each of the participants. Meeting observations occurred during each participant’s Integrated Learning Team meetings. During interviews, participants described their experiences working with ELLs who struggled more than typical ELLs and presented an artifact representing experiences teaching such students. Across …

Middle School Engagement Benefits Of Offering Extracurricular Activities During The School Day, Angela Coffman Ringley

All Theses And Dissertations

Extracurricular activities are a significant part of the school experience for many students, but there are concerns about the demands placed on students and the overscheduling of their after-school time. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine longitudinal middle school student outcomes based on one school’s efforts to provide the benefits of extracurricular activities by offering those activities during the regular school day. This study explored the nature of the relationship between middle school, school-based extracurricular participation and subsequent student views of school connection. The study was conducted in an independent, private, Pre-K through 12th grade school …

Principal And Instructional Coach Partnerships For Instructional Leadership: A Case Study Of Interactions And Teacher Perceptions, Sharron Helmke

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined conversations and interactions between an intermediate school principal and a team of content specific instructional coaches to investigate the presence of shared instructional leadership and how the interactions and responses of the two actors might support teachers’ professional growth and refinement of instructional practices. An initial interview with the campus principal was used to establish her goals for instructional leadership. Over a six-week period, these goals were tracked through observations and coding of weekly meetings between the principal and coaches and then traced through the coaches’ work with teachers. Findings indicated that the principal was …

Public Education Fuels The Debate: Academic Outcomes Of Students Socially Promoted From Eighth Grade To High School, Lisa Janosik

All Theses And Dissertations

Using archival data, this cross-sectional, descriptive study investigated the path of core course enrollment and completion of middle school students socially promoted from eighth grade to high school in a small, urban school district during 2008 to 2012. Supported by research surrounding the development of public education, the debate of retention versus social promotion, and adolescent development, this study delved into social promotion and whether it was an equitable and socially-just educational practice. Though this study quantitatively portrayed a positive outcome for students socially promoted from middle school, the data also showed that a majority of these students continued to …

Occupational Therapy Faculty Perspectives On The Use Of Telehealth As A Delivery Method For Healthcare Services, Holly Wasserman

All Theses And Dissertations

The use of telehealth for healthcare delivery is on the rise and is expected to increase due to the expansion of technological advances and the shortage of healthcare professionals to serve rural and remote communities. The use of telehealth by occupational therapists (OT) is relatively new, and it is unknown whether educational programs are adequately preparing OT students to practice in this context or if OT faculty members are adequately trained to deliver this content to their students. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to examine how faculty members teaching in a master’s level occupational therapy program …

Social Media In A High School English Class: A Collective Case Study, Angela M. Wells

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative collective case study sought to describe the perceptions and experiences of an 11th-grade English teacher and her students when incorporating social media into the classroom. The teacher introduced social media into four classrooms, wherein the students answered questions and interacted with each other on a discussion board. The teacher’s fifth classroom remained a traditionally taught class, wherein the teacher lectured about class material. After six weeks of instruction, the researcher interviewed the teacher and provided anonymous surveys to the students to determine their perceptions and experiences when incorporating social media into the classroom. The researcher analyzed and coded …

Developing Leaders: The Use Of Challenge And Support To Develop Usma Cadets, Robert K. Carl

All Theses And Dissertations

Despite a mission statement containing a clear focus on individual leader development, multiple reports show that recent USMA graduates fell short in their performance as leaders of character. USMA has changed its leader development strategy to an outcomes-based program. Contemporary literature suggests that identity development should be the goal of any leadership program as a leader with a strong leadership identity will act in accordance with such an identity. Using criterion sampling the study utilized individual interviews to explore the experiences of cadet company commanders who served in the fall semester of 2016. This phenomenological qualitative study found first, the …

Amalgamating Information Technology With Library Services In The School Environment: A Learning Commons Transformative Model, Alexander Tabor Jones

All Theses And Dissertations

At a private New York City school, a library becomes the nucleus for students and faculty engagement with technology and support. This synthesis of modern technology fused with a traditional source for knowledge emerged a hub of creativity, collaborative activity, and participation known as the Learning Commons (LC).

This study was inspired by the need to explore the teachers’ and staff perceptions of the new LC, or implementation of the Learning Commons Transformative Model (LCTM). The researcher sought to evaluate the newly designed space and the influence it had on teachers’ instruction and subsequent student learning outcomes. This model set …

Coaching Secondary Teachers To Engage Students By Incorporating Storytelling Into Content-Area Instruction, Jane Dearani Calnan

All Theses And Dissertations

Currently, school leaders are being called to action to find ways of improving the literacy achievement of today’s youth in response to the escalating number of students exiting high school unprepared for postsecondary educational programs and the workforce. Literacy coaching, as an embedded professional development model is one effective approach that can provide essential leadership and support for school and district-wide literacy reform. This qualitative single case study considers secondary literacy coaching in situ (in the natural setting) as a professional development model and the extent to which it supports the integration of literacy practices within disciplinary subjects. This study …

The Effects Of Technology On Student Motivation And Engagement In Classroom-Based Learning, James Francis

All Theses And Dissertations

Technology has seen a recent widespread integration into daily life, where access to vast amounts of information is now available with ease. Today’s generation of students has grown up with technology all around them in an ever-increasing manner. To create an effective 21st century classroom that meets the needs of the students, a modern teacher must factor a student’s motivation to learn and the effects technology has on inclusionary education.

A technology implementation was devised to address this rising need. Research was completed at an urban charter school on a population of 348 at the time of technology intervention through …

The Transition Experience Of U.S. Veterans From Military Life To Higher Education, Mark Anthony Mckinney

All Theses And Dissertations

Transitioning from military service always has been an inevitable part of serving in the United States military. With the recent end of military operations in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, transitioning from military service and entering higher education has become commonplace. However, the lived experiences of United States military veterans transitioning from military service to higher education within the past five years are not clearly understood. Consequently, higher education institutions may not possess information necessary to assist U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan military veterans who transitioned from military service within the specified timeframe.

The purpose of this qualitative research study …

Professional Growth: Informal Peer Observation, Carolyn A. Clark

All Theses And Dissertations

The practice of peer observation has recently gained attention as educational and political leaders examine teacher effectiveness. Prior research studies about peer observation were mostly conducted in secondary universities or in schools where this practice was voluntary. Since this practice has recently become mandated, this qualitative case study examined how teachers perceived the experience of informal peer observation in relation to their professional growth. The study was conducted in a Pre-K-8 public school for three months while teachers participated in informal peer observation rounds. When teachers completed their informal peer observation, they filled out the peer observation documentation forms and …

Empowering Transformation Through Structure: Assessing Effectiveness On The Organizational Placement Of Institutional Researchers, Nicholas R. Gill

All Theses And Dissertations

Higher education has a rich history steeped in the assumed trust of academia; however, shrinking resources have increased the demand for more objective assessment. Institutional Researchers (IR) have emerged as agents of change, adding college-wide assessment to their responsibilities alongside pragmatic reporting (Ross & Swing, 2016; Terenzini, 2012). As data-driven culture is still a relatively new institutional framework, IR may hold the key to engendering trust around this new status quo (Kirby & Floyd, 2016). This study explored the role of organizational structure in promoting the strategic success of Institutional Researchers. The researcher examined eight field professionals through the conceptual …

Mining Helpdesk Databases For Professional Development Topic Discovery, Joel T. Lowsky

All Theses And Dissertations

This single-site, instrumental case study created and tested a methodological road map by which academic institutions can use text data mining techniques to derive technology skillset weaknesses and professional development topics from the site’s technical support helpdesk database. The methods employed were described in detail and applied to the helpdesk database of an independent, co-educational boarding high school in the northeastern United States. Standard text data mining procedures, including the formation of a wordlist (frequently occurring terms), and the creation and application of clustering (automated data grouping) and classification (automated data labeling) models generated meaningful and revealing themes from the …

Competency Development In Community-Based Occupational Therapy, Sunny R. Winstead

All Theses And Dissertations

The aims of this study were: a) to discover which strategies community-based occupational therapists (OTs) find most effective for developing the competencies that have been identified as unique to community-based occupational therapy (OT) practice, b) to examine respondents’ perceptions of the effectiveness of their academic training and of current professional development resources, and c) to explore respondents’ suggestions for improving academic training and continuing education for OTs in community-based practice. Data collection was completed using an electronic survey that targeted members of the American Occupational Therapy Association who have experience in community-based OT. The survey was completed by 81 OTs …

The Positioning Of Iran And Iranians In The Origins Of Western Civilization, Sheda Vasseghi

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how a select sample of college-level history textbooks position Iran and Iranians in the origins of Western Civilization. Western Civilization history marginalizes, misrepresents, misappropriates, and/or omits Iran’s positioning (Kincheloe, 2004; Daryaee, 2005; Anvarinejad, 2007; Daragahi, 2010; Ahkami, 2014; Vahdati, 2014). Further, the mainstream approach to teaching Western Civilization history includes the Judeo-Christian-Greco-Roman narrative. The researcher used a multi-faceted theoretical approach—decolonization, critical pedagogy, and Western Civilization History dilemma—since this study transcended historical revisionism. This collective case study involved eleven Western Civilization history textbooks that, according to the College Board’s College-Level Examination …

The Forgotten Population: Honors Math Students At A Vocational High School, Jarrod Richards

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods individual case study was to investigate why honors math students at a regional vocational high school felt that their mathematical ability decreased over their enrollment at the site under study from the levels they experienced in middle school. This study specifically focused on long term retention of material and motivational forces that can influence the perceptions of honors students’ ability in mathematics. The participants for this study were 23 students who had been in honors math for all four years at this school. A records review was conducted for the 23 participants, which yielded …

Multiple Mini-Interview Performance And First Semester Achievement In A Baccalaureate Respiratory Care Program, Megan S. Koster

All Theses And Dissertations

Success in an undergraduate respiratory care program requires that students demonstrate skills that, although not traditionally assessed in the admissions process, are indicative of success in the clinical environment. Attributes like critical and interpersonal skills, empathy, and self-appraisal are competencies developed by different yet integrated intellectual processes and contribute significantly to the overall perception of intelligence. However, despite limited efficacy in predicting rate of attrition in an undergraduate clinical program such respiratory care, traditional admissions criteria continue to focus solely on objective indicators of academic ability. The purpose of this quantitative case study was to investigate the utility of the …

The Impact Of A Standards-Based Approach On Student Motivation, Aimee Frechette

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this individual case study was to investigate students’ perspectives on levels of motivation to reach mastery on identified standards when provided a standards-based approach to instruction, assessment, and reporting as compared to a traditional approach that utilized number and letter grades. The site studied is a rural elementary school located within a district that is beginning initiation of a standards-based approach. Resting on the foundation of motivational theory, this study sought to answer the question, how does the implementation of a standards-based approach to instruction and assessment impact the students’ perception of their level of motivation to …

Reframing Health Professions Leadership Education, Courtney E. Vannah

CETL Mini-Grant Research Papers

As leadership training becomes more common in allied health professions curricula, efforts must be made to tailor training to student need. As such, understanding the frames through which health professions students view leadership is essential. According to Bolman and Deal, there are four leadership frames (human resource, structural, symbolic and political) and although most people access most readily one frame or another, the most effective leaders are able to access all four frames. This study describes what leadership frame(s) preference exists among an allied health professions student population in order to alert educators that frame preferences do exist so as …

Identification Of Academically At-Risk Accelerated Bachelor Of Science In Nursing Students To Support Development Of Strategies To Promote Academic Success, Debra Kramlich, Judith Belanger, Dana Law-Ham, Nora Krevans

CETL Mini-Grant Research Posters

Some studies report higher attrition rates for ABSN students than for traditional entry-level nursing students related to both academic and non-academic factors. Student costs associated with program extension or dismissal, or the student’s inability to become licensed to practice, can be high. A descriptive correlational study of 37 ABSN students used Kaplan Admissions Test administered as a post-entry evaluation for identification of at-risk students during first week of program. Existing de-identified data gathered from the admissions test and first two semester courses analyzed to identify potential risk factors amenable to additional academic support. Several variables identified as putting a student …

Concept Mapping As A Tool To Promote Cognitive Integration, Douglas B. Spicer, Sean M. Kilgallen, Rebecca J. Rowe, Kathryn H. Thompson

CETL Mini-Grant Research Posters

For 20 years there has been a push to integrate the basic and clinical sciences in medical school curricula. Recently, studies have suggested that cognitive integration by the student is best achieved when the relationships between basic science and clinical domains are explicitly demonstrated. Concept mapping in response to a prompt, which asks students to create relationships among clinical and basic science concepts, should provide explicit connections that lead to a deeper conceptual understanding of the material. We designed a study to test the hypothesis that concept mapping improves the ability of students to diagnostically discriminate between multiple endocrinopathies when …

Student Perceptions Of Integrated Vs. Separate Basic Science And Clinical Resources, Kathryn H. Thompson, Douglas B. Spicer, Sean M. Kilgallen, Rebecca J. Rowe, Barbara J. Winterson

CETL Mini-Grant Research Posters

For 20 years there has been a push to integrate the basic and clinical sciences in medical school curricula. Recently, studies have suggested that cognitive integration is achieved when the relationships between basic science and clinical domains are explicitly demonstrated. In order to investigate methods that promote cognitive integration we performed a pilot study to develop and test different learning resources. We then surveyed students’ perceptions of these resources and analyzed how the resources affected their note taking. Our study suggests that the type of resources can influence the type of note-taking done by students, and that the process of …