Education Commons^™

The Sharpest Tooth, Shea M.D. Mullaney

Graduate Masters Theses

This thesis comprises 38 poems. A mixture of free and formal verse, these collected works include poems created during the author's graduate study in Creative Writing in addition to earlier poems substantially revised during that time period. Themes of the work include family dynamics, social responsibility, eroticism, digital technology, as well as American and queer identity, from a post-structuralist perspective.

The Individual And Shared Meanings Students Make Of Their Diverse Interactions With African American Faculty: A Phenomenological Study, Kathleen Marie Neville

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Critics contend college graduates are not prepared to work in a global society. In response, higher education leaders identify the need to transform curriculum and teaching techniques (Bikson & Law, 1994). African American faculty are more likely than their White colleagues to employ teaching strategies that introduce students to diversity coursework and expose them to knowledge about race and ethnicity in the classroom, which positively affects students' openness to diversity (Pascarella, Edison, Nora, Hagedorn, & Terenzini, 1996) and prepares them to work in a global society. This qualitative study, grounded in phenomenological methodology, used ethnic (Phinney, 1996) and White (Helms, …

In Students' Words: The Development Of Student Attitudes Toward Mathematics - A Social Perspective, Dianne Kathryn Kelly

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Student interest in pursuing advanced studies and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) has garnered much attention lately from government, business, and education leaders due to inadequate flow in the United States' STEM pipeline. Existing research points to mathematical self-efficacy and to mathematical self-concept beliefs as integral to the likelihood that a student will pursue a career in a STEM field. Students' identities, such as the "good-math-student" identity need to be verified in order for students to enact them. Both identity verification and attitude are influenced by self-efficacy and self-concept. Existing research also points to teachers, parents, and …

The Role Of Situated Learning In Experiential Education: An Ethnographic Study Of The Knowledge-Construction Process Of Pharmacy Students During Their Clinical Rotations, Paul Difrancesco

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore learning through the social construction of new knowledge by pharmacy students engaged in experiential learning. Academic leaders and practitioners are responding to calls for the redesign of experiential education that will better prepare future pharmacists for practice. This has broad implications for educational programs and health care delivery.

Situated learning theory served as the theoretical framework for this study. The previous research of Lave and Wenger (1991); Bailey, Hughes, and Moore (2004); and others guided this research. Situated learning theory informed the research questions, which focused on understanding how students constructed knowledge …

The Role Of Data In Decision Making About Online Distance Education: A Case Study Of Three Community Colleges, William Allan Heineman

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Community colleges face pressures to use data to make decisions as they expand online distance education, but practical and political factors as well as the emergent nature of online distance education can be obstacles to making decisions in this way. Using a multiple case study strategy, this study examined the following research questions: 1) How and to what extent do community college academic leaders use data when making decisions about online distance education? 2) What data about online distance education do community college academic leaders cite as influences on their decision making and how strong are those influences? 3) How …

An Exploratory Survey Of The Enrollment Decisions Of Parents And Guardians In Four Catholic Urban Elementary Schools, Sheila Lombard Kukstis

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

As competition from tuition-less local charter and public schools increases, urban parents and guardians have more options for educating their children. Many struggle financially yet still choose to pay tuition for their children to attend an urban Catholic school. This exploratory study looks at the reasons why these parents and guardians choose a Catholic education for their children.

Over the course of six months in 2010, 850 surveys were sent to four Catholic urban elementary schools. One hundred and ninety-six parents and guardians in four urban Boston Catholic elementary schools completed surveys and participated in two focus groups. Two of …