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Full-Text Articles in Education

Insights Of International Faculty Into The Role Of Instructor Factors In Educating Counselors: A Qualitative Study, Paula Carina Lazarim Marques Aug 2023

Insights Of International Faculty Into The Role Of Instructor Factors In Educating Counselors: A Qualitative Study, Paula Carina Lazarim Marques

Doctoral Dissertations

It is critical for counselor education (CE) to increase knowledge in effective teaching practices specific to CE (ETP-CE) in order to prepare counselors optimally. Research in higher education has established the significance of instructor factors (IF) in enhancing instructor-student relationship, predicting instructors’ self-efficacy, and informing quality teaching. However, the literature specific to ETP-CE reveals a limited focus on the connections of IF to counseling students learning and development and has has yet fully addressed the complexities and nuances of IF in CE. This highlights the need for further research investigating the roles of IF in CE to fill this gap …


Reading The Rainbow: Exploring The Educational Experiences Of Lgbtq+ Students, Ashley R. Stroud May 2023

Reading The Rainbow: Exploring The Educational Experiences Of Lgbtq+ Students, Ashley R. Stroud

Doctoral Dissertations

Research shows that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, Queer and questioning plus (LGBTQ+) youth are at high risk for bullying and violent victimization, poor mental health, alcohol and other drug use, and poor academic performance. According to the 2019 GLSEN school climate survey, LGBTQ+ students reported hearing hostile remarks, experiencing harassment and assault, feeling unsafe because of personal characteristics, and being subjected to discriminatory policies. The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to understand how secondary students experience school environments and how their teachers can be supportive and affirming of their diverse identities. The following research questions guided this study: 1) …


Accreditation Of Teaching And Research Universities In Afghanistan: A Policy Implementation Analysis, Sayed Javid Mussawy Apr 2023

Accreditation Of Teaching And Research Universities In Afghanistan: A Policy Implementation Analysis, Sayed Javid Mussawy

Doctoral Dissertations

The quest for quality has encouraged many countries to establish quality assurance and accreditation models to sustain and improve quality. While some established their own procedures, a great majority of the countries including those in the developing world have adopted quality assurance policies developed in the Global North to respond to internationalization and to participate in the knowledge economy. However, most universities in developing countries lack adequate infrastructure to implement accreditation standards. Thus, investigating the implementation of accreditation policies in developing nations provides new insight into the opportunities and challenges posed by internationalization of quality assurance and accreditation. This study …


Critical Language Awareness In The Multilingual Writing Classroom: A Self-Study Of Teacher Feedback Practices, Emma R. Britton Sep 2021

Critical Language Awareness In The Multilingual Writing Classroom: A Self-Study Of Teacher Feedback Practices, Emma R. Britton

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the increasing amount of ethnolinguistic diversity in US schools and universities, traditional approaches to university writing instruction continue to advance the teaching of standard written American English (SWAE) from uncritical ideological standpoints (Bommarito & Cooney, 2016). To disrupt the naturalization of monolingual and standard language ideologies, existing scholarship shows the potential of critical language awareness (CLA), as a pedagogical approach which aims to develop students’ awareness of the relationships between languages, language varieties, language ideologies, power, and social inequities, alongside the teaching of SWAE (Fairclough, 1992). Because the production of student texts is central to a CLA pedagogy (Gilyard, …


Exploring Language, Culture And Identity: Perspectives From Non-Native Arabic University Teachers In The Us, Brahim Oulbeid May 2021

Exploring Language, Culture And Identity: Perspectives From Non-Native Arabic University Teachers In The Us, Brahim Oulbeid

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores how six non-native (NN) university Arabic teachers make sense of language, culture, and identity. Specifically, it aims to understand how their experiences as Arabic language learners, preservice teachers, and classroom practitioners shape their classroom work, especially as they relate to their conceptions of teaching culture and the negotiation of their personal and professional identities. Four questions guide this study: how NN Arabic teachers perceive culture, what their culture teaching practices are, what identities they enact, and what their contributions to the teaching of Arabic as foreign language (TAFL) field are. To address these issues, the study draws …


An Examined Life Of A Language Teacher Of Chinese: An Autoethnographic Investigation Into Agency, Ying Zhang Oct 2019

An Examined Life Of A Language Teacher Of Chinese: An Autoethnographic Investigation Into Agency, Ying Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a paucity of research about and done by L2 Chinese educators regarding the theoretical construct of agency. It is also noted that the qualitative inquiry is marginalized in L2 Chinese research field, let alone the narrative study of the agency of experienced by L2 Chinese-teachers. In this dissertation research, I aim at filling in the gap by conducting a longitudinal autoethnography which captures over a decade (1997-2017) of my personal and professional development with an agency perspective. The highly personalized autoethnographic accounts open up my personal and professional life as an experienced, college-level, transnational, early 40’s female native …


Adopting Active Learning Classroom (Alc) Technology And Overcoming Barriers: A Faculty Development Intervention Model For Technology-Enhanced Learning Spaces, Bradford D. Wheeler Jul 2018

Adopting Active Learning Classroom (Alc) Technology And Overcoming Barriers: A Faculty Development Intervention Model For Technology-Enhanced Learning Spaces, Bradford D. Wheeler

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this study was to understand how instructors use technology, and what challenges they face, but also to increase the participants’ understanding of Active Learning Classroom (ALCs) technologies as it applies to their teaching by applying action research methodologies. This study also seeks to lay a foundation for additional research on ALCs, education technology, and the needs of instructors in terms of faculty development in technology. This study investigates a group of 13 faculty members in multiple disciplines teaching in ALCs. Thus far, research on the impact of technology-enriched learning environments like Active Learning Classrooms has typically centered …


Factors That Shape Arab American College Student Identity, Abdul Rahman F. Jaradat Jul 2017

Factors That Shape Arab American College Student Identity, Abdul Rahman F. Jaradat

Doctoral Dissertations

Arab American identity has not yet received the research attention and scholarship that it deserves. In this dissertation, I have qualitatively studied the narratives of young Arab American college students and recent graduates. The research questions that I explored include what makes them Arab Americans, and what are the factors that help them identify as such. By focusing on Arab Americans and their identity factors, I have presented the narratives of those women and men who self-identify as Arab American and quoted their accounts of how they navigate this undervalued, misunderstood, and stereotyped identity. I have used ethnic and racial …


Modeling As Teaching: Preparing Preservice Teachers To Implement Universal Design For Learning, Eric Jordan Moore May 2017

Modeling As Teaching: Preparing Preservice Teachers To Implement Universal Design For Learning, Eric Jordan Moore

Doctoral Dissertations

Increasing diversity and growing achievement gaps among diverse groups in U.S. public schools has resulted in increased pressure on teacher education programs to prepare teachers effectively to meet the needs of contemporary students. Research is needed to establish best practices of teacher education that carry forward into future practice. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has been proposed as a framework to help address the need for more flexible learning environments, but limited research has been conducted to determine best practices for supporting preservice teachers in learning this complex framework. In this dissertation study, I examine the notion that education research …


Exploring The Ways New Faculty Form Beliefs About Teaching: A Basic Interpretive Study, Beth Ann White Aug 2016

Exploring The Ways New Faculty Form Beliefs About Teaching: A Basic Interpretive Study, Beth Ann White

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the formation of beliefs about teaching held by faculty in their first three years of teaching in higher education classrooms and their perceptions of the ways those views may or may not have changed as they gain experience. This study followed a basic, interpretive approach with a sample of new faculty who explored the formation and enactment of their beliefs about teaching in higher education. Based on a thematic analysis of the interview data, three themes were identified as influencers of belief formation: modeling, teaching experience, and formal instruction. Changes in belief …


The Student Experience Of Other Students, Brian Kelleher Sohn May 2016

The Student Experience Of Other Students, Brian Kelleher Sohn

Doctoral Dissertations

The literature on higher education classroom climate and its relationship to teaching and learning is dominated by studies and theorizing regarding the role of the instructor. But when instructors use learner-centered approaches and diffuse the role and authority of the teacher, students gain a higher level of influence in the learning experience of their peers. In this phenomenological case study of a unique graduate seminar, I interpreted the thematic structure of the student experience of other students (SEOS). Data sources included field notes, audio recordings of class sessions, weekly student post-class reflections, and individual and focus group interviews with students. …


College Student Engagement Patterns In Small Group Learning Activities Conducted In Courses Organized Using A Flipped Learning Instructional Pedagogy, John Creighton Cummins May 2016

College Student Engagement Patterns In Small Group Learning Activities Conducted In Courses Organized Using A Flipped Learning Instructional Pedagogy, John Creighton Cummins

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine student engagement patterns in smallgroup learning activities conducted in courses organized using a Flipped Learning Instructional Pedagogy (FLIP) at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK). A literature search on FLIP revealed no papers that examined student engagement at a fine-grained level. Classrooms were examined using an observational tool developed specifically for the examination of fine-grained student engagement. In order to observe overt engagement patterns of students during active learning in small groups, an observation tool was designed by combining an engagement framework with an in-class activity inventory.The Complex Level of Overt …


The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart May 2015

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …


Mind, Brain, And Education: A Case Study Of Student Perceptions Of An Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Martha C. Lees Nov 2014

Mind, Brain, And Education: A Case Study Of Student Perceptions Of An Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Martha C. Lees

Doctoral Dissertations

Advances in developmental and neuroscience research, calls for educational reform, and an emphasis on interdisciplinarity have generated interest in how science might inform educational practice and policy, resulting in the emerging field of mind, brain, and education (MBE). A primary goal of the field is to connect the cognitive and developmental sciences, biology, and education to develop a scientific grounding for educational practice and policy. Interdisciplinary MBE graduate programs seek to train a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this case study is to investigate students’ perceptions of their experiences developing interdisciplinary understanding in an MBE …


A Novel Approach To Using Personal Response Systems And Diagrams To Foster Student Engagement In Large Lecture: Case Study Of Instruction For Model-Based Reasoning In Biology, Johanna M. Fitzgerald Nov 2014

A Novel Approach To Using Personal Response Systems And Diagrams To Foster Student Engagement In Large Lecture: Case Study Of Instruction For Model-Based Reasoning In Biology, Johanna M. Fitzgerald

Doctoral Dissertations

At UMass Amherst a method of personal response system (clickers) use in large lecture biology called Guided Application of Model-based Reasoning (GAMBR) has been designed to give students experiences in reasoning like expert biologists: In large lecture biology many instructors appear to use clickers mainly as a quizzing and attendance tool. Less well documented and examined are uses of clickers to facilitate cognitive engagement in learning scientific models and skills. In GAMBR, clicker questions ask students to apply and perturb biological models; this is designed to engage them in model-based reasoning. In an attempt to understand such a course, an …


Impacts Of The Game-Centered Approach On Cognitive Learning Of Game Play And Game Performance During 5-Week Of Spring Season With Intercollegiate Female Soccer Players, Kanae Haneishi Aug 2014

Impacts Of The Game-Centered Approach On Cognitive Learning Of Game Play And Game Performance During 5-Week Of Spring Season With Intercollegiate Female Soccer Players, Kanae Haneishi

Doctoral Dissertations

Game-centered approaches have been increasingly recognized for their features and the impacts in coaching profession. Research with the game-centered approach is still underdeveloped in coaching sports and physical activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the impacts of the game-centered approach on cognitive learning of game play and game performance during 5-week of spring season with intercollegiate female soccer players. Game performances at beginning, mid, and end of the season were examined through Game Performance Assessment Inventory (GPAI) with seventeen participants. Cognitive learning of game play was also assessed with instant recalls and practice journals with all …


Understanding Contradictions In Teacher-Learner Identity, Digital Video, And Goal-Directed Activity In A Blended Graduate Reading Education Course, Jennifer K. Lubke Dec 2013

Understanding Contradictions In Teacher-Learner Identity, Digital Video, And Goal-Directed Activity In A Blended Graduate Reading Education Course, Jennifer K. Lubke

Doctoral Dissertations

More teachers are experiencing professional development within blended/virtual learning communities, which I consider a fruitful avenue for expansion of new literacies in K-12 classrooms. However, new literacies challenge traditional structures in education even as new rules of corporate-sponsored reform and high-stakes accountability serve to reinforce these structures. Within this context of contradictions, a cohort of teachers from a rural, remote county in the southeast United States participated in a blended learning environment in their final semester of graduate-level coursework in Reading Education. Some of the teacher-learners, whose own attitudes and motivations toward technology were as diverse as the tools themselves, …


Undergraduate Perception Of Introductory Lecture And Laboratory Biology Instructors At The University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Katharina Denise Kendall May 2013

Undergraduate Perception Of Introductory Lecture And Laboratory Biology Instructors At The University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Katharina Denise Kendall

Doctoral Dissertations

Undergraduate students entering the higher education system are often unaware of the diverse teaching and learning community they will encounter, including the different instructor types who will teach their classes. In order to accommodate the growing numbers of enrolled students, the higher education system is increasingly reliant on contingent instructors such as non-tenure track faculty members and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). This dissertation explores undergraduate student perspective of the different instructor types who teach introductory biology courses, with a focus on the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). The goal of this work is to provide insight regarding how perceived differences …


The Relationship Between Self-Directed Learning And Information Literacy Among Adult Learners In Higher Education, Tiffani Reneau Conner Dec 2012

The Relationship Between Self-Directed Learning And Information Literacy Among Adult Learners In Higher Education, Tiffani Reneau Conner

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-directed learning and information literacy. Participants completed the Personal Orientation in Self-Directed Learning Scale ([PRO-SDLS], Stockdale, 2003) and the Information Literacy Test ([ILT], James Madison University, 2003). The PRO-SDLS is a self-report scale consisting of 25 statements about self-directed learning preferences in college classrooms. The ILT is a 60-item multiple-choice test that assesses the information literacy skills of college students. Correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regressions were used to test relationships and differences between self-directed learning and information literacy. Despite claims that teaching information literacy creates self-directed learners, composite scores …


(Un)Packing Your Backpack: Educational Philosophy, Positionality, And Pedagogical Praxis, Yvette Prinsloo Franklin Aug 2012

(Un)Packing Your Backpack: Educational Philosophy, Positionality, And Pedagogical Praxis, Yvette Prinsloo Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations

In this philosophical research project, the author examines the question: How can the case be made that there is an imperative need to change the trajectory of current efforts to reduce “achievement gaps” in the United States and (re)vision a transformation of our school settings through conscious-raising sensitivity regarding issues of equity towards equality amongst educators that harnesses the work of philosophy of education scholars? She engages the reader in a theoretical hike through a philosophical argument for attending to philosophical theories of education, extending the work of Jane Roland Martin regarding sensitivity and drawing heavily on the scholarship of …


Sketchmate: A Computer-Aided Sketching And Simulation Tool For Teaching Graph Algorithms, Kristy Sue Van Hornweder Aug 2012

Sketchmate: A Computer-Aided Sketching And Simulation Tool For Teaching Graph Algorithms, Kristy Sue Van Hornweder

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we developed and tested a sketching, visualization, and simulation tool called Sketchmate for demonstrating graph algorithms commonly taught in undergraduate computer science courses. For this research, we chose to focus on shortest path and network flow algorithms. Two versions of this tool have been implemented: 1) an instructor tool that supports computer-aided manual simulations of algorithms that augment traditional whiteboard presentations, allowing lectures to be more dynamic and interactive, and 2) a student tool that supports computer-aided manual practice of algorithms that enables students to work through homework problems more quickly while providing detailed incremental feedback about …


Online Reflections In A Blended Approach To Collaborative Faculty Development, Ronny Keith Bridges May 2012

Online Reflections In A Blended Approach To Collaborative Faculty Development, Ronny Keith Bridges

Doctoral Dissertations

Blended approaches to collaborative faculty development have the potential for stimulating critical reflection, but the process of online reflection by faculty members has not been fully explored in the literature. The purpose of this qualitative action research case study was to examine a blended approach to collaborative inquiry for professional development with a particular interest in the reflections that occurred online. This study had two focal points. First, to explore the relationship between the online reflections and the overall development of the participants and second, to more closely examine the levels of reflection that occurred within the online aspect of …


After The Final Bell: The Self-Directed Learning Practices Of Elementary Teachers, Susan Renee Wagner Dec 2011

After The Final Bell: The Self-Directed Learning Practices Of Elementary Teachers, Susan Renee Wagner

Doctoral Dissertations

Are elementary teachers self-directed learners? If so, do their learning activities outside their classrooms translate into their classrooms? The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship, if any, between elementary teachers’ self-directed learning and activities in their classrooms. A two phase, mixed methods design first utilized a quantitative study from which the results were used to denote the type of data collected in the second, qualitative phase. The quantitative Phase I of this study involved using a survey instrument in order to identify self-directed learners and identify categories of teacher learners. These quantitative data were gathered through the …


Using Transformative Learning Theory To Investigate Ways To Enrich University Teaching: Focus On The Implementation Of Student-Centered Teaching In Large Introductory Science Courses, Ioana Alexandra Badara May 2011

Using Transformative Learning Theory To Investigate Ways To Enrich University Teaching: Focus On The Implementation Of Student-Centered Teaching In Large Introductory Science Courses, Ioana Alexandra Badara

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous studies have reported high attrition rates in large-enrollment science courses where teacher-centered instruction was prevalent. The scientific literature provides strong evidence that student-centered teaching, which involves extensive active learning, leads to deepened learning as the result of effective student engagement. Consequently, professional development initiatives have continually focused on assisting academics with the implementation of active learning. Generally, higher education institutions engage faculty in professional development through in-service workshops that facilitate learning new teaching techniques in a specific context. These workshops usually do not include self-scrutiny concerning teaching or do they provide continuous support for the implementation of strategies learned …


Successful African American Community College Students Perceptions On Sense Of Belonging In Three California Community College Districts, Nicole Yvette Wise Jan 2011

Successful African American Community College Students Perceptions On Sense Of Belonging In Three California Community College Districts, Nicole Yvette Wise

Doctoral Dissertations

Roach (2009) indicates that "only 31 percent of public community college students go on to complete either an associate or bachelor's degree in six years" according to U.S. Education Department data (p. 14). In California the gap is even wider and the statistics more scarce for students of color. Whereas only 15 percent of African American students compared, to 26 percent of white students, complete their degree in six years of enrolling in a California Community College (Roach, 2009, p. 14). College retention as it pertains to success is a challenging issue in the United States, and the California Community …


Coming To Voice: Exploring The Experiences Of Teacher Education And Special Education Professors Of African Descent In Institutions Of Higher Education, Kimberly L. Mayfield Jan 2001

Coming To Voice: Exploring The Experiences Of Teacher Education And Special Education Professors Of African Descent In Institutions Of Higher Education, Kimberly L. Mayfield

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to explore the perceptions of employment experiences and the pursuit of promotion and tenure by teacher education and special education professors of African descent. This study investigated the perceptions held by teacher education and special education professors of African descent in the areas of recruitment, retention and the tenure and promotion process. Lastly, the present study engaged in an inquiry with these professors regarding their perceptions of critical areas of research needed to improve educational equity and achievement for African American students. This population was encouraged to reflect on these areas in terms …