Education Commons^™

Does Nonbinding Commitment Promote Children’S Cooperation In A Social Dilemma?, Laurent Prétôt, Katherine Mcauliffe

Faculty Submissions

Communication is a powerful tool for promoting cooperation in adults and is considered one of the most important solutions to social dilemmas. One feature that makes communication particularly useful in cooperative contexts is that it allows people to advertise their intentions to partners. Some work suggests that adults cooperate more after making nonbinding commitments to cooperate (i.e., commitments they do not need to uphold) than when they are not allowed to communicate their intentions to their partners. However, we know little about whether nonbinding commitments play a similar role in children. We addressed this gap by testing 6- to 9-year-old …

Stepping Down? Theorizing The Process Of Returning To The Faculty After Senior Academic Leadership, Lisa Jasinski

Academic Affairs

While scholars have devoted considerable attention to identifying and developing future academic leaders, scant empirical research has considered the firsthand experiences of senior leaders who returned to the faculty. This grounded theory study developed a theoretical understanding of the process of returning to the faculty after serving as a senior campus administrator. This research examined a common academic rite of passage using the analysis of interviews with 43 former college presidents, provosts, deans, and “other senior leaders” from a variety of postsecondary institutions. Academic leaders in the study characterized the process of returning to the faculty as mostly positive and …

Implementing 21st Century Learning And Innovation Skills In Classrooms, Amber Soderlund

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This literature review depicts strategies educators can implement to facilitate 21st century learning and innovation skills in classrooms: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. One challenge educators currently face with implementing these skills in the classroom is being required to move to online learning or other learning formats as safety and health remain a top priority during the pandemic. This has caused teachers to reinvent the way they teach their students to communicate, work with one another, and display critical thinking and creativity skills. Many educators are reinventing teaching in schools without an increase in resources and guidance from the …

Students’ Experiences Of College Professor Communication In Online Instruction: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, William E. Carpenter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe 13 students’ experiences of college professor communication in asynchronous online courses at a large urban community college in central North Carolina. The focus was to answer the central research question of how online students describe communication experiences in an online college learning environment. The theories guiding this study were Knowles’ (1980) theory of adult learning- andragogy, and Short, Williams, and Christie’s (1976) social presence theory, as they correlated the need for professor communication with adult learning and social presence since communication can impact academic success for adult learners. To collect …

Preschool Parents’ Preferred Method To Communicate With Their Child’S Teacher, Michelle M. Fedler

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This ex-post facto research was conducted to identify preschool parents’ preferred method to utilize when communicating with their child’s teacher. It also was conducted to determine if the preferred method differed based on socioeconomic status. The researcher tracked the primary ways families chose to communicate most frequently by recording how many times emails, phone calls, handwritten notes, and texting through applications such as Remind, ClassDojo, and Facebook Messenger were sent by parents. Data analyzed through a Friedman Test, a Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, and a Mann-Whitney U Test revealed parents significantly communicated more through texting applications. The findings did not differ …

Examining The Impact Of Climate Change Film As An Educational Tool, Brittany Bondi, Salma Monani, Sarah M. Principato, Christopher P. Barlett

Student Publications

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of film in communicating issues related to climate change. While previous studies demonstrate an immediate effect of a film post-screening, this study also considered if a film can inspire long-term effects, and if supplemental educational information plays a role on participant understanding.

Design/methodology/approach: Using surveys, we assessed undergraduate students’ climate change responses pre-, immediately-post, and 9-weeks post watching the climate change documentary The Human Element (Prod. Earth Vision Institute, 2018). In the 9-week interim before the final survey, half of the participants received weekly information on climate change via …

The Battle Over Wastewater Between Woonsocket And North Smithfield, Melissa Prosky

Staff and Faculty Journal Articles

From 2012-2017, the communities of Woonsocket and North Smithfield engaged in a protracted dispute concerning wastewater disposal. For thirty years, the two jurisdictions had maintained a signed service agreement. Following its expiration, however, Woonsocket imposed a new host fee on North Smithfield. Woonsocket needed to upgrade the facility in order to comply with mandates from the RI Department of Environmental Management. Over the next five years, leaders from both jurisdictions vociferously fought over the new fee. At the same time, leaders within communities experienced their own divisions. This case study highlights the challenges that decision makers faced in both communities. …

Creating A Social Communication Module For Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Erin Walton

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Research (Hales, Carroll, Fryar, & Ogden, 2017) shows that those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience poorer physical health and fewer opportunities for social interactions than typically developing peers. As the prevalence of ASD increases, it is essential to consider effective interventions that target multiple skill areas for individuals seeking therapy. Youth ages 9 to 17 with ASD may experience physical health and social communication benefits from the implementation of a social communication curriculum module that could potentially be incorporated with Bingocize®, an online application that incorporates bingo with physical exercise, as well as educational content. Social communication educational …

A Mobile Learning Community In A Living Learning Community: Perceived Impact On Digital Fluency And Communication, Devshikha Bose, Krishna Pakala, Lana Grover

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Though mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, and tablet computers have an immense potential for improving student learning, there is little empirical research which reports ways in which students actually use these technologies for learning, especially in fields like Engineering. Based on a social-constructivist approach to learning, the purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate student perceptions regarding changes in mobile device based digital fluency and communication, after participation in a Living Learning Community (LLC) based Mobile Learning Community. This study contributes to existing literature in the field in that it reports student perceptions of how mobile devices can …

Supporting Safety Culture In Academia: Giving A Voice To Faculty, Emily K. Faulconer, Chelsea A. Lenoble

Publications

In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, “The difference between mere management and true leadership is communication.” Department leaders have a vital role to play at all institutional levels when it comes to achieving an optimal safety culture that promotes safety voice behavior.

At the university level, this role is to help the university develop a solid foundation that will support a strong safety culture. At this level, it can be a challenge to mobilize and sustain the necessary resources to effectively develop and communicate a clear, consistent message that is aligned with implicit and explicit reward structures.