Exploring The Efficacy Of School-Based Professional Development, 2015 Walden University
Exploring The Efficacy Of School-Based Professional Development, Michele Theresa Glynne
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
No method exists for evaluating the effectiveness of professional development (PD) for teachers in Boston Public Schools. Often PD does not contribute to teacher quality, which can hinder student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of PD among K-8 teachers and to examine the alignment of PD in the schools with the 4 prerequisites of professional learning outlined by Learning Forward. These 4 prerequisites served as the conceptual framework. Of the research questions, 4 reflected the topics of the 4 prerequisites: commitment to students, readiness to learn, collaboration, and learning styles. The …
Formative Program Evaluation Of A Professional Learning Community In An Urban Elementary School, 2015 Walden University
Formative Program Evaluation Of A Professional Learning Community In An Urban Elementary School, Cherie Laverne Ameyaw
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
In a professional learning community (PLC), school personnel participate in focused collaboration to improve adult learning and facilitate student achievement. Implementation of a PLC is often haphazard and not evaluated for effectiveness, resulting in poor implementation. This study, a PLC-specific qualitative formative program evaluation, addressed a lack of documented PLC effectiveness at a local urban elementary school in the southern United States. The purpose of this project was to determine how teachers described the functioning of their PLC. The conceptual framework for the study was Hord and Tobia's 6 characteristics of a PLC. The research questions focused on how teachers …
An Examination Of The Differential Impact Of University/College Research Emphasis On Levels Of Counselors' Resilience, 2015 Walden University
An Examination Of The Differential Impact Of University/College Research Emphasis On Levels Of Counselors' Resilience, Erica Ann Handon
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Counselor resilience is the ability to transform adversity into growth opportunities that become part of the professional's identity and the core values of a counselor. However, researchers have yet to identify why some counselors exhibit higher levels of resilience while others exhibit less. Counselor resilience can be learned and nurtured at any point of an individual's development. The purpose of this study was to examine how differences within the foundational edification of a research-embedded curriculum impact a counselor's level of resilience. Participants included practicing counselors who received their counseling degrees from a 2014 U.S News and World Report (USNWR) Nationally …
A Phenomenological Study Of Ged Graduates Meeting College Readiness Standards At A Community College, 2015 Walden University
A Phenomenological Study Of Ged Graduates Meeting College Readiness Standards At A Community College, Kelley Mischel Jones
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
This qualitative study was designed to understand the experiences of General Educational Development (GED) graduates enrolling into a community college. Research had not been conducted to explore the experiences of GED graduates completing the 2014 version of the exam and transitioning to college. Guided by Schlossberg's college transition theory and Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, this phenomenological study included 11 participants who described their experiences through written narratives and interviews. Participants described their experiences of being an adult education student while preparing for the exam, the steps within the GED test preparation they considered important to matriculation toward college enrollment, and …
Perceptions Of Live Experiences Of Clinical Pastoral Education Students, 2015 Walden University
Perceptions Of Live Experiences Of Clinical Pastoral Education Students, Brenda Perry Wallace
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
This qualitative case study addressed the problem at a West Indies theological college that lacked the ability to provide courses for spiritual care training by using the teaching methodology of clinical pastoral education (CPE). CPE is an experiential process using a clinical method of learning to interpret human conditions. Spiritual care training through CPE teaches clerics how to help persons find meaning in life's situations and make connections with their God. Guided by the frameworks of transformative learning and critical theological reflection, this study explored the lived experiences of 5 purposefully selected CPE students who participated in 1 unit of …
Fourth Year Teachers' Perceptions Of The Student Teaching Practicum In Abu Dhabi, 2015 Walden University
Fourth Year Teachers' Perceptions Of The Student Teaching Practicum In Abu Dhabi, Kabrina Rochelle Johnson
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
A local college in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates began a Bachelor of Education program in 2008 to train prospective teachers to deliver a bi-literate education in Arabic and English to students in Abu Dhabi schools. Because there had been no examination of preservice teachers' perceptions of their practicum experience, a project study was designed to analyze the perceptions of a group of preservice teachers regarding the final practicum and whether that experience enhanced their ability to deliver educational practices to better serve students. This phenomenological study was guided by experiential learning theory, as preservice teachers learned from their experiences …
Acculturation In Marital Satisfaction Among Mixed Caucasian And Asian American Heterosexual Couples, 2015 Walden University
Acculturation In Marital Satisfaction Among Mixed Caucasian And Asian American Heterosexual Couples, Lotes Nelson
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
The growing population of the United States is linked to the increasing migration of individuals from other countries. With migration comes the development of cross-cultural and interracial romantic relationships, many leading to marriages. This qualitative grounded theory study sought to understand how a migrant partner's adjustment process, acculturation, contributes to cross-cultural marriages. The main research question and purpose of this study was to investigate the role of acculturation in marital satisfaction among mixed Caucasian and Asian American heterosexual couples. This study utilized multiple data sources and a purposive sampling of 11 mixed Asian and Caucasian heterosexual married couples, with one …
Exploring Selected Online And Face-To-Face Course Inclusion Of Faith Integration In A Business Administration Program, 2015 Walden University
Exploring Selected Online And Face-To-Face Course Inclusion Of Faith Integration In A Business Administration Program, Ellen A. Sorberg
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Students enrolled in face-to-face and online business administration courses at a Midwestern Christian college were provided faith-integrated opportunities; however, the challenge was to maintain consistency in providing the online courses with similar faith integration as the face-to-face courses. It was unknown whether the same faith-integrated opportunities were provided in face-to-face and online courses. Kohlberg's cognitive moral development and Fowler's spiritual development theories grounded this qualitative bounded case study. Research questions focused on whether instructors taught the same faith-integrated content in online and face-to-face classes, and whether online and face-to-face students received the same faith-integrated experiences. A purposeful sample was gathered …
A Qualitative Assessment: Adult Perceptions Of Collaboration As Mitigation For Statistics Anxiety, 2015 Walden University
A Qualitative Assessment: Adult Perceptions Of Collaboration As Mitigation For Statistics Anxiety, Karl James Kinkead
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Math anxiety, defined as feelings of apprehension and fear of courses involving mathematics, often interferes with student learning in a variety of college-level courses. A related phenomenon, statistics anxiety, affects the performance of many students in statistics courses. Researchers have found evidence that including collaborative problem solving as an instructional methodology is effective at reducing the negative effects of statistics anxiety. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore adult perceptions of collaborative problem solving as an instructional methodology focused on improving the learning environment in a business statistics course. Behaviorist, constructivist, and adult learning theories provided the …
Exploring The Impact Of Wyoming's Pathways To Professional Development Program On Childcare Providers And Quality Early Childcare, 2015 Walden University
Exploring The Impact Of Wyoming's Pathways To Professional Development Program On Childcare Providers And Quality Early Childcare, Colleen Kay Bartlett
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Childcare programs that provide high quality care can strengthen children's early development. One component of a quality program is having providers who are knowledgeable in child development; however, despite the understanding of these known predictors of child development, Wyoming does not require childcare providers to complete any training before beginning to work with children. Guided by the constructivist theories of Piaget, Vygotsky, Dewey, and Bruner, this objectives-based program evaluation investigated the Pathways to Professional Development program to determine participants' perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the program. A researcher-produced survey was created based on the objectives of the program …
Becoming "A Good Wife, A Good Mother, And A Good Woman": The Experiences Of Six Non-Literate Rural Ghanaian Women, 2015 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Becoming "A Good Wife, A Good Mother, And A Good Woman": The Experiences Of Six Non-Literate Rural Ghanaian Women, Mary Assumpta Ayikue
Theses and Dissertations
The topic of women's literacy is prominent, current issue throughout the world. In the villages of Ghana, west Africa, most women have not experienced a basic elementary education. Although Ghana has free and compulsory education, several factors influence a woman's ability to pursue formal educational learning. According to the 2008 statistics of UNICEF (2011), regarding the literacy rate of adult women in Ghana (females age 15 and above), 59.30% remain illiterate while the rate of illiterate men (males 15 age and above) is 19.4%. Most households in the rural areas of Ghana do not recognize the importance of literacy education …
Soft Skills Perceived By Students And Employers As Relevant Employability Skills, 2015 Walden University
Soft Skills Perceived By Students And Employers As Relevant Employability Skills, Ann-Marie Claudia Williams
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Local employers believe the lack of prerequisite soft skills is inhibiting the graduates from a local community college from securing employment. The rationale of this phenomenological study was to investigate the perceptions of students and employers related to the soft skills needed to be successful in future employment. The theoretical framework was based on Mezirow's transformational and Daloz's mentorship theories. Individual face-to-face, semistructured interviews were used to gather data from 12 business and computer students and 7 employers (N=19) who were selected using purposeful random sampling. The typewritten transcripts of participants' responses were imported in MAXQDA 11, then were open …
Anxiety And Focus In Work-Related Training, 2015 Walden University
Anxiety And Focus In Work-Related Training, Steven Howard Harlan
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Currently, nonemployee students who take General Electric's (GE's) pollution control classes do not demonstrate consistent knowledge gains following training. The purpose of this project was to investigate whether the independent variables of level of education and choice in attending the class made a significant difference in the means of the dependent variables of anxiety and ability to focus. The project was influenced by the theory of andragogy, which explores the motivations and principles specific to the teaching of adults. The research questions for this study probed relationships between level of formal education among participants and their choice in whether to …
Employing Plns For The Self-Development Of Army Leaders: A Connectivist Approach, 2015 Walden University
Employing Plns For The Self-Development Of Army Leaders: A Connectivist Approach, James K. Greer
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
The post-9/11 security environment is one that confronts the United States, and specifically the U.S. Army, with complex problems that require development of leaders with improved knowledge, skills, and attributes to meet the challenges of defending the nation. The problem confronting the U.S. Army is that Army leaders lack a learning environment or methodology that enables effective self-development throughout their career. Research suggests that PLNs (PLNs) and a connectivist approach may address that problem, but these have been limited to civilian educational environments. This qualitative case study explored the use of PLNs with a connectivist approach for leader self-development in …
Development Of A Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment Tool (Nicat), 2015 Walden University
Development Of A Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment Tool (Nicat), Alphonsa A. Rahman
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Nursing workforce competency in informatics is crucial to providing safe patient care, improving quality, and reducing healthcare costs. Assurance of informatics competency in a workforce with increasingly diverse educational preparations, demographics, and informatics skills poses significant challenges. The question addressed was the lack of nursing informatics competency assessment tool relevant to bedside nursing. The purpose of this project was to develop and review a new nursing informatics competency assessment tool designed to address the individual educational needs of newly hired nurses. The tool was designed to measure nurses' competency in computer literacy, informatics literacy, and informatics management skills recommended in …
Program Evaluation: A Federal Agency's Air Traffic Control Train-The-Trainer Program, 2015 Walden University
Program Evaluation: A Federal Agency's Air Traffic Control Train-The-Trainer Program, Lisa Marie Mercer
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
In 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) highlighted to the U.S. Senate the need to focus on air traffic control (ATC) training to meet job qualification and attrition rates within the career field. One U.S. Department of Defense military service assists the FAA in providing worldwide ATC services. This service is referred to as the agency throughout this paper to ensure confidentiality. The agency's ATC career field manager echoed the FAA's call for action in his 2014 Strategic/Action Plan. In August 2013, the agency's ATC trainer program was published. As of December 2015, the program had not been evaluated. The …
Engaging College Students In Online Remedial Mathematics Courses With Video Instruction, 2015 Walden University
Engaging College Students In Online Remedial Mathematics Courses With Video Instruction, Elizabeth Henley
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Many students entering college in the United States need assistance in at least one academic area, causing remedial courses to be commonplace in higher education. This study evaluated the impact of video instruction in learning the content found in an online remedial math course. The instructional videos were created using the guidelines of Universal Design and cognitive load theory. A quantitative, quasi-experimental method was used to evaluate a dataset made available by a regionally accredited private New England college's online division. The online division offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certifications, and the students are located all over the …
The Perceptions Of Adults 35 And Older On Online Learning, 2015 Walden University
The Perceptions Of Adults 35 And Older On Online Learning, Hector Alvarez Trujillo
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
This qualitative case study examined the level of satisfaction among a group of adults ages 35 years and older enrolled in an online education program (OLEP) in a university in Puerto Rico. Although the current literature revealed that adult students 35 years and older are the fastest growing population enrolling in online college education programs in Puerto Rico, prior satisfaction studies conducted by this institution did not focus on this population. The theoretical framework of this study was guided by Holsapple and Lee's Post e-learning success model. The goal of this study was to understand students' satisfaction with the online …
Exploring Online Community College Course Completion And A Sense Of School Community, 2015 Walden University
Exploring Online Community College Course Completion And A Sense Of School Community, Kathleen Stone
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Researchers have found low online course completion rates to be a complex problem in higher education. Meanwhile, theory on adult learners' online persistence highlights the importance of a sense of school community. At the small, rural focus community college (FCC) for this study, general education online course completion rates are lower than the national average. FCC has not addressed the low online course completion rates. Using Rovais' composite persistence model as the conceptual framework, this instrumental case study examined how students' experiences and perceptions of a sense of school community contribute to their ability to complete online general education courses. …
Andragogy: Because „Adult Education“ Is Not Beneficial To The Academic Identity!, 2015 Bamberg University, Germany
Andragogy: Because „Adult Education“ Is Not Beneficial To The Academic Identity!, Jost Reischmann
IACE Hall of Fame Repository
In many countries of the world a new educational (sub)discipline dealing with the learning and education of adults came into existence in the last decades. This contribution focuses on this academic discipline and its struggle to find a professional identity in universities and for their graduates. It suggests that “Andragogy” helps to clarify the specifics of the scholarly approach, thus contributing to a professional identity of this group of academics and graduates. International readers are invited, to compare the following arguments coming mainly from the German and European background with the developments in their countries, the similarities and differences.