Digital Commons Network^™

Aruzhan Betigenova Honors Portfolio, Aruzhan Betigenova

Honors Capstone Portfolios

Aruzhan Betigenova's honors capstone portfolio captured in May 2026.

Creative Problem Solving In A Coffee Mug: Designing A Self-Guided Cps Toolkit For Small Business Owners In Latin America, Maria Mujica

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This Master’s Project designs CPS in a Coffee Mug Toolkit: a six-day ritualized, self-guided, habit-building micro-learning experience that equips small business owners in Latin America with the essential skills of Creative Problem Solving (CPS) to address their everyday business challenges in a highly resource-constrained context. The toolkit integrates the essentials of CPS with behavior change and experiential learning models functioning both as a training and as a behavioral adoption system. It is a frugal solution designed to meet small business owners where they are and to embed CPS as a daily habit to support their progress. In the future, it …

Future Ready Young Adults: Building Creative And Adaptive Thinkers, Robell Yeung

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Abstract of Project

Future Ready Young Adults: Building Creative and Adaptive Thinkers addresses a developmental gap in educational practices that prioritize technical proficiency over the psychological frameworks necessary for navigating systemic ambiguity. This project introduces an interdisciplinary, modular curriculum specifically designed for the challenges of emerging adulthood. By synthesizing Creative Problem Solving (CPS), James Clear’s habit architecture, and Martin Seligman’s PERMA model, the curriculum provides a structured pathway for cultivating creative self-efficacy and financial capability. Moving beyond traditional views of innate creativity, this model employs asset-based frameworks to treat cognitive agility and ambiguity tolerance as developable competencies. The project culminates …

Leveraging Data Analytics For Student Success: Lessons From Building An Analytics Program At Bentley University, Jane De Leon Griffin, Edlira Stefani, Rahat Sabyrbekov, Patrick Dickson, Annie Raunikar

Student Success Publications

Higher education institutions across the United States face an unprecedented convergence of challenges: a shrinking pool of college-aged students, persistent learning gaps from the COVID-19 pandemic, the destabilization of longstanding federal support structures, and the rising cost of attendance, which increases public skepticism about the value of higher education and challenges access for low-income learners. In this environment, student success is no longer simply a strategic priority—it is an institutional imperative.

One way in which Bentley University has responded to these pressures is by launching the Building a Data-Driven Student Success Ecosystem (BaSSE) initiative, a comprehensive analytics program designed to …

Reigniting Identity: Rediscovering My Teaching, Lifelong Learning, And Myself, Rachel Griffith

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

A culmination of two years of work and self-discovery represented through three different types of writing, two academic and one creative. The academic works explore communication and autism in the English classroom, as well as teaching technical writing in practice ways. The creative work is a poetry portfolio that is one of the author's proudest works from their degree track, covering a variety of topics from love to nostalgia to inner turmoil. Together, they narrate three reasons why the author writes, teaches, and lives.

Examining Educational Legislation In Indiana, Jason Cary

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the world of educational legislation and how it is crafted, molded, and signed into law in the state of Indiana. The study examined the key legislative players, the machinations of the Statehouse, the educational organizations and their lobbyists, the national landscape, and other factors at play. To find the answers to the research questions in this study, the researcher interviewed multiple Indiana legislators. An effort was made to sit down with elected officials from both chambers who serve on the educational committees. According to the research, state and federal legislatures are …

You Have Come Too Close To Give Up: The Use Of Social Media By Black Men During Their Doctoral Process, Lamarcus Jermaine Hall

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the dissertation is to determine how and to what extent social media contributes to and supports the success of Black men as they obtain their terminal degrees. A qualitative study collected and analyzed data from the research question, “What are the experiences of Black men who used social media during their doctoral degree process?” Eleven participants from various U.S. regions were interviewed. This research is based on Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Social Network Theory (SNT), which offer frameworks to understand how social media helps participants achieve their terminal degrees. Using a narrative inquiry approach, I highlight …

Application Of The Mattering Model By Generation In The Context Of Teacher Retention In Indiana K-12 Schools, Byron C. Sanders Ii

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When teachers see their actions as significant and recognize they would be missed if they were gone, they realize the significance of their individual impact (Wilfong & Donlan, 2024). Understanding what matters to teachers is an important factor in the process of teacher retention. This study examined the difference in four generations of Indiana K-12 teachers against the eight elements of mattering identified by Dr. Shelly Wilfong (2021). A survey instrument utilized the Foundational Elements of Mattering Survey for K-12 Teachers (Wilfong & Donlan, 2024) and the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control Scale survey (1966a), and it was taken by …

Commodore Kid To Campus It Leader: The Experiences Of Black Men On The Path To Becoming Chief Information Officers In Higher Education, William Adu-Mensah

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception, the chief information officer (CIO) role has become increasingly crucial. Today, the role of the CIO has never been more important. Having CIOs on the leadership table is essential, and that table should include Black IT professionals whose perspectives have long been missing. Yet, Black male chief information officers remain profoundly underrepresented in higher education information technology leadership. Across higher education in the United States, only about three percent of CIOs identify as Black. This underrepresentation raises urgent questions about barriers to entry and how these men navigate institutions with minimal racial representation. The study examined the …

The Effects Of Fluency Building On Undergraduate Student Performance, Lauren B. Shibley

Dissertations

Online learning has become integral to higher education, with enrollment steadily increasing over the past decade and accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research highlights the importance of flexibility, learner autonomy, and self-regulated learning skills in this environment, with studies demonstrating that strategies such as mastery-based, self-paced instruction, fluency training, and timely feedback support student engagement and academic success. Early work adapting personalized instruction for online use (Pear & Crone-Todd, 1999) and subsequent studies on fluency practice (Quigley et al., 2018; Urbina et al., 2019) emphasize how these supports can improve concept retention. Despite these advances, more quantitative research is needed …

Leading With Intentionality: A Prek-12th Grade Public School District's Initial Journey Of Ethical Artificial Intelligence Integration, Michael J. Lucas Dr.

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This article chronicles the intentional and evolving approach of Westside Community Schools in Omaha, Nebraska, toward integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching and learning. Grounded in historical parallels to earlier technological shifts such as calculators, the Internet, and search engines, the district emphasizes ethical implementation, transparency, and ongoing professional learning rather than restriction or avoidance.

Through the development of an AI Task Force, differentiated professional development, and community engagement initiatives, Westside seeks to promote AI literacy while preserving academic integrity and human-centered decision-making. The district’s framework prioritizes safety, equity, and responsible use, positioning AI as a tool to enhance—not replace—critical …

Harnessing Ai In Legal Education: Opportunities For Innovation, Leadership, And Student Success, Peculiar Awa, Grant Shostak

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly transforming the practice of law, from predictive analytics in policing and algorithmic sentencing to generative AI-assisted drafting and research. Despite this technological shift, legal education remains predominantly doctrinal, inadequately preparing graduates to function effectively in an AI-mediated environment. This paper contends that law and legal studies programs must integrate AI literacy, applied AI skills, and ethical instruction into curricula. By leveraging experiential learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, AI-driven simulations, and critical inquiry, institutions can produce graduates who are both technically competent and ethically grounded, ready to navigate the evolving legal profession.

Ai-Assisted Case Conceptualization: Enhancing Ethical Decision-Making In Graduate Counseling Education, Thang S. Tran, Praveen K. Rudra, Justin Jacques

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

As artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into counselor education, a significant gap exists between the rapid adoption of technology and the development of structured pedagogical frameworks for ethical decision-making. This article introduces a multi-component framework to support ethical AI integration in graduate counseling education, comprising three key elements: (1) a case conceptualization model with AI assistance, (2) Morgan (SC), an intentionally imperfect AI school counseling thought partner trained on ethical standards and decision-making models, and (3) structured protocols for ethical decision-making aligned with American Counseling Association and National Board for Certified Counselors guidance. The framework is designed to center …

The Impact Of Iterative Scientific Modeling On The Development Of Scientific Reasoning In Middle School Students, Dan Tinklenberg

Master of Education Program Theses

This action research study examined the impact of iterative scientific modeling on the development of scientific reasoning in middle school students. Twenty-five 7th and 8th grade students participated in an eight-week intervention in which they built, tested, and then revised scientific models followed by reflection questions. A pre- and post-assessment was used to measure growth in student ability to explain science phenomena, to make predictions, and to construct evidence-based arguments. Quantitative data shows a statistically significant improvement in post-test scores (p = 1.067E-9). Qualitative data from student interviews shows increased attention to detail, improved clarity in scientific communication, and enhanced …

Making Sense Of The Faith-Based School’S Mission: An Instrumental Case Study Exploring How The School’S Espoused Mission Is Enacted, Richard Mingerink

Dissertations

What happens in the space between a school’s espoused mission and the enactment of that mission in the classroom? For faith-based schools—institutions whose very identity rests upon a religiously grounded purpose—this question is not merely technical but existential. While these schools publicly espouse missions centered on a religious faith, research consistently suggests that what is proclaimed on paper is not always what is practiced in classrooms. The persistent gap between espoused mission and enacted practice raises a critical question: how do educators actually make sense of their school’s religious mission, and how does that sensemaking shape what they do?

This …

National Assessment Program – Ict Literacy 2025. Technical Report., Kate O'Malley, Steven Kambouris, Dulce Lay, Amira Mahmood, Frances Eveleigh, Jorge Fallas

ICT - Digital Literacy

The primary purpose of the NAP–ICT Literacy 2025 technical report is to detail the technical aspects of the assessment. It outlines the key activities undertaken in the design, sampling, data collection, analysis, and reporting phases of the national sample assessment. The 2025 cycle marks the seventh national assessment of ICT literacy. Notably, the 2025 assessment was administered in May, a shift of 5 months from previous cycles, which were held in October. For this reason, changes in achievement between 2025 and previous cycles of the NAP–ICT Literacy assessment should be interpreted with some caution. The NAP–ICT Literacy 2025 assessment was …

National Assessment Program – Ict Literacy 2025. Public Report, Tim Friedman, Kate O'Malley, Frances Eveleigh, Wolfram Schulz

ICT - Digital Literacy

This report presents the findings from the seventh National Assessment Program – Information and Communication Technology Literacy (NAP–ICT Literacy) assessment cycle. The assessment was conducted in May 2025 with representative samples of Year 6 and Year 10 students across Australia. The report includes comparisons, where appropriate, with findings from previous NAP–ICT Literacy assessment cycles. NAP–ICT Literacy assesses students’ ability to use ICT and digital tools appropriately, safely and effectively across a range of real-world contexts. The assessment evaluates a broad range of skills, including: accessing, managing and evaluating information, developing new understandings, applying computational, design and systems thinking, communicating and …

Flipping The Format: A Comparative Analysis Of Pedagogy’S Performance On Comprehension In Introductory Financial Accounting Education, Allison Drozd

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Education is an ever-evolving field, and accounting education is no different. Introductory financial accounting is a required business course at universities that is characterized by high failure rates (Kealey et al., 2005). Evidence suggests that active learning and constructivist approaches improve comprehension of introductory financial accounting concepts as measured by exam performance. All methods studied produced statistically significant positive results on comprehension learning outcomes. Many professors' experiences support the studies' sentiment that active learning is important for teaching course concepts. The evidence reviewed in this thesis supports positive learning outcomes for comprehension of accounting concepts through active learning and constructivist …

Inequity In Education Through The Lens Of Social Studies Curriculum Using Studies Weekly, Emma Roy

Honors Theses

This study examines the representation of the Civil Rights Movement within the Studies Weekly elementary social studies curriculum and evaluates its alignment with culturally relevant pedagogy, critical race theory, and civic education frameworks. Through a qualitative content analysis of twelve assessment questions and accompanying lesson materials, the findings reveal consistent patterns of oversimplification, limited historical nuance, and an overreliance on factual recall. Key themes including systemic racism, collective activist, and diverse historical perspectives are minimized or omitted altogether. These omissions contribute to what scholars identify as curriculum bias, where dominant narratives are privileged while marginalized voices are unheard. The results …

Techno-Imagination: Elevating Creativity Through Xr And Ai, Christopher Spitzer

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

Techno-Imagination: Elevating Creativity Through XR and AI explores the history of creativity and computing technology, supported by research and academic literature, and looks at the possibilities of a convergence between the two. In parallel, a brief biographical story of the author shares how a passion for creativity emerged, along with a growing interest in science and technology—specifically extended reality—which ultimately came together in the creation of this master’s project. The project also highlights how the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process was used alongside AI bots and twenty research-based creative thinking skills in developing the business model canvas. Finally, the outcome …

Leading The Choreography: Preserving Creative Agency In Ai-Supported Problem-Solving, Mikhaila Ackerbauer

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

As artificial intelligence tools become increasingly present in creative and problem-solving contexts, a critical question emerges: how can users engage with AI in ways that preserve rather than erode their own creative capacity? This project explores that question through research synthesis, practitioner conversations, coursework, international conference presentations, and the development of custom AI chatbots trained in the Creative Problem-Solving process. The central finding is a theoretical triangle comprising three interdependent capacities: autonomy, creative self-efficacy, and critical thinking. Grounded in Rhodes' (1961) Four P's framework, the triangle sits within the Person dimension. Convergent themes across the literature, practitioner conversations, and direct …

Conceptualizing A Responsive Design Pedagogy To Support Teachers' Responsiveness To Students' Mathematical Ideas Through Making, Denish Ogweno Akuom

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study develops Responsive Design Pedagogy (RDP), a conceptual and analytic model of teacher responsiveness in design-based environments, to account for how responsiveness emerges through interactions among students, tools, and tasks. Although responsiveness has been widely studied in mathematics education, limited attention has been given to responsiveness within mathematical design activity and to how teachers attend to the multiple modes through which students express their mathematical ideas. Addressing these gaps, this qualitative study examined one teacher’s enactment of responsiveness in a Learning-by-Design classroom where students designed and used 3D-printed mathematical tools. Data sources included classroom video, student design artifacts, teacher …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Second-Career Educators, Kyle Avink

Dissertations

School districts across the United States face a persistent teacher shortage driven by high attrition rates, declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs, and increasing demands on educators (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017). Teacher attrition is especially high within the first three to five years, with nearly 40-50% of new teachers exiting within their first five years (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017; Cells et al., 2023; Gray et al., 2015; Ingersoll et al., 2025). In response, many states have expanded alternative certification pathways that allow professionals from other fields to enter teaching, making second-career educators a potential solution to workforce challenges (Afacan, 2022; …

Empowering Latinas In Computer Science: Success Stories And Challenges, Martin Jalomo

Theses and Dissertations

Latina women remain significantly underrepresented in computer science, and limited research centers their lived experiences within the field. This qualitative narrative inquiry examined how Latina women who completed computer science degrees and secured employment persisted in predominantly male and non-Latina environments. Guided by Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework, the study explored how participants leveraged forms of capital to navigate structural, relational, and psychological barriers. Data were collected through narrative interviews with five Latina graduates and analyzed using thematic and cross-case analysis. Findings indicate that underrepresentation shaped participants’ sense of belonging while persistence was supported through aspirational, familial, social, navigational, …

Exploring The Role Of Video Games In Civil Engineering Education And K-12 Stem Engagement, Jillian S. Codron

Architectural Engineering

Civil engineering education has traditionally emphasized a linear progression from theory to application, with foundational concepts introduced in lecture before being reinforced through laboratory or design experiences. While effective for advanced learners, this approach can limit early engagement for K–12 students who may struggle to connect abstract principles to realworld engineering practice. This project examines the use of video games as interactive, feedback-driven environments for introducing civil engineering concepts and practices to younger learners in more exploratory and accessible ways.

The study pursues four primary objectives: evaluating the educational affordances of selected video games; examining how gaming experiences have influenced …

Editorial: El Juego De Rol Como Instrucción Para La Inmortalidad, Romano Ponce Díaz

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

El presente número del Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM examina la convergencia entre las prácticas lúdicas, el diseño narrativo y los procesos de mediación sociocultural en la investigación contemporánea. Las contribuciones reunidas en este número abordan el juego de rol como un dispositivo de producción de conocimiento, intervención psicoeducativa y reelaboración de representaciones culturales. Nos podemos atrever a señalar que la educación es la convergencia entre la ludología, las ciencias sociales, los estudios visuales y el análisis cultural; entendiendo a la educación como la actividad consciente e intencionada de transmitir información y conocimientos a las siguientes generaciones.

Practicing Conflict Transformation Skills Through Role-Playing Games For Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Higher Education, Alexandra Schreiber, Kjell H. Hugaas, Sarah L. Bowman

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

No abstract provided.

3d: Dragones, Dados Y Deseos. Rituales En Las Comunidades Roleras De Bogotá, Francisco Gonzalez Buitrago

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

¿Qué ocurre cuando la ficción deja de ser solo entretenimiento y se transforma en refugio, ritual y espacio de transgresión? Este artículo analiza los hallazgos de una etnografía y un ejercicio de cartografía social en torno a comunidades roleras de Bogotá, mostrando cómo jóvenes y adultos reconfiguran sus vidas cotidianas a través del juego de rol.

Lejos de limitarse al escapismo, las partidas se convierten en escenarios simbólicos donde caben la negociación, la crítica y la catarsis. En una ciudad marcada por la incertidumbre generacional y las tensiones entre género, clase y territorio, las campañas de rol permiten reimaginarse a …

The Functions Of Role- Playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems And Explore Identity, De Sarah Lynne Bowman (2010) [Reseña De Libro], Cristo Leon

Journal of Roleplaying Studies and STEAM

The Functions of Role-Playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems and Explore Identity, by Sarah Lynne Bowman, is an ambitious, wide-ranging, and still necessary work for role-playing game studies. Published in 2010, the book proposes that role-playing and roleplaying games fulfill three main social and psychological functions: creating community, facilitating problem solving, and enabling the exploration of identity. Bowman develops this thesis through a combination of theoretical review, cultural reflection, and participant-observer ethnography, based on interviews with players of tabletop role-playing games, live-action roleplaying games, and virtual environments. Organized into seven chapters, the book moves clearly from the …

Unpacking Science Achievement: Institutional Alignment And Mediating Conditions In A High-Performing Charter School, Brenda L. Bennett

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

This study examined how science instruction was sustained over time within a high-performing public elementary charter school. Rather than focusing on individual programs or teaching strategies, the research explored how schoolwide systems, relationships, and supports worked together to shape classroom practice.

The study focused on one public K–6 charter school in a western state with consistently strong science performance on state-reported measures and examined how institutional, organizational, and classroom conditions mediated the relationship between science instruction expectations articulated in state and charter policy and teachers’ enacted practice.

Results suggested that strong science instruction was not produced through strict mandates or …