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2012 Social Change Impact Report, Walden University

Social Change Impact Report

The 2012 Social Change Impact Report 2012 Social change Impact Report survey explores the views of more than 8,900 adults in Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Jordan, Mexico and the U.S. and looks at their perceptions of the motivations of change-makers as well as the roles of nonprofit organizations, government and the media in social change across countries.

The 2012 Social Change Impact Report site includes a link at which to download the entire report, resources for the media, a video, “Global Voices: Social Change Matters,” key findings by country, information on data collection and methodology used in the 2012 …

2012 Walden University Winter Research Symposium, Walden University

2010-2016 Archived Programs

Welcome to the Walden University Winter 2012 Research Symposium in Miami, Fla. In keeping with the tradition, this symposium showcases the work of faculty members, students, and our newest graduates, all of whom have been working on a wide range of research topics and areas of inquiry. Each symposium is a little different, however, and it is not hard to see distinct themes in the topics that are being presented and discussed this evening. First, an increasing number of graduates and faculty members from our professional doctorate programs are participating in the symposium, and as a result, we see more …

Exploring The Educational Involvement Of Parents Of English Learners, Elizabeth M. Vera, M Susman Israel, Laura Coyle, J Cross, Laura Knight-Lynn, I Moallem, G Bartucci, N Goldberger

Center for Research Quality Publications

The purpose of the current investigation was to examine the relationships among a range of specific barriers and facilitators of parent involvement and a variety of types of school involvement within a diverse group of immigrant parents of English Learners (ELs) in four elementary school districts. In-home types of educational involvement such as monitoring homework and asking children about their school day were the most commonly reported behaviors, and utilizing community resources was found to be the least common type of parental involvement. Involvement type was predicted by parental demographic factors such as comfort with English language, educational background, and …

The Impact Of Facebook Access In Creating A Sense Of Community In Tourism And Recreation Classes, Lorie A. Tuma

Presidential Alumni Research Dissemination Award

Previous research has indicated that college students use social networking sites such as Facebook to establish friendships, maintain communication, and foster a sense of community; research also has indicated that many college instructors do not. Many college faculty acknowledge the importance of a sense of community in the classroom but are reluctant to try social media as a way to enhance student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate. The purpose of this ex post facto, causal comparative study was to determine if there was a statistically significant difference in tourism and recreation students' self-reported sense of community when an instructor's …

Government-To-Government E-Government: A Case Study Of A Federal Financial Program, Olu Faokunla

School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA) Dissertation Award

The problem with the study of the concept of electronic government (e-Gov) is that scholars in the field have not adequately explored various dimensions ofthe concept. Literature on e-Gov is replete with works on the form of government to consumer e-Gov. Much less work had been done on the government to government (G2G) e-Gov. This qualitative case study was predicated on the concepts of intergovernmental relations and intergovernmental management, and it sought to fill the gap in the literature by providing a clear understanding of G2G e-Gov by exploring a federal program in the United States. The central research question …

A Multiple Case Study Analysis Of The Positive Deviance Approach In Community Health, Piroska Bisits Bullen

Harold L. Hodgkinson Award for Outstanding Dissertation

The positive deviance (PD) approach involves finding individuals who have solved a problem and spreads their unique solutions to others. While there have been calls for PD to become a standard tool in community health, there has been little research on the approach. This study investigated how PD is used in practice and evidence of its effectiveness by analyzing case studies of 40 PD programs and 32 PD inquiries implemented in a range of high, middle, and low income countries by both national and international organizations. Case studies were developed using data from publicly available documents. Qualitative within-case and cross-case …

Redefining Globalization, Aqueil Ahmad

Walden Faculty and Staff Publications

This article highlights some facts and fallacies about globalization, with a particular reference to the global economy. To explain what is globalization and what it is not is critical both theoretically and practically for nations, corporations, and communities to benefit from it and avoid its negative consequences. Some historical antecedents of globalization and the interactive nature of its structures and processes are highlighted in this article. The analysis is expected to benefit scholars, practitioners, and agents of social change interested and involved directly or indirectly in the impacts and processes of globalization.

Environmental Justice And Hydraulic Fracturing: The Ascendancy Of Grassroots Populism In Policy Determination, Nancy C. Carre

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Exploration and development of natural gas resources includes the use of hydraulic fracturing, a process that can potentially contaminate domestic water sources. While industry seeks access to BLM leases for new wells, their proximity to communities can have serious negative consequences on their health and life style, raising questions of how sites are selected and concerns about environmental justice. This case scenario explores the manner in which the residents of Delta County, Colorado, organized in response to proposed lease sales, and how grassroots mobilization uses technology and proactive mechanisms to affect public policy.

Compassionate Creativity: The Progressive Renaissance Of A Seasoned Concept, Joan Marques

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

In this article, I present the findings of a study conducted with 115 MBA students, who also were members of the workforce, about the qualities they would prefer to see in their managers and leaders. I first address the concerns of contemporary times by drawing an analogy between the main problems in business performance and those in business education, namely, a top-down approach, immoral practices, and stakeholder dissatisfaction. Based upon the results of the study, I then present the 10 Cs for leaders and managers, discuss their interdependency, draw a linkage with the foundational studies regarding relationship and task behaviors …

Using Video And Contact To Change Attitudes Toward Gay Men And Lesbians, Jonna J. Cooley, Gary J. Burkholder

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Prejudice against gay men and lesbians has continued to fuel negative attitudes that are perpetuated by stereotypes and by validation from those within one’s own social group. While there has been some research regarding the impact of contact on attitudes, the present study expands the theoretical approach of Allport and the empirical work of researchers such as Herek to examine the impact of adding media to interactive contact with lesbian and gay individuals. Participants were placed into one of three treatment groups: control, video only, and video plus contact with gay men and lesbians. The sample included 106 undergraduate students …

Insights For Community Outreach Building To Promote Lifelong Learning With Higher Education Alumni In Chile, Paula A. Charbonneau-Gowdy, Héctor A. Magaña

Higher Learning Research Communications

Despite conclusive evidence from high performing Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide demonstrating the benefits of strong alumni-relations, institutions in many evolving countries often neglect their graduates. And this, despite rapid advances in technology that can support ongoing relations. The objective of our year-long project was to address this neglect. We (re)connected with 220 English Pedagogy alumni through a digital newsletter. The newsletter provided a forum for building community and mediating professional development among graduates and current faculty. Our qualitative mini case study focused on uncovering the emotions, perspectives and needs of former students through the lens of sociocultural and identity …

Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research For Professional Academic Development In Higher Education, Elizabeth Johnston, Cheryl Burleigh, Andrea Wilson

Higher Learning Research Communications

Although faculties are more diverse, decentralized, and increasingly isolated in technology-supported modern universities, effective technology use can also foster faculty professional academic development and collegiality. This scoping literature review applied Cooper’s systemic review model and a categorical content analysis technique targeting decentralized collaborative research teams in higher education. Findings indicate technology supports formal and informal university and nonuniversity networks, as well as various collaborative research structures; all contributing to professional academic development. Shared attributes of successful collaborative online teams include a sense of social presence, accountability, institutional and team leadership. Collaborative teams are integral to research and allow more faculty …

Western Faculty Members' Cross-Border Lived Experiences, Xin Bu, Bill Mccaw, Patty Kero

Higher Learning Research Communications

Universities in China and the United States have been engaged in cross-border education through partnerships establishing international branch campuses (IBCs). This qualitative study used Moustakas’s (1994) strategy of inquiry as a framework and explored Western faculty members’ cross-border lived experiences at IBCs in China. IBCs in this study were coestablished by American universities and their Chinese partners. The central research question that guided this study asked about the lived experiences of Western faculty members at IBCs in China. This study purposefully selected 14 participants and data were collected through semistructured, one-on-one, face-to-face interviews. Moustakas’s (1994) seven-level method of analysis involving …

Phenomenological Investigation Of Elementary School Teachers Who Successfully Integrated Instructional Technology Into The Classroom, Lori R. Walker, Maryfriend Shepard

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

Technology integration in school curricula promotes student achievement, yet many teachers are not successfully integrating technology for learning. This phenomenological study explored the strategies of 10 elementary teachers in Georgia who overcame barriers to technology integration to successfully incorporate lessons within the public school curriculum. To understand the successes, we assessed strategies for overcoming barriers, intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, and professional development experiences. Rogers’s innovation-decision process provided the theoretical foundation and data sources consisted of an open-ended questionnaire and two in-depth, semistructured interviews. Data were coded for preliminary categories, and themes were generated using open coding. Despite common barriers, the …

Navigating Through The Storm: Reinventing Education For Postmodern Democracies, Jess L. Gregory

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

No abstract provided.

Active Learning Through Community Outreach: A Case Study Of Service-Learning In A Natural Hazard, Vulnerability And Risk Class, Brittany Brand, Margaret Sass, Kara Brascia

Higher Learning Research Communications

The popularity of service-learning is increasing, especially at a time where college students want to make a greater impact in their communities. One place we found that students can make a meaningful impact in their communities is promoting community resiliency to natural hazard events through a community outreach project. This article provides a case study of how incorporating service-learning through a community outreach project can increase student engagement, enhance the depth of understanding of a given topic, build communication and teamwork skills, and contribute meaningfully to the students’ community. This article shares how the instructor of a Natural Hazards, Vulnerability …

Psychological Adaptation Of International Students In The Northern Part Of Cyprus, Ariel Ladum, Gary J. Burkholder

Higher Learning Research Communications

This study examined how cultural distance, acculturative stress, and social support interacted to influence emotional responses among international students studying in the northern part of Cyprus. Acculturation models and the stress-buffering hypothesis served as theoretical frameworks. The research questions involved understanding whether international students experienced more negative emotional responses compared to students from the home culture and whether social support moderated acculturative stress and reactions to being in the northern part of Cyprus. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) examined differences in emotional reactions between home and international students while hierarchical multiple regression was used to examine the moderation hypotheses. ANOVA …

Battling Academic Corruption In Higher Education: Does External Quality Assurance (Eqa) Offer A Ray Of Hope?, Lazarus Nabaho, Wilberforce Turyasingura

Higher Learning Research Communications

The post-1980s changes in the global higher education landscape have triggered a burgeoning of incidents of academic corruption in higher education institutions. Since 2000, the discourse on how to combat academic corruption has gained traction in higher education and quality assurance is advanced as one of the strategies for fighting corruption in higher education. In 2016, UNESCO (and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation) issued a “wakeup call” to quality assurance systems to take up a leading role in the battle against academic corruption. However, a dearth of empirical and conceptual studies on how the quality assurance systems, in general, …

Hearing The Voice Of Faculty: Global Recommendations For Faculty Recognition In Higher Education Institutions, Águeda Benito, Fionna Scott-Milligan

Higher Learning Research Communications

Faculty constitutes one of the most important elements of Higher Education institutions. Their role is key in curriculum development, as well as in guiding students´ learning and driving their engagement, in conducting research and in the overall success of their institutions. This paper presents the results of a number of faculty interviews, and a focus group carried out in nine different Laureate institutions, operating in eight different countries. Faculty were asked about professional recognition, its importance and how it should occur. The results of the study show a lot of consistency, starting with the conviction of its importance, and then …

The Influence Of Strategies Used To Communicate Sustainable Corporate Responsibility On Reputation Of A Major Airport, Benno D. Hoffmann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Self-presentation of a corporation as a citizen committed to sustainable corporate responsibility can, according to scholarly findings, help the organization improve its reputation among key stakeholders. The purpose of this case study was to explore the success of one major airport in aligning communication strategies to improve its reputation. The research question involved how effectively a major German airport communicated its commitment to sustainable corporate responsibility to its key stakeholders during 2005--2009. Of particular interest was how key stakeholders perceived the airport's stance towards the impacts of aircraft noise. Corporate documents, newspaper articles, and semistructured interviews comprised the data. Data …

Defining Quality In Undergraduate Education, Alison W. Bowers, Shyam Ranganathan, Denise R. Simmons

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: This research brief explores the literature addressing quality in undergraduate education to identify what previous research has said about quality and to offer future directions for research on quality in undergraduate education. Method: We conducted a scoping review to provide a broad overview of existing research. Using targeted search terms in academic databases, we identified and reviewed relevant academic literature to develop emergent themes and implications for future research. Results: The exploratory review of the literature revealed a range of thoughtful discussions and empirical studies attempting to define quality in undergraduate education. Many publications highlighted the importance of including …

Developing Faculty To Provide University Students With Improved Learning Experiences, Águeda Benito, Neal A. Green, Deborah R. Popely, Phuong M. Thai-Garcia, Art T. Schneiderheinze

Higher Learning Research Communications

The article addresses the importance of incorporating faculty development as a key priority of higher education institutions. A literature review and some face-to-face and online interviews were conducted at various U.S. institutions, to identify common and best practices regarding this important matter. The article offers some ideas about what is done, and how it is done, to help faculty be ready for the challenging role they need to play: to be effective developers of a diverse student body that meets the evolving needs of industry and that utilizes technological tools that never existed before.

Exploring The Relationship Between Students With Accommodations And Instructor Self-Efficacy In Complying With Accommodations, Anna M. Wright, Kevin R. Meyer

Higher Learning Research Communications

The willingness and flexibility of university instructors to comply with and provide accommodations for students with disabilities is critical to academic success. The authors examine how communication between students needing accommodations and university instructors impacts instructor self-efficacy, or instructors’ perception that they can meet the accommodation. Specifically, the authors’ explored the relationship between student self-disclosure of a disability and instructor empathy, flexibility, and self-efficacy in meeting student accommodation needs. Results revealed that the more a student self-discloses about a needed accommodation, the more self-efficacy an instructor has in making that accommodation. For the low-disclosure condition, empathy and flexibility were both …

Transforming The World In Which We Live: Laureate's Transnational Civic Learning Project, William M. Plater

Higher Learning Research Communications

Higher education serves as an agent of social change that plays a significant role in the development of socially conscious and engaged students. The duty higher education has toward society, the role for-profit educational institutions play in enhancing the public good, and the prospect of making social change an element of these providers’ missions are discussed. Laureate’s Global Citizenship Project is introduced, highlighting the development of the project’s civic engagement rubric and the challenges of assessing civic engagement.

Augmented-Virtual Reality: How To Improve Education Systems, Manuel Fernandez

Higher Learning Research Communications

This essay presents and discusses the developing role of virtual and augmented reality technologies in education. Addressing the challenges in adapting such technologies to focus on improving students’ learning outcomes, the author discusses the inclusion of experiential modes as a vehicle for improving students’ knowledge acquisition. Stakeholders in the educational role of technology include students, faculty members, institutions, and manufacturers. While the benefits of such technologies are still under investigation, the technology landscape offers opportunities to enhance face-to-face and online teaching, including contributions in the understanding of abstract concepts and training in real environments and situations. Barriers to technology use …

Digital Literacy Matters. Increasing Workforce Productivity Through Blended English Language Programmes., Kshema Jose

Higher Learning Research Communications

The three Rs, the ability to read, write and do basic arithmetic have traditionally been measured as indicators of knowledge and ability to communicate, and in turn, a predictor of success at workplace. However, survey any place of work today, and we see that the traditionally held literacy skills do not suffice; newer forms of literacies that go beyond the ability to decode print, like the skill to communicate, interact, solve complex problems, analyse, judge, evaluate, collaborate, construct, create, and to use information technology/ digital tools, are now considered essential contributors to enhanced employability opportunities as well as workplace success.

Professor Gender, Age, And “Hotness” In Influencing College Students’ Generation And Interpretation Of Professor Ratings, Sara L. Sohr-Preston, Stefanie S. Boswell, Kayla Mccaleb, Deanna Robertson

Higher Learning Research Communications

Undergraduate psychology students rated expectations of a bogus professor (randomly designated a man or woman and hot versus not hot) based on an online rating and sample comments as found on RateMyProfessors.com (RMP). Five professor qualities were derived using principal components analysis (PCA): dedication, attractiveness, enhancement, fairness, and clarity. Participants rated current psychology professors on the same qualities. Current professors were divided based on gender (man or woman), age (under 35 or 35 and older), and attractiveness (at or below the median or above the median). Using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), students expected hot professors to be more attractive …

Internationalization To What Purposes?: Marketing To International Students, Gary Rhoades

Higher Learning Research Communications

Amidst global discourse about universities’ internationalization, how do universities position themselves and their purposes in recruiting international students? For professionals working to establish partnerships and increase cultural enrichment both on their home campuses and through international exchange, the purposes that are often foregrounded in professional associations speak to the public good, to the broad social benefits of such activities. However, my research on the marketing that international offices at four universities in the UK and U.S. are doing to international students suggest that as in the marketing of U.S. universities to domestic students, it is the private benefitsof higher education, …

The Global Common Good And The Future Of Academic Professionals, Genevieve G. Shaker

Higher Learning Research Communications

In this epilogue to the special issue of Higher Learning Research Communications dedicated to higher education, community engagement, and the public good, Shaker addresses the unifying concept presented across the issue: the common good. For Shaker, this special issue responds to UNESCO’s call for educational institutions and educators to rethink education in the contemporary era and focuses on how academic endeavors can, do, and should act in service to a global common good. The essay stresses the academic workforce needs to be reimagined concurrently with rethinking the systems of education that will ensure the world and society “to which we …

The Global Public Good: Students, Higher Education, And Communities Of Good, Genevieve G. Shaker, William M. Plater

Higher Learning Research Communications

Along with introducing the purpose and cohesion of the essays that form this special issue, we also wish to highlight the force on which all of these lofty hopes depend: educated students. Without question, the authors who wrote these essays understand and appreciate the importance of students, especially as the prepared and empowered agents of future actions that will be sustainably transformative in the conduct of their lives. In fact, students are so pervasively important to most discussions of higher education and the public good, including the UNESCO report, that they are often taken for granted in a rush to …