Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing The Acquisition Of Discipline-Specific Vocabulary Through Student Concordancing, David W. Longstreth Jr.

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This Master’s Project focuses on advanced-level English learners' acquisition of discipline-specific vocabulary as they transition from intensive English programs into English-medium university coursework. During this period, the number of discipline-specific terms students must master quickly and independently can be overwhelming. To address this problem, this M.A. Project argues that vocabulary-acquisition strategies should be foregrounded in intensive English programs, and that instructors should train students to supplement traditional vocabulary learning methods with independent concordancing strategies. Using concordancers, students can research vocabulary items by scanning a corpus (a large collection of texts) to retrieve examples of discipline-specific terms within authentic texts, revealing …

Lesbians And Tech: Analyzing Digital Media Technologies And Lesbian Experience, Angelique Harris, Jessie Daniels

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The rise of the popular Internet has coincided with the increasing acceptance, even assimilation, of lesbians into mainstream society. The visible presence of lesbians in the tech industry and in digitally mediated spaces raises a set of questions about the relationship between queer identities and Internet technologies. This introduction to a special issue of Journal of Lesbian Studies explores some of these questions and provides an overview of the articles that follow.

Dimensions Of Professional Growth In Work-Related Teacher Education, Leena Aarto-Pesonen, Päivi Tynjälä

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article conceptualises adult learners’ professional growth in a tailored, work-related, teacher-qualification programme in physical education. The study data consisted of the reflective-learning diaries of 20 adult learners during a 2-year tertiary and work-related teacher-qualification programme. The data were analysed using data-driven open coding analysis, which was conducted using the constant comparative method of the grounded theory approach. This article presents the horizontal dimensions (egocentric learner, researching professional and expert within society) and the vertical dimensions (transforming self-image, expanding professional self-expression and widening agency) of the adult learners’ multifaceted professional growth process. In addition, the article discusses pedagogical implications in …

Illness As Teacher: Learning From Illness, Joanne Yoo

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article is a conceptual exploration into the value of illness, bodies and embodied practice in teacher education. It draws on my reflections and practitioner accounts of poor health to investigate the potential to learn from illness. I position myself in this discussion as a non-tenured academic who experiences the challenges of her uncertain work environment through her body. I examine the functionalist approaches that devalues the body and explain how the disruptions triggered by illness can enable individuals to create more authentic professional narratives. This paper explores the author’s growing awareness of illness, its impact and learning opportunities. Finally, …

Open-Access Crime Maps As Digital Rhetoric And Crime Reporting In Chicago: Using New Aesthetic Overlaps To Change Journalism And Citizen Interaction, Aaron Geiger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

When data mining meets the rhetoric of maps and crowdsourcing in the age of digital journalism, we can use the abundance of data to change, modify or reinforce particular reporting behaviors or journalism policies. We also live in an age of overlapping boundaries of technologies, algorithms and human interfaces---it is within these overlaps that we find anomalies, "glitches", and digital errata that can expose different perceptions of the same artifacts and algorithms. The overlapping of the heterogeneous network, as James Bridle calls it, is known as The New Aesthetic. It is not a movement, but "a series of artifacts ... …

On Factors That Influence User Interactions With Social Media Spam: Empirical Exploration Based On A Survey And Experiment, Thomas J. Kyanko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis explores various factors that influence whether or not users of social media platforms will interact with spam. The research is based on using survey and experimental approaches. The survey looked at several spam related behaviors: ability to identify spam, tendency to interact with spam, and tendency to report spam. In total 256 responses were analyzed, which were collected by an online survey system. Results of the survey show that education about spam did not correlate with changes in behavior, even when users reported that the education had an effect on them. Several other factors, commonly thought to be …

Antecedents To Managerial Preference For Agile Software Development Methods – A Research Plan, David Bishop, Pam Rowland, Cherie Noteboom

Research & Publications

Agile development methods are widely used and continue to grow in their adoption. A theoretical understanding of agile is needed. This research plan uses a Grounded Theory approach to develop antecedents to managerial preference for agile development methods. First, we provide the motivation for the research. Next, we provide a brief literature review to orient the research to the domain. Finally, we discuss the research methodology and research plan.

An Exploration Of Anchoring Female Millennial Students To An It Career Path: The Class Model, Cherie Noteboom, Pamela Rowland

Research & Publications

There has been much research conducted on the under-representation of women in Science, Technology, and Engineering & Math (STEM). Looking specifically at the area of Information Systems and Information Technology (IS/IT), women are largely under-represented in degree programs and the workforce. With the growth in the IS/IT workforce and the future demands of IS/IT career growth, the importance of understanding the perceptions and influences on the female IS/IT students grows. While there is research investigating the demographics of the IS/IT workforce, the relationship between female students and millennial influences has not been investigated. This research contends that addressing the demographic …

Factors Affecting Virtual Gift Acceptance: Mediating Roles Of Hedonic And Utilitarian Values, Eric M. Tamandja, Assion Lawson-Body, Laurence Lawson-Body, Jun Liu

Research & Publications

There is little formalized knowledge of virtual gifting in the information technology (IT) literature. The objective of this paper is to explore the factors affecting the acceptance of virtual gifts and specifically the factors within a virtual gift that affect individuals’ intention to accept it and the mediating role of these factors. This research combines several acceptances, hedonic and utilitarian view related theories to explore the factors affecting acceptance of virtual gifts. Moreover, this study investigates the effects of usefulness, beautifulness, subjective norms of the receiver, and importance of the giver of a virtual gift as determinants of its utilitarian …

Trailer Park Residents: Are They Worthy Of Society's Respect, Steve Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Existing research is limited in explaining the existence of and reasons for stereotypes held against trailer park residents. This study uses an experimental design to measure attitudes towards trailer park residents, specifically in terms of being considered worthy of society’s respect. An Internet questionnaire was designed and administered to a sample of 559 introductory sociology students at a Midwestern university using semantic differentials to measure attitudes towards a fictitious couple. Participants were divided into a control and an experimental group. The groups were presented with two different vignettes, which were the same except for the experimental group where the vignette …

Importance Of Macroeconomic Stability To Developed Nations, Jeffrey Brian Leeson

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the importance of macroeconomic stability to economic growth of developed nations. For over a decade, many developed nations have experienced slower gross domestic product growth as well as slower gross domestic product per capita growth. Meanwhile, recently developed economies, such as the high-performing East Asian economies, have experienced far higher per capita growth rates. Although this is in line with Solow’s (1956) growth model predicting conditional convergence and other researchers attributing the slowdown to sectoral shifts, this offers little solace to the citizens of those developed nations witnessing slower growth. The purpose of this research is to …

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2017-2018, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2017-2018 undergraduate and/or graduate course catalog published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

Intergenerational Effects Of Embryonic Cocaine Exposure In Zebrafish, Cody Adam Boyle

Theses and Dissertations

Cocaine addiction has both genetic and environmentally driven components. Relatively recently several groups have suggested that epigenetic regulation of gene expression might be the mechanism linking environmental influence and inheritance in drug addiction. We have shown previously that embryonic cocaine exposure increases physiological and behavioral sensitivity to the drug in longitudinal adults. In this study, we provide evidence that the effects of embryonic pre-exposure to cocaine are intergenerational in zebrafish. In addition, we show how gene expression in the zebrafish telencephalon, which includes the teleost equivalent of the nucleus accumbens, changes during acute cocaine treatment during behavioral testing. These experiments …

"A Degree Is A Part Of The Puzzle, But Only A Piece.” Understanding How Employers Determine The Value Of Academic Credentials, Brenda Kaspari

Theses and Dissertations

With the skyrocketing costs of higher education and the increased scrutiny of how educational institutions prepare graduates for the workplace, this dissertation explored how the “outsiders,” or employers, view and determine the value of academic credentials. Using the premise of credentialism, this grounded theory, qualitative study addressed two major questions; first, how do employees evaluate academic credentials, and second, what factors are important to employers?

Through the interviews, it was discovered that there were gray areas when determining the value of a college credential. There were three critical findings. First, college degrees are a valuable credential, yet there are issues …

Young Children's Articulations Of Their Metacognitive Processing During Play, Dawnita S. Nilles

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study was to hear young children’s descriptions of their metacognitive processes. Research has shown that play is the foundation of a child’s learning and numerous studies show that play affects all areas of a child’s development. Despite this, at the time of this study, there appeared to be a scarcity of published literature in which young children were interviewed about the metacognitive processes they use while playing. Children have been found to describe their thinking through non-verbal cues. They also have been able to articulate their knowledge and understanding, analyze, and evaluate the …

Stigma And Restoration Of Civil Rights To Felons, Kimberly Paige Pithey

Theses and Dissertations

Millions of people in the United States are banned from basic civil rights including participation in voting, jury duty, applying for government assistance, and owning a firearm because they have had a felony conviction. There is limited research on attitudes regarding the restoration of civil rights to felons. This thesis uses Goffman’s theory of stigma to examine whether public support for the restoration of rights to felons is associated with knowledge of felony convictions and whether an individual knows someone with a felony conviction. This study used an online survey of college undergraduates (N = 362) to explore two hypotheses …

The Value Of A Master’S Degree To Recreation Professionals, Camilla J. Hodge, Brian J. Hill, Christian Brinton

Faculty Publications

This study assessed the nature of the relationship between earning advanced degrees and career outcomes such as salary, job satisfaction, social capital, and human capital among professionals in the parks and recreation field. The sample (n = 196) was drawn from parks and recreation agencies located in the United States. Agencies, excluding educational institutions, were identified via an Internet search for parks and recreation agencies in urban areas. Findings indicated there was a positive relationship between earning a master’s degree and salary. Earning a master’s degree, however, was not significantly related to job satisfaction, social capital, or human capital. Furthermore, …

Situating The Corporation Within The Vulnerability Paradigm: What Impact Does Corporate Personhood Have On Vulnerability, Dependency, And Resilience, Heather Kolinsky

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Comparing First-Generation And Continuing-Generation College Students' Self-Efficacy, Campus Involvement, And Academic Performance, Kaylin Nichole Upah

Honors Program Theses

In order to highlight potential differences between first-generation college students (FGS), defined as neither parent having completed a Bachelor’s degree, and continuing-generation students (CGS), this study compares FGS and CGS in terms of self-efficacy, campus involvement, and academic performance measured by grade point average (GPA) during their first year at a university. In order to investigate these relationships, this study utilizes University of Northern Iowa (UNI)’s 2015-2016 Mapworks data. Mapworks is a voluntary survey that first-year students, including freshmen and transfer students, complete during the fall and spring semesters. A total of 1549 first-year students participated in the 2015-16 survey, …

Book Review: Absent Aviators: Gender Issues In Aviation, Janet K. Tinoco, Genderie S. Rivera

Publications

This document is Dr. Tincoco's review of Absent Aviators: Gender Issues in Aviation edited by Donna Bridges, Jane Neal-Smith, and Albert J. Mills. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Farnham, 2014. 233 pp. $129.95.

Cabin Depressurization As A Hijacking Mitigation Tactic: A Consumer Perceptions Study, Rian Mehta, Stephen Rice, Scott R. Winter, Paul Buza

Publications

The security of a commercial airline flight is the primary concern of all parties involved in the aviation industry. The policies and strategies of dealing with terrorist threats have evolved since the attacks of September 11, 2001. The current policy requires that the cockpit door be locked so that the hijackers have no access to the flight controls. A new method has been discussed whereby the pilots depressurize the cabin so as to eliminate the hijacking threat since all the cabin crew and passengers will be rendered unconscious. While there is a risk of possible negative impact on brain cells …

Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury And The Effect On Academic And Psychosocial Functioning In School Aged Children: A Pilot Study, Mary Ellen Henigan

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The academic and psychosocial functioning of 20 post-TBI high school students were investigated in this pilot study. Participants included 12 males and 8 females ranging in age from 14 to 18 years. The students demonstrated a higher number of discipline referral post-TBI (d = 0.82) with a large effect size. Correlational analysis revealed a relationship between pre- and post-TBI, rate of attendance, and GPA. Thirty percent of student participants identified a level of significant elevation on the BASC-3 or BYI-II, most commonly social stress, depression, and sense of inadequacy. One hundred percent identified a change to their academic functioning, social …

Shrink And Squeeze: Today's Teaching Pressures And Its Effect On Teaching Social Studies, Alyssa Diane Mckeone

Honors Program Theses

Social studies education is one of the four core subjects taught to students in elementary schools. Teaching social studies provides students with the content knowledge and ways of thinking to allow them to be participating members in their communities. Although there are many skills students learn from social studies, due to federal legislation starting with No Child Left Behind, social studies has been put on the back burner while math and reading take the forefront. The goal of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of teachers regarding their social studies teaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with veteran …

American Nationalism And The “Curse Of Rurality”: Urban-Rural Differences And The Notion Of National Belonging, Milos Djeric

Research Papers

Relationship between nationalism and urban or rural environment is not one that is often studied, apart from traditional historical interpretation of it being a modern, urban phenomenon, characterized by imagery and discourse of rurality. Yet it seems that, in the last several decades, not only have nationalist conflicts mostly been rooted within the countryside and nationalist agendas won on elections in them, but that there is a more fundamental connection between nationalism and rurality. While briefly addressing this issue, this paper focuses on the analysis of 2014 GSS data, exploring the relationship between the place of living and the notion …

The Effect Of Teachers’ Instructional Style On The Motivation And Attitudes Of At-Risk Science Students Attending Alternative Education Programs, Michiko B. Mcclary

Theses and Dissertations

Despite a steady improvement in overall graduation rates since the 1960s, many students in the United States continue to leave school without a diploma (Balfanz, Bridgeland, Moore, & Fox, 2010). In an effort to educate children who present increased risks for dropping out of school, alternative schools are mandated by all states. Typically, high-risk youth who attend these types of programs have been exposed to negative social and environmental risk factors throughout their lives stemming from problems associated with poverty, family adversity, inadequate parental monitoring, and/or physical and emotional trauma (Guerin & Denti, 1999; Mclntyre, 1993; Waldie & Spreen, 1993). …

Is That Online Review Fake News? How Sponsorship Disclosure Influences Reader Credibility, Mark W. Tatge

Theses and Dissertations

In a randomized between-subjects design, participants (N =595) were assigned one of three online reviews containing disclosure statements (no disclosure, no sponsor, sponsored) denoting whether the author of an online review was paid by an advertiser or whether the review was independent of ad sponsorship. Hayes and Preacher’s bootstrapping procedure was used to test the indirect and direct effects of related to a hypothesized model examining the impact of review disclosure on perceived credibility and purchase intention. The impact of two covariates – involvement and media literacy – was assessed to see if these variables had a potential confounding impact …

The Effects Of Power On The Processing Of Identity Threat, Matthew Facciani

Theses and Dissertations

Identity theory provides a useful foundation for understanding how social factors influence the acceptance of evidence. This is because identity theory provides a framework of how we process information from other people depending on what social positions we occupy. The current study explored how the perception of power impacts the processing of an identity threat with college student participants (N=217). High power was predicted to decrease acceptance of identity-threatening information, and low power was predicted to increase acceptance of identity-threatening information. However, the study yielded non-significant effects of power on the acceptance of identity-threatening information. Results did show that individuals …

The Relationship Between Gender Stereotypes And Academic Performance For Rural Eighth Grade Students: A Mixed Methods Ethnographic Case Study, Elizabeth Anne Royal Witte

Theses and Dissertations

Through this mixed methods ethnographic case study, the subject of gender stereotypes for middle school students, and its relationship to academic performance was investigated. Specifically, the research focused on Albert Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory, gender stereotypes, and how educational institutions, peer relationships, and parental influences may dictate gender norms as they relate to academic success. It also attempted to evaluate the relationship between the issue of gender stereotypes and current experiences in a rural American middle school that led to the recurring issue of the educational gender gap and the underperformance of male students. The purpose of the study …

Acculturative Stress And Depression Among Latinos/As: Investigating The Role Of Neighborhood Context, Rebeca Castellanos

Theses and Dissertations

Latinos/as are the fastest growing demographic in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). As they encounter U.S. society, Latino/as may experience acculturative stress (Berry, 1997). Empirical evidence suggests that Latinos/as in the U.S. report high rates of depression symptoms (Wassertheil-Smoller et al 2014). Acculturative stress has been strongly associated with depression (Driscoll & Torres, 2013) and research suggests that Latino/as may experience acculturative stress differently depending on their generational status (i.e., how recently they or their parents immigrated to the U.S). There is evidence to suggest that contextual factors such as neighborhood context may influence both acculturative stress processes …

Early Economic Hardship, Maternal Support, And Depressive Symptoms Among Black Young Adults, Mia Brantley

Theses and Dissertations

Substantial associations between childhood economic hardship and adult mental health have been acknowledged within social science research. However, there is a scarcity of research examining this relationship among Black Americans, as well as the sociocultural factors that may assist Black Americans in dealing with the effects of childhood economic hardship. This study suggests that family structure, specifically maternal support, may be a significant resource for Black Americans in the face of early economic adversity and mental health outcomes. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, a nationally representative sample of Black Americans, this study outlines …