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Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of The Wisc-Iv With A Trinidad Referred Sample, Cherisse Rambarose

Open Access Dissertations

There has been an extensive amount of research in the intelligence-assessment literature on the structure of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition (WISC-IV; 2003a). Numerous studies show that the test’s general factor structure replicates across normative and referred groups, in the U.S. and globally. Thus far, few studies have been done examining the factor structure of this, and other intelligence tests with Caribbean samples. The current study adds to this body of literature by examining the factor structure of the WISC-IV with a referred sample from Trinidad. This study utilized archival data from a sample accessed through private …

The Effect Of Virtual Reality Glasses On The Behavior Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder In The Dental Setting, Robert Lunka

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The study investigated if viewing a simulated dental exam on virtual reality glasses between two visits would desensitize participants with autism spectrum disorder to the dental environment and improve their anxiety and behavior.

Methods: This randomized prospective cohort study compared behavior between a Control Group and Experimental Group who wore the glasses between visits. Blinded raters watched video recordings of participants and assessed behavior using the Venham scale. Heart rate and post-visit questionnaires completed by guardians were also analyzed.

Results: Five subjects were enrolled (two in the Control and three in the Experimental groups). The median heart rate at …

Multicultural Literature In The Elementary Classroom: A Comparison Of Traditional And Dual Language Classroom Teachers, Virginia Massaro

Theses and Dissertations

The number of English learners in the United States continues to increase and these students’ literacy scores are dramatically lower than their native English-speaking peers. White, female teachers dominate the teaching workforce, creating a cultural mismatch between teachers and students. Culturally relevant education can benefit student outcomes and incorporating multicultural literature is one way to do so. This non-experimental quantitative study examined the relationships between teachers’ multicultural characteristics, teachers’ use of multicultural literature, classroom level factors, and teacher demographics. A total of 35 teachers participated in an online survey and completed a book log, indicating texts used in their instruction. …

What Are You Looking At? Using Eye-Tracking To Provide Insight Into Careless Responding, Cheyna Katherine Brower

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Careless responding (CR), also called insufficient effort responding (IER), occurs when survey participants respond to items without regard to item content. The presence of careless responding threatens the validity of inferences made from self-report data (Huang et al., 2012; Huang et al., 2015), thus careless responding must be identified and removed to trust inferences made based on self-report survey data. Using a sample of 59 undergraduate students, this study uses eye-tracking data to assess the validity of existing careless responding indices and to provide insight into the nature of careless responding. Although influenced by measurement error in the eye-tracking indices, …

An Investigation Of Elementary School Teachers’ Culturally Relevant Teaching Practices In Two Cultures: A Comparative Study In China And The United States, Alicia R. Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

Effective teaching is one of the most important factors in student achievement. Throughout the world, there are high expectations for teacher and student performance. Teachers and students need to navigate the demographic and cultural shifts occurring around the world. Teachers’ cultural awareness and knowledge base of culturally relevant teaching practices is critical to their effectiveness. Based on the need to better understand the cultural responsiveness of teachers, this comparative study investigated elementary school teachers’ culturally relevant teaching practices in China and the U.S. through the use of video-cued ethnography. The following findings were revealed from the study: (a) differences in …

Using The Enneagram As A Lens For Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy In The Ninth Grade English Language Arts Classroom, Catherine Caudle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study explores the relationship between student personality, student choice in novel selection in the high school language arts classroom, and student reading self-efficacy and enjoyment. Throughout a student's educational journey, from elementary school to high school, it is typical to see a decrease in student choice regarding the literature they read. In elementary grades, students learn about the parts of a book, are frequently read to with animated voices, and look forward to shelves of choice on library trips. Yet as students move into their middle and high school years, the excitement often dwindles. Choice is removed, for a …

Understanding Diversity – Perspectives From University Departments Hosting Large Percentages Of International Students, K. James Hartshorn, Maureen Snow Andrade, Norman W. Evans, Gwyneth Gates

Faculty Publications

The international student enrollment in some university departments has grown to the point that these students are the majority. This study sought to determine the extent to which departments hosting large numbers of international English as a second language (ESL) students demonstrate awareness and planning to address these learners’ needs. Analyses were conducted in reference to a framework designed to aid institutions in meeting international ESL students’ needs. Findings indicate some awareness of students’ needs and related strategies for linguistic and cultural development. They also demonstrate that the proposed framework could foster more intentional strategies to ensure international student success.

Writing For Arts Education Policy Review, Mark Graham, Sharon Chappell, Tracie Constantino, Pam Musil, Lawrence Scripp

Faculty Publications

This article provides readers with suggestions as to how to prepare manuscripts for publication in Arts Education Policy Review. It is presented in a question-and-answer format and includes references to model policy articles.

A Cluster Analysis Of Social Media Use In The Anglophone Crisis In Cameroon: A Case Study Of Facebook Posts., Neh Claudia Soh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This thesis applies a method of rhetorical criticism – cluster analysis – to explore the different narratives on and about the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon by two prominent rhetors involved in the crisis. The artifacts in the study were Facebook posts published by Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, and a prominent Anglophone activist, Mark Bareta. The thesis set out to answer two research questions. The first question focused on the descriptive narratives that emerge from the rhetors in the crisis; the second question focused on the rhetors’ motives. The different narratives that emerged showed that Cameroon’s president pushed the narratives of …

Open University Of Nepal Initiative Lessons Learned From Designing An Institution Of Higher Learning, Pramod Dhakal, Drona P. Rasali, Ambika P. Adhikari, Raju Adhikari

Himalayan Research Papers Archive

A group of Nepali diaspora members, represented by the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), started a campaign in 2009 to establish the Open University of Nepal (OUN) in partnership with the government of Nepal. Their motivation was to develop a quality university for the masses by mobilizing local, diaspora, and international collaborators for producing and disseminating knowledge in the public domain. The university was subsequently established in 2017 but it drifted away from many of the original objectives. Most critically, it embraced distance education as its central function while setting aside the aspiration of producing and sharing knowledge under the public …

The Drive To Advise: A Study Of Law Students At A Pro Bono Brief Advice Project, Linda F. Smith

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Law school aims to teach lawyering skills as well as legal analysis. While all students must acquire the skills of legal analysis, research and writing, law schools may decide what other skills to teach. Students also acquire skills and habits in informal ways, through clerkship experiences or pro bono volunteer work. However, there has been almost no study of what “skills” students pick up in these informal ways, and whether there are skills that would better be learned as part of the curriculum. This study looks at the skill of legal interviewing employed by students in a pro bono brief …

Learning From Our Mistakes: Conversation Analysis Reveals Best Practices For A Student-Staffed Pro Bono Project, Linda F. Smith

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Law schools make “pro bono” opportunities available to students to introduce them to the responsibilities of the profession. Often these pro bono law students help in “brief advice” projects staffed by volunteer attorneys. This staffing-supervision structure presents challenges in ensuring clients receive competent, individualized advice and the students receive adequate oversight so that this is a positive learning experience for them. This paper analyzes transcripts from 46 recorded student-client interviews and 35 student-attorney consultations. It focuses on those cases where there were “errors or omissions” -- either the client got some erroneous advice or the client did not receive complete, …

Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach To Relationships, Jason S. Wrench, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, Katherine S. Thweatt

Open Educational Resources Collection

Interpersonal Communication: A Mindful Approach to Relationships helps readers examine their own one-on-one communicative interactions using a mindfulness lens. The writing team of Jason S. Wrench, Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter, and Katherine Thweatt incorporates the latest communication theory and research to help students navigate everyday interpersonal interactions. The 14 chapters in this book cover topics typically taught in an undergraduate interpersonal communication course: family interactions, interpersonal dynamics, language, listening, nonverbal communication, and romantic relationships, as well as exploring emerging areas such as self-compassion, body positivity, friendships, and “the dark side”. The writing takes on a purposefully informal tone to engage readers. …

Unstructured Data For Cybersecurity And Internal Control, Jesus Canelón, Esperanza Huerta, Normal Leal, Terry Ryan

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This paper proposes a research framework for studying the connections-realized and potential-between unstructured data (UD) and cybersecurity and internal controls. In the framework, cybersecurity and internal control goals determine the tasks to be conducted. The task influences the types of UD to be accessed and the types of analysis to be done, which in turn influences the outcomes that can be achieved. Patterns in UD are relevant for cybersecurity and internal control, but UD poses unique challenges for its analysis and management. This paper discusses some of these challenges including veracity, structuralizing, bias, and explainability.

Words Matter: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Msba / Masa Model School Discipline Policy, Tamara Uselman

Education

This dissertation in practice was a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Model School Policy 506, Student Discipline (MSBA, 2019), as it relates to the school-to-prison pipeline across the nation as well as in Minnesota. Model Policy 506, co-authored by the Minnesota School Board Association and the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, is offered to school districts that subscribe to MSBA’s policy services. The homogeneity in school discipline policy across Minnesota provided an opportunity for this study. The purpose of this CDA was two-fold: to assess the discourses instantiated in Model School Policy 506, and to determine, through the figured world …

Examining The Relationship Between Elementary School Teachers' Multicultural Attitudes And Self-Efficacy For Teaching English Language Learners, Daisy Mae Figueroa

Education

An increase in English Language Learners (ELLs) in public schools across the nation is forcing stakeholders to reexamine how teachers are being prepared to effectively teach culturally and linguistically diverse students. It is unclear to what extent inservice teachers feel prepared to work with ELLs and what factors impact their feelings of preparedness. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching ELLs, general teaching self-efficacy, and multicultural attitudes. The study also explored whether teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching ELLs could be explained by variables that include years of teaching experience, highest degree earned, perception …

Lived Experiences: Exploring The Impact Of Trauma On Educator Experiences And Classroom Practices, Danelle Ann Klaman

Education

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore teachers’ experiences working with children impacted by adverse childhood experiences. As a dissertation in practice, this qualitative study was intended to examine the lived experiences of educators in regard to how trauma presents itself in the classroom setting and to explore their perceptions on the greater impact of trauma towards curricular outcomes, the classroom environment, and implications with regard to their role as educators. Data were collected from 12 interviews with six female middle school educators, employed within a school district that serves a medium sized community and the surrounding rural …

The Contribution Of Frequency Discrimination Ability To Auditory Temporal Patterning Tests In Children, Ashley G. Flagge, Tara M. Davis, Victoria Henbest

Ashley Flagge Publications

Purpose: The Pitch Patterns Test (PPT) and Duration Patterns Test (DPT) are clinical auditory processing tests that evaluate temporal patterning skills based on pitch (PPT) or duration (DPT) aspects of sound. Although temporal patterning tests are categorized under the temporal processing domain, successful performance on the PPT also relies on accurate pitch discrimination. However, the relationship between pitch discrimination ability and temporal patterning skills have not been thoroughly evaluated. This study examined the contribution of pitch discrimination ability to performance on temporal patterning in children through the use of a pitch discrimination task and the PPT …

Employing Social Learning Analytic Methods (Slams) To Reimagine The Social Dynamic Of Online Learning Collaborations, Damien Sanchez, Nick Flor, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

As online networks expand, learning collaborations will occur across disciplines, countries, and people. A particular challenge is determining the process and progress of these collaborations, and how the social dynamics of interacting groups support knowledge construction. Traditional methods that rely predominantly on content analysis of transcripts to determine social construction of knowledge are time consuming to conduct and often do not provide actionable data to improve the process before it is completed. One answer to this challenge is emerging Social Learning Analytic Methods (SLAMs) that offer robust and expedient means to analyze the performance of interacting groups online. The purpose …

Distributed Co-Mentoring As A Means To Develop Culturally Inclusive Online Learning Communities, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Gayathri Jayatilleke, Geetha Kulasekara, Malinda Kumarasinha

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Transformative online pedagogies call for innovative ways of conceptualizing the online environment and the student, teacher, and peer relationships. In this paper, we focus on how distributed co-mentoring can scaffold both social and knowledge building processes to develop culturally inclusive online learning communities. We critique traditional mentoring relationships, which have often sustained a biased class structure exclusive of diverse populations. We conceptualize co-mentoring drawing from the perspectives of two alternative mentoring theories: (1) feminist postmodern values that bring women and minorities into educational networks, and (2) mentoring mosaic where a diverse range of individuals of different ranks, ages, genders, ethnicities, …

Countering Deficit Thinking About Neurodiversity Among General Education Teacher Candidates: A Case Discussion Approach, Grinell Smith, Colette Rabin

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

We have observed that many of the multiple-subjects teacher credential candidates in our program often reveal deficit views of autistic children. This report provides an example of how we help credential candidates learn to reframe deficit thinking about neurodiversity via the examination, discussion, and dramatization of a collection of dilemma-based case stories designed to help our students unearth preconceptions and engage in shared inquiry. One strength of this approach is that it asks candidates to develop specific and realistic plans of action, to adopt a care ethic requiring them to think and act from the perspective of the child, to …

Using Machine Learning And Text Mining Algorithms To Facilitate Research Discovery Of Plant Food Metabolomics And Its Application For Human Health Benefit Targets, Jithin Jose Mathew

Genomics and Bioinformatics

With the increase in scholarly articles published every day, the need for an automated systematic exploratory literature review tool is rising. With the advance in Text Mining and Machine Learning methods, such data exploratory tools are researched and developed in every scientific domain. This research aims at finding the best keyphrase extraction algorithm and topic modeling algorithm that is going to be the foundation and main component of a tool that will aid in Systematic Literature Review. Based on experimentation on a set of highly relevant scholarly articles published in the domain of food science, two graph-based keyphrase extraction algorithms, …

Social Dialect Features Of Military Speech: A Sociolinguistic Study Of Fargo Veterans, Anthony J. Albright

English

This mixed-methods study examines the potential existence of a military dialect separate from regional or social dialects experienced by civilians. In particular, how similar is the military-related storytelling lexicon of veterans in the Fargo-Moorhead area to the lexicon set forth in training bases and training manuals used by the U.S. military? The lexicon used by veterans in storytelling can sometimes seem opaque to an audience. It is typically dense with meaning borne by a few coded words. These words carry a contextual burden that can be better understood by an appeal to the dialect from which they were borne. In …

Which Witch Is Witch: The Appropriation Of Women’S Pain In The Use Of The Witch Hunt Metaphor In Modern Political Rhetoric, Kaitlyn Grube

English

The evolution of the term “witch hunt” from a physical act to a political metaphor is largely overlooked by modern audiences. As the hysteria of the witch trials fades into popular memory, certain associations live on. In the case of the witch hunt, the association of the term ‘witch hunt’ is women’s innocence. Thousands of innocent women were killed in the original witch trials. The metaphor calls back to this collective memory of innocence. In politics, the witch hunt metaphor is used as a rallying cry against an accuser. White male politicians use this metaphor as a claim of innocence …

Blessed Is She: Gender Critique Through Performativity And Portrayals Of The Divine In Naomi Alderman’S The Power, Alexandra Dawn Froslie

English

Naomi Alderman’s 2016 novel The Power details the events that occur after women develop the ability to produce an electrical current throughout their bodies. This new physical power allows a matriarchal power structure to take the place of a patriarchy. Judith Butler’s theories regarding pastiche and drag help conceptualize Alderman’s portrayal of gender. Alderman essentializes gender roles but switches our common conception of them—in The Power, women are authoritative and violent, and men are submissive and passive. The discussion of gender performativity transitions into a discussion of gender in religious power structures. The character Allie employs ritual performativity to gain …

Self-Report Motor Competence In Adolescents Aged 12-18 Years In Regional And Rural Victoria (Australia), Mandy S. Plumb, Beth Hands, Fleur Mcintyre, Amanda Timler

IHR Papers and Journal Articles

Background: Poor motor skills are an increasing issue for adolescents in our local communities. In regional Victoria, almost 20% of children starting school in 2018 were considered at risk or developmentally vulnerable in the domain of physical health and wellbeing.

Purpose: The aim of the current study was to examine factors (how adolescents perceive their fine and gross motor skills, activities of daily living, comparison to peers) of motor competence that may be important to adolescents in regional Victoria, Australia, using the Adolescent Motor Competence Questionnaire (AMCQ).

Methods: A sample of 183 Australian adolescents ([138 females ( …

Gay Male Speech And Dialects In Motion: Constructing Linguistic Identity In Southern New Hampshire, Hayden P. Stinson

Honors Theses and Capstones

The study of gay male speech has largely focused on fundamental frequency and various quantifiable aspects of /s/ (Campbell-Kibler 2012, Mack and Munson 2012, Munson 2007, Zimman 2013). In a study of the speech of three gay men from California, however, Podesva (2011) concludes that gay men may utilize salient aspects of regional dialects to express their gayness. The stylistic correlation between gayness and certain regional dialects supports Eckert’s (2008) argument that linguistic styles are centered around ideologies, rather than rigid categorical identities and Podesva (2011) urges that this phenomenon be studied further. Southern New Hampshire provides an ideal landscape …

Sharing A Place-Based Indigenous Methodology And Learnings, Sandra Wooltorton, Len Collard, Pierre Horwitz, Anne Poelina, David Palmer

Nulungu Journal Articles

Building on a methodology of Cooperative Inquiry, the outcomes of five interconnected place-based learning projects from Australia are synthesised and elaborated in this paper. The methodology can facilitate the everyday living and sharing of an Earth-based consciousness: one that enriches Transformative Sustainability Education (TSE) through recognising meanings and stories in landscape, and celebrates Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Indigenous-led environmental education is shown to link with one of the longest continuous environmental education systems in the world and it is contended that because of its ongoing history, environmental education carries a cultural obligation. In Australia, every landscape is …

Role Of Bias In Information Warfare: Classifying Fake News Articles Using Natural Language Processing, Gurmeet

Computer Science

The way that people consume news, entertainment and media has been changed. The print media and even television have started to become obsolete. In this digital age, social media being the biggest news source for the masses has become an issue in terms of security and the manipulation of facts. Add to this the fact that the content is catered towards the audience with respect to what suits the marketers. The consumer is no longer the dictator of what they want to consume but has become a product for the streaming services. The impact of targeted information propagation is huge …

A Comparative Study On Different Big Data Tools, Sifat Ibtisum

Computer Science

Big data has long been the topic of fascination for computer science enthusiasts around the world, and has gained even more prominence in recent times with the continuous explosion of data resulting from the likes of social media and the quest for tech giants to gain access to deeper analysis. This paper discusses various tools in big data technology and conducts a comparison among them. Different tools namely Sqoop, Apache Flume, Apache Kafka, Hive, Spark and many more are included. Various datasets are used for the experiment and a comparative study is made to figure out which tool works faster …