Digital Commons Network^™

How Can Culturally-Responsive Instruction Help Middle And High School Teachers Address Muslim Students' Needs?, Mona Aly

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone project explores how middle and high school teachers can create positive relationships with Muslim students by using culturally responsive instruction. Educators must understand that Muslim students have unique cultural identities based on their religious beliefs. Regardless of nationality, language, skin color, or cultural background, all Muslims are bound by these Islamic cultural practices. These practices directly impact students’ academic progress, social life, and self-esteem. By familiarizing themselves with these cultural and religious practices, teachers can better relate to Muslim students and address their social and academic needs. I seek answers to this research question by discussing four main …

Effective Strategies For Integrating Pronunciation Instruction With A Focus On Intelligibility And Comprehensibility For Adult Esl Students, Ashley Carrel

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The guiding question for this project was: What are some effective strategies for integrating pronunciation instruction in an adult ESL course with the focus being on intelligibility and comprehensibility? This question is guided by personal and professional experiences that are shared in the first chapter. The literature review examines the stigma of accented speech of non-native speakers and the factors that influence their pronunciation production. The intelligibility approach to pronunciation instruction has been proven to be a more realistic and ethical approach as compared to the nativeness principle. The research studied showed that adult ESL teachers often feel ill equipped …

Teaching English In Earth And Space Science: Content-Based Curriculum Development For Secondary Multilingual Learners, Laura Gislason

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The number of English language learners in public schools continues to increase in Minnesota. Multilingual high school students having a WIDA English language proficiency level below three tend to experience a greater number of academic challenges and experience lower graduation rates. In order to combat these challenges, many high schools provide sheltered content classes co-taught by licensed content and EL teachers. While these courses help students succeed in mastering content standards, English language development is often relegated to incidental acquisition as a bi-product of the learning process. This capstone uses the connections model of content based instruction to answer the …

Animal Assisted Environmental Education Program Design: The Environmental Learning Farm, Kellie Soronen

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

Research has shown that by including animals in therapeutic and educational experiences progress can be made in improving the quality of our education and the quality of our lives. This project focused on filling a gap seen in Minnesota’s environmental education programs. There are many environmental learning centers in Minnesota and many different animal assisted therapy programs focusing on physical, mental and emotional health, but there is not a program that is dedicated to bringing our domesticated animals into the curriculum in environmental education. The Environmental Learning Farm is an theoretical and experimental project that could bridge the gap that …

The Use Of Universal Design For Better Inclusion Of People Who Are Deaf/Hard Of Hearing Or Have Other Invisible Disabilities In Environmental Education, Magill Schumm

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

There are specific auditory and programmatic challenges outdoor and environmental education face due to the realities of non-formal outdoor teaching. While there are often adapted programs for specific disability groups, these challenges can prevent people with invisible disabilities from being fully included in both adapted and non-adapted programs. This capstone sought to answer the question: How can Universal Design be used to create more inclusive environmental education for people who are deaf/hard of hearing and students with other invisible disabilities? The tenets of Universal Design for Learning are offering multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means …

Equitable And Inclusive Dance Assessment Resources, Christie Owens

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This capstone inquires, how can the Minnesota K-12 Dance Standards (revised 2018) lay a practical framework for dance educators to create equitable and inclusive assessments for student success? A dance teacher addresses the need to expand how standards and success are defined in educational dance, noting circumstances where students of dance outside the dominant culture in the United States experience fewer feelings of inclusion and success when dance standards, curriculum, and assessment do not encompass what success looks like for them given their historical and cultural identities, hindering student ability to become self-actualized and wholistically educated artists. Through a review …

A Framework For Incorporating Best Practices To Provide Foundational Literacy Skills To English Learners For Sustained Academic Success, Gabriel Arechigo

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

English Learners (ELs) have experienced a lack of sustained academic success for generations, especially compared to their non-EL peers. The cause of this experience is multifaceted and the importance of making its history visible cannot be stressed enough. This capstone aims to empower individuals with the knowledge of this topic and create empathy for the EL community so that awareness becomes actionable and change is demanded for the way foundational literacy skills are taught in public schools. Knowledge for this topic includes a historical context of language policies, theories of learning, literacy instruction, and misconceptions stemming from these facets that …

Multisensory Literacy Instruction: Efficacy For Struggling Multilingual Learners, Stephanie Sowma

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

By the year 2025, approximately 25% of U.S. public school students will be multilingual learners. However, many mainstream teachers have not received any development in supporting this particular group of students. This capstone explores best literacy practices for multilingual learners, multisensory learning, and teacher professional development to answer the focus question: how can multisensory instruction be utilized to add engagement and rigor in order to improve the literacy skills of multilingual learners between 5 - 8 years old who score between a 1.0 - 2.9 on the WIDA Access Assessment and are struggling with basic reading skills? Multisensory literacy instruction …

Community Health Workers To Increase Cancer Screening: 3 Community Guide Systematic Reviews, Devon L Okasako-Schmucker, Yinan Peng, Jamaicia Cobb, Leigh R Buchanan, Ka Zang Xiong, Shawna L Mercer, Susan A Sabatino, Stephanie Melillo, Patrick L Remington, Shiriki K Kumanyika, Beth Glenn, Erica S Breslau, Cam Escoffery, Maria E Fernandez, Gloria D Coronado, Karen Glanz, Patricia D Mullen, Sally W Vernon

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

INTRODUCTION: Many in the U.S. are not up to date with cancer screening. This systematic review examined the effectiveness of interventions engaging community health workers to increase breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening.

METHODS: Authors identified relevant publications from previous Community Guide systematic reviews of interventions to increase cancer screening (1966 through 2013) and from an update search (January 2014-November 2021). Studies written in English and published in peer-reviewed journals were included if they assessed interventions implemented in high-income countries; reported screening for breast, cervical, or colorectal cancer; and engaged community health workers to implement part or all of the …

Community College Students’ Awareness Of Their Reading And Writing Proficiency, Martha Paulina Campusano Rojas

Dissertations

Student’s low reading and writing proficiency in higher education has been the subject of a large body of research (e.g., Bahr, 2011; Bailey, 2010; Carlino, 2005, 2010, 2012; Flink, 2017; Jaggars, 2014 Pacello, 2014; Perin, 2011; Perin et al., 2013).The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how students in a first-year developmental Spanish course at the Dominican community college think of the connection between their reading and writing abilities and their performance in both their current and future undergraduate courses. The study also explored how these students view the importance of the developmental course and how they understand …

Jfl Insider: A Newsletter To Keep You In The Know, Liberty University

Jerry Falwell Library Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Pear Deck On Student Achievement And Perceptions, Eric Gross

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This research determined the impact of the interactive technology Pear Deck on student achievement and perceptions of learning. Existing peer-reviewed research on the topic is limited. In this action research, the researcher had one 10th grade Global Studies class learn the subject matter from a traditional teacher-led lecture, while the other class learned the same content using a student-paced Pear Deck. The next class day, both groups took the same assessment to measure their achievement levels. The Pear Deck group also completed a brief survey on their perceptions of learning with Pear Deck. The results of the research revealed the …

The Article Iii "Party" And The Originalist Case Against Corporate Diversity Jurisdiction, Mark Moller, Lawrence B. Solum

William & Mary Law Review

Federal courts control an outsize share of big-ticket corporate litigation. And that control rests, to a significant degree, on the Supreme Court’s extension of Article III’s Diversity of Citizenship Clause to corporations. Yet, critics have questioned the constitutionality of corporate diversity jurisdiction from the beginning.

In this Article and a previous one, we develop the first sustained critique of corporate diversity jurisdiction.

Our previous article demonstrated that corporations are not “citizens” given the original meaning of that word. But we noted this finding alone doesn’t sink general corporate diversity jurisdiction. The ranks of corporate shareholders include many undoubted “citizens.” And …

Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal: A Cautionary Tale And A Call For Hope, * Anonymous

California Western International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Exploring Trustworthiness Issues About Disaster-Related Information Generated By Artificial Intelligence, Xin Tao

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis tested the degree of trustworthiness of disaster-related information generated by artificial intelligence among American people and Chinese people, and explored the causes of people's attitudes towards trust or distrust. The thesis used OpenAI's GPT-3 model to generate stories based on real disaster events by artificial intelligence, and tested the degree of trustworthiness in semi-structured interview. The study showed that it was promising to use AI technology to publicize disaster-related news to audience. To increase readers' trust in AI-generated disaster-related information, news organizations should maintain a high level of transparency about the identity of the AI author, use the …

Nordp Cassh Internal Funding Survey Data 28 Apr 2023, Allison Layfield, Angela Jordan, Allison Devries, Dean Gerstein

Data and Datasets

This dataset contains findings from a 2023 survey conducted by the Creative Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CASSH) affinity group within NORDP, which examined institutionally funded internal grant programs supporting CASSH faculty. With federal support for the arts and humanities declining in 2025, internal funding mechanisms have become increasingly vital. The survey, distributed to 66 CASSH members, yielded 24 responses describing 48 internal grant programs across R1 and R2/baccalaureate institutions. Key findings include median grant size, average program staff size, and tools and practices used to evaluate program impact.

Extracting A Body Of Knowledge As A First Step Towards Defining A United Software Engineering Curriculum Guideline, Anton Kiselev

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

In general, the computing field is a rapidly changing environment, and as such, software engineering education must be able to adjust quickly to new needs. Industry adapts to technologies as fast as it can, but the critical issue is a need for recent graduates with the necessary expertise and knowledge of new trends, technologies, and practical experience. The industries that employ graduates of computing degree programs aim to hire those who are familiar with the latest technical traits, tools, and methodologies to meet these needs, and the software engineering curriculum needs to respond quickly to these needs. Still, unfortunately, software …

Alec 805 Teaching Portfolio: Exploring Students' Teaching Effectiveness, Becky Haddad

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

This portfolio explores students attainment on InTASC Standards 1 & 3 through ALEC 805: Advanced Teaching Strategies. Students completed an initial teaching roots reflection and a final education philosophy that served as the basis for analyzing growth in effective teaching. Overall, students had more statements discussing teaching methods and strategies in their final education philosophies than they did in their initial reflections, but used their own experience to substantiate these methods much less. This provides opportunities for additional synthesis and reflection through the course, as well as opportunities for future scholarship in the course focused on students' connection to their …

Books Vs. Children, Palle Yourgrau

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Considerations When Designing And Implementing Pragmatic Clinical Trials That Include Older Hispanics, Rafael Samper-Ternent, Stephanie L Silveira, Alan Stevens, Elena Volpi, Aanand D Naik

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Introduction: Pragmatic clinical trials (PCTs) are designed to connect researchers with clinicians to assess the real-world effectiveness and feasibility of interventions, treatments, or health care delivery strategies in routine practice. Within PCTs larger, more representative sampling is possible to improve the external validity of the research. Older adults from underrepresented groups can benefit from PCTs given their historically lower engagement in clinical research. The current article focuses on older Hispanic adults with Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRDs). Older Hispanic adults represent 19% of the US population and have a higher prevalence of ADRDs than Whites. We provide data from …

Why Industry Professionals Should Care About Fandom, Abigail Minzer

Student Publications

A fandom is a community of people who share a common interest and interact with each other on the basis of that common interest. When a fandom comes together on the basis of a creative work, it allows a mutually beneficial relationship to form in which the fandom will eagerly consume existing content, allowing new content to be produced for their consumption. Thus, professionals in industries such as publishing, theater, and television and film should be aware of the integral role fandoms play in the consumption of their content and how to nurture fandoms through the means discussed in this …

The Impact Of Insult Ad Reads On Podcast Listeners, Jason L. Snyder, Mark D. Cistulli

Atlantic Marketing Journal

Audio podcasts have grown in popularity. Forty-six million Americans tune into an average of six podcasts each week (Nielson, 2020) and ad revenues are projected to top $4 billion by 2024 (IAB, 2022). To enhance the appeal of ads, many podcasters use humor in their ad reads. Although humor can be effective (Weinberger & Gulas, 1992) and reinforce the parasocial relationship between podcaster and audience, are there times when that humor has negative consequences? In this study, we are concerned primarily with the use of insult advertising in which the podcaster uses humor that targes the brand/product being endorsed. Participants …

Oppa-Ng Gamsahamnita-Ng~~~: The Phonetics Of Nasal Cuteness In Korean Aegyo, Drew Michael Crosby

Theses and Dissertations

The term aegyo is often defined as a form of performative cuteness comprising a range of linguistic and non-linguistic behaviors (K. Moon, 2013; Puzar & Hong, 2018). Previous anthropological, discursive, and linguistic investigations (K. Moon, 2013; Puzar & Hong, 2018; H. Jang, 2021) identify it as a gendered practice associated with “modern and trendy young women in Korean mainstream culture” (K. Moon, 2017, p. 42), often used for requesting favors, maintaining social harmony, and gaining economic advancement (Manietta 2015; Puzar & Hong 2018). K. Moon (2013) asserts that the features that most prominently index aegyo are: rising-falling intonation (LHL%), the …

Learning Analytics Through Machine Learning And Natural Language Processing, Bokai Yang

Theses and Dissertations

The increase of computing power and the ability to log students’ data with the help of the computer-assisted learning systems has led to an increased interest in developing and applying computer science techniques for analyzing learning data. To understand and investigate how learning-generated data can be used to improve student success, data mining techniques have been applied to several educational tasks. This dissertation investigates three important tasks in various domains of educational data mining: learners’ behavior analysis, essay structure analysis and feedback providing, and learners’ dropout prediction. The first project applied latent semantic analysis and machine learning approaches to investigate …

Validation Of The Occupational Depression Inventory In Brazil: A Study Of 1,612 Civil Servants, Renzo Bianchi, Danísio Calixto Cavalcante, Cristina Queirós, Blezi Daiana Menezes Santos, Jay Verkuilen, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

Objective: The Occupational Depression Inventory (ODI) assesses work-attributed depressive symptoms. The ODI has demonstrated robust psychometric and structural properties. To date, the instrument has been validated in English, French, and Spanish. This study examined the psychometric and structural properties of the ODI's Brazilian-Portuguese version.

Methods: The study involved 1612 civil servants employed in Brazil (MAGE = 44, SDAGE = 9; 60% female). The study was conducted online across all Brazilian states.

Results: Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) bifactor analysis indicated that the ODI meets the requirements for essential unidimensionality. The general factor accounted for 91% of the common variance extracted. …

Language Barriers In Healthcare: Consequences & Impact On Cultural Competency, With Focus On Vietnamese-American Patient Populations, Dylan Ta

Senior Theses

Language barriers in healthcare produce a wide range of negative effects that diminish healthcare quality and delivery. One consequence in particular is the diminished degree of cultural competence and consideration in the field of medicine. This thesis provides a review of past literature on significant adverse problems caused by the presence of language barriers in healthcare, as well as a detailed perspective into how language barriers damage and decrease the degree of cultural competence utilized by healthcare professionals when providing care for the specific Vietnamese-American ethnic group. Through the interpretation, language barriers are reasonably concluded to be a significant obstacle …

Tapas And The Hero(Ine)’S Journey: The Inner Fire Of Transformation, Stephanie Spence

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers an expository examination of the intersection of yoga’s modern tapas (austerity) practice and the framework of storytelling, contrasting and comparing these two ideals, by exploring the evolution of the term tapas and uncovering how it is mirrored by the hero(ine)’s journey identified by Joseph Campbell and other scholars. For humanity to evolve into a higher state of self-awareness and create a world where peaceful co-existence is possible, individuals must embark on an inner journey. Through this journey, our inner world evolves, which in turn can lead to more enlightened behavior and contribute to a more harmonious global …

Understanding Rural Communities: Crafting Local Inquiries As Praxis For Pre-Service Ela Students In Teaching Composition, Cathie English

The Rural Educator

This study focused upon a sequence of three inquiry assignments with pre-service teachers (PSTs) in English language arts in an advanced composition and theory methods course. Place conscious and critical literacy scholars argue for a deeper understanding of rural lifeways and note the deficit or lesser than assumptions associated with rural communities and the need to develop a critical rural literacy to address the specific needs of rural educators as well as address the long-standing stereotypes. This study’s purpose was to determine if these inquiry tools can be used to teach PSTs a critical literacy that can be applied in …

Beyond News Values On Twitter: Predicting Factors That Drive User Engagement In News, Zhiyan Zhong

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

When deciding on what news stories to cover, traditional journalism determines news values by following several elements of newsworthiness, such as impact, timeliness, and prominence. However, these guidelines do not always seem to correspond with the success of content on social media. As people are increasingly turning to social media for news, our research aims to understand and predict factors that drive user engagement for news on social media. In this study, we analyze news content published on Twitter, and examine a diverse set of characteristics like metrics retrieved from the Twitter API and semantics by natural language processing, including …

Language Services For Populations With Limited English Proficiency (Lep) And The Necessity For Proper Medical Interpretation With A Focus In South Carolina, Elizabeth Pung

Senior Theses

Linguistically appropriate healthcare is a cornerstone of providing quality patient care. Provider-patient communication is imperative to achieving linguistically appropriate healthcare; unfortunately, language barriers introduced by different spoken languages of patients to their providers hinders this communication. Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) are ensured accessible healthcare under federal regulations such as the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS standards); however, a gap between patients with LEP and the healthcare system remains. Not only is there a gap in communication for patients with LEP to their providing physician, but there is a nationwide epidemic resulting in poor health …