Digital Commons Network^™

Student Learning Management System Interactions And Performance Via A Learning Analytics Perspective, Gina Maria Ricker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Enrollment in full-time, virtual, K-12 schools is increasing while mathematics performance in these institutions is lacking compared to national averages. Scholarly literature lacks research studies using learning analytics to better predict student outcomes via student learning management system (LMS) interactions, specifically in the low performing area of middle school mathematics. The theoretical framework for this study was a combination of Hrastinski's theory of online learning as online participation and Moore's 3 types of interactions model of online student behavior. The purpose of this study was to address the current research gap in the full-time, K-12 eLearning field and determine whether …

Development Of A Nurse Residency Program In Perinatal Nursing, Elizabeth W. Roberts

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Staffing turnover created a challenge for the women’s services department of a hospital in the southern United States, potentially compromising care for women and infants during childbirth. The gap in practice was the lack of a structured nurse orientation/residency program for nurses new to perinatal nursing, which requires specific competencies not learned at the prelicensure level of education. The guiding practice-focused question was whether a multidisciplinary team could develop a formal evidence-based perinatal nurse residency program that would meet the needs of on-boarding and support for the new nursing hires at this facility. A team of experienced nurses, which included …

Evidence-Based Practice Self-Study Education Program For Staff Nurses On Genomics, Nancy L. Norman-Marzella

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurses routinely obtain genomic data when collecting family health histories. However, they report low confidence in their knowledge and understanding of genomics and the genetically engineered medications prescribed for their patients. The purpose of this project was the development and implementation of an evidence-based online education program about genetics and genomics to increase the nurses' understanding and ability to provide competent care for their patients receiving treatments based on the science of genomics. Knowles's principles of adult learning theory guided the development and delivery of the online education project to 12 medical-surgical registered nurses employed in a hospital in the …

The Effect Of Early Childhood Abuse On Educational Attainment, Onzie Luke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to fill a gap in the literature regarding survivors of child abuse and their capacity to continue their educational pursuits beyond high school. Thus, this study explored the lived experience of self-identified abuse survivors who were enrolled in higher education. The theoretical bases for this study included Bandura'€™s social cognitive theory, Rotter'€™s theory of locus of control and Heider'€™s and Weiner'€™s theory of attribution. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 15 survivors of child abuse enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program at an online or brick and mortar university. The interviews were then …

Predicting Educational Attainment Based On Forensic Psychiatric Patients' Age At First Hospitalization, Malinda Marie Lawson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Education during recovery could impact a forensic psychiatric patient's community reintegration; however, individual education goals for patients can be difficult due to the lack of available parameters. The purpose of this study was to test whether age at first hospitalization is predictive of educational attainment among forensic psychiatric patients and to determine which ages of first hospitalization best predict 8 levels of educational attainment. Cattell's intelligence theory served as the theoretical framework for this study because mental illness requiring early hospitalization may affect education and learning. This quantitative, nonexperimental study involved a predictive design with data from the Canadian Institute …

Psychological Relationship Between Acculturation And Caribbean Immigrants In The Northeast United States, Lisa Chamberlain- Gordon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Caribbean immigrants' challenges with acculturation following immigration to the United States, could result in acculturative stress, discrimination, stereotyping, and mental health issues. This study examined the relationship between cultural levels of interaction (LCI), acculturation orientation levels (AOLs), and acculturation levels (ALs) as well as examined the relationship between acculturative stress levels (ASLs), mental health problems, and discrimination/ stereotyping among Caribbean immigrants, age 25-54, in a northeast U.S. metro. Bourhis' interactive acculturation model was the theoretical foundation for this study. It was hypothesized that (a) there would be a relationship between LCI measured in language, food, religion, and education and AOL …

Asynchronous, Practice-Based Learning Module Designed To Enhance Athletic Trainers' Knowledge And Application Of Medical Documentation, Elizabeth Neil

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Athletic trainers (ATs) have stated that medical documentation is a weakness in clinical practice citing lack of time to document, lack of knowledge regarding what to include in documentation, and lack of oversight and review as reasons for the poor quality of their medical documentation. ATs serving as preceptors have additional responsibilities to engage athletic training students in best practices for medical documentation. The purpose of this study was to engage preceptors in an Educational intervention to teach best practices for medical documentation and evaluate perceived and actual knowledge and clinical practice behaviors before and after the Educational intervention. This …

Examining Job Satisfaction Through Five Job Facets Of Public-School Speech-Language Pathologists, Kimberly Boynton

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The quantitative studys purpose was to investigate relationships among five identified job facets of a speech-language pathologists job and general job satisfaction as identified, organized, and measured by the Job Descriptive Index (JDI; Bowling Green State University, 2009a) and the Job in General scale (JIG; Bowling Green State University, 2009b). The study included an examination of the effects on job satisfaction of people, work, pay, opportunities for promotion, and supervision. Participants were speech-language pathologists licensed and employed by public school districts within Indiana, and the study included analysis based on participants years of experience. What are the current job satisfaction …

Price And Prejudice: An Empirical Test Of Financial Incentives, Altruism, And Racial Bias, Kristen Underhill

Faculty Scholarship

Many argue that paying people for good behavior can crowd out beneficial motivations like altruism. But little is known about how financial incentives interact with harmful motivations like racial bias. Two randomized vignette studies test how financial incentives affect bias. The first experiment varies the race of a hypothetical patient in need of a kidney transplant (black or white), an incentive ($18,500 or none), and addition of a message appealing to altruism. Incentives encouraged donation but introduced a significant bias favoring white patients. The second experiment assesses willingness to donate to a patient (black or white) without an incentive and …

Setting The Pace: Examining Cognitive Processing In Mooc Discussion Forums With Automatic Text Analysis, Robert L. Moore, Kevin M. Oliver, Chuang Wang

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Learning analytics focuses on extracting meaning from large amounts of data. One of the largest datasets in education comes from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that typically feature enrollments in the tens of thousands. Analyzing MOOC discussion forums presents logistical issues, resulting chiefly from the size of the dataset, which can create challenges for understanding and adequately describing student behaviors. Utilizing automatic text analysis, this study built a hierarchical linear model that examines the influence of the pacing condition of a massive open online course (MOOC), whether it is self-paced or instructor-paced, on the demonstration of cognitive processing in a …

Social Support, Discrimination, And Self-Esteem In Lgbtq+ High School And Post-Secondary Students, Kirstie Taylor

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus) people are at a disadvantage compared to their heterosexual and cisgender (non-transgender) counterparts. LGBTQ+ people are likely to be discriminated against based on their gender or sexual identities. Drawing on data from the OutLook Study in Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, this paper examines discrimination and social support among high school and post-secondary students, and how they are related to self-esteem. Using t-tests, we found that transgender students in high school reported significantly higher levels of direct transphobia and of victimization compared to transgender post-secondary students. Using multiple linear regressions, we found indirect homophobia …

Doggone Smart: A Canine-Assisted Reading Program And The Effect On Self-Efficacy And Standardized Test Scores, Valerie Daifotis

Scripps Senior Theses

The use of dogs in a reading program is not a new concept. However, this study addresses the gap in the literature by exploring the connection between reading to dogs, reading self-efficacy, and reading standardized test scores. Using an experimental control group design, this study will look at below-average readers in the fifth grade with half randomly assigned to read once a week to a certified therapy dog and volunteer and the other half randomly assigned to read to just an adult volunteer with no dog. This study will use a reading self-efficacy questionnaire (Carroll & Fox, 2017) and the …

African-American Male Teachers: Examining The Insight, Encounters, And Best Teaching Practices, Brandon Morgan

Theses and Dissertations

The experiences students have in schools has a large effect not only on their career choices but also on the way they interact with other members of society in the future. Specifically, the K-12 education system has an objective of ensuring that all students are adequately prepared to become responsible and productive members of society. Unfortunately, research shows that African-American male students and teachers face comparatively high levels of societal challenges compared to their Caucasian counterparts. General demographic trends reveal a serious concern.

While the number of black students entering the education system is increasing, there is a reduction in …

How African American Men From Challenging Backgrounds Beat The Odds And Graduated From College, Valisha Terry

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

While Bettis and Sternod (2009) asserted the notion of boys being in crisis as not a new phenomenon but a historically cyclical one, present research contends that African American men are one of the most at-risk groups in the United States. School and criminal-justice systems show similar results. African American men continue to lag in terms of graduation rates and college enrollment, while being overrepresented in victim violence and the criminal justice system. They also lead the nation in homicides as both victims and perpetrators. Despite these obstacles, many at-risk African American men graduate from college and excel in life. …

Association Between Education And Health Outcomes Among Adults With Disabilities: Evidence From Shanghai, China, Tong Ge, Qi Zhang, Jun Lu, Gang Chen, Mei Sun, Xiaohong Li

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

Background

Adults with disabilities often have worse health outcomes than do their peers without disabilities. While education is a key determinant of health, there is little research available on the health disparities across education levels among adults with disabilities in developing countries. We therefore examined the association between health outcomes and education among adults with disabilities in Shanghai, China.

Methods

We used the health examination records of 42,715 adults with disabilities in Shanghai in 2014. Five health outcomes, including two diseases (fatty liver and hemorrhoids) and three risk factors (overweight [body mass index ≥ 24]), high blood glucose, and high …

Just Another School: The Need To Strengthen Legal Protections For Students Facing Disciplinary Transfers, Miranda Johnson

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Over the past decade, there has been increasing national, state, and local attention focused on the negative impacts of school expulsion and suspension. As a result of the well-documented and long-standing research showing the harm to students of exclusionary school discipline practices, states and school districts have begun reforming their policies and practices to limit the use of suspensions and expulsions. Many of these new reforms, however, have not included changes to provisions in state law and district policies allowing for students to be transferred from their neighborhood schools to alternative schools for disciplinary reasons. In this article, we argue …

Adequate Education: The Disregarded Fundamental Right And The Resurgence Of Segregation Of Public Schools, Neubia L. Harris

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of The "Emotionally Disturbed" Classroom Label On General Education Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy, Giovanna Perricone

Scripps Senior Theses

Students identified as “emotionally disturbed” face resistance to inclusion in classrooms with typically-developing peers on the part of the general education teachers. This study aims to address whether the classroom label of “emotionally disturbed” affects teacher efficacy and whether this relationship is moderated by the amount of applied inclusion training a teacher has received. General education teachers will read identical case studies of a student who either spends some of his school day in an “Emotionally Disturbed Class” or a “Self-Regulation Skills Class.” They will complete a measure of student-specific teacher efficacy and then report how many hours of inclusion …

The Impact Of Four-Day School Weeks And Fifth-Day Programs On Delinquency And Problem Behaviors In Adolescents, Emily Collins

Scripps Senior Theses

In recent years, tightening budgets have forced school districts to find new ways to save money. One way that has become increasingly popular is to shorten the traditional five-day school week to only four-days a week. This change is budget friendly and may act through efficiency wage theory as a recruitment tool for better teachers. Despite the increasing prevalence of districts running on four-day weeks, many of the effects of the shorter week on students are still unclear. Utilizing district-level panel data from the Colorado Department of Education, Study One took a difference-in-differences approach to determine the effect of the …

Early Childhood Development And The Replication Of Poverty, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Antipoverty efforts must begin early because abundant evidence demonstrates that experiences during the first five years of life lay a foundation for future learning and the acquisition of skills. Public investments can help foster early childhood development, but these efforts must begin early and must involve both parents and children. This chapter describes the patterns of convergence and divergence in state approaches to supporting early childhood development. For the prenatal period until age three, the federal government is the primary source of funds, and there is fairly limited variation in how this money is spent across the states. For the …

Music, Video And Perception: An Investigation Into Shaping Attitudes Toward Fish And Their Natural Habitat, Kayla-Ann Hemmings

All Master's Theses

The current study investigated the influence of music and video on perceptions of fish, willingness to help aquatic conservation efforts, and attitudes about the marine environment. Participants were randomly distributed to one of six groups which varied by presenting information about marine life in a video format or through printed text (i.e., video or pamphlet) and on the background music that played during the presentation of that information (i.e., ominous, uplifting, or no sound). Participants, then, completed several counterbalanced measures, including rating how much six different words (i.e., three positive and three negative) applied to fish, Willingness to Conserve questions …

The Challenges For A Closed-To-The-Public Animal Sanctuary: Prioritizing Animal Welfare While Engaging In Educational Community Outreach, Lisa Tweed

All Master's Theses

Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest is a small primate sanctuary in Cle Elum, Washington, and is presently home to seven chimpanzees who were retired from biomedical research. I used this sanctuary as a case study to find out how a closed-to-the-public sanctuary can engage in educational outreach without compromising the welfare of the residents. I employed a combination of semi-structured interviews of sanctuary personnel, ethnographic participant-observation as a volunteer caregiver, and an online survey offered to the local community to help me understand the goals and limitations of sanctuaries. I also designed and conducted two educational programs for local area schools as …

Health Disparities And Access In American Children: Addressing Speech And Language Pathology Though Education And Healthcare, Ilaria Monteleone

Human Development Honors Papers

There are many underserved populations in America who struggle for various reasons including systemic and structural barriers as well as familial and individual factors (Gonzalez et. al., 2018). Our most vulnerable populations in America are likely to experience lower access to quality education and healthcare (Gonzalez et. al., 2018). Barriers to healthcare access include: financial, physical, educational, and psychological (Diderichsen, 2010). In this paper, I focus on where health disparities are present in the U.S. and who makes up our most vulnerable populations facing these inequities to access. I focus on the American healthcare system and what programs are in …

I Was The Only One In The Building. Lived Experiences Of Black School Counselors Post-Brown V. Board Of Education In Predominantly White Schools, Yevonne A. Jones

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Black school counselors post- Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision and their integration into predominantly White public schools. A literature review was conducted which included the history of school counseling, Brown v. Board of Education , and its impact on the displacement of Black educators. The literature also explored the experiences of Black teachers and students post- Brown and current demographic data of school counselors. A qualitative study was conducted to capture the lived experiences of participants using multiple case studies and narrative life stories. Four Black …

Institutional Factors Or Characteristics Leading To Successful Implementation Of Analytic Technology Within Higher Education, Deborah L. Anderson

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to present results from a multiple-case study on factors leading to successful analytic technology implementation within higher Education. This study focuses on factors and characteristics leading to successful analytic implementation at the institutional level and does not discuss specific analytic tools. In the past decade, the higher Education landscape has widely shifted to welcome analytic technology as a key resource to impact student success. Analytic and predictive technologies are sought as a potential strategy to improve academic learning and student engagement. Institutional leadership strive to use ‘big data to analyze and measure the overall …

Sources Of Black-White Differences In Mmpi-2-Rf Scores Among Traditionally Aged College Students, Yelena Gonzalez

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a widely used and extensively researched psychodiagnostic instrument that has received some attention regarding its use with racial and ethnic populations. Most of this attention has focused on scaled score differences observed between White and African American individuals, with conclusions ranging from questions about the instruments integrity and fairness in its use with diverse populations, to theories that these differences reflect individual and environmental disparities between groups. Despite a number of studies focusing on racial differences on the MMPI and its revised form, the MMPI-2, few studies have examined whether these differences exist …

A Curriculum Analysis Of The Mid-America Law Enforcement Academy Through A Multicultural Lens, Jill Musgrave

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was conducted as an exploratory case study guided by the institutional curriculum model for multicultural Education developed by Coles and Grant (1985). Document analysis, over 125 hours of observations, seven instructor interviews, and 12 recruit interviews were conducted to explore how the institutional curriculum (e.g., the official, null, operational, hidden, and extra curriculum) addressed multiculturalism and cultural responsiveness at a police academy, and how the institutional multicultural curriculum impacted the recruits. After data were collected and analyzed across all data sources, three primary findings emerged. First, a lack of vertical and horizontal communication exists regarding the multicultural curriculum. …

Effective Relationships: Managing And Measuring The Impact On Learning And Teaching, Emily Ann Brown

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the quantitative study was to take the researched components of the teacher-learner relationship and operationalize them into a survey instrument to measure and operationalize the relationship so that it can be studied and improved upon. The seven components of the teacher-learner relationship are empathy, showing care and concern, mutual respect, going above and beyond, passion and enthusiasm, perseverance and patience, and belief in the learners abilities. This quantitative study was based on the theories of emotional intelligence, client-centeredness, and attachment theory. While there is a wealth of literature about what makes a teacher-learner relationship important and what …

We Gotta Work With What We Got: School And Community Factors That Contribute To Educational Resilience Among African American Students, Denae Bradley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how Black residents in the Mississippi Delta claim and deploy agency and resiliency in a rural community context entrenched in a legacy of oppression. Black, low-income communities are implicitly labeled non-resilient when macro-level community capitals and resiliency literature are applied. However, I find that resiliency is culturally distinctive and oftentimes detected in ritual, daily processes in Black communities. This thesis rejects dominant narratives that Black communities in Mississippi are only poor, backwards, and lacking. It questions the assumption that dominant institutions have created inescapable boundaries for Black people in this region and challenges the notion that the …

Exploring Data Management: Identifying Signposts For Graduate Student Researchers, Judith E. Pasek, Jennifer Mayer

University Libraries Publications

As graduate students embark on research projects, they often are not fully aware of what paths they should take or the obstacles they may encounter. Effectively managing research data is a skillset that needs to be honed along the way. Trail guides, including librarians, can establish instructional signposts for relevant data management concepts. To be effective, guides need to be familiar with the knowledge and skill gaps of the explorers. Surveys were conducted at two medium-sized universities to assess perceived importance and knowledge of 12 research data management competencies, with a goal of informing education planning. Results set the foundation …