Digital Commons Network^™

A Transcendental Phenomenological Study On The Ethical Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Instructional Practice, Jan David Bagwell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the instruction of the ethical use of artificial intelligence through the lived experiences for teachers at Little Texas High School, North Carolina. The theory guiding this study was Mishra and Koehler’s technological pedagogical content knowledge theory, which explains how teachers can use their knowledge of content, pedagogical practices, and technology to integrate the three skill sets to best instruct their students. This framework aligns with the ethical use of artificial intelligence because it recognizes artificial intelligence as a technological tool that can be used with a teacher’s content knowledge to …

Retention Of Rural/Small-Town Band Directors In Georgia, Timothy M. Warren

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to analyze the retention and tenure of band directors in rural and small-town contexts in Georgia. Research indicates that directors in these areas often face challenges not commonly present in urban settings. This study sought to determine whether there is a trend of short tenures among rural and small-town band directors in Georgia. Data was collected through an online survey targeting current and former directors with rural or small-town experience. The survey included Likert Scale items addressing director qualifications, backgrounds, and common challenges, as well as open-ended questions that allowed participants to describe their …

Accelerating Adolescent Girls’ Education In West And Central Africa, Mame Soukeye Mbaye, Sarah Engebretsen, Maty Dia, Karen Austrian

Adolescents and Young People

This brief summarizes the evidence on gender inequality in education in West and Central Africa (WCA), particularly the GIRL Center’s priority countries. It explores attendance, progression, transition to secondary, and re-entry. This brief informs strategies that address persistent inequalities and promote transformative outcomes for adolescent girls in the region.

Roy Stevens Hall Dedicated, Vincent Toney

Documents

Dedication of the Education/Nursing building as Roy Stevens Hall--The TimesDaily

A Blueprint For Success, Una Publications Office

Documents

Brochure for the Education-Nursing Building at UNA

Cedarstone Arts Foundation Marketing And Media, Emmy-Kate Arnett, Amelia Bailly, Charlie Condra, Lorelai Lysaght

SPARK Symposium Presentations

For our project, we collaborated with Cedarstone Arts Foundation, a non-profit centered on providing free music education and instruments to childhood cancer patients. Our goal was to create social media platforms for the foundation and develop a key marketing strategy via said platforms, with the desired outcome of increased exposure and donations. To achieve our goal, we researched the most relevant media outlets for advertising. We helped create high-quality content that would raise awareness for their cause. We developed a general template for posting so that the foundation could confidently continue this strategy for the foreseeable future. We consulted with …

Faith-Based Coping In Crisis: How Religious Beliefs Shape Trauma, Resilience, And Recovery Across Contexts, Kailyn M. Howard

Honors Theses

This study examines the relationship between religious belief and responses to trauma, with a focus on how faith-based coping mechanisms influence resilience in crisis situations. Drawing on interdisciplinary research in psychology, theology, and education, the paper analyzes how individuals interpret and respond to trauma through religious frameworks. The biblical book of Job is examined alongside contemporary psychological theories of trauma and recovery to identify areas of alignment and tension. Using a comparative approach, the study explores common themes across religious traditions, including meaning-making, suffering, community support, and hope, and evaluates how these factors contribute to or hinder emotional healing. The …

Property Taxes And Educational Inequality: How Funding Structures Perpetuate Social Class Divides In San Antonio, Texas, Kristanna Martinez, Camila Ore

Posters - 2026

The U.S education system relies heavily on property taxes, creating an unhealthy dependence where property value dictates the quality of education depending on the school district

• In the historical case Edgewood v. Kriby, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the reliance on local property taxes for school funding was unconstitutional, as it violated the state requirement that all children receive a “thorough and efficient” education. The court ruled that every district must be provided the same ability to obtain educational funds regardless of their local property wealth. • The purpose of this study is to examine if the 2025-2026 …

Beyond Sequencing: Curriculum As Organizational Practice In Housing & Residence Life, Matthew M. Inman

Master of Education, Student Affairs Independent Study Projects

This study considers the factors influencing curriculum development in student affairs,  with a particular focus on housing and residence life contexts. Grounded in a constructivist and  interpretive framework, this qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with student  affairs professionals engaged in curricular work. Data was analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s  (2006) six-phase thematic analysis process to identify patterns in participant meaning-making.  Analysis shows that curriculum development is shaped by a set of interrelated organizational  dynamics, including tensions between flexibility and structure, the role of language in facilitating  understanding across staff roles, the influence of leadership and human resource capacity, and  the …

The Addison C. Harris Lecture: Intellectual Diversity Mandates And The Freedom To Teach, Keith E. Whittington

Indiana Law Journal

This Essay provides the first examination of the Indiana Senate Bill 202, which was adopted into law in the spring of 2024. The new law imposes an “intellectual diversity” mandate on public university classroom teaching in the state. The law is novel in its approach but is part of a larger movement to intercede in what is taught in university classrooms. The intellectual diversity mandate raises difficult and unexamined conceptual, normative, and practical problems that will now demand attention from university officials in Indiana and that might soon confront university administrators in other states across the country if the Indiana …

Transition To Parenthood, Angel D. Kietzer

Honors Projects

The transition to parenthood is an exciting and life changing moment for any family, especially first-time parents. This moment may be full of excitement, joy, and overwhelming emotions but may also include significant challenges. Parents may struggle with emotions as they learn how to adapt to this shift in family roles, and can be overwhelmed with the amount of new information they need to know in order to take care of their newborn. This paper will examine how the transition to parenthood is physically and emotionally challenging, as well as the educational needs regarding newborn growth and development, infant safety, …

1st Place Research Paper: "Gaps In The Academy: Evaluating Pre-Service Criminal Justice Training For Interactions With Vulnerable Populations", Rowan Eiselman

Kevin and Tam Ross Undergraduate Research Prize

This research investigates pre-service training for law enforcement officers (LEOs), specifically examining how current educational practices prepare them to interact with vulnerable populations, including victims, suspects, and individuals in crisis. The quality of this training is critical, as it directly shapes officer behavior, decision-making, and ethical conduct in the field (Mier, 2018). Amid heightened public scrutiny of police practices and calls for reform, the effectiveness of law enforcement education has become a central concern.

The significance of this topic is underscored by extensive research on training methodologies such as procedural justice and de-escalation, which aim to improve police-community relations and …

Building Qualitative Research Capacity In The Global Health Workforce And Developing A Community Of Practice In Parts Of Sub-Saharan Africa: A Case Study, Jack Lumsdon, Catherine Dotchin, Albert Akpalu, Benedict Calys-Tagoe, Dilraj Sokhi, Momodou Cham, Njideka Okubadejo, Richard Morton, Violet Naanyu, Richard Walker

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background Qualitative research offers unique insights into the lived experience of individuals with chronic conditions which can tie directly into public health priorities and identifying the need for additional support. More participatory approaches and qualitative data surrounding chronic diseases are needed in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Valuable “insider” insights are often missing as the conceptualisation of research often overlooks the value of such interactions. For successful and meaningful global health research, it is imperative to involve in-country experts and strengthen the capacity of research teams with qualitative skills.

Methods To address this, two hybrid qualitative research skills workshops were conducted in …

The Empty Plinth: Legacies Of Colorado Union Troops In State History Textbooks (1923-2024), Kai A. Moore

History

This research examines Colorado K-12 state history textbooks published between 1923 and 2024 to explore how the legacies of the Colorado Union troops, known both for their victory over Confederate soldiers in New Mexico and their perpetration of the Sand Creek Massacre, have changed over the course of a century. By focusing on the legacy of a specific period within one state for an extended period of time, this thesis demonstrates that state history textbooks can serve as a barometer for a state’s public memory of its own history. The combined impacts of the civilizational continuum and perspective on narratives …

The Impact Of Social Emotional Learning On Chicanx Students And Their Educators, Alesia Renee Camacho

Chicana and Chicano Studies ETDs

My research on the impact of social emotional learning on Chicanx students and their educators aims to analyze how the planned implementation of a carefully curated curriculum centering on the students’ culture and lived experiences makes for a better overall experience. For this study, I use the interpretive paradigm as it allows me to explain how education can serve as a tool to illuminate the injustices that students and their families face in their lives and, in turn, how these injustices are addressed in Ethnic Studies courses. Chicana/o/x Studies scholars have long advocated for utilizing students’ knowledge, experiences, perspectives, and …

Curating Black Knowledge In Academic Libraries: A Qualitative Study, Monique Christian-Long

Education Policy and Leadership Theses and Dissertations

Academic librarians play a critical role in shaping access to scholarly information. However, the intellectual contributions of African American scholars have often been marginalized in academia through structural inequities, archival gaps, and historical patterns of exclusion. This qualitative study explores how academic librarians understand and use their roles to advance access to African American scholarly contributions. This study is guided by Black Critical Race Theory (Dumas & Ross, 2016) and Ray’s (2019) Theory of Racialized Organizations, and examines how institutional structures, professional norms, and resource allocation influence librarians’ efforts to curate, preserve, and promote Black knowledge. The data was collected …

A Market Of Care Skills: Profiting From Professional Education And Practice, Yasmin Y. Ortiga

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Who profits from the commodification of care and how does such accumulation occur? Focusing on the case of the nursing care market, this paper shows how professional schools and local hospitals within source nations like the Philippines profit from nurses seeking the credentials to qualify for jobs overseas. While existing studies show how nursing skills are exploited and undervalued, this paper argues that it is the process of skilling itself that allows for the accumulation of profit, regardless of whether nurses leave their origin countries to work abroad. This study reveals how global care economies are tightly linked to local …

The International Pediatric Headache Didactic Series: A Novel Curriculum Innovation, Sara Pavitt, Sruthi Ilangovan, Zoë Allen, Samantha L Irwin, Irene Patniyot

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Objectives: The International Pediatric Headache Didactic Series (IPHDS) was developed to provide free, comprehensive pediatric headache education to healthcare professionals worldwide. The objective of this study was to describe the design, implementation, and impact of this prospective educational intervention.

Background: Headache is the most common neurological symptom within the pediatric population. Yet, only nine fellowships are offered in pediatric headache medicine. Limitations in access to education and training are often cited as reasons for diagnostic and management barriers. To address this gap, the IPHDS was established in July 2022.

Methods: IPHDS is a recurring series consisting of 23 biweekly lectures. …

The School-To-Prison Pipeline: A Crisis In Education And Justice, Abbey A. Poirier

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This honors thesis analyzes how school discipline polices, teacher perspectives, and academic factors contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP) in three Southern Louisiana parishes. Informed by General Strain Theory and Social Control Theory, the study explores how punitive environments, weak teacher-student relationships, and unmet academic or emotional needs increase the probability that students, particularly marginalized groups, are pushed out of instructional space and toward exclusionary systems such as detention centers. This project is based on a mixed-methods design using a comprehensive literature review with a teacher questionnaire distributed across Pre-K-12 schools in Lafayette, Vermilion, and St. Martin Parishes. Quantitative findings …

Virtual Education Report School Year 2020-2021, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Virtual Education Report

No abstract provided.

Virtual Education Report School Year 2021-2022, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Virtual Education Report

No abstract provided.

Virtual Education Report School Year 2022-2023, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Virtual Education Report

No abstract provided.

Virtual Education Report School Year 2023-2024, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Virtual Education Report

No abstract provided.

Tennessee Educator Survey 2025 Overview, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Tennessee Educator Survey

No abstract provided.

Annual Safe Schools Report, 2018-19 School Year, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Safe & Supportive Schools Report

No abstract provided.

Annual Safe Schools Report 2022-2023, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Safe & Supportive Schools Report

No abstract provided.

Annual Safe Schools Report 2021-2022, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Safe & Supportive Schools Report

No abstract provided.

Annual Safe Schools Report, 2019-20 School Year, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Safe & Supportive Schools Report

No abstract provided.

Coordinated School Health 2024-25 Annual Report, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Coordinated School Health

No abstract provided.

Corporal Punishment Summary 2022-2023, Tennessee. Department Of Education.

Corporal Punishment Report

No abstract provided.