Digital Commons Network^™

Conceptualizing The Explanatory Fully Longitudinal Mixed Methods Case Study Design: A Demonstration With An Arithmetic Education Trial With Kindergarten Children, Menglong Cong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In employing longitudinal mixed methods designs, researchers have commonly used the fully longitudinal mixed methods design. This has occurred mostly in the health sciences but less in education. The current investigation proposes a novel longitudinal mixed methods research design, explanatory fully longitudinal mixed methods case study design. It demonstrates its potential for addressing research inquiries in educational research using the arithmetic learning trajectories datasets. This study is presented in three components. The first is a quantitative phase, selecting an exploratory case from a previous arithmetic learning trajectories study (Clements et al., 2021) for qualitative analyses based on maximizing the …

Cultivating Resilience In The Anthropocene: Evaluating A Gssw Ecological Justice Curriculum, Windy Selig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This Dissertation in Practice evaluated the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) Ecological Justice Pathway to examine how resilience is conceptualized and cultivated within the curriculum. Grounded in a constructivist paradigm and guided by an ecological justice framework, this evaluation explored the pedagogical and curricular strategies designed to prepare social work students for the emotional, ethical, and professional demands of practicing in the Anthropocene—a time marked by ecological degradation, climate crisis, and compounding social inequities.

Through qualitative methods, including faculty interviews and curriculum document analysis, the evaluation identified both explicit and implicit components that foster student resilience. …

What's So Funny About Theatre Of The Oppressed?, Jennifer Schaupp

Spect-actor: A Journal of Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed

This article examines my 2023 Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference virtual workshop within the framework of comedy and embodiment. It considers the activities I facilitated and their origins along with my perception of participant reaction for other educators and facilitators to adapt for their own educational experiences.

Innovative Virtual Mentoring: The Impact Of Technology On Neurologic Physical Therapy Education, A Case Study, Joy Williams, Joanne Pho

Pacific Journal of Health

Purpose: This case report provides an example of the utilization of true wireless earbud (TWE) technology within virtual mentoring sessions in an outpatient setting, aimed at enhancing mentee learning within a neurologic physical therapy residency program.

Methods: The mentor- mentee pair, consisting of one mentor and one mentee, participated in virtual mentorship sessions using a combination setup that included visual communication through a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant video conferencing platform delivered on a tablet, and audio through TWE. The sessions involved the mentee and patient in a face-to-face physical therapy session, with the mentor participating over …

Educational Efficacy Of Private Well-Testing Workshops And The Surveillance Of Private Drinking Water Quality In Connecticut, Alec Janis, Michael Dietz, Meredith Metcalf

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

More than 820,000 Connecticut residents rely on groundwater from private wells, yet minimal regulations address well water quality. Extension programs across the United States have begun to provide private drinking water education and testing assistance to address this public health gap. Few studies have analyzed the efficacy of these programs.

We delivered four workshops across Connecticut, from November 2022 to November 2023, where participants were given an educational presentation on private drinking water and an opportunity to test their well-water quality at a subsidized cost. After participating in the workshops, participants believed they were more confident to begin annual testing, …

White Paper: Addressing Nature Access Inequities Through School-Based Interventions In Early Childhood Education, Steph Dean

Publications

Access to nature is a powerful determinant of young children’s physical, mental, and cognitive development. Yet systemic barriers, particularly those related to geography, race, and socioeconomic status, prevent many young learners from engaging meaningfully with the natural world. Urban, rural, and low-income communities face distinct but compounding challenges in accessing quality green spaces. In light of these disparities, early childhood settings such as preschools, Head Start programs, and childcare centers, play a pivotal role in offering equitable nature access during the school day. This white paper makes the case for nature-based experiences in early learning environments as a vital solution …

Dairy-To-Go: An Informal And Formal Education Model On Milking Dairy Cattle, Elizabeth Ann Marie Kostalnick

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

Within California, 360 schools have FFA programs; however, there are still over 2,000 high schools within the state. This equates to only 18% of California high schools having access to FFA. That number may be greater than 10%, however, access to agricultural curriculum is still limited. Considering US crop production is concentrated predominantly in California and the Midwest (USDA-ERS 2017), high schools in California, regardless of location and proximity to a farm, should have access to an agricultural curriculum. The purpose of this project was to create a curriculum where middle school and high school educators can show the process …

Open Source Asic Design Curriculum, Francisco Wilken

Master's Theses

The ever-growing importance of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) in a high-compute world necessitates that college graduates entering the workforce are well prepared to design them. This thesis details the design of novel ASIC curriculum, using open source tools to teach at the undergraduate level. By moving to a higher level of abstraction than classical transistor-focused coursework, chip design material can be made accessible earlier in an undergraduate degree. Additionally, open source tools provide a powerful, free, and portable platform for students to create their own designs, solving assignments focused on industry readiness. Finally, this thesis studies the results and challenges …

Consumers' Perspectives On The Design Of A New Digital Frailty Education Course, ‘Focus On Frailty’: A Qualitative Co-Design Study, Kristiana Ludlow, Benignus Logan, Jhalak Arora, Sarah Martin, Elizabeth Miller, Ruth E. Hubbard, Nicola Warren, Olivia Gallagher, Rosemary Saunders

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: Frailty-focused care in hospitals is hindered by systemic barriers, ageism and stereotypes about older adults and frailty. There is a need for frailty education to increase healthcare professionals' and students' understanding of frailty. Objective: As part of a larger study to co-design a new digital frailty education course, ‘Focus on Frailty’, this study aimed to explore consumers' and caregivers' perspectives on (i) how frailty and older adults should be represented in frailty education and (ii) what healthcare professionals should be taught about caring for older adults and people who are frail in hospitals. Design: This was a qualitative co-design …

Smart Choices, Strong Voices: Empowering The Next Generation, Alexandra J. Bruce-Valverde

Graphic Communication

Smart Choices, Strong Voices (SCSV) is a financial and voter education pamphlet for students that is easy to understand and unbiased and helps to create a more financially and politically literate generation. The expectation for young adults in today's current world is for us to be able to make well-informed decisions about finances and politics. However, when we are constantly bombarded by misinformation and lack easy access to reliable, accessible education in these topics, these expectations become unreasonable. Exposure to this misinformation affects how we show up for ourselves and our democracy. As our world becomes more and more politically …

Traditional Institutions As Change Agents: Understanding Cultural Norms And Practices Promoting Gender-Based Violence In Nigerian Communities, Titilayo Ogunbambi

Dissertations

Traditional institutions in Nigerian communities hold a strong cultural foundation and significantly influence cultural norms and practices. Due to the increasing need for effective community-based approaches in addressing social and health problems on a global scale, we explore the attitudes and behaviors of traditional institutions as custodians of cultural customs and norms related to gender-based violence (GBV) and examine their potential role in ensuring community safety. By addressing harmful gendered norms and practices, traditional institutions could become key agents of change, promoting meaningful social transformations. This study explores the dynamics cultural norms and practices play in community safety, emphasizing the …

Test Equipment Automation And Remote Operation Curriculum Senior Project, Raheel Rehmatullah

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project is to create new lab procedures and lab bench permutations for Cal Poly EE students to implement automated Test and Measurement equipment into their electrical engineering education. Currently EE students at Cal Poly have no classroom based opportunities to learn about leveraging software skills and test equipment knowledge in order to automate measurements, which is a valuable skill for an electrical engineer in the workforce. The curriculum outlined in this project will include three experiments, each leveraging an instrument controller, and Python as the primary scripting language. Each procedure will require students to write Python …

Aapm Task Group No 249b-Essentials And Guidelines For Clinical Medical Physics Residency Training Programs, Jonathon A Nye, Joseph P Dugas, William D Erwin, David P Gierga, Darryl G Kaurin, Stephanie M Leon, Ho-Ling Anthony Liu, Zheng Feng Lu, Alphonso W Magri, Lynn N Rill, Leah K Schubert, Beth A Schueler, Irina Vergalasova, John Vetter, Brian D Wichman, Amy Shu-Jung Yu, Dandan Zheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The establishment of guidelines and curriculum standards for medical physics residency training is a critical component of setting expectations and competencies for the profession. Since the last publication of these standards, residency training has become integrated into the eligibility criteria for most medical physics certification bodies. The rapid growth of medical physics requires periodic review of the curriculum to remove outdated approaches, update established knowledge, and add emerging technologies. The goal of this document is to provide a reference standard for residency training program directors, training mentors, and residents to guide creation and/or optimization of their program's curriculum. The document …

Bodies Collapsing Together... Together As Dust., Catherine J. Wang

Masters Theses

I welcome you to a pedagogy of collapsing bodies: the teaching and learning practice between surviving occupants of Institutions.

From the villainizing of trans- bodies in K-14 public schools to the bodily removal of Palestinian discourse from universities, the 2025 presidential takeover of the Department of Education unearths systemic urgencies over the fragility, complicity, and agency of academic institutions—survivors of wars, recessions, shootings, climate disasters—that have always been collapsing. As long as educational campuses stage political and industrial performances, Institutional marriage to capitalism collapses the future of the university. Our architectural pedagogy shoulders this weight of confrontation: design education as …

Sociology: Culture, Marcia Morrison

Open Educational Resources

This work examine culture. It begins by examining the foundations of culture to include norms, values, language, symbols and knowledge. In looking at each, it breaks down the implication of each to the development of ourselves as well as the person in the environment. It moves on to look at contexts of culture such as dominant cultures juxtapose to competing cultural systems, and how the various elements of culture can serve to either promote or minimize the various cultural constructs within society.

Investigating The Associations Of Cognitive Health, Health Behaviors, And Personality In Older Community-Dwelling Adults, Yan-Jhu Su

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Cognitive decline poses a significant public health challenge, with profound implications for aging populations. This dissertation investigates the associations between health behaviors, leisure activities, personality traits, and cognitive function in older U.S. adults, using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (CAMS). This work comprises three studies that explore both cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives on cognitive aging.

Study 1 examines the complex interactions between personality traits, education, health behaviors, and cognitive function. The study is divided into two parts: Study 1a explores the role of health behaviors—smoking, alcohol use, and physical activity—as …

Editorial: Let's Light The Lamp Of Awakening Together And Make The World Better

i.e.: inquiry in education

This editorial focuses on the significance of education by discussing philosophical ideas and sheds light on what education means. It explores the research ideas of different educators.

An Exploration Of Gender And Sexual Identity Development Within The School Environment Among Gender Sexual Minority High School Graduates, Kendra Dawn Rogers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Culturally responsive teaching in a global society is critical to students' success. Inclusion is an important part of the culturally responsive learning experience for all types of people. Because identity development takes place during the adolescent years, portrayals of various kinds of individuals throughout the environment and curriculum may support the confidence of students’ identity development. All students can experience improvements through inclusive teaching practices, but particularly students who identify as gender sexual minorities (GSM) can experience improved identity development with inclusive curricula in all areas of schooling. Grounded in identity process theory and sociocultural theory, the purpose of this …

Teaching Hygiene Skills To Teenagers With Developmental Disabilities Utilizing Friendship Circles, Nathaniel Medsker

Theses and Dissertations

High school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often struggle with hygiene skills, including table manners. These difficulties are especially noticeable in peer tutoring settings. Peer tutors were utilized to increase the mouth wiping behavior of the students with IDD using peer influence through the friendship circles intervention. The participants included high school age students with IDD and accompanying peer tutors from their classroom. This was done in a social setting during lunch while the peer tutors modeled the appropriate mouth wiping behavior and complimented the students with IDD if they also participated in the mouth wiping behavior. The …

Artificial Intelligence Use In Medical Education: Best Practices And Future Directions, Rasheed A. M. Thompson, Yash B. Shah, Francisco Aguirre, Courtney Stewart, Costas D. Lallas, Mihir S. Shah

Department of Urology Faculty Papers

PURPOSEOF REVIEW: This review examines the various ways artificial intelligence (AI) has been utilized in medical education (MedEd)and presents ideas that will ethically and effectively leverage AI in enhancing the learning experience of medical trainees.

RECENT FINDINGS: AI has improved accessibility to learning material in a manner that engages the wider population. It has utility as a reference tool and can assist academic writing by generating outlines, summaries and identifying relevant reference articles. As AI is increasingly integrated into MedEd and practice, its regulation should become a priority to prevent drawbacks to the education of trainees. By involving physicians in …

Improving Self-Reported Hydration Using Refillable Bottles And Clean Water Access, Erica Short, Adam Dill, Ali Bradley, Kaito Gao, Jennifer Hanks, Hayat Muhammad, Mai Ngo

Nursing Leadership in Community Engagement Projects

In Washington State, around 18.5% of individuals aged 12 and older, about 1.4 million people, struggle with substance use each year (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2023). Many also face housing instability and limited access to basic health needs like clean drinking water. Our agency supports Seattle residents in recovery, and during our initial assessment, we identified inadequate hydration as a common concern. As a team of seven nursing students, we developed a community health project to improve self-reported hydration among this population. This paper outlines our process from assessment to intervention and our efforts to support healthier …

Hazing Prevention Education, Elianna Mielbrecht, Sky Agpawa, Ceirra Dean, Joseph Arinaza, Moses Hart, Lily Speakman, Hana Maow

Nursing Leadership in Community Engagement Projects

Hazing Prevention Education

Hazing in higher education is often hidden behind a culture of secrecy, tradition, or team-building. It includes any unwanted physical, emotional, or psychological activities that a person undergoes before joining a group that has clear lasting impacts on the person’s health, regardless of willingness to participate (H.R.5646 - Stop Campus Hazing Act, 2024; Boyer, A., n.d.). Seven nursing students partnered with a university’s campus security office in Seattle, Washington. This department is responsible for maintaining a safe and respectful campus environment, making it a key stakeholder in hazing prevention efforts.

Guided by the Stop Campus Hazing Act …

Staff Education Program On Strategies To Manage Disruptive Patient Behavior, Lazare Ngah Shadzeka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The practice concern was the absence of a consistent method of providing structured training on the management of disruptive patient behaviors to staff in a mental health ambulatory care clinic. This clinical gap is important because it heightens the risk of workplace violence, staff burnout, and suboptimal patient care outcomes. The doctoral project practice-focused question was, How does a focused staff education program on dealing with disruptive patient behavior impact nursing staff abilities and confidence in an outpatient clinic setting? Thus, the purpose of this doctoral nursing project was to develop and implement a staff education program aimed at enhancing …

Workforcetowards The Establishment Of A Workforce Development College In Liberia, Leon L. Banks Mr.

Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development

The call for establishing a workforce development college in Liberia is a growing necessity that cannot be ignored or overlooked. The call is growing louder. This article seeks to contribute to the discourse by proposing concrete justification for achieving such a worthy endeavor. A workforce education deficiency highlights a long-standing gap in the workforce sector that needs to be addressed sustainably. Workforce education provides several advantages for enhancing essential workforce skills and competencies. It lays the basis for collaboration among stakeholders. Despite its advantages, the process of establishing a workforce development college is marked by challenges. Some of these include …

Staff Education To Prevent Falls In Long-Term Care Facilities, Shekinah Gleason

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In this staff education initiative, I focused on fall prevention in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) by reinforcing the Morse Fall Scale fall risk assessment tool. Falls in LTCFs are a significant concern, leading to injuries, hospitalization, and declining residents' quality of life. The practice problem stems from insufficient staff training, contributing to inadequate patient care and an increased risk of falls. The practice-focused question was used to explore whether education about fall prevention measures and guidelines improves long-term care nurses’ knowledge and intent to follow these guidelines; a total of 23 participants were involved in this project. Pre- and post-education …

Does Choice Of Media Amplify Support For Political Violence?, Nathan Palomares

Political Science Student Papers and Posters

Acts of political violence have increased in frequency and exposure to American society via news media. Violent rhetoric is a common theme among many forms of media Americans consume, including social media, which has become an essential platform where Americans increasingly get political news information. The events of the January 6 Capitol Riots and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in late 2024 show how urgent the rise of political violence is and its destabilization of American Democracy. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the types of news media people consume and their potential to increase people’s …

A Study Of Student Support Services: The Impacts They Have On The Lives Of Two-Year College Student, Sonya Yvette Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study aimed to understand and discover the impact that student support services had on the lives of two-year college students during the duration of college and after graduation. The central research question was What are the experiences of college students, in South Arkansas, who utilized student support services at two-year institutions and how did they impact their lives? The study also focused on the services provided to remove barriers so students could remain in school long enough to earn a degree and how they can continue to be successful after graduation. The theory that guided this study was …

The Effects Of Counseling On Patient Usage And Satisfaction With Wearing Hearing Aids, David Frazier

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Hearing aids are a vital intervention for managing hearing loss, yet their adoption remains disproportionately low across age groups. Only 30% of adults aged 70 and older and a mere 16% of adults aged 20 to 69 who could benefit from hearing aids report ever using them. This study explored whether counseling and education, within the framework of aural rehabilitation therapy (ART), could improve hearing aid satisfaction and usage rates. Participants with mild-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss were evaluated using the Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life (SADL) questionnaire, which was administered during hearing aid fittings to gauge the effectiveness of …

Middle School Teachers’ Lived Experiences With Stress Post The Covid-19 Pandemic, Patrice Crenshaw Richardson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe middle school teachers’ lived experiences with stress and coping post the COVID-19 pandemic. The theory guiding this study was Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress as it was developed to examine stress and coping factors in occupational environments, including educational settings. This theoretical approach helped to contextualize and bring developmental understanding to middle school teacher stress resulting from the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants for the study were recruited through researcher sharing of study information via Facebook utilizing criterion and snowball sampling. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to collect data …

Staff Education To Improve Quality Of Life For Patients With Dementia, Vanessa Ann Soda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Dementia is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that is incurable and unpredictable. Patients with dementia experience a decline in functional abilities, communication, and social skills. Fifty-five million people worldwide live with dementia with over 6.9 million people over 65 years of age diagnosed in the United States. The practice problem identified by a 25-bed assisted living facility in the north-central United States was staff’s lack of knowledge of dementia diagnosis, person-centered care approaches, and optimal care strategies supporting a positive quality of life for patients with dementia. The practice-focused question addressed whether an education program consisting of evidence-based practices using the …