Digital Commons Network^™

Green Riba, Rahfin Faruk, Daisuke Takeda

Big iDeas 2012 Proposals

In Arabic, riba' is a loan with the condition that the borrower will return to the lender more than and better than the quantity borrowed - interest. This proposal sees traditional interest as oppressive - especially in light of new evidence about the role of microfinance institutions and usury - and counter intuitive to traditional small-scale entrepreneurship. The proposed initiative also seeks to use elements of business sustainability and environmentalism as core roots of the plan. The combination of two progressive ideas - the lack of riba' and biocentrism - are core ethical components to Green Riba. However, in this …

Smu West Dallas Youth Cultural Initiative, Savannah Niles, Diana Antohe, Ray Henninger, Oscar Mejia

Big iDeas 2012 Proposals

The SMU-West Dallas Youth Cultural Initiative began through our enrollment in Bernado Diaz’s Artist Residency directed studies course, Art as Social Practice. We are now hoping to continue our workshops and events with the West Dallas community at the Bataan and McMilan centers beyond the scope of this directed studies course, on the basis of the networks and relationships we have already initiated in the area. We intend to:

• Develop and implement culturally-driven curriculum for students participating in the afterschool programs of the West Dallas Community Centers.

• Pilot a program at SMU that allows students to engage in …

Results 2012: Using Flagship Data To Develop A Russian Learner Corpus Of Academic Writing, Anna A. Alsufieva, Olesya V. Kisselev, Sandra G. Freels

Russian Language Journal

This paper presents a project developed at the Russian Flagship Center at Portland State University, the pilot Russian Learner Corpus of Academic Writing (piRULEC). PiRULEC is the first of its kind Russian learner corpus that contains academic texts written on a variety of topics produced by advanced learners of Russian from a variety of linguistic backgrounds (heritage speakers of Russian and mainstream American students).

Nonnatives' Perceptions Of Group Work: A Study Of Their Attitudes And Experiences In The Group Work Setting, Ellen Nogueira Rodrigues

Master's Theses

Problem. Studies on group work in the field of second language learning have pointed out positive outcomes of this classroom instruction for providing output and input opportunities for language production, for negotiations of meaning, and for academic language. Furthermore, social-psychological factors that hinder language development are asserted to be prevented by the use of group work. Even though group work may create an excellent environment for second language acquisition, research has indicated that few opportunities seem to be conceded for second language speakers to take active participation in discussions. In short, it seems that nonnatives’ interactions are hindered due to …

The Rock 2012, School Of Engineering And Computer Science

The Rock

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Rankings On Student Choices And Institutional Selection, Ellen Hazelkorn

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.

Learning Experiences Of International Students In Online Course : Mixed Methods Study, Gulnara Sadykova

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explored the learning experiences of international students in fully online courses offered through a US university. Employing a sociocultural framework, particularly ideas put forward by Russian psychologists L. Vygotsky and American scholars R. Scollon and S. W. Scollon, the study examined the interplay of host and native cultures in an online learning environment and studied its effect on international students' learning experiences, specifically on the learning experiences of one focal student from China.

The First 40 Years: Building A Dental Hygiene Program, Carol Jones

MSU Authors Collection

Celebrating 40 years of trendsetting dental hygiene education at Minnesota State Mankato.

A Generic Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of International Students Participating In The Cultural Connections Program At The University Of Mississippi, Nadezda Nikolaevna Kholomeydik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the experiences of international students participating in the Cultural Connections Program at The University of Mississippi. A generic qualitative design was utilized using purposeful criterion sampling. The data was collected from two focus group interviews with 11 participants in focus group 1 and 10 participants in focus group 2. Using a generic qualitative approach, eight initial themes were identified after focus group 1 and eight clarifying questions were developed based on these themes. During focus group 2, these clarifying questions were utilized to further explore the eight initial themes in more depth …

Parent Involvement Plan For Lincoln Elementary, Michelle Kaune

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this capstone project was to create a parent involvement plan for Lincoln Elementary using research based information. The information gathered during the literature review will be used to gain a better understanding of parent involvement along with evidence based strategies to improve parent involvement. This plan will then be used by the school to work to increase the amount of involvement parents during the 2012-13 school year. Creating a strategy to increase parent involvement has been identified as a need by the school. It is also part of the school’s Adequate Yearly Progress plan which was submitted …

Executive Functions In The Schools: What Do Teachers Know About Executive Functions And How They Impact Student Progress?, Larissa Morgan-Borkowsky

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The current study surveyed middle school teachers on their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations regarding executive functions in relation to students’ academic success. The results of this study indicated that teachers perceived themselves as knowledgeable of executive functions. A disconnect was found between teacher responses to an open-ended question regarding abilities and skills required for academic success and their endorsements of specific questions regarding executive functions. Motivation, problem-solving, and basic academic skills were indicated as being most important for success, but two of these are considered capacities students possess intrinsically. When asked about specific executive functions however, they rated them …

Instructional Technology Usage And Implications For Student Academic Achievement And Further Success, Bradley D. Petry

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The digital divide was once a term used to indicate disparity between socio-economic classes and access to digital devices. The digital divide may now more accurately indicate differences in the types of usage between members of different socio-economic classes. Differences in usage among the middle school student population may play a role in the development of critical thinking and collaborative communication. The Maryland results of the 2010 Speak Up survey – a national student survey regarding the usage of technology - were used in comparison with student respondent school district differentiation and were also compared with student state standardized test …

Technological Innovations For The Human Service Profession, Tara M. Hill, Cassandra Pusateri, Erik Braun, Mueni "Joy" Maweu

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Many professions are incorporating innovative and affordable technologies such as smart phones, wireless Internet, gaming systems in which the only controller is the human body, and countless software programs and applications to improve efficiency, increase access, and promote themselves. The human service profession is also making strides to utilize new and existing technological mediums in original and creative ways. The article presents ideas for the use of innovative technological approaches in the training of human services students, the dissemination of services to consumers, supervision of human service students and professions, and the everyday operations of human service agencies. The limitations …

Using Newspapers To Improve Narrative Writing Among Secondary School Students / Saibah Binti Awang Ahmad, Saibah Awang Ahmad

Student Works (2010-2019)

Due to limited exposure and usage of the English language, many secondary school students in rural areas have difficulty in writing a narrative essay. The main reason given is lack of vocabulary. Hence, this research is to find out the student’s performance in narrative essay writing after an intervention in vocabulary acquisition using The Star newspaper as an alternative teaching and learning material. Activities using the newspaper are carried out for six weeks, at a frequency of 2 to 3 times a week. The methods applied in this study are pretest, post-test and interviews. The pre-test and post-test design is …

Encouraging Student Access To And Use Of Pastoral Care Services In Schools, Patricia Cardoso, Laura Thomas, Robyn Johnston, Donna Cross

Research outputs 2012

School-based health services (SBHS) including pastoral care can play a pivotal role in addressing adolescent health and wellbeing; including their tobacco and other drug use. To maximise the benefits of these services, they need to be accessible, useful for, and acceptable to students. This formative, qualitative study involved 12 focus groups within nine lower socio-economic Western Australian Government secondary schools. The purpose was to identify student (n = 59) perceptions of the availability and usefulness of SBHS (and other identified caring staff) to reduce students' harm associated with tobacco and other drug use. The findings suggest students were aware of …

Epistemology And Ethics In Relationship-Centered Legal Education And Practice, Susan L. Brooks, Robert G. Madden

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Navigating Culture In The Field: Cultural Competency Training Lessons From The International Human Rights Clinic, Kathleen Kelly Janus, Dee Smythe

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Developing Professional Identity Through Reflective Practice, Suzanne Darrow Kleinhaus

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Factor-Analytic Study Of The Learning And Study Strategies Inventory, Second Edition (Lassi-2) In A Sample Of University Students, Kwoneathia Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study sought to provide a better understanding of the factor structure of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, Second Edition (LASSI-2) at the item to scale level (via confirmatory factor analysis) and to expand the LASSI-2's psychometric properties (i.e., means, standard deviations, alpha coefficients, and correlations of the LASSI-2's scale scores) as well as examine for potential sex differences in the LASSI-2 scale scores (via t tests with Cohen's d also being calculated) with a sample of 420 university students. The means, standard deviations, and alpha coefficients of the 10 LASSI-2 scales for the current data appeared comparable …

Smooth Transitions : Increasing Support For Students With Disabilities And Special Needs To Meet Their Post-Secondary Goals, Traci Lynn Alger

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Transitioning from high school into their adult lives can be tumultuous for students with disabilities and special needs. Graduation causes a loss of some services where necessary adult programs may be inaccessible. Through written survey and personal communication with valid local stakeholders, opinions revealed a need for better connections to local educational resources to help students and their caregivers create realistic post-secondary educational goals. The action of this project is important because there are students with disabilities unable to access services for themselves as they are required to function more independently. Each student has different needs and unique goals, requiring …

The College Experiences Of Transgender Students: Creating A Welcoming Environment On Campus, Roxanna Jessica-Dyan Patton

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The number of transgender students on college campuses has been increasing throughout the United States (Schneider,2010). Transgender students face unique concerns in nearly every aspect of campus life. The purpose of this research was to examine the college experiences of transgender students and recommend best practices for making college campuses more welcoming for transgender students. This phenomenological study was conducted using open ended interview questions to collect qualitative data from three transgender students at a large four year public institution in the Midwest. Respondents identified unwelcoming messages in the following areas of campus life: student activities, health services, and through …

Dispositions In The Twenty First Century School Library Profession, Sue C. Kimmel, Gail K. Dickinson, Carol A. Doll

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Within the school library profession there is an emerging focus on dispositions, defined as "a tendency to exhibit frequently, consciously, and voluntarily a pattern of behavior that is directed to a broad goal" (Katz, 1993). Directed focus groups of practicing school librarians were asked to articulate their vision for school libraries of the future. Data from these groups informed development of six dispositional continua to guide both school library education and school librarianship in the 21st century. This study clarifies the dispositions needed by school librarians in the future.

Medical School Prerequisite Courses Completed At Two-Year Colleges By Medical School Matriculants: An Analysis At The University Of Central Florida, Erin Myszkowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many medical school admissions personnel and pre-health advisors advise premedical students not to take the medical school prerequisite courses at two-year colleges because they believe the courses are less academically rigorous than the same courses at four-year institutions (Losada, 2009; Marie, 2009; Thurlow, 2008, 2009a, 2009b). According to this belief, premedical students who complete the medical school prerequisite courses at a two-year college could be at a disadvantage in regard to medical school admission compared to those students who complete the medical school prerequisite courses at a four-year institution. In an effort to analyze these perceptions, this study examined factors …

Capturing The Imagination Of A Distracted Audience, David Paradis

Quidditas

We compete for students’ attention. Surrounded by smart phones, tablets, and laptops, we compete for their attention, sometimes in the classroom but definitely outside of it. To combat this deluge of distractions, assigned readings must contain attractive content. The challenge can be particularly acute in pre-modern history classes, partly because the language and the content of primary sources, even when translated into clear, modern prose, is often unfathomable to readers accustomed to reading Sparknotes or Wikipedia. One potential solution to this challenge is Maurice Keen’s Outlaws of Medieval Legend (rev. ed. New York: Routledge, 2001).

Student Facilitated Anti-Bully Program, Ashley Kiefer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Minnesota law currently states that each school district should have a policy that addresses all forms of bullying but allows each district to create their own. This past year, the state of Minnesota has begun to scrutinize this legislation with the purpose of studying the extent of bullying in Minnesota schools and developing policies to stop it. Many schools in the state have unfortunately experienced the negative effects of bullying; some such as the Anoka-Hennepin Schools have experienced investigation and lawsuits due to suicides related to bullying (Post, 2012). At Byron Middle School, there has been limited student involvement in …

Seeing The Clouds: Teacher Librarian As Broker In Collaborative Planning With Teachers, Sue Kimmel

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Teachers engaged in sustained collaboration with a teacher librarian were interviewed about the meaning of that collaboration. The findings suggest that the teachers recognized important contributions of the librarian to instructional planning and classroom instruction including knowledge, legwork, and support. In particular, they understood her role as a broker both to resources and to ideas for using those resources in instruction. While these resources were essential, they were not sufficient; they required a knowledgeable peer who also understood their application to the curriculum and what students were expected to learn. They required a librarian.

Student And Tutor Perspectives Of Tutoring In A Russian Flagship Program, Dianna Murphy, Karen Evans-Romaine, Snezhana Zheltoukhova

Russian Language Journal

This paper presents findings from a small-scale qualitative study based on interviews with Russian Flagship students and tutors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to explore students’ and tutors’ perceptions of tutoring in the UW-Madison Russian Flagship Program. The UW-Madison Russian Flagship is a rigorous undergraduate program funded by a grant from the National Security Education Program (NSEP) to provide opportunities for highly motivated students of any major to reach a Superior level of proficiency in Russian by graduation. Students in the program are provided with two to four hours per week of individual tutoring in Russian. The present study follows …

The Edition Freshers' Guide, 2012, Dit News Society

Student Publications

No abstract provided.

At A Glance: Georgia Southern University

Georgia Southern at a Glance (2011-2016)

No abstract provided.

Symposium Introduction: Humanism Goes To Law School, Marjorie A. Silver

Touro Law Review

By now, the knowledge that law students experience more than their fair share of distress is old news. The studies about law student (and lawyer) unhappiness have been widely discussed in both academic literature and trade publications. Less well known, however, are the increasing number of programs that law schools, and individuals within those schools, have implemented to counter that distress,and to help students develop a positive professional identity,both as students and as the lawyers they are about to become.