Education Commons^™

Saved By The (Alexander Graham) Bell: An Analysis Of Synchronous Communication And Student Satisfaction / Retention Rates In The First Year Online Composition Classroom, Jennifer Jane Lynch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Online first-year writing courses, with all of their promise, still maintain alarmingly low retention and student satisfaction rates, driving online curriculum designers to take another look at ways to increase both retention and satisfaction. To replicate the high rates of face-to-face classes, we must revisit and revise our approach to communication in the first-year writing online classroom. Think about it: The online classroom has abandoned a mainstay in education for thousands of years - synchronous communication. Why have we been so quick to dispose of it? Are we now paying the price?

This research will provide additional value to the …

Guided By The Spirit: Understanding Student Behavior And Theological Philosophy Through The Lens Of Secondary Catholic School Teachers, Angela Marie Mucci

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how secondary Catholic school teachers perceived problem behavior exhibited by students with or without disabilities based on their theological philosophy. Using the methods identified in grounded theory, seven secondary Catholic school teachers were interviewed to gain an understanding of the extent to which a theological philosophy was reflected in their perceptions, responses, and policies towards behavior challenges/problems. In order to conceptualize and contextualize the notion of a "theological philosophy," this study utilized three tenets of Catholic Social Teaching (dignity of the human person, common good, and preferential option for the poor and …

To See And Be Seen: Exploring Layers Of Instructional Leadership And Supervision In The Enactment Of A District-Wide Teacher Evaluation Reform, Jenifer E. Neale

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes instructional leadership and evaluation protocols from a large, diverse district in the Southeastern United States in order to investigate layers of accountability and tensions created when principals are asked to fill the dual roles of both instructional leader and supervisor in a newly implemented teacher evaluation system reform. For this dissertation I investigate the role of the principal as a colleague and mentor and compare this with the role of the principal as supervisor and evaluator in hierarchical systems. I include the role of the peer evaluator, a new position, in my analysis. Critical discourse analysis is …

Evaluating The Get Into Fitness Today (Gift) Program: Weight Loss And The Roles Of Education And Empowerment, Emily Koby Novicki

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of Get Into Fitness Today (GIFT), a health program for adults that promotes balanced nutrition, physical activity, and weight loss through weekly meetings that provide education and social support. In addition to investigating the effects of GIFT, this evaluation sought to better understand explanatory models used by participants and program staff, and the roles of education and empowerment in weight loss and health education. This mixed methods, case study evaluation consisted of quantitative analysis of existing program records for 664 participants, 40 hours of participant observation of class sessions with ten GIFT groups, and follow-up …

A National Survey Of Instructional Strategies Used To Teach Information Systems Courses: An Exploratory Investigation, Yenni Merlin Djajalaksana

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many universities and colleges have placed increased emphasis on teaching excellence in higher education. Efforts to promote teaching excellence vary from the development of alternative new pedagogies as well as research exploring strategies to improve existing teaching practices. Logically, different disciplines employ different instructional strategies to prepare their graduates with specific skills, knowledge, and attitudes. This study examined the instructional strategies used most frequently in the information systems discipline and was inspired by Shulman's (2005) concept of signature pedagogies - the unique but pervasive ways of teaching within a discipline or profession.

This dissertation reports a national survey of instructional …

Florida's Adolescent Literacy Policy: An Alternative Reading And Response, Diane Kroeger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative case study, I constructed interpretations of the meanings conveyed by state-level discourse communities as they were manifested in the primary and secondary speech genres of Florida’s adolescent literacy policy. Meanings (or values, beliefs and feelings) are highly tacit understandings embedded in the language, actions and objects of policy (Yanow, 2000), and are conveyed through informal and formal speech (Bakhtin, 1986). Results revealed (a) state policy meanings convey multiple versions of literacy with a heavy focus on receptive aspects of literate practice; (b) a typology of students and their fit within the institutional system; and (c) an emphasis …

Factors That Influence Faculty Intentions To Support The Community College Baccalaureate, Lori Kielty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

An increasing number of community colleges in the United States are becoming baccalaureate-granting institutions. Proponents of the community college baccalaureate (CCB) argue that the CCB provides students with access to higher education, while others argue the CCB will compromise the community college's core values.

The purpose of this study is to explore faculty members' intention to support the CCB transition. Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior provides the theoretical framework for the study. The theory assumes that changes in behavior are intentional and, therefore, can be planned. This theory posits that attitudes, subjective (social) norms, and perceived behavioral control predict intentions …

Identifying And Addressing Health Disparities In Black Older Adults With Osteoarthritis, Chivon A. Mingo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of arthritis in older adults, often results in pain, disability and poor psychological well-being. Compared to White adults, Black adults consistently report more pain, more activity limitations, and have different perceptions about OA. Racial disparities also exist in treatments, and prevalence of arthritis. It is imperative to have effective interventions and treatment options for older Blacks. Yet, few arthritis interventions have included Black participants in their samples, and nearly all of those have failed to report separate analyses indicating the effectiveness for Black adults, thus leaving a gap in the literature. The purpose of …

La Vida En La Ficción Como Forma De Reescritura De La Historia Oficial En La Novela Caballeros De Fortuna De Luis Landero, Maria Elena Arroyo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis we will study Luis Landero's Novel, Caballeros de fortuna, specifically the creation by the characters of an alternate life that they create through fiction. As a result of a failed life that resembles the effect of the years that Spain experienced Francisco Franco's dictatorial regime, these characters, unable to fight insecurity and rootlessness produced by the society of this era, become victims of utopian desires that result in the creation of an alternative life lived in fiction. At the same time, we can observe how this life style leads to the emergence of a critical study …

Systematic Development And Validation Of A Course Of Instruction In Prior Learning Assessment, John D. Mcnally

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many post-secondary schools across the country offer adult working students an opportunity to obtain at least partial credit for work and life experiences in their curriculum through portfolios. The primary goal of this project was to design, develop and evaluate a portfolio course for adult students at a small independent university. Design emphasized adult learning theory and incorporated instructional design best practices throughout. Also significant to the design was the implementation of the Quality Matters ™ Rubric. The project focus was to intertwine the six assumptions of adult learning theory while implementing best practices and effective instructional strategies, and to …

The Dynamic Graphic Organizer And Its Influence On Making Factual, Comparative, And Inferential Determinations Within Comparative Content, Cameron Spears

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

By augmenting an existing static medium (a graphic organizer) with attributes such that learners were able to sort or rearrange information in multiple ways, two new types of “dynamic” graphic organizers were created. An experiment was performed to investigate the effectiveness of these dynamic graphic organizers as instructional tools. One-hundred-sixty-one students were recruited for participation in the study from a two-year community college and a four-year public university in the southeast United States. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three graphic organizer treatment groups: static, sortable, and shuffle-sortable. Response accuracy and response latency measurements for three types of mental …

Shamanism, Spiritual Transformation And The Ethical Obligations Of The Dying Person: A Narrative Approach, Ellen W. Klein

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The person experiencing chronic or protracted illness is confronted with a complex array of physical, emotional and spiritual trials. This thesis explores how chronic illness can be viewed through the lens of the shamanic experience of dismemberment and re-memberment and shows how clinical, narrative, and relational models on their own are insufficient to speak meaningfully to illness experiences, but the integration of aspects of each of these models when coupled with shamanic initiation experience creates an innovative model for patients and those with whom they are in relationship.

Organizational Information Markets: Conceptual Foundation And An Approach For Software Project Risk Management, Areej M. Yassin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation employs both design science and behavioral science research paradigms to investigate an emerging form of technology-enabled human collective intelligence known as information markets. This work establishes a conceptual foundation for the study of organizational information markets and the design and use processes of information markets inside organizations.

This research conceptualizes markets from an information systems perspective and presents an information systems research framework for organizational information markets. This work develops a systems theory of information markets to facilitate investigation of the relationships and interactions between markets as systems and their context of use. It proposes a structuration model …

Experiences Of Foreign Language Teachers And Students Using A Technology-Mediated Oral Assessment, Jeannie Ducher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of the speaking skill at the lower levels of proficiency is seldom assessed as a matter-of-fact in the foreign language classroom, for reasons of impracticality and difficulty of implementation. Although the practice of the speaking skill is an important part of current approaches to the teaching of foreign languages, issues of time and logistics often prohibit the direct evaluation of the skill in a manner consistent with best practices, which purport that practice and assessment must be closely aligned, and that students benefit from self-evaluation and teacher feedback. Classroom research has shown that a skill that is not …

Understanding Organizational Adoption Theories Through The Adoption Of A Disruptive Innovation: Five Cases Of Open Source Software, Delmer Nagy

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand how organizations adopt a disruptive technology, open source software. Five cross-sectional case studies at municipal governments were performed using a theoretical model based off of eight organizational adoption theories. Results of the case studies highlight how each construct from each theory was present at the organizations. However each construct was of variable influence based upon organizational characteristics and the time or stage of adoption.

Spelling Errors In Children With Autism, Khalyn I. Wiggins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to examine the spelling errors of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) when asked to spell morphologically complex words. Specifically, this study sought to determine if percent accuracy across morphological areas would be similar to patterns noted in typical developing children, correlate with participant age, and correlate to performance on standardized measures of achievement. Additionally, the study wanted to highlight the types of errors made by children with ASD on homonyms and the specific linguistic patterns noted when spelling derivational and inflectional word types.

Participants included 29 children diagnosed with Autism, PDD-NOS, and Asperger’s …

Effects Of Dual Language Learning On Early Language And Literacy Skills In Low Income Preschool Students, Vanessa Tápanes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents a framework for literacy skill development relating to both monolingual and dual language learners. The purpose of this study was to identify the differences that may exist between monolingual and dual language learners' performance on literacy tasks, before having a significant amount of exposure to the preschool curriculum. The sample included 78 monolingual language learners and 44 dual language learners who were assessed using the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised (WLPB-R). The researcher used scoring methods that took into consideration split vocabulary in dual language learners where a conceptual scoring technique was used (Bedore, Pena, Garcia, & Cortez, …

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Effects Of A Statewide Mandatory Grade Retention Policy And Student Academic Achievement, Larry J. Porter Jr.

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The literacy skills of students have become a significant concern among legislators and educators. The federal government has responded to this by enacting legislation that increases state accountability to provide evidence-based interventions to struggling readers. In response, the State of Florida has mandated mandatory retention for third-grade students who are at risk for reading failure. Third-grade students who do not pass the Florida comprehensive Assessment Test-Reading (FCAT) are retained. Students who score at Level 1 are retained, and students who scored at Levels 2 through 5 are promoted.

Research has indicated that retention has been an ineffective intervention to improve …