Education Commons^™

Rural Appalachian Teachers' Use Of Social Media To Find And Engage In Professional Development, Kristy Johnson

Ed.D. Dissertations

Rural elementary teachers faced challenges to professional development which differed from their urban or suburban peers. With the increasing popularity of social media at the time of this study, rural elementary teachers had the opportunity to use social media to find and engage in professional development which might otherwise be unavailable to them. By engaging in professional development teachers found via social media, rural elementary teachers could overcome some of the challenges faced as a rural educator. The purpose of this study was to determine how rural elementary teachers perceived and used social media to find and engage in professional …

School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers: Self-Efficacy With Face-To-Face, Remote, And Hybrid Instruction And Perceptions Of Professional Development Regarding Technology Integration, Gayle Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This three-article dissertation examined the perceptions of school-based agricultural education teachers in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama on self-efficacy and professional development activities since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first article was an examination of teacher self-efficacy in delivering instruction in three classroom settings: face-to-face, remote, and hybrid, which is a combination of face-to-face and remote simultaneous instruction. The second was a descriptive study of teacher experiences and perceptions of professional development activities related to instructional technology over the past two years. The third article examines the correlation between each of the teacher self-efficacy instructional setting constructs and perceptions …

An Autoethnograpy Of A Baby Boomer In Higher Education: Challenges And Catalysts For Change, Deborra Finlan

Theses & Dissertations

Higher education as a baby boomer brings mental, physical, and economic adjustments, concerns, and insecurities. Additionally, life delivers unexpected challenges and barriers which can cause hardships requiring various types of motivation. Fortunately, there are also catalysts which can contribute toward successes. Literature from four major elements were the focus in this study: motivation, adult learning, challenges, barriers, and catalysts. Theorists and theories included Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation with the added factor of cost, and Ryan and Deci’s theory on self-determination; Mezirow’s transformative learning and Knowles’s self-directed learning; Cross’s theory on educational barriers—situational, dispositional, and institutional; and Cobb’s social support …

The Role Of Self-Efficacy And Emotional Exhaustion In Teacher Considerations Of Job-Related Stressors And Attrition: A Mixed-Methods Study, Raymond Nance

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Teacher attrition is a problem currently afflicting classrooms around the world. Emotional exhaustion and teacher self-efficacy have been demonstrated to be factors in attrition. This study assesses the efficacy of potential tools for use in evaluating emotional exhaustion and self-efficacy before problems arise and to guide professional development in efficacious directions.

This parallel-convergent mixed-methods study performed quantitative regression analyses on the joined effects of emotional exhaustion and self-efficacy to assess their potential mediating role between teachers’ job stressors and considerations of leaving the job. The existence of mediation was demonstrated. Qualitative thematic analysis of transcripts from six interviews with current …

Perceived Levels Of Teaching Self-Efficacy Among Advanced Ces Doctoral Students Engaging In External Pedagogical Experiences, Erika Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined factors of internal preparation practices (i.e., coursework in college teaching, fieldwork in college teaching, and frequency of supervision) and external pedagogical experiences (i.e., holding a bachelor’s or master’s degree in teaching and adjunct faculty experiences in higher education) and their potential effects on teaching self-efficacy among counselor education and supervision doctoral students. This study identified both significant and non-significant relationships between the stated variables. Contrary to previous research (Suddeath et al., 2020), internal preparation practices did not significantly predict scores of teaching self-efficacy among this population. However, the findings suggest that participants holding a bachelor’s or …

Elementary Preservice Teachers Self-Efficacy And Confidence Teaching Engineering, Andrea Perrin

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

Engineering has become a popular topic within science standards in recent years. However, many teachers do not have experience teaching or doing engineering. With the possibility of engineering becoming a major part of the science curriculum, it is important that teachers are prepared and well equipped to teach and instruct engineering activities, lessons, and support. This quantitative study studied elementary preservice teachers’ self-efficacy and confidence with teaching engineering in the classroom after experiencing and teaching engineering activities. Overall, the implementation of the engineering activities had both positive and negative impacts on preservice teachers’ perceptions of themselves and teaching engineering in …