Education Commons^™

Design Thinking In Health Sciences: Developing Solutions-Oriented Graduates Impacting Local Medical Communities Through Innovative Leadership, Tracey T. Thurnes

Education Dissertations and Projects

Design Thinking in Health Sciences is a multi-year project that focuses on applying design thinking pedagogy across the health sciences in the undergraduate and graduate educational experiences through pop-ups and curriculum infusion at Elon University. In addition, the project serves to partner with local community organizations to provide “real-life” exposure on how design thinking can be implemented to serve the greater community. A convenience sample of graduate and undergraduate health science students completed a version of the INCODE-ICB-v5 survey that measures many of the same identified characteristics of The Ten Principles of Good Interdisciplinary Teamwork. Surveys were distributed pre and …

North Carolina Future City Program: Increasing A Statewide Program Mission, Presence, And Participation To Ensure Institutional Legacy, Lisa M. Thompson

Education Dissertations and Projects

The future was both the theme and purpose of this Consultancy Project (CP). Future City is an educational program supported by a national engineering organization. This program, with emphasis on engineering principles and activities, provides materials, processes, and structures that support a robust, project-based learning approach. Annually, students in sixth through eighth grade participate regionally, by creating cities of the future based on their solution to a challenge topic that changes yearly. The cycle culminates in a regional competition; regional winners compete in the national event in February. A group of engineers created a North Carolina chapter of the national …

Collective Impact Approach For Program Design And Implementation: Cleveland Reentry Initiative, Katie Munger

Education Dissertations and Projects

Most communities face complex social issues and develop programs to fill these gaps. Using the collective impact approach, a group of community partners formed a collaborative to design and implement a program addressing the needs of individuals returning from incarceration to Cleveland County. This consultancy project outlines the process of developing an evidence-based reentry program using the collective impact approach.

Don’T Count Me Out! The Impact Of Mentoring On The Persistence Of African-American Male Students At Predominately White Institutions (Pwis), Darryl E. Hylton Jr.

Education Dissertations and Projects

Over the years, more opportunities have been provided to individuals of all ages due to more and easier access to higher education; however, despite these opportunities, major barriers still exist that impact the success of a specific demographic—African-American males. While students of color had the greatest growth in postsecondary enrollment in 4 decades (Fry, 2010), research indicates a deficit trend of undergraduate males of color who fail to graduate once enrolled in colleges and universities (Carnevale & Strohl, 2013). To address this issue, institutions of higher learning have implemented programs, initiatives, and other strategies in an attempt to help these …

Governance To Growth, Nonprofit Vocational Rehab, Sheldon L. Gathers

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the Consultancy Project was to help move the organization forward as they stabilized their operations. The nonprofit is a vocational rehabilitation facility located in the southeastern United States. The pseudonym is “Better than Good,” referred to as BTG. Their mission is to provide employment and training opportunities for individuals with barriers to employment. Better than Good has been in existence for 30 years and has experienced some operational and fiscal challenges the last few years. As a result of the challenges, all the energy and focus by the Board of Directors and staff was placed on governance …

Implementing An Injury Prevention Program And Its Impact On Warehouse Operations, Michael E. Chapman

Education Dissertations and Projects

The implementation of an injury prevention program in the industrial and supply chain setting provides a great challenge within the emerging world of ergonomics and human factors engineering with limited peer-reviewed resources to guide organizational leadership. Building a program that focuses on education, individualistic behavior, and ergonomic engineering has the implications for reducing reported work-related injuries and work-related workers compensation cases and increasing overall workplace production. As provided in the case for ACME (pseudonym), work-related injuries and work-related musculoskeletal disorders were focused on to improve the overall health and well-being of warehouse workers. Concentrating on education and process improvement, with …

Utilization Of The Star Model™ As An Onboarding And Leadership Development Tool, Jacqueline L. Brown

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the project was to utilize The Star Model™ as a tool to address onboarding and leadership development. Training and development are important to the success of any organization. Specifically, onboarding of new staff and board members, as well as continuous leadership development of all staff, plays a critical part in the success of a nonprofit organization. To address this need, StepUp Ministry took a proactive approach and implemented a consultancy project to address this issue. The ultimate goal of the project was to ensure that staff and new board members received meaningful retreat and training opportunities that …

Back To The Basics: Building A Leadership Development Program For Students, Demario L. Watts

Education Dissertations and Projects

All higher education institutions have wonderful student leaders on their campuses. Institutions spend several thousands of dollars on students, and students spend several thousands of dollars on their student experience. During their student experience, students are able to participate in many different student organizations, where they may have an opportunity to become a leader within the organization. Each position comes with a level of responsibility and risk. As educators, it is our job to ensure that each student has a great experience and gains the basic understanding of what it means to be a student leader and a leader after …

Expanding The Academic Scope: Establishing A Collegiate Testing Program, Carmen M. Butler

Education Dissertations and Projects

Establishing a testing program on a university campus can serve to showcase student learning and create higher professional standards for any academic institution. By using Gardner-Webb University as a model, this consultancy project outlines the benefits of offering testing services on a college or university campus and the steps involved in creating a testing program.

Increasing The Sustainability Of Action Learning In The Beta Corporation, Sheila Person-Scott

Education Dissertations and Projects

The Talent Development and Organization Effectiveness group of the Beta Corporation, (pseudonym), introduced action learning (AL) as an enterprise solution in 2014. The group envisioned AL would become a key leadership development lever and assumed the business leaders would embrace the opportunities associated with AL; however, it was discovered that organic embracing of AL did not happen. A few of the reasons interfering with wider adoption were

a) Clarification of AL was difficult

b) Lack of understanding between key stakeholders

c) Undefined outcomes and measures

d) Delivered solely to an exclusive audience of senior leaders

e) Shortage of AL coaches …

Board Recruitment And Development For A Nonprofit Farmers' Market Organization, Tammy B. Bass

Education Dissertations and Projects

Community nonprofit organizations operated by a Board of Directors rely heavily on the commitment and goodwill of volunteers. By 2017, Foothills Farmers’ Market (FFM), a community nonprofit organization, had experienced rapid growth in sales, grant funding, and programs while experiencing highs and lows in volunteer Board leadership. The organization needed very committed volunteer Board members who would put in the time to run the small nonprofit business that was growing quickly. Board members were becoming less committed as the demands of the organization became greater, to the point that there often were not enough Directors present to meet quorum and …