Education Commons^™

A Standards-Based Grading Model To Predict Students' Success In A First-Year Engineering Course, Farshid Marbouti

Open Access Dissertations

Using predictive modeling methods, it is possible to identify at-risk students early in the semester and inform both the instructors and the students. While some universities have started to use standards-based grading, which has educational advantages over common score-based grading, at–risk prediction models have not been adapted to reap the benefits of standards-based grading. In this study, seven prediction models were compared to identify at-risk students in a course that used standards-based grading. When identifying at-risk students, it is important to minimize false negative (i.e., type II) errors while not increasing false positive (i.e., type I) errors significantly. To increase …

Exploring The Role Of Feedback And Its Impact Within A Digital Badge System From Multiple Perspectives: A Case Study Of Preservice Teachers, Erin D. Besser

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine the role feedback plays within the instructional process, and how students are using feedback to inform their course work within Digital Badge contexts. Educators are looking toward Digital Badges as a way to increase student engagement (Abramovich et al., 2013; Glover & Latif, 2013), develop mastery with critical concepts (Mehta et al., 2013), and reduce gaps in student knowledge (Bowen & Thomas, 2014; Guskey, 2007). Feedback is emphasized as a critical component (Bloom, 1968, 1976; Guskey, 2007; Kluger & DeNisi, 1996; Slavin & Karweit, 1984). Instructors need to be able …

A Consensus On The Definition And Knowledge Base For Computer Graphics, Michael Alden Roller

Open Access Dissertations

Despite several decades of historical innovation, measurable impacts, and multiple specializations the existing knowledge base for Computer Graphics (CG) lacks consensus, and numerous definitions for it have been published based on distinct contexts. Disagreement among post-secondary academics has divided CG programs into three contextual areas that emphasize different topics. This division has resulted in the decontextualization of CG education, and CG programs now face several challenges in meeting the needs of industry. Employing the Delphi Method, this investigation explored the perceptions among post-secondary educators and industry professionals about the definition of CG and how it is identified in terms of …

Exploring The Effects Of Conversational Repair As A Scaffolding Strategy To Promote Mathematics Explanations Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Jia Liu

Open Access Dissertations

Conversational repair often occurs in conversations when people attempt to address communicative breakdowns or inaccuracy by way of repeating what have been said or putting them in another way. The review of literature on conversational repair revealed that as an important concept in pragmatic aspect of language, it is an effective strategy to improve communication of different populations with disabilities. However, it is rarely studied in the domain of mathematics and with the population with learning disabilities/difficulties (LD). In current reform-based, discourse-oriented mathematics classrooms, students with LD encounter difficulties articulating or explaining well their reasoning processes due to the mathematical …

The Relationship Between Teachers' Perceptions Of The Feedback They Receive And Their Teaching Efficacy In High-Performing Schools, Joshua D. St. John

Open Access Dissertations

As reform efforts are prescribed in every state through mandates and regulations in an effort to better prepare students to compete in a global economy, and as states like Indiana implement new evaluation plans for teachers based on a rigorous rubric and objective measures of student achievement, close attention to the ripple effects must be involved. While efforts such as professional learning communities and instructional coaches are aimed at building teacher capacity, maximum results can only be achieved when school leaders balance how they leverage their evaluative power while promoting these formative experiences. Absent in the drive for heightened accountability, …

Development And Validation Of Pre-Service Teachers' Personal Epistemologies Of Teaching Scale (Pt-Pets), Ji Hyun Yu

Open Access Dissertations

The Internet has changed not only how we conceptualize knowledge, but also how we learn in classroom. Knowledge is not any longer transmitted from experts to non-experts, but is constructed through communication, collaboration, and integration among a network of people. In this context, teachers are expected to facilitate student-centered learning by helping students to construct knowledge through higher-order thinking rather than reproduce a series of facts. Although a growing body of research suggests that teachers' beliefs about the nature of knowledge and the process of knowing, that is personal epistemology, are related to their teaching and their students' learning, little …

Understanding Teacher/Coach Role Stressors And Burnout, Kevin Andrew Richards

Open Access Dissertations

Teaching has long been considered a stressful profession and is becoming even more stressful because of recent changes in state- and national-level educational policies that govern K-12 education. Teachers who take on additional, extracurricular roles, such as athletic coaching, may be even more prone to stress and burnout. Using occupational socialization theory and role theory, the purpose of this dissertation was to develop a more comprehensive understanding of role stressors, burnout, and resilience among teacher/coaches and non-coaching teachers. The study was divided into two phases. In phase one, 415 teachers (209 teacher/coaches, 206 non-coaching teachers) across a variety of academic …

Degree Program Changes And Curricular Flexibility: Addressing Long Held Beliefs About Student Progression, George Dante Ricco

Open Access Dissertations

In higher education and in engineering education in particular, changing majors is generally considered a negative event - or at least an event with negative consequences. An emergent field of study within engineering education revolves around understanding the factors and processes driving student changes of major. Of key importance to further the field of change of major research is a grasp of large scale phenomena occurring throughout multiple systems, knowledge of previous attempts at describing such issues, and the adoption of metrics to probe them effectively. The problem posed is exacerbated by the drive in higher education institutions and among …

Implementation Of A Research-Based Lab Module In A High School Chemistry Curriculum: A Study Of Classroom Dynamics, Matthew Pilarz

Open Access Dissertations

Pilarz, Matthew. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2013. Implementation of a Research-Based Lab Module in a High School Chemistry Curriculum: A Study of Classroom Dynamics. Major Professor: Gabriela C. Weaver.

For this study, a research-based lab module was implemented in two high school chemistry classes for the purpose of examining classroom dynamics throughout the process of students completing the module. A research-based lab module developed for use in undergraduate laboratories by the Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE) was modified and implemented in two high school settings. This module consisted of four phases: Skill Building, Experimental Design, Independent Research, …

Transformation In Action: Approaches To Incorporating Race And Racism Into Clinical Social Work Practice & Curriculum, Rani Varghese

Open Access Dissertations

Key leaders within the social work field have repeatedly challenged social work educators to address issues of race and racism, in addition to other forms of identity and oppression, in social work education and practice. Little is known, however, about if and how these issues are being addressed by social work faculty teaching advanced clinical practice courses. This qualitative study examines the manner and extent to which 15 social work faculty, all of whom teach advanced clinical practice courses in one of four graduate social work programs on the East Coast of the United States, conceptualize and address issues of …

Mission Driven Educational Leadership--Does It Matter? Examining The Correlations Between District Mission And Student Achievement, Brett Michael Kustigian

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to look at mission driven school district leadership in Massachusetts public schools and attempt to identify any relationship, or lack thereof, between district mission statements and student achievement. In this study, 288 Massachusetts public school districts are ranked according to their 2011 high school graduation rate and their 2011 tenth grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) results. From the 288 districts, a sample of the top thirty and the bottom thirty were selected. All district wide mission statements were obtained from the websites of the top 30 and bottom 30 school districts with a …

Place And The Politics Of Knowledge In Rural Bolivia: A Postcoloniality Of Development, Ecology, And Well-Being, Karen Marie Lennon

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of the dynamics of place and people in a rural municipality in southeastern Bolivia. A study of the dialectical relations between knowledge, ecology, and culture that are manifest through the daily life of the municipality, it is an ethnography that illuminates the multiple discourses of colonialism, nationalism, modernity and decolonization that overlay one another. The contradictions and tensions produced through these intersecting discourses represent major obstacles to the project of "decolonization" and the formation of viable and equitable "intercultural" relationships, as promoted by the indigenous leadership which is the governing party of the Bolivian state …

It's Nothing Personal: Competing Discourses For Girls And Women In Mathematics, Shannon Dawn Bryant

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation used a post-structural feminist theoretical lens to examine women’s under-representation in mathematics graduate programs and careers. Five dominant discourses that potentially influence women’s decision to enter mathematical careers were discussed, including how those discourses interact in competing and complementary ways to shape women’s and men’s ideas about the nature of mathematics. The study investigated the long-term impact of a single-sex reform-based summer mathematics program on high school girls. The study utilized a variety of data collection techniques including surveys, field observations, phenomenological interviews, and artifact collection. Nine participants who were enrolled in a summer mathematics program for high …

Financial Literacy And Women: Overcoming The Barriers, Melissa A. Donohue

Open Access Dissertations

Women are facing increasing financial responsibility, while at the same time, the consumer financial world is evolving at an extraordinary pace. These trends make a imperative that we better understand the evolving nature of gender-based inequities across our current socio-economic systems and intentionally examine those areas that are most essential in accelerating the narrowing of these gaps. The results of the study indicate that the assumption can on longer be made that women simply need better financial knowledge in order to reach a certain level of financial behavior, without increased access to capital. This study shows that the re-examination of …

The Effects Of Multiple External Mandates On Curriculum, Pedagogy And Child Activity In The Preschool Classroom, Kathleen A. Strub-Richards

Open Access Dissertations

Within the last decade, the pressures of implementing state mandated early learning guidelines and meeting the requirements from federal, state and local agencies, have taken their toll on many preschool programs. In the present study, preschool programs were given a chance to voice their opinions about how curriculum standards and other external mandates were directly and indirectly influencing curriculum planning, teaching practices, and child activity. A brief survey was sent to 90 preschool directors in a region in Massachusetts, 28 directors completed this survey. A sample of nine directors, from the survey respondents, volunteered to be interviewed. In two separate …

Organizational Decision Making And Goal Setting In Out-Of-School-Time Programs, Jenny Rebecca Hemmingson

Open Access Dissertations

Currently, there is a large body of research examining Out-of-School Time (OST) programs, the goals of these programs, and their reported impact on the youth they serve.

However, there is little evidence of research on how organizations determine which goals best fit the needs of the communities they serve. Concurrently, studies of how organizations put these goals into action are virtually non-existent in the literature.

This study examines how organizations in Massachusetts receiving federal 21st Century Community Learning Center funding make decisions about Out-of-School Time programming. Although the federal grant requirements and the Massachusetts Department of Education impose some uniformity …

Beyond School Inputs And Resources: An Assessment Of The Effects Of Program Intervention On Learning Achievement In Rebep Schools In Sierra Leone, Aiah As Mbayo

Open Access Dissertations

The EFA conference in Dakar 2000 ushered in new momentum for ensuring universal access to education and advocacy for improved educational quality in all aspects (UNESCO, 2000). While significant progress has been made in expanding access in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for girls, efforts to ensure improved educational quality in terms of learning, have not matched the drive for universal educational access. Rather, educational quality in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa has been seriously compromised by rapid expansion given the limited resources.

In many attempts to ensure the delivery of quality education in developing countries, the thrust of delivery strategies has …

Latinas In The Pipeline To Baccalaureate -Prepared Nursing: Challenges And Supports In Persistence To Degree And Professional Licensure, Cheryl Ann Sheils

Open Access Dissertations

The United States is rapidly becoming a more racially diverse nation. Racial minority groups are projected to make up 47% of the total population in 2050 and if current population trends continue, they are projected to surpass the non-minority population by the end of the twenty-first century. Furthermore, the Latino population, already the nation's largest minority group, is expected to triple in size and is projected to account for 29% of the total U.S. population by 2050. Unfortunately, the educational pipeline has created a shortage of Latinos in higher education. At the same time, the United States is suffering from …

What Is The Cost Of An Adequate Vermont High School Education?, Frank D. Rucker

Open Access Dissertations

Access to an adequate education has been widely considered an undeniable right since Chief Justice Warren stated in his landmark decision that “Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments…it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education” (Brown vs. Board of Education, 1954). State constitutions establish rights to public education. State legislatures define expected outcomes and funding mechanisms to operate schools. Over the past sixteen years, plaintiffs have overwhelmingly prevailed in court cases where they have claimed that children have …