Other Education Commons^™

A Study Of Satisfaction With Online Learning In Workplace Training, M. Anita Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The American workplace and American culture have rapidly transitioned to online learning and are now more dependent on technology. Yet, in spite of a multitude of studies that explored online learning, it has not been established whether managers are satisfied with application of technology to training. The purpose of this study was to examine receptiveness as expressed by satisfaction with effectiveness of online training among managers to determine if a relationship exists for age, position, and length of service. The research was based on theoretical foundations of Herzberg's theory of motivation and Herzberg's theory of job satisfaction. The goal of …

Innovation Strategies Of Small And Medium-Sized Central North Carolina Discount Retailers, Godwin Oseloka Okonkwo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In central North Carolina, small and medium-sized discount retailers have had a high failure rate, which is troubling considering that small businesses create jobs and drive successful innovation that is critical for economic development. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore experiences regarding successful innovation strategies of 20 discount retail industry owners and general managers located in central North Carolina. This study was grounded in Rogers`s diffusion of innovations conceptual framework and Christensen`s disruptive innovation theory. Data collection occurred through semistructured face-to-face interviews with owners and general managers of discount retail industry. Data analysis strategies included a modified …

Impact Of Professional Development In Response To Intervention On Secondary Teachers' Efficacy, Crystal Joy Spence

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2012, a southeastern state mandated that all school districts employ the response to intervention (RtI) tiered approach model to meet the needs of struggling students. RtI was implemented at the study site; however, secondary teachers were not confident in their abilities to implement RtI. Researchers have found that a teacher's sense of efficacy can impact student academic outcomes. Professional development on implementing RtI was provided for teachers in the study school. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of explicit RtI professional development on the perceived self-efficacy of secondary teachers and their ability to impact student …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Differentiated Instruction In Elementary Reading, Olwen Suzette Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many teachers in a low socioeconomic school district in Florida struggle with differentiating instruction for the large at-risk population; however, one school has been identified as a high functioning school. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how classroom teachers at the high functioning school are differentiating instruction and how their reading coaches are supporting the teachers in designing instructional interventions. Guided by the concepts of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and Tomlinson's differentiated instruction, this study examined the connection between these 2 concepts and explored approaches to the creation of an instructional model to support at-risk …

Internet Technology As A Means Of Delivering Reading Instruction In The Content Areas, Kimberly Rose Pintok

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to students not meeting minimum proficiency levels in reading, a central Florida middle school that was rated an A school for 4 years consecutively dropped to a B rating during the 2012-2013 school year and was 10 points away from dropping to a C rating in the 2013-2014 school year. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe classroom implementation of Internet technology in a middle school classroom in an attempt to address the steady decline in reading scores. Guided by Piaget, Dewey, and Vygotsky's social constructivist view of education, this study explored if and how teachers used …

Promoting Social Change By Increasing Oral Reading Fluency By Second Grade, Ella D. Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teaching students to read fluently has always been a national problem. At an elementary school in Louisiana, over 50% of second grade students earned at risk or at some risk ratings on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) test in reading fluency from 2007 to 2009. The purpose of this project study was to determine the professional learning needs of educators for teaching oral reading fluency by investigating 2 aspects of reading proficiency: educators' perceptions of additional skills needed to increase students' fluency by second grade, and the types of professional development educators believed would assist them …

Closing The Innovation Gap For Business Sustainability, Wayne Philip Stamler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Senior business leaders may deliberately impede innovation or inadvertently fail at creating a culture of innovation to foster new product development. The gap between desired and achieved levels of innovation is cause for concern. Addressing the innovation gap may require new ways of thinking from senior executives and a departure from a locked-in mindset to make the linkage between innovation, branding, and financial performance. In this quantitative research study, multiple regression analyses were used to examine and analyze the relationship between innovation rankings, brand valuation, and economic sustainability to address possible reasons for an innovation gap. The theoretical framework of …

Relationships Between Business Planning And Reaching Forecasted Sales Objectives For New England Farmers, Kenny Roberts

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the last 100 years, more than 3 million small farming operations have been replaced by large factory farms in America. This shift toward food production by conglomerations has led to severe environmental issues, food security hazards, and economic hardship in farming communities nationwide. This study investigated the extent to which a written business plan could help small farming operations meet their sales objectives and ultimately continue to operate; this study also examined the perceptions of farm owners regarding the ability of a business plan to affect sales objectives. The sample consisted of 71 Maine Farms for Future (FFF) recipients …

Exploring Craft Brewery Owners' Success Though Stakeholder Involvement, Daniel M. Leland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2014, 547 new breweries opened in the United States and more than 2 million barrels of beer were produced by American homebrewers. Craft brewery owners face challenges in increasing profit because of intense competition from existing breweries, new ventures, and homebrewers. The purpose of the study was to explore the strategies that craft brewery owners used to increase profits by collaboratively working with internal and external stakeholders, such as employees, distributors, customers, suppliers, lending groups, and community organizations. The conceptual framework of this multiple-case study was the stakeholder theory. The basic tenet of the stakeholder theory is that a …

Executive Compensation, Firm Performance, And Net Community Benefits Within Nonprofit Urban Hospitals, Terry Deshawn Long

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit hospitals are under increased pressure to maintain financial stability and compliance with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) net community benefit requirements. Boards of directors are not always confident that the compensation packages awarded to executives stimulate them to act in the organization's best interest. The principal-agent theory formed the basis of this correlational study. Archival data from National Center for Charitable Statistics, Guidestar, and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services were collected from 117 nonprofit urban hospitals for the fiscal year 2013. Regression analysis was used to determine the significance of relationships between return on assets (ROA), change in …

Spiritual Nurture In Developing The Faith Of Christian High School Students: A Phenomenological Study, Marsha Boyd-Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many Christian schools provide solid academic environments for adolescents. The programming promises to deliver an education to nurture the human soul. This qualitative, transcendental, phenomenological study was for the purpose of discovering how spiritual nurture in Christian high schools aided and encouraged faith development. Christian high school is the lived experience of adolescents going to school with spiritual nurture at the heart of their programming. The participants were 15 adolescents who attended a Christian high school that implemented spiritual nurture by use of prayer, worship, biblically-integrated curriculum, Bible study, teacher-student relationships, holistic correction, and peer relationships. The epoche was the …

Effects Of Child-Parent Attachment And God Attachment On Depression In Adolescent Christians, Soloman Aifuwa

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis contains a description of a study that examined the relationships between parent attachment, God attachment, and depression in adolescent Christians. It was predicted that secure parent and God attachment are related, and that they will have positive effects on depression and that God attachment will mediate the effects of parent attachments on depression. The study was a cross-sectional correlation study that employed 75 adolescents in youth ministries in North-east Jersey. Depression and attachment measures were administered and the results were analyzed using hierarchical and simultaneous multiple regression, and Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficient. The study findings demonstrated that parent …

Linguistic Cohesion In Middle-School Texts: A Comparison Of Logical Connectives Usage In Science And Social Studies Textbooks, Diego Román, Allison Briceño, Hannah Rhode, Stephanie Hironka

Faculty Publications

Learning from textbooks is challenging because students must understand novel concepts while also comprehending the language used to convey those concepts. In the domain of science, one posited reason for the perceived difficulty in the reading comprehension of science texts is the low frequency of logical connectives (words that signal relationships between sentences and ideas). To test this claim and discuss its potential effects on the reading comprehension of texts used at the middle school level, this study measured whether the usage of logical connectives (e.g., therefore, so) differed between science and social studies textbooks. Our findings from a large …

Promoting Sexuality Education In Tertiary Institutions: Expected Roles Of Women Librarians In Nigeria, Nkechi N. Amaechi Dr. (Mrs.), Linda I. Anyalebechi, Ifeyinwa Aidah Ariole

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper aimed at x-raying the expected roles of women librarians in promoting sexuality education on within the Nigerian context. The study adopted the desk-research approach where extensive literature review was used in generating data for the study. The findings reveals that women can organize talks for women and young people in the rural areas, organize sex education seminars in collaboration with students Affairs Division in tertiary institutions, use social media platform to disseminate information relating to sexuality education among others. Challenges relating to cultural, religious factors, low literacy level among rural women were identified in the paper. The paper …

Moving People And Minds: Dance As A Vehicle Of Democratic Education, Theresa Catalano, Alison E. Leonard

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Engaging today’s youth in civil discussions of contentious issues remains both a crucial element in democratically oriented education and extremely challenging to facilitate. The purpose of this article, which documents and presents pilot study findings from a dance workshop that engaged practicing teachers surrounding the issue of immigration, is to understand how dance can be integrated into the curriculum to prepare students to engage in democratic deliberation. Data collection consisted of pre- and post-workshop interviews with participants and was analyzed based on common principles of democracy and democratic education found in the literature. Findings point to the important role that …

Combined Iron Deficiency And Low Aerobic Fitness Doubly Burden Academic Performance Among Women Attending University, Samuel P. Scott, Mary Jane Desouza, Karsten Koehler, Laura E. Murray-Kolb

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Academic success is a key determinant of future prospects for students. Cognitive functioning has been related to nutritional and physical factors. Here, we focus on iron status and aerobic fitness in young-adult female students given the high rate of iron deficiency and declines in fitness reported in this population. Objectives: We sought to explore the combined effects of iron status and fitness on academic success and to determine whether these associations are mediated by cognitive performance.

Methods: Women (n = 105) aged 18–35 y were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Data were obtained for iron biomarkers, peak oxygen …