Other Education Commons^™

Influence Of Technology On English Language Learners' Vocabulary, Reading, And Comprehension, Catherine Elizabeth Crum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have shown that vocabulary development is a challenge for English Language Learners (ELLs) as they are less prepared to use contextual and linguistic clues to decode unfamiliar vocabulary. Beginning in the upper elementary grades, reading in content areas becomes lengthier and more complex. Technology-supported vocabulary instruction to teach social studies to ELLs is a relatively new concept in the 5th grade classroom. The purpose of this comparative study was to assess the vocabulary and reading comprehension outcomes of ELLs in the content area of 5th grade social studies when taught using technology-supported versus traditional textbook instruction. Mayer's cognitive theory …

Attitudes And Perceptions Of Middle School Students Toward Cooperative Activities In Physical Education, Damian Canny

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Physical education (PE) is recognized by public health officials as a medium capable of addressing various health-related behaviors, and middle school students perceptions and attitudes toward a cooperative PE curriculum have yet to be identified. This study sought to determine the perceptions and attitudes 10 middle school students have toward cooperative activities in PE class with the notion that the results would benefit both teachers and researchers. Two theories were used to guide this study: Bandura's social cognitive theory, and Harter's competence motivation theory. The research questions focused on identifying the attitudes and perceptions middle school students have toward cooperative …

Career Reentry Strategies For Highly Educated Stay-At-Home Mothers, Cheryl Mendinueto Guc

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Most stay-at-home mothers wish to return to the workplace; yet, the majority are not successful. There is a looming labor shortage and increasing organizational initiatives to increase female participation at most levels, providing opportunity for this talent pool. The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine the reentry strategies of networking, volunteerism, additional education, and additional training upon the reentry success for highly educated, stay-at-home mothers. In conjunction with the theoretical framework of the social cognitive career theory, self-efficacy, as measured by the New General Self-Efficacy Scale, was also examined as a reentry strategy. Survey research was used to …

'Stand By Me' Designated Tobacco Areas On U.S. Military Installations, Robert Thomas Gobble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

U.S. Air Force (USAF) active duty Airmenshowunusually high tobacco prevalence rates (TPR); i.e., smoke, smokeless, both(SSL-B), when compared to civilian publics in the United States. Tobacco control efforts have proven largely ineffective inlowering nicotine habits among Airmen, while outdoor designated tobacco areas (DTAs) sited near worksites and popular localeson USAF bases (USAFBs) likelyswayAirmen to continue riskynicotine habits. The aim of this inquiry was to assess whetherquantities of DTAs on USAFBs and U.S. airbases (USABs) with 4 mediator variables(quality of DTAs,sites of DTAs, execution of a tobacco cessation program, and types of tobacco cessation programs) wereassociated with TPR (SSL-B) among Airmen …

Determinants Of Academic Success Of Cambodian American Students, Chanthol Oung

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Cambodian Americans' (CAs) children still exhibit the second lowest rate of academic achievement in the United States, despite the tenets of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 that promote equality in American education. Furthermore, there is a gap in the literature on the relationship between the academic success of Cambodian American students (CASs) and the parents' and the children's factors. Using a structural strain theory of deviance of functionalism theory, this correlational study (a) explored whether education, income, birthplace, and gender of parents and age at immigration and gender of children the determinants of academic success of CASs …

Elementary Teacher Knowledge Of And Practices For Teaching Reading To African American Students, Camille Jacqueline Little

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

State standardized tests results indicated that between 2012 and 2016, fewer African American students at a rural, Title I elementary school met state standards in reading compared with other racial/ethnic groups of students. A gap in practice existed because the school and district had not conducted studies to understand teacher knowledge and practice as they related to teaching reading to African American students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to address the problem and gap in practice by exploring elementary teacher knowledge and understanding of the learning needs in reading among African American students. Tomlinson's theory of differentiated …

Managing Humanitarian Relief Organizations With Limited Resources In Ghana, Eric Osei

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

During disaster operations in Ghana in 2015, as a result of flood and fire, there was evidence of poor coordination between the workers and victims of the NGO, as well as inappropriate use of funds, which consequently caused compounding problems for disaster victims especially the outbreak of diseases. Little, however, is known about what conditions precipitated these events that may have delayed humanitarian, non-governmental organizations' (NGOs) ability to engage in disaster relief to victims. Using Freeman's stakeholder theory as the foundation, the purpose of this case study of the 2015 fire/flood disaster in Ghana was to understand from the perspective …

Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide To Lecturing, Presenting, And Engaging Students, Norman Eng

Publications and Research

Your students aren’t reading. They aren’t engaged in class. Getting them to talk is like pulling teeth. Whatever the situation, your reality is not meeting your expectations. Change is needed. But who’s got the time? Or maybe you’re just starting out, and you want to get it right the first time.

If so, Teaching College: The Ultimate Guide to Lecturing, Presenting, and Engaging Students is the blueprint. Written for early career instructors, this easy-to-implement guide teaches you to:

• Think like advertisers to understand your target audience—your students
• Adopt the active learning approach of the best K-12 teachers
• Write a syllabus …

[Preprint] The Practice Of Being A Student: Cops And Graduate Student Success, Aimee Dechambeau

Research, Publications, and Presentations

This report frames the major results of recent research into graduate student success using a community of practice model based on the work of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger as the organizational framework and lens for analyzing collected data. The goal was to determine if a community of practice developed among doctoral students and if so, whether it aided the students in their role and practice of becoming, and being, successful students. An examination of the first eight doctoral cohorts in a hybrid low-residency, self-directed graduate education program determined that student CoPs can develop to support students’ success in the …

Weatherford: Undergraduate Catalog 2017-2018, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Undergraduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Sayre: Undergraduate Catalog 2017-2018, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Undergraduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Synergy: Game Design + Qur'an Memorization, Sultana Jesmine Moulana

Theses and Dissertations

The rise of digital technology has transformed nearly every part of our daily lives, including the way we learn and memorize. Such transformations raise interesting questions for one of the most long-standing and demanding memorization tasks in the world: the memorization of the Islamic holy book, The Qur’an. For Muslims, The Qur’an is a timeless, sacred text, cradling within its covers many profound images, stories, and parables. Despite rigorous research in the fields of game design and memorization techniques, very little work has been done in combining these two areas of research to create a game-based memorization experience of The …

The Relationship Between Social Change Involvement And Education, Michelle S. Brown, Beate Baltes

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

Positive social change is part of Walden University’s mission. As such, the institution sponsored the Social Change Impact Report, which includes data from three online surveys that investigated participants’ experiences with social change because factors related to involvement in social action to improve the lives of individuals and communities are not fully known. Data were collected from the Social Change Impact Report to examine the relationship between the level of education an individual has achieved and how they rate the importance of and the involvement in positive social change activities. Results of chi square and analysis of variance indicated …

Occupational Therapy And Physiotherapy Education And Workforce In Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa Countries, Augustine O. Agho, Emmanuel John

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries are faced with the challenge of educating a critical mass of occupational therapists (OTs) and physiotherapists (PTs) to meet the growing demand for health and rehabilitation services. The World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) and World Confederation of Physical Therapy (WCPT) have argued for the need of graduate-level training for OTs and PTs for decades. However, very few studies have been conducted to determine the availability of OT and PT training programs and practitioners in SSA countries.

Methods: Initial data were collected and compiled from an extensive literature search conducted using MEDLINE and …

Refugee Students In Community Colleges: How Colleges Can Respond To An Emerging Demographic Challenge, Minerva D. Tuliao, Deryl K. Hatch, Richard J. Torraco

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This practice brief provides recommendations for community college leaders in addressing the educational needs of refugee students in community colleges. Despite increasingly diverse immigrant populations at community colleges, there is limited research examining refugee students and their needs in higher education settings. Educational needs related to social support, cultural competency of the campus community, and financial assistance are found to be salient for refugee students. Implications for community colleges are discussed from the perspective of validation and community cultural wealth. Strategies that meet the needs of refugee students include expanding social networks that involve local community organizations, developing specific support …

Foreign And U.S Educated Faculty Members’ Views On What Constitutes Excellent Teaching: Effects Of Gender And Discipline, Emad A. Ismail, James E. Groccia

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This study identifies views of foreign-educated faculty who teach in American universities on what constitutes excellence in teaching based on different demographics using the online version of the Teacher Behavior Checklist. Faculty from 14 institutions within the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) were asked to rank the top 10 of 28 teacher qualities of excellent teaching. The final faculty sample consisted of 448 participants, of which 309 were United States-educated (US-educated), and 139 were foreign-educated. The majority of the foreign-educated faculty were from Asia and Europe. Results showed that both US- and foreign-educated faculty agreed on eight qualities as the …

Moving Toward The Center: The Integration Of Educational Development In An Era Of Historic Change In Higher Education, Bruce Kelley, Laura Cruz, Nancy Fire

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Educational developers have generally articulated their mission around three major poles: faculty/professional development, instructional development, and organizational development (Diamond, 2002; Lewis, 1996). While the first two poles have received greater attention in the past, an increasing amount of emphasis is being placed on organizational development. This shift is a result of a growing tendency to see educational development as an integral component in helping colleges and universities effect change in multiple areas. The challenges higher education faces “require multiple teams of cross-unit expertise in order to make progress” (Schroeder, 2011, p. 202), and educational developers are often called on to …

Exploring The Potential Of Educational Developer Portfolios, Natasha Kenny, Isabeau Iqbal, Jeannette Mcdonald, Paola Borin, Debra Dawson, Judy Chan, Erika Kustra

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

There is growing interest in portfolios within the context of higher education, especially related to the use and integration of student learning portfolios, teaching portfolios, and eportfolios. Although little scholarly discourse has focused on educational developer portfolios, these have the potential to promote reflection on practice, showcase accomplishments, make explicit our approaches to practice, demonstrate impact, and support workplace personnel decisions. Despite these benefits, our community has not uniformly adopted the educational developer portfolio. Drawing from scholarly literature and based on findings from research gathered through World Cafés, this study explores the possibilities and potential for the educational developer portfolio. …

Stepping Stones: A Leadership Development Program To Inspire And Promote Reflection Among Women Faculty And Staff, Krista Hoffmann-Longtin, Zachary S. Morgan, Lauren (Chism) Schmidt, Emily C. Valvoord, Megan M. Palmer, Mary E. Dankoski

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Women frequently benefit from focused faculty development opportunities not because they need to be “fixed,” but rather it is a means to demonstrate that success, even in chilly environments, is possible. The Stepping Stones program uses a unique design to provide participants with inspiration, time for reflection, and strategies for how to navigate one’s career, through hearing about the journeys of successful women. In this article, we describe the program and evaluation results. Post-event and longitudinal follow-up surveys indicate that the program and its unique narrative format help to debunk the superwoman myth and leave participants with a sense of …

The Aspirational Curriculum Map: A Diagnostic Model For Action-Oriented Program Review, Eric Metzler, George Rehrey, Lisa Kurz, Joan Middendorf

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

When the process of curriculum mapping begins with the faculty’s articulations of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students should master upon graduation, a curriculum map results that enables faculty to review the curriculum for effectiveness, see the workings of the whole curriculum at a glance, plan assessments, and recognize where adjustments or changes need to be made. This article explains these benefits and lays out a step by step process for building such a curriculum map that can be adapted to any institutional context. We also describe a variety of outcomes from and reactions to our process.

The Role Of The Short-Term Mission Trip Process In The Development Of Cultural Intelligence In University Students: A Collective Case Study, Ashley Haygood

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this collective case study was to determine how, if at all, Cultural Intelligence (CQ) develops in undergraduate students through a three-stage mission trip process for students at a large Christian university in the southeast participating in three separate short-term mission trips (Africa, Asia, and Europe). This study found that across the entire short-term mission (STM) trip process, religious faith was a consistent theme impacting CQ development. Three spring break short-term mission trip teams were used as three separate cases, from which several participants, or embedded units, provided their individual experiences within the case. Data collection methods occurred …

The Relationship Between Self-Efficacy And Teachers' Ability To Integrate Technology, Robert Hickson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study sought to evaluate the self-efficacy of teachers with regard to the integration of technology within the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy within the classroom and their ability to integrate the technology available in the classroom. A quantitative, correlational study was performed. The sample was a convenience sample of 64 instructors at the middle grade level of a South Georgia school district. Middle school teachers were surveyed at one point in time, using Media and Technology Usage Attitude Scale (MTUAS) and the Teachers’ Sense of Self- Efficacy …

The Frequency Of Texting On Middle School Students' Writing Achievement, Jennifer French

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this correlational study was to discover the impact of texting on writing achievement for middle school students. The theory guiding this study is Vygotsky’s Social Cognitive Theory (Newman & Holzman, 2013) as it explains that learning is influenced by one’s social environment. The data that will be collected consists of the scores of the writing portion of the 2014-2015 state standardized test (ISTEP), a student survey answering questions about texting practices, and student status information on Free and Reduced Meals. The multiple regression analysis will be used to analyze this data because as inferential statistics it can …

Careers In Stem Begin With Elementary Student Interest In Mathematics, Linda Ertrachter Brimmer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

I investigated why math capable students are not entering science, technology,

engineering, and math (STEM) careers. To research the problem, I explored how highly

effective elementary math teachers (HEMT) create student interest in mathematics using the self-

efficacy (SE) theory and information and communication technology (ICT). The purpose

of the study was to discover if teacher training and instructional strategies can influence

student interest in mathematics to improve STEM career entry. The theoretical

framework adopted for this study was the SE theory, and the 4-phase model of interest

development was the conceptual framework. Participants in this multi-case qualitative

study included …

Accountants And Accounting Educators' Perceptions Of Accounting Certifications/Accreditations And Communication Divides, Brigitte A. Bennerson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Global changes to business exchanges of goods, services, capital, technology, and knowledge requires accountants to have more diverse skill sets than in the past. Practitioners' documented concerns about accounting graduates' inability to function globally. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was twofold: (a) to explore accounting practitioners' and educators' perceptions of the Certified Public Accountant and other accounting certifications and accreditations, and (b) to explore possible communication divides between accounting academia and professionals that may be creating a gap between what employers expect and what they receive from graduates. Phone interviews were conducted with 5 practicing accounting educators and …

Examining The Integration Of Technology In The Early Childhood Classroom, Kerri Lynn Willmann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Reading achievement scores in the United States are low and educators need more strategies to support young students in literacy. It is important to identify the technologies and implementation strategies that educators find beneficial for literacy instruction. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate perspectives on instructional technology and literacy strategies intended to promote student-centered learning opportunities. The conceptual framework was Bloom's mastery learning, Bransford's anchored instruction, and Piaget's constructivist theory. Each theorist encouraged exploration and hands-on interactive learning opportunities. The research questions addressed how teachers perceive the implementation of technology tools to enhance literary performance and engagement …

Nonprofit Leaders' Strategies In Capturing The Attention Of Committed, Large Donors, Aneatra Holland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Few U.S. nonprofit organizations meet annual operational costs. Facing government funding cuts, U.S. nonprofit leaders have had to seek other revenue streams to remain operable and ensure that the clients they serve continue to receive support. Leaders often seek out large donors but lack strategies for successfully doing so. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the strategies successful nonprofit leaders have used to capture the attention of committed, large donors in Southern California. Government failure theory and independence theory constituted the conceptual framework. The purposeful sampling method consisted of 3 nonprofit agency managers who had operated …

Kindergarten Literacy Readiness Before And After Highscope Implementation, Chandra Kathleen Youngblood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students who attended preschool in an urban Michigan district are not entering kindergarten with the necessary skills. The preschool implemented the HighScope curriculum and the effect of this curriculum on kindergarten readiness was unknown. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to investigate the difference in kindergarten readiness scores of students who attended a preschool before and after the High Scope curriculum was implemented. The pedagogical practices of preschool and the HighScope curriculum align with Dewey and Vygotsky's theories on experiential learning which were the foundation that guided this causal comparative study. The research questions examined preschool letter identification and …

The Effect Of Two Modes Of Aerobic Assessment On Fifth Grade Students' Self Efficacy, Debra Roth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Declining youth physical activity levels and lack of aerobic fitness have been well documented with a corresponding rise in obesity levels and health issues. Based on Bandura's social cognitive theory, healthy physical activity levels and aerobic fitness are strongly connected to positive physical activity self-efficacy beliefs. This study examined whether student physical activity self-efficacy, motivation, and effort were different for the FitnessGram-® (FG) 1-Mile Run when compared to the 15-minute Aerobic Assessment Based on Improvement (AABI). A concurrent mixed method quasi-experimental approach measured 5th grade students' physical activity self-efficacy beliefs through a pretest and posttest survey while aerobic assessment scores …

Increasing The Vocabulary Acquisition Rate For Third Grade English Language Learners, Jennifer Dawn Pendergrass

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Given the ongoing demographic transformations of U.S classrooms, knowledge of the strategies teachers use to address the vocabulary needs of English language learners (ELLs) is central for improving student outcomes. The problem in a Georgia school system was that ELLs were not building grade-level appropriate vocabulary at a pace comparable to that of their peers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify strategies that increase the rate of vocabulary acquisition for ELLs. In this study, 10 third grade teachers were asked about their understanding of the second language vocabulary acquisition process, which vocabulary strategies they were using to …