Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

A Descriptive Study Of Doctoral Graduates’ Perceptions Of Mentoring By Their Dissertation Chairs, Amanda Blount

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental study was to examine doctoral graduates’ satisfaction with the mentoring provided by their dissertation chairs. The relationships between doctoral students and their dissertation chairs can positively or negatively influence a doctoral student’s dissertation journey. The researcher developed and validated a survey to determine doctoral graduates’ perceptions of mentoring by their dissertation chairs based on best practices in the literature. The online survey was announced nationwide using email and social media: 133 graduates from multiple disciplines and institutions responded with complete data. The responses were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the analyses …

The Virtual Education Setting In Grades 9-12: How The Practices For Online Teacher And Learning Impact Student Achievement, Kimberly Acosta

Dissertations

Countless virtual school options are in operation all around the world. A growing number of teachers and students throughout the nation, continent, and world are working and learning online. With virtual learning steadily increasing, it is critical for educators to establish and implement the best online teaching and learning practices. The purpose of my study was to identify and explore the practices of effective teachers in the virtual school setting and how those practices impacted student achievement outcomes. The context of this inquiry was full-time national virtual public high school charter schools operating under the umbrella of the same national …

The Effects Of Blended Learning On Student Achievement Within Various Environments: A Program Evaluation, Christine Nicole Harris

Dissertations

Educational K-12 learning environments have had limited to no change over many decades. Due to recent initiatives to social-emotional programs, school safety measures, and the need to increase academic achievement, there has been a push for school choice options that go beyond the traditional ways of learning. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of blended learning on student achievement within various environments in Grades 3-8. I used a mixed methodology to compare quantitative extant data from Achieve3000®, State Standardized Assessments, as well as qualitative data through teacher, parent, and student surveys. I collected 229 student extant …

Guided Online Coaching For Teachers Of Emergent Bilinguals In A Tesol Practicum Course During Covid-19, Dawn Thieman

Dissertations

Guided online coaching for teachers of emergent bilinguals (EBLs) is a job-embedded professional development model established from the educational policies and practices described in the No Child Left Behind Act and Every Student Succeeds Act. Having effective teachers who ensure an equitable, creative, and linguistically and culturally relevant education for all EBLs is of paramount importance in the ever-changing demography of schools in the United States. The guided online coaching for teachers of EBLs offers a collaborative, facilitative, dialogic, and reflective coaching process for positively influencing teacher transformation, thus providing a creative language teaching pedagogy for EBLs. The purpose of …

Pandemic Schooling: Lessons In Equity, Advocacy, And Racial Justice, Donna Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It was my fourth year of teaching at a Brooklyn elementary school when the COVID-19 pandemic forced school buildings, and the entire city, to enter a world of lockdown and quarantine. New York City was an early epicenter of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and the virus quickly revealed severe racial and socioeconomic disparities across the city. A disproportionate number of cases, serious illnesses, and death has been experienced by low-income Black and Latinx communities. At the same time, 2020 also ushered in a national racial reckoning following the May murder of George Floyd.

In this thesis, I will provide a …

Investigating The Attitudes, Beliefs And Practices Of High School Chemistry Teachers Regarding The Differentiation Of Instruction, Anna Tyrina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Differentiation of instruction (DI) is a broad term used for a group of pedagogical tools that teachers use to individualize instruction for students of different abilities and needs. Differentiation of instruction is a practice that has been researched and characterized to have a variety of instructional benefits, some of which include increased student motivation and engagement (Tomlinson, 2001). This study sought to characterize the attitudes, beliefs, and practices of ten high school chemistry teachers in Maine regarding the differentiation of instruction. Through a phenomenological approach, interviews with these teachers were analyzed to understand how high school chemistry teachers define differentiated …

Effects Of Professional Development Delivered In A Blended Format On General Education Elementary Teachers' Knowledge Of The Response To Intervention Process, Laura Jensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Research within the last decade suggests that in-service general education elementary teachers’ understanding of and skills in administering Response to Intervention (RtI) practices are limited. A review of literature revealed a shortage of professional publications investigating the effects of RtI training for these teachers on their knowledge and skills. This project examined the effects of professional development delivered in a blended format on elementary general education teachers’ knowledge of the response to intervention process. Participants included female general education teachers with a current teaching assignment in grades one or two with a range of teaching experience from preschool through sixth …

Non-Traditional Instruction: Examining The Interaction Effect Between Student Characteristics And Perceived Sense Of Connectedness In An Online Learning Environment., Kendra M, Nolan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The school setting also has an influence on students' sense of connectedness. Because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, schools across the United States and the world were forced to close in March 2020. The sampled district began the 2020-2021 school year with non-traditional instruction (NTI). With NTI, teachers and students continued academic instruction through an online communication platform such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. Researchers and school leaders are uncertain how effective online learning was. Furthermore, minimal research explores the interaction effect between student characteristics (grade level, gender, and race/ethnicity) and their perceived sense of connectedness in a …

Use Of Standardized Test Results By Faculty And Students For Advanced Practice Nurse Certification Success, Dinorah Martinez-Anderson

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

The utilization of standardized testing as a recognized educational strategy to measure pre-professional readiness in Advanced Practice Nursing (APN) graduate programs has increased. Research supports such use for predicting licensure success for undergraduate education, however when related to the use in graduate nursing education, it is limited. Teaching and learning practices of APN faculty and students have not been comprehensively explored. This study examined the use of standardized testing results by faculty and students in APN graduate education that contributes to student national certification success. The Reconceptualization of Vygotsky’s Theory of Zone of Proximal Development (RVZPD) underpins the study. An …

Vocational Education: Cna Students’ Perspectives Of Soft Skills In Training And The Workplace, Kimberly S. Mcclendon-Payton

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify CNAs’ perceptions about the most important soft skills used by CNAs in training and the workplace.

Methodology: This quantitative research study identified CNAs’ perceptions of the most important soft skills they used based on the composite model for soft skills. CNAs were selected based on purposeful sampling. Likert scores were collected from the survey responses.

Findings: Examination of the quantitative data from the 35 CNAs revealed that brainstorming is the most important collaboration soft skill in CNA training and the workplace.

Conclusions: Results based on the findings of this study …

Equity By Design And Delivery Model In Online Learning: Educator And Student Perceptions And Behaviors As Leading Indicators Of Systemic Change, Miebeth Bustillo-Booth

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

The purpose of this study is to explore educator and student perceptions of and behaviors in the Equity by Design and Delivery (EDD) model and its online courses as leading indicators of systemic change. The EDD model is a pilot intervention to eliminate opportunity to learn gaps at the program level in a mid-sized northwestern college in the United States. It shifts instructional behavior from individual efforts to collective approaches to limit quality variances in online courses, theorized to be a major contributor of missed opportunities to learn at high levels, by developing and delivering reliable quality courses based on …

Creating An Engaging Environment For Adult Esl Learners In E-Learning Settings: Reducing Affective Filters And Cognitive Overload, Qian Liu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Countless online ESL programs targeting adult learners have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially since the unemployment crisis made people start thinking about self-improvement. This emergence of online education is a life-changing chance not only for the ESL education industry and teachers, but also for countless learners. This field project includes appropriate background, a review of relevant literature, and ultimately presents a free, online self-training session for novice online ESL teachers who teach adults.

Research that informed the creation of this project indicated that online second language education programs that use technological tools can lead to positive learning outcomes. Adult …

Strategies Utilized By Speech-Language Pathologists When Treating Speech-Language Disorders In Children Who Are Bilingual, Julianne L. Monceaux-Visser

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

In the state of Minnesota, more children who use a language other than English were reported to speak English less than “very well” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). There was neither a “gold standard” (Verdon, McLeod, & Wong, 2013), nor Preferred Practices (ASHA, 2020) for the treatment of speech-language disorders for children who were bilingual. The current study investigated the practices for treating speech-language disorders in this population by SLPs employed in schools in a region of west-central MN and eastern ND. Using an interpreter, and explicit instruction on targeted language skills were the most common clinical approaches utilized. The child’s …

Faculty Job Satisfaction Related To Online Course Design, April Marie Hixson

School of Education Doctoral Projects - Higher Education

Online education has expanded and evolved slowly through the decades, but the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 put online education at the forefront of teaching and learning worldwide and sped up the design and delivery of online courses. This study sought to examine faculty attitudes and opinions (amid a global pandemic) toward online course design that may affect their job satisfaction levels. Specifically, it explored factors that could inhibit or contribute to faculty job satisfaction during their engagement in online instructional design. Further, the study was designed to gain an understanding of how pedagogical and technological changes influence the degree of …

“What’S Happening?” Assessing The Sustainability Of Virtual Professional Learning Communities On Social Media: A Quantitative Study Of ‘Sense Of Community’, Matthew Hensley

Doctoral Dissertations

While research has highlighted the multifaceted benefits of Twitter as an informal professional learning resource, there remains a lack of literature that adequately teases apart the dynamic underpinnings of these types of informal professional learning communities (Thacker, 2017; Visser et al., 2014). Greenhow & Gleason (2012) posited that there is a need to better understand Twitter’s place within the education profession, as well as “how participants understand their experiences and place within the Twitter community and beyond” (p. 473).

Grounded in ‘sense of community’ theory, this study examined ‘sense of community’ as a construct supporting the #SSChat community’s sustainability. Additionally, …

Affinity-Seeking: Student Desirability And Motivation In The Classroom, Taylor D. Corlee

MSU Graduate Theses

Affinity-seeking research once provided teachers with effective strategies to create an overall better classroom environment. Over the last twenty years there has been no continuation of this research and the effectiveness of these strategies seemed to be agreed upon. The purpose of this study is to bring affinity-seeking research back into the modern era and see how motivation is affected for both in-person and online classes. This study is a contribution that adds to these strategies for effectiveness in both in-person and online classrooms.

Final Master's Portfolio, Elaina Halverstadt

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

Practical matters of teaching college writing are the primary focus of this portfolio. Specific topics include an exploration of best practices in preparation for teaching an online college writing course, a rationale for introducing technical writing into an institution as a co-taught interdisciplinary course, a four-week teaching unit for teaching grammar concepts through creative writing, and a resource guide for teaching an introductory technical writing course at the college level.

Microcredential For Facilitators, Ishmael Craig Herald

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Ishmael Craig Herald on April 9, 2021.

The Writing For Healing And Transformation Project, Heather Elizabeth Osborn

Education Doctorate Dissertations

As a qualitative action research study, the purpose of The Writing for Healing and Transformation Project was to facilitate more inclusive writing strategies and to promote individual and collective healing on issues of social suffering and oppression (Kleinman, Das, & Lock, 1997; Pennebaker & Smyth, 2016) for diverse students at a community college located in the northeastern United States. The 18 participants in the study included students in my English II literature and composition course. The theoretical framework encompassed Pennebaker’s (2016) “writing for healing” paradigm, advocating the use of expressivist writing and “social suffering theory,” examining how power structures affect …

Método De Enseñanza De Valores Lasallistas Por Medio Del B-Learning En La Universidad De La Salle De Bogotá, Carolina Arévalo Rodríguez

Doctorado en Educación y Sociedad

La universidad se enfrenta a la flexibilidad del tiempo y el espacio en la enseñanza de valores. Se hace necesario el diseño de nuevos métodos de enseñanza a través de las TIC y apoyar las diferentes modalidades de educación a pesar de los desafíos de la universidad: la resistencia al cambio, la habilidad tecnológica de los docentes y estudiantes, la motivación de los estudiantes y el acompañamiento permanente. Esta investigación doctoral tuvo como objetivo determinar el alcance formativo de un método de enseñanza de valores (lasallistas) bajo la modalidad b-learning en estudiantes de pregrado de la Universidad de La Salle …

Sistematización De Experiencias: Enseñanza De Las Ciencias Exactas En Tiempos De Pandemia, Yuliana Carreño Salazar, Shirley Castañeda Castro, Diana Carolina Numpaque Pineda, Rafael David Tellez Garzon

Maestría en Docencia

A partir de los retos metodológicos que enfrentaron los docentes en el país debido a la pandemia por el Covid -19, cuatro profesores del Colegio Agustiniano Norte plantearon la siguiente sistematización, siendo una investigación cualitativa que permitió ampliar sus conocimientos ya que, desde la reconstrucción de las experiencias de cada uno y del aporte de algunos estudiantes, se logró reconocer las características propias de las prácticas pedagógicas desarrolladas en el campo de la enseñanza de las ciencias exactas en un entorno remoto. Así mismo, se identificó la importancia de los recursos didácticos digitales y de las técnicas didácticas como: el …

Shifting Emergency Remote Teaching Into The Future Of Kentucky Education, Amy Argo

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Kentucky educators discovered the difficulties of a rapid transition to emergency remote teaching. This phenomenological, qualitative research study explores middle and high school teachers’ lived experiences of teaching Kentucky public school students during the shutdown of school buildings during the spring and fall 2020 semesters.

Twenty-nine educator participants freely discussed their greatest successes and barriers concerning parental support, teacher mental health, communication, digital divides, student motivation, and teacher preparedness. This project gives voice to the teachers of Kentucky with a practical significance: effective online instruction can only occur if educators are properly prepared to teach …

Online Instructors’ Use Of The Cognitive Theory Of Multimedia Learning Design Principles: A Mixed Methods Investigation, Thomas C. Pantazes

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The growing use of digital video for online learning among US higher education instructors accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic raising questions about instructors’ knowledge of video creation principles (Bétrancourt & Benetos, 2018; Chorianopoulos, 2018; Kay, 2012; McCormack, 2020; Seaman, et al, 2018). This explanatory sequential mixed methods research describes the extent to which higher education instructors who create digital instructional video for online learning applied 11 multimedia design principles of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML). The case study triangulated self-reported survey data from 55 online instructors, interview data from five instructors with the highest implementation …

Creating Usable And Accessible Courses Through Usability Testing In Higher Education: A Canvas Usability Assessment For Diverse Students, Carrie Schreiner

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Peer Engagement And Peer Support Groups On Persistence Of Online Law Students: A Mixed Methods Study, Larasz Moody

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

There is a lack of research on peer support and peer engagement in online graduate programs, particularly in online law schools where the research is practically non-existent. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to examine how important peer support is to first-year online law students. There is extensive research that posits the efficacy of peer support on online students in undergraduate programs (Tinto, 1975; Astin, 1984) but not enough attention is given to how peer support impacts adult online students with significant external and internal compounding factors (Kember, 1989; Rovai, 2003; Redmond, 2018). This mixed-methods study will help to …

Higher Education And Covid-19: Impact On Nontraditional Students Following A Traditional Path, R. Lauren Miller

All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects

This phenomenological research aimed to examine the impact that transitioning to online education in March of the Spring 2020 semester in response to COVID-19 had on nontraditional students. Students are considered nontraditional if they meet at least one of the following criteria: are at least 25 years old, attend school part-time, work full-time, are a veteran, have children, wait at least one year after high school before entering college, have a GED instead of a high school diploma, are a first-generation student (FGS), are enrolled in non-degree programs, or have reentered a college program (MacDonald, 2018). Nontraditional students hold multiple …

A Qualitative Study Exploring Online Teaching At A Rural Community College: How Do Faculty Prepare To Teach Online?, Gwendolyn Davidson

Online Theses and Dissertations

Supporting online faculty at the community college level to prepare them to teach online can be a complex matter. Faculty who are first entering the online teaching environment often start with training to help them prepare to teach online. Supporting faculty who are teaching online means understanding faculty and their needs. The purpose of this study was to answer the question, how do faulty prepare to teach online and the objectives (1) identify the faculty's years of experience teaching both in-person and online, and the different types of training or professional development that faculty have complete to help them prepare …