Currently cyberbullying is a behavior that is discussed worldwide. Within the discussion, there is a need to know about the lived experiences of college students subjected to cyberbullying. The purpose of this hermeneutic (interpretive) phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of ten college students subjected to bullying in…

With privacy settings on social networking sites (SNS) perceived as complex and difficult to use and maintain, young adults can be left vulnerable to others accessing and using their personal information. Consequences of not regulating the boundaries their information on SNS include the ability for current and future employers to make…

After nearly 2 decades of advances in information and communications technologies (ICT) including social media, mobile, analytics, and cloud computing, disaster response agencies in the United States have not been able to improve alignment between ICT-based information and disaster response actions. This grounded theory study explored emergency…

Online learning has increased access to higher education for underrepresented ethnic groups. These groups include African American and Latino/a students. Affirmation of ethnicity and culture contribute to positive academic outcomes for African American and Latino/a students. Yet, African American and Latino/a perspectives regarding online social…

Company-hosted online user communities are increasingly popular as firms continue to search for ways to provide their customers with high quality and reliable support in a low cost and scalable way. Yet, empirical understanding of motivations for knowledge sharing in this type of online communities is lacking, especially with regard to an…

The purpose of this action research study was to examine the effects of implementing an online professional learning community (PLC) designed explicitly for teachers of gifted and talented (GT) English language arts (ELA) courses. The present action research (AR) is a limited mixed design study, including quantitative and qualitative elements, to…

This dissertation explores and describes the in-character and out-of-character information worlds and digital literacy practices of role-players, those that create and enact their characters' or avatars' stories, both within and outside of WildStar, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) (Carbine Studios, 2015). Utilizing Jaeger…

Cyberbullying is a problem many young adults ages 12 to 18 have experienced on a daily basis. Adult support is critical in both the prevention and intervention of cyberbullying. Although parents, teachers, and school administrators have been highlighted as sources of support for cyberbullied young adults, librarians have not been studied as a…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine pre-service teachers and their use of online community. This study explored four focal participants enrolled at Benedictine College and their perceptions about online community. The participants were completing their student teaching block during the spring 2016 semester. The data sources…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the cultural manifestation of grit in two freshman academy environments and describe factors of grit that support student success. This study used purposeful sampling to select sites and participants. Data were collected through: administration of Douglas' (1982) grid and group 24-question…

This study explored teacher and learner perceptions of community within a fully online graduate education course that is part of the virtual campus of a small, private university in the northeastern United States. Numerous studies have indicated that strong perceptions of community within online learning environments are associated with reduced…

Based upon theories of computer mediated communication of Herring and Lemke and the work of genre scholars such as Askehave, Santini, and Devitt, this qualitative study explored how computer mediated communication shapes writing genres in an online classroom. Genre embodies the context and users' purpose for any textual communication. Through…

This narrative inquiry collective case study investigated the experiences of six sixth grade American Indian males of the Lumbee tribe who struggle with reading. Bounded within an asynchronous closed wiki site, students from three sixth grade classes participated in online threaded discussions and created, posted, and viewed multimedia projects…

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the use of e-collaboration tools when used as a primary channel of communication affected virtual team members' trust and motivation, in a spatially dispersed environment. Structured interviews were conducted with 18 project managers, who were responsible for leading virtual projects…

Adults frequently define their lives as "hectic" and "overextended;" yet, many make the decision to return to school and add the role of student into their busy lives. This research study explored and explained the impact of connective technology on self-efficacy and self-regulated learning of female adult students balancing…