An ongoing concern in higher education is the disjunction between how faculty teach and how students learn best. A primary objective of higher education is to produce content experts, which does not automatically translate to expert teachers of content. Lacking formal instruction on how to teach their content, faculty often teach in the same…

This critical autoethnographic dissertation delves into the personal journey of a Black female counselor and mother, whose path meanders through the complex terrain of education, leading her to a profound transition into the realm of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) leadership. Drawing from memories, emotions, and ongoing…

In the present era of inclusion, special schools increasingly serve as spaces for the delivery of supplementary education and rehabilitation services for mainstreamed disabled children. A history of segregation and institutionalization weigh heavily on the sector, prompting many special educators to advocate for students' continued mainstreaming…

This dissertation investigates secondary educators' participation in a community of practice to determine how educators' discourse reveals a discerning stance of cultural humility and an understanding of culturally sustaining pedagogy. Applying critical race theory and Chicana feminist framework to a qualitative auto-ethnographic study, the author…

This dissertation is a visual and narrative-based autoethnography that narrates the lived educational experiences of the author from preschool through doctoral studies. The text portrays a story that explores issues of power, identity, and pedagogy in education. Told in narrative form, this project utilizes visual data, thematic coding, layering,…

Digital media is becoming increasingly important to learning in today's changing times. At the same time, digital technologies and related digital skills are unevenly distributed. Further, deficit-based notions of this digital divide define the public's educational paradigm. Against this backdrop, I forayed into the social reality of one rural…

In this dissertation, I investigate how Israeli staff members understand the intercultural encounter they experienced in an overnight camp setting; how they navigated the experience; and how the intercultural encounter has impacted them. The research was conducted through qualitative methods of data collection, including elements of ethnography,…

The foundation of the United States' educational system is that all students will be educated equally by offering access to knowledge, opportunities, and services resulting in the creation of positive societal contributors. However, this task is complex and challenging. Heterogeneous student populations due to increased culturally diversity, do…

This case study examined how participating in a short-term education abroad program fostered transformative learning for a small group of community college students. As a participant-observer, I utilized ethnographic methods, including interviews, observations, and document analysis, to understand students' perceptions of their experiences…

My dissertation, a self-reflective autoethnography, examines, analyzes, and interprets children's dances created by seventeen nine-11 year olds attending a Midwestern, urban elementary school. The significance of this longitudinal study is in the offering of a fresh perspective on children's dance-making as a mode of embodied understanding and as…

As the mother of a first-year-teacher, I began thinking of ways in which to provide encouragement and support to my daughter and to other beginning teachers. I believe that successful teachers should not only share their knowledge and expertise with novice teachers, but also their struggles, their frustrations, and their methods of managing the…

The research studies human emotions through diverse methods and theoretical lenses. My intention in using this approach is to provide alternative ways of perceiving and interpreting emotions being experienced in the moment of arousal. Emotions are fundamental in human interactions because they are essential in the development of effective…

This study used the mixed qualitative methodologies of ethnography and a participatory action research inspired inquiry to challenge deficit meanings and assumptions through increasing learning. During the inquiry, a group of teachers and administrators at each of two school sites engaged in a process of learning about systemic inequality and its…

This study examines how critical mathematical literacy teachers conceptualize their practices and how those practices were demonstrated in the classroom. Practices were considered from an ontology of mathematics education, specific to critical mathematical literacy, in which classroom interactions question what it means to do mathematics as an…

The dissertation explores as ethnography the transformative process of ten student in a program for students with Asperger Syndrome transitioning from high school to college located in an urban high school to include the extracurricular extension referred to as Ethos. The dissertation considers the experience in the context of specialized…