The pervasive use of Facebook by college students has prompted educators in higher education to explore ways in which this social media platform could be used for instructional purposes. However, findings concerning Facebook in higher education instruction have been mixed. Furthermore, some studies have indicated significant boundaries to the…

Professional development courses that focus on increasing knowledge and improving skill sets are an integral part of a medical imager's career. This study was a qualitative formative evaluation with purposeful sampling of participants in a professional development webinar course offered to medical imaging professionals in 35 Latin American and…

This dissertation examines two related questions. "How do mixed membership models work?" and "Can mixed membership be used to model how students use multiple strategies to solve problems?". Mixed membership models have been used in thousands of applications from text and image processing to genetic microarray analysis. Yet…

Athletic trainers work in clinical settings such as secondary schools, colleges and universities, sports medicine clinics, professional sports, hospitals, and other healthcare environments. However, with the rapid expansion of athletic training education programs (ATEP) over the years, another role for the athletic trainer has developed, the…

In an urban district, Surfside School personnel were concerned that student literacy proficiency levels were low during 2011-2014 and teachers had not been able to close the achievement gap despite a focus on literacy practices and literacy professional development (PD) provided by the district. The purpose of this case study was to explore the…

Professional development is a recognized approach to improving the quality of instruction in schools. The goal of professional development is to increase teachers' knowledge and improve their practices, which lead to enhanced student learning. The problem with providing staff development is the high cost incurred by presenters' fees, and…

This qualitative case study addressed the problem of teachers at an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IBPYP) site attempting a change to instructional practice without participation in a site-embedded professional development plan specifically designed to support a change in practice. The purpose of this study was to explore the…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the lived experiences of adult learners who are owners and managers of small winery businesses operating in the start-up phase of the organizational life cycle. The study explored and identified the meaning of adult learning in the entrepreneurial context and its affect on…

This qualitative research study, utilizes a multiple case study to address the gap in the literature related to the examination of the implementation of differentiated instruction in public middle schools. Employing elements of both the Situated Learning Theory and Sensemaking Theory, this study explores the implementation of differentiated…

As a conceptual framework, professional learning communities (PLCs) have been described as a means to increase teacher effectiveness and satisfaction. One urban middle school implemented PLCs during the 2007-2008 school year. However, there had not been an investigation into the effectiveness of the PLCs. Using organizational learning theory, this…

Many inmates arrive in prison with weak educational backgrounds and social skills as well as psychological problems and drug and alcohol addiction. The focus of this phenomenological study was to identify roles of prison educators in helping inmate students overcome their challenges through transformative experiences that motivate the students to…

Research indicates that many adolescent students struggle with reading skills. Accordingly, this quantitative study attempted to address the problem of ninth-grade students entering high school deficient in literacy skills. The purpose of this non-experimental study was to investigate the effects a remedial reading program called Ramp-Up Literacy…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that all public school students, including English language learners, achieve proficiency in reading, math, and science by 2014 as measured on state assessments. English language learners enrolled in public schools for the first time receive a 1-year deferment from these state assessments in subjects…

Exclusionary school discipline results in students being removed from classrooms as a consequence of their disruptive behavior and may lead to subsequent suspension and/or expulsion. Literature documents that nondominant students, particularly Black males, are disproportionately impacted by exclusionary discipline, to the point that researchers…