This is a research-based action and strategy planning study incorporating a holistic systems approach to program continuance at a local college. In the spring semester of 2010, the college administration decided to discontinue three programs at the college due to declining enrollment. One of these programs was the Real Estate Department which had…

This case study examined the implementation of a major research endeavor in an institution of higher education, Trinity College, Dublin, in Ireland, with particular focus on the change process during the initiation of the project and the subsequent needs assessment and implementation of technological solutions. This study identified the stages,…

Unaccompanied homeless youth appear to be one of the fastest growing and most vulnerable segments of the larger homeless population, but flawed information-gathering by government entities makes it impossible to be sure. This issue brief examines reasons why the plight of unaccompanied homeless youth is not fully captured through current models of…

As the demand for college graduates increases, it is critical (from both supply and demand perspectives) that students choose the postsecondary option that best meets their needs. Improved college readiness is an important first step to better informed choices about college. Parents and students need access to easy-to-understand data to make the…

Child and youth coordinating bodies are systematically changing the fragmented ways that state and local governments do business for children and youth. Sometimes known as councils or commissions, children's cabinets are typically made up of the heads of all government agencies with child- and youth-serving programs. They meet regularly to…

Subbaccalaureate certificates, postsecondary awards conferred as the result of successful completion of a formal program of study below the baccalaureate level, have become more prominent in higher education over the last decade. Institutions of all sectors offer subbaccalaureate certificates, which can range in length from a few months to more…

We describe an activity that allows students to experience the full process of a statistical investigation, from generating the research question, to collecting data and testing a hypothesis. Implementation of the activity is described both with and without use of clickers, handheld remotes that allow instant data collection.

What follows are several investigations involving string musical instruments developed for and used in a "Science of Sound & Light" course. The experiments make use of a guitar, orchestral string instruments and data collection and graphing software. They are designed to provide students with concrete examples of how mathematical formulae, when…

When yes/no or multiple-choice answers do not suffice--when a qualitative understanding of a topic rather than a quantitative head count is needed--it is time to consider focus groups. They work well when learning why, how, and what for is more important than measuring how many. Focus groups are primarily an open-ended form of inquiry, enabling…

Building on a theoretical framework that links characteristics of individuals and their work settings to organizational commitment (OC) and citizenship behavior, this study considers why faculty may be disengaging from institutional service. Analyses of survey data collected from a state system of higher education suggest that job characteristics,…

Problem solving is recognized as a skill, helping families of children with disabilities to manage problems in everyday life. Family problem-solving skills may therefore be seen as an important outcome of a child and youth habilitation service. The aim of this pilot feasibility study was to examine the design of a future web-based questionnaire…

This article draws on data from a project on children's playground games and rhymes in the new media age. One objective of the project was to examine the relationship between traditional playground games and children's media cultures. As part of the project, two ethnographic studies of primary playgrounds took place in two schools, one in the…

The relationships between discipline specialization, teacher identity, and pedagogy can be seen as the crux of practice in the music classroom--impacting on all the actions of the teacher, both within and outside the classroom. Crucially, the impact of music teacher identity on the nature of music teaching and learning is one that has the…

Digital pen-and-paper technology, although marketed commercially as a bridge between old and new note-taking capabilities, synchronizes the collection of both written and audio data. This manuscript describes how this technology was used to improve data collection in research regarding students' learning, specifically their understanding of…

Purpose: Communication problems are a major contributing factor to adverse events in hospitals. The contextual environment in small rural hospitals increases the importance of emergency department (ED) patient transfer communication quality. This study addresses the communication problems through the development and testing of ED quality…