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- All Subjects: Education (Higher)
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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
- Creators: Ott, Molly
Description
This qualitative case study of 12, eighteen to twenty-four-year-olds from seven countries provided insight into the learning practices on an art-centered, social media platform. The study addressed two guiding questions; (a) what art related skills, knowledge, and dispositions do community members acquire using a social media platform? (b), What new literacy practices, e.g., the use of new technologies and an ethos of participation, collective intelligence, collaboration, dispersion of abundant resources, and sharing (Knobel & Lankshear, 2007), do members use in acquiring of art-related skills, concepts, knowledge, and dispositions? Data included interviews, online documents, artwork, screen capture of online content, threaded online discussions, and a questionnaire. Drawing on theory and research from both new literacies and art education, the study identified five practices related to learning in the visual arts: (a) practicing as professional artists; (b) engaging in discovery based search strategies for viewing and collecting member produced content; (c) learning by observational strategies; (d) giving constructive criticism and feedback; (e) making learning resources. The study presents suggestions for teachers interested in empowering instruction with new social media technologies.
ContributorsJones, Brian (Author) / Stokrocki, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Young, Bernard (Committee member) / Guzzetti, Barbara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Every year, potential graduate students hunt through websites and promotional materials searching for the perfect program to fit their needs. The search requires time and patience, especially for those future scholars who seek a doctoral program in Education Policy Studies (EPS) with a focus on interacting with the policymaking process. The primary objective of this project was to explore the promotional materials of EPS doctoral programs in order to better understand how these programs promote formalized training for students to engage with education policy and the policymaking process. I selected the top 10 EPS programs in the nation along with my own institution (Arizona State University) as the sample for this study. By reviewing their websites, I found that programs provide a comparable training description for similar careers as well as upholding similar goals in the subfield of EPS. Ultimately, the program materials revealed that while these programs advertise significant formalized training in research methods and scholarly pursuits, opportunities to actively engage with policymaking were missing from the materials. Instead, it is more likely that such opportunities occur in informal settings such as apprenticeships and working at research centers. This study provides a detailed discussion of how programs promote training opportunities to students, the types of careers that programs claim to prepare students for, and the important role that faculty projects and additional resources play in the student experience related to engagement with policy and the policymaking process.
ContributorsLong-Genovese, Stacey (Author) / Garcia, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Ott, Molly (Committee member) / Hinchey, Patricia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
In this study, I investigate the digital literacy practices of adult immigrants, and their relationship with transnational processes and practices. Specifically, I focus on their conditions of access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their life trajectories, their conditions of learning in a community center, and their appropriation of digital literacy practices for transnational purposes. By studying the culturally situated nature of digital literacies of adult learners with transnational affiliations, I build on recent empirical work in the fields of New Literacy Studies, sociocultural approaches to learning, and transnational studies. In this qualitative study, I utilized ethnographic techniques for data collection, including participant observation, interviewing, and collection of material and electronic artifacts. I drew from case study approaches to analyze and present the experiences of five adult first-generation immigrant participants. I also negotiated multiple positionalities during the two phases of the study: as a participant observer and instructor's aide during the Basic Computer Skills course participants attended, and as a researcher-practitioner in the Web Design course that followed. From these multiple vantage points, my analysis demonstrates that participants' access to ICTs is shaped by structural factors, family dynamics, and individuals' constructions of the value of digital literacies. These factors influence participants' conditions of access to material resources, such as computer equipment, and access to mentoring opportunities with members of their social networks. In addition, my analysis of the instructional practices in the classroom shows that instructors used multiple modalities, multiple languages and specialized discourses to scaffold participants' understandings of digital spaces and interfaces. Lastly, in my analysis of participants' repertoires of digital literacy practices, I found that their engagement in technology use for purposes of communication, learning, political participation and online publishing supported their maintenance of transnational affiliations. Conversely, participants' transnational ties and resources supported their appropriation of digital literacies in everyday practice. This study concludes with a discussion on the relationship among learning, digital literacies and transnationalism, and the contributions of critical and ethnographic perspectives to the study of programs that can bridge digital inequality for minority groups.
ContributorsNoguerón, Silvia Cecilia (Author) / Warriner, Doris S (Thesis advisor) / Faltis, Christian J (Committee member) / Mccarty, Teresa (Committee member) / Wiley, Terrence (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Universities have been increasingly engaged in international collaborations with peer institutions overseas. In recent years, Confucius Institutes have emerged as a new model of collaboration between American universities and Chinese universities. In an attempt to identify factors contributing to successful international university collaborations, this study used the case study method and focused on one Confucius Institute between MMU, an American University, and ZZU, a Chinese university, and intended to identify factors leading to the success of the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration. The study investigated the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration within the framework of the MMU-ZZU institutional partnership. Based on data collected from the institutional documents, interviews, site visits and news reports, this study examined the experiences and perceptions of the university's stakeholders involved in creating and sustaining this particular Confucius Institute, including stakeholders at the program level, at the college level, and at the institutional level both at MMU and ZZU. Using the glonacal agency heuristics framework, the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration was a result of joint forces of stakeholders at the program level, at the college level, and at the institutional level from ZZU and MMU. Stakeholders, no matter what level they are and which institution they are affiliated with, had to navigate through the significant differences between them to develop synergy to be successful. Synergy, including vertical synergy developed among stakeholders within each institution and horizontal synergy developed among stakeholders between institutions, turned out to be critical to the success of the MMU-ZZU CI. The study concluded that synergy in leadership, organizational contexts, stakeholders' resources, and the synergy in the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration and the MMU-ZZU institutional partnership, led to the success of the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration.
ContributorsLi, Mengying (Author) / De Los Santos Jr., Alfredo G (Thesis advisor) / Wiley, Terrence (Thesis advisor) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The three essays in this dissertation each examine how aspects of contemporary administrative structure within American research universities affect faculty outcomes. Specific aspects of administrative structure tested in this dissertation include the introduction of new administrative roles, administrative intensity (i.e. relative size of university administration), and competing roles between faculty, administrators, and staff. Using quantitative statistical methods these aspects of administrative structure are tested for their effects on academic grant productivity, faculty job stress, and faculty job satisfaction. Administrative datasets and large scale national surveys make up the data for these studies and quantitative statistical methods confirm most of the hypothesized relationships.
In the first essay, findings from statistical modeling using instrumental variables suggest that academic researchers who receive administrative support for grant writing and management obtain fewer grants and have a lower success rate. However, the findings also suggest that the grants these researchers do receive are much larger in terms of dollars. The results indicate that administrative support is particularly beneficial in academic grant situations of high-risk, high-reward. In the second essay, ordered logit models reveal a statistically significant and stronger relationship between staff intensity (i.e., the ratio of faculty to staff workers) and faculty stress than the relationship between executive intensity (i.e., the ratio faculty to executive and managerial workers) and faculty job stress. These findings confirm theory that the work of faculty is more loosely coupled with the work of executives than it is with staff workers. A possible explanation is the increase in administrative work faculty must take on as there are fewer staff workers to take on administrative tasks. And finally, in the third essay results from multi-level modeling confirm that both role clarity and institutional support positively affect both a global measure of faculty job satisfaction and faculty satisfaction with how their work time is allocated. Understanding the effects that administrative structure has on faculty outcomes will aid universities as faculty administrative burdens ebb and flow in reaction to macro trends in higher education, such as unbundling of faculty roles, unbundling of services, neoliberalism, liberal arts decline, and administrative bloat.
In the first essay, findings from statistical modeling using instrumental variables suggest that academic researchers who receive administrative support for grant writing and management obtain fewer grants and have a lower success rate. However, the findings also suggest that the grants these researchers do receive are much larger in terms of dollars. The results indicate that administrative support is particularly beneficial in academic grant situations of high-risk, high-reward. In the second essay, ordered logit models reveal a statistically significant and stronger relationship between staff intensity (i.e., the ratio of faculty to staff workers) and faculty stress than the relationship between executive intensity (i.e., the ratio faculty to executive and managerial workers) and faculty job stress. These findings confirm theory that the work of faculty is more loosely coupled with the work of executives than it is with staff workers. A possible explanation is the increase in administrative work faculty must take on as there are fewer staff workers to take on administrative tasks. And finally, in the third essay results from multi-level modeling confirm that both role clarity and institutional support positively affect both a global measure of faculty job satisfaction and faculty satisfaction with how their work time is allocated. Understanding the effects that administrative structure has on faculty outcomes will aid universities as faculty administrative burdens ebb and flow in reaction to macro trends in higher education, such as unbundling of faculty roles, unbundling of services, neoliberalism, liberal arts decline, and administrative bloat.
ContributorsTaggart, Gabel (Author) / Welch, Eric (Thesis advisor) / Bozeman, Barry (Committee member) / Ott, Molly (Committee member) / Stritch, Justin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Promoting student engagement is a critical performance indicator for undergraduate success and is, therefore, a priority for academic institutions as they seek to improve teaching and learning practices (Meyer, 2014). Educators need to improve their instructional pedagogy by developing unique methods for engaging students with educational opportunities. Instructors who facilitate courses online face an even greater challenge in engaging students. A virtual learning community is a potential solution for improving online engagement.
This mixed methods action research dissertation explores the implementation of an online learning community and how it influences the engagement of students in distance learning environments. The primary research question guiding this inquiry is: How and to what extent does the implementation of an online learning community influence undergraduate student engagement in online courses? A sequential triangulation design was used to analyze data collected from surveys and responses collected from study participants during a synchronous online focus group. The analysis of the results of the study provide interesting insight into the online engagement of students. Key findings from the study are: 1) the inclusion of diverse perspectives is important for students and they value having opportunities to share their knowledge with peers; 2) an online learning community is beneficial for student engagement and this type of model is one they would participate in the future; 3) students experience a disconnect with peers when engagement opportunities in online discussion platforms feel insincere.
This mixed methods action research dissertation explores the implementation of an online learning community and how it influences the engagement of students in distance learning environments. The primary research question guiding this inquiry is: How and to what extent does the implementation of an online learning community influence undergraduate student engagement in online courses? A sequential triangulation design was used to analyze data collected from surveys and responses collected from study participants during a synchronous online focus group. The analysis of the results of the study provide interesting insight into the online engagement of students. Key findings from the study are: 1) the inclusion of diverse perspectives is important for students and they value having opportunities to share their knowledge with peers; 2) an online learning community is beneficial for student engagement and this type of model is one they would participate in the future; 3) students experience a disconnect with peers when engagement opportunities in online discussion platforms feel insincere.
ContributorsSneed, Obiageli (Author) / Ott, Molly (Thesis advisor) / Crawford, Steven (Committee member) / Magruder, Olysha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Higher education enrollment and degree attainment rates have increased in the U.S. Yet higher education has remained inaccessible to many. Low- and middle-income students and students from particular racial and ethnic backgrounds enroll and attain degrees at lower rates than their peers. To gain insight into the topic of access to higher education, I used social constructionist, critical, and socio-cognitive perspectives to conduct a descriptive, content, and discourse analysis of 1,242 articles about access to higher education published from 1994-2019 in eight influential U.S. newspapers. I also explored the historical and social context in which this coverage was situated. I found that access to higher education was considered an important topic in the articles I analyzed. I also found that while definitions of access to higher education were varied and often intersected, content related to costs and funding of higher education dominated the coverage. In addition, a tension between public and private benefits of access to higher education emerged in the articles I analyzed, as did a tension between public and private costs of access to higher education. These costs and benefits were often misaglined in coverage. The most salient benefit of access to higher education in the majority of articles was a public benefit, which primarily benefits society. However, a private entity or higher education institution was deemed responsible for covering the costs of access to higher education in the majority of articles. This research could be used to promote more nuanced coverage on access to higher education as well as policies, practices, and additional research that addresses the multiplicity of ways in which disparities in access to higher education are created, sustained, and reproduced.
ContributorsLish, Rebecca (Author) / Fischman, Gustavo E. (Thesis advisor) / Bergerson, Amy A. (Committee member) / Ott, Molly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The purpose of this action research was to study the impact of managers’ roles in improving employee engagement through professional development programs and customized action plans among Merced College Student Services employees. Ultimately, the goal of the intervention was to increase levels of employee engagement among student services professionals to better thrive as a unit and for students to receive higher levels of customer service. The study was an action research study using a mixed-methods design. The participants for the qualitative one-on-one interviews were three managers, two classified professionals, and two faculty. The sampling was purposive. For the quantitative data collection, the participants of this action research study included the approximately 132 employees in the Student Services Division at Merced College.
Participants completed a pre-survey measuring their levels of employee engagement based on The Gallup Organization’s 12 dimensions of employee engagement. The survey instrument measured 12 constructs and included 36 total items. Based on the results of the pre-survey, managers within the Student Services Division participated in two professional development workshops on employee engagement. The results of the qualitative data analysis resulted in manager-developed action plans, based on the three lowest constructs from the pre-survey, for each of the departments within the Student Services Division. The customized action plans were implemented over an approximately four-month period. Upon completion of the intervention, participants completed a post-survey to assess the impact of the interventions.
The results indicated that managers who participate in employee engagement professional develop programs are able to effectively develop and implement action plans as employee engagement champions within the workplace. The post-survey scores for participants of this study did not result in improved levels of employee engagement during the four-month intervention cycle. The findings of the action research study will help develop and refine solutions to continue to improve employee engagement within higher education and other organizations.
Participants completed a pre-survey measuring their levels of employee engagement based on The Gallup Organization’s 12 dimensions of employee engagement. The survey instrument measured 12 constructs and included 36 total items. Based on the results of the pre-survey, managers within the Student Services Division participated in two professional development workshops on employee engagement. The results of the qualitative data analysis resulted in manager-developed action plans, based on the three lowest constructs from the pre-survey, for each of the departments within the Student Services Division. The customized action plans were implemented over an approximately four-month period. Upon completion of the intervention, participants completed a post-survey to assess the impact of the interventions.
The results indicated that managers who participate in employee engagement professional develop programs are able to effectively develop and implement action plans as employee engagement champions within the workplace. The post-survey scores for participants of this study did not result in improved levels of employee engagement during the four-month intervention cycle. The findings of the action research study will help develop and refine solutions to continue to improve employee engagement within higher education and other organizations.
ContributorsVitelli, Chris (Author) / Ott, Molly (Thesis advisor) / Albert, Louis (Committee member) / Duran, Benjamin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This study uses a sequential, mixed method, action research, quantitative to qualitative research design. The purpose of this study was to develop a useful standardized hiring process at a state medical college that brings clarity to the hiring process and policies. Two conceptual frameworks guided the innovations in this study – communities of practice and Kotter’s change theory. To implement a standardized hiring process, a web-based intranet site was created through collaboration between the Academic Affairs and the Human Resources Departments of the medical college. The web-based intranet was built to be a hiring resource directed at training hiring managers and hiring committees. The hiring resource assists the departments hiring by bringing clarity to the hiring process, assisting in creating a standardized process for posting, recruiting, hiring, and on-boarding new employees, and allowing managers quick access to hiring tools.
Three sources provided data for this study: (1) Pre/Post Hiring Manager/Committee Questionnaire, (2) Interviews with key hiring managers, and (3) Google Analytics.
The study found that all participants found the overall hiring resource “useful” and “effective.” All measured components of the hiring resource were also found to be “useful” and “effective.” The site continues to increase in new users and returning users weekly. The hiring resource is used regularly by the college’s Human Resources Department and is sent to all hiring managers when they begin their hiring process and is introduced in “Managing the UA Way” which is a professional development program for new managers at the college. This study shows that web-based resources are a useful and effective instrument for training staff in a medical school context. More research needs to be conducted to measure the full potential of training higher education staff via web-based and online programs. This research project hopes to inspire other higher education institutions to create, measure, and implement training programs for staff.
Three sources provided data for this study: (1) Pre/Post Hiring Manager/Committee Questionnaire, (2) Interviews with key hiring managers, and (3) Google Analytics.
The study found that all participants found the overall hiring resource “useful” and “effective.” All measured components of the hiring resource were also found to be “useful” and “effective.” The site continues to increase in new users and returning users weekly. The hiring resource is used regularly by the college’s Human Resources Department and is sent to all hiring managers when they begin their hiring process and is introduced in “Managing the UA Way” which is a professional development program for new managers at the college. This study shows that web-based resources are a useful and effective instrument for training staff in a medical school context. More research needs to be conducted to measure the full potential of training higher education staff via web-based and online programs. This research project hopes to inspire other higher education institutions to create, measure, and implement training programs for staff.
ContributorsDrane, Daniel, III (Author) / Caterino, Linda C (Thesis advisor) / Ott, Molly (Committee member) / Cunningham, Tara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
College completion has become a national priority in the United States. Before students can graduate from a college or university, however, they must survive their first year in higher education. The retention of out-of-state freshmen is a major piece of the larger college student retention puzzle due to recent national enrollment trends and the financial implications of out-of-state student enrollment. With public universities nationwide receiving less financial support from state governments, many of these institutions have used a strategy of aggressively recruiting and increasingly enrolling out-of-state students because the higher tuition these students pay can help offset the loss of state funding. Despite the importance of out-of-state students to the national higher education landscape, little research has been conducted on out-of-state student retention.
This study examined the relation between a resource website and the engagement, sense of belonging, homesickness, and retention of out-of-state freshmen at Arizona State University (ASU). Mixed methods of inquiry were utilized; data sources included a pre- and post-intervention student survey, student interviews, student essay artifacts, website utilization records, and university retention reports.
This study demonstrated that freshmen coming to ASU from another state experienced four main challenges related to being an out-of-state student. Those challenges were homesickness, adjusting to living in Arizona, managing finances, and making friends at ASU. Out-of-state students therefore needed extra support for their transition. The study found that an out-of-state student resource website had a positive association with co-curricular engagement and homesickness frequency reduction. Moreover, the site provided useful information on the challenges experienced by out-of-state freshmen. Discussion includes possible explanations for the findings and implications for practice and research.
This study examined the relation between a resource website and the engagement, sense of belonging, homesickness, and retention of out-of-state freshmen at Arizona State University (ASU). Mixed methods of inquiry were utilized; data sources included a pre- and post-intervention student survey, student interviews, student essay artifacts, website utilization records, and university retention reports.
This study demonstrated that freshmen coming to ASU from another state experienced four main challenges related to being an out-of-state student. Those challenges were homesickness, adjusting to living in Arizona, managing finances, and making friends at ASU. Out-of-state students therefore needed extra support for their transition. The study found that an out-of-state student resource website had a positive association with co-curricular engagement and homesickness frequency reduction. Moreover, the site provided useful information on the challenges experienced by out-of-state freshmen. Discussion includes possible explanations for the findings and implications for practice and research.
ContributorsCorrea, Kevin (Author) / Rotheram-Fuller, Erin (Thesis advisor) / Ott, Molly (Committee member) / Blakemore, Arthur (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017