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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
This study analyzes syllabi for first-year college composition courses and interview responses to examine how the choices made by instructors affect online course design. Using the Syllabus Assessment Instrument designed by Madson, Melchert and Whipp (2004), this dissertation looks specifically at attendance and participation policies, course behavior policies, contact information, required material choices, course organization decisions and tool decisions to reveal how instructors do or do not accommodate online class pedagogies. This study finds that the choices instructors make in syllabus design provide significant information about the overall online course design itself. Using Selber's multiliteracies as a frame for understanding the choices made by instructors, this study finds that instructors focus primarily on functional literacies in their discourses and in the way they communicate their choices to students. Instructors vary in how they inform students of the mechanics of how to interact with tools, how often to interact with the online course, and how to use the tools within the online course. While these aspects of online courses are important, focusing on these aspects of the online course overshadows alternative perspectives on tool use that could encourage critical reflection by both instructors and students. To help instructors and departments design more effective syllabi and courses, this study raises questions and offers observations about how instructors communicate policies and how they understand these policies and pedagogies in online courses. In providing general guidelines for syllabus design and course design, this study will help writing instructors and composition programs better understand the significance of the choices they make in online course design.
ContributorsPfannenstiel, Amber Nicole (Author) / Goggin, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Daly Goggin, Maureen (Committee member) / Hayes, Elisabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Growing popularity of alternatively certifying teachers has created challenges for teacher preparation programs. Many non-traditional routes into classroom include no full-time mentor teacher. Absence of a mentor teacher in the classroom leaves teachers with a deficit. This study follows ten teachers on the intern certificate enrolled in both an alternative certification teacher preparation program and the Teach for America organization as they pursue a master's degree in education and state teaching certification from a large southwestern university. The five randomly chosen for the treatment group and the control group contained 1 male and 4 female teachers, some of whom teach at public schools and others at charter schools. All were secondary education language arts teachers ranging in age from 22- 29. The treatment used in this study is a job-embedded, professional development, software tool designed to help teachers track their classroom practices called MyiLOGS. The purpose of this action research project was to study the effect using MyiLOGS had on six of the nine areas evaluated by a modified version of the Teacher Advancement Program evaluation rubric, alignment with Opportunity To Learn constructs, and the tool's influence on the efficacy of these first year teachers. The data generated from this study indicate that the MyiLOGS tool did have a positive effect on the teachers' TAP evaluation performances. Also, the MyiLOGS tool had a large impact on the teachers' instruction as measured by the constructs of Opportunity to Learn and their teaching self-efficacy. Implications suggested the tool was an asset to these teachers because they tracked their data, became more reflective, and self-sufficient.
ContributorsRoggeman, Pamela (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Kurz, Alexander (Committee member) / Mathur, Sarup (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This research conducts two methods of rhetorical analysis of State of the Union Addresses: 1. Computational linguistic analysis of all State of the Union Addresses from 1790-2007, and 2. Close-readings and rhetorical analyses of two addresses: one by President Truman and one by President Reagan. This research shows the following key findings: 1. I am able to see general shifts in the authors' approaches to the State of the Union Address through historical computational analyses of the content of all speeches, and 2. Through close readings, I can understand the impact of the author's ethos and the historical context on the addresses, something that would not be readily revealed in a computational analysis. This study starts with a historical computational linguistic analysis of all State of the Union Addresses between 1790 and 2007. The study follows with close-readings of two State of the Union Addresses from the early and late Cold War period in-context: 1. Harry Truman's 1951 Address and 2. Ronald Reagan's 1986 Address. The main conclusions drawn from this research are that close-readings of State of the Union Addresses cannot be replaced by computational analyses, but can work in tandem with computerized text analysis to reveal shifts in rhetorical and topical features. This paper argues that there must be more close analyses in coordination with large-scale text analysis in order to understand the complexities of rhetorical situations.
ContributorsWegner, Peter (Author) / Goggin, Maureen (Thesis advisor) / Boyd, Patricia (Committee member) / Goggin, Peter (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The theory of learning centered academic advising states that the purpose of advising is to teach undergraduate students about the logic and purpose of their education. Previous scholarship on learning centered advising has focused on the theoretical or on implementation by faculty at small colleges and universities. Methods for supporting learning centered advising in other contexts are lacking. This mixed methods, action research study investigates the efficacy of FaculTea, a professional development program designed to promote learning centered advising practices among professional academic advisors at a large state university. The study also measured frequency of learning centered advising and student perceptions of learning centered advising. Participants were 57 academic advisors in a liberal arts and sciences college at a large state university, who reported on their advising practices. In addition, the investigator interviewed four advisors, and observed them during 15 advising appointments. Also, six students were interviewed to determine their response to learning centered academic advising. Results showed the FaculTea program model was effective in promoting learning centered advising. In addition, advisors used learning centered advising to a moderate extent, depending upon the context of the appointment, the developmental level of the student, and experience level of the advisor. Student responses varied. These findings suggest learning centered advising can be incorporated into various academic advising contexts and structures and that FaculTea is an excellent model for learning centered academic advisor professional development.
ContributorsVoller, Julie Givans (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Nutt, Charlie (Committee member) / Hermann, Ria (Committee member) / Mathur, Sarup (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The rise in the number of students found to have autism has been staggering over the past ten years. Accommodating these students effectively and appropriately in a public school is a challenge many teachers are deemed with, sometimes without adequate training. This study was aimed at affecting the underlying social misunderstandings inherent to students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and an at-risk general education peer through a comprehensive intervention consisting of peer mentoring, interactive social stories and video modeling strategies. Observations, student interviews, vignettes and student and researcher journals served as data sources. Three fourth grade boys, including a student with autism, a peer with behavioral concerns and a model peer, participated in an intervention designed using a multiple baseline across behaviors. The target students, including the student with autism and the peer with behavioral concerns increased their ability to demonstrate three distinctive skills, attending to task, raising hand and academic responding. Analysis of the data also showed an overall increase in levels of engagement and motivation. Strong friendships developed among all three participants. Implications suggest that a comprehensive approach is effective in reducing unwanted social behaviors and promoting positive social skills and gives further insight into the target students' motivation.
ContributorsZamora, Roxanne N (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Warren, Gina M (Committee member) / Mathur, Sarup (Committee member) / Hart, Juliet (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation is a detailed rhetorical analysis of interviews with rice farmers in central Java, Indonesia and documents published by the global NGOs United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and CGIAR. Using theories of materiality, literacies, and environmental rhetorics, I examine how seemingly distinct and disparate humans, organizations, and inanimates are actually entangled agents in a dynamic conversation. I have termed that conversation the discourse of rice farming. Studying local and global together challenges conventional dichotomous thinking about farming and food. Looking at this conversation as an entanglement reveals what Karen Barad has defined in Meeting the Universe Halfway as the intra-relatedness of all agents. I focus on rice farming because rice is a food staple around the world and a major component of global agriculture initiatives by FAO and CGIAR. I argue that farmers construct their jobs in terms of production, food sovereignty, and community. The NGOs construct agriculture in terms of consumption, food security, and poverty alleviation. In my project I emphasize the need for global agents to better account for how farmers construct agriculture. Accounting for how all agents impact the discourse of rice farming is the only way to come to an objective understanding rice farming's impact on local and global scales. My argument adds to the field of environmental rhetorics because most published case studies are about the United States and thus are limited in their applicability. And it enriches global conversations about food security and food justice because it shares accounts from actual farmers who are often conspicuously absent from literature on those topics.
ContributorsCooney, Emily (Author) / Goggin, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Hannah, Mark (Committee member) / Chhetri, Netra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Arcadia Elementary School is an urban Title 1 school that serves 800 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The school uses a commercial program called Make Your Day to manage student behavior. This program, aligned to the tenets of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), meets the needs of most students but not the most frequent classroom disruptors. This mixed methods participatory action research study explores the how an understanding of a frequently disruptive student's ecology can lead to more effective support and improved behavioral outcomes. The Behavior Intervention Team process consists of effective data tracking tools and practices and a team-based, data-driven approach to student behavior analysis and is a model for how urban schools can leverage existing resources to better support disruptive students.
ContributorsBartanen, Peter (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Mathur, Sarup (Committee member) / Halpert, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Historically, institutions of higher education focused their efforts on programs and services to support traditional students' integration (i.e., the eighteen year old who enrolls in college immediately after graduating from high school) into the college environment. Integration into the university environment contributes to student retention. Underrepresented students, specifically community college transfer students, are left out of the retention planning process. With the increase of transfer students transitioning to four-year universities, this study explored transfer students' integration experience within their initial six weeks of attendance at a receiving institution. This action research study implemented an E-Mentoring Program utilizing the social media platform, Facebook. Results from the mixed-methods study provided evidence that classroom connection interwoven with social rapport with peers, cognizance of new environment, and institutional and peer resources matter for integration within the first six weeks at HUC (a pseudonym). The information gained will be used to inform higher education administrators, student affairs practitioners, faculty, and staff as they develop relevant services, programs, and practices that intentionally support transfer students' integration.
ContributorsAska, Cassandra (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Kleinsasser, Robert (Committee member) / Cook, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study reviews the effectiveness of a faculty development program to prepare faculty members in the health related fields to design and develop flipped and blended learning courses. The FAB Tech workshop focuses on flipped and blended learning technologies as a method to increase the use of active learning in the classroom. A pre/posttest was administered to the participants on their use of technology and their course delivery strategies. In addition, interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of the participants based on level of engagement in the workshop and their change in the pre/posttest. The program was effective in increasing the use of technological tools and their purposeful integration into courses. However, faculty workload and institutional support issue served as barriers to overcome. The findings of this study will help address how to over come some of these barriers and to develop more effective faculty development programs that encourage the use of flipped and blended learning.
ContributorsCrawford, Steven Raymond (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Mathur, Sarup (Committee member) / Vaughn, Linda (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The occupation of policing has long been associated with masculinity. Resistance
to the integration of women into the law enforcement profession stemmed from widely
held beliefs that women were incapable of performing the police function. Although
much has changed in policing, female officers are bombarded with masculine symbols
depicting mostly the agentic characteristics associated with the law enforcement
profession. Or, they are offered socially and culturally constructed definitions of who
they are supposed to be as women as well as what is lacking in them as officers. This
study explores the disparity between how female police officers are viewed, what they
experience, and how they are represented. The perspective of the female officer was
captured, and presented through visual images obtained by participants. Descriptive
coding and thematic analysis converted photographs and written narratives into
participant generated themes and stories. Female officers in this study resisted stereotypic
portraits of women in policing and sought expanded boundaries of inclusion within their
profession. Participants produced some understanding of how women construct their
personal and professional identities relative to gender, as well as the larger roles of
women in society.
to the integration of women into the law enforcement profession stemmed from widely
held beliefs that women were incapable of performing the police function. Although
much has changed in policing, female officers are bombarded with masculine symbols
depicting mostly the agentic characteristics associated with the law enforcement
profession. Or, they are offered socially and culturally constructed definitions of who
they are supposed to be as women as well as what is lacking in them as officers. This
study explores the disparity between how female police officers are viewed, what they
experience, and how they are represented. The perspective of the female officer was
captured, and presented through visual images obtained by participants. Descriptive
coding and thematic analysis converted photographs and written narratives into
participant generated themes and stories. Female officers in this study resisted stereotypic
portraits of women in policing and sought expanded boundaries of inclusion within their
profession. Participants produced some understanding of how women construct their
personal and professional identities relative to gender, as well as the larger roles of
women in society.
ContributorsVeach, Paula (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Kleinsasser, Robert (Committee member) / Rabe-Hemp, Cara (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015