Across the nation, incoming first-year undergraduates enter the university with a major that they selected before they had any lived-experiences as a college student. With more students changing their major than keeping the one they initially enrolled with, an inequity arises between those students whose pre-college experiences prepare them to make these informed decisions and those students who are otherwise unable to make these decisions due to personal barriers that prevent them from investing in their own career aspirations. As these students acclimate to their new identities as college students, they must also definitively decide on a major–or select a new one–on their own with no required courses that earn them baccalaureate credit. This action research qualitative study was conducted to address a systemic problem by understanding the effects of Culturally Responsive Curriculum on instructors and their students in a general education writing class where diverse first-year students participate in career exploration. Through theoretical frameworks within Landscapes of Practice, Social Cognitive Career Theory, and Culturally Responsive Teaching, the study’s findings suggest that an increase in Culturally Responsive assignments in a writing class paired with critical reflection can aid both students and instructors in diffusing and mitigating barriers that keep them from imagining their future career selves.

This action research introduces an innovative construct entitled R.A.I.S.E. (Representation, Amplification of Assets, Inspiration, Support, and Empowerment and Engagement) to scale up leadership excellence in Ontario education systems. Equity (or the E-word) has become a highly contentious and volatile left-and right-wing political hotbed. R.A.I.S.E. attempts to shift the emphasis away from politically polarized discourse by approaching equity at the core of teaching and learning—the student and the family. R.A.I.S.E. poses scaffolded reflective questions that focus on connecting with every student and family based on individual assets, strengths, passions, and interests by connecting before correcting and directing them to meet individual needs. This study explores taking the R.A.I.S.E. tool beyond its initial use in a single school and examining further applications in school systems constrained by open dialogue about equity. With permission, I provided the R.A.I.S.E. protocol to school districts in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) for a self-directed rollout, with the understanding that a member of the senior leadership team would serve as a confidential participant in this study. Through purposive sampling, I conducted a qualitative, semi-structured group interview and a premortem exercise with system superintendents from GTHA school districts to determine the application and possibilities of the R.A.I.S.E tool. This qualitative study incorporated two cycles of coding. The first cycle consisted of in-vivo and descriptive coding, and the second cycle consisted of pattern coding. During the group interview, participants responded openly to semi-structured questions to highlight implementation strategies of the R.A.I.S.E. tool and whether there were barriers or limitations to its use. Participants also shared if the tool served as an effective conversation catalyst, enabling them to approach, navigate, and sustain conversations about equity within systems and with various partners and stakeholders. During the premortem exercise, participants imagined successes and failures of the tool’s implementation for the 2024-25 school year. Based on the possible uses and implementation of R.A.I.S.E., participants explained their projected futures, including if they anticipate any progress toward transformational change by moving equity from theory to action in classrooms, schools, and systems. Findings also revealed if any systemic barriers affected the tool’s implementation and provided implications for additional research.

This action research dissertation explores the role of coaching in fostering people’s development within the administrative services of a small research-intensive public university. The study explores how coaching influences employee attitudes, self-efficacy, personal and professional growth, productivity, and overall organizational effectiveness. The research was conducted within the Business and Ancillary Services unit, which implemented a service excellence strategy that included coaching as a core component. The study seeks to understand the specific impact of coaching in enhancing employee engagement, fostering collaboration, and contributing to the university’s broader organizational goals. A mixed-methods approach was utilized to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Forty employees, including one director, six managers, and 33 unionized staff members, were invited to participate in an anonymous survey, while five participants were selected for semi-structured interviews to provide deeper insights into individual experiences and perceptions. The survey measured the effectiveness of coaching sessions on various developmental outcomes using Likert scale items, while the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that coaching had a positive impact on employee attitudes, with participants reporting increased confidence, motivation, and engagement. Coaching was also linked to greater self-efficacy, enabling employees to feel more capable of achieving their goals and contributing to organizational success. Furthermore, coaching promoted stronger interpersonal relationships and teamwork, fostering a culture of collaboration and mutual support. Participants noted improvements in their personal and professional growth, particularly in skill development and adaptability. Productivity was also enhanced, as coaching helped employees focus on their objectives and optimize their performance. Although the findings are specific to a particular context, they offer valuable insights for varying contexts seeking to leverage coaching for employee development. The study concludes with recommendations for expanding coaching initiatives, exploring their long-term effects, and examining how organizational culture influences the success of coaching programs. This research underscores the potential of coaching as a strategic tool for driving both individual and organizational development.

Dual enrollment is an early college opportunity for high school students who are in an eligible high school class with a qualified high school instructor. Research has shown that participation in an early college program like dual enrollment increases college persistence and retention rates post high school. However, students from underrepresented communities are less likely to take advantage of dual enrollment, losing out on the known benefits that can create generational change. This study aimed to determine how a family workshop at a Title I high school can impact a participant's belief and values in dual enrollment. This was a mixed-methods study, using both quantitative and qualitative methods to gather data. Data sources included a pre-innovation survey, post-innovation survey, summer communication plan survey, post-innovation interviews, and final enrollment data. Ten high school students and 16 parents participated in this study. The results of this study show that an intentional dual enrollment workshop that includes both the students and parents impacts participants' beliefs and values in dual enrollment, impacting their decision to participate in dual enrollment. Additionally, I learned the importance of family involvement and participation, especially in a community that is high in first-generation and low-income.

This dissertation explores how a social learning landscape constructed around the concept of Emergent Synchronicity affects the perceptions of connectedness and belonging felt by a group of EdD students enrolled in an online asynchronous program. The mixed methods study collects data from a series of three surveys distributed at the beginning, middle, and end of a semester, as well as data collected from semi-structured participant interviews. The findings from the research illustrate the importance of connectedness and belonging to the student experience while also establishing the social learning qualities and experiences identified by participants as the most beneficial to their learning experience. The results prompt a re-thinking of the importance of connectedness and belonging which has been largely ignored as the online asynchronous learning format has increased in prevalence and establishes an understanding of how the constructs commence and change over time. The findings support the creation of a student-to-student mentor program that uses the insight of the advanced student to guide the novice student. In addition, the findings highlight the role of the institution in establishing a culture of social learning and providing opportunities for the connectedness and belonging constructs to develop.

This dissertation explores the development and implementation of a contextually relevant leadership development program aimed at fostering the growth of academic advisors at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC), particularly those with aspirations for leadership roles within the advising domain. Recognizing the important role of academic advising in student success and the often-overlooked need for professional development among advisors, this study introduces an innovative approach to cultivating leader identities and enhancing the leadership skills of academic advisors with an authentic leadership lens.Utilizing an action research case study methodology, this dissertation details the creation, execution, and evaluation of a two-phase innovation. The first phase involves the collaborative development of a mentoring workbook by senior advisors (SAs), designed to guide less experienced academic advisors in a structured mentoring relationship focused on the core values of the office. The second phase operationalizes this workbook in mentoring relationships, offering SAs the opportunity to practice and refine their leadership skills. Theoretical underpinnings from authentic leadership and leader identity theories serve as the foundation for the innovation, emphasizing the significance of authentic leadership behaviors and the process of leader identity development within the specific organizational context of MLFTC. This study contributes to the understanding of how deliberate, contextually informed interventions can support the professional growth of academic advisors and the cultivation of leader identities and highlights the potential for such innovations to enhance not only individual careers but also the broader academic advising profession. Through qualitative and quantitative data analysis, findings demonstrate that the innovation positively influenced the SAs' development of leader identity and authentic leadership traits. This research underscores the importance of providing academic advisors with opportunities for leadership development, advocating for a more holistic approach to supporting the professional growth of student service professionals. Future implications for the field of academic advising, leadership development, and higher education administration are discussed, offering insights into the application of such innovations in similar contexts.

Students in higher education require the skills and knowledge to creatively solve some of the pressing social, economic, and environmental issues confronting humanity. In 2015, the United Nations and its member states developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address complex global issues and systemic barriers to achieving sustainable development across the world. The SDGs help guide the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), an initiative of the UN Global Compact that aligns signatory business schools with a set of values consistent with responsible management principles. This action research study examined bridging the knowledge gap of faculty transitioning from teaching traditional business curriculum to PRME and the SDG implementation in the curriculum in a polytechnic setting. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory was used as the guiding theoretical framework. An intervention in the form of a faculty development micro-credential was created and implemented for study participants. Using a quantitative research design with pre-intervention and post-intervention surveys, participants reported a statistically significant increase in knowledge after the PRME micro-credential.

The physician assistant (PA) profession is lacking in diversity, both in practicing PAs and the PA student population. PA organizations, including the PA Education Association and the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the PA, have been advocating for action to address this lack of diversity, and many educational institutions have responded by innovating their recruitment and admissions strategies. Another appropriate response to address the lack of diversity in PA education would be to critically evaluate the curriculum, specifically professionalism curriculum, for inclusiveness. Professional identity formation (PIF) provides a framework for teaching professionalism that focuses on the evolving identities of medical learners (Irby & Hamstra, 2016) as influenced by their individual, relational, and collective identities (Cruess et al., 2015). However, PIF has been critiqued for lacking inclusion of sociocultural contexts (Wyatt et al., 2020). Through this mixed methods action research study, I utilized community of inquiry (CoI; Garrison et al., 1999) as a theoretical framework for creation and facilitation of a professional development workshop for PA educators aimed at evaluating academic medical journal articles focused on the topics of professionalism in medical education, PIF, and PIF experiences in underrepresented in medicine students. My goal was to increase awareness of PIF as a pedagogical framework which has the potential to alter the learning environment toward one of inclusion and belonging. Additionally, through my CoI, I further aimed to expand upon the PIF conceptual framework to include elements of intersectionality by focusing on how sociocultural factors influence student perspectives on professionalism and their PIF process. I used Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior to evaluate participants’ intention to incorporate PIF into their professionalism curricula and to prioritize sociocultural factors in their professionalism pedagogies. Using pre- and post-intervention surveys, participant interviews, and workshop session exit questions, I determined that my professional development workshop contributed to an increased likelihood of PA educators to integrate PIF and prioritize sociocultural factors into their professionalism curricula, and further, changed perspectives regarding the definition of professionalism in PA education to include an understanding and appreciation for how professionalism is influenced by a student’s sociocultural factors.

The School of Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (SEBI) student’sengagement with SEBI support services has been a matter of concern since the establishment of the School in 2017. Of the fifteen hundred (1500) students registered at the School, approximately 40% of them use the student support services offered to increase retention, enhance performance, reduce uncertainties, and guide students to success. The literature showed that student engagement is important for the greater achievement of student outcomes, maintaining retention, as well as to offset any ambiguity and challenges within the learning environments. The practitioner used Astin’s Theory of Student Involvement and Tinto’s Student Integration Theory to discuss the phenomenon of infrequent engagements of students with student support services SEBI. The research used a mixed-method approach to investigate the current framework of student support services at SEBI and student's engagement with these services. The findings suggest that the students' perception of the support services offered by SEBI is that the services are inadequate, and that their success is as a result of peer support and their individual persistence. The practitioner proposes a student support strategy prototype that will involve a collaboration between students and faculty members for a more effective and efficient student support service.

The problem of practice addressed in this study specifically examined how teachers lack the knowledge and experience of working with Indigenous students, thus creating a lack of connections with these students. Indigenous students have unique life experiences and world views, and the lack of knowledge and experience from teachers makes it difficult to provide adequate connections for the students in Tribal Schools. One of the driving ideas behind this research was that if non-Native teachers do not understand their students, how will they be able to connect with them and teach them effectively? Connections and relationships with teachers are one of the most beneficial factors for students. Generally, teacher preparation programs within the United States do not explicitly address the unique barriers and histories experienced by Indigenous students. The goal of this study was to assist teachers of varying cultural backgrounds in the transition from their teacher education programs to being in the classroom, teaching Indigenous students. This will better prepare future educators to teach Indigenous students in a Tribal School setting.