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1997 Dissertation Abstracts: Part 3
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ORDER NO: ABA97-28434 A MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF THE DYNAMICS OF FACTORS OF SOCIAL CONTEXT, CURRICULUM, AND CLASSROOM PROCESS TO ACHIEVEMENT IN CALCULUS AT THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE Author: ARMSTRONG, SONYA M. Degree: PH.D. Year: 1997 Corporate Source/Institution: THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER (0188) Supervisor: JULIA SMITH Source: VOLUME 58/03-A OF DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. PAGE 783. 196 PAGES Descriptors: EDUCATION, MATHEMATICS ; EDUCATION, COMMUNITY COLLEGE ; EDUCATION, CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION Descriptor Codes: 0280; 0275; 0727 Since 1987 the National Science Foundation has awarded multi-million and multi-year grants for the renewal of the undergraduate calculus curriculum. A primary focus of these initiatives is to effect a change in the high failure rate in calculus. Despite these curriculum reform initiatives the failure remains high, especially among students in community colleges. The current research investigated the relationship between the factors of social context, classroom process, and curriculum to the achievement in calculus at the community college level. The primary interest was to determine the characteristics of the students who are successful in calculus. A secondary interest was to evaluate the effect of the curriculum of the Calculus Consortium based at Harvard University (the most used of the calculus reform initiatives) on the achievement of students in community colleges. The research utilizes survey and outcome data from calculus students drawn from a stratified sample of community colleges in New York and New Jersey. Two-thirds of the institutions used the Harvard (CCH) material, while the other institutions used a traditional curriculum. The survey data was supplemented with in-class participant observation by the investigator who participated in two of the calculus courses (one in each curriculum). The quantitative data was analyzed using parametric and non-parametric procedures. The variables were evaluated for overall effect and for effect by curriculum. The findings from this study, in a path analysis design, indicate that students' algebraic ability was the strongest predictor of success in the outcome variable (final course grade). The results also indicate that students who are successful are more likely to have: a strong algebra background, a positive attitude towards mathematics, taken their pre calculus courses in high school, and had positive engagement in the calculus course. The data did not support the calculus reform assumptions that students with low pre-calculus backgrounds can succeed in calculus with the aid of a graphing calculator. The findings also suggest that non-Asian minority students were more likely to be hindered than helped by enrollment in a reform curriculum.
ORDER NO: ABA97-28118 The purpose of this investigation was to determine the relationship between number and type of core curriculum courses taken and critical thinking, as measured by the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP) Critical Thinking Test. The participants for the evaluation were 223 juniors and seniors enrolled in 400 level, upper division courses randomly selected from the Colleges of Agriculture, Business, Education, Engineering, Liberal Arts, and Science and Mathematics at Auburn University , a Research II institution in the southern United States. After administration of the CAAP Critical Thinking Test, students were asked to answer nine additional questions designed to assess participation in activities typically associated with a "well-educated" person. Critical thinking was found to correlate positively with ACT score, GPA, and total core curriculum hours. However, core curriculum hours, whether taken at the institution or transferred in, did not add to critical thinking ability above and beyond entering ability as defined by ACT score. There were significant relationships between critical thinking and total core curriculum hours completed in History, whether at the institution or through transfer, regardless of entering ability. In addition, a significant relationship was found between critical thinking and number of hours spent by students outside the classroom discussing current issues with other students.
ORDER NO: ABA97-28052 The role of the university school of education in the constructing of educational reform in local schools has just begun to emerge in the reform literature. The university professor's role in facilitating the professional development school has not been clearly delineated in the reform work. The reform literature suggests that cooperative ventures like student teacher programs dominate the school-university educational relationship. This research studied the dilemmas indigenous to educational collaborations; the discovery of the organizational processes that incite interinstitutional collaboration; and the inquiry that generates a collaborative action research organization. Data for this study were gathered from three participants, a professor-facilitator and two teachers, and from participant observation, fieldnotes, journals, semistructured interviews, school documents, memos, audiotaped meetings, an unpublished article, and a questionnaire. The research design, a case study, provided the framework within which research-generated data and participant-generated data were compared. Samples of journals, interviews, the unpublished article, and the transcripts of meetings were coded for analysis by the researcher and two associate professors of teacher education. Triangulation processes verified the data-gathering and analysis procedures. Five general categories emerged from the content analysis of the data with some 13 subcategories. The co-coders arrived at an approximate 90% agreement with the researcher's data analysis. The obvious limitations of this case study presented any generalizations pertinent to facilitating collaborative learning organizations from being extended. This study suggested that universities committed to reform through school collaboration need to understand the initiation and development of collaboration processes. One implication of this study was the need for an "invitational year" to assess the readiness of the partners to engage in a second "orientation to collaboration" year to learn inquiry processes and socialization to the partnership thus eliminating "false-start" initiatives. A professional development school with a 2-year introduction permits time for shared reflection, shared inquiry, and the emergence of a new discourse community. A university facilitator might find these beginning years useful for estimating the issues that dominate a school- university learning organization.
ORDER NO: ABA97-28047 The broad focus of this qualitative study was to identify the development of early childhood education student teachers' pedagogical reasoning relative to the enactment of curriculum. The perspectives of the student teacher in learning to teach are surprisingly lacking in the literature. Therefore, this study made central the phenomenological experience and meaning-making of the two student teachers. This study identified cultural myths, conventional wisdom, and the participants' beliefs about self, teaching, and children. The student teachers valorized their final field experience as the authentic moment to determine competency. The phenomenological data were held up to the light of curricular ideology, particularly progressivism in a tension with rational humanism, as well as foundations of early childhood education, theories of college student development, preservice teacher socialization and growth, and rural socialization and growth. The findings reflect the contemporary view in curriculum studies that pedagogy is not a "bag of tricks" to be assembled in the teaching process, but rather a "way of being." The findings include the construction of time-perspective frames ("pre," initial, responsible, post) intersected with concerns for practice, feelings, and context. The student teachers' perceptions include (a) that pedagogy and planning tend to reflect rural socialization and biography over ideological conceptions; (b) intense feelings change over the placement; and (c) decoding the perceived power of classroom context is more urgent than decoding the cultural context or needs of children.
ORDER NO: ABA97-28040 Informed by social construction theory, models of counselor supervision, and the history of the Reflecting Team Process (Andersen, 1987, 1991), this study explored the use of Reflecting Teams as a form of counselor supervision in a counselor preparation program. Despite the increasing amount of literature available on the Reflecting Team Process in the last five to ten years, most of this literature addressed the use of the process in clinical settings; little has been written about its use in supervision. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the use of Reflecting Teams in supervision. More specifically, this study explored counseling supervisees' and supervisors' perceptions about the use of Reflecting Teams as a form of group supervision for counselors in training. A qualitative design using ethnographic methodology was used to address the research questions. The main source of information was interviews with students and instructors from three counseling practicum classes that used the Reflecting Team as a method of group supervision. These data were supplemented by journals written by students and instructors who participated in the Reflecting Team Supervision and by the researcher's field notes. The researcher analyzed these data by searching for patterns and themes in the transcribed text. Themes that emerged in this study included aspects of helpfulness of the Reflecting Team Process, aspects of unhelpfulness or difficulty with the Reflecting Team Process, roles of the Reflecting Team participants, similarities and differences between Reflecting Team Supervision and traditional group supervision, and training considerations. One student's account of the cultural issues he encountered during his Reflecting Team experience was also analyzed and discussed. Other concerns important to the use of Reflecting Teams in counselor preparation programs were then discussed, including the need for respect for various viewpoints and for the people expressing them, the distance between the Reflecting Team and the Interview Team as a distinguishing feature of the Reflecting Team Process, the roles of the various members in the Reflecting Team Process (particularly the role of interviewer), the role of the supervisor/instructor in the Reflecting Team Process, developmental issues as they relate to the use of Reflecting Teams in counselor supervision, and ideas for training.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27814 The premise of this study is based upon the void in information about instructional methods used in the classroom. From the CSWE Curriculum Policy Statements two major research questions were proposed: (1) Does the research course syllabus of accredited baccalaureate and graduate (M.S.W.) programs reflect the integration of social work practice and practice research through assignments (requiring applications of research skills by students), required and recommended readings, textbooks, objectives and purposes of the course? (2) How is social work research "knowledge building" currently implemented in baccalaureate and graduate (M.S.W.) research courses? The scope of the research is presented in a historical context over a four decade period beginning in the (1950s-1960s) and ending in the early years of the 1990's. Fifty-four (n = 54) research course syllabi from the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited baccalaureate and graduate programs were collected and formed the sample for this study. A syllabus rating scale was used to determine the level of compliance with two CSWE mandated standards for research courses. Content Analysis was used to analyze the data on the syllabus. The instrument used for data collection was a syllabi coding instrument designed to assess the level to which research course syllabi from baccalaureate and graduate courses were in compliance with the Council standards. The major findings indicated that professors were creative in documenting the standards in the course syllabus. Sixty percent (60%) of the syllabi included statements indicating terminology reflective of "evaluation of practice." Fifty-seven (57%) of the baccalaureate program research courses indicated explicit wording reflective of "evaluation of one's own practice" in comparison to forty-three percent (43%) of graduate research courses. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of both baccalaureate and graduate research courses indicated 'knowledge building' as a central component of the research course syllabus.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27720 The target of this explanatory study was to advance the development of micropolitical theory. The author sought to use and improve a mixture of unobtrusive research methods with the goal of advancing the understanding of a complex educational institution. The Santa Barbara campus of the University of California served as the organization under examination in this case study. Qualitative research methodology was employed and a number of indicators of "core technology" (Thompson, 1967) were used and modified in order to answer the research question. The study provides a depth analysis of selected aspects of the history of an institution. Data were collected with the assumption that critical incidents and histories hold the blueprint for the basic shape and direction of a social system. Printed records, reports, and public information were the major sources of data. The researcher attempted to minimize effects of his enmeshed role as a member and participant in the organization. Each change in staff, funding sources, allocation of physical space, and grant money received tells the story of a campus that has undergone two types of basic change. What was once a teaching academy has become a celebrated research institution and what was once a primarily State funded institution has successfully invested in resources and strategies to secure alternative funds. Insight was gained into how an organization shifted the balance of its core priorities without dissolving. The campus used subunits to maintain organizational stability while changing on its margins to meet environmental demands.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27680 This study sought to determine the overall status of writing centers in four academic settings: secondary school, two year college , four year college , university. To determine that status, this study examined the characteristics of writing centers in these settings and the issues faced by writing centers in these settings. To achieve these ends, the researcher engaged in survey research and open-ended interviews. The survey population came from the National Directory of Writing Centers. A 50% sample yielded 146 writing centers in all four settings. These centers received a survey instrument that examined seven areas of importance to writing centers: physical plant, staff clientele, services, funding, networking and outreach, evaluation. A 10% sample of survey respondents were asked to participate in open-ended interviews; the interview questions came from the overall sample's responses on the survey instrument. After the initial mailing, postcard reminder mailing, and telephone follow-up, the overall response sample was 49.2%. Respondents provided data on the size and makeup of the physical plants of their centers, including the number of computers and network access for their centers. Respondents also provided data on the directors and tutors of their centers, the characteristics of their centers' clienteles, the services their centers provided, the funding sources and allocations of their budgets, the extent of public relations in which their centers engage, and the ways the directors evaluate the effectiveness of their centers. Finally, the open-ended interviews provided more detail on the two main issues facing all writing centers--funding and institutional support. This study concludes that writing centers still do not enjoy full professional status in the academy. Writing centers are akin to Cinderella, sitting in the ashes of other marginalized programs in education. However, with the support of the National Writing Centers Association and the recent movement by the NWCA toward an accreditation process, writing centers will move out of the ashes and to the center of the academy.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27671 This study was designed to determine if 1996 high school seniors who enrolled at West Virginia University at Parkersburg in the fall of 1996 were receiving equal educational opportunity with a focus on computer access and usage. The data collection consisted of two major parts: surveying the students in the 7-county service area of WVUP and interviewing at least 5 teachers or other professional staff from among each of the 11 schools located in 7 different counties. The findings of the study showed that students did not enjoy equal access to computers and computer instruction and that a combination of socioeconomic factors had the greatest impact on this issue of equity. Ethnic background proved not to be a significant factor. That there were significant gender barriers could be only weakly supported through the data analysis. Results of the study were generally supported by the literature reviewed, although it was assumed that gender differences would prove to be more of a barrier than was determined through this study. In conclusion, 6 recommendations were offered for further research.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27668 Studies indicate that the implementation of multiculturalism into university general education course requirements such as introductory American literature is sporadic. Furthermore, although research suggests that faculty are more frequently including multicultural literature in their courses, there is little research concerning what faculty believe about multiculturalism and multicultural education and how faculty actually teach multiculturalism in higher education. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the knowledge of why faculty do or do not implement multiculturalism into their curricula and if they do, how they implement it. This study uses phenomenological and hermeneutic research methods to explore the stances, meaning the sum of personal and professional beliefs and teaching practices, of five university professors teaching introductory American literature courses in a large, public university with a primarily white population. This study also examines factors which influence beliefs and practices toward multiculturalism and the relationships between faculty beliefs, practices, and the factors which influence stance. The study reveals that four out of the five participants include multicultural literature in their course assignments, and that three, and to some extent a fourth, infuse multiculturalism into course content. The fifth participant's stance is almost entirely inconsistent with multiculturalism and multicultural education. The participants reflect three distinct teaching paradigms: the traditional intellectual paradigm, the personal paradigm, and the socio-political paradigm. The traditional teaching paradigm, which focuses on literature only, is inconsistent with multiculturalism. The personal paradigm, which emphasizes student development, and the socio-political paradigm, which focuses on social and political issues, are both consistent with multiculturalism. Four out of the five participants reflect combinations of these paradigms. Each participant's stance provides greater understanding of the beliefs and issues that contribute to multicultural practices and the teaching practices that are consistent and inconsistent with multiculturalism. The study also contributes to the knowledge about stance, faculty cognition, belief change, and the relationship between beliefs and teaching practices.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27169 The purpose of this study was to investigate the Chinese distance learning students' experiences in their distance education. The study addressed the following research questions: (a) What are the differences between completors and non-completors of distance learning in perceptions of distance education in the four areas (goal commitment, academic environment, social and work environment, and cost assessment)? (b) How are distance learners' experiences in the four areas of distance education related to their demographic characteristics? (c) Is distance learners' completion of programs affected by goal commitment, academic environment, social and work environment, and cost assessment? (d) Can distance learners' categories of completion vs. non-completion be discriminated by a set of ten demographic characteristics and by a combination of the demographic variables and the four experiential areas? Three hundred forty-two Chinese distance learners participated in the study, among whom 223 were completors and 119 were non-completors. Chinese Distance Learning Students' Experiences Survey Questionnaire, an instrument developed by the researcher, was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using such statistical tests as ANOVA, t-test, and discriminant function analysis. The major findings of this study included: (a) Distance learning completors had more positive experiences in the four areas of distance education than non-completors. Both learning groups rated the academic environment area lower than the other three areas. (b) Distance learning students' experiences in the four areas varies in relation to their demographic characteristics. (c) Distance learners' persistence in or withdrawal from programs was associated with their experiences in the four areas of distance education. (d) Distance learners' status could be predicted with 85% accuracy on the participants' responses to a set of demographic characteristics, with the work load variable contributing most to the predictive function. If the four experiential areas were combined with the demographic variables, a higher predictive accuracy could be obtained, with five heavily weighted variables in the predictive function, including academic, social, cost assessment, work load, and goal variables. Implications related to the findings were provided for distance educators, program planners, policy makers, as well as distance learners' families and employers in terms of encouraging distance learners to complete their distance education.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27012 This dissertation explores how teacher education is determined by specific individuals in one department with a state university. The study focuses on five programmatic and one "grass roots" initiative that were introduced into the Educational Foundations Department at Normalsville University between 1987-1994: the Urban Education Program, the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Teaching , Project 30 initiative and the Pedagogy Seminars, Re: Learning and the Coalition for Essential Schools partnership, the Professional Development Practicum and the Departmental Advances. Working as an adjunct professor in the Educational Foundations Department, and thus as a participant observer, the author examined the responses of those directly involved in each of the six initiatives to help determine how changes were made possible and what, if any, educational reform occurred in this department. The author used four primary data sources: (a) a series of individual interviews of department faculty and related outside evaluators, that were recorded, transcribed, coded and analyzed; (b) individual and group course and program evaluations; (c) site documents; and (d) external research reports. The resulting dissertation describes and analyzes the context of and the conditions for, the process of teacher education reform at the university level. It also examined how the values and beliefs of individual faculty members affected the work that was done over this six-year period. Three identifiable themes emerged from the resulting data about teacher education reform at the university level: (a) the need for a university wide commitment to teacher education, (b) the need to provide an opportunity for an avenue of conversation that includes everyone within a department, and finally (c) the need to acknowledge and respond to the difficulties involved in merging old programs, methods and veteran faculty with the new. This case study suggests that teacher education reform is highly contextualized, less defined by a more generalized notion of teacher reform and more significantly embodied in specific individuals whose goals are constantly being negotiated. People, not institutions are at the center of educational reform. It also suggests that only after reflecting on these practices from the inside, and examining the process of teacher education reform that we will begin to understand its complex nature.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27011 This ethnographic research project seeks to examine literary theory and practice, specifically that of Louise Rosenblatt, employed at Cabrini College , a small, private Catholic liberal arts college in Radnor, Pennsylvania. Cabrini College 's mission statement: to strive to educate holistically mind and spirit, permeates the school; thus the school and its faculty are ripe for embracing a literary stance as individualized as Rosenblatt's. Reader response theory is firmly rooted in the English department of Cabrini College. A professor on staff, Dr. Arthur E. Young, developed a literary framework based on Rosenblatt's work. With regard to Rosenblatt's theory in place at Cabrini, is it a strict translation or a modified amalgam? What does theory look like in practice? How do practitioners view theory and practice with regard to their own pedagogy? What problems and contradictions, if any, exist? What members of the faculty employ Rosenblatt and how have they adapted Rosenblatt for their own uses? What does Dr. Young's flexible framework incorporate of Rosenblatt's theory and how is it used in practice? What is happening in the classroom? How do the students feel about the literary theories and practices in place? The literature review includes Bleich, Holland, Purves, Probst, and of course, Rosenblatt, to map reader response in general and specifically literary interpretation and ownership. Documentation includes faculty interviews as well as student surveys and interviews. Interviews and surveys are of a pedagogical, metacognitive and reflective nature. Undergraduate literature classes, Contemporary American Literature and Cinematic Interpretation of Literature, were observed on a regular basis and were the pool from which faculty and student participants were selected. This ethnographic research provides a qualitative glimpse of reader response practices in a 1995 college literature classroom. This dissertation will contribute to the academic conversation of literary theory in contemporary college practices.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27010 This dissertation is a teacher/researcher study that was concerned with academic success for high-risk college freshmen. The primary question was why do some students succeed academically and others do not. This is an in-depth study of one community of learners, twenty-four high-risk college freshmen within a three-layered study: the students, the class, and the college community. Ferrum College 's admissions' standards defined high-risk with several possible variables: (a) high school grade point average below a C, (b) SAT scores lower than 800, (c) nontraditional students (either older than the usual college freshman or out of high school for several years), (d) second language learners, (e) students who had been identified as learning disabled. The actual data collection phase was primarily one academic year; the pre-research and post-research phases included a pilot study, publication of a textbook, the designing of a wholistic class (wholistic language and wholistic student), and follow-up research. The research methodology included the creation of a wholistic language class for these high-risk students, student journals, teacher/researcher journal, interviews, and videotaping class sessions for the entire semester. As the teacher/researcher I was able to recognize several insights and patterns concerning this group of high-risk students. Students at-risk can be identified by certain behavioral and/or academic patterns; teachers are often able to identify these students within the first few days of class; these students viewed themselves as poor learners; a stereotypic high-risk student pattern became evident, but labeling and generalizing may be harmful and restrictive; recognition of certain patterns individually and collectively should be informative for instruction and flexible, providing flexible labels for students; wholistic language and metacognitive learning strategies did make a difference for these high-risk freshmen. These results should be meaningful not only for college teachers of high-risk students, but teachers and administrators at all levels who strive to empower at-risk students with academic success. The key is recognition, intervention, and direct instruction : this is not a time to back off from our at-risk, developmental programs but to reach out for these students at all levels.
ORDER NO: ABA97-27009 The term professional development school used in this study means a school/university collaboration which includes teacher training, curriculum development, research, and the creation of a new organizational structure. The concept of a professional development school is a restructuring approach that differs from most of the current restructuring models. The professional development school model challenges our assumptions about teaching and learning, teacher education, use of educational resources, educational roles, educational research, use of time, and institutional and individual interactions. This study will explore the concept of professional development schools by examining the nature of the collaboration of the institutions and individuals involved in one professional development school. This study will specifically look at the changes the professional development school concepts bring to the collaboration between a college , a school, the school district and the host of individuals involved with these institutions. It will explore how institutions connect, and how those connections change the roles of individuals. The method of research will include interviews, observations, and the review of site documents, video and audio tapes, as well as school artifacts. The collection of this data is expected to satisfy two goals. First, it will increase the knowledge base about professional development schools from the "inside out." Second, it could motivate those involved in these schools to reflect upon their evolution.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26875 The essential role of comprehensible input in second language acquisition is incontrovertible. The role of comprehensible output, however, is a point of far greater contention. Swain (1985, 1993, 1994; Swain & Lapkin 1995) develops an output hypothesis, arguing that in addition to exposure to necessary comprehensible input the learner needs to engage in the production of comprehensible output in order to advance linguistically. This quasi-experimental investigation concerns the role of pushed-output production in the foreign language classroom, and the influence of an output-centered approach to teaching Spanish on subjects' oral proficiency development and subject-matter achievement after one semester of university study. Insight into the impact of oral production practice on these outcomes is important to the field in light of past and more recent attempts to marginalize output in favor of an emphasis on listening comprehension and input-based discrimination activities (e.g., Terrell 1977, 1991; Terrell et al. 1994; VanPatten 1993; VanPatten and Cadierno 1993). Data was gathered from six University of Pittsburgh elementary Spanish sections (68 subjects). The design established three subject groupings labeled Experimental A, Experimental B, and Control Group. A pretest/screening was administered to determine the true-beginner status of all subjects, this to control for pre-treatment knowledge of the target language. Treatment A was an output-centered approach to teaching elementary Spanish, in which instructor expectations for student-generated output were high. The treatment was brought to the classroom primarily through modifications in teacher talk which created added opportunities and demands for student production. Teacher talk in the pushed-output classroom engendered a focus on form within a communicative instructional framework, with specifications for language elicitation techniques, raised expectations for quantity and accuracy of output, and the provision of negative feedback which resulted in learner hypothesis testing through output reworking. Treatment B was an input/aural comprehension-centered approach to teaching elementary Spanish in which instructor expectations for oral production were significantly lower relative to Treatment A. The Natural Approach, used here to operationalize this pedagogical stance, was selected both for the explicitness with which it assigns a deemphasized role to output, and the popularity of this approach and associated university -level materials in the field of Spanish language instruction over the past decade. Outcome measures included a prochievement interview designed to elicit a speech sample that could be rated according to ACTFL guidelines, and a discrete-point achievement posttest. It was hypothesized that providing university learners with increased opportunities for meaningful production while engaging them in pushed-language use would result in greater oral proficiency development and greater subject-matter achievement after one semester of instruction. The findings strongly support the hypothesis regarding oral proficiency development, with the majority of pushed-output subjects (47.8%) attaining a post-treatment rating of novice-high, significantly outperforming their counterparts in the Natural Approach (B) and Control (C) groups. While pushed-output subjects also outperformed their counterparts on the subject-matter achievement outcome, these differences were not found to be significant at the 0.05 level $(p=0.06).$ The findings clearly indicate a positive, essential role for output production in fostering oral proficiency development in the elementary Spanish classroom.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26832 Leadership and learning are human activities occurring within an interpersonal, social context. This study was concerned with rendering the lived experiences of leaders and learners as intelligible, allowing for understanding of factors affecting knowledge construction and learning in higher education settings. The individual, personal experiences of teachers and learners were explored in order to identify factors that can be influenced by teacher leadership. Phenomenology was the philosophical and methodological structure of this study. Fifty-two nursing students enrolled in a senior level course at a regional state university participated in the study, as well as the two course co-teachers. All participants engaged in a narratologic journaling process that reflected their personal experiences with learning. Journals were kept for a 12 week-period, and narrative data reflecting individual learners and leaders' personal engagement with learning were collected at six discrete intervals during the study. The textual data were systematically analyzed, consistent with qualitative research processes, using constant comparative methods, and assisted by QSR NUD.IST computer software. Sixteen major themes and 36 sub-themes representing meaningful expressions of the lived lives of participants were identified. The lived lives of participants are about power, tension, mistakes, expectations, and most significantly about caring. Examination of the interrelationship of themes led to identification of factors impacting leadership and learning within the study classroom. Three interrelationship theme clusters were found and represent the study's major findings. The interrelationship clusters are reported as three conceptual models reflecting what it is to be a learner or leader in the classroom of study. These models are (a) the positive power of leadership, (b) tension and learning, and (c) leadership for learning, and lead to identification of pedagogy seen as positively impacting knowledge construction in a higher education classroom setting.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26814 Asynchronous distance education telecourses are the technological version of traditional correspondence courses. Students in asynchronous telecourses receive videos and printed material but they may not have any contact with the instructor or other students. This study analyzed the academic performance of 154 Southwest Virginia Community College students enrolled in 27 different telecourses during one semester. The purpose of this study was to determine if students' cognitive styles impacted their achievement in distance education courses. Students were given the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) which categorized the students as field dependent or field independent. A field dependent's cognitive style is one that constitutes social activities whereas field independent's have a more self-mediating style, preferring solitary activities. It was hypothesized that field independent students would be more likely to complete asynchronous courses. Chi-square analysis indicated no significant differences in success (grades of A, B, C) or nonsuccess (grades of D, F, I, or W) rate for field independent-dependent students. Although females were significantly more likely to be field dependent, in the total research group and traditional age group, this did not impact their success in distance education courses. The data of this study indicate that achievement rates were not related to the variables of gender, age, or GEFT classification of the students. Future research should expand on this study by analyzing the cognitive style of students who received each of the grades (A, B, C, D, F, I, and W). Longitudinal analysis should track the cognitive styles of students through the completion of a degree.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26796 As discipline-specific writing centers continue to increase in number, writing center consultants must determine ways to help their clients acquire discipline-specific and course-specific literacy. One way to achieve this goal is through genre analysis. This study focuses on the genre of EECE 201 (Tools and Techniques for Electrical and Computer Engineers) lab reports and strategies writing center consultants can implement to teach students communication skills necessary for discipline-specific literacy. Beginning with a discussion of the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Writing Center's history, the methodological foundations of this study, and an historical overview of genre theory from classical times to the present, this study surveys the history and debates surrounding teaching genres to students. The role of assessment in analyzing and teaching genre is discussed as well, with application specifically to the sophomore-level EECE 201 course within ECE at the University of South Carolina. The study itself consists of analyzing four students' lab reports written for the EECE 201 course. Using a list of eleven characteristics developed with experienced communicators within this discipline, I analyzed each report (there is a total of 14), determining to what extent the characteristics appeared in the reports. At the end of each student's analysis, a table summarizes the information gathered from the reports, and overall conclusions are drawn for each student. The end of the study chapter presents generic writing trends exhibited by the students during the semester, such as inability to show evidence of inductive/deductive reasoning and difficulties with conceptualizing audience and applying formatting skills. The study concludes by recommending strategies that ECE Writing Center consultants can implement to help the sophomore students acquire discipline-specific knowledge. Going beyond the ECE Writing Center's context, however, the study also suggests ways that it can be used as a model for other discipline-specific writing centers. By focusing on genre analysis, assessment, lab reports, and the culture of the ECE Department, this study encourages teaching students the genres they will need for success within their discourse community, success acquired through discipline-specific literacy.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26754 The number of institutions offering both on-campus and distance education courses is growing rapidly. Institutions of higher learning are adopting distance education to reach students desiring to continue their studies but unable to because of distance and time constraints. While instructional methods used in on-campus and distance classrooms have been studied, little research has been done on professional socialization. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' views on socialization to the professional community, the way these views compare between on-campus and distance learning students, and the impact specific variables have on the students' sense of membership in the professional community. The sample used consisted of 317 students in a Masters of Library and Information Science program. Using a survey designed to collect data pertaining to students' opinions about professional socialization, overall observations were made for the group as a whole and comparisons were made between on-campus and distance learning students. There was a statistically significant relationship between the students' perceptions of the importance of professional socialization and their overall satisfaction with the program. Furthermore a statistically significant difference was found between the groups with regard to the level of importance they attributed to non-face-to-face, face-to-face, and non-course related activities/interactions. There was no significant difference found between the two groups in the areas of how effectively socialization had been worked into the program, how important they believed socialization was to their personal learning experience, and how important course related activities/interactions and the use of libraries and resources was to their sense of being part of the professional community. Furthermore, no significant difference existed between the groups regarding their perceptions about the extent to which they had developed a sense of being part of the community as a result of socialization. Lastly, demographic factors such as age, gender, experience in the field, number of semesters completed, and factors associated with socialization activities/interactions had no predictive value on the students' sense of being part of the professional community.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26748 Faculty often do not know why they do what they do in the classroom or how they have come to select certain teaching goals over others. This lack of "instructional awareness" (Weimer, 1990) has implications for both the teaching that takes place and the student leaming that occurs. This study was designed to explore factors which significantly impact faculty teaching goals. Specifically, the research sought to explore the impact of two distinct Academic Cultures as well as demographic factors of gender, ethnicity, discipline, university type, and number of years in university teaching on the teaching goals of faculty at three regional universities in Western North Carolina. Both quantitative and qualitative measures were employed to explore this question. A Demographic Questionnaire and the Teaching Goals Inventory developed by Angelo and Cross (1993) were mailed to a total of 600 (N = 600) faculty members representing all three institutions and all disciplines at each university. In addition, interviews were held with three faculty members and one administrator on each campus. Analysis of the data indicated that the Academic Culture that prevails at a university or within an academic department does have implications for the teaching goals selected. In addition, the data suggests that gender, discipline and number of years in university teaching do significantly impact the selection of teaching goals and the goals vary depending upon the factor under consideration.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26736 As the 21st century approaches, it is imperative that methods of education and instruction include the integration of computers. One of these methods which is readily available to the profession is the use of computer assisted instruction (CAI) in preparing our students academically. This study investigated the effects of CAI and traditional instruction as measured by pretest and posttest scores. A sample of 78 counselor education students enrolled in a graduate communication skills course participated in the study. Results indicated there were no significant differences between the two methods of instruction.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26732 This study experimentally evaluated the adage that "you learn it better when you teach it" by attempting to identify learning outcomes of designing instruction from text. One hundred and twenty-three community- college students at a Southeastern technical college participated, and were randomly assigned to a treatment. After reading a textual passage, students were instructed to either design instruction or traditionally learn the content. The passages also differed with regard to structure, operationalized by the presence of headings and italics. Following the treatment, students answered two questions to elicit example generation based on the information in the passage. Next, students created concept maps to represent their knowledge structure of the content, and finally, they answered questions regarding task engagement. Two weeks later, students recalled as many ideas as possible from the passage. The following three independent variables were factors in a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects factorial with eight cells: condition (instructional design, traditional learning), passage structure (ill-structured, well-structured), and, achievement (high, low). Dependent variables included example generation, delayed recall, and task engagement. Additionally, knowledge organization in the two conditions was assessed through the production of concept maps. It was predicted that the instructional design condition would facilitate performance in example generation, delayed recall, and lead to increased task engagement. Additionally, it was predicted that the concept maps would indicate differences in knowledge organization between the two conditions. Contrary to predictions, results indicated that learners generated more examples than instructional designers. Interestingly, a series of interactions of condition and passage structure existed, where the well-structured passage was beneficial for the designers to generate examples but was detrimental for the learners. This effect was even more pronounced with high achievers. There was no effect on delayed recall. There were no differences in the concept maps, which represented knowledge organization. While participants overall did not rate the instructional design task more favorably than traditional learning, there was an interaction indicating that low achievers preferred the instructional design task and high achievers preferred the traditional learning task. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26726 The purpose of this study was to compare the characteristics of effective clinical and theory instructors as perceived by LPN/RN versus generic students in an associate degree nursing program. Data were collected from 508 students during the 1996-7 academic year from three NLN accredited associate degree nursing programs. The researcher developed instrument consisted of three parts: (a) Whitehead Characteristics of Effective Clinical Instructor Rating Scale, (b) Whitehead Characteristics of Effective Theory Instructor Rating Scale, and (c) Demographic Data Sheet. The items were listed under five major categories identified in the review of the literature: (a) interpersonal relationships, (b) personality traits, (c) teaching practices, (d) knowledge and experience, and (e) evaluation procedures. The instrument was administered to LPN/RN students in their first semester and to generic students in the third semester of an associate degree nursing program. Data was analyzed using a one factor mutivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Further t tests were carried out to explore for possible differences between type of student and by group. Crosstabulations of the demographic data were analyzed. There were no significant differences found between the LPN/RN versus generic students on their perceptions of either effective theory or effective clinical instructor characteristics. There were significant differences between groups on several of the individual items. There was no significant interaction between group and ethnicity or group and age on the five major categories for either of the two instruments. There was a significant main effect of ethnicity on several of the individual items. The differences between the means and standard deviations on both instruments were small, suggesting that all of the characteristics listed for effective theory and clinical instructors were important to both groups of students. Effective teaching behaviors, as indicated on the survey instruments, should be taught to students in graduate teacher education programs. These behaviors should also be discussed by faculty coordinators supervising adjunct faculty. Nursing educators in associate degree nursing programs should understand theories of adult learning and implement instructional strategies to enhance minority student success.
ORDER NO: ABA97-26570 The purpose of this study is to examine the role of history, culture and society in Jose Ortega y Gasset's (1883-1955) approach to higher education. To accomplish this, this study reviews three of Ortega's major collected works, Invertebrate Spain (1922), Revolt of the Masses (1930), and Mission of the University (1932), and provides a brief analysis of his biographical and philosophical history. Ortega's prescription for the reform of higher education begins with his assessment of the historic role of developing cultures described in Invertebrate Spain. Revolt of the Masses reveals Ortega's critical review of Europe's emerging changes before 1930. In Mission of the University , Oretga presents the university as the logical problem solving instrument for a troubled society. Does Ortega's thought have real potential for improving the American university? After all, America is a good country and it has good universities. Whether Ortega's thought will find expression in America's universities rests in part upon the national culture that Ortega recognized as critical, and not an effort to simply impose a pedagogy created artificially within the universities, even those that reproduce his plan with great care. The task would be a monumental one, but as Ortega would say, a task loaded with possibility. The first step occurs when someone asks what is the mission of the university ? History, culture and society, according to Ortega, set the stage for the production of the all important drama of higher education. For culture and society to stimulate an Ortegan reform of American higher education, as much of the national culture as possible must participate. Ortega indicated that history has shown that when only the well-to-do classes have access to higher education, then all of society suffers. If Ortega is correct, then only when as many in society as possible participates in higher education will all cultures within that society stand to benefit from and contribute to the future health and security of the nation. | ||||||||||||
