Dissertationen zum Thema „Education, Adult and Continuing|Education, Educational Psychology|Psychology, Developmental“

This phenomenological case study of finding meaning explored the developmental nature of Pepperdine University’s Doctor of Education in Organization Change (EDOC) program through graduates, who as students, found deep, visceral, and life changing meaning. The primary request of participants, identified as co-inquirers, was to: describe in as much detail as possible how meaning was found through their participation in the EDOC program. Detailed storied descriptions from 10 graduates were gathered through interviews. Anecdotes were gathered by email from other graduates concerning the meaning found, relational experiences, and vivid program experiences. In my analysis of data, I explicated the structure (the relationship among the most invariant constituents of the phenomenon) and meaning (implications) from their lived experience. Though particulars differed, the interview data revealed a structure surrounding each of the ten co-inquirers as being (a) self-aware learners who joined the program with assumptions concerning the challenging nature of the learning experience; (b) a socially constructed environment that facilitates the formation of relational sets and community engagement; (c) deep and rich dialogic relationships among participants within the learning community; (d) co-constructed learning through collaboration with faculty and fellow students; (e) abundant free-space in learning enabling the transcendence of boundaries to personal growth; (f) an immensely helping and caring environment; (g) significant opportunities to challenge and broaden worldviews through program experiences; and (h) consistent validation of progress toward personal, educational and life goals. In coming to understand the phenomenon for finding meaning, I used descriptive phenomenology and given my presence as a student in the program being studied, I offered my own observations. I framed propositions from the study’s findings for progressive educators and organization development professions. Meaning found led to life changes such as improved personal and professional effectiveness, a deeper sense of self and self-worth, a clearer view of the world, and an ability to enact what had been taken from the experience; a significant educational outcome in addition to cognitive competencies, field knowledge and application. Those who have experienced the program came away with a deeper sense of purpose and far reaching capabilities to serve.

Students in developmental education face three types of barriers: institutional, situational, and affective. Current interventions focus on addressing institutional barriers; however, continuing low success and retention rates indicate a need for additional measures. Bandura's theory of academic self-efficacy provides a way to address the affective barriers faced by this student population. This study examines the impact of a series of three five-minute student success videos, based on the social modeling aspect of self-efficacy theory and developed using the Dick and Carey instructional design model, on the academic self-efficacy, retention, and success of developmental education students. A quasi-experimental research design was used to examine the effectiveness of the social modeling intervention.

Results from this study indicate that an intervention designed using academic self-efficacy as an underlying theory and the Dick and Carey model of instructional design as a creation and implementation guide did not have a significant impact on the academic self-efficacy of students enrolled in developmental education courses. Moreover, the intervention did not have an impact on success and retention rates. Additional analysis indicates that academic self-efficacy was not a significant predictor of either student success or retention. Further research regarding the link between academic self-efficacy and student success and retention at the developmental level is necessary.

As a relatively new field of psychology, positive psychology generates momentum to enlighten a reciprocating view of human nature, to look at human potential as opposed to human shortfalls. In the course of building the field and theoretical foundations, courses and programs in adult learning environments have been established to educate students. Quantitative measures of formative and summative evaluation evaluate one type of learning. Given the idea stemming from Aristotle philosophies that noted education as part of meaning in life (as cited in Curren, 2010), the established theoretical view that meaning itself is created by an individual and sets a path for a more flourishing life. Thus, by creating meaning from integrating established knowledge and new knowledge, the transformation processes takes place. For the reason that these types of transformations cannot be quantifiably measured, a collective case study was used to support the theoretical foundations for the presented research. The presented research paper reflects the critical element of data collection and interpretation. The research study details the qualitative dissertation exploration of the research question: How do educators teaching Positive Psychology in the adult learning environment describe students’ personal transformations in response to the curriculum? The specific research investigation was to explore the perceptions of the presiding educators and to realize their portrayals of the learning transformations in the positive Psychology adult learning environment. After addressing inclusive criteria for a bounded unit, data were collected from seven presiding educators of the adult learning positive psychology environment. Additionally, the participant wrote reflective narratives to deepen and widen the perspective of the study. The interviews consisted of conversational open-ended questions, and the narrative was a free-writing exercise to purposely unburden participants from parameters. From the data collected, a code list was generated and then categorized into themes through a constant comparison of similar of codes from within and between individual participant cases. The themes represented generated patterns across data that created a description the phenomenon associated with the research question. As a result of the findings, implications of usefulness and recommendations for further studies were discussed.

This qualitative study looked at the effects of cooperative charter school participation on adults. Research questions included: "How do parents who have identified personal changes as an outcome of their participation in a cooperative charter school understand and describe the changes?" and "What events or experiences do they perceive as having contributed to these changes?" The literature review focused on three areas: Charter Schools, Parent Partnerships, and Adult Learning.

The constructivist epistemology was the appropriate fit to study the effect of engagement in two cooperative charter schools, as the questions focus on constructed meaning. I employed surveys to gather participants who named change as an outcome of their experience, then conducted semi-structured interviews to elicit rich descriptions. Transcripts were coded, and themes emerged that combined to construct the following grounded theory: The Elements of a cooperative charter school that appear to be most central to the experience of change and development of adaptive skills for adults are: a) a supportive, mentor-rich environment oriented toward a common goal; b) a diverse, collaborative community, and c) opportunities to engage in high-level leadership afforded through the cooperative model.

Critical factors that enabled participants to challenge tacit assumptions included a common goal, and a sense of security stemming from the mentor rich environment. Four grand theories were compared to this grounded theory. They included Kegan's constructive development theory (1994), Mezirow's transformational learning theory (2000), Daloz's conditions that may promote transformative learning (1996), and Heifetz's technical and adaptive learning theory (1994). Each were congruent with the findings of this study.

The development of empathy in the healthcare setting is integral to high-quality patient care as empathy provides the ability to connect with patients to gain a better understanding of their emotions and experiences. Empathetic education is a component of medical education and nursing education; however, it is not a required curricular component in most laboratory-based education programs. In laboratory-based education programs, the teaching of empathy is conducted through role modeling, which has been identified as an optimal teaching strategy to assist students with developing their empathetic abilities. Numerous studies have been conducted to examine the role modeling process; however, limited research on instructors’ experiences with utilizing role modeling to teach empathy has been conducted. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences instructors in laboratory-based education programs have had utilizing role modeling to develop students’ empathetic abilities, focusing on instructor successes and challenges. The study utilized Bandura’s social learning theory as the theoretical framework. The study was conducted utilizing a basic qualitative study design. The sample comprised eight instructors from the histology technician, cytotechnology, and medical laboratory sciences programs at an academic medical institution in the Midwest. Data analysis was conducted utilizing the constant comparative method. Findings from the study indicated that past experiences provided participants with opportunities to identify and apply positive role modeling skills to elevate their teaching abilities. While challenges were not well-described, the ability to connect with students through role modeling empathy allowed participants to demonstrate how empathy can be beneficial to others. The impact of empathy on student development was observed by the participants as students actively utilized empathy to create a connection to the patient, thereby promoting a higher quality of laboratory services.

Program completion among adult learners attending adult basic education programs has been found to be an area of struggle. Cognitive ability has always been the primary factor for determining an individual’s ability. However, non-cognitive ability has been proposed as a significant factor in academic success. Many attrition models have been developed in an effort to improve program completion and reduce attrition. The research study sample consisted of 68 adult learners attending the Appoquinimink Adult Education Program. The study focused on the effect that a course in emotional intelligence would have on program completion rates among adult learners attending adult basic education programs. The Mayor, Salovey, and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) was used to measure emotional intelligence. The main objective was to examine the effect of a course in emotional intelligence on adult learners’ non-cognitive ability to obtain program completion. The study used a quantitative Solomon four-group design to investigate the influence of the course on emotional intelligence. The idea that emotional intelligence is teachable and learnable has not been established as fact. However, the findings of the data analysis suggested support of the proposal that emotional intelligence can be taught and learned. In addition, the findings suggested that age, gender, and ethnicity were not predictors for emotional intelligence levels among adult learners attending adult basic education programs. The findings further suggested that adult learners with higher emotional intelligence levels had an increased chance for program completion. Hence, emotional intelligence was revealed to be a strong factor for reducing attrition and increasing program completion.

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative research study was to identify the elements of adventure travel experiences that contribute to the process of transformational learning in adults. A qualitative research design was employed for this study. The sources of data were twelve pre-existing and de-identified interview transcriptions. A textual analysis was performed on the data, using an a priori approach to coding and analysis. An analysis of the data identified seven key themes that were critical for transformational learning in adults: (a) A Call to Adventure; (b) Being Open to Experience; (c) Entering a Zone Unknown; (d) Extra-Ordinary & Challenging Experiences; (e) Meaningful Interactions with Others (f) Re-Connecting to Self; and (g) Taking Action. These themes suggested a process for transformational learning in adults. In addition, (a) the authentic nature of the experience and (b) trip length, were also found to be important factors in transformational learning for these interviewees. These findings also suggest that intentionally designing adventure travel programs around these themes and the emergent transformational learning process has the potential to increase the likelihood of participants experiencing transformational learning through adventure travel.

The purpose of this study was to investigate attitudes toward creativity and leadership characteristics according to the agency context for extension agents in Uruguay. Extension agents come from the three different agency contexts in Uruguay of the University, government, and private institutions. Leadership characteristics are those that combine to describe leadership approaches or styles. Attitudes towards creativity concerns the values one holds about using creativity in work situations. The link between these variables is important due to the diverse challenges that agriculture extension agents face in a small country like Uruguay whose economy depends on agriculture. There are three major conclusions based on the findings of this study. First, factor analysis performed in the scales related with leadership did not cluster as Bass and Avolio (2000) suggested. Rather, results show a different combination of the traits (Motivating demanding, Compliant, and Charismatic controller). The second conclusion is that attitudes and values to promote innovation likely expected to be one of the values of the university group were not shown in the results. One possible explanation could be the philosophy of the university, while the government and private institutions showed an attitude that tends to promote creativity and innovation which in their case is aligned with their jobs goals, which has to do with a model of extension that provides regulation and provision of inputs and also emphasize National production goals and productivity. Third there is a difference between working contexts for agricultural extension agents in Uruguay. The results of the study were able to discriminate between the university context and government and the private contexts which showed a similar behavior. Both the government and the private contexts showed a positive approach to creativity and a compliant leadership behavior.

The Jewish community has increasingly relied upon Experiential Education as a pedagogical approach to instilling Jewish identity and communal affiliation over the past twenty years. The Experiential Education format of travel programs has specifically been emphasized and promoted for Jewish Emerging Adults for this purpose, and outcome studies of these trip programs have demonstrated success in instilling identification and affiliation with both the Jewish community and the state of Israel among their participants. However, little is actually empirically known about the processes that impact the participant during the trip experience – the so-called "black box" – or how significant a participant's predisposition towards Israel and Judaism are in how they process their trip experiences. Even less is empirically known about the identity development of Jewish Emerging Adults in large part due to a pre-disposition to study Jews developmentally only as affiliates of a religion rather than members of a distinctly multi-layered group.

This grounded theory study examines participants in two different trip experiences, Taglit Birthright Israel and an Alternative Spring Break, through post-trip interviews. The emergent theory suggests three conclusions: The predisposition of a participant towards their own Jewish identity can influence how they process their experiences on the trip; the actual trip experience can be best understood as repeatedly processing multiple and ongoing experiences within the trip itself; the processing of those experiences can be descriptively modeled as a theory that allows an glimpse in to the "black box." Such a theoretical model can be used to better train trip staff on how the trip experience impacts the Jewish identity of those participants and also to plan trip itineraries to optimize the trip's experiential impact on participant Jewish and Zionist identity and communal affiliation.

The purpose of this quantitative research project was to add to the body of knowledge of incivility in the class by examining the perceptions of community college instructors in the State of North Carolina. Instructors were asked to identify behaviors they believed to be disruptive or uncivil in their classroom, indicate how frequent these issues occurred, indicate how they handled the disruptions, and whether or not they believed their practices to be effective. Each of the 58 community colleges in North Carolina was invited to participate of that 58, 13 chose to accept the invitation. The sample included 793 instructors who received the email at the 13 colleges and the respond rate was 162 or 20 percent. The instructors in the community college have a variety of students. Instructors have students in the age range of 14 to over 65 that reflect the community in which the college is located. The survey was adapted from Indiana University which ran an incivility survey in 2000. Instructors taking the quantitative survey also had text boxes in which to add their comments. Behaviors such as chewing gum in class or not being prepared where not considered as disruptive to the instructors as cussing the instructor or making threatening comments during class. Findings included no significant between an instructors race and their perceptive of classroom incivility. There was no significance between the instructors' years of teaching and the size of the classroom and their perceptions of incivility. The findings at the community college level mirror the literature and findings at universities and K-12 schools.

Identifying students who may require additional assistance and coaching based on their self-concept score will also allow community colleges to provide additional support services for those students. If there is a difference in self-concept among students in a Mississippi community college, leaders might be able to use self-concept as a way of building additional services that help students improve their self-concept and subsequently reduce attrition.

The relatively little amount of time that some college students spend reading their textbooks outside of lectures presents a significant threat to their academic success. One possible solution to this problem is the use of digital games as an alternative to outside-of-class textbook reading, but a review of previous research did not reveal much information on their efficacy when compared to traditional textbooks. Using Astin's theory of student engagement as a framework, the purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to determine whether a significant difference in engagement, as indicated by mental effort and time on task, existed for college students who used a digital game-based textbook versus students who used a traditional print-based textbook. The 54 undergraduate college students in this convenience sample were randomly assigned to one of the two textbook types and completed an activity session at an individual workstation. Time on task was measured with a stopwatch and mental effort with the Mental Effort Scale. The results showed a statistically significant difference in engagement between participants in the digital game-based and traditional print-based textbook groups, Hotelling's T²(2, 52) = 25.11, p < .001, D ²=1.86. In the post hoc analyses, the digital game-based group had significantly higher time on task scores than the traditional print-based textbook group (t = 34.61, p < .001). The mental effort difference was not significant, although the mean mental effort score was higher for the digital game-based group. These results provide evidence of a digital game-based textbook's utility, and may inform college educators in their efforts to support a more diverse group of learners.

In this research, I used a mixed-methods approach employing both autobiographical reasoning and psychometric instruments through a survey design to explore how the four cognitive mechanisms of Work Identity Theory (WIT) were developed in 754 college-educated participants’ lives. WIT is a vocational identity theory, which posits that, four cognitive mechanism: Effort, Reflection, Appraisal and Fusion are used by individuals to define their vocational identities. By vocational identity, I am referring to the sum total of a person’s self-thoughts, attitudes, beliefs and actions that are informed by work experience. By cognitive mechanisms, I am referring to the mental processes used to develop a vocational identity. Multiple theories have emerged over the past one hundred years to explain the concept of a vocational identity. This study seeks to make two new contributions to the set of existing theories. First, the definition I propose of vocational identity does not have an implied, positive valence for having a well-developed vocational identity, but it encompass the many ways people define themselves in relation to their work. In contrast, the most frequently cited vocational identity theories are stage theories in which the highest stage is regarded as optimal. I posit this difference is important because it permits individuals to have different attitudes toward work and themselves without being stigmatized by the theory. Second, the focus of this research is to identify how the cognitive mechanisms come to exist through the study of participants’ self-identified most important developmental experiences in relation to each WIT cognitive mechanism. In addition to experiences, I also study the participants’ Need for Cognition (NFC), the propensity to engage in and enjoy thinking. This study has two key finding. First, people who think more deeply about their own lives, experience more development, at least in the cognitive mechanisms of WIT. Second, our life experiences do not matter as much as the depth of thought we give to them and subsequently what we take from them concerning the development of WIT’s cognitive mechanisms.