Tesis sobre el tema "Cheating (Education) Educators Education"

Given the current amount of cheating in our society and more specifically in our schools, the focus of this dissertation was to examine the impact of religiosity on cheating behavior in an academic arena. Additionally social norms and the individual difference variable of self-monitoring were also investigated to determine their impact on cheating behavior. Furthermore, self-regulation was examined to determine if non-cheating high self-monitors deplete more self-regulatory resources than those non-cheating low self-monitors in a cheating situation.

Participants completed a religiosity and self-monitoring measure prior to coming into the laboratory. At a date of their choosing, participants completed the laboratory portion of the study. In the laboratory, participants were given a job-competency measure to complete, at which time they were given an opportunity to cheat. The participants completed the job-competency measure alone or in the presence of a confederate. Four different conditions were formed: a control condition, a cheating condition, a passive condition, and an active noncheating condition. It was also in the laboratory that their grip strength was measured.

Contrary to expectations, religiosity was not a significant predictor of cheating behavior. However, norms did impact cheating behavior; there was more cheating when the confederate cheated and less cheating when the confederate discouraged cheating behavior. Additionally, there was an impact of self-monitoring in response to the created norms, such that high self-monitors tended to follow the behaviors of the confederates more so than low self-monitors. Contrary to expectations, self-regulatory resources were not significantly impacted for noncheating high self-monitors in a confederate-induced cheating condition.

This study explored undergraduate teacher candidates' multicultural identity development. Forty-three participants were in two sections of the course Introduction to Education. The research questions investigated the ways in which candidates examine their cultural awareness, knowledge of diverse learners, and effective practices for 21st century classrooms. Participants in Group 1 experienced face-to-face instruction on issues of diversity. Group 2 engaged in a blended format with an educational online social networking site that extended class discussions on issues of diversity.

Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to collect and analyze data. The findings revealed that instruction on multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills in a one semester course had an effect on participants. Both groups demonstrated increased cultural self-awareness, appreciation of cultural differences, and knowledge of diverse cultures. There is evidence to suggest that the use of an online social network made a significant difference in the changes in Group 2 participants who evidenced greater changes in attitudes and beliefs in both the quantitative and qualitative data and analyses.

Understanding how candidates learn about and develop cultural competence extends research literature on educator preparation for diverse classrooms. The implications for teacher educators suggest a focus on the identity transformation process of teacher candidates and reexamination of the ways candidates are prepared for the multicultural realities of schools and society.

The definition of plagiarism that is used in university handbooks is a simple one, and policies along with tiers of disciplinary strategies are used by faculty members in higher education to deter students from committing a plagiarism infraction based on this simple definition. However, plagiarism still occurs on college campuses, and this may be a result of gray areas with regard to different aspects of plagiarism that are not contained in the definition. Because of these misunderstandings, students may commit accidental plagiarism or disagree about what constitutes plagiarism. This qualitative study attempted to discover what aspects of plagiarism are confusing for college students. The data collection method involved personal open-ended interviews with 15 college students of different ages, genders, years in college, and areas of study. The 9 different themes that were brought to the surface as a result of the interviews included findings in the reasons that students justify plagiarism, the levels of acceptability among students, the amount of prior education in plagiarism that students have when they enter college, and specific gray areas such as paraphrasing and common knowledge that the participants discussed as confusing. These findings could be used by faculty and administration in institutions of higher education to aid in formatting new policies and learning activities to help students learn about plagiarism from their own perspective and understand the concepts involved in a better way so that less unintentional plagiarism takes place.

Previous research indicates that burnout leads to issues such as attrition and poor practitioner health in early childhood education and other helping professions. This study examined self-care as a potential buffering factor against burnout in preschool teachers. Maslach’s three-dimension construct of burnout, trauma stewardship, and the coping reservoir model formed the theoretical foundations for this research. This study used semi-structured, open-ended interviews to collect qualitative data from four preschool teachers at different points in their careers to understand how early childhood educators conceptualize and practice self-care, experience burnout, and perceive the relationship between self-care and well-being. The findings show that preschool teachers experience multiple levels of work-related stress, that several types of factors can increase resilience to stress and burnout, and that self-care is highly complex and dynamic. These results point to the necessity of promoting self-care at the individual and organizational levels, treating self-care as a professional imperative, providing burnout interventions at the individual, organizational, and societal levels, and encouraging teachers to practice self-care in dynamic, adaptive ways to best support their unique needs and situations. The field would benefit from further studies exploring the relationship between self-care and burnout specifically in early childhood education, ways in which organizations can promote self-care practices in employees, and what characteristics or practices exist among teachers who have demonstrated resilience in the face of chronic work-related stressors.

This research addresses the problem of low math achievement of middle school students through the use of a Growth Mindset intervention and related strategies. While the research on Growth Mindset interventions and strategies show positive results in controlled settings, there is a need to better understand Growth Mindset implementation from the perspectives of teachers and students in classroom settings. This study looked at Growth Mindset implementation with 449 students and seven teachers in sixth-grade math classrooms from two middle schools in one suburban school district. This study examines teacher and student perspectives of the effectiveness of four Growth Mindset instructional strategies and achievement results after a Growth Mindset intervention conducted by the classroom teachers. Teachers learned to implement four Growth Mindset strategies through an online professional development series provided by the district and shared their perspectives in an online discussion group and subsequent survey. All the sixth-grade students completed a survey and the researcher conducted two focus groups to identify students’ perspectives of the classroom goal orientation and the Growth Mindset strategies. The impact of the Growth Mindset intervention was measured using benchmark test scores and trimester grades, which assisted the district’s goal to improve mathematics achievement in middle school. The results demonstrate that teachers and students perceive both mastery and performance classroom goal orientations and find two Growth Mindset strategies, celebrating mistakes and providing challenging math tasks, to be well received by both groups. Findings also indicate that after the Growth Mindset intervention student achievement on the benchmark test did not improve, however, students’ grade point average did improve compared to students from the previous school year in the same district.

This study was initially planned to be a single study using the Principles of Adult Learning Scale (PALS) by Conti (1978), surveying students and alumni of a four-year university. These plans were redirected to conducting a meta-analysis, utilizing 30 years of dissertations that utilized the PALS instrument.

The motivation for this study was to determine if educators might be a collaborative resource to aid corporate trainers in developing a learner-centered training program. College instructors could become corporate consultants if they reinforced the learner-center approach. A learner-centered instructor would inquire and recognize the inconsistencies in the trainer’s teacher-centered training materials. This motive was based on first-hand experience with Acme Corporation.

There were 108 dissertations identified. Eighteen were not retrieved, and 35 dissertations did not meet the inclusion criteria. Fifty-five dissertations were used with nearly 5,300 subjects. A complete list was provided by name and ProQuest number with exclusion reasons.

The retrieved dissertations were grouped: (a) four-year colleges; (b) two-year colleges; (c) other educators. The third group consists of educators with a Masters or a Doctorate degree and teaches adult students outside of the traditional college environment.

The results showed that PALS composite mean was statistically significant for each group, and within one standard deviation of the norm mean ( M = 146). Conti and Welborn (1986) categorized these as intermediate teacher-centered. The seven factors were analyzed, and the mean was less than one standard deviation and teacher-centered and several factors were not significantly different from the factor’s norm mean. No scores were found to be learner-centered. Linear regression analysis was performed over three decades of dissertations to determine if there was a trend towards learner-centered style. The results indicate no correlation exists.

Current research shows that students with a growth mindset are more motivated to learn, want to work harder, are less discouraged by difficulty, use more effective strategies for learning, and have higher academic performance in comparison to students without this mindset. Despite these promising findings, a growth mindset is sometimes not reinforced or is even refuted by classroom conditions. The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to explore how community college educators create classroom environments that foster a growth mindset. The conceptual framework for this study was a social constructivist approach where the interviewer and the participants co-constructed the interpretation of how to influence a growth mindset in the community college classroom. Data were collected through 14 in-depth interviews with community college educators who completed a workshop on influencing a growth mindset. Data were analyzed through categorizing, coding, and identifying themes that answered the research question. The findings of this study indicated that the mindset of the student and the teacher play an important role in academic success at the community college and that faculty desire training in tools and strategies to create classroom environments that foster a growth mindset. Recommendations include an in-depth, experiential professional development program based on research where community college educators from a variety of disciplines can collaborate to gain new knowledge and skills. Training community college educators using the most effective ways of fostering a growth mindset to increase students' motivation, effort, and persistence will lead to greater academic success and degree completion.

Job dissatisfaction among nursing faculty could have a significant impact on nursing faculty retention and student enrollment in nursing programs. The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to gain insight into the perspectives of faculty members who teach nursing education in a university program. This study used Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman’s motivation-hygiene theory to explore employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the workplace. The research question focused on the perspectives of nursing educators and challenges they face. Data were collected through individualized interviews with 15 nurse educators, using open-ended questions and reviewing relevant documents. The data were analyzed by sorting and highlighting the participants’ responses and using codes to categorize and develop themes. Six overarching themes (expectations, motivations, benefits, job fulfillment, challenges, and job dissatisfaction) and 3 subthemes (remuneration, excessive workload, and funding for advancing education, recruitment, and mentoring) emerged. These themes and subthemes identified critical aspects of job satisfaction that may help nursing faculty and nursing administrators strengthen the positive and diminish the negative aspects of the job for greater faculty satisfaction. Nursing leaders and health care administrators can use these findings to bring awareness to the nursing education community by creating realistic goals that address job satisfaction, retention, and recruitment of nursing faculty. These changes will improve student enrollment and increase the number of nurses available to provide quality care throughout the nurses’ respective communities.