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This study sought to investigate the efficacy of a professional development designed to equip teachers with antiracist practices and support them in developing an abolitionist mindset. The study was designed for white teachers. Participants of the study engaged in a 6-week course grounded in a constructivist learning theory, TLT, and centered around the text, We Want to Do More Than Survive by Love (2019). Participants also engaged with a variety of other texts and resources grounded in asset pedagogies. The sessions were participant-led and focused on cultivating the skills for antiracist teaching while cultivating a mindset grounded in abolition. The data gathered through surveys and a focus group revealed that some design elements, such as continued reflection, affinity space, and building community before engaging in critical dialogue, were found to be highly effective. Stages of development emerged as teachers moved from leveraging culturally responsive practices, to engaging antiracist practices, to critiquing systems of oppression. As teachers deepened their understanding of abolition, they became more aware of the implications of systemic racism in education, and how educators can play an active role in dismantling it. The current study, along with the growing body of research on asset pedagogies, could provide a road map for what effective asset pedagogy professional development could look like.

This study was designed to determine if teachers in one public school in Virginia were prepared to be evaluated based on culturally responsive practices (CRP) after completing Virginia Department of Education's (VDOE) Cultural Competency Training Module. This qualitative study sample included eight teachers from a suburban school division. The conceptual framework illustrated the connections between the evaluation of CRP and teacher preparedness after teachers completed VDOE's Cultural Competency Training Module. The research questions that directed this study were: (1) How has Virginia Department of Education's Cultural Competency Training Module prepared teachers to implement culturally responsive practices? (2) To what extent do teachers feel prepared to be evaluated based on culturally responsive practices after completing Virginia Department of Education's Cultural Competency Training Module? The research method included a basic qualitative research design that used interview protocol. Interview prompts were created based on Virginia's Cultural Competency Domains that underpin legislation approved by the 2021 Virginia General Assembly requiring that teacher evaluations include a standard for CRP. Interviews took place during the summer months of 2023 as virtual meetings using the Zoom video conferencing platform. Interview transcriptions were utilized as the data set. As categories and themes emerged, the interconnectedness of data was examined using open coding. The findings of this study revealed that teachers indicated a support for Virginia's Cultural Competency Domains. However, teachers perceived that VDOE's Cultural Competency Training Module did not achieve the desired focus of providing educators with the tools needed to implement CRP. Instead, teachers perceived that their lived experiences framed their individual approach to understand and implement CRP. The implications of the study encouraged VDOE to consider a redesign of the Cultural Competency Training Module. Another implication emphasized the need for school divisions to consider investing in professional trainers to provide deep level culturally competency training in a format that also accounts for the emotional security and comfortability of teachers. / Doctor of Education / This study was designed to determine if teachers in one public school in Virginia were prepared to be evaluated based on culturally responsive practices (CRP) after completing Virginia Department of Education's (VDOE) Cultural Competency Training Module. This study included eight teachers from a suburban school division. The conceptual framework illustrated the connections between the evaluation of CRP and teacher preparedness after teachers completed VDOE's Cultural Competency Training Module. The research questions that directed this study were: (1) How has Virginia Department of Education's Cultural Competency Training Module prepared teachers to implement culturally responsive practices? (2) To what extent do teachers feel prepared to be evaluated based on culturally responsive practices after completing Virginia Department of Education's Cultural Competency Training Module? The research method included teacher interviews. Interview prompts were created based on Virginia's Cultural Competency Domains that reinforced legislation approved by the 2021 Virginia General Assembly requiring that teacher evaluations include a standard for CRP. Interviews took place during the summer months of 2023 as virtual meetings using the Zoom video conferencing platform. Interview transcriptions were utilized as the data for the study. As categories and themes emerged from interview responses, the connection of data was examined. The findings of this study revealed that teachers indicated a support for Virginia's Cultural Competency Domains. However, teachers perceived that VDOE's Cultural Competency Training did not achieve the desired focus of providing educators with the tools needed to implement CRP. Instead, teachers perceived that their lived experiences framed their individual approach to understand and implement CRP. An implication of the study encouraged VDOE to consider a redesign of the Cultural Competency Training Module. Another implication emphasized the need for school divisions to consider investing in professional trainers to provide deep level culturally competency training in a format that also accounts for the emotional security and comfortability of teachers.

Northvolt has an internal mobile application called the Factory App. The digitalization team at Northvolt initiated the idea that widgets could be used for the Factory App as a tool to give the users information at a glance. The Factory App is mainly used by people working with the manufacturing process. To provide information at a glance, an investigation of what type of information is relevant for different users needed to be conducted. Further, a design concept of widgets for the Factory App would also need to be created. This research aimed to approach this with the method participatory design. Part of the participatory design is the following steps: semi-structured interviews with a virtual smartphone as a prop, a design workshop where the participants among other things sketched designs of widgets, high-fidelity prototyping, and a user evaluation survey. The interview result showed that machine metrics were relevant data for six out of ten participants and that metrics were important for most participants. The outcome of the study was ten design prototypes of widgets that were created based on the interview results, the workshop results, and the design of other internal digital tools at Northvolt. This research concludes that widgets based on the provided design concept can help give relevant and instant information to people with specific positions at Northvolt. / Northvolt har en intern mobilapplikation som heter Factory App. Digitaliseringsteamet på Northvolt initierade idén att så kallade widgets skulle kunna användas som ett verktyg för att ge användarna av applikationen information i ett ögonkast. Factory-appen används främst av personer som arbetar med tillverkningsprocessen på Northvolt. För att ge information i ett ögonkast behövde en utredning göras av vilken typ av information som är relevant för olika användare. Vidare skulle ett designkoncept av widgets för Factory-appen också behövas. Denna forskning syftade till att anta sig detta med den så kallade metoden Participatory Design. De olika stegen av Participatory Design som utfördes är som följer: semistrukturerade intervjuer med en virtuell smartphone som rekvisita, en designworkshop där deltagarna bland annat skissade på design av widgets, prototypande av hög fidelity och en utvärderande användarundersökning. Intervjuresultatet visade att maskinmätningar var relevanta data för sex av tio deltagare och att mätvärden var viktiga för de flesta deltagare. Resultatet av studien var tio designprototyper av widgets som skapades utifrån intervjuresultaten, workshopresultaten och designen av andra interna digitala verktyg på Northvolt. Denna forskning drar slutsatsen att widgets baserade på det tillhandahållna designkonceptet kan hjälpa till att ge relevant och omedelbar information till personer med specifika positioner på Northvolt.

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore and analyze the nature of and rationale for classroom pedagogical and management strategies used by two effective female, Caucasian teachers who taught predominantly low socioeconomic, African American students. Teachers’ perceptions about the cultural and linguistic differences between low socioeconomic African American students and themselves were studied, as well as how these differences influenced their teaching and management strategies. Ladson-Billings’ (1994) work on culturally relevant pedagogy and Weinstein, Curran, and Tomlinson-Clarke’s (2003) and Brown’s (2003) models on culturally responsive classroom management served as conceptual frameworks for this study. Qualitative data were collected using classroom observations and teacher interviews. Findings from the study indicated that these two teachers built positive, mutually respectful relationships with their students to better understand their students on a personal level, delivered explicit behavioral expectations and classroom lessons, taught students the importance and applicability of lessons, demanded quality student performance, and possessed high expectations for student achievement. Both teachers selected pedagogical and classroom management strategies based on the individual academic needs of the students. Nevertheless, these teachers had difficulty identifying cultural and linguistic differences between themselves and their students. Therefore, cultural and linguistic differences did not directly influence teaching strategies they selected. However, these teachers inadvertently used culturally relevant pedagogical strategies without being aware of their own cultures and their students’ cultures. Finally, these teachers did not understand the important role that students’ cultures play in the classroom. Contrary to the findings of previous research, this study demonstrated that effective Caucasian female teachers do not need to understand the general cultural characteristics of African American students. However, on a specific individual basis, if the Caucasian female teacher understands the child, then she can successfully utilize pedagogical and classroom management strategies that will ensure the child’s academic success.

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