<p> This purpose of this study was twofold: (1) investigate effective instructional strategies for athletic training education, and (2) investigate a correlation between research-based instructional strategies and first attempt success on the Board of Certification (BOC) examination. Research based instructional strategies exist within allied health education, however, no previous research set out to specifically identify instructional strategies which lead to first attempt success on the BOC examination. Therefore, a mixed-method investigation of research based instructional strategies was performed, and correlation data between instructional strategies and success on the BOC examination were collected. Data produced by the study revealed that instructional strategies based on feedback and metacognition, inductive instruction, and teacher-centered instruction correlate to first attempt success on the BOC examination. In addition, data produced also suggests that a prevalent misconception of the perceptions of instructional strategies exists between athletic training students and athletic training instructors. Based on the data presented, researcher recommends the use of a blended design to instruction, which allows for guided instructions, feedback interactions, and frequent meta-cognitive development opportunities for the athletic training student.</p><p>

This empirical study of the organisational identity of a newly titled university provides an insight into how identity is constructed, maintained, deconstructed and reconstructed in the higher education sector in England. The purposes of the university sector, and the higher education sector of which it is a part, are being increasingly challenged following significant legislative and environmental changes over the past century. Through these changes what it means to be a university is shifting. Increased complexity and diversity has given rise to a university sector that now encompasses much of what was previously defined as non-university higher education, resulting in what many argue is a crisis of sector identity. Whilst recognising that organisational identity does more than provide a definition of membership, this crisis of sector identity impacts upon the identity development and understandings of those who are now part of it. Research on identity in the higher education sector has been focused on professional and academic identities, the concept of what it is to be a university in a policy-driven, mass participation higher education system or the interaction between the two subject areas. This thesis has a different focus, concentrating on the relatively under-researched area of change and continuity in organisational identity particularly focussing upon a period of change in legal definition and organisational positioning. During the period 1998 to 2013, the University of St Mark & St John (Marjon) moved from being a college of higher education, to a university college and finally, through a change in legislative criteria, to a university. This thesis explores change and continuities in its identity through its journey and various incarnations. It investigates how definitional constructs and sectoral positioning interface with who the organisation is; its identity. The thesis is based on an interpretive mixed methods case study, focussing on the strategic development of the University during this period. Existing theoretical models of organisational identity have informed the analysis of the data which include documentary sources, a small number of key informant interviews and participant observations. The latter exploited insights gleaned from working as a senior manager in the University for part of the period in which the research was undertaken. The research findings reinforce the existing theories highlighting the importance of organisational identity to organisational health, but challenge existing theory in respect of identity development and change. The research highlights the significance of the relationship between ‘what’ an organisation is, which is a definitional and spatial construct, and ‘who’ an organisation is, which is a reflection of its identity. This relationship has previously been considered as inconsequential to organisational identity development. The findings also challenge the assumption that identity change is a change management process brought into effect through a strong leadership narrative and strategic planning tools. The study makes evident the interplay of organisational history, and the strength of internal and external influences on the capacity and willingness of an organisation to undergo identity change. This has resulted in the development of a conceptual framework to support leaders in the exploration of an organisation’s identity, highlighting the interrelationship of specific factors on identity development.

<p> Students with disabilities face a variety of challenges that are not experienced by their able-bodied peers. Literature reveals that these students are less likely to succeed in higher education, earn their degrees, and often take more time to earn their degrees than the able-bodied majority. These students face stigma related to their disability and lack of acceptance among their peers and professors. Additionally, these students are tasked with the additional responsibility of disclosing their disability and requesting accommodations often without adequate preparation. The goal of this project was to write a grant proposal to fund a training program for students with disabilities pursuing postsecondary education. This program is designed to empower these students to become their own advocates and lead to their successes in higher education and beyond. Actual submission and funding of the grant are not required for the completion of the project.</p>

<p> The racial classification of Armenian American college students as White leads to the lack of ethnic-specific data on their educational outcomes and experiences. This qualitative study explored the perceptions of Armenian American college students of their campus climate. The study used an interview approach to examine the conditions that supported or inhibited their college experience. Campus Climate was used as a conceptual lens to guide this study. The study revealed four themes: family influence, mainstream campus culture, Armenian campus culture, and hidden minority status. Impersonal campus conditions inhibited Armenian American students&rsquo; experience; conversely, personable campus conditions, supported their college experience. The findings demonstrated that these students constantly negotiate between their Armenian ethnic identity and American student identity while finding ways to connect to their campus environment. Policy and practice recommendations include increasing awareness, presence, and inclusion of this population on college campuses.</p>

<p> Young adults between the ages of 16 and 30 are typically at the stage of their life when they should be transitioning from school, gaining employability skills, and entering the workforce (Settersten et al., 2005; van Gennep, 1960). An estimated 1.3 million undocumented, DACA eligible youth are currently in this transitional life stage (Hipsman, G&oacute;mez-Agui&ntilde;aga, &amp; Capps, 2016), and another 80,000-90,000 will enter this stage each year (Batalova et al., 2014) where their opportunities for gaining skills and quality legal employment will impact their futures (Becker, 1992; Schultz, 1961). Struggling to find a path towards meaningful careers, these young adults know that if they are not able to gain additional education, training, and quality work they will be trapped in an underground society, working in under-the-table jobs that are way below their potential, education, and skills abilities, and are ultimately unable to escape poverty and support themselves and their families (Anguiano, 2011; Bank-Mu&ntilde;oz, 2009; Bernstein &amp; Blazer, 2008; Burman, 2013; Gildersleeve, 2010; Gonzales, 2007, 2008, 2009b, 2011a; Gonzales &amp; Chavez, 2012; Hudson, 2012; Padr&oacute;n, 2007/2008; Snyder, 2013).</p><p> In lieu of comprehensive immigration reform, this study sought to identify policy recommendations that would assist the DACA youth to develop skills, continue with their education, and ultimately enter into the workforce in legal employment opportunities. Two theories framed this study and a third was used as a lens in which to view the issues. These theories are human capital theory, national human resource development (NHRD), and Kingdon&rsquo;s multiple streams theory. The intersection of these three theories brings together (a) the traditional economic foundation of how organizations make determinations regarding who and when to invest in the skill development of individuals, or whether the investments should be made by the individuals themselves (human capital theory), (b) what interventions can be utilized to develop skills and how policy should be used to promote those interventions (national human resource development), and (c) how these elements are brought together to formulate policy (Kingdon, 2003).</p><p> Using an iterative survey methodology called a Policy Delphi this study obtained a compendium of viewpoints from the diverse perspectives of the stakeholders represented and identified 94 specific policy recommendations. There are five barriers to skill development (transportation, education, access to information, families and first-generation issues, and hopes, dreams and fears) and four barriers to accessing legal employment opportunities (knowledge of jobs available, employability skills, a lack of having credentials and experience, and the behavior and practices of employers). There are three facilitators to skill development (attaining higher education credentials, the importance of advising, and motivation) and five facilitators to employment (work authorization, bilingual proficiency, educational credentials, internships, and mentoring). These barriers and facilitators led to the identification of 94 policy recommendations which were ranked by desirability, importance, and feasibility/likelihood. Greater than 80% of the policy recommendations were desirable or very desirable and all 94 recommendations were important or very important. However, out of the 94 recommendations there is only a moderate belief that any of the policy suggestions are feasible or likely to be addressed despite their desirability or importance. Beyond the rhetoric surrounding immigration and who is and is not desirable to be a part of the U.S. workforce, there is a more nuanced and subdued element that emerged through this study that is more salient than any others, and that is the issue of addressing social inequalities on a broad scale.</p>

<p>The study of leadership practices of athletic training program directors is severely limited and the lack of clearly defined program director qualifications combined to provide the underpinnings for this research. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to identify if a relationship existed between athletic training program directors? leadership practices and the programs? 2012-14 academic years three-year aggregate first-time pass rates on the Board of Certification, Inc. examination. Grounded in transformational leadership theory, the first five research questions sought to examine the directors? relationship of the Five Exemplary Practices of Leadership? and the directors? previous coursework in leadership to program pass rates. Athletic training programs? directors (N = 52) were solicited to participate, and completed the Leadership Practices Inventory-Self? and provided demographic information. Results from the Spearman?s rho correlation analysis indicated no significant relationship between any of the five leadership practices (Modeling the Way rs=-.159, p=.261; Inspiring a Shared Vision rs=.086, p=.545; Challenging the Process rs=.011, p=.937; Enabling Others to Act rs=.047, p=.743; Encouraging the Heart rs=-.039, p=.782) or the number of collegiate courses completed in leadership (rs=-.192, p=.181). Even though the results were not significant, the findings will contribute to an understanding of the inconsistencies and significant lack of leadership coursework for athletic training program directors. Additional research is needed to determine how leaderships effects student outcomes in athletic training education. Keywords: Athletic Training Education, Program Directors, Transformational Leadership, Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, Educational Outcomes, Certification Examination, LPI-Self?

<p> The researcher conducted a mixed study to determine whether or not a Talent Search program in a metropolitan area in North Texas was successful in enrolling students in post secondary education during 2011 to 2014. The <i> Program Evaluation Model 9-Step Process,</i> design was used to evaluate and guide the study. Additionally, the researcher designed a conceptual framework <i> College Enrollment Evaluation Steps</i> which was used to help analyze Talent Search performance. The researcher collected and analyzed data for the quantitative component of the study. The researcher conducted interviews to collect information for the qualitative component of the study. Three main themes emerged from coding the interviews. </p><p> The quantitative component of the study answered the study&rsquo;s subresearch questions directly and provided evidence to show Talent Search achieved all of its college enrollment objectives and goals from 2011 to 2014. The quantitative component also answered the study&rsquo;s Subresearch Questions 6 to 8 directly and provided evidence to show Talent Search had a higher rate of college enrollment than the Talent Search target independent school district, Texas, and the United States from 2011 to 2014. </p><p> Three main themes emerged from the qualitative component of the study; College Enrollment Barriers, Talent Search Intervention and Areas in Need of Improvement. The qualitative component of the study showed that Talent Search intervention was instrumental in helping seniors overcome college enrollment barriers (especially barriers pertaining to financial aid) that would have otherwise prevented the students from enrolling in post secondary education. </p><p> Furthermore, the quantitative and qualitative components of the study synthesized together to emphasize that the financial aid application completion step was the most challenging college enrollment step for students. The quantitative component showed the financial aid completion rate for 2011 to 2014 was lower than all the other college enrollment steps completion rates. Likewise, lack of knowledge on the financial aid application emerged as the greatest college enrollment barrier in the qualitative component. The results of the study provided evidence to conclude Talent Search was successful in helping students enroll in postsecondary education from 2011 to 2014.</p>

This PhD thesis explores the determinants and impact of UniversityIndustry (U-I) knowledge transfer. It focuses on the UK as well as a number of European regions and aims at filling several gaps in the literature. Firstly, I examine the role of scientific (i.e. university) and market (i.e. customers, competitors, suppliers) knowledge for patent inventors working inside firms. I use data from an original survey of industry inventors combined with patent data from the European Patent Office and I employ an econometric strategy rarely applied at inventor’s level (i.e. productivity approach). My finding is that the amount and quality of patents invented increase when inventors draw their knowledge jointly from a wide set of knowledge sources, rather than from only one of these. Secondly, I investigate the impact of U-I research collaborations on UK firms’ R&D activities. The data consists of a set of publicly funded U-I partnerships combined with firm-level data available from the UK Office for National Statistics. I combine propensity score matching with OLS regression to select an ad-hoc control group and obtain a reliable estimate of the impact of U-I collaboration on firms. My finding is that treated firms’ R&D expenditure and share of R&D employment both increase after participation to U-I partnerships. Thirdly, I explore the role of research quality as a determinant of UK university departments’ engagement in U-I collaboration. I use data on publicly funded U-I collaboration combined with data on UK universities and I employ OLS regression. My finding is that academic quality displays a mixture of negative and positive relationship with the volume of private funding for U-I collaboration, and that this is interdependent with the level of academia’s past experience in U-I collaboration. Together, these chapters make important contributions to a vast but still puzzled literature on U-I knowledge transfer activities.

<p> This study investigated relationships between nine independent variables and three dependent variables measuring intrinsic motivation (for knowledge, to accomplish, to experience), extrinsic motivation (external, introjected, and identified regulation), and amotivation (neither intrinsic nor extrinsic motivation), in a comparison analysis of second-generation Iranians and American university students. The nine independent variables measured were, participant&rsquo;s age, participant&rsquo;s education, father&rsquo;s education, mother&rsquo;s education, parental income, gender, number of siblings, stress, and confidence. Based on the principles of self-determination theory a multidimensional approach was taken that included assessments of self-efficacy (stress and confidence) and need for social approval to determine if there were any possible interrelationships with the outcome variables. <i>T</i>-test results revealed a significant difference in each motivational type between the Iranian group and the American group. In a step-wise backward multiple regression technique, the nine independent factors were analyzed to determine possible relationships with the outcome variables. The independent variables had a notable influence on the outcome variables and the variable <i>confidence </i> was consistently observed for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Parental income, gender, stress, and participant&rsquo;s post-graduate/PhD degree level had a direct influence on amotivation. Results indicate that self-determination, autonomy, and regulation of behavior are internalized differently in diverse individuals and social background plays a significant role. Limitations and recommendations for future research are also discussed. </p>

This thesis has sought to examine how and why mathematics lecturers in Saudi Arabian universities use software for teaching. It is a large-scale, mixed methods study within a post positivist tradition, utilising data collected from interviews and a questionnaire. Eighteen lecturers from two mathematics departments at two major universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were interviewed individually in their offices. Further, 151 lecturers responded to the questionnaire distributed to lecturers of Mathematics and Statistics at eight long-established state universities in KSA. This study explains why lecturers of mathematics at universities use or do not use ICT for teaching and, in so doing, contributes to an under-researched area of study. It raises questions as to how users and non-users of software regard the nature of teaching and learning of mathematics at universities and the contribution of ICT in university-level mathematics. Previous research on the use of software by mathematics teachers has identified a range of factors affecting take up and use of ICT, including access to ICT resources, knowledge of how to integrate technology into mathematics teaching, and beliefs about the role of technology in learning and teaching and assessing mathematics (e.g. an overreliance on technology, use of technology as a black box, use of calculators in examinations). However, there remains ongoing debate about the balance of internal and external factors in the take up of ICT and whether factors related to easy access to software are more (or less) influential than teachers’ beliefs. The findings of this study revealed that identification with the branch of mathematics was a key factor in determining the lecturers who are likely to be users of software in teaching. In particular, it was found that statisticians and computational mathematicians were more likely to be users of software because they were teaching courses which require the use of software. The findings suggested that despite all of the encouraging conditions, contextual and internal barriers — such as a curriculum with heavy and fixed content; software which was not assessed in many cases; lack of cooperation between lecturers to produce curricula which included the use of software; and doubts about the value of software — were at work here. This study has a special interest in Valsiner’s Zone Theory as a lens to study the take up of ICT. In particular, the Zone Theory demystifies why the take up of mathematical software by the mathematics lecturers was patchy despite the good access to ICT resources and the high potential of the use of software in mathematics teaching. From the Zone Theory’s perspective, lecturers worked within a particularly broad zone of free movement but a weak zone of promoted action so that lecturers’ activity was rarely ‘canalised’ into using mathematical software. The Zone Theory puts emphasis on agency-structure dualism, focusing on the actions carried out by individual lecturers as ‘agents’ in the context of constraining and enabling ‘structures’ when making a decision on whether software should be used in teaching. This thesis has reaffirmed the call for more theoretical and empirical research on the issue of the integration of mathematical software in the teaching and learning of mathematics in higher education.