The no borders movement has been an important site of anti-imperialist resistance, and as such it provides a valuable point of entry into problematizing the contradictions that constitute the relations of consciousness, praxis and ideology. By tracing the recent history of no borders activism in relation to the intensification of neoliberalism, and the prevalence of diffuse models of power, the analysis illustrates the ways in which critical praxis has been limited by the current milieu. Working from an anti-racist feminist perspective I utilize examples drawn from no borders activism to demonstrate the very real limits of informal and incidental learning in social movements. The analysis argues against the supplanting of consciousness with subjectivity as a way to avoid the problems associated with structuralist analysis. Instead, I have suggested that critical education for social action requires a dialectical engagement with the social relations that we live in, contest and transform.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / This study explored the relationship between anesthesiology residents' In Training Examination (ITE) percentile ranks and learning styles and domains with the variables of gender, ethnicity, and postgraduate year (PGY). The ITE is a national examination given annually as a measure of cognitive achievement. The learning style instrument was the adapted Vermunt Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), a diagnostic learning style instrument designed for use with university-level students. The study included 112 anesthesiology residents in anesthesiology graduate medical education (GME) at four universities (five sites) during the 2006-2007 PGY. Responses to the surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Pearson product-moment correlations, and stepwise and backward elimination regression analysis. The results indicated that the residents' ITE percentile ranks had a bimodal curve. The ILS has 20 scales representing four learning domains factored into four learning styles. The relationships of the learning styles with the ITE percentile ranks were significant for two learning styles: positive for the meaning directed learning style (MDLS) and negative for the undirected learning style (UDLS). Analysis of the scales comprising the MDLS (seven) and UDLS (five) revealed significant relationships for 6 of the 12 scales for the anesthesiology residents (five positive, one negative). An analysis of the domain scale relationships for the other eight scales identified an additional two scales positively related to ITE percentile ranks: vocation oriented and analyzing. The significant scales positively identified with ITE percentile ranks included relating and structuring, concrete processing, two self-regulation scales, construction of knowledge, analyzing and vocation oriented. The only scale significant with ITE percentile ranks was ambivalent, which was negative. The potential exists that the UDLS can identify, in part, residents at risk academically. The positive relationship of the meaning directed learning style and the two significant, positive scales (analyzing and vocation oriented) with ITE percentile ranks offered an indication of learning styles and strategies of residents with higher cognitive achievement outcomes. These learning strategies have the potential to help residents learn how to learn more effectively.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / This qualitative case study described the incidence of stress in the lives of Army officers, and its effect on their learning experiences at the Army‘s Command and General Staff College (CGSC). It described the experiences of officers who have completed multiple combat deployments and coped with the effects of combat related stress in an academic environment. The study further illuminated a number of issues surrounding combat related stress and learning, and framed them using the words of the eleven United States Army Command and General Staff College student participants. This qualitative case study combined the interviews of the eleven students with other members of the Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Army community to include an Army psychiatrist, a Department of Army civilian psychologist, a CGSC faculty focus group, and an Army chaplain. All of the Army officers in the study are combat veterans with an average of over 23 months of combat. This case study confirmed that being in an academic environment increased the stress levels of even combat veterans. This research further confirmed levels of anger, alcohol usage, and sleeplessness among CGSC students and its effect on their learning. It identified the impact of transitions, dual enrollment, and social functioning in family settings, as well as confirming that there is still a continued stigma associated with Soldiers seeking assistance for mental health. The stigma is exacerbated by inaccurate reporting and a culture that reflects a lack of support within certain levels of the service. This study contributes to the current body of knowledge and provides additional information and insights on the effects of combat related stress on learning. Finally, this study is relevant, germane, and timely given the number of Soldiers who have been repeatedly exposed to combat operations. This exposure to combat exponentially increases the incidence of combat related stress in their lives.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / The purpose of this basic interpretative qualitative study was to discover and understand graduates’ perceptions of customer service from their chosen college or university. How graduates perceive customer service of institutions of higher learning may induce some educational institutions to pursue continuous improvement and performance excellence. Graduates from the master’s level or higher have spent more than the average time in the educational setting compared to undergraduates or bachelor’s level students and are more likely to have greater awareness concerning the customer service attributes. These perceptions could give rise to process improvement techniques and programs that would be useful for a variety of institutions. The method used to acquire the data was interviewing individuals who had completed at least their master’s degree. The results of these interviews were analyzed by consolidating, reducing, and interpreting what the interviewees had to say and what the researcher discovered. Triangulation through reflection and field notes was utilized to ensure credibility of findings.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / This bounded case study explored ten purposefully selected physician participants’ perceptions of the effectiveness of an eight session, two year in-house physician leadership development program at a major Academic Medical Center (AMC) in the Midwest. While physicians are generally educated to care for patients in their specialty area, reforms necessitate the need for physician leadership involvement in metric tracking by healthcare organizations in order to provide a focus on quality patient care and safety. Participants indicated finding the course effective, especially the negotiations and finance modules. These modules provided new language, a better understanding of processes and an opportunity to develop skills through interactive class exercises such as case studies. Participants described an increased self-awareness of their interpersonal skills and expressed a desire for greater exposure to emotional intelligence principles. Participants experienced a transformational shift in how they constructed their identity as a physicians and leaders, and questioned assumptions about the physician’s role in healthcare. While effective in initiating a process of exploration, this course was not sufficient to meet the goals and objectives of the program. Therefore, recommendations for the advanced course included a focus on leadership competencies identified by Dye and Garman (2006) as cited by Dye and Sokolov (2013), emotional intelligence, and transformational leadership.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Royce Ann Collins / In an era of increasing demand for a limited budget, more universities are turning to adjunct faculty to fill the need and to address the student load. Adjunct faculty members are hired for their content knowledge and close association to the business world and industry. This study was conducted to investigate whether a relationship exists between (a) technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK); (b) pedagogical training; and (c) personal technology; and to determine which variables have the greatest influence in the willingness of adjunct faculty at a Midwestern higher education institution to choose and integrate digital technology into curriculum and expand to the discussion of TPACK into graduate level education. TPACK is both a framework and an instrument to measure the level of integration of the primary components of the TPACK framework. TPACK is a term that describes what a teacher must know to integrate technology effectively into curriculum or teacher practices and represents the combination of teacher content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and technology knowledge as interrelated. TPACK allows educators to consider what knowledge is required to integrate technology into teaching and how they might develop that knowledge within themselves. The study was conducted with a sample (n=30) of adjunct faculty members from two extension campuses from a Midwestern, Tier 1 university. The data revealed significant relationships between pedagogical training and selection of appropriate technology, and between personal technology use and selection of appropriate technology. The data also revealed that TPACK was a significant predictor; however, the subdomains of TPACK masked the true impact because of the high presence of covariance.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah Jane Fishback / This exploratory study investigated the level of satisfaction that faculty members have with their new faculty orientation experiences during their first year of employment at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, in Ft. Leavenworth, KS. The study solicited data from new faculty at this graduate-level military service college to help determine whether new faculty members were satisfied with their new faculty orientation experience; whether there were differences in the dependent variable, satisfaction, for any of the independent variables of campus location, teaching department, employment category, academic rank and educational level; and how the CGSC new faculty orientation program might be improved. Surveys were distributed to 297 new faculty members from January 2006 to December 2007. The survey instrument included Likert-scale questions to support quantitative statistical analysis. The study used non-parametric analysis methods to examine the dependent variable, satisfaction, with respect to independent variables. These results indicated that faculty members were satisfied with their new faculty orientation experiences and that there were no significant differences in satisfaction for campus location, teaching department, employment category, academic rank or educational level. Open-ended questions provided respondents an opportunity to add additional information; these comments were categorized by topic and then examined for themes or trends. Despite their overall satisfaction with the orientation program and processes, 84.80% of respondents indicated that inadequate institutional support was the greatest detractor to their success. They cited delays in meeting fundamental new employee needs such as providing a suitable work location, computer access, and information about institutional policies and procedures. Additionally, 35.67% of respondents indicated that either their sponsor was not helpful or none was assigned. Results of this study provided insight regarding unmet or inadequately fulfilled information and support needs of new faculty members at CGSC, informed further research in the area of faculty orientation, and highlighted areas for improvement of practice at CGSC and comparable institutions.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / To date, several academic studies have examined officer personnel leadership behaviors, while the leadership traits of enlisted personnel have largely been ignored. This dissertation investigates the leadership behaviors of active duty chief master sergeants (CMSgt) working on Randolph Air Force Base (AFB), Texas and offers conclusions concerning the acquisition of these behaviors. The main distinction between an officer and enlisted person is, enlisted did not have an undergraduate college degree when they first entered the Air Force. The enlisted population was selected because of the researcher’s background in the Air Force. The sample selection process consisted of obtaining a list from the Air Force of active duty CMSgts working on Randolph AFB. Next, several CMSgts were selected and asked to participate in the study. Those who chose to participate were asked if they knew of other CMSgts who could provide useful information for this study. Four of these participants were chosen to complete in the pilot study phase. Data was collected through the use of semi-structured interviews until thematic saturation was accomplished. Data analysis began with the first pilot interview and continued throughout all phases of this research study. This research found 12 significant leadership behaviors, which can be placed into eight categories. The eight categories are: Technical; Counselor; Problem-Solver; Manager; Networker; Communicate Vision; Eyes and Ears; Run Interference. The Technical category contains one sub-category: Assign Task / Communicate Expectations. The Counselor category is comprised of Influence, Supporter, and Facilitator, while the Manager category is made up of Decision Maker, Advisor, and Mentor.

This study is an investigation of embodiment. It is informed by the experiences and understandings of health, healing, violence and oppression among 15 young South Asian women living in Toronto, Canada. Their articulation of the importance of, and difficulties associated with, health and healing in contexts of social inequity contribute to understandings of embodiment as co-constituted by sentient and social experience. In my reading of their contributions, embodied learning – that is, an ongoing attunement to sentient-social embodiment – is a counter hegemonic healing strategy that they use. Their experiences and insights support the increasingly accepted claim that social inequity is a primary determinant of health that disproportionately disadvantages subordinated people. Furthermore, participants affirm that recovery and resistance to violence and oppression and its consequences must address sentient-social components of embodiment simultaneously. In this study, Yoga teachings provide a framework and practice to investigate embodiment and embodied learning. Following 12 Yoga workshops addressing health, healing, violence and oppression, I conducted individual interviews with 15 workshop participants, 3 Yoga teachers and 2 counsellor / social workers. Participants discuss Yoga as a resource for addressing mental, physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of violence and oppression. They resist New Age interpretations of Yoga in terms of individualism and cultural appropriation; they also challenge both New Age and Western biomedicine for a lack of attention to the consequences of social inequity for health and healing. This study considers embodied learning as an important healing resource and form of resistance to violence and oppression. Scholarship addressing embodiment in sociology, health research, anti-racism, feminism, anti-colonialism, decolonization and Indigenous knowledges are drawn upon to contextualize the interviews. This study offers insights relevant to health promotion and adult education discourse and policy through a careful consideration of the embodied strategies used by the participants in their nuanced negotiations of social inequity and pursuits of health and healing.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Sarah J. Fishback / This study measured levels of conditions eliciting intrinsic motivation to learn and examined the correlation of those measures with learner-perceived level of learning. Acquired from adult learners participating in one Midwestern University’s cohort-based degree programs, data helped determine the extent to which learners perceived the presence of four conditions—inclusion, attitude, meaning, and competence—in both classroom and out-of-classroom learning environments. Additionally, the data helped determine which environment and specific conditions most closely correlated with learner-perceived level of current learning; and provided insight into experiences adult learners found positively or negatively impacting motivation to learn. Surveys were administered in-person to 137 of 150 students within 13 randomly selected cohorts. The survey instrument included a single overall learning attitudinal statement, two Likert scales (classroom and out-of-classroom) each comprised of subscales (inclusion, attitude, meaning, and competence) operationalizing the Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching (Framework), a brief demographic section, and a concluding open-ended question regarding experiences impacting motivation to learn. The study used non-parametric analysis to examine dependent variables, motivation conditions, with respect to independent variables; age, gender, race, and degree-level. Additionally, non-parametric analysis examined correlation between condition measures and learner-perceived overall learning. Significant differences were found in two demographic categories. Underrepresented race/ethnicity students (as a combined category) rated overall out-of-classroom conditions higher than predominant race/ethnicity students; and, associate-level students rated classroom conditions lower than bachelors and masters-level students. Significant differences also occurred in subscales. Female students rated classroom attitude conditions higher than males; underrepresented students rated classroom attitude and competence, and out-of-classroom attitude, meaning, and competence, higher than predominant students; associates-level students rated classroom inclusion lower than both bachelors and masters-level students; and both associates and masters-level students rated classroom competence lower than bachelors-level students. All conditions, in both environments (classroom and out-of-classroom), were significantly correlated with learner-perceived level of learning; and the classroom scale demonstrated considerably stronger correlation than did the out-of-classroom scale. Of all subscales, both classroom and out-of-classroom meaning demonstrated the strongest correlation with learner-perceived level of learning. Forty-eight respondents (35% of sample) offered responses to the survey’s concluding statement. Of those respondents offering comments in regard to classroom motivation, instructor characteristics were most often noted. And, of those commenting on out-of-classroom motivation, team formulation and characteristics were predominant. Through the creation of the Motivation Conditions in Learning Instrument™, this study produced benchmark measures for each Framework condition experienced in both cohort-based classrooms and out-of-classroom team learning; identified differences in measures across demographic categories; and identified correlation of measures with learner-perceived level of learning. Finally, the study provided insight into learner experiences impacting motivation to learn.