D.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Educating a sufficient nursing workforce to provide high quality, compassionate, and ethical care to an increasingly diverse population is an ongoing challenge and opportunity for nurse educators. Current literature highlights the importance of engaging students in learning to strengthen student achievements. Fostering student engagement within nursing courses is particularly important. Grit (consistency of interest and perseverance of effort) is a factor that may be associated with student course engagement. Demographic characteristics of age, gender, race/ethnicity, prior education, degree program, and self-reported grade point average (GPA) also may be factors associated with student course engagement. Guided by a conceptual model derived from the literature, the purpose of this study was to determine whether grit and demographic characteristics were associated with student course engagement (skills, emotion, participation/interaction, and performance) within a nursing course. Using an exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional design, a convenience sample of 97 nursing students in a didactic health assessment course was administered the Student Course Engagement Questionnaire (SCEQ), visual analog scales for student engagement, Grit-S Scale, and a Student Demographic Characteristics form. Using multiple regression, 22% of the variance (21% Adjusted) of total student engagement (SCEQ) was explained by total grit scores (Grit-S) F(1,95) = 26.54, p<.001. Further analyses of student engagement were conducted using the SCEQ subscales and visual analog scales with similar results. Findings provided support for the conceptual model used to guide the study, although replication of the study was recommended across varied learning environments. Findings warrant further study regarding grit as a potential area for the future development of strategies to foster engagement of nursing students in the classroom.

One of the most compelling questions in higher education is why some students achieve and others do not. In this study, 1323 Virginia Tech students who completed the 1985 Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) freshman survey were followed up over a four-year period in order to identify characteristics that explain differences in grades. Three major categories of characteristics were studied: institutional characteristics, student demographic characteristics, and student nontraditional characteristics. Forty characteristics were regressed on the final quality credit average (QCA) for each of the four undergraduate years. Separate regression analyses were run for the university as a whole, each of the seven undergraduate colleges, and three subject-area clusters within the College of Arts & Sciences. The outcome was a set of 44 profiles of significant characteristics related to grades. These profiles were intended as a useful reference for both faculty members and administrators. The multivariate regression analyses identified a number of institutional and student characteristics that explained approximately 25 percent of the variance in student grades at Virginia Tech. Institutional characteristics accounted for about 6 percent of the total variance in student grades. The strongest and most consistent characteristics were selectivity and weighted student credit hours productivity. Student demographic characteristics accounted for about 12 percent of the total variance in student grades. The strongest and most consistent demographic variables were high school rank and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. Five other demographic characteristics -- gender, age, parent income, parent education, and race -- were also significant factors in isolated cases. Student nontraditional factors accounted for about 7 percent of the variance in student grades. Generally, student behaviors exhibited a stronger relationship with student grades than student attitudes, values, or personality traits. Study behavior and writing skills seemed to have the strongest and most consistent relationship with grades. Other nontraditional factors, including athletic interest, fraternal interest, self-efficacy, help-seeking behavior, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, locus of control, and leadership were also significantly related to grades in isolated cases. / Ed. D.

The face of North America's public education system is changing. Across the United States, hundreds of thousands of students have migrated away from traditional public school into charter schools. While both are considered public schools, often that is where the similarity ends. Claims and counter claims have been made about the virtues and advantages of a charter school versus the traditional public school. This study, focused on the nation's sixth-largest school system in Broward County, Florida, compares comments from stakeholders involved in charter programs to feedback from those still involved in the traditional public system. Three hypotheses are evaluated including: whether traditional schools are not adequately serving the needs of students; whether charter schools are better at serving student needs; or people believe that charter schools are doing a better job at serving the needs of students. Evidence suggests that while each model of education has its advantages and disadvantages, neither clearly provides a ""better" opportunity for students. Conclusions are that consumer perceptions are driving the shift in enrollment. This is attributed to the narrative about "choice" created by charter school advocates that aligns with American ideologies of liberty, freedom and independence. Ultimately, it is argued that the deconstruction of the traditional public education system is part of a larger effort to shift selected rights and privileges out of the public sphere and back into private control. For traditional public schools to regain momentum, they must learn to control the narrative and ultimately public policy and public opinion about our nation's public schools. / by Merrie Elyn Meyers. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The cyber Peer-Led Team Learning (cPLTL) workshops are a synchronous online adaptation of the educational intervention PLTL, in which students, under the guidance of undergraduate peer facilitators, collaboratively solve problems in small groups. The purpose of this parallel convergent mixed methods study was to assess the impact of implementing cPLTL in an organic chemistry course on students’ workshop experiences, performance, and development of curved-arrow formalism skills. Statistical analyses revealed comparable attendance rates, distribution of course grades, and achievement on American Chemical Society First-semester Organic Chemistry Exams. However, plotting workshop grades by AB, C, and DFW grade groupings revealed that PLTL students earned more successful grades than their cPLTL counterparts (91% vs 77% ABC grades). Utilization of a new curved-arrow formalism analytic framework for coding student interview artifacts revealed that cPLTL students were statistically less likely to successfully draw the product suggested by the curved-arrows than their PLTL classmates. Both PLTL and cPLTL students exhibited a comparable incidence of relational to instrumental learning approaches. Similarly, both PLTL and cPLTL students were more likely to exhibit a common Scheme for Problem-Solving in Organic Chemistry (SPOC) than having dialogue that could be characterized by Toulmin’s Argumentation scheme. Lastly, implications for faculty are suggested, including: developing more explicit connections concept, mode, and reasoning components of understanding curved-arrow formalism for organic chemistry students; optimizing graphical collaborative learning activities for online learners; and developing online students’ sense of community.