<p> This autoethnography uses the personal journey of the author through Fielding Graduate University's doctoral program in Educational Leadership for Change to study the influence of peer advising and peer relationships in distributed learning environments on student success and program satisfaction. The study reveals that peer relationships and peer advisement opportunities may be needed to counter the high risks for dropping out, extra time in the program, or discontentment.</p>

<p> Physical therapists are licensed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The State Board of Physical Therapy within each state regulates licensure and the majority of the states mandate continuing professional education (CPE) as a requirement for renewal. In Pennsylvania, the practice act was amended on July 4, 2008 requiring physical therapists to complete 30 hours of CPE during each biennial renewal period. This new act became effective December 22, 2012 with the first cycle beginning on January 1, 2013. </p><p> Many physical therapists express challenges in acquiring CPE indicating barriers such as stress with caseload size, travel to courses from rural locations, time restraints and commitments to family and work. Distance education (DE), defined as the application of communications and electronic devices that enable students to receive instruction from a distant location, may offer flexibility in CPE for physical therapists. </p><p> This study investigated the use and adoption of DE to meet continuing education requirements by physical therapists using an adapted survey. Email invitations with an anonymous link to the survey were sent to 2047 Pennsylvania physical therapists and a total of 361 completed online surveys were attained. </p><p> 57% of the subjects reported incorporating some form of DE into their 30 required CPE hours over the last 24 months. On average, 12.25 of the 30 required CPE hours were completed through DE. The most frequent type of DE used by the subjects was Internet/World Wide Web, followed closely by print. When evaluating the innovation-decision process, subjects considered course content, quality and applicability of the information first, and time away from work or home last. The most commonly used provider of DE is a national professional organization. Those subjects that report using distance education confirm that their distance education experience was positive and believe that their CE experience will be positive in the future. </p><p> Using Rogers's method to determine rate of adoption, it appears that Pennsylvania physical therapists are already adopting DE. The results of this study indicate that, DE has good relative advantage, good compatibility, good observability and no evidence of complexity.</p>

<p> Secondary students in the United States are now competing in a global marketplace (Wagner, 2010). Any factor which decreases student achievement must be alleviated to permit students to reach their full academic potential. Student achievement has been negatively linked with teacher attrition (Ronfeldt, Loeb, &amp; Wyckoff, 2012): occupational commitment has also been negatively linked with attrition. Occupational commitment, therefore, is related to student achievement and success. </p><p> Ethics is commonly recognized as an integral part of education, yet there is little research on the ethical beliefs of teachers, especially on teachers at the secondary level. Previous research has established connections between occupational commitment and factors such as stress and job satisfaction. However, there has been little research that explores the connection between ethical beliefs and occupational commitment. </p><p> The purpose of the study was to explore potential connections between teachers' ethical beliefs and their occupational commitment. More specifically, North Carolina secondary teachers were surveyed to obtain information about their idealism, relativism, academic department, and occupational commitment. The theoretical framework of the study was a synthesis of ethical position theory (Forsyth, 1980), person-vocation fit, and value consonance (Rosenberg, 1977). The ethical position questionnaire (Forsyth, 1980) was used to measure teachers' idealism and relativism; the occupational commitment scales (Meyer, Allen, &amp; Smith, 1993) were used to measure teachers' occupational commitment. </p><p> The study was expected to confirm relationships between the study variables and to identify ethical beliefs as a predictor of low occupational commitment. In fact, no significant relationships were discovered between the study variables. However, North Carolina teachers were determined to be a homogeneous group of individuals in terms of idealism and relativism. Teachers' academic department had no bearing on teachers' ethical beliefs. This observation was in contrast to previous research which had indicated the presence of subjectbased subcultures in secondary schools. Although unexpected, this finding was significant as it suggests secondary subculture is based primarily on difference in subject matter rather than on teachers' personal beliefs and values. On a more practical level, the knowledge that secondary teachers exist as a homogeneous population of ethical beliefs will enable administrators to more effectively recruit new teachers. Administrators will also be able to better predict faculty reaction to new policies and procedures with an increased understanding of their faculty's ethical beliefs.</p>

Knowing how to promote oneself in written self-promotional genres is a vital, yet neglected, component of non-native speaker (NNS) communicative competence. / Focusing on the self-appraisal, I explore some of the impression management (IM) tactics and interpersonal metadiscourse (MD) markers used by writers to manage the impressions they give off. Of particular interest is the extent to which (a) patterns of self-presentation, and (b) language background (NS/NNS) contribute to the affective response of the reader. / The self-appraisals, collected from 41 students taking a required undergraduate writing course, were grouped according to the affective response of independent readers. Patterns of IM and MD use were compared across positive- and negative-affect groups, and across NSs and NNSs. / The findings reveal distinct differences between affect groups in patterns of IM and MD use. Interestingly, NS/NNS differences did not contribute to the affective response of the reader, thus challenging the assumption that NS linguistic form is requisite to pragmatic competence.

<p>The purpose of this study was to provide insight into teacher perceptions as to if and how professional learning communities (PLCs) promote and support effective professional development in a rural high school. Effective professional development should enhance pedagogy, which is defined as improving educational practices of teachers through opportunities that increase knowledge and improve skills (No Child Left Behind, 2001, Section 9101). A case study approach and qualitative data collection methods were selected for the study due to the real-life context in which the inquiry occurred. Data collection began with surveys in order to acquire a broad view of teachers' perceptions, focus groups provided more specificity to teachers' perceptions, and finally individual interviews afforded the most detailed information. </p><p> The themes that emerged indicated that collaboration is the most important characteristic of a professional learning community in terms of usefulness, flexibility, and professional growth. Most teachers indicated that due to participation in a PLC they had grown professionally and their students had also benefitted. A major theme throughout participant responses was the need for both job-embedded professional development (PLCs) and traditional professional development (workshops, conferences, etc.). Teachers, administration, and board members of similar rural school districts may benefit from this study by understanding teachers&rsquo; perceptions of effective professional development that impacts classroom instruction. </p>

No description available.

Examensarbete. / I publ. felaktigt ISSN: 1641-114X.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Instructional Systems Technology, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2763. Adviser: Thomas Schwen. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 9, 2008).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Technology, Sydney, 2005. / Bibliography: leaves 310-318.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: A, page: 4413. Adviser: Thomas M. Schwen.