This study investigates the individual outcomes of blind adults after completing residential post-secondary training. Their reflections on life before during and after the program provide understanding into complex personal issues. The narrative data revealed program factors that had an influence on individual outcomes. This study uses Snyder's hope theory as a conceptual framework to aid in the understanding and interpretation of these individual outcomes. Hope has been found to have significant positive impact on rehabilitation issues; it is a mediating factor in the adjustment to blindness (Snyder, Lehman, Kluck & Monsson, 2006). This study extends the work of Jackson, Taylor, Palmatier, Elliott & Elliott (1998) who investigated the relation of hope to visual impairment. Therefore, the purpose of this study was two-fold. First, the investigation seeks knowledge about how blind adults negotiated life after completing a residential post-secondary program. The second purpose was describing and understanding the role of hope in this negotiation of life. This systematic inquiry relies on a qualitative design in which case study methods are incorporated. Interviews and follow-up interviews were conducted with 7 participants over a period of 18 months. Recurring themes and sub-themes were identified through use of the constant comparative method of coding. Further reduction across the cases highlighted thematic concepts through the use of multi-case displays. The findings resulted in 4 main themes with 2 sub-themes each. Major themes include how participants establish housing and post-secondary activities such as work or training after the program, how they respond to expectations, whether or not they continue using the skills learned during their residential training and what they have done to establish goals and vocational pursuits. There is evidence of differences among the individual outcomes though each participant experienced equivalent training. Results highlight the influences on motivation such as family, blind mentors, vocational development and reliance on alternative techniques. Results indicate there are differences among participants regarding the hope construct specifically in pathway and agency thinking. Individual and programmatic recommendations and implications for future research are addressed; strategies for incorporating the emerging issues of this study into early education of blind children are presented. / text

Significant changes have been observed in educational reforms in the Indian subcontinent over the last two decades. During this time period, educational policies began to be influenced by international developments in education (Hodkinson & Devarakonda, 2011). According to Singal (2006a), the Indian government endorsed the objective of the Salamanca Declaration (UNESCO, 1994), which was to ensure policy changes to “promote the approach of inclusive education, namely enabling schools to serve all children, particularly those with special educational needs”. This time period also marked the beginning of the usage of the term “inclusive education” in educational policies in India; however, a guideline to defining inclusion and actual implementation of inclusion in schools has not yet been realized (Singal & Rouse, 2003). There are few schools implementing inclusion in India; many practices are reflective of those developed and used in schools in developed countries. Inclusive practices developed in schools in Western countries may not suit the needs of schools in the Indian context. This case study was designed to explore how one primary school in India adapted and implemented inclusion. The perceptions and experiences of the principal, teachers and parents regarding inclusion were also explored in the context of inclusive practices of the school. Multiple sources of data collection including in-depth interviews, observations, document review and focus group were used to answer research questions. Data analyses were used to identify themes and categories to answer research questions using techniques identified by Glaser and Strauss (1967). Findings are presented as follows: (1) an introduction to the school, (2) implementation of inclusion in India, and (3) knowledge and perceptions of stakeholders regarding inclusion. Findings indicate that the school practiced a social model of inclusion to suit their needs and based on the availability of resources. Parents of children with disabilities played an important role in implementing inclusion. Goals for inclusion, school and classroom practices, as well as participants’ perceptions regarding inclusion were consistent with their experiences and implementation of social inclusion. Participants’ had mostly positive perceptions, but expressed some limitations about inclusion. Implications for future research, practice and policy are also discussed. / text

This longitudinal case study followed a beginning teacher from the first semester of her teacher education program into her fifth year of teaching. Using situated learning theory, this dissertation reports the influences on her journey in becoming a literacy teacher before, during, and after her teacher education program. Data sources included interviews, classroom observations, and documents that were collected over six and a half years and across multiple contexts (e.g., tutoring, student teaching, community-based learning, coursework, two elementary schools). Using constant comparative (Glaser & Strauss, 2009) and longitudinal coding methods (Saldaña, 2009), the analysis suggests that the participant developed the following understandings over time and across contexts: she intends to be a lifelong learner; she values and validates students’ interests, histories, and contributions; she is committed to teaching for social justice; and she believes a safe, trusting, and flexible community is essential to learning. Findings indicated that her ability to enact these understandings in practice, even in difficult school contexts, was made possible by her reflective stance and her commitment to surrounding herself with communities of like-minded people to support her in similar ways as had been the case in her teacher education program. The results of this study provide evidence that over time the understandings developed in a teacher education program have the potential to fully emerge in practice inside teachers’ classrooms. This study has implications for how we prepare teachers, how teacher education programs can continue to support their graduates, the types of school communities that seem to support beginning teachers, and how policy makers might direct future funding towards responsible teacher education. / text

During the previous years there has been a lot of focus on e-commerce in the fashion and clothing industry and that everything will be bought online in the future. However, several e-commerce companies have decided to expand into offline retail. This dissimilarity between theory and reality creates an interest for further research and a curiosity of how the future within retail will develop. The purpose of this research is to understand why Swedish online fashion retailers expand through an offline strategy. An Expansion Theme Model, which emerged from the theoretical framework, is used throughout the research to create a cohesive presentation of the material. In this research two case studies were conducted with e-commerce companies that are moving towards offline retail, one that is planning to open their own offline store and the other that is selling to external offline retailers. The findings present the reasons for expanding into offline retail according to the respondents in the two cases. Two reasons that were discussed in both cases were to enhance the brand image and use offline retailing as a marketing tool to reach a larger customer group and ultimately enhance the company’s profit. The findings present several problems within each case that can be solved by expanding into offline retail. The first problem is about suppliers that protect offline retailers. The second problem is about how to reach the minimum quantities that the suppliers require. The third problem is how to achieve a better negotiation power with the suppliers. The fourth problem discusses the challenge of displaying products online. The view of the future within retail is also presented, where all of the respondents agreed that the two selling channels will be more integrated in the future. Finally, the transition towards offline retail creates many new possibilities in the world of retail that is yet undiscovered and it is therefore exciting to follow this development.

This explorative study is a qualitative assessment of culture as a critical aspect of public relations practice in Puerto Rico. Reviewing definitions of culture, Hofstede's dimensions of cultural values, the Excellence Theory, and international case studies, this study sought to answer the following research questions: What national cultural traits have an impact on the practice of public relations in Puerto Rico? Do Puerto Rican practitioners feel their own cultural characteristics have an impact on their practice of public relations? Does the cultural diversity of Puerto Rico have an impact on public relations practice in that country? Does the country's strong relationship with the U.S. influence public relations practitioners to use Western-based public relations practices? Qualitative data was gathered through unstructured in-depth interviews, using a "culture bag" concept and storyboards to capture the practitioners' perspectives. In addition, quasi-ethnographic records in relation to public relations education, a local newspaper scan, and a website content analysis of public relations agencies were analyzed.The main themes found in the interviews included the political climate, a strong sense of Puerto Rican nationality, with tradition and family as key national cultural elements. National cultural traits identified during the interviews included having a participative, humanitarian and mostly homogeneous public; however, practitioners disagreed on whether these national characteristics truly affected their communications practices. Despite the disagreement of impact, practitioners reported that communications needs were very similar and geared to one overwhelming majority, rather than public-specific communications. Many noted the preferred communication style used emotional appeals targeted to the themes referenced above and viewed events as an ideal tactic for communications. Moreover, the U.S. Moreover, the U.S. influences in public relations education is notable as the university courses are taught in Spanish, but with English-written American textbooks. The theory discussed is mostly U.S. based. In addition, the lack of Puerto Rican authored literature and research is noted, and concern over licensing of practitioners was mentioned. The scan of local newspapers did not reveal many public relations issues. The website content analysis of local public relations agencies showed half of the websites as Puerto Rico specific and the prominent language used as English.

Today's mobile student population follows diverse paths. This research presents findings from a qualitative study investigating the perceptions of transfer students while they were actively engaged in the transfer process. Fifty-seven incoming community college transfer students (n=57) were interviewed, in a large metropolitan area, through e-journaling during fall 2006 (while students were still attending community colleges) and during spring 2007 (students' first semester of admission to the university). The following research questions guided the study: What do transfer students perceive as a successful transfer process? From the transfer student's perspective, what supports are needed to accommodate a successful transfer process? From the transfer student's perspective, what barriers inhibit successful transfer? The study sought to identify transfer student retention policies and practices that offer the most promising outcomes, as substantiated by the transfer students. Their experiences and perceptions might have implications for improving programs and policies at either the sending or receiving institution. The necessity to determine the challenges faced by students when entering a four-year institution is key to understanding student persistence and success in attaining the baccalaureate. The Urban Transfer Research Network (UTRN) is a project funded through Lumina Foundation for Education. The purpose of this collaborative project is to chart the pathways and success of transfer students who begin their college careers at community colleges. The research conducted in this study served as the pilot study for UTRN's qualitative research. The findings suggest three first stage transfer adjustment themes. The first stage includes: students' expectations prior to entering the university, students' initial experiences of marginality, complications from the need for guidance combined with feelings of entitlement, and students learning to navigate the university system. The second stage of the transfer students' adjustment identified the support systems needed by students: personal attention, academic integration, social interaction, and technology. Barriers to successful transfer involved the lack of communication students perceived among and within the community college and the university. The third and final stage of the transfer adjustment process offered student recommendations for change supporting reflections of self-reliance, and balance of academic rigor and personal identity.

There are numerous studies that address the issue of discipline practices in schools. Within the last decade there have been an increasing number of scholars and school district personnel who have written about discipline, and more specifically, the discipline of specific populations of students such as African Americans. Although many of these studies address the disparate disciplinary practices that occur in many school districts, little attention is devoted to how students understand these practices in the larger context of their general school experiences. This research intends to fill the void in the literature that utilizes the experiences of students to understand inequitable discipline practices. The primary purpose of this study is to examine a selected group of "at-risk" African American male students' experiences and beliefs about disciplinary practices used in school.

The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth examination of the language learning experiences of four fifth-grade students learning Spanish through videoconferencing and video-based lessons. This interpretive qualitative study involved intensive data collection over a period of 7 months through participant observation, audio and video recording of classes with subsequent transcription, and interviews of the students and their teachers. The following points of focus guided this research: (a) What instances of interaction and output are observed in the different instructional settings?; (b) Are patterns of change observed in learners' language production during the period under study?; (c) What individual learner factors help to explain differences in the participants' Spanish output?; and (d) What are the participants' preferences and perceptions concerning different aspects of the Spanish program? A careful examination was made of the participants' oral Spanish ou tput. Examples of their oral and written output and oral interactions were given. The participants differed among themselves in the amount of oral output each produced, and individual participants showed differences in productivity in the different instructional settings. No patterns of change were discerned in the language used by two participants. A third showed evidence of growth in some areas of language use. The fourth, Edward, showed the greatest growth. Many individual learner factors were examined. Among them were attitude toward Spanish, use of Spanish in and out of school, and overall academic achievement. All participants except for Edward were in their fourth year in the Spanish program; he was in his second year. All of the participants preferred learning Spanish through videoconferencing or teacher-led classes to learning it through the video-based lessons. In comparisons of videoconferencing and teacher-led classes, all participants expressed a preference for teac her-led classes. Themes that emerged were (a) the importance of the on-site Spanish teacher, (b) contributions of the video lessons, and (c) limitations in interaction and output.

“Fresh Fuel: The CanU Food Club” (Fresh Fuel) is the food and nutrition component of the larger CanU program aimed at improving the future well being of vulnerable children. A mixed-method case study evaluation was conducted with Fresh Fuel, employing a Utilization-Focused Evaluation approach. Results suggested that there were some gains in Fresh Fuel Participant (FFP) food and nutrition outcomes. Also, there were a variety of social benefits to FFPs, such as positive interaction with volunteers and peers, and having fun. Volunteers and practicum students developed career goals and skills. Results identified incompatible program goals, time limitations, inconsistent program implementation, and lack of direction in nutrition education; however, Fresh Fuel provided a supportive environment, hands on learning, and included positive nutrition discussions and food preparation experiences. The Utilization-Focused Evaluation approach has resulted in a meaningful report. Rigorous evaluations of Fresh Fuel and other food and nutrition programs are recommended. / October 2015

This thesis is about the process of becoming, or not becoming, a primary school mathematics teacher. The aim is to understand and describe the professional identity development of novice primary school mathematics teachers from the perspective of the novice teachers themselves. The study is a case study with an ethnographic direction where seven novice teachers have been followed from their graduation and two years onwards. The ethnographic direction has been used to make visible the whole process of identity development, both the individual and the social part. The empirical material in the study consists of self-recordings made by the respondents, observations and interviews. The empirical material is analysed in two different but co-operating ways. First a conceptual framework was developed and used as a lens. Second, methods inspired by grounded theory are used. The purpose of using them both is to retain the perspective of the respondents as far as possible. At the time of graduation the respondents are members in a community of reform mathematics teaching and they want to reform mathematics teaching in schools. In their visions they strive away from their own experiences of mathematics in school and practice periods. Four cases are presented closely in the thesis as they show four various routes into, and out of, the teaching profession. These four cases make visible that the respondents’ patterns of participation regarding teaching mathematics changes when they become members in new communities of practice with mathematics teaching as part of the shared repertoire. But, the four cases also make visible that the existence of such communities of practice seems to be rare and that the respondents’ different working conditions limit their possibilities of becoming members in those that exist. During the time span of this study, the respondents hardly receive any feedback for their performance as mathematics teachers. Even if they teach mathematics they don´t teach it as they would like to and they don´t think of themselves as mathematics teachers. Two years after graduation none of the respondents has developed a professional identity as primary school mathematics teacher. A primary school teacher in Sweden is a teacher of many subjects but they are the first teachers to teach our school children mathematics. For the respondents to develop a sense of themselves as a kind of primary school mathematics teacher, mathematics teaching has to become part of their teacher identities. For this to become possible, mathematics must become a part of their image of a primary school teacher as an image of a primary school mathematics teacher. Furthermore memberships in communities of practice with mathematics in the shared repertoire must be accessible, both during teacher education and after graduation. Then professional identity development as a primary school teacher would include becoming and being a teacher of mathematics.