A dramatic upsurge in the number of students with learning disabilities (LD) who attended college has occurred since the 1970s. The granting of accommodations to students with LD and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or both was important for their success in postsecondary education. Key to the provision of these services was the attitude of faculty towards granting the accommodations. This study examined the attitudes of faculty members at community colleges which had specialized programs for students with LD or ADHD towards granting these accommodations. These attitudes were assessed through a questionnaire. The questionnaire assessed three attitudes: willingness to make accommodation confidence that the accommodations will make a difference, and belief that accommodations would threaten the integrity of the course. The questionnaire also divided accommodations into two large groups: instruction accommodations and evaluation and material accommodations. This study also included a qualitative component in that the questionnaire included some open-ended questions and some respondents were interviewed. A total of 1100 questionnaires was sent to faculty throughout selected Illinois and Indiana community colleges of which 285 questionnaires made up the sample population. Sample population consisted of 54% male and 46% female; 51% held the rank of instructor or adjunct professor while 49% held professorial rank; tenured status consisted of 68% and nontenured (32%) while 54% were full-time and 46% part-time faculty. The collapsed years of teaching experience comprised 46% with five years or less, 27% with six to 15 years, and 27% with more than 16 years. A majority of faculty members had previous experience with students with LD (86%) and ADHD (71%), and a majority of the respondents (71%) had a family member or knew an individual with LD. Results of the questionnaire were combined to generate two factors scores: instructional accommodations and evaluation and material accommodations. These scores were analyzed using means and standard deviations or the factor scores. Aside from overall means, individual differences among faculty members were analyzed using two-way and one-way ANOVAs with alpha set at .05. The overall means suggested that the faculty: were willing to make accommodations, had confidence that the accommodations would make a difference, and did not believe that the accommodations would threaten the integrity of the class. Individual differences were found for gender, tenure status, and training. Females were found to accommodate better than males. Subjects with additional training accommodated more positively than those without training. The current findings were interpreted within the framework of how these community colleges could improve faculty attitudes. Institutions should make LD training a main concern in order for faculty to accommodate. / Department of Special Education

This heuristic study of web credibility, considered education as a previously determined demographic to compare the user based data of this study to previous findings in the literature of web credibility and source credibility. By conducting focus groups of college undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty and using grounded theory analysis, 12 categories emerged from the data. These twelve factors were used in developing a process model of web credibility to explain the data in this study. After comparing this data and model to previous findings, several implications and suggestions for future research emerged. The most significant finding was that authority may be highly undervalued in the web credibility literature. Also the data in this study shows that undergraduates reacted much differently in terms of web credibility than did the more educated participants. The data furthermore implies that the disparity between groups hinges more on training in web development than education. / Department of Communication Studies

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to document the perceptions that faculty hold regarding changes made to their curricular, pedagogical, and personal practices in an introduction to education course during the implementation of a one-to-one laptop initiative at a medium-sized Midwestern university teacher’s college. Technology transforms the work of faculty in higher education. Faculty face changes that are revolutionizing their personal and professional teaching lives because of choices that universities have to make in order to meet the demands of the current student body as well as state and national standards. Institutional support including faculty driven, content-specific professional development, on-demand help, hands-on practice time, and individualized attention are paramount for faculty learning and continuing to engage in technology integration to meet the learning needs of today’s technology-savvy students. / Access to thesis and accompanying PDF permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Educational Studies

This research study posed the following questions: Does a faculty member's perceptions of his/her attitudes toward college students over the age of twenty-nine differ significantly from those students' perceptions of the faculty member's attitudes toward them? Are different faculty personality types, as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, related to differing faculty attitudes toward college students over the age of twenty-nine? An attempt to answer these questions was made through the evaluation of three differing questionnaires administered to the population of faculty members and their students over the age of twenty-nine at a small, rural community college in Texas. One questionnaire was administered to the students to elicite [sic] their perception of a faculty member's attitudes toward them as students who were older than the traditional college student. A second questionnaire asked a series of questions of the faculty members to determine the faculty members' attitudes toward students over the age of twenty-nine. The third instrument used was the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator; this indicator was used in an attempt to determine each faculty member's personality type.

The problem with which this study is concerned was to analyze the reactions of faculty members and academic administrators toward the practices related to the improvement of instruction as they pertain to the role of department or division chairpersons. The hypotheses designed to serve the purposes of this study were related to supervision of instruction, methods and materials used for instruction, evaluation of the teaching performance of faculty members, participation of faculty members in administrative decisions, faculty members' professional development, and evaluation of the outcomes of instruction.

Many explanations for why students leave engineering programs fail to look more closely at unique help-seeking cultural norms of first-generation (“first-gen”) students that tend to conflict with help-seeking cultural norms of undergraduate engineering programs. “First-gen” in this study applies to students with neither parent nor guardian holding a four-year bachelor’s degree, while “continuing-gen” applies to continuing-generation students with at least one parent holding a bachelor’s degree. Although statistical odds are stacked against many first-gens, some of these individuals persevere through rigorous engineering programs using effective help-seeking strategies. This mixed methods study explores what patterns in help-seeking beliefs and behaviors may be specific to Black first-gen undergraduates relative to other first-gen and continuing-gen peers. This study also seeks to understand the help-seeking experiences of Black first-gen engineering undergraduates that contribute to the observed pattern differences among demographics. Additionally, this study aims to understand how successful help-seeking strategies and experiences of Black first-gens allow them to persevere in engineering. Likert scale questionnaire responses revealed that the Black first-gens in this study were less comfortable seeking academic help from faculty relative to other first-gen and continuing-gen peers. Qualitative interviews revealed that a primary reason for this discomfort stemmed from faculty behaviors that discouraged help-seeking attempts such as making demeaning comments, singling out Black students in class, impatience during office hours, no regard for class comprehension, and a lack of personal connection. The Black first-gens in this study managed to persevere in engineering by turning to religious faith and community for support, having fictive kin relationships with personable faculty, and adopting a mix of independent and interdependent norms within their study groups. These findings help inform institutions about improving the help-seeking experiences of Black first-gen engineering undergraduates. Additionally, this research provides useful guidance to other Black first-gen students about effective help-seeking strategies in engineering.

This dissertation explores the perceived readiness of potential violin majors (PVMs) in the United States for university-level violin study. The purpose of this study was to explore violin professors’ expectations of PVMs in the United States, their perceptions of how these expectations are being met, and how PVMs can be prepared to meet these expectations. A lack of research into how PVMs in the United States are being prepared for the rigors of university-level violin study warranted investigation to define violin professors’ expectations and their perceptions of the preparedness of PVMs. A descriptive instrumental exploratory study was conducted using qualitative and descriptive statistical data with 121 participants (n = 121). The participants were tenure-track and tenured violin professors in the United States who have taught for at least three years at universities accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and whose teaching loads consist of a minimum of 75% applied violin lessons. Participants were asked to define their ideal expectations of PVMs, their perceptions of how these expectations have been met, and advice they have for the adults who help prepare PVMs. Data were collected online through a Qualtrics survey and Zoom video interviews. The findings indicated that violin professors generally agreed upon their expectations of PVMs, which include having a solid technical foundation, performing repertoire that is aligned with their technical development, and being open-minded. Violin professors perceived that less than 50% of PVMs have a solid technical foundation and less than 50% perform developmentally appropriate repertoire, though most PVMs were perceived to demonstrate an openness to learning. Most violin professors accept PVMs into their studios whom they perceive to be unready for university-level study, usually due to administrative pressure. To meet violin professors’ expectations, they suggest that PVMs work with private violin teachers outside of the K-12 music classroom. Private violin teachers should hold PVMs to a high performing standard, be familiar with violin professors’ expectations, and have the subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge necessary to develop a solid technical foundation and assign level-appropriate repertoire. Other influential adults include K-12 music teachers, although learning outcomes for K-12 music classes differ significantly from violin professors’ expectations. Overall, this study demonstrated a clear disconnect between violin professors’ expectations and how PVMs are being prepared to meet them. The data showed that participants made the following assumptions: (a) PVMs take private lessons and are already “apprentices” working with a “master,” (b) audition websites present adequate information for PVMs, and (c) private teachers have the subject matter knowledge to prepare PVMs to meet technical expectations and perform with high standards. There appears to be an overall lack of communication and collaboration not just from violin professors, but also from private teachers and K-12 classroom music teachers. Recommendations for practice and implementation are offered to the three identified populations that interact with PVMs: violin professors, private teachers, and K-12 classroom music teachers.

This qualitative modified case study was constructed to investigate U.S. facultymembers’ perceptions of cultural differences in the Chinese classroom and how they learn to cope with and adapt to these differences in their teaching practice. The study is based on the following assumptions: (1) U.S. visiting faculty members will not easily share their insights and their personal experiences of teaching in China. (2) Some U.S. faculty might not care to change their teaching methods because of the short-term overseas teaching assignments. (3) U.S. faculty members are willing to embrace different cultures. The study site is at a U.S. fashion college. The primary data sources were collected from an in-depth interview with 22 U.S. faculty members who teach in China and the Philosophical of Adult Education Inventory. This modified case study seeks to understand how U.S. instructors who teach in China on a short-term basis, learn to adapt to an entirely different culture as they confront it in their classrooms. The major findings of this study suggest that the participants were aware of the cultural differences between Chinese classrooms and American classrooms. The participants also encountered substantial cultural-based obstacles in China, which they overcame through the use of new teaching styles. Moreover, the findings identified two dissimilar perspectives: (1) Maintainers, those who do not change or adjust much in their teaching style, (2) Enthusiasts, those who make adjustments to their teaching style in order to accommodate the Chinese students' needs, augmenting the students’ learning outcomes. The overarching recommendation from this study suggests that both the U.S. Apparel University and the China Yifang program administrators are advised to implement an action research study every 4 to 6 years to examine and fine-tune the existing collaboration program.

The purpose of the study was to establish a methodology for evaluating the receptivity of faculty and administrators to proposals for an on-going program of N-TE. Sub-purposes were (1) identification of criteria for evaluating institutional readiness, (2) field application and test of the criteria, and (3) development of techniques and methodologies for determining the optimum state of readiness a small college should achieve before proceeding with N-TE. Judged by the response by some interviewees, the critical factor in implementing N-TE successfully is a spirit of readiness, zeal, or fervor of faculty and administrators. They want to provide educational services and want to serve people whose needs have not been met previously.

Research on the development of K-12 teachers’ beliefs about and approaches to teaching and learning suggests that exposure to professional development programs can lead to the use of conceptual change strategies that engage students as active participants in the learning process rather than on teacher-centered strategies focused on information transfer. However, within the existing literature on the development of teacher beliefs and approaches to teaching and learning there exists a void of information pertaining to the development of community college instructors’ beliefs and approaches. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between pre-tenure community college instructors’ beliefs about teaching and learning, their approaches to the learning process, and the training they receive via a professional development program specifically established to provide training in teaching methods, pedagogy, curriculum, and/ or instruction. Forty community college instructors going through an established three-year tenure process completed a revised version of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI-R) created by Trigwell and Prosser (1998). Data analysis revealed that there was no difference in the scores of instructors who had participated in the professional development program on teaching and learning and those instructors who had no exposure to courses that focused on teaching and learning. Further, findings suggest that instructors’ participation in the courses is not related to their beliefs or teaching approaches. iii The findings of this study warrant a closer examination of programs designed to provide higher education instructors with training in pedagogy and instruction. Additionally, the findings present an opportunity for professional development programs to improve current practice.