College students enrolled in an online introductory engineering course are not completing their homework assignments at an acceptable rate which impacts them, the instructor, and the college. This research study employed a quasi-experimental evaluation model to assess the effectiveness of two pedagogical methods designed to positively influence student homework completion rates and student attitudes toward homework. Despite evidence that grading penalties encourage students to submit their homework assignments, such strategies have historically been unsuccessful for the course used in this study. The researcher designed two pedagogical interventions, along with a survey instrument, to measure the impact of the interventions on completion rates and student attitudes toward homework, using a combination of inferential and descriptive statistics. Ideally, the findings of this study would be generalizable to subsequent offerings of the course used in this study, as well as other courses taught by the investigator, and potentially other faculty at the college. Although both interventions did not produce statistically significant results on impacting student homework completion rates, or improve student attitudes toward homework, the results of the study did indicate a positive correlation between student self-assessed knowledge gains attributed to the course and its homework. One intervention did improve homework completion rates, but the results only marginally improved final course grades, which does not fully align with prior research studies. In addition, this study provided the researcher an opportunity to study their own practice and the importance of homework and its effectiveness for student learning.

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a needs assessment matrix for secondary specialized literacy professionals that identified the professional learning needs of literacy coaches. This tool was developed in order to inform school districts and secondary specialized literacy professionals about the types of professional learning support they will need for them to effectively meet the literacy needs of teachers in secondary schools. The Secondary Literacy Professionals Needs Assessment Matrix (SLPNAM) was created using a variety of methods. A synthesis of literature regarding school improvement, adolescent literacy, 21st century skills, adult learning, literacy coaching and the 2017 International Literacy Association's Standards for Specialized Literacy Professionals was used to provide the conceptual framework for the SLPNAM. The SLPNAM items were developed by interviewing coaching and content experts, going through several iterations before the final instrument was developed. Construct validity was established through exploratory factor analysis, and internal reliability was determined through Cronbach's Alpha. Sixty-four participants from 18 school districts in Florida responded to the SLPNAM. Data analysis indicated that the SLPNAM had a high level of internal reliability, and data reduction was used to ensure that items correlated with constructs it was intended to correlate with. Data from the exploratory factor analysis of the SLPNAM confirmed that construct validity was established. The results from this study provide opportunities for school districts to differentiate professional learning for literacy professionals. It also provides data for school administrators to define the role of the coach and assists secondary literacy professionals in setting professional learning goals specific to their roles.

This descriptive study examined turnover intention for wait staff working at independent and regional chain restaurants in central Florida. The purpose of this dissertation in practice was to understand the role that stress, Person-Environment Fit, and demographics play in turnover intention. A self-report questionnaire was distributed to wait staff in central Florida via social media websites. The self-report questionnaire consisted of the Perceived Person-Environment Fit Scale (PPEFS), the General Workplace Stress Scale (GWSS), and the Turnover Intention Scale (TIS-6). A total of 265 responses were collected from participants and the responses were analyzed using a stepwise regression and two multilinear regressions. The analysis of the data revealed that stress and Person-Supervisor Fit were the two strongest predictors of turnover intention. The data revealed that demographics, particularly age and gender, did not influence turnover intention. This study provides unique insights on the central Florida restaurant industry, particularly when examining how stress and Person-Environment Fit influence turnover intention. The findings of this study indicate a need for further investigation on how to decrease stress and improve employee-manager relationships for servers at central Florida restaurants.

The purpose of this interdisciplinary project on human impacts on the environment was threefold. First, I sought to deepen students’ three-dimensional science learning by purposefully integrating related English Language Arts (ELA) standards. The reading and writing standards reinforced the science and engineering practice of obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information and the crosscutting concept of cause and effect (NRC 2012) within the context of Earth science. Second, I wanted to broaden students’ understanding of human impacts on the environment; this is important not only from an academic learning standpoint but also from a global citizenship standpoint. Finally, I wanted students to engage in a meaningful opportunity to use coding to demonstrate their science and ELA learning.

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College faculty are recognized as experts in their academic disciplines with a wide range of knowledge about their disciplines. As a manifestation of their academic freedom, they have assumed responsibility for folding that discipline knowledge into course design. Generally untrained as teachers, however, they have followed circuitous routes into the realm of course design. While scholars, peers, administrators, legislators, and the public have examined their delivery strategies in the classroom, little consideration has been given to the processes faculty use to select appropriate course content for their students. Focusing on those selection processes, this study sought to describe (1) how faculty learn to choose content, (2) the place of students among the influences on their content selection, and (3) the processes they undertake in their decision-making about course content. The study involved a questionnaire and interviews. The results of this study indicate that some faculty, albeit a minority, do focus on students as they choose content. They consider students to be a primary influence, and they collect data in an informal, intuitive manner about students. They may not know current principles of learning theory, but they seem to have a sense of what works for students. This sense has led to a practice of course design which is unique to individual professors, fluid, and isolated. The majority of faculty are concerned with students, but are discipline-centered in their content selection. Across types of institutions and disciplines, their first loyalty is to the furtherance of the academic discipline. They do report an interest in learning about topics related to students, especially learning theory. Faculty and administrators who are interested in enhancing the focus on students in higher education should find the study useful. They will want to search out those student-centered planners and begin to document their processes as a first step in identifying and transmitting effective steps in the content selection practice. They will want to plan development activities, perhaps rooted in the disciplines, and find ways to support faculty as they learn and practice relating needs assessments to content selection for their courses. / Ph. D.

These days, I cannot imagine a subject more important than sharing books that celebrate nature and its worth—also relaying the importance of keeping our shared “home” healthy.Such literature will encourage environmental stewardship, create a generation that recognizes and understands the value, yet fragility, of Earth’s resources, and propagate a general consensus as to the manner in which humanity must preserve, conserve, and protect such resources that ensures the well-being of all life forms.

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