Despite evidence of the effectiveness of applied behavior analysis (ABA) for treating behavior problems in elderly nursing home residents, staff responsible for the development of behavioral care plans may have little knowledge of ABA. Providing nursing staff with in-service training during working hours can be overly disruptive to the functioning of the nursing unit, and paying for nurses to attend training outside of regularly scheduled hours is cost-prohibitive to many geriatric care facilities. To examine a more cost effective alternative to traditional in-service training, a self-instructional training program was implemented with six nursing staff. A multiple baseline across subjects design was used to examine the effects of the training program on subjects' ability to identify information important for the development of behavioral interventions, their general knowledge of behavior management, their self-reported attitudes towards elderly nursing home residents, and the frequency and type of their interactions with the residents of their unit. Findings revealed no practically significant changes in any of the dependent measures as a result of the self-instructional training program. The results indicated ways in which the training program could be improved.

This qualitative study of the values, beliefs and teaching practices of four teachers at a small private college with a diverse adult student population attempts to bring to light what teaching behaviors help to create an educational climate which includes people of both genders and of different ethnic, racial backgrounds and allows them to succeed in an academic environment. The teachers and students completed weekly teaching and learning journals (derived from Brookfield's (1991) student learning journals) during one semester (spring, 1994). Using grounded theory technique, I uncovered eight activities that both teachers and students felt were effective in providing an inclusive educational environment: (1) use of groups for support, creativity and personal change; (2) conscious student metacognition and self-assessment; (3) interactive classroom activities; (4) exercises which utilize different learning styles; (5) integrative learning which calls upon the different student cultures; (6) close teacher/student and peer/peer feedback connections; (7) academic support components built into the curriculum; and (8) the teacher acting as facilitator. Through a series of teacher interviews, I determined three shared values which appeared congruent with the teachers' actions in the classroom: (1) awareness of the difference between the student cultures, but a reluctance to pre-judge individuals based on cultural assumptions; (2) awareness and utilization of the affective aspects of learning; and (3) a conception of the role of teacher as empowerer. End of the semester focus groups with students added to data obtained from student learning journals to reveal three areas of the learning deemed important for growth: (1) the importance of the social dimension of teaching and learning; (2) the powerful role of the teacher in the learning process; and (3) the importance of applying and integrating the learning into the students' lives. Two problematic areas in the teaching of these four instructors were: (1) a lack of multicultural reading materials within the courses and (2) evaluations methods that were not authentic or inclusive of different learning style orientations. The results of this study hold implications for the administration of programs for adult students of targeted social groups, such as admission policies, class size and teacher training.

The general purpose of this study was to obtain information about foreign language teachers' instructional practices, evaluation procedures, and attitudes. The specific purposes were: (1) To obtain relevant demographic and attitudinal data pertaining to the in-service training needs of selected foreign language teachers. (2) To apply data obtained to in-service training program planning initiatives. (3) To study the relationships between demographic and attitudinal data obtained and in-service training program planning. The study outcomes present a demographic profile which suggests a generally healthy climate for foreign language education in the state as evidenced by teachers' professional involvement, awareness of current practices, concern about issues, and agreement with a proficiency-oriented approach to foreign language education. The data suggest areas of concern and future direction for officials of the state department of education and the state foreign language association as they do long-range planning to meet global and student needs in foreign language education, and to meet the specific needs of the foreign language teachers in Massachusetts. Officials of other state departments of education and foreign language associations might look to the results of this study to assess the professional growth and development needs of foreign language teachers.

This study employed Kirkpatrick's training evaluation model to better examine the reactions and learning experiences of a group of pharmaceutical industry sales professionals who participated in pandemic-related virtual compliance training in spring 2020. The field of learning technologies has few examples and limited knowledge regarding the evaluation of virtual training in the context of pandemic-related compliance training in the biopharmaceutical sector. This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews to collect data from industry participants, allowing an examination of their experiences relative to the first three stages of Kirkpatrick's training evaluation framework, namely the reactions of the trainees, the knowledge transferred to the trainees, and the performance as it relates to the trainees' changed behaviors because of their participation in virtually delivered training.

Cooperative education has been in existence for approximately eighty three years as a tool to supplement classroom instruction with practical work experience. Some reports suggest that the combination of classroom learning and on-the-job training provides substantial benefits to cooperative education students. Despite these findings, cooperative education has not achieved the recognition that it probably deserves. This may be due to a number of reasons including: (1) lack of adequate promotion, (2) lack of adequate funding, and (3) lack of understanding of the program itself. A major contributing factor to these three limitations, is the failure of cooperative educators to sufficiently document the benefit of cooperative education programs. In fact, the reports attended to above have recognized the need for greater documentation of program benefits. The present study was undertaken to provide some empirical data regarding the perceived benefits of a community college cooperative education program. In conducting the study the researcher hoped to contribute to the existing data base on the benefit of cooperative education by examining the professional development and personal growth effects of a cooperative education program. The study was an ex post facto retrospective survey conducted among 460 former cooperative education students from Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts. A survey instrument called the Cooperative Education Assessment Survey (CEAS) was developed specifically for the study. The results indicated that a majority of the participants assessed the professional development and personal growth benefits of the program positively. No gender differences were observed. However, significant race, age, employment status and enrollment status differences were found.

This is a study of modality preferences in learning styles of successful and unsuccessful nontraditional community college students while they were enrolled in developmental mathematics. The purpose of examining the learning style preferences was to look for visual, auditory, and/or kinesthetic patterns in learning that differentially prepared students used while studying Algebra I. To better understand students' learning styles, modality strengths and learning strategies had to be identified for each participant in the research project. Questionnaires were administered to obtain self-reported data from students. Personal interviews with this researcher provided additional information. The Swassing-Barbe Modality Index, SBMI, was administered to identify modality strength. From these research tools, student profiles on learning style preferences were assembled. Students in the research project were enrolled in Algebra I class which was taught in traditional lecture style at an urban community college. The students who voluntarily participated were nontraditional and differentially prepared individuals. The study showed that successful visual, auditory, mixed modality students had high correlation between their identified modality strengths and matching study strategies in class and in private study. These modality groups utilized additional modality based strategies other than their strength to enhance their learning. However, successful kinesthetic students were not correlated and did not use study strategies that matched their identified modality strength in class or in private study. These students depended upon their developed visual and auditory preferences in learning algebra. The data revealed that students were unaware of applications of kinesthetic strategies in studying mathematics. There were two unsuccessful students, one identified by SBMI as auditory and the other as kinesthetic. The data on these students revealed that there was no correlation between their identified modality strengths and use of matched study strategies. An important aspect of this study that may influence community college faculty is awareness of success of students who used learning strategies that matched their modality strength. By incorporating a variety of modality based teaching methods, instructors of mathematics will provide a learning environment in which students can construct their own learning of mathematics.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth descriptive analysis of a first-time negotiating process in the divisions of continuing education in the community colleges in Massachusetts. It records the process from its point of origin, the filing of a representation petition in 1983, to its conclusion in 1990, providing a detailed accounting from the author's perspective as Chair of the Personnel Committee of the Presidents' Council charged with overseeing the collective bargaining negotiations. It provides an historical perspective of the community colleges in Massachusetts as well as a description of their divisions of continuing education, particularly as it relates to their mandate to operate "at no expense to the Commonwealth," and the difficulty in attempting to find common ground for negotiating a satisfactory contract for fifteen very differently run entities. It also looks at the make-up of the unit which was certified by a 631 to 516 vote, a majority of whom were adjunct faculty. For the purposes of this document, adjunct faculty are teachers whose primary employment is other than the college. A review of relevant literature looks at negotiations relative to part-time faculty, public sector bargaining, the collective bargaining process as well as alternative forms of collective bargaining. The search supports the notion that there is little written that would shed light on the peculiarities of this particular process. In fact, when one considers all of the factors, these negotiations appear to be a hybrid form having characteristics of both public and private sector bargaining. Because of the antagonistic nature of the bargaining which saw challenges from the very beginning and included declarations of impasse, mediation, factfinding, and a strike, the author speculates on causative factors as well as alternative forms of bargaining which might be considered for the future. Despite the length of the process and the adversarial postures throughout, the outcome appears to be a reasonable contract with gains for unit members as well as the preservation of important Management's rights. Only the test of time will validate its effectiveness.

This study serves to collate and evaluate measures of self-directed learning (SDL), with the goal of guiding the measurement and discussion of SDL. Used in a variety of settings, many applications of SDL have been proposed, but a consistent definition has yet to be formulated. Despite the lack of a cohesive definition, several tools exist to measure SDL. Within this study, which implemented the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and Consensus-Based Standards for the Selection of Health Status Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) protocols, 157 articles were analyzed for content and themes were identified. An important finding of this study was a definite lack of cohesion in application and understanding of SDL as a framework. While some regard it as a stand-alone learning intervention, others address it as a personality trait. Close examination of the instruments used to measure SDL led to the conclusion that it is both inappropriate and ineffective to continue using, as they broadly lack construct validity and generalizability. Limitations of this study are single subject research, number studies available within databases used, and lack of raw data from studies covered. Future research surrounding the conceptual framework and instrumentation is indicated to further develop the field's understanding of SDL's value and implications.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / This study explored the relationship between anesthesiology residents' In Training Examination (ITE) percentile ranks and learning styles and domains with the variables of gender, ethnicity, and postgraduate year (PGY). The ITE is a national examination given annually as a measure of cognitive achievement. The learning style instrument was the adapted Vermunt Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS), a diagnostic learning style instrument designed for use with university-level students. The study included 112 anesthesiology residents in anesthesiology graduate medical education (GME) at four universities (five sites) during the 2006-2007 PGY. Responses to the surveys were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Pearson product-moment correlations, and stepwise and backward elimination regression analysis. The results indicated that the residents' ITE percentile ranks had a bimodal curve. The ILS has 20 scales representing four learning domains factored into four learning styles. The relationships of the learning styles with the ITE percentile ranks were significant for two learning styles: positive for the meaning directed learning style (MDLS) and negative for the undirected learning style (UDLS). Analysis of the scales comprising the MDLS (seven) and UDLS (five) revealed significant relationships for 6 of the 12 scales for the anesthesiology residents (five positive, one negative). An analysis of the domain scale relationships for the other eight scales identified an additional two scales positively related to ITE percentile ranks: vocation oriented and analyzing. The significant scales positively identified with ITE percentile ranks included relating and structuring, concrete processing, two self-regulation scales, construction of knowledge, analyzing and vocation oriented. The only scale significant with ITE percentile ranks was ambivalent, which was negative. The potential exists that the UDLS can identify, in part, residents at risk academically. The positive relationship of the meaning directed learning style and the two significant, positive scales (analyzing and vocation oriented) with ITE percentile ranks offered an indication of learning styles and strategies of residents with higher cognitive achievement outcomes. These learning strategies have the potential to help residents learn how to learn more effectively.