The challenging of one’s existing ideas has long been acknowledged as an integral component of the learning experience. In a university classroom, challenges are often inherent to the process. When challenges address personal beliefs, there is potential for the experience to be unsettling. The current study is designed to gain a deeper look into this phenomenon. The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of adult students in a college religion class who have encountered questions about and challenges to their previously held beliefs. The study was conducted with adult non-traditional students who have participated in an academically-focused college level religion class at a Baptist affiliated university with a liberal arts emphasis. Using the phenomenological research method developed at the University of Tennessee (Thomas & Pollio, 2002), eight participants were interviewed regarding their experience. All were asked to talk about a time one of their beliefs was challenged in their undergraduate religion course. Utilizing the concept of figure/ground as an interpretive framework, the data revealed three themes that stood out against the ground of the learners’ expectations of being challenged. First, participants experienced an environment of challenge filled with varied and powerful challenges that often came quickly. While some spoke of theological beliefs that were challenged, others described challenges to beliefs about others and how they would be treated in a religion class, the teachers’ pedagogy, and their own personal epistemology. The influence of professors stood out as a second theme as they set a tone for the class, and served as models for the environment. Professors had both positive and negative effects on the learners. The final theme deals with the choices participants made: the challenges caused some to broaden their mindsets, while others chose to not allow their beliefs to be corroded. These findings reveal highly individualized learning experiences laden with the potential for powerful challenges to the learner’s beliefs and identity. The level of expectation for challenges to beliefs brought to the learning environment influenced the impact of the challenges. Teachers played a significant role in establishing an environment where effective reflective learning could occur.

Behavioral health organizations have new requirements to participate in quality improvement practices, thus prompting the need to proactively improve service delivery. A behavioral health team in western North Carolina embraced Levelising as a quality improvement tool. Levelising is an aspect of reflective practice that engages participants in multiple perspectives on ways of practicing. In this study, I used DATA-DATA, an action research model developed by Peters (2004), to reflect on and study an aspect of my practice as quality management director. I taped recorded team meetings, conducted interviews, and wrote about my observations in a reflexive journal. Outside rater-observers listened to the audio recorded meetings and rated the levels in the Levelising model engaged in by participants. Their ratings, along with my journal notes, addressed the first research question, “What levels in the Levelising model did participants engage during the study?” In the interviews, participants described their use of Levelising as a continuous quality improvement (CQI) tool and their experiences of the meetings. The interview transcript data, along with my journal notes, addressed the second and third research questions: “What difference did Levelising make in participants’ development of a CQI project?” and “What was each participant’s experience of the meetings?” The study’s findings from the multiple strategies are discussed in terms of six points: (1) the levels in Levelising; (2) improvements in consumer care; (3) improvements in team functioning and relationships; (4) change resistance; (5) reflection on practice; and (6) the roles of teaching and facilitating. The rater-observers and I observed the team primarily engaged in levels 1 and 2 of the Levelising model: pre-reflection and reflection respectively. The team reported an improvement in consumer care when they created a structured meeting, implemented team agreements, and reviewed each consumer daily. Initially, the team did not want to change an aspect of its practice, and had to overcome this resistance. In spite of early resistance, participants described that slowing the process for reflection in order to inquire into others’ perspectives improved team functioning and resulted in a positive change in their practice.

This study investigated whether the use of presentation software as the primary delivery system would affect developmental mathematics students’ attitudes toward mathematics and investigated the differential impact presentation software might have on mathematical attitudes of students with respect to their gender, locale (rural vs. non-rural), or age (traditional vs. nontraditional). The student’s locale was determined by the Johnson code assigned to the high school he or she graduated from by the National Center for Education Statistics. A student was classified as traditional (under 21 years of age) or nontraditional (21 years of age or older). An experimental study was conducted with four community college instructors each teaching two sections of elementary algebra, one with a traditional delivery system and one with presentation software as the primary delivery system. The students were given four subscales of the Fennema- Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales (1976) to detect changes in their attitudes toward mathematics during the first week of classes (pre-test), at week nine (midtest), and during the last week of classes (post-test). The four subscales used were Attitude Toward Success in Mathematics, Confidence in Learning Mathematics, Mathematics Anxiety Scale, and the Mathematics Usefulness Scale. A Multivariate Analysis of Variance with repeated measures was run using the Wilk’s Lambda as an indicator for significance. At the time of the mid-test, the control group was found to have significantly higher scores on confidence in learning mathematics. Furthermore, across classes, student attitudes toward mathematical usefulness significantly declined over time. In addition, across classes, student mathematics anxiety levels significantly increased over time. Finally, when examining gender, locale, and age, a significant difference was found for rural students between the mathematics anxiety scores of students in the control group versus the mathematics anxiety scores of rural students in the experimental group, with the experimental group reporting significantly higher scores on mathematics anxiety. Furthermore, males reported higher confidence in learning mathematics levels than females at the pre-test and mid-test. However, at the post-test, no significant differences were found between males and females with respect to their confidence in learning mathematics.

To prepare school counselors to work in the current school environment, school counselors, and counselor educators need to understand the challenges, the environment and the demands to be faced. The researcher initiated a research project called Tennessee State Public School Counselors’ Time, Tasks, and Knowledge. The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of public school counselors’ time and tasks required and preferred, as well as specific knowledge the school counselors possess and need to learn to be competent as school counselors in the state of Tennessee. The first objective of this research was to measure how Tennessee public school counselors actually spend their time and how they would prefer to spend their time in job-related activities. The School Counselor Activity Rating Scale (SCARS) instrument was used to complete this objective. The second objective of this research was to assess the areas of knowledge Tennessee public school counselors have and need to learn to complete their job-related activities and this was completed by a survey. Both the scale and the survey were e-mailed to the school counselors in the state of Tennessee. Study results indicated that school counselors prefer to do more activities that are in alignment with American School Counselor Association’s (2005) National Model for School Counseling Programs more than they actually are doing. Also, school counselors were found to be doing more non-guidance activities than they preferred to be doing. Results supported previous findings of researchers using the School Counselor Activity Rating Scale. In assessing the areas of knowledge, findings revealed that Tennessee public school counselors described themselves as having a wide breadth of knowledge. Knowledge levels differed by demographic location and ratio of students to school counselor. The results identified specific areas of knowledge that some school counselors stated they needed to successfully complete their roles and functions. Other school counselors indicated no need for knowledge in specific areas to successfully complete their roles and functions. Recommendations are provided for future research regarding school counselors in the state of Tennessee.

The purpose of this study was to determine any significant differences among recent high school graduates placed in developmental and college-level mathematics courses. The focus of the investigation was on students’ high school course-taking patterns in mathematics and their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. High school location was also considered. The study was conducted at two community colleges in east Tennessee. Students placed in both developmental and college-level mathematics courses completed surveys at the beginning of the fall semester 2006. Four scales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales (1976), along with the Indiana Mathematics Belief Scales (Kloosterman & Stage, 1992), were used to assess students’ attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. Data analysis was limited to recent high school graduates (students who graduated from high school in the spring of 2006) who were taking a mathematics course for the first time in college. No significant differences were found among rural and non-rural recent high school graduates with regard to mathematics course-taking patterns in high school and attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. Furthermore, rural students were no more likely to be placed in developmental mathematics courses upon entering college than were non-rural students. Significant differences were found among students placed in developmental and college-level mathematics courses. Students placed in developmental mathematics courses took significantly fewer mathematics courses in high school than did students placed in college-level mathematics courses. In addition, students placed inSignificant differences were found among students placed in developmental and college-level mathematics courses. Students placed in developmental mathematics courses took significantly fewer mathematics courses in high school than did students placed in college-level mathematics courses. In addition, students placed in developmental mathematics courses were less likely to have taken a course beyond Algebra II or Geometry in high school than were students placed in college-level mathematics courses. Students placed in developmental mathematics courses had significantly less confidence and effectance motivation in mathematics than did students placed in college-level mathematics courses. Also, students placed in developmental mathematics courses had a significantly lower belief in the usefulness of mathematics than did students placed in college-level mathematics courses. Finally, students placed in developmental mathematic courses had a significantly lower belief in their ability to solve time-consuming mathematics problems and in that it is not always possible to solve word problems using simple, step-by-step procedures than did students placed in collegelevel mathematics courses.

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher usage of assessment data from learning disability evaluations received in multidisciplinary team/individualized educational plan (MDT/IEP) meetings. Teacher perception of the helpfulness and usefulness of different types of assessment data, and the helpfulness of different types of data compared to each other were focuses of the study. Effects of teacher characteristics such as type of training received, amount of training received, and the amount of experience possessed on the level of teacher usage of assessment data were analyzed. Effects of teacher participation in referral procedures for students with suspected learning disabilities and participation in MDT/IEP meetings on the level of usage of assessment data were also analyzed. Study participants included 133 teachers and school psychologists currently employed in a middle school setting in the state of Tennessee. This study was primarily descriptive in design; statistical methods used were t-tests, ANOVAs, and the Spearman’s Rho correlation. Results indicated that teachers found the assessment data they received in MDT/IEP meetings to be significantly helpful (t = 10.797, p < .001) and useful (t = 7.2, p < .001) in identifying students’ needs and designing instruction. There was a significant difference in teacher perception of the helpfulness of different types of assessment data in linking to instruction. While special education teachers found the types of data to be almost equally helpful (F (4, 19) =. 141, p = .965), results for regular education teachers indicated a significant difference for classroom observations (F(4, 76) = 4.443, p = .003). Results also indicated a weak positive correlation between years of teaching experience and the level of usage of assessment data (rs = .209, p = .029). Finally, attendance at MDT/IEP meetings was shown to have a significant effect on the level of teacher usage of assessment data (F (1, 82) = 7.704, p = .006). It was concluded that teachers and school psychologists should consider whether current assessment practices provide linkage to instruction when choosing assessment instruments and interpreting the data they produce. Implications for university training programs and directions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study is to understand the lived experience of adult graduate students who have had their creativity hindered in an educational context. The phenomenological method developed by Thomas and Pollio (2002) at the University of Tennessee was utilized to understand the essence of meaning and to gain an in-depth awareness into the experience of hindered creativity from an adult learner‟s perspective. Participants in this study experienced having their creativity hindered in a variety of ways with a prolonged and multifaceted aftermath. The study was conducted with twelve adult graduate students from a state university. Utilizing phenomenology and transformative learning theory as the conceptual framework for the study, the data revealed three themes that stood out against the ground of the learners‟ mistrust of authority. A dynamic relationship between the professor and student within the academic box created the ground of the experience. Within the ground of the box participants experienced an initial mistrust of the professor who hindered their creativity. This mistrust dominated their experience and influenced their relationship with the professor and academia. The mistrust was then interpreted by the participant to be either justified or unjustified depending upon the merit of the explanation provided by the professor upon the time of the hindrance. The outcomes of the hindered creativity were described by the participants through their changed mindsets of acceptance, cautiousness, and loss of confidence. Upon reflection of the experience, each participant offered his or her own understanding of how the situation could have been handled differently so that the hindering could have been a positive learning experience. These findings reveal highly individualized adult learning experiences laden with the potential for powerful outcomes and changes to the learner‟s creativity and identity. The hindrance of creativity brought to the educational setting influenced the future manifestation of creativity by the adult learners. Implications for practice include professors recognizing their implicit assumptions, power, and influence in relation to the adult learner. Careful considerations are required by the professor when creativity is going to be hindered. Further research recommendations are also included.

The purpose of this study was to examine readers’ responses to international children’s literature through the lens of reader response theory to examine how they created meaning. Seven ten-year old readers participated in this study. Data derived from transcripts of videotapes of the twelve book club sessions and individual interviews, postit notes participants made in their books, and journal entries chronicled their interaction with story events outside the realm of their cultural experience. The transcript data indicated the readers used their experiences, their world knowledge world, and a variety of other texts to create meaning. They constructed synthetic scenarios to interpret of story motives and events or to solve conflicts in the story. The readers wondered about the narrative setting, evaluated characters’ motives and actions, showed empathy for characters, and expressed their motivation to engage in further reading about the characters or culture. The readers acknowledged ways they wrestled with narrative styles, language, and unfamiliar cultural practices or events. This study shows the potential of international children’s literature for engaging students in reading good literature and developing their awareness of other cultures. Some implications for teachers are: select appropriate global texts by considering the reading level, the narrative style and the cultural load; encourage wide reading and writing experiences to strengthen readers’ interpretive base; promote literate behaviors through authentic reading experiences and safe havens for reading where students can respond in multiple ways to a text. The study points to the need for teachers to develop responsive, classrooms where different views are tolerated, the importance of valuing the inquiry process, and social construction of knowledge. Data showed that even with limited knowledge about the cultural background, the readers were able to derive a meaningful interpretation for the texts. More studies need to examine how young readers read and interpret these texts to use them effectively.

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe in detail the process of counselor development during a training program in an academic setting. I described the development of one counselor in training in a descriptive case study, based on multiple sources of data and through the theoretical lenses of (a) the Integrated Developmental Model of Supervision (IDM; Stoltenberg, McNeil, & Delworth, 1998); (b) the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1986); and (c) Perry’s Scheme of Ethical and Intellectual Development (1999). Data were collected based on the (a) three overriding structures of the IDM (i.e., Motivation, Self and Other Awareness, and Autonomy) and (b) eight domains of clinical competence as outlined in the IDM (i.e., Intervention Skills Competence, Assessment Techniques, Interpersonal Assessment, Client Conceptualization, Individual Differences, Theoretical Orientation, Treatment Plans and Goals, and Professional Ethics). These data were then analyzed through two rival theoretical frameworks (i.e., The Social Cognitive Theory and Perry’s Scheme), based on Yin’s (2003) conception of case study research. Findings were reported as (a) thematic material relating to the research questions, (b) material relating to the Social Cognitive Theory, and (c) material relating to Perry’s Scheme. The discussion included an analysis of ways in which findings from this study relate to and/or contribute to the existing literature in counselor education. Methodological conclusions, based on the case study design (Yin, 2003), were discussed, and implications for future research were suggested.

The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences and perceptions of three computer users with visual disabilities as they accessed and reviewed Web pages on the Internet. Attention is focused on the use of the Internet by individuals with visual disabilities: blindness, low vision, and deaf/blindness. Data were gathered through interviews and observation, during eight sessions with each participant. Data were qualitatively analyzed using an inductive process (Hatch, 2002). Data analysis revealed six categories of meaning: interactions with computer; personal characteristics, strategies to find solutions to barriers encountered; personal feeling and opinions; design features, and communication. Sites viewed included commercial, educational, non-profit, and governmental sites. Interviews consisted of structured and unstructured questions. The knowledge gained in this study will add to the literature of Web Accessibility and will contribute to raising awareness of the barriers that computer users with visual disabilities encounter when using the Internet.