<p> Moustakas (1994) emphasizes that phenomenological study arises from the experiences and passions of the researcher that in turn focus and drive the research. This researcher&rsquo;s own experiences include a 9-month trip around the world with my family that led me to conduct this study exploring the phenomenon of the family gap year. Existing research focuses on the traditional gap year taken by a young person in between graduation from high school and beginning college. This study seeks to add to that knowledge by exploring the related, but also unique, experience of families who take an extended time period off from career and formal school in order to participate together in a multi-continent international trip. The study addresses why families may decide to take such a trip, what they hope to gain from such an experience and whether or not the trip actually met those expectations. It is also attempts to establish whether or not any changes in family members were identified by participants and believed to be attributable to the experience of the family gap year. Findings from this study indicate that the families examined chose this experience because of a desire to travel and see the world with their children. Subjects agreed that the experience met or exceeded expectations in that it provided a unique opportunity to learn about other peoples and cultures and also provided concentrated time to be together and grow closer as a family. Subjects also however referred to less desirable aspects of the trip related to the maintenance required to keep the family on the road, such as travel planning and laundry. Finally many of the participants in the study referenced learning and personal growth in family members that they attributed to the experience of the family gap year. Together these findings represent an early effort to establish an understanding of the phenomenon of the family gap year.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which dual enrollment programs directly or indirectly influenced persistence behavior at a small, public liberal arts university in the Midwest. Dual enrollment in this study broadly refers to high school students who take college courses for college credit. The second purpose was to explore the underlying processes whereby dual enrollment programs serve as a transition bridge for matriculating students.</p><p> This study employed a longitudinal case study using two survey questionnaires, four focus groups, and institutional data collected by the college. The subjects that participated in the study were first-year freshman. The survey questionnaires were administered to 172 students (37% of the total freshman class). Five indices were created: dual enrollment, degree aspiration, institutional commitment, social integration, and academic integration.</p><p> The results of this study add to the emerging literature on dual enrollment programs and how they influence persistence behavior. In the study, there was a weak yet positive association between mother&rsquo;s and father&rsquo;s education and social integration. The study also found a weak yet positive association between the degree of dual enrollment experiences and academic integration. With social integration as a predictor variable, there was a modest contribution to the dependent variable of persistence. Finally, the study found that academic integration provided a weak contribution to the likelihood that a student would persist.</p>

<p> This multi-method qualitative study explored <i>why, how</i>, and <i>in what contexts</i> a group of Philadelphia teachers engaged in grassroots organizing (McAlevey, 2016). At a time when educators across the country are increasingly participating in bottom-up, grassroots movements seeking more democratic visions of education reform, this critically bifocal (Weis &amp; Fine, 2012) project situated the motivations and activities of these teacher-organizers within the larger neoliberal context of the city and school district of Philadelphia. Drawing on narrative inquiry (Chase, 2005; Connely &amp; Clandinin, 1990), critical place inquiry (Massey, 1993; Massey, 1994) and ethnography (Vargas, 2008), this dissertation provides insight into the understandings and experiences of the teachers as well as the tangible means by which they engaged in grassroots organizing in the challenging environment of Philadelphia. </p><p> More specifically, teachers of this inquiry were found to be embodying the two key elements of Freire&rsquo;s (1970) definition of praxis, &ldquo;<i> reflection</i> and <i>action</i> upon the world in order to transform it&rdquo; (p. 70, emphasis added). Pairing activities centered on learning and reflection (e.g. book groups) with activities centered on taking action and seeking change (e.g. policy campaigns), the dual elements of praxis played an essential role in actualizing McAlevey&rsquo;s (2016) model of grassroots organizing within the teachers&rsquo; work.</p><p>

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abstract: This action research project centered on a group of instructional technology professionals who provide support to instructors at a public university in the United States. The practical goal of this project was to increase collaboration within the team, and to encourage alignment of the team’s efforts in relation to the university’s proposed redesign of its general education curriculum. Using the communities of practice perspective as a model for the team’s development, participants engaged in a sixteen-week activity in which they studied and discussed aspects of the proposed curriculum, and then used that knowledge to observe classes and compare the extent to which classroom pedagogy at the time aligned with the aims of the proposed curriculum. This qualitative action research study then explored how the team used these experiences to construct knowledge and the extent to which the group came to resemble a community of practice. Additionally, this study explored the changes that took place in the group’s capacity to interpret instructional environments. The first major finding was that the group’s identity changed from being one characterized by relationship management with their clientele to one that aligned with the institution’s instructional priorities and could be projected into the future to devise coordinated plans in support of those priorities. A second major finding was that the team developed a group-specific language and a rudimentary capacity to interpret instructional environments as a group. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019

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Thesis (B.A. (Hons.))--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Politics, 1970.