Thesis advisor: C. Patrick Proctor / Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / The increasing diversity of school-aged learners in the United States and the whiteness of the teacher demographic have contributed to renewed calls for the diversification of the K-12 teacher workforce, especially in recent years. Although some attention has been paid to similar issues in teacher education, the weightiness of this imperative is yet to be robustly addressed in the faculty composition and culture of teacher education programs at historically white institutions. More importantly, the pervasiveness of whiteness (not merely white bodies), and the normalcy of anti-Black misandry, have rendered Black males all but absent from teacher education classrooms—as both students and faculty. In many ways, Black males’ trajectory through the social, educational, and professional spheres of US society is replete with perceptions that they are fungible. This is evident in policies, actions, and everyday practices, including murder. Against this background, this practitioner research inquired into the experiences of five Black male doctoral student-instructors in teacher education at historically white institutions, using critical race methodology. Specifically, a BlackCrit Cultural Wealth Framework is used to gain insights into how these five Black male doctoral student-instructors navigated their experiences at the nexus of being Black, male, student, and instructor. Insights from this study reflect three themes evident in their experiences: 1) Tests: Spirit murder and the endemicity of anti-Blackness; 2) Tensions: Body, spirit, and soul work against neoliberal multiculturalism; and 3) Triumphs: Liberatory fantasy, futurities, and survivance. Together, these experiences had various meanings and messages for the Black male doctoral student-instructors to “Get Out.” There are multiple implications for Black males, teacher education, and higher education writ large, particularly regarding recruitment, retention, and persistence. Therefore, this dissertation has the potential to uniquely contribute to research, practice, and policy in various ways. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

This study used a qualitative approach to explore how faculty were prepared to teach online at institutions of higher education. Six participants, including experienced (with three or more years of experience teaching online) and non-experienced (with less than two years of experience teaching online), were purposely selected to participate. The participants were interviewed concerning their preparation experiences, the preparation activities that were most beneficial to them, and the areas in which they wanted further development for teaching online. Data from the interviews were coded and analyzed. Findings revealed that although institutions were providing activities that faculty members found to be beneficial, workshops and one-to-one assistance, activities that incorporated both technical and pedagogical strategies were still necessary. This study provides information that can be used to assist faculty when preparing to teach online and to assist institutions in redesigning and developing faculty development activities for preparing faculty to teach online. / Ph. D.

There currently exists a challenge in higher education to improve undergraduate education. The development and more adequate preparation of future faculty, who are current graduate students, is one of several options identified as a viable strategy to address this challenge. This dissertation explored the quality of motivation as a factor affecting the preparation or socialization of future faculty at two top-tier universities. The quality of motivation is believed salient to preparation and socialization. This study focused on the motivation types of teaching-focused future faculty preparation program (FFPP) completers, their programmatic experiences, and various personal and social factors, such as gender, program, and academic discipline, as reason for motivation type. This mixed methods research study was based on the tenets of self-determination theory and revealed quantitatively, through inferential statistics, that a significant difference exists in the motivation type of participants based on gender, program, and academic discipline. Qualitative findings, from focus group interviews, were that FFPP design characteristics included elements to satisfy the innate psychological need for competence but fell short in meeting the need for relatedness. The findings offer insights into aspects that affect the quality of motivation in program participants. They also suggest that in order to more adequately prepare and socialize future faculty, consideration must be given to the importance of satisfying innate psychological needs in an effort to enhance the quality of participant motivation. Both findings support the importance of relatedness in affecting the quality of motivation. The findings of this study support the notion that certain demographic or contextual factors, as well as the satisfaction of innate psychological needs are critical to motivation quality, internalization, behavior, and socialization. The results of this study will contribute to program developers' awareness of motivation quality and its effect on behavior to enhance the design of teaching-focused future faculty preparation programs and socialization. Through the use of motivation quality, this study serves as a catalyst for the more adequate preparation of future faculty to improve undergraduate education.