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With the increase of first-year initiatives throughout postsecondary education around the world, student affairs personnel are becoming more involved with the programs and strategies of the First-Year Experience. This report focuses on the First-Year Seminar (FYS), one of various strategies that could be used as a part of an institution’s First-Year Experience. Student affairs personnel are increasingly being asked to instruct and take part of an FYS course. In this endeavor, these individuals sometimes lack the background and knowledge to begin the process for planning, developing, and teaching such a course. This report provides theoretical foundations, case studies, and descriptions of general considerations for future development of a FYS course by student affairs personnel. / text

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

February 2003 was the inauguration of the Foundations of Excellence project with an open invitation to chief academic officers at approximately 900 of both the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Council for Independent Colleges (CIC) member institutions. The Policy Center on the First Year of College, under the direction of the Executive Director, John N. Gardner, invited the various campuses to develop standards and guidelines for the first year, which were termed as Foundational Dimensions or simply Dimensions. As a result, over 200 member institutions agreed to participate in the project by establishing campus-wide task forces to look at the initial list of six Dimensions developed by the Policy Center and Penn State research partners. These Dimensions were designed to be essential characteristics of institutional effectiveness in promoting the learning and success of every first-year student. This is a case study of one of the founding institutions of the Foundations of Excellence endeavor, Public State University (PSU). In particular, this study utilizes the Foundations of Excellence Dimensions Statements as a basis to assess Public State University’s first-year experience collaboration efforts. Furthermore, this research is specifically grounded in the 2nd Dimensions Statement of the Foundations of Excellence, looking at what the Public State University first-year experience program looks like through academic affairs and student affairs collaborative partnerships. This study specifically examines PSU’s established partnerships within the First Year Orientation and Advising Committee (FYOAC) and the University College Advisory Council (UCAC) and determines what participants mean by collaboration. Through the use of a rubric, the analysis of the data resulted in a significant finding in reference to collaboration literature. The findings indicated that the literature on academic and student affairs collaboration should include information on institutional culture and investigate whether the underpinnings of institutional culture are actually social systems that are inextricably tied to their external environments, which in turn have a direct impact on foundational benchmarks on collaboration for First-Year Experience programs. Implications of this study’s results are addressed, limitations of this study are discussed, and recommendations for future research are given.

Principals are the main evaluators of beginning teachers. This study examines principals' perceptions of the policies, procedures, processes and instruments they employ in evaluating the competencies of first-year teachers. The study is based on data collected from interviews with 11 high school principals in two Canadian prairie urban school divisions. Results indicate that the principals in the sample are satisfied with the overall efficacy of the evaluation process, as well as the detailed evaluation instruments and timelines for evaluation used in their school divisions. One of the two divisions provides a mentoring program for new teachers, and the principals in that division view the program very favorably. On the other hand, the principals in this study also expressed concerns about several aspects of evaluation. Principals' concerns focused primarily on having too little time to spend observing and subsequently meeting with new teachers as part of the evaluation process. / x, 103 leaves ; 29 cm

Canadian economic development is heavily reliant on natural resources in the north, which is home to many indigenous communities. Canada is facing increasing pressure to accommodate the cultural distinctiveness of indigenous peoples, and recognize their rights to self-determination within the boundaries of the state. This thesis investigates the customary land use system of Pikangikum First Nation in northwestern Ontario in the context of a community-led land use planning and resource management process, and explores the legacy and contemporary relevance of the Ontario trapline system which was introduced in 1947. Traplines represent the first intervention by the modern state in spatial organization of resource management by First Nations people outside reserves in northern Ontario. For this study, mixed methods were employed, including mapping, life history interviewing, observation in the field, and archival research. Results indicate that Pikangikum's access to resources and decision-making authority has continued to operate according to customary institutions that pre-date the traplines. While traplines were found to reduce flexibility of movement which characterized the customary system, they secured fur harvesting rights for First Nation groups, buffering Euro-Canadian encroachment on Pikangikum's traditional harvesting areas. Recent forestry activity on traplines held by Pikangikum residents indicated that traplines were no longer a sufficient buffer to intrusions. The planning initiative mandated the creation of novel community-level institutions. This process has in turn created new community-level management dilemmas, yet has had important consequences in terms of planning and management authority for Pikangikum vis-à-vis state resource management. The main theoretical contributions of this thesis relate to the commons literature, and pertain both to strategic territorial robustness to interventions of the state and outside intruders, and to moral economic dimensions of community-managed commons undergoing rapid change.

Beginning school teachers in Indiana in school years 1986-87 and 1987-88 who graduated from Ball State University, Indiana State University, Indiana University, and Purdue University (D=1,607) were studied to determine the relationship of NTE Core Battery subtest scores, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, and undergraduate grade point average (GPA) to beginning teaching effectiveness as measured by the Beginning Teacher Assessment Inventory (BTAI). The BTAI is an inventory listing eight criteria for which a beginning teacher must demonstrate minimal competence in order to complete the Indiana internship requirement. Findings were based on an analysis of data obtained from 663 beginning teachers in 163 Indiana school corporations. No empirical evidence indicated that NTE Core Battery subtest scores provide useful information for predicting beginning teaching effectiveness. Undergraduate grade point average (GPA) provided more accurate predictions of beginning teaching effectiveness than did the NTE Core Batter subtests. The ability of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores to possess a statistically significant relationship with values on the Beginning TeacherAssessment Inventory (BTAI) was not substantiated. Females systematically scored higher than males on the BTAI assessment areas. Results were consistent for graduates from all four major state universities in the study. / Department of Educational Leadership

In recent years the development of mobile devices has made great progress and today they account for a large proportion of the internet usage. This trend poses new demands on web developers as more companies and product owners want to customize their services and products for this new market. In this study we examine the pros and cons of the strategies desktop-first and mobile-first in the development of adaptive interfaces for the web. The study aims to create guidelines for situations in which each strategy fits well. The purpose of the study is to create an understanding of how these strategies can help developers and product owners to develop adaptive interfaces based on different goals and objectives. The study was conducted through the development of two high-fidelity prototypes for the redesign of an existing website. A literature review was also performed to create a deeper understanding of the subject. Our conclusion showed that mobile-first was preferable when building a website from scratch. However, there are cases when desktop-first may be preferable, for example, in the redesign of an existing website where the foundation is already finished. Furthermore, the study has led us to the realization that there are many purposes of different websites making the subject complex. Therefore, the developer should always make an evaluation of the product owner's goals and objectives in order to choose the right strategy.

Canadian economic development is heavily reliant on natural resources in the north, which is home to many indigenous communities. Canada is facing increasing pressure to accommodate the cultural distinctiveness of indigenous peoples, and recognize their rights to self-determination within the boundaries of the state. This thesis investigates the customary land use system of Pikangikum First Nation in northwestern Ontario in the context of a community-led land use planning and resource management process, and explores the legacy and contemporary relevance of the Ontario trapline system which was introduced in 1947. Traplines represent the first intervention by the modern state in spatial organization of resource management by First Nations people outside reserves in northern Ontario. For this study, mixed methods were employed, including mapping, life history interviewing, observation in the field, and archival research. Results indicate that Pikangikum's access to resources and decision-making authority has continued to operate according to customary institutions that pre-date the traplines. While traplines were found to reduce flexibility of movement which characterized the customary system, they secured fur harvesting rights for First Nation groups, buffering Euro-Canadian encroachment on Pikangikum's traditional harvesting areas. Recent forestry activity on traplines held by Pikangikum residents indicated that traplines were no longer a sufficient buffer to intrusions. The planning initiative mandated the creation of novel community-level institutions. This process has in turn created new community-level management dilemmas, yet has had important consequences in terms of planning and management authority for Pikangikum \emph{vis-à-vis} state resource management. The main theoretical contributions of this thesis relate to the commons literature, and pertain both to strategic territorial robustness to interventions of the state and outside intruders, and to moral economic dimensions of community-managed commons undergoing rapid change.