Inaug.-diss.--Bern. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 6-8).

Thesis (Psy.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-01, Section: B, page: 0602. Chair: Samuel Feinberg. Available also in print.

<p> The management of the psychological and physiological dimensions of stress can have significant effect on workplace productivity. Yet, stress as a universal human phenomenon is often downplayed or misunderstood by both employees and organizations. This study looked at the effects of stress on the workplace from both an individual and an organizational perspective. An exploratory mixed methods design was used to test the efficacy and potential benefits of providing employees with tools to help them better manage their stress. The three components of Hatha Yoga: breath, movement, and mediation were introduced on site to the employees of a small start-up software company. The treatment was offered to a group of 14 volunteer employees for 15 minutes per day, for 4 weeks during working hours. Three quantitative pre- and post measures, the Perceived Stress Survey (PSS) , the State-Trait Anxiety Index (STAI) , and the Work Engagement Profile (WEP) tested the impact of the treatment as it affected perceived stress, anxiety, and engagement in the workplace. The researcher also gathered qualitative data post treatment from a post treatment questionnaire, her personal observations, and a meeting with the study company's Chief Operating Officer. Only perceived stress, as measured by the PSS, showed a statistically significant decrease among the participants. However, the participants attributed additional benefits to the treatment and stated an intention to continue the treatment activities both individually and as a group. The findings from the quantitative and qualitative data led the researcher to believe that additional research and use of the treatment methods could be beneficial in other workplace settings.</p>

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Higher Education, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 10, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-03, Section: A, page: 0861. Adviser: Edward P. St. John.

This study was made to gather information and data to aid the administration of the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw School District in making a decision as to whether a vocational industrial education program was needed and if so what courses should be included.

Thesis (Psy.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2004. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 64-12, Section: B, page: 6315. Chair: Judith Kaufman. Available also in print.

The purpose of this study was to assess the climate for the adoption of a proposed reform model for secondary trade and industrial (T&I) education in Virginia. Vocational administrators and T&I instructors beliefs about the extent to which the adoption of the proposed model would precipitate selected outcomes were measured by using an instrument developed specifically for this study. The population of this study included two sub-groups: secondary vocational administrators and secondary T&I instructors. Equal representation from the groups could not be guaranteed as a result of the sampling procedures employed for this study. Questionnaires were mailed to 145 vocational administrators identified from the list provided by the Virginia Department of Education. Responses were received from 120 administrators 83%). Two-hundred-ninety-five questionnaires were distributed to T&I instructors. Responses were received from 129 instructors (43.7%). The study examined the climate for change in secondary T&I education programs in Virginia. It examined whether vocational administrators and T&I instructors believe that implementation of the proposed model would be likely to increase access to, the flexibility of, or the cost effectiveness of T&I programs. The extent to which administrators and instructors believed that increasing access, flexibility, and cost effectiveness would affect selected outcomes was also investigated. Finally, the study examined the degree of personal importance administrators and instructors placed on selected outcomes. There was a similar belief between both groups that implementation of the proposed T&I reform model would result in increased access, flexibility, and cost effectiveness. Both groups were optimistic that access and flexibility would be increased with slightly less optimism being shown for increased cost effectiveness. Also, both groups were optimistic that outcomes dealing with "quality" issues (improve quality of programs and increase student quality) would be affected positively as a result of model implementation and that the image of T&I programs would also be improved by implementation of the proposed T&I reform model. In general, administrators believed some reform outcomes less likely to be affected by increased access, flexibility, or cost effectiveness than others. Specifically, they believed it less likely that resources will increase or that the number of qualified instructors will increase merely as a result of implementation of the proposed model. Instructors' responses were optimistic for all outcomes except the extent that increased cost effectiveness would achieve selected outcomes. Instructors, like administrators, did not show strong support concerning the likelihood of model implementation increasing cost effectiveness. As a whole, both sub-groups appeared to be receptive to change. Although the proposed trade and industrial reform model may not in its current form accomplish the needed changes, administrators and instructors would seem to be accepting of attempts to reform secondary trade and industrial education in Virginia. / Ph. D.

Master of Arts / Department of History / Andrew Orr / Many historians believe that the United States did not play a major role in the European colonial affairs of Africa. The “civilizing mission” in Africa was largely a European matter that the United States did not have any involvement in and instead stayed out of African affairs. However, this is in fact not true. Industrial education was a new way of managing and “civilizing” African populations after the global end of slavery and the archetype of industrial education was in Tuskegee, Alabama at the Tuskegee Institute. The Tuskegee Institute was the pinnacle of industrial education. Students came not just from the United States, but from around the world as well to learn a trade or improved technologies in agriculture. It allowed students to attend the school for free in exchange for working the farms at the school and general upkeep while training them to be better farmers and tradesmen. On the surface, it offered an avenue for blacks to carve their own economic path. Implicitly, however, it did not offer African Americans and Africans a path towards upward mobility as it continued to relegate them to menial labor jobs and worked within the confines of the established racial hierarchy in which blacks were not granted the same opportunities as whites, in this instance it was education. This thesis argues that the Tuskegee Institute’s (now Tuskegee University) method of industrial education became an influential model for managing the African colonies via industrial education and that the United States was thus more involved in the “civilizing mission” than previously thought. The Tuskegee Institute first ventured into Africa when it assisted the German Colonial Government in Togo in establishing industrial education which helped to develop infrastructure and modern technology in the colony. Second, I examine Tuskegee’s role in Liberia as it established the Booker Washington Institute which is still in existence today. Lastly, I illustrate the diverse effects of the Tuskegee Model of education in Africa and how it correlated to Tuskegee education in the United States and how events in both Africa and the United States led to the collapse of the Tuskegee Model.

The purpose of the study was to gather information that would be helpful in planning and implementing a vocational education program in the Monahans-Wickett-Pyote Independent School District in response to a written request by George L. Cullender, Superintendent of Schools. This study was intended to supplement the Texas Education Agency's occupational survey.

The purpose of this study was to investigate, compare, and analyze personal-social needs of rural and urban students who were preparing for occupations in the industrial education areas. The study was a descriptive research which employed the survey technique using the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire. The questionnaire was administered to high school students in the state of Utah classified in two categories: 151 industrial and agricultural students enrolled in rural high schools and 91 industrial vocational students enrolled in urban high schools. Major findings . The rural and urban students possessed similar vocational needs. To the entire student sample, advancement, security, and ability utilization were considered most impo rtant; while independence, social status, and authority were considered least important. A small percentage of the students were actually preparing for occupations which corresponded to their selected job clusters. Both rural and urban students selected professional and semi-professional occupations as the vocational areas in which their needs would be most likely met. Major conclusions. Students want to work with others, but they do not want to tell others what to do. Supervisors want workers who will obey instructions and go ahead on their own to complete a task. Students have greater vocational needs than the occupations for which they are training appear able to provide. If behavioral objectives were to be written on the state level in the affective domain and with vocational needs in mind, it would appear that the objectives would be functional for both rural and urban groups. Due to the students' high vocational needs, it would be difficult for many students to find complete job satisfaction in occupations in clusters 7 and 9, which are manual occupations.