School districts continue to integrate emerging technologies and expectations for 21st century teaching and learning. This movement began with release of Goals 2000 (1994) and has continued through National Education Technology Plan (2010) that noted the “challenge for our education system is to leverage technology to create relevant learning experiences that mirror students’ daily lives and the reality of their futures.” In order to meet that challenge, schools must enlist teachers who are prepared to teach 21st century skills in the technology-rich classroom. Teacher education programs also need to align their preparation models to prepare teachers for that challenge. There are a variety of models – stand-alone instructional technology courses, online courses, content methods courses, practicum and student teaching experiences – used to achieve this. Several grant programs provided financial support in the early 21st century to help institutions implement new models of instruction for preservice teachers. Also, several frameworks emerged to guide classroom instruction as teachers implemented 21st century skills into technology-rich classrooms. The purpose of the current study was to understand teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness to teach 21st century skills in the technology-rich classroom. The study was driven by research questions which sought to understand (a) teacher preparation models in the areas of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge, (b) teachers’ perceptions of their teacher education programs effectiveness for teaching 21st century skills in the technology-rich classroom, (c) teachers’ feelings of efficacy and self-confidence for first-year implementation, and (d) if relationships exist between particular teacher preparation models and teachers’ perceptions of effectiveness and adequacy. A mixed method design was used to explore the research questions. Twenty-nine first-year high school teachers in a technology-rich school district with a framework for 21st century skills integration participated in a survey. Six teachers participated in follow-up focus groups at the end of their first-year of teaching. The researcher used quantitative analysis for the survey and qualitative coding for the focus group interviews. The two analyses were reported together to develop findings in response to the research questions.

The purpose of this research was to examine Black STEM students’ sense of belonging. The researcher also sought to understand what factors most contributed to students’ sense of belonging and whether the involvement in a living learning community or summer bridge program had an effect. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used. Participants (N = 89) were administered a revised Psychological Sense of School Membership survey, then were purposively selected to participate in follow-up interviews (N = 8). A principal component analysis, an independent t-test, and a multiple regression analysis were conducted. Results of the principal component analysis identified a two-component model containing 15 items. Survey results indicated that students in a cohort did not differ significantly on their sense of belonging. Sense of belonging was not a significant indicator of academic success. Seven themes emerged during the qualitative phase of the study: (a) student perception of the university; (b) student perception of STEM; (c) individual attributes; (d) family; (e) faculty interaction and support; (f) peer interaction and support; and (g) recommendations. The quantitative and qualitative data provided details regarding students’ perceptions of belongingness. Students highlighted the importance of relationships with others, specifically with faculty and peers, to their belonging and success in the university. This study provided researchers, university administrators, professors, and even students insight into the world of Black STEM students and highlighted the nuances associated with their attendance at a predominately White institution and studying in a White, male dominated field.

Background: The current global refugee crisis requires attention from the public health community to improve the health and wellbeing of forcibly displaced groups. Eighty-six percent of refugees are hosted in developing countries, while 58% migrate to urban centers in search of opportunities. Although there are benefits to urban migration, refugees residing in Nairobi, Kenya are vulnerable to police extortion, arrests, deportations, and social exclusion as a result of anti-refugee policies. Despite threats to psychosocial wellbeing, many refugees successfully cope with acute and cumulative stressors to exhibit positive mental health outcomes in the context of adversity. This dissertation explores the ways urban Congolese refugees in Nairobi negotiate and navigate personal, social, and environmental resources to mitigate stress and promote psychosocial wellbeing. Research Aims: The dissertation included the following three aims: (1) document stressors experienced by urban Congolese refugees in Nairobi; (2) describe the range of coping supports available to Congolese refugees; identify how individuals, families, and groups navigate and negotiate these resources; and (3) explore relationships that exist among stressors, supportive resources, and reported mental health status of urban Congolese refugees. Methods: Mixed-methods exploratory research took place over a 12-month period in Nairobi. Preliminary research was conducted between May and August 2012, and dissertation fieldwork occurred between January and August 2014. Qualitative research included ethnographic participant observation, semi-structured in-depth interviews, and small group discussions with Congolese refugees (n=70). Additional interviews were conducted in Kenya with academics (n=3), intergovernmental employees (n=4), representatives from government agencies (n=2), and refugee service providers (n=18). Quantitative research was comprised of two surveys administered to Congolese refugees (N=244) in 150 households. The Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) assessed mental health functioning, and a survey developed in-field inventoried perceived stressors and supports. Results: The results by aim were: (1) stressors fell within three primary domains: inadequate material resources, political and personal insecurity, and emotional distress; (2) Congolese refugees utilized three salient coping strategies, comprised of reliance on religious communities and faith in God, participation in borrowing networks, and managing memories; and (3) isolation was associated with poor mental health functioning, while perceived support from religious communities enhanced mental health outcomes. Recommendations: Organizations should bolster community-based programs and strengthen partnerships with religious communities to improve the psychosocial wellbeing of urban Congolese refugees. Conclusions: Shifting the paradigm with refugee populations from a deficits-centric to resilience-focused framework recognizes the inherent strengths of individuals, families and communities with refugee status, and has the potential to mold future research and praxis that aims to enhance the wellbeing of displaced populations.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics / Deborah Canter and Junehee Kwon / Thailand is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations. However, it has not been successful in capturing and sustaining the U.S. travel market, one of the world’s top source markets by international tourism expenditure. The destination image (DI) is a key factor that affects destination selection, but there has been limited research exploring U.S. travelers’ DI of Thailand. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to measure U.S. travelers’ DI of Thailand and identify important attributes for U.S. travelers in terms of destination selection using mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative approaches. To explore American travelers’ DI of Thailand, personal interviews with 56 U.S. travelers were conducted at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand. Maximum variation purposeful sampling was used to ensure diversity of the sample. One interviewer and a verifier ensured consistent and credible data collection and analyses. Data analyses included inductive, deductive and cross-case analyses. “Friendly People,” “Beaches and Islands,” and “Amazing” described Thailand's DI. First-time visitors had tourist attraction and activity-based images, while repeat visitors rated people and culture-related experience as top reasons for destination selection. Results from the qualitative study were used to identify common and unique attributes for the quantitative survey instrument. To access general perception of Thailand’s DI among U.S. travelers, an online survey was conducted with 522 international travelers including non-visitors (n=173), virtual-visitors (n=175) and visitors to Thailand (n=174). Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and factor analyses were conducted. Of five factors that solidified the DI of Thailand, cultural attributes and local experiences represented Thailand’s DI the most. DIs were different among different types of visitors. Importance-Performance Analysis illustrated Thailand’s destination attributes and their importance for destination selection. For U.S. travelers, travel environment was the most important factor but had low performance. Thailand tourism organizations may use these findings for future marketing efforts toward the U.S. travel market.

Regular physical activity (PA) participation and fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption confers numerous positive health outcomes for cancer survivors, including prevention of cancer recurrence, second primary cancers, and other non-communicable chronic diseases. Rural-living young adult cancer survivors (YAs) possess unique barriers and concerns that influence their ability to participate in traditional face-to-face behaviour change interventions. Few researchers have explored alternative means for delivering behaviour change interventions grounded in theory utilizing a mixed-methods approach to assess processes of change and behavioural outcomes. To fill this gap and provide recommendations for future interventions and services focused on positive health behaviours in this population, the objective of the research presented in this thesis was to explore the feasibility and acceptability of a 12-week theory-based telehealth behaviour change intervention aiming to improve PA and FV consumption using a single-arm, mixed methods pilot trial. Over a 7-month period, 14 YAs self-referred. Of these 14, 5 were eligible and consented to participate with 3 completing the study. Retention to the study was 73% and adherence to the health coaching program ranged from 66.67-100% with a 40% attrition rate. Inquiry into the acceptability of the intervention offered insight into participants experiences, which was summarized within five themes: (1) the more time the better, (2) the human factor, (3) supporting access, (4) influencing the basic psychological needs, and (5) finding motivation. Collectively, the findings suggest the methods used require minor modifications before being deemed feasible despite the general acceptability of the intervention. Importantly, they highlight the necessity of more expansive recruitment strategies and a need to explore participants’ underlying intentions for participating in behaviour change interventions. Further, recommendations are made based on the findings to improve this style of intervention, including testing stepped down models of support because it may help some YAs maintain behaviour change post-intervention.

<p>The future success of agriculture in arid and semi-arid areas globally will be highly dependent on the ability of farmers and agricultural systems to adapt to climate change. Most of these areas, though tremendously productive, suffer from the same limiting resource: water. As that resource becomes more scarce and availability more difficult to predict, water managers and farmers will be forced to implement new, creative solutions to water supply challenges. This anticipated exposure suggests that an improved understanding of agricultural adaptation to water stress in such areas is critical to successful outcomes in these regions under a changing climate. This work focuses specifically on the adaptation strategies employed by farmers, strategies which are determined by farmers’ assessment of their exposure and sensitivity to a stressor as well as their capacity to implement changes. This process of implementing change to limit vulnerability is broadly referred to as adaptation. </p> <p> This project focuses on the Eastern Snake Plain of southeastern Idaho as a case study in agricultural adaptation to increased water stress. The Eastern Snake Plain (ESP) is a diverse and productive agricultural basin in the inter-mountain region of the American West. The region’s primary products are potatoes, sugar beets, barley, and alfalfa, as well as a significant volume of livestock dominated by dairy cattle, and each of these products forms a significant share of the total US market for that crop. More than 74% of this agricultural land is irrigated, inextricably tying both the future of agriculture and the future of the Idaho economy to water in the state. In the mid-2000’s, legislators and water managers from across the plain came together to negotiate a new water rights settlement, now known as the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer Comprehensive Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP). The negotiations came in response to years of litigation involving groundwater and surface water conjunctive management in the region, and the resulting plan was designed to accomplish three goals: stabilize reach gains in the lower Eastern Snake Plain, replenish Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer (ESPA) levels, and ensure sustainable water resources for agricultural, industrial, and domestic users across the basin. Though the water settlement was not directly caused by climate change, it is likely that water shortages will become more frequent under climate change, and this settlement represents a simulation of just such a shortage.</p> <p>Broadly, this work and the work of collaborators hope to understand adaptation and decision-making of groundwater farmers throughout the Eastern Snake Plain as they adapt to the on-average 12.9% reduction in water availability. This thesis is divided into three primary sections (Chapters 2, 3, and 4). </p> <p>Chapter 2 investigates tradeoffs in adaptation decision making, employing semi-structured interviews to learn more about tradeoffs as a framework for understanding adaptation more broadly. In particular, the work seeks to understand the types of tradeoffs present in ESP adaptation and when and how tradeoffs are implicitly or explicitly acknowledged. Findings indicate that tradeoffs occur both at the individual and regional scale and that shifts in crop patterns and irrigation water sourcing may have important implications for adaptation policy moving forward. </p> <p>Chapter 3 employs a household survey and statistical analysis to investigate the iterative and complex relationships between exposure, adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and vulnerability. As an early attempt to examine these relationships quantitatively in the context of US agriculture and water stress, the works focuses on laying out a clear theoretical and methodological framework for continued exploration of adaptation and vulnerability in this context. Findings indicate that under-theorized components of adaptive capacity like linking capacity and exposure to simultaneous stressors may play important roles in determining farmer vulnerability in the context of policy-induced water scarcity. </p> <p>Chapter 4 is designed to investigate and develop a novel tool for exploratory work in adaptation, examining the feasibility and predictive accuracy of an agent-based model of agricultural adaptation driven by social-psychological decision-making theories and parameterized using both secondary data sources and primary fieldwork. Findings indicate that such models may have the potential to produce well-informed macro-level patterns based on theoretically-informed micro-level inputs. This has important implications for the broader agent-base modeling community, and the work concludes with a call for further collaboration between agent-based modelers and social science theorists. </p> <p>Collectively, this work seeks to inform theory on agricultural adaptation and vulnerability, as well as explore the potential role of theoretically-informed agent-based modeling in investigating such dynamics. In doing so, it lays the groundwork for future exploration of these ideas in the Eastern Snake Plain and throughout the arid American West. </p>

Thesis advisor: Andy Hargreaves / Most policies and initiatives in education travel the same, well-worn path: they are designed high above the ground by elected leaders or by public officials in departments and ministries of education. These ideas soon become projects for district-level leaders and school-level staff to implement. The process of implementation is often a challenge for local educators. When schools are asked to implement several initiatives concurrently, these difficulties can be compounded. This is especially true when schools try concurrently to include students with special needs and to meet the targets of high-stakes accountability programs (McLaughlin & Thurlow, 2003; Ramanathan, 2008). This study examined two multi-level and multi-district projects that were unique in their objective and designs. Each fostered complementary restructuring and reculturing of school districts. These two projects--Essential for Some, Good for All (ESGA) in Ontario and NH Responds (NHR) in New Hampshire--sought to facilitate greater participation and achievement for students with special needs as well as to cultivate greater collaboration between general and special educators. The dissertation is comprised of four mixed-methods case studies across the two jurisdictions, looking at two districts in each country as the units of analysis. Interviews with participants from all three levels--policy and planning, district, and school--were accompanied by effect-size analysis taken from quantitative achievement data to assess achievement gaps before and after each project. Ultimately, the study proposes a workable theory for the field of policy design and implementation that would facilitate simultaneous engagement with multiple, competing policies, in particular balancing the inclusion of students with special educational needs and mechanisms for standards-based accountability. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Lillie R. Albert / Researchers have found that as students progress through school, the importance of language grows due to the content specificity that emerges, especially in the secondary grades, and due to the preparation of these students to enter adulthood once their schooling is completed. Even as students' instruction in various content areas becomes more in-depth and specialized, so does the terminology employed in the content. It is because of this specificity and union of language and learning that English-language learners' (ELLs') ability to comprehend and produce content-area academic language is crucial to their success. When questioning the quality of instruction ELLs are receiving in mathematics, the attention logically shifts to the pedagogical abilities of their teachers. However, historically, mathematics teachers have lacked language-acquisition knowledge and strategies necessary to adequately address the needs of linguistically diverse learners. In order to authentically promote and pursue quality mathematics education for all students, teachers of mathematics must be trained in recognizing the language demands of mathematics and in applying or developing strategies to address the nuances of the language in this subject area. The research in this study contributes to this work. This dissertation documents the effects of an intervention, woven into a secondary mathematics methods course and designed to prepare mathematics teachers to support ELLs' content and language learning. The study was based on the assumption that mathematics is much more than computations, and thus, requires a shift in the how the role of the mathematics teacher is viewed. Both qualitative and quantitative empirical evidence regarding the intervention's influence on the participants' attitudes and preparedness to teach the academic language of mathematics were generated. Twenty-nine students over the course of two years took part in this research. Five students from the second year were selected for an in-depth case study based on their range of experiences with learning other languages, interactions with linguistically diverse youth, and practicum placements for the subsequent spring semester. The larger group of preservice teachers was surveyed at the beginning and end of their enrollment in the course, and their course assignments were collected. In addition, case-study participants were interviewed at the start and completion of the semester, and their practicum-office submissions were examined. A framework to encourage pupils' acquisition of mathematical academic language is proposed. Essential outcomes indicate that the intervention not only affected the participants' beliefs and attitudes towards their own preparedness for teaching ELLs in mainstream mathematics classes, but also it imparted concrete strategies for the modification of teaching and learning experiences in the preservice teachers' future practices. The results of this study correlate to existing literature regarding linguistically responsive pedagogy and extend this theory by integrating language-acquisition strategies throughout a content-methods course for the middle- and high-school levels. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

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ICT4D champions are individuals who make a decisive contribution to an ICT4D initiative by actively and enthusiastically promoting its progress through critical stages in order to mobilise resources and/or active support and cooperation from all stakeholders. Mindful of the poor performance of development projects generally, and ICT4D projects in particular, the thesis argues that the seemingly important role of key individuals, such as champions, lacks research. Based on the repeated calls for research to better understand champion-type individuals and their roles in ICT4D initiatives, the thesis claims to have identified an original and significant knowledge gap towards which it contributes. Extant literature on champions of information systems innovations shows that champions can be conceptualised in terms of three core orientations: towards results, relationships and resources. This body of literature and conceptualisations has been used in the thesis as the starting point for exploring and describing the champion phenomenon in an as yet unexplored context - ICT4D initiatives. Critical realism is the assumed philosophical position for the research undertaken in the thesis. Theoretical constructs from the model of Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Social Capital Theory are combined in a conceptual framework to guide the empirical investigations and analysis. The research draws on three ICT4D champion cases in South Africa; case data was collected through the careful combination and sequencing of multiple mixed methods: in-depth interviews, a social network analysis (SNA) survey, and semi-structured interviews with the ICT4D champions and other key initiative stakeholders. A literal replication design was followed whereby the case studies explored and described the individual champion cases and subsequently synthesised findings across the three cases. The main contribution of the thesis is a knowledge contribution; the thesis contributes fifteen empirical findings to our conceptual understanding of ICT4D champions - their origins, competencies, characteristics and motivations, and their orientations towards results, relationships and resources. The analysis has shown how ICT4D champions are similar to champions of IS innovation in some ways, but has also revealed unique aspects, such as the importance they ascribe to addressing social concerns. This, in turn, led to a number of theoretical and practical contributions, as well as a methodological and a research contribution, all emanating from the three case studies. Firstly, two inductively generated theoretical contributions are offered: i) a conceptual framework for analysing and describing the origins of ICT4D champions; ii) a hybrid and contextual model of ICT4D champions that combines a complex set of factors (personal, organisational, and external) and the orientations of champions as a means to account for the complexity of these key individuals and their roles in ICT4D initiatives. The thesis contributes to ICT4D practice by suggesting ways to identify, develop, deploy and support champions; in so doing it offers actionable guidance on how to harness the potential positive contributions of these key individuals. Furthermore, a network-based approach - such as SNA used in the thesis - are rarely, if ever, followed in conducting champion research and this is offered as a methodological contribution. Finally, ICT4D champion research is in its infancy; the exploratory approach followed in the thesis draws on literature, the empirical findings and the theoretical contributions to offer an extensive agenda for future champion research in general, and ICT4D champion research in particular.