The current study investigated the relationship between burnout, wellness, and altruistic motivation of entry level, live in and live on residence life staff. The literature review consists of empirical research for each construct presented (burnout, wellness, and altruism). The study sampled utilized were live-in and live on full time, entry level residence life personnel employed at predominately white public and private institutions in the southeastern part of the United States. Multiple regression analysis was used answer specific research questions. Results confirmed that there was no relationship existed between constructs; however findings do suggest burnout of residence life staff. Results are thoroughly reviewed and compared to other research. Lastly implications are presented.

Assumptions are made by policy makers, service planners and providers that their aspirations for early childhood are shared by professionals, parents and children. Policy makers consistently use words such as holistic, integration, partnership and collaboration to describe the ways they wish early years practitioners to engage with children and families. In order to explore these assumptions and expectations this thesis utilises data from early years settings themselves (focus groups/interviews with parents and staff and child based activities) to critically examine the connections between participants’ ideas of childhood, Scottish Government policies and staff roles/responsibilities. It specifically utilises the experiences of staff, parents and children in selected early years settings in Scotland to critique the Scottish Government’s key policy document, the Early Years Framework (2008). In this thesis I identify four main themes from the data. These relate to early childhood experience: • in the home and the impact of work on family life • in the community and a child’s ability to participate • living independent lives with peers and the ability to take risks • in the inner life of the child and the impact of commercialism on her self image. I conclude that there was a measure of shared aspiration for young children between participants in my research and the Framework document in relation to the importance of building family and community based experiences. However, there were also wide differences in expectations relating to existing capacities of families and communities to support young children. In particular there was a lack of recognition in the Framework of the considerable pressures experienced by families and communities from wider economic and social forces driven by a neo-liberal marketised economy. This finding enabled the illumination of gaps and mismatches between policy objectives relating to family and community strength and the lived experiences of children, families and communities in Scotland. I identify in the thesis how such mismatches impact significantly on the ways in which services are organised and the ways in which practitioners understand their roles and responsibilities. Current professional responses are based in an assumed power and authority emanating from a restricted sense of professional identity. As such, they may act in a detrimental way on the development of collaborative, strengths based relationships between staff and parents and children. The thesis contributes to knowledge in this field by exposing, for the first time, the policy, practice and experience divides relating to creating strength and resilience in young children and their families in Scotland, and in discussing the implications for theoretical and policy based understandings of the relationships between the four themes identified above and professional responses.

Many Black Greek-Letter organizations (BGLOs) were founded at historically black colleges and universities. However, subsequent chapters were chartered at various institutional types, including predominately White institutions (PWIs). Nine BGLOs make up the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), their umbrella organization. At PWIs, this council is typically housed in the same office as the predominately White fraternity and sorority councils. Still, there are many attributes of NPHC that make it unique from the others. To best direct this study, existing literature was reviewed. Few scholars examined NPHC specifically and little attention was given to institutional types. The purpose of this study is to better understand the experiences, struggles, and needs of National Pan-Hellenic Councils at large, public, predominately White institutions in the South. NPHC students were interviewed in regards to their personal Greek Life experiences. The findings identify struggles and needs of the Council and best practices were suggested for Greek Life and higher education professionals.

Too often, integration is a word only associated with the 1960s. The dominant narrative of education and integration in the South is simple and linear: African Americans were oppressed, then there was integration, then there was equality. However, in the case of New Orleans, the narrative is not so linear and not nearly so succinct. The conversation on integration began in New Orleans immediately following the Civil War, a century earlier than this conventional starting date, and yet despite generations of successes and drawbacks, the public schools of New Orleans continue to exist segregated today. Examining the narrative of school integration in New Orleans, along with the case study of Fazendeville, an African American community established in nearby St. Bernard Parish, reveals not a simple, linear narrative of school integration, but a complicated and cyclical one, with race central to this discourse. In addition to theorizing an historical narrative, this research also suggests that examining this narrative is a critical first step to developing a road map for the future to ensure that schools in New Orleans are able to serve all students equally.

ABSTRACT Qualitative research that explores and further examines the lived experiences of Native American women is an important, yet a frequently neglected, part of the history of the United States (US). This is an important avenue of investigation, as historians have traditionally marginalized many groups within U.S. society, including women and groups that can be viewed as part of the fabric of U.S. culture, yet exist as subcultures. Native Americans (indigenous peoples, Indians) should share a special place within U.S. society as First Americans; however, qualitative studies of Native American women, offered through a feminist lens as keepers of tradition and culture, are noticeably limited within studies of U.S. history. Case studies recorded in a narrative form give the researcher the opportunity to research, explore, examine, and engage appropriate participants. This method allows the researcher and the reader a view that may exist, but may be hidden from the mainstream. Storytelling through written narratives may create a story in relation to an individuals experiences and thoughts. The story may be an oral history if the focus of the research is to obtain an oral account of the individuals life. The purpose of this case study is to give three Native American women an opportunity to share their unique lived experiences and personal history. The researchers goal is to explore, interview, record, transcribe, analyze, and examine their lived experiences, expressed through the stories they tell.

The purposes of this study are to understand how community is built and residents are educated in the residence halls on college campuses as well as to design a method for social media to aid that process. To achieve this, documents were collected from 10 different institutions from across the country. The documents were analyzed to determine how community is built, residents are educated, and the use of social media in residence life. The results showed that none of the institutions were using social media in any form. It also showed that all of the institutions build community and educate residents through similar methods which led to the seven themes: 1. Community; 2. Intentional; 3. Academic Success; 4. Relationships; 5. Programing; 6. Resources; and 7. Inclusive. After understanding the methods used to build community and educate residents, a process to implement social media to aid in both areas was designed. The final piece is an example of specific features of social media to build community and educate residents within a residence hall on a college campus.

Learning occurs when content is accessed in a recursive process of awareness, exploration, reflection and resolution within ones social context. With the rapid adoption of mobile technologies, mobile learning (m-Learning) researchers should incorporate aspects of mobile human-computer interaction research into the instructional design process. Specifically, the most visible, current definitions of and current research in m-Learning provide overviews of the learning theory informing mobility and focus on device characteristics, but do not focus on how people interact with mobile devices in their every day lives. The purpose of this convergent study was to determine what effect does the incorporation of research in mobile user context have on student learning. Six mobile design principles were extracted from literature and applied to mobile apps. Using a true experimental design, the study had 60 participants randomly assigned to treatment and control conditions. Participants in the treatment group received a series of apps designed according to the mobile design principles. The control group received a placebo app that mimicked content from the learning management system for their course. The results of the analysis of covariance procedure indicated the treatment group scored a significantly higher mean score than that of the control group. Further analysis of event tracking data indicated a statistically significant correlation between content access events and posttest scores. Students in the treatment group used their apps for less time, but had more content access events and subsequently higher posttest scores. The data suggests that m-Learning is something more than just an extension of what already exist. It is not just a luggable form of Web based learning. Its more than a deep understanding of pedagogy or the delivery of course material to a mobile device. It requires the designer to understand instructional and software design, mobile human-computer usage patterns, and learning theory.

Portfolios have been used in the field of education as a form of assessment since the 1980s. As time has progressed, portfolios have transitioned from paper to electronic form. Research on electronic portfolios has focused on implementation issues and their impact on student learning. There has been limited effort, however, on their long-term impact. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the perceived impact of electronic portfolios on the beginning careers of classroom teachers. More specifically, this study sought to determine if use of electronic portfolios during pre-service education impacted the attitudes and performance of new teachers. The study used a survey design. A sample of graduates of teacher education programs in Louisiana was selected and asked to complete a survey that measured perceived technology knowledge, content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. Survey respondents (n=189) were sorted into groups based on whether or not they developed an electronic portfolio as part of their teacher preparation program. These groups were compared with respect of each of these three areas. The results indicated that those who had completed an electronic portfolio in their teacher education program had higher perceived levels of competence with regard to technology knowledge and content knowledge in mathematics. The following information can be used by universities to determine if electronic portfolios are a viable assessment tool for use by their teacher candidates.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the attitudes of current female doctoral candidates who express an interest in pursuing a career in the professoriate, as well as express a desire to have children. The participants will explain how they conceptualize the intersection of academia and motherhood, by detailing how they negotiate and navigate their current status in as a graduate student and their future career and family goals. A limited amount of literature has been published that specifically explores the intersection of academia and motherhood as conceptualized specifically by female graduate students. Therefore, the intent of the literature review in this project was to explore the relevant topics that would best provide the background on the impetus of the study. The review of literature concludes by introducing Feminist Critical Policy Analysis (FCPA) as the theoretical framework for this study followed by an explanation of the tenets of FPCA and the impetus for employing it as an analysis tool in this study. The six participants in the project expressed interest in pursuing a career in the professoriate as well as a desire to start a family, among other specific criterion detailed in chapter three. The participants represented three academic clusters: (1) science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), (2) humanities and social sciences (H&SS), and (3) professional and applied sciences (Professions). Data was collected by means of one-on-one individual unstructured interviews. The participants provided rich detail about how they navigate the notion of starting a family while beginning a tenure-track position. They also detailed their feelings on the policies and structures of the academy as it relates to supporting dual-career faculty. This study has a three-stage data reduction plan described by Madison (2005) for analyzing the data: identifying codes using a coding strategy, reducing codes into themes, and creating a point of view by incorporating the theoretical perspective. Concluding the project are suggestions for applying this research to the greater higher education community.

Public universities who participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision produce and air university TV spots during televised college football games. The purpose of this research was to analyze TV spots of public universities who participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and determine if university TV spots were successful based on the official theme from the university and how the viewing audience perceived the university TV spot. This research used a qualitative paradigm that involved two phases: Phase I was a content analysis followed by Phase II, which was one-on-one interviews. ESPNs College GameDay was used to collect a group of university TV spots. A purposeful sample was then used to select nine university TV spots that would be used in the research. The university TV spots were captured during the televised college football games. Nine participants were purposefully selected to participate in one-on-one interviews. Finally, each university represented in the sample was contacted to receive the official theme assigned by the university official. In this research, the researcher found that some university TV spots successfully communicated their official theme assigned by their university officials and some did not communicate their university TV spot successfully. This research has analyzed the success of university TV spots by determining the compatibility of the university official theme with the viewers perceived themes. With such a large viewing audience for approximately 30 seconds of airtime and university funding associated with producing or outsourcing university TV spots, the results of this research warrants the significance of understanding university TV spots as well as continued research on university TV spots.