Ropes course programs provide numerous benefits but what makes programs effective has been unclear. The purpose of the study was to: 1) determine if there was a measurable difference in meaningful involvement between the Challenge by Choice (CbC) and Inviting Optimum Participation (IOP) approaches to ropes course program design and delivery, and 2) identify and compare the linkages among program attributes, outcomes, and values with each approach. The study involved 360 young adolescents (ages 10 -15) who took part in full-day ropes course programs provided by one of four organizations in Ontario, Canada. Participants included 172 boys and 188 girls. The average age was 12.7 years and 47% had previous ropes course program experience. Participants completed either: 1) an experience sampling survey related to meaningful involvement or 2) a means-end laddering survey related to program attributes, outcomes, and values. The experience sampling data were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The dependent variables were meaningful involvement during high (belayed) activities and low (non-belayed) activities. The independent variables were program type, sex, and ropes course experience. Program type had a significant effect (8(3,158) = 0.937, p< 0.05) for meaningful involvement experienced during high activities. Meaningful involvement consists of the areas engagement, choice, and view of self. Follow-up ANOVAs indicated that choice (F(1, 160) = 6.127, p< 0.05) was significantly higher in IOP programs. Differences between the programs in engagement and view of self were not significant. There was no significant effect for low activities. Means-end analysis was used to identify linkages among program attributes, outcomes, and values. Responses were organized into 11 Hierarchical Value Maps. Participants in IOP programs identified different linkages than participants in CbC programs. IOP program participants were more likely to mention the attribute low activities and the outcome group efficacy as significant and less likely to mention the outcome anxiety. CbC participants were less likely to mention low activities and group efficacy and more likely to mention anxiety and the value excitement. These findings indicate that ropes course program design and delivery can be manipulated to provide specific benefits and facilitate participant experiences of meaningful involvement.

Ropes course programs provide numerous benefits but what makes programs effective has been unclear. The purpose of the study was to: 1) determine if there was a measurable difference in meaningful involvement between the Challenge by Choice (CbC) and Inviting Optimum Participation (IOP) approaches to ropes course program design and delivery, and 2) identify and compare the linkages among program attributes, outcomes, and values with each approach. The study involved 360 young adolescents (ages 10 -15) who took part in full-day ropes course programs provided by one of four organizations in Ontario, Canada. Participants included 172 boys and 188 girls. The average age was 12.7 years and 47% had previous ropes course program experience. Participants completed either: 1) an experience sampling survey related to meaningful involvement or 2) a means-end laddering survey related to program attributes, outcomes, and values. The experience sampling data were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The dependent variables were meaningful involvement during high (belayed) activities and low (non-belayed) activities. The independent variables were program type, sex, and ropes course experience. Program type had a significant effect (8(3,158) = 0.937, p< 0.05) for meaningful involvement experienced during high activities. Meaningful involvement consists of the areas engagement, choice, and view of self. Follow-up ANOVAs indicated that choice (F(1, 160) = 6.127, p< 0.05) was significantly higher in IOP programs. Differences between the programs in engagement and view of self were not significant. There was no significant effect for low activities. Means-end analysis was used to identify linkages among program attributes, outcomes, and values. Responses were organized into 11 Hierarchical Value Maps. Participants in IOP programs identified different linkages than participants in CbC programs. IOP program participants were more likely to mention the attribute low activities and the outcome group efficacy as significant and less likely to mention the outcome anxiety. CbC participants were less likely to mention low activities and group efficacy and more likely to mention anxiety and the value excitement. These findings indicate that ropes course program design and delivery can be manipulated to provide specific benefits and facilitate participant experiences of meaningful involvement.

Thesis advisor: Michael Barnett / This dissertation documents the pilot year of an Art Science Program. This study asks: what is possible when we create learning environments modeled for the integration of theatre and other artistic media with science? What, in general, are the affordances of theatre and other art forms for fostering such meaning-making, what are good ways to make it happen, and what are the challenges? We analyze young learners’ participation and attitude changes in the context of the Art Science Program. Findings indicate that (1) access to identity resources impacts learners’ practice-linked identities (Nasir & Cooks, 2009); (2) face-saving behaviors impact practice-linked identities by inhibiting learners’ access to identity resources; (3) the development of practice-linked identities parallels the development of possible selves; (4) the extent to which a learner is able to engage in their learning as a “whole person” (Wenger, 2006) is correlated with a learner’s identity trajectory; (5) learners may fail to form new practice-linked identities despite robust access to identity resources; and (6) learners may succeed in forming new practice-linked identities despite lack of significant access to identity resources because the identity resources that they do access provide a strong hook into new, nascent practice-linked identities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Studies assessing novice programming proficiency have often found that many students coming out of introductory-level programming courses still struggle with programming. To address this, some researchers have attempted to find and develop ways to better help students succeed in learning to program. This dissertation research contributes to this area by studying the programming processes of students trained through a specific program design curriculum, How to Design Programs (HTDP). HTDP is an introductory-level curriculum for teaching program design that teaches a unique systematic process called the design recipe that leverages the structure of input data to design programs. The design recipe explicitly scaffolds learners through the program design process by asking students to produce intermediate artifacts that represent a given problem in different ways up to a program solution to the problem. Although HTDP is used in several higher-education institutions and some K-12 programs, how HTDP-trained students design programs towards problems, particularly ones with multiple task-components, has not been thoroughly studied. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to gain an understanding and insight into how students use the techniques put forth by the design recipe towards designing solutions for programming problems. I conducted a series of exploratory user studies with HTDP-trained student cohorts from HTDP course instances across two different universities to collect and analyze students’ programming process data in situ. I synthesized findings from each study towards an overall conceptual framework, which serves as a data-grounded theory that captures several facets of HTDP-trained students’ program design process. The main contribution of this work is this theory, which describes: (1) the program design-related skills that students used and the levels of complexity at which they applied these skills, (2) how students’ use of design skills evolve during a course, (3) the interactions between program design skills and course contexts that influenced how students applied their skills, and (4) the programming process patterns by which students approached the programming problems we gave and how these approaches relate towards students’ success with the problems. Using insights from the theory, I describe recommendations toward pedagogical practices for teaching HTDP-based courses, as well as broader reflections towards teaching introductory CS.

This graduation thesis deals with a software design of burglar alarm. The software has been developed in compliance with the applicable standards and regulations governing burglar alarm designs and on the basis of practical experience with designing and implementing electronic security systems. The software is written in C# and uses .NET platform. On the ground of that, this software can be run on any computer with the Windows operation system. Any ground plan picture file can be used as the underlying project map on which all the object security system can be built. It makes it possible to produce both wire and wireless electronic security systems. The software includes an editable database of components and conductors used in the electronic security alarms. The database components can be created, edited and deleted through the software. The database has been saved in format XML. The software also includes a folder of picture files containing photographs of the components and schematic symbols used in the software. You use a mouse to drag and drop individual components into the ground plan picture, where they are well arranged in a tree structure. The components can be interconnected by a conductor, which enables creation of a precise design of the electronic security system of the object. The software output includes drawings, bills of material and pricing. As for the space components, you can graphically display their range and thus visually confirm the design. The software includes automatic design verification. There, you can verify whether the right components have been used and whether the designed conductor lengths are acceptable, whether they correspond with the system load, and whether the voltage drops on the conductors do not exceed the permitted limit. The software has been developed for all electronic security system designers and for engineers attending to these problems.

The main goal of this master‘s thesis was to keep a basic orientation in commercial software HTRI. This software serves to design and rating calculation of heat transfer equipment. There were calculated four main types of heat exchangers and created a detailed user manual as a helpful tool for future education purposes on the faculty of mechanical engineering and its institute of process and environmental engineering.

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As engineering work becomes more globalized, it is important to prepare students to succeed in a global engineering workforce. Prior research has explored different factors important to the design of global programs generally, but less is known about the experiences and learning outcomes of engineering students while abroad. Because this population has historically been underrepresented in global programs, few research-based practices have been identified to support the intentional design of global experiences for engineering students. This dissertation seeks to provide such insights through three studies that address the following components of global engineering program design: 1) the assessment of Global Engineering Competency (GEC) through use of a series of scenarios based in the Chinese context; 2) the relationship between program destination and students’ experiences and reported learning outcomes; and 3) the experiences that engineering students identify as most significant during their time abroad. I used a combination of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods to explore students’ learning and experiences in global engineering programs. The results of these studies revealed that engineering students have a wide variety of learning outcomes and experiences as a result of global programs, that great care should be exercised in choosing and interpreting assessment methods for global programs, and that the design of global engineering programs should be informed by characteristics of both the student participants and the program destination. Overall, the results of this dissertation highlight the importance of intentionality when designing global engineering programs to better prepare students for success in a global work environment. / Doctor of Philosophy / As engineering work becomes more globalized, it is important to prepare students to succeed in a global engineering workforce. Prior research has explored different factors important to the design of global programs generally, but less is known about the experiences and learning outcomes of engineering students while abroad. Because this population has historically been underrepresented in global programs, few research-based practices have been identified to support the intentional design of global experiences for engineering students. This dissertation seeks to provide such insights through three studies that address the following components of global engineering program design: 1) the assessment of Global Engineering Competency (GEC) through use of a series of scenarios based in the Chinese context; 2) the relationship between program destination and students’ experiences and reported learning outcomes; and 3) the experiences that engineering students identify as most significant during their time abroad. I used a combination of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods to explore students’ learning and experiences in global engineering programs. The results of these studies revealed that engineering students have a wide variety of learning outcomes and experiences as a result of global programs, that great care should be exercised in choosing and interpreting assessment methods for global programs, and that the design of global engineering programs should be informed by characteristics of both the student participants and the program destination. Overall, the results of this dissertation highlight the importance of intentionality when designing global engineering programs to better prepare students for success in a global work environment.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / W. Franklin Spikes / As individuals, we rely on the expertise of professionals to help us navigate the complex problems of modern life in areas such as medicine, accounting, social work, teaching, and the law. Although each profession has its own unique knowledge base, lexicon, and culture, they all share the need to keep members’ knowledge and skills current through continuing professional education. Driven by concerns like frequent law change, increasingly complex clients, and eroding public opinion, 46 states have instituted mandatory continuing legal education (MCLE) requirements for attorneys. The Kansas Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Commission administers MCLE in the state of Kansas by monitoring attorney compliance and accrediting CLE programs. In this study, the researcher used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate two existing data sets--survey outputs and focus groups transcripts--that were captured during the Kansas CLE Commission’s Education Initiative. The 260 CLE providers completing the survey and 22 focus group members varied demographically by structure (for-profit, nonprofit) and size (number of employees or course offerings). Using quantitative statistical tools and qualitative grounded theory methods, the researcher identified the current program planning and design, delivery, and evaluation practices of CLE providers in Kansas and evaluated these practices against best practices for any learning effort, as established by CPE research and theory. Study findings indicated that most Kansas providers plan, deliver, and evaluate CLE programs using more traditional, didactic, update-oriented approaches. Most participants reported CLE curricula that were focused on keeping attorneys up-to-date, delivering classes in traditional formats using speaker presentations, and evaluating programs with Level 1 reaction methods. Only some evidence existed of providers determining attorney needs using methods such as competency models or performance evaluations, refining course delivery according to learning styles, or evaluating programs at higher levels. Still, evidence was found of providers using creative ways to incorporate some best practices into their programs, such as partnering with the other stakeholders in the Kansas MCLE space (attendees, employers, and regulators) to plan and evaluate programs. Similarly, some providers are finding new ways to incorporate more interactive learning methods into their classrooms such as discussion groups, Q&A sessions, panels, mock trials, and networking. This research also provided important insights into the contextual realities and limitations that influence MCLE provider capabilities, priorities, or choices. Cultural norms of the legal profession such as a preference for traditional educational experiences, fierce opposition to any form of testing, and a focus on billable hours affect which best practices the providers are able to implement. Likewise, the diversity that exists across learning events, law practices, and providers in this space creates challenges to implementing new practices consistently across all programs. Finally, the fragmented, multistakeholder ownership of all Kansas MCLE processes means that providers alone are not able to implement fully the recommended best practices without the help of employer partners. This study added to the general body of knowledge concerning CLE programs with contemporary research, a new focus on providers as the source of data, and a context-specific assessment of current best practices application.

Organizations that deliver programs to promote the entry of students from marginalized populations into the U.S. health workforce often struggle to demonstrate the effective achievement of outcomes, and face diminishing fiscal resources. This study was an empirical examination of the extent and manner that a statewide, precollege, health careers exploration program fostered the matriculation of underrepresented minority students into health degree education programs. Schneider and Stevenson's aligned ambitions framework provided the theoretical foundation. The research questions for this study examined the relationship between program participation and the successful health degree matriculation of racial minority students based on the extent of participation, the type of participation, and the extent and type of participation controlling for gender, profession, and region using a quantitative trend analysis of archived program data and longitudinal, preexisting matriculation data. Completion of the analysis used sequential logistic regression. The selection criteria for study included high school students who participated in the program between 2006 to 2010 and who subsequently enrolled in college (N = 246). No statistically significant relationships between program participation and matriculation into health care education programs were found resulting in the recommendation to reassess and revise data collection and analysis processes for future official program evaluation. The resulting white paper recommends that Area Health Education Consortium (AHEC) career exploration program designers create continuous and effective review and evaluation processes to ultimately enable the positive social impact of a more representative number of students from marginalized populations into the U.S. health workforce.