This dissertation explores the perceived readiness of potential violin majors (PVMs) in the United States for university-level violin study. The purpose of this study was to explore violin professors’ expectations of PVMs in the United States, their perceptions of how these expectations are being met, and how PVMs can be prepared to meet these expectations. A lack of research into how PVMs in the United States are being prepared for the rigors of university-level violin study warranted investigation to define violin professors’ expectations and their perceptions of the preparedness of PVMs. A descriptive instrumental exploratory study was conducted using qualitative and descriptive statistical data with 121 participants (n = 121). The participants were tenure-track and tenured violin professors in the United States who have taught for at least three years at universities accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and whose teaching loads consist of a minimum of 75% applied violin lessons. Participants were asked to define their ideal expectations of PVMs, their perceptions of how these expectations have been met, and advice they have for the adults who help prepare PVMs. Data were collected online through a Qualtrics survey and Zoom video interviews. The findings indicated that violin professors generally agreed upon their expectations of PVMs, which include having a solid technical foundation, performing repertoire that is aligned with their technical development, and being open-minded. Violin professors perceived that less than 50% of PVMs have a solid technical foundation and less than 50% perform developmentally appropriate repertoire, though most PVMs were perceived to demonstrate an openness to learning. Most violin professors accept PVMs into their studios whom they perceive to be unready for university-level study, usually due to administrative pressure. To meet violin professors’ expectations, they suggest that PVMs work with private violin teachers outside of the K-12 music classroom. Private violin teachers should hold PVMs to a high performing standard, be familiar with violin professors’ expectations, and have the subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge necessary to develop a solid technical foundation and assign level-appropriate repertoire. Other influential adults include K-12 music teachers, although learning outcomes for K-12 music classes differ significantly from violin professors’ expectations. Overall, this study demonstrated a clear disconnect between violin professors’ expectations and how PVMs are being prepared to meet them. The data showed that participants made the following assumptions: (a) PVMs take private lessons and are already “apprentices” working with a “master,” (b) audition websites present adequate information for PVMs, and (c) private teachers have the subject matter knowledge to prepare PVMs to meet technical expectations and perform with high standards. There appears to be an overall lack of communication and collaboration not just from violin professors, but also from private teachers and K-12 classroom music teachers. Recommendations for practice and implementation are offered to the three identified populations that interact with PVMs: violin professors, private teachers, and K-12 classroom music teachers.

This qualitative modified case study was constructed to investigate U.S. facultymembers’ perceptions of cultural differences in the Chinese classroom and how they learn to cope with and adapt to these differences in their teaching practice. The study is based on the following assumptions: (1) U.S. visiting faculty members will not easily share their insights and their personal experiences of teaching in China. (2) Some U.S. faculty might not care to change their teaching methods because of the short-term overseas teaching assignments. (3) U.S. faculty members are willing to embrace different cultures. The study site is at a U.S. fashion college. The primary data sources were collected from an in-depth interview with 22 U.S. faculty members who teach in China and the Philosophical of Adult Education Inventory. This modified case study seeks to understand how U.S. instructors who teach in China on a short-term basis, learn to adapt to an entirely different culture as they confront it in their classrooms. The major findings of this study suggest that the participants were aware of the cultural differences between Chinese classrooms and American classrooms. The participants also encountered substantial cultural-based obstacles in China, which they overcame through the use of new teaching styles. Moreover, the findings identified two dissimilar perspectives: (1) Maintainers, those who do not change or adjust much in their teaching style, (2) Enthusiasts, those who make adjustments to their teaching style in order to accommodate the Chinese students' needs, augmenting the students’ learning outcomes. The overarching recommendation from this study suggests that both the U.S. Apparel University and the China Yifang program administrators are advised to implement an action research study every 4 to 6 years to examine and fine-tune the existing collaboration program.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, University of Zululand, 2007. / Inclusive education, in its broader sense, is bout acknowledging diversity of learners' needs and providing appropriate support. This happens when the education system is characterised by a shared responsibility among all the stakeholders to collaboratively provide a continuum of specialised support to address different needs of all learners. The needs range from cognitive, physical, emotional and cultural needs just to mention a few of them. Learners in the inclusive system therefore take a full and active part and are perceived as the full members of the institution as well as classroom community. Thus it is about creating a welcoming and supportive institutional culture that accepts and respects diversity of learners unconditionally. In inclusive education the whole system is custom-made; this includes curriculum and assessment standards, to meet the needs of learners not the predetermined needs of the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of attitudes that teachers hold towards inclusive education and how teachers as a group perceive different disabilities. There were two aims that the study has tried to address. They are: • The nature of attitudes teachers from different backgrounds hold towards inclusive education. • How teachers as a group perceive different disabilities. The questionnaire was administered to teachers from historical Black; Coloured; White primary schools as well as teachers from special schools and the results showed that the nature of attitudes that teachers from different backgrounds hold towards inclusive education differ. Teachers from historical Black and Coloured primary schools hold more positive attitudes towards inclusive education than teachers from historical White primary schools and special schools. The study further showed that the majority of the participants in this study are not in favour of inclusion of learners with the following disabilities: blind; deaf; wheelchair confined and cerebral palsy. Teachers from historical White primary schools came up as the most apprehensive group towards including learners with behavioural problems than any other racial group.

This thesis examines the attitudes of secondary teachers toward school social workers.

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No description available.

The purpose of the study was to establish a methodology for evaluating the receptivity of faculty and administrators to proposals for an on-going program of N-TE. Sub-purposes were (1) identification of criteria for evaluating institutional readiness, (2) field application and test of the criteria, and (3) development of techniques and methodologies for determining the optimum state of readiness a small college should achieve before proceeding with N-TE. Judged by the response by some interviewees, the critical factor in implementing N-TE successfully is a spirit of readiness, zeal, or fervor of faculty and administrators. They want to provide educational services and want to serve people whose needs have not been met previously.

The purpose of the study was to examine college science professors’ beliefs regarding the use of inquiry in the college science classroom, how these beliefs impacted their instructional choices and how these beliefs were enacted in the classroom. Additional questions were how teachers’ beliefs vary across institution types (community college, private, four year college, and large research institution), and how beliefs vary across disciplines (life sciences and physical sciences). A case study design was required for this study due to the complexity of the topic and different data sources needed to answer the fore stated research questions. These data sources included surveys, interviews, classroom and laboratory observations and written records such as laboratory activities and syllabi. Twelve college professors at three different institutions; large research institution, small, private four year college and community college were interviewed. In addition to interviews, classes and labs were observed, a questionnaire on the five essential features of inquiry was given and samples of labs and syllabi were obtained. A laboratory coordinator was also interviewed as she was responsible for the laboratory section for two of the professors at the research institution. All schools were located in the southeast United States. The perception of inquiry by college science professors has been found to be a barrier to the inclusion of inquiry in college classrooms and was supported in the current study. While the professors described constraints to inquiry such as large class size, lack of time, disinterest of students, and lack of equipment, these limitations were due, in part, to the professors’ incomplete view of inquiry as what researchers do. This view was most pronounced with the professors at the large, research institution. At the research institution, observations in the classroom mirrored the beliefs of inquiry. Lecture was the primary instruction in the science classroom, and the labs were scripted and shown to be “cookbook” with little or no evidence of inquiry noted in the labs iv obtained. There was more evidence of inquiry at the private four-year college and community college than at the large research institution; what was observed in the classroom mirrored what the professors believed about inquiry. There was a difference in the beliefs between institutions with the professors at the research institution holding an incomplete view of inquiry while the professors at the private college and community college included many aspects of the inquiry continuum in their view of inquiry. There were no differences noted between disciplines.

Research on the development of K-12 teachers’ beliefs about and approaches to teaching and learning suggests that exposure to professional development programs can lead to the use of conceptual change strategies that engage students as active participants in the learning process rather than on teacher-centered strategies focused on information transfer. However, within the existing literature on the development of teacher beliefs and approaches to teaching and learning there exists a void of information pertaining to the development of community college instructors’ beliefs and approaches. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between pre-tenure community college instructors’ beliefs about teaching and learning, their approaches to the learning process, and the training they receive via a professional development program specifically established to provide training in teaching methods, pedagogy, curriculum, and/ or instruction. Forty community college instructors going through an established three-year tenure process completed a revised version of the Approaches to Teaching Inventory (ATI-R) created by Trigwell and Prosser (1998). Data analysis revealed that there was no difference in the scores of instructors who had participated in the professional development program on teaching and learning and those instructors who had no exposure to courses that focused on teaching and learning. Further, findings suggest that instructors’ participation in the courses is not related to their beliefs or teaching approaches. iii The findings of this study warrant a closer examination of programs designed to provide higher education instructors with training in pedagogy and instruction. Additionally, the findings present an opportunity for professional development programs to improve current practice.

My dissertation interrogates the role played by teachers, professors, researchers, administrators, and librarians in comics activism in the years before the establishment of the Comics Code Authority. Teachers occupied a unique space: public servants in one sense, subject matter experts in another. At the same time, they were not impervious to the media’s treatment of the anti-comics crusade, nor were they immune to the sway of religion, politics, and race in the conversation. Using teachers’ professional journals and local newspapers, I find that educators existed on both sides of the debate as drivers of the action—sometimes as actors, but also as proxies and participants. In addition, as arbiters of kids’ free time, keepers of literacy, imparters of citizenship, developers of good taste, and specialists in the behavior and needs of students, teachers had a special vantage point from which to observe the effects of comics on young readers. Theirs was a valuable position, and it was coopted by any number of factions jockeying for influence. Probing the records of the comic book industry’s regulatory body, I determined that educators were targets of the industry’s campaign to legitimate the genre. My dissertation also situates universities as key sites of pro-comics activities and expands the actors in the anti-comics campaign to include independent scholars, as well as university faculty, administrators, and students. Peer-reviewed research was used by parties on both sides of the debate. Evaluating this scholarship, I conclude that unaffiliated researchers made consequential contributions to the debate, speaking directly to the public in ways that more traditional researchers could not. Finally, my project establishes the nuance in educators’ role in the anti-comics campaign and surveys the ways they were actors, subjects, and instruments in the movement. Utilizing textual analyses of key Silver Age comics, I find that the comic books created in the wake of the anti-comics crusade were direct outgrowths of the anxieties and aspirations of educators—a deliberate effort by comic book publishers to gain their endorsement.