abstract: This study investigates the success of a method used to encourage active engagement strategies among community and research faculty in a College of Medicine, and examines the effects of these strategies on medical student engagement and exam scores. Ten faculty used suggestions from the Active Engagement Strategies Website (AESW), which explained four strategies that could easily be incorporated into medical education lectures; pause procedure, audience response system, think-pair-share, and muddiest point. Findings from observations conducted during sessions where an active engagement strategy was implemented and when strategies were not implemented, faculty and student surveys, and exam question analysis indicate faculty members found active engagement strategies easy to incorporate, student engagement and exam score means increased when an active engagement strategy was implemented, and students reported perceptions of attaining a higher level of learning, especially when the pause procedure was implemented. Discussion and implications address low cost and easy ways to provide faculty development in medical education that potentially improves the quality of instruction and enhances student outcomes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2017

Large institutional actors in the financial arena are moving their capital in a sustainable direction. This implies a change of the institutional norms and rules regarding sustainable investing. One of the problematic aspects of sustainable investing is how investors use different strategies to influence their holdings and what implications this choice might have on a sector level. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine how the strategies from institutional investors are an expression of the current norms and rules in the field of sustainable investing. It also intends to illustrate how institutional pressures influence the strategies of investors and their holdings. By interviewing respondents from eleven institutional investors, we present data regarding norms and rules for sustainable investing and the consequences of the investor’s strategies. Our findings indicate there has been an immense increase in demand for sustainable products in recent years, resulting in institutional pressures that have influenced both the investors and their holdings. This exposes the field to selection processes which may force organizations to the point of adapt or die. Finally, our conclusion provides practical implications on what role institutional investors have in the quest for sustainable development.

A primary challenge to educators is the design and implementation of effective student engagement processes. High school students cannot be successful if they are frequently absent from school, as active engagement opportunities reinforce knowledge and help to keep students enthused in their learning. To address the challenges of frequent school absences, this study examined a gap in the literature--namely, the relationship between active engagement and arts courses as a motivator for students to remain in high school. For this study, active engagement was defined as a process in which the student's interests, efforts, and knowledge culminated in an application of the learning content. Using Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) flow theory, a mixed-methods study was conducted to examine students' experiences with active engagement in arts courses. Data were collected from a survey (50 = x) and phenomenological interviews (8 = x). Quantitative analyses of these data included a paired-sample t test to determine whether there was a significant difference between the average values of students' perceived learning capabilities and expectations for learning in relation to arts courses versus non-arts courses. Content analyses created categories and identified themes that found students felt more engaged, self-confident, and motivated about their learning during arts educational experiences. Contributions to positive social change included increased awareness about how students make meaning of active engagement in arts courses. Such information can help school districts understand more about the importance of providing students with artistic and creative educational experiences.

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Active engagement is important in enhancing the quality of life of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities being served in residential programs. In addition, focusing on socially significant goals and communication is essential to ensure quality treatment. The following study examined the use of employee training in combination with positive reinforcement and in vivo coaching and modeling in a Behavioral Skills Training model to increase the efficacy and consistency of active engagement from direct care employees aimed toward clients with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a residential setting. The results of the current study demonstrated that direct care workers can be trained to increase active engagement with residents with developmental disabilities. Further, the study demonstrated that the instructional training method alone reflected a small increase in skill acquisition. However, more socially significant changes resulted from the establishment of the in vivo modeling component of Behavior Skills Training in relation to the skill development of direct care employees. / Psychology

For older couples facing a skin cancer diagnosis, the experience is stressful, not only for the individual with the diagnosis, but also for the healthy partner. Couples may use various types of coping and styles of support to deal with the stress, including relationship-focused support, which addresses the needs and coping efforts of both partners in response to and in conjunction with one another. The current study examined associations between perceptions of three styles of relationship-focused partner support, namely active engagement, protective buffering, and overprotection, and body image of the partner with skin cancer and quality of life of the partner with skin cancer and the healthy partner. Using data collected from 30 older couples (Mage = 70; SD = 7.25) with diagnoses of melanoma (n = 14; 47%) or nonmelanoma (n = 16, 53%), linear regression models, adjusted for the stressor appraisal by both partners, revealed that when partners with skin cancer reported receiving higher active engagement support, they were more likely to have a positive body image (B [unstandardized] = 35.54, p = .04). A significant interaction was found between active engagement support used by both partners (B = -8.78, p = .05), indicating that active engagement from healthy partners appears to benefit the body image of the partner with skin cancer when they themselves use less active engagement support. Both protective buffering and overprotection support were not associated with body image. Multivariate actor-partner interdependence models (APIM) assessed the relationships between support received by each partner and its association with their quality of life (actor effects) and their partner's quality of life (partner effects). Results suggest that active engagement support perceived by either partner was not associated with quality of life. In contrast, overprotection perceived by partners with skin cancer was significantly associated with their quality of life (actor effect: B = -10.81, p < .001), but was not associated with the healthy partners' quality of life. Additionally, protective buffering perceived by healthy partners was associated with their own quality of life (actor effect; B = -6.91, p = .05) as well as their partner with skin cancer's quality of life (partner effect; B = -8.15, p = .01). Nuances based on the sex of the person with skin cancer, type of skin cancer, the stage of skin cancer and couple's appraisal of the stressors of skin cancer are also discussed. Findings suggest that actively engaging with the stressors of skin cancer can contribute to positive views of one's body, whereas ignoring or avoiding conversations about skin cancer and overprotection provided by healthy partners might lead to poorer quality of life for both partners. These findings illustrate the influence of healthy partners, highlighting that how they give support when their partner is facing a skin cancer diagnosis may affect the overall quality of the couple relationship and couple outcomes. / Ph. D.

The digital landscape of the modern age is frequently disrupted by new and innovative technologies, causing traditional industries to become calcified. This study examines how organizations within a traditional setting are confronted with numerous challenges when undertaking the challenge of remaining relevant in a digital age. The growing interconnectivity across multiple business landscapes demands new and innovative forms of managing a business. Nevertheless, the related research on how traditional industries are adapting to the digitalization of society is limited. Therefore, the study aims to illustrate the phenomena of emerging organizational barriers caused by an ever-changing digital market through incorporating a multiple case study of two traditional organizations and asking the research question: “What barriers emerge as traditional firms seek to actively engage in the digitalization of society?” The study defines two such barriers, (1) The internal stress of an expanding organization and (2) the underlying silos of Sigma. The separate barriers illustrate an insight into the importance of understanding and mastering the internal process of continuous transformation.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students have been forced to learn online. However, more information is needed about effective strategies for promoting active engagement in the online classroom, particularly the impact of peer modeling. This study investigated peer modeling and behavioral skills training to increase hand raising and question asking/answering behavior in six elementary school students. The study employed a multiple baseline across participants design, with data collected live during Zoom sessions by three research assistants, one acting as the teacher and two acting as peer models. Latency to speech was also coded subsequently to the live session as a shyness measure. Although minor improvements were observed in hand raising behavior in one participant and question answering in two participants, overall baseline engagement was higher than anticipated, which limited the magnitude of the observed improvements. High baseline engagement rates demonstrated that participants engaged actively in online classrooms without intervention. Future research should investigate the effectiveness of teacher prompting and peer modeling separately and target children that are not engaging on their own.

This study measures the effect of a model of explicit instruction (EMIT) on the: 1) physics graduate teaching assistants’ adherence to reformed teaching methods, 2) impact of the instructional model on GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics and physics problem solving and 3) undergraduate physics students’ understanding and performance in an introductory calculus-based physics course. Methods included explicit modeling for the treatment group GTAs of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) and assessment of treatment and control GTAs and their students throughout the semester. Students’ understanding was measured using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and Flash-mediated Force and Motion Concept Inventory (FM2CA). Students were surveyed about performance of GTAs using the Student Survey (SS). Results indicated changes were tied to individual GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics. Student conceptual understanding reflected a two-fold Hake gain compared to the control group. General application of the EMIT model presupposes explicit instruction of the model for GTAs.

This study measures the effect of a model of explicit instruction (EMIT) on the: 1) physics graduate teaching assistants’ adherence to reformed teaching methods, 2) impact of the instructional model on GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics and physics problem solving and 3) undergraduate physics students’ understanding and performance in an introductory calculus-based physics course. Methods included explicit modeling for the treatment group GTAs of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) and assessment of treatment and control GTAs and their students throughout the semester. Students’ understanding was measured using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI) and Flash-mediated Force and Motion Concept Inventory (FM2CA). Students were surveyed about performance of GTAs using the Student Survey (SS). Results indicated changes were tied to individual GTAs’ beliefs about the nature of physics. Student conceptual understanding reflected a two-fold Hake gain compared to the control group. General application of the EMIT model presupposes explicit instruction of the model for GTAs.