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Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lowenhaupt / There is a need for schools to implement practices to disrupt the inequities that exist for marginalized students in public education. As the theory of critical consciousness details, inequality is sustained when the people most affected by it are unable to decode their social conditions (El-Amin et al., 2017). An equitable democracy depends on critically conscious citizens (Seider & Graves, 2020). When educators and students can identify oppressive systems, they are better prepared to take action to disrupt those systems. This study analyzes how adult learning opportunities might position educators as agents of social justice-oriented educational practice. For the sake of this research, adult learning is defined as encompassing the learning experiences of educators, including district professional development as well as outside learning experiences in higher education institutions or the community. There is limited research regarding how the construct of race impacts adult learning experiences for critical consciousness. Therefore, this research studies the impacts of the construct of race during the process of adult learning. This study investigates how educators narrate their experiences with race during adult learning through the lens of critical consciousness. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This qualitative case study aimed to explore how 21 nascent creative entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry, specifically actors, directors, producers, and screenwriters who participated in the same workforce development program in the United States, constructed their identities via competencies and adult learning methods. It also explored the external factors that supported or impeded them. The case study is based on the following assumptions: 1. Nascent creative entrepreneurs face unique challenges in forming their creative entrepreneurial identity. 2. Thematic and need-based commonalities will emerge from interviews with participants. 3. Current higher education and training and development programs fail to provide nascent creative entrepreneurs with the resources, information, and support required to successfully form their creative entrepreneurial identities to navigate an increasingly dynamic and competitive industry. 4. Nascent creative entrepreneurs are interested and willing to participate in this study. 5. Deepening our understanding of identity construction in nascent creative entrepreneurs could benefit the field of adult learning, creative entrepreneurs, the creative economy, and society as a whole. The primary sources of data were semi-structured in-depth interviews, a focus group, and document analysis. The study was conducted online. Identity Theory and Adult Learning Theory, specifically Informal Learning and Self-Directed Learning, provided the overriding construct for the analysis, interpretation, and synthesis of the research findings. Two major findings emerged from the study: 1) Nascent creative entrepreneurs construct their identities by being a collaborator.2) Nascent creative entrepreneurs construct their identities via Informal Learning. The cohort associated with participants’ workforce development program was the most mentioned supportive external factor, while business elements associated with being a creative entrepreneur emerged as an external impeding factor.

Research demonstrates that involvement in musical ensembles provides an environment for individuals to grow personally, musically, socially, and independently (Cavitt, 2005; Coffin, 2005; Coffman, 2002, 2006, 2008; Coffman & Adamek, 2001; Dabback, 2008; Taylor, Kruse, Nickel, Lee, & Bowen, 2011). Typically, research with community bands focuses on older adults who are in the retirement phase of life (see Ernst, 2001; Ernst & Emmons, 1992; Dabback, 2008; Hays, 2004; Hays & Minichiello, 2005; Coffman, 2002, 2006, 2008; Southcott, 2009). However, many community bands are seeing more of an intergenerational aspect to community band membership. The current study explored how individual participation in intergenerational community concert bands influences participants' musical identity with respect to: a) the instrument, the section, and the band as a whole?; b) prolonged membership and multi-band membership?; and c) learning new musical repertoire. Adopting a qualitative multiple case study approach and guided by a Social Identity Theory and musical identity theoretical framework, this study included fourteen participants (N=14) from three community concert bands in Eastern Ontario. Each participant completed a demographic questionnaire, a series of four journal entries, one virtual semi-structured interview, and one virtual focus group session with participants from the same respective band. Data was analyzed using Bloomberg and Volpe’s (2008) "roadmap" to identify the themes both within and across cases (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Seidman, 2006). The main findings of this study relate to how musical identity is influenced by group membership, social comparisons, and perceived musical ability to influence the well-being of intergenerational community band members. Further implications relate to the value of music education and lifelong learning.

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The purpose of this study was to provide data that could be used to improve staff development in Virginia's Regional Alternative Education Centers. Characteristics of participants and of centers were identified as factors to investigate. The personal characteristics of the participants were age, gender, position, attitude toward staff development, and total years of experience in education. The center characteristics were location, age of center, grade levels served, number of staff employed, number of students served, number of special education students served, budget for staff development, pooling of resources, center leadership, number of certified general education teachers, and number of certified special education teachers. Quality of staff development was measured on the following dimensions: learning environment, time for learning, planning, evaluation, materials, techniques, funding, content, rewards for participation, use of adult learning principles, and transfer of learning. The design was both quantitative and qualitative. A questionnaire was mailed to 99 administrative coordinators, teachers, and counselors in 26 participating regional centers. Quantitative responses were analyzed with descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and multiple regression. The qualitative phase involved three focus groups with four participants in each group " one administrative coordinator, one counselor, and two teachers. Three centers were chosen at random from three different geographic regions in Virginia " urban, suburban, and rural. Nominal group techniques were used to create a prioritized list of recommendations for staff development at the centers. Factors that best predicted the quality of staff development were the quality of center leadership, attitude toward staff development, and grade levels served. The prioritized lists of strategies from the focus groups included funding for inservice travel, providing training during workday, using teambuilding techniques, working with stakeholders, increasing number of staff employed, and having stakeholders provide timely services. A major implication of the study was that one theory with independent predictor variables did not relate to the quality factors. A more accurate description evolved"a family of theories. The family consists of three separate theories, with each theory identified by the predictor variables that were found to be associated with specific quality variables. / Ed. D.

Every year in the United States, cancer accounts for one in four deaths. As the pool of those who have received diagnoses increases, more individuals can be encountered who have survived a terminal diagnosis or exceeded expected time limits for survival. Perhaps even more extraordinary, many of these consider it the "best thing" that ever happened to them. These are the modern eras' "mythical" heroes; they return bearing maps for our own eventual journeys. This study used a grounded theory research approach to illuminate the phenomenon of terminal diagnosis survivorship as evidenced in the psycho/social/spiritual learning process. The unit of analysis is the psychosocial and spiritual learning process as discovered and developed from three cases of individuals who described being positively transformed after receiving a terminal diagnosis. Three research questions were examined: (a) What are the components (e.g., coping strategies, problem solving techniques, emotion management) of the learning process employed by three cancer patients who have experienced a terminal diagnosis? (b) In what ways did the phenomenal meaning of their lives change as they coped with the trauma of a terminal diagnosis followed by remission persisting a significant time past doctors' predictions? (c) What changes did they make in their lives, viewed from a holistic perspective, including thought processes, healthcare, emotion, spirituality and changes in their social lives? A comparative analysis of tape recorded interviews yielded the data resulting in a six-phase model of terminal diagnosis survivorship delineating a psycho/social/spiritual transformational learning process. Death acceptance emerged as a central organizing construct facilitating transformational changes in those given a terminal diagnosis resulting in a constellation of attitudinal and behavioral change. This model challenges and extends theory in adult learning and post traumatic survival by challenging the heavily rational and cognitive based theories of these fields, emphasizing the importance of emotions, altered states, extrarational experiences and spirituality. This model also explicates the role of denial that can alternatively hamper, facilitate or place on hold movement toward death acceptance, the ultimate transformative agent. Additionally, this model elucidates the importance of holding environments on both sustaining and eliciting transformational and developmental change. / Ph. D.

In the wake of recent events, especially the Great Recession of 2007-2009, affecting the economy, resulting in job losses, personal financial distress, and gloomy perceptions of their future well-being, many Americans are concerned about their financial quality of life in retirement. The media is replete with a plethora of advertisements for retirement planning and financial products for an aging population. By 2030, nearly 20 percent of the population of the United States will be 65 or older. This case study was an examination of a group of retirees who are financially secure enough to reside in retirement communities that require prequalification of assets. The study will serve to inform people on the path to retirement of what those who have been successful actually did so that those in the pipeline may take into consideration their actions and avoid acts of commission or omission that might impede or destroy their chances of reaching a financially secure retirement. The study results showed that not only were the participants financially literate, they were planners. It also became apparent that financial literacy was acquired over time and that becoming financially literate and planning for retirement were dynamic processes that were not discrete. Another finding was that although financial literacy may have a positive impact on success in achieving a financially secure retirement, other factors such as world events, self-control, and luck could affect the realization of a retirement that is financially secure. The first-hand qualitative information gathered in the course of this study will enrich comprehension of the scope of the issues of financial literacy and retirement in America and perhaps form the basis of additional academic research. Finally, the conclusions of this study are significant not only for individual prospective retirees, but also for educators, financial industry professionals, and policy-makers as they craft educational programs, construct financial portfolios, and formulate legislation to help ensure the financial security of an ever-growing population of elders. / Ph. D.

Sustainability professionals often lack the intercultural competencies needed to effectively engage in the cooperative, collaborative work that must be accomplished to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. Higher education institutions are well-positioned to help meet this need. However, challenges related to buy-in, time, expertise, and diverse and conflicting priorities can create barriers to developing and integrating curriculum for intercultural learning into disciplinary courses. This dissertation presents a case study that describes how graduate program faculty at Virginia Tech, where the author works, overcame these challenges to design intercultural curriculum into an online, asynchronous graduate course in global sustainability. We began with an in-depth literature review to identify the intercultural competencies that sustainability professionals need and the pedagogical practices that support their development. The literature review indicated that sustainability professionals would be well served by having the ability to behave and communicate effectively and appropriately in intercultural situations. This competence relies on the development of certain cognitive, behavioral, and affective skills that can be developed through increased self-awareness and other-awareness and practicing mindful engagement. Educators can support students in this by designing curriculum that moves students through the experiential learning cycle and leads to transformed meaning perspectives. We then engaged in a curriculum redesign process to integrate these competencies and pedagogies into our graduate curriculum using a backward design approach. We empowered faculty through backward design to first articulate intercultural learning outcomes prioritized the development of related learning experiences. In addition, we organized two off-site retreats that provided participants with unstructured time together, which fostered the supportive, trusting relationships necessary for ongoing, successful collaboration and led to enthusiasm for and connection to the intercultural content that was developed. Finally, we involved faculty with expertise in intercultural competence development in the redesign process to help define intercultural concepts and develop pedagogically appropriate curriculum. Collaborative backward design enabled us to successfully develop and integrate intercultural learning into our course. This process highlighted the likely need for ongoing institutional commitment to encourage, maintain, and evaluate these efforts. It also revealed that financial constraints, institutional capacity, and an online, asynchronous format present additional barriers and challenges to the development of intercultural curriculum using a collaborative backward design approach. / Doctor of Philosophy / Intercultural competence, the ability to behave and communicate appropriately and effectively with people from different cultures, is important for professionals who work in the environmental field and must address problems that cross local, regional, and national boundaries. Although graduate programs can help aspiring environmental professionals develop intercultural competence, university faculty face challenges related to buy-in, time, expertise, and diverse and conflicting priorities that inhibit the development of relevant curriculum. This dissertation presents a case study that describes how faculty at Virginia Tech, where the author works, overcame these challenges to design curriculum for intercultural competence development into an online, asynchronous graduate course in global sustainability. We began with an in-depth literature review of intercultural learning theory, competencies, models to understand how intercultural competence is developed and to identify intercultural competencies and instructional approaches that are the most appropriate for a graduate course in global environmental sustainability. We then engaged in a curriculum redesign effort that coupled a proven approach to curriculum with strategies to promote collaboration. We empowered faculty to first articulate intercultural competence outcomes, which prioritized the development of related learning experiences. In addition, we organized two off-site retreats that provided participants with unstructured time together, which fostered the supportive, trusting relationships necessary for ongoing, successful collaboration and led to enthusiasm for and connection to the intercultural curriculum that was developed. Finally, we involved faculty with expertise in intercultural competence development in the process to help define intercultural concepts and develop appropriate curriculum. Using a proven curriculum design process enabled us to successfully develop and integrate intercultural learning into our course. Our collaborative curriculum design process highlighted the likely need for ongoing institutional commitment to encourage, maintain, and evaluate these efforts. It also revealed that financial constraints, institutional capacity, and an online, asynchronous format present additional barriers and challenges to development of intercultural curriculum using a collaborative curriculum design approach.