Thesis (M.B.A.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

with Archbishop J. Michael Miller / Gasson Hall 100

Identity has been recognised as a possible influence within education research and a student’s ability to achieve their full potential (Bluic, Ellis, Goodyear & Hendres, 2011). The current thesis explores identity in undergraduate Psychology students, in particular it provides a theoretical framework based on Social Identity Theory (Abrams & Hogg, 1990) for understanding how identity is developed. Transition is a time when identity is in flux (Gale & Parker, 2014) and therefore allows for a study identity change, development and the impact of this on attainment. The study took a mixed methods approach starting with two qualitative studies which explored identity processes in undergraduate students. It used a unique approach in Psychology by adopting a meta-ethnographical design (n=8) and an adapted form of Grounded Theory which allows for theory development through the integration of the original researcher’s analysis of the participant’s narratives across the eight papers (Noblit & Hare, 1988). A concept map provides an understanding of how transition and Social Identity Theory is integrated to facilitate identity change. A further qualitative study which uses a traditional focus group design and thematic analysis (n=18). Four themes emerged which present evidence for the importance of transition and identity for students. The qualitative studies also informed the development of a tool to measure Academic Social Identity. Validity and reliability was established through a number of iterations of Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis (n=205). The final psychometric scale includes items designed to measure normative processes, evaluation and emotion and reflect the theoretical framework of Social Identity Theory. The final study used a multiple regression analysis with ASI predicting GPA (n=71). The results indicated that the construct ASI had a strong relationship with academic achievement. The thesis discusses policy implications for institutional arrangements of student support services, transition and subject areas and a focus on attrition and student well-being.

<p> Dual credit courses are college-level courses offered to high school students which are accepted for both high school and college credit (Hughes, 2016). Dual credit positively impacts students by reducing the time to complete a degree, enhancing the high school curriculum, increasing college accessibility, and lessening educational financial burdens (Hughes, 2016). The intention of this study was to survey adjunct instructors who have taught in both high school and college environments to determine their opinions of differences that exist between secondary and postsecondary dual credit experiences. College administrators were also interviewed to obtain insight into any variability of dual credit courses between offerings at high school and college locations. This study was intended to close gaps in the research regarding differences in resources, instruction, and environments between dual credit experiences on high school or college campuses, according to instructors and administrators. Data were gathered from instructors and administrators employed by a Midwestern community college to examine variations of components related to dual credit. Teachers noted differences in social environments, laboratories or lab-based classrooms, financial support, and student services. Administrators focused on accessibility and the need for growth regarding professional development. Study results can be used to further develop dual credit programs and increase quality for students who enroll.</p><p>

<p> The objectives of this study were to gain an understanding of how practicing teachers believe they are prepared to meaningfully and critically integrate technology into their classroom practices; and to understand how practicing teachers recruited those beliefs into their teaching practices. This included gaining an understanding of what they believed led to their engagement in the critical dimensions of technology use in their teaching practices. This mixed-methods study contained two phases. In Phase 1, 58 graduate students in a College of Education completed a newly developed Critical Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (C-TPACK) survey containing likert-scale and open-ended questions. A subset of four graduate students, who were also practicing teachers, participated in Phase 2 of this study where lesson plans, observations, and interviews were analyzed. The findings indicated that limited training in and exposure to C-TPACK during teacher education coursework and professional development (PD), uncertainty about students&rsquo; critical digital literacies (CDL), the teachers&rsquo; varying understandings of CDL, resource limitations and restrictive school policies posed barriers for the teachers&rsquo; recruitment of CTPACK to their practices. These findings showed the importance of tying critical theory to technology in education coursework and PD programs. This study proposes the use of a theoretical framework that prioritizes critical theory, namely the C-TPACK framework, when analyzing teachers&rsquo; technology integration practices. KEYWORDS: TPACK, C-TPACK, critical digital literacy, digital literacy, teacher education, professional development </p><p>

Research on the effects of feedback on EFL writing is well documented (Ferris, 1997, Ferris 1999), although Hyland and Hyland (2006:186) state: 'Given how few studies have been carried out, little is known about the relationship between teacher and student discourse and teacher feedback in conferences and student revision'. The qualitative action research study outlined in this thesis addresses this imbalance. It concerns teacherconferencing on academic essays written in a higher education context in Turkey. Based on a model of interrelated practices for action research suggested by Burns (2005), it investigates the relationship between discourse features of the conference and alterations made in follow-up drafts. Working with a constructivist approach to data, the study outlines how three Turkish teachers analysed transcripts of themselves conferencing in order to identify desirable features. Using such features, a second AR team repeated this procedure to notice firstly how far they had been able to implement these features, and secondly to further investigate the relationship between the conference and amendments to the follow-up draft. The study outlines practical action research and conferencing. It illustrates a refinement in analytical tools with which to identify successful features of conferencing, and shows how teachers may be producers of legitimate knowledge concerning features for classroom practitioners to assist with student-writing.

This study examines the impact of globalization on the newly-adopted, American-based federal higher education model of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through the lenses of World Polity theory. The higher education environment has been transformed by shared global ideas and policy models. In many developing countries, higher education is perceived to be central to socio-political and economic development. The federal higher education system in the (UAE) represented by the three federal universities - United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), and Zayed University (ZU) - is tasked not only with educating UAE nationals, but also with the “Emiritization” or nationalization of the labor market, which is highly dependent on foreign expatriates. The UAE has made a transformational shift in its federal higher education model by replacing its Arabic-based model with English-based instruction and American curricula. Some UAE public universities sought and were granted accreditation by US regional accrediting bodies. This study was focused on the three UAE federal universities to identify the main characteristics of the newly adopted model and the extent to which it draws on western and indigenous models and principles, and to validate the global reach of higher education ideas and values to the environment other than those where they originated from. The research investigates various issues related to higher education development including the socio-cultural and organizational aspects of it. The research questions are not only significant to the UAE but they also address key issues that are especially sensitive yet similarly applicable across the Gulf region and similar developing countries. The findings reveal that in the UAE the profound cultural and religious differences reflecting local and national path dependencies are undercut by dominant western models of higher education. While the US and the UAE differ in their values, culture, level of development, several aspects of the higher education model look quite similar. These similar aspects were not mandated, but communicated, and governed by the culture of a global higher education exchange. The world polity of higher education has played a key role in sustaining and promulgating a common culture to nations and communities around the world.

This thesis presents a case study of the understandings of internationalisation of higher education at a UK university. The study elicited views from individuals in diverse management positions at the university, particularly in relation to the university’s internationalisation strategy document. Prior research in the field of internationalisation of higher education has largely focused on international students’ experiences or patterns of their mobility. As far as policy is concerned, there has been an emphasis on the commercial and diplomatic values of the ‘education export industry’. Internationalisation has also been seen in terms of ‘international activities’, the ‘international market’ and the expanding mass access to higher education. The research reported herein is particularly important in the sense that it provides insight into how the term internationalisation is understood from diverse positions within the university management and how these interpretations influence approaches to the implementation of the university’s internationalisation strategy. As a qualitative study, using in-depth interviews as the key data collection approach, the research is unusual in its challenging of interpretations of internationalisation that have previously been largely researched through surveys and questionnaires. The research and its findings take the concept of internationalisation away from the practices of the institution and into the accounts of the individuals who manage it. Findings of the research include the existence of clear differences in views about the meaning and means of implementation of internationalisation, which is widely seen as a goal or end-state rather than as a process. This poses a challenge for the implementation of the centrally-promoted international strategy in the institution concerned.

<p> This dissertation presents the details of a study that explored the experiences of <i>roninsei</i>&mdash;Japanese students who are preparing to re-attempt the university entrance examination. Though an influential population later in life, its defining educational experience has rarely been researched. The questions this study sought to answer were akin to &lsquo;what themes characterize the <i>roninsei</i> experience,&rsquo; &lsquo;how is that experience understood as having changed those who undergo it,&rsquo; and &lsquo;how do intervening time and space affect the way former <i> roninsei</i> understand their experiences.&rsquo; </p><p> To address these questions, the study employed a mixture of methods and sources, triangulating its findings with a combination of literature review findings, phenomenological interviews with former <i>roninsei</i>, and thematically-focused content analysis of social networking service-sourced data composed by current <i>roninsei</i>. It employed a hermeneutic approach to all the data it collected. </p><p> The study found that the <i>roninsei</i> experience produces several maturational outcomes and that, while it is characterized by hardship, it comes to be highly valued by those who have undergone it. </p><p> This study contributes to the understanding of this under-researched, yet consequential population. Its findings implicate both strengths and weaknesses of the current system and, in so doing, have the capacity to influence how the current wave of educational reforms is understood and implemented.</p><p>

This research study takes a close look at the higher education system in Lebanon. It attempts to identify the principal management cultures in seven institutes of higher education each adopting a different educational system – American, French, Egyptian and Lebanese. McNay’s quartet of collegium, bureaucracy, corporation and enterprise was used as a main reference, with positioning on the model determined by the two dimensions of policy definition and control over implementation each defined as either ‘loose’ or ‘tight’. The study describes and analyzes the organisational structures of the institutions in an attempt to determine the characteristics of the power and authority relationships of each culture and the modes of decision-making. The research study further investigates the degree of academic and institutional autonomy, the measures of accountability and the mechanisms of internal and external scrutiny adopted by the institutes. While McNay’s typology serves as a base to begin to categorise the management cultures of these institutes, no neat categorisation emerged from the combination of the various data sources used in the study. Elements of all four cultures exist in all universities, with dominance for features of the bureaucratic and the corporate cultures. Factors such as the degree of secularisation of the institutions and their cultural origins, whether Lebanese, Arab or Western, seem to impact on institutional culture and are manifested in a distinctive personalised mode of management that emphasises control, power and loyalty, which are deep seated cultural traits of the people of Lebanon and the region. In evaluating the changing environment of higher education, student views on ‘quality’ are also important. The study highlights the differences between institutional types in relation to student performance outputs based on students’ perceptions of their overall educational experience such as teaching and learning experiences. Students in all institutions expressed satisfaction with the education they were receiving; however students in American patterned universities seemed to be exposed to a more liberal form.