Distance learning has provided solutions for students for more than a century. Students access distance learning due to issues with access, credit recovery need, or need for flexibility in location, time, pace, or duration of instruction. Recent advances in technology and instructional designs allow more interactive and synchronous instruction. Researchers suggest that designs using collaborative-constructivist approaches result in deeper learning and increased student satisfaction. Such courses implement theories based on interactions, creation of communities, and learner-centered design. The increase in online curriculum offered and, in some cases, required for K-12 students indicates a need to consider learning characteristics of adolescent learners. Adolescent learners are not as self-regulated, metacognitive, and technologically capable as adult learners. Communities and interactions require the involvement of parents or other involved adults to encourage learner engagement. New theories are emerging concerning learning engagement by adolescents including the adolescent community of engagement (ACE) framework. This dissertation reports two studies of K-12 online students enrolled in independent study courses. The researcher applied the elements of the ACE framework as a lens to study independent study students' experiences with a local community of support. Could students benefit from the curation and support of a proximate community of engagement (PCE)? The first study found that students perceive that a PCE would be helpful to learning when they enroll. The second study found that students completing a course organically accessed a PCE during their course experience, even without coaching and curation activities. Credit recovery students were more likely to perceive value in a PCE but actually created and used such a community at the same level as other learners. Parents and teachers were most often identified as the local support students would, and did engage. Future research was suggested to identify ways to encourage PCE curation, the most effective and supportive PCE interactions, and best practices to train and support members of the PCE.

Despite calls for concerted, two-way engagement and for the development of reciprocal partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHE's) and their communities, IHE's continue to implement a disparate menu of activities that prove largely ineffective at addressing society's most challenging social and environmental problems. A relatively new conception of engagement lays out a framework by which IHE's engage with communities in democratic ways. Democratic engagement values inclusive, reciprocal problem-oriented work that brings together university and community stakeholders as co-generators of knowledge and solutions. The resulting democratically engaged partnerships position diverse members to take on roles as collaborators and problem solvers. They are mutually transformed through the processes of reciprocation, power diffusion, and knowledge generation. <br>How these democratically oriented roles and processes emerge and come to be enacted is unknown. Neither the literature on democratic engagement nor that on community-university partnerships addresses this gap. This dissertation study purposefully selected a case of community-university partnership that has a high degree of democratic engagement. Through interviews, observation, and document review, qualitative evidence was collected of the ways in which the roles and processes of democratically engaged partnerships emerged and were enacted. Atlas.ti 6.2 was used to code and retrieve themes related to democratic and technocratic engagement, stakeholder roles and processes, and the emergence and application of roles and processes. <br>Understanding how democratically oriented roles and processes emerge and are adopted is critical to building democratically engaged partnerships that support systems of democratic engagement. If we do not know how to be democratic within our partnerships, and if we cannot teach others, we will not be able to answer the calls for more purposeful, reciprocal engagement with our communities. / School of Education; / Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program for Education Leaders (IDPEL) / EdD; / Dissertation;

Despite calls for concerted, two-way engagement and for the development of reciprocal partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHE's) and their communities, IHE's continue to implement a disparate menu of activities that prove largely ineffective at addressing society's most challenging social and environmental problems. A relatively new conception of engagement lays out a framework by which IHE's engage with communities in democratic ways. Democratic engagement values inclusive, reciprocal problem-oriented work that brings together university and community stakeholders as co-generators of knowledge and solutions. The resulting democratically engaged partnerships position diverse members to take on roles as collaborators and problem solvers. They are mutually transformed through the processes of reciprocation, power diffusion, and knowledge generation. <br>How these democratically oriented roles and processes emerge and come to be enacted is unknown. Neither the literature on democratic engagement nor that on community-university partnerships addresses this gap. This dissertation study purposefully selected a case of community-university partnership that has a high degree of democratic engagement. Through interviews, observation, and document review, qualitative evidence was collected of the ways in which the roles and processes of democratically engaged partnerships emerged and were enacted. Atlas.ti 6.2 was used to code and retrieve themes related to democratic and technocratic engagement, stakeholder roles and processes, and the emergence and application of roles and processes. <br>Understanding how democratically oriented roles and processes emerge and are adopted is critical to building democratically engaged partnerships that support systems of democratic engagement. If we do not know how to be democratic within our partnerships, and if we cannot teach others, we will not be able to answer the calls for more purposeful, reciprocal engagement with our communities. / School of Education / Interdisciplinary Doctoral Program for Education Leaders (IDPEL) / EdD / Dissertation

Twenty percent of Canadians do not speak English as their first language. This is the highest reported proportion of non-native English speakers to comprise Canada’s national demographic in 75 years (Statistics Canada, 2011). Factoring into Canada’s classrooms, this demographic contrasts sharply with a public school professoriate comprised mainly of white middle class females (Bascia, 1996; Cone, 2009; Cooper, 2007; Gambhir, Broad, Evans, Gaskell, 2008; Hodgkinson, 2002). The resulting gap that exists culturally and linguistically between many of Canada’s teachers and many of Canada’s most vulnerable students is cause for concern, especially in regards to the low level of achievement many ESL students experience in the classroom (Watt & Roessingh, 2001). Despite a discourse steeped in advocacy and empowerment, there is little agreement on how to most effectively prepare preservice teachers to work with diverse learners (Cochran-Smith, 2001; Ladson-Billings, 2001). There is however, a general consensus that preservice teachers need experience working with diverse populations in order to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to assist minority students to reach their full potential (Goodlad, 1990; Phillion; Malewski, Sharma & Wang, 2009). My research attempted to address these gaps by investigating how incorporating community-based learning (Dallimore, Rochefort & Simonelli, 2010) into a teacher education course informed preservice teachers’ understandings of ESL learners, their lives, and ultimately, the pedagogical approaches necessary to most effectively support them. Subjugating the needs and perspectives of community members in community-university partnerships is a criticism recycled throughout the discourse on community-based engagement (Bortolin, 2011; Giles & Cruz, 2000; Howard, 2003; Stoecker & Tryon, 2009; Vernon & Ward, 1999; Ward & Wolf-Wendel, 2000). For this reason, this research sought to pay particular attention to the principles of reciprocity in community engagement, as well as how community partners experienced the partnership. Data was collected from students, community partners, and the instructor and analyzed using a qualitative, open-coding approach to inform a holistic understanding of how all participants experienced the project, how community members could be incorporated as co-educators in a teacher education course, and how assumptions of student participants were challenged. The findings suggest a number of advantages to participants in participating in a community-based learning experience, ways to improve the design and implementation of community-based courses, and recommendations for future research. These directions include assessing and challenging existing attitudes and assumptions about ESL learners by practicing teachers by looking at projects that bring community partners and school-based practitioners together to encourage reflection on these attitudes and assumptions. / Graduate / 0530 / 0745

With the growing popularity of online communities on social media, non-profit organizations have the possibility to easily reach and communicate with the public. Furthermore, small non-profit organizations with few resources are able to use online communities, not only to market their activities but also to build a closer bond with its members. However, non-profit organizations also need community members to engage in the online communities for them to function efficiently. Many small non-profit organizations struggle with engaging their community members in their online communities. This study, therefore, aims to compare how two small non-profit organizations communicate with their community members to create member engagement. The study is a qualitative, comparative case study and is based mainly on theories concerning organizational communication, online communities, and engagement. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives from the non-profit organizations and through observations of their online communities. The study showed that non-profit organizations communicate their values by using storytelling and displaying emotions in their posts to create engagement. The study further shows that non-profit organizations communicate newsworthy and qualitative information which is of societal value to engage community members.

Many studies have focused on the societal implication of the emergence of Web 2.0. However, only a few researches have focused on the interrelationship of social media and surveillance. This thesis specifically examines the role of Facebook in community engagement on neighborhood surveillance. using a locality in Malmö municipal, Kirseberg area,  the study aimed to determine the role of the community Facebook group, its affordances, and contributions towards community engagement for neighborhood watch. Through interviews of stakeholders, observations of posts on the Kirseberg Facebook group, and a community-based participatory workshop of the residents in Kirseberg, Malmö, the study engaged 14 residents and stakeholders using data visualization as prototype artifacts to engage participants and elicit responses for data gathering. The data gathered was analysed based on thematic recognition of the study's objectives. The results indicated that many residents interact with features and tools on the Facebook group to initiate the affordances capabilities of Facebook on information relating to neighborhood surveillance.  It also noted that Facebook is a precursor and initial engagement point towards collective community action on neighborhood watch.  The thesis concludes that Facebook, as a part of the Web 2.0 platform, with strict moderation, has the inherent tools that could create affordances in different levels of interactions for the specific purpose of information, communication, engagements, and conversations towards community mobilization, building, and engagement for neighborhood watch and surveillance. The study, however, suggested further research of this phenomenon with more extensive coverage of areas in Malmö and expansion of stakeholders with an expansive methodology.

No description available.

Nationally, nearly 40% of full-time community college students drop out before the second year, and drop-out rates for part-time students are even more astounding. In 2008, nearly 60% of part-time community college students dropped out before year two. As community colleges embrace President Obama’s call for a 50% increase in completion by 2020, it is imperative that community college leaders find ways to retain and graduate students. A number of community and technical colleges utilize the Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) to quantitatively measure early campus connections. Building on the institutional early connection benchmark score, this study qualitatively describes first-year, persisting, full- and part-time students’ perceptions of early campus experiences and the role that early connections play in their decision to persist. The study employs a qualitative research approach via a single case study. Twenty-four, first-year, second semester, consecutively enrolled, full- and part-time students, who mirrored the college’s population participated in semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Findings indicate that early connections, as defined by the SENSE were not instrumental in persistence; however, a number of other factors were impactful: academic support; social influences; family support; and academic success. This study may provide information that will enhance the understanding of community college student perceptions related to factors that encourage persistence, and it may provide community colleges that operate within similar conditions, resources, and constraints with useful information as they design early connection strategies. / text

Local Law Enforcement and Immigration: Lessons and Recommendations from Police Executives (2007-2021) Tonya D. Chapman ABSTRACT The Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) authorized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to enter into memoranda of agreement with local law enforcement under section 287(g). The 287(g) program includes the Task Force Model (TFM), Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), Secure Communities (SC), the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) model and the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) Model, which authorizes specific responsibilities of immigration enforcement to local law enforcement agencies. This dissertation examines the impact of local law enforcement's participation in the various 287(g) programs from the perspective of law enforcement executives. Local law enforcement was granted the responsibility in part because Congress and local elected officials believed that immigration increased crime. However, as of 2022, little research on the nexus between crime and immigration supports that claim; nor does it support the claim that crime rates fell as a result of local law enforcement's participation in the 287(g) programs. Consistent with prior research, this dissertation finds that immigration enforcement has a "null or non-significant" effect on crime in these jurisdictions in comparison to jurisdictions that did not participate in the 287(g) programs. Moreover, this dissertation shows that law enforcement's participation in immigration enforcement led to unintended consequences, including adverse impacts on police legitimacy (trust and fear), perceived crime reporting by immigrant communities, and their community policing efforts. This research provides guidance on best practices to law enforcement in an effort to re-imagine the profession in accordance with procedural justice principles. It examines whether and how immigration enforcement has posed challenges for building trust, legitimacy, community engagement and transparency for law enforcement; looks at whether federal mandates and immigration enforcement affected the advancement of community policing and procedural justice; provides insight on lessons learned from law enforcement's perspective; and contributes to research on the immigration-crime nexus. / Doctor of Philosophy / Local Law Enforcement and Immigration: Lessons and Recommendations from Police Executives (2007-2021) Tonya D. Chapman GENERAL AUDIENCE ABSTRACT Section 287(g) under the Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) authorized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) to enter into memoranda of agreement with local law enforcement agencies to participate in immigration enforcement. Under Section 287(g), ICE implemented 5 programs, including the Task Force Model (TFM), Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), Secure Communities (SC), the Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) model, and the Warrant Service Officer (WSO) model. This dissertation examines the impact of local law enforcement's participation in the 287(g) programs, from the perspective of law enforcement executives. This dissertation shows that law enforcement's participation in immigration enforcement led to unintended consequences, including adverse impacts on police legitimacy (trust and fear), perceived crime reporting by immigrant communities, and their community policing efforts. The dissertation also finds that immigration enforcement has a "null or non-significant" effect on crime. This research provides guidance on best practices to law enforcement in an effort to re-imagine the profession in accordance with fair and impartial policing principles.

The thesis "Evangelické sítě a disent" ("Evangelical social networks and dissent") is about interconnection between evangelical people and other people from dissent. There is over represented number of evangelical signatories in Charta 77. I want to show some factors, that could cause this fact. I want to explain the way of involving Protestants in the czech dissent by historical facts from published documents, theory of weak and strong ties ba M. Granovetter, theory of new social movements and testimonies. This testimonies were acquired for the purpose of this thesis. This testimonies would help to show some special phenomenas in the ties between evangelical people and people from dissent and underground. There is part in the thesis, which is dedicated to the degree of civic engagement of evangelical people and the causes of the high degree of civic engagement of evangelical people. And there is part about situation of evangelical parsons and evangelical church itself in the seventies and eighties of the twentieth century.