While there is research pertaining to resiliency traits for people who experience natural disasters, there is little information about how these resiliency traits might help someone succeed in an academic setting. Through this study, I analyzed what kinds of qualities help students be resilient and successful academically post natural disaster. Five Louisiana State University students were selected to participate in this study and shared their narratives about their personal experiences during Katrina and how those experiences shaped their lives.

Digital storytelling is a powerful method for revitalizing literacy instruction. Past research suggested that digital storytelling activities improve students writing skills through construction of various types of stories. However, little research has investigated in what ways educators can promote students interests and actual abilities to express narrative discourse in a digital format. Recent research indicated that the use of story grammars help students develop sophisticated stories. From this perspective, Labovs story grammar emphasized two functions of good story structure: referencethe listeners (or readers) are told what happened, and evaluationthe speakers (or writers) reveal their attitude toward the events of the narrative. Meanwhile, current practitioner based research suggests that Lamberts seven elements approach of digital storytelling emerged as a practical guideline for creating effective digital stories in elementary classrooms. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of three instructional approaches: Labovs story grammar only, Lamberts seven elements only, and both instructional approaches, as scaffolding(s) for students digital storytelling. Specifically, a quantitative research design with three experimental groups and one control group, pre-test and post-test, was employed. Participants included 104 second-graders (largely from high socioeconomic status families), with 26 in each of four classrooms. Therefore, the three instructional scaffold approaches and one non-scaffold supported approach were randomly assigned to each of four classrooms respectively to support students story writing, storytelling, story design and construction using Movie Maker software. Students understanding of narrative writing was assessed before and after the implementation of the intervention. The results indicated that the instructional scaffolding positively enhanced students performance in story writing, storytelling, as well as verbal and visual expression. In particular, the story grammar scaffolding motivated students to produce coherent, more sophisticated stories. The seven elements scaffolding sparked students creative verbal and visual expressions and stimulated them to elaborate using a variety of adjectives in their digital stories. When both scaffolding approaches were implemented, students significantly outperformed the other groups on the quality of story content, story coherency and narrative knowledge. The implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

In this study, using a qualitative approach, gender non-conforming students lived experience living on campus in the south is being investigated. Trans* students remain largely invisible through college records as no data is collected consistently on their enrollment (Nicolazzo, 2016 p. 539). Although this is true of all gender non-conforming students, it is even more relevant to those that attend universities in the Southeast. Gender non-conforming students are attending universities in higher numbers than every reported before and yet, student affairs still does not have a theory that relates to these students when teaching their graduate students. The psychological literature does not yet contain identity development models for each identity that falls under the rubric transgender, but models of transsexual and butch lesbian identity development have been put forth (Levitt, H.M., Ippolioto, M.R., 2014 p. 1929). Thus, this research recommends how to help these students using Bronfenbrenners Ecological Model of Human Development.

<p> Pressure to enroll and support students who will persist to graduation has become increasingly intense. Traditional measures such as ACT and GPA do not tell a complete story; consequently, significant interest in non-cognitive factors that contribute to success has evolved. More needs to be done however, to study unique populations of students whose circumstances differ from the general student. One such population are student-athletes who face competing demands for their time and talent, thus requiring certain non-cognitive characteristics that differ from general students.</p><p> Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine non-cognitive factors that impact persistence of student-athletes at a private, Midwestern university. Using a path model, the relationship between three motivational subscales, engagement, grit and persistence were examined, and whether these factors varied by race, gender or sport.</p><p> Three instruments included in this study were the SAMSAQ, the IIR-S, and the Grit-S scale. Results revealed that the grit scale did not achieve internal consistency; therefore, analysis of this data was not discussed. The remaining factors revealed that Academic Motivation, Student-Athletic Motivation, and Engagement did not predict Persistence, but that Academic Motivation (&beta; = .33, <i>p</i> &lt; .001) and Student-Athletic Motivation (&beta; = .31, <i>p</i> &lt; .001) predicted Engagement. Career-Athletic Motivation revealed a significant negative relationship to Persistence (&beta; = -.19 <i>p</i> &lt; .001).</p><p> Eliminating all non-significant paths, step-wise analysis revealed that Engagement predicted Persistence (&beta; = .15, <i>p</i> &lt; .05) and mediated a significant indirect relationship between Academic (&beta; = .05, <i>p</i> &lt; .05) and Student-Athletic Motivation (&beta; = .05, <i>p</i> &lt; .05) and Persistence.</p><p> These results suggest that student-athletes with academic interests are more likely to engage in educationally purposeful activities that contribute to persistence, but as student-athletes become more interested in career athletics, their likelihood of persisting in a timely manner decreases. Results also revealed significant differences in Motivation and Persistence by gender, race and sport. Male and non-white student-athletes had higher Student-Athletic and Career Athletic Motivation scores and demonstrated a significant difference in their Persistence scores suggesting that student-athletes who are more interested in achieving success athletically may not persist on time, if at all.</p>

Tämä kandidaatintutkielma tarkasteli systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen muodossa kotimaista sekä ulkomaista tutkimuskirjallisuutta nuorten liikuntatottumuksista, kehonkuvasta ja itsetunnosta. Tutkielman tavoitteena oli selvittää, millainen yhteys liikunta-aktiivisuudella ja liikunnan laadulla on nuorten kehonkuvaan ja itsetuntoon. Nuoruusikä muodostaa henkisesti haastavan ajanjakson, jonka aikana nuoret joutuvat sopeutumaan lukuisiin fyysisiin ja psyykkisiin muutoksiin. Nämä muutokset, yhdistettynä länsimaiseen hoikkuutta ja kehon kauneutta korostavaan kulttuuriin ja sen aikansaamiin ulkonäköpaineisiin, koettelevat nuorten itsetuntoa ja heidän kuvaa omasta kehostaan. Samanaikainen nuorten liikunta-aktiivisuuden väheneminen tekee omalta osaltaan painonhallinnasta yhä haastavampaa ja johtaa väistämättä lihavuuden yleistymiseen. Tämän lisäksi liikunnan ilo menettää koko ajan merkitystään, samalla kun ulkonäkösyyt harrastaa liikuntaa yleistyvät. Sekä kotimaisten että ulkomaisten tutkimusten mukaan liikunta-aktiivisuudella on positiivinen yhteys nuorten kehonkuvaan ja itsetuntoon. Tämä sama ilmiö näyttäytyy sekä tyttöjen että poikien keskuudessa. Lukuisten selkeän yhteyden osoittaneiden tutkimusten pohjalta voidaan todeta, että vähintään yleisten liikuntasuositusten mukainen liikunta-aktiivisuus on omiaan tukemaan nuorten kehonkuvaa ja itsetuntoa. Tutkimusten mukaan myös liikunnan laadulla on yhteys nuorten kehonkuvaan. Urheilevat nuoret ovat keskimäärin tyytyväisempiä kehoonsa kuin ei-urheilevat nuoret.

Tutkielman lähtökohtana on selvittää valmentamisen ideologian mahdollisuuksia perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman (2014) tulkitsemisessa ja opettajan käytännön työn toteutuksessa. Yhtenä perusteluna aiheenvalinnallemme on koulun kehittämisen tarpeen ajankohtaisuus ja problematiikka. Tutkielman tavoitteena on kehittää omaa opettajuutta ja sen taustalla olevia ajatusmalleja ja asenteita. Toteutamme tutkielman aineistolähtöisenä sisällönanalyysinä käyttäen lähteinä ajankohtaista valmennusta ja opettajuutta käsittelevää kirjallisuutta ja verkkolähteitä. Yhtenä merkittävänä lähteenä tutkielmassamme on vuonna 2014 julkistettu perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelma. Ensimmäinen tutkimuskysymyksemme tarkastelee opettajuutta perusopetuksen opetussuunnitel-man (2014) pohjalta. Toisessa tutkimuskysymyksessä tarkastelemme valmentavan otteen ja tämän hetken opettajuuden yhteyksiä, sekä valmentavan otteen hyödyntämismahdollisuuksia opettajan käytännön työssä. Olemme valinneet tutkielmassamme käytettäväksi valmentavan otteen käsitteen, johon sisältyy esittelemämme valmentamisen ideologia käytäntöineen, keinoineen ja elementteineen. Perusopetuksen opetussuunitelma (2014) esittää opettajan vuorovaikutuksellisena toimijana. Opetusuunnitelmassa toistuu opettajan kuvaaminen ohjaajana, jonka tehtävänä kasvatuksellisten tavoitteiden lisäksi on edistää oppilaan oppimista oppilaslähtöisesti, itseohjautuvuutta vahvistaen. Tällaisiin tavoitteisiin pyritään vuorovaikutuksen ja monipuolisen yhteistyön keinoin, osallistaen opettajien lisäksi sekä oppilaita, vanhempia että koulun muuta henkilökuntaa. Myös valmennuksessa tuodaan esiin valmennussuhteen vuorovaikutuksellisuus. Valmennuksessa pyritään yhä enenevissä määrin yksilön lähtökohdista käsin toteutettavaan toimintaan. Myös onnistumiskeisyys ja palautteen antaminen ovat keskeisessä roolissa hyvässä valmennuksessa. Sekä valmennuksessa että opettajuudessa ja opettajan työn tämänhetkisessä kuvauksessa korostuu vuorovaikutuksellisuus. Molemmissa suunta on kohti yksilön ainutlaatuisuuden huomioivaa työskentelyotetta. Näemme valmentavan otteen tarjoavan mahdollisuuksia opettajan työn ja koulun toimintakulttuurin kehittämiseen. Mahdollisuudet ulottuvat aina opettajan omiin asenteisiin ja omasta työstä innostumiseen ja motivoitumiseen asti.

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Expressing myself in my own voice has never felt so liberating and uplifting, especially when it comes to writing in the academic world. Thanks to the Scholarly Personal Narrative (SPN) methodology of Dr. Robert Nash, I have a chance to share my voice from my perspective as a marginalized student. Neither of my parents went to college. What does this mean for me as an Asian American first-generation student? What does my background say about me, specifically as a student and generally as an individual person? What are some of the obstacles and opportunities in my journey and in my education? How do my own stories connect to others from similar backgrounds, and hopefully to others from different backgrounds as well? What do I want my readers to take away from my own learning experiences? In my thesis, I discuss my experiences as a first-generation student from my Vietnamese background. I describe in detail about my family backgrounds, some major events in my childhood, and how these changes shape who I am today. In order for me to move forward, I need to pause and rediscover my roots, my heritage, and my family's values and learn to appreciate them. I discuss my experiences of going to high school and college in the U.S. I also explain how I experience the issues of race and social class when living in the U.S. I address some of the obstacles that I face as well as the opportunities that arise throughout my journey. What have I learned from these experiences thus far? I believe that sharing my story gives me the opportunity to connect with other students, educators, and administrators in higher education. This will allow us to acknowledge some issues that students of color have and how we can work together to address these issues. Based on my experiences, I have made some recommendations for students of color, especially Asian American first-generation college students. I also have some recommendations for educators when working with this marginalized population, specifically students from underrepresented groups and students from first-generation backgrounds.

ABSTRACT Higher education institutions in the United States (U.S.) were founded for a select segment of the population, i.e. white Christian men from upper socioeconomic classes (Thelin, 2011). Research shows the policies, pedagogies, and practices created for use within majority populations and dominant cultures are not as beneficial or effective for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds. As the U.S. becomes more diverse and college enrollment among diverse students increases, higher education institutions need to identify more holistic approaches and investigate alternative methods to better serve these populations. This dissertation is a response to that need. In order to offer other alternatives, educators must acknowledge suffering in the origins of U.S. higher education and its replication of structural oppression. Institutions of higher education have recreated the wheels of suffering in U.S. society for generations by not acknowledging suffering or detailing how it affects students and employees; we are unskilled at mindfulness and lack Tiếp Hiện, which is translated as interbeing (Hanh, 2008). This research study employs the pedagogical tradition of the Zen Buddhist path and applies the practice of mindfulness and interbeing. Through critical Zen autoethnographic methodological approach, personal stories are shared and reflected on as a source for those who participate in the academy to potentially find alternative methods to heal.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students in higher education have not been a targeted demographic for sexual violence prevention and response resources, despite experiencing campus rape and sexual assault during the college years (Richardson, Armstrong, Hines, and Palm Reed, 2015; Wooten, 2014). Instead, gender normative, heterosexual women comprise the primary target of both the research on campus sexual violence as well as prevention and response resources. To challenge the traditional focus on campus sexual assault research, this study asks: what is the incidence rate of sexual violence for LGBTQ students; what are the factors or characteristics associated with the risk of sexual violence for LGBTQ students; what are the behaviors and decision-making processes of LGBTQ student survivors of sexual violence; and what are LGBTQ students perceptions of their universities regarding sexual violence response and prevention resources? The researcher obtained a sample of 526 surveys from self-identified LGBTQ college students using an online survey questionnaire distributed at four public higher education institutions in a Midwestern state during the 2015-2016 academic year. The survey questionnaire included an option for participants to submit a narrative of their experience with campus sexual violence. Analysis of the quantitative responses found that one in seven participants experienced a coercive sexual assault; one in seven participants experienced an assault while incapacitated; and one in fourteen participants experienced an assault through physical force. Notably, bisexual students and cisgender women were disproportionately victims of sexual violence in this study. Additionally, study findings revealed that campus residence and sexual orientation were predictive factors for experiencing coercive and forced sexual assaults. Preliminary analysis of the qualitative responses has found that LGBTQ students are sensitive to heterosexist themes in their sexual assault prevention curricula and may feel pessimistic about their universitys capacity to respond to all victims of sexual violence, including LGBTQ victims. The findings of this dissertation study provide much needed insight into how LGBTQ students experience sexual violence in higher education. The findings also indicate the need to shift away from traditional, and highly gendered, approaches to sexual violence prevention in higher education.