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This dissertation proposes that while traditional cognitive psychology literature suggests that cognitive function decreases with age, these decreases are dependent on the types of testing being performed. While traditional cognitive tests of memory and processing speed show declines associated with age, this research suggests these declines are not robust across all types of learning. The coming pages present four studies aimed at furthering our understanding of how different age cohorts of consumers learn about products in active and complex marketplaces. Study one reveals an age advantage associated with learning experientially; an interesting and somewhat surprising result that warrants further investigation given the rapid rate at which populations are aging. The additional studies presented here begin that investigation through the application of several psychological theories. This research explores increased vigilance associated with the security motivation system (based on the principles of evolutionary psychology), the possible impact of mortality salience through the application of Terror Management Theory and a positive correlation between age and cognitive control, as possible explanations. / Business Administration/Marketing

An urgent need exists for balance between students learning the theory of clinical practice and becoming an expert. While theory is taught in the didactic setting, it is the experiential setting where the mastery of the clinical teacher is demonstrated. What does the master clinical teacher do that makes the student's learning experience so significant? One must recognize the moment, capture the learning opportunity, and draw the student in so that learning can occur. Effective clinical teaching is paramount in creating empowered students and practitioners. This qualitative case study of a doctoral pharmacy program identified two master clinical preceptors and shadowed one in a hospital and the other in a retail pharmacy. Interactions between clinical preceptors and students were captured through direct observation, audio-tape, and complemented with in-depth interviews. Content analysis identified emerging themes yielding an emerging model of master clinical teaching, illuminating teachable moments between student and clinical preceptor, and the manner in which they interacted with each other and the clinical environment. The model highlights an approach for making the critical time on clinical rotations as effective as possible and offers a practical means to study interactions between students and preceptors, discerning those that lead to teachable moments. Features of the teachable moments are identified. Although expertise cannot be taught, current and future clinical teachers can use this study to improve their teaching and effectiveness in clinical teaching practice. The methodology of this study can be applied to future studies in the same discipline, other rotations, or other disciplines. This study augmented the literature in qualitative research in pharmacy education for clinical practice by 1) utilizing a methodology that could be used in future studies 2) identifying features of teachable moments in the interactions of clinical preceptors and students 3) exploring how the clinical preceptors dealt with the changing environment of their clinical teaching 4) offering an emerging model to guide clinical preceptors for making the critical clinical teaching time as effective as possible. Future studies could utilize this emerging model to gain further insight on clinical teaching practices thus increasing the expertise of clinical teaching. / Ph. D.

The growth in the adoption of sensing technologies in the construction industry has triggered the need for graduating construction engineering students equipped with the necessary skills for deploying the technologies. For construction engineering students to acquire technical skills for implementing sensing technologies, it is pertinent to engage them in hands-on learning with the technologies. However, limited opportunities for hands-on learning experiences on construction sites and in some cases, high upfront costs of acquiring sensing technologies are encumbrances to equipping construction engineering students with the required technical skills. Inspired by opportunities offered by mixed reality, this study presents an interactive holographic learning environment that can afford learners an experiential opportunity to acquire competencies for implementing sensing systems on construction projects. Firstly, this study explores the required competencies for deploying sensing technologies on construction projects. The current state of sensing technologies in the industry and sensing technology education in construction engineering and management programs were investigated. The learning contents of the holographic learning environment were then driven by the identified competencies. Afterwards, a learnability study was conducted with industry practitioners already adopting sensing technologies to assess the learning environment. Feedback from the learnability study was implemented to further improve the learning environment after which a usability evaluation was conducted. To investigate the pedagogical value of the learning environment in construction education, a summative evaluation was conducted with construction engineering students. This research contributes to the definition of the domain-specific skills required of the future workforce for implementing sensing technologies in the construction industry and how such skills can be developed and enhanced within a mixed reality learning environment. Through concise outline and sequential design of the user interface, this study further revealed that knowledge scaffolding can improve task performance in a holographic learning environment. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by advancing immersive experiential learning discourses previously confined by technology. It opens a new avenue for both researchers and practitioners to further investigate the opportunities offered by mixed reality for future workforce development. / Doctor of Philosophy / The construction industry is getting technically advanced and adopting various sensing technologies for improving construction project performance, reducing cost, and mitigating health and safety hazards. As a result, there is a demand in the industry for graduates that can deploy these sensing technologies on construction projects. However, for construction engineering students to acquire the skills for deploying sensing technologies, it is necessary that they are trained through hands-on interactions with these technologies. It is also imperative to take these students to construction sites for experiential learning of sensing technologies. This is difficult because most institutions often experience barriers and hindrances like weather constraints, difficulty in accessing jobsites, and schedule constraints. Also, while some institutions can afford these sensing technologies, others cannot, making it difficult to train students adequately. Due to the benefits of virtual learning environments (such as mixed reality and virtual reality), this study investigates a mixed reality (holographic) environment that can allow learners an experiential opportunity to acquire competencies for implementing sensing systems on construction projects. To achieve this, this research first investigated the required competencies such as skills, knowledge, and abilities for implementing sensing technologies on construction projects. The current state of sensing technologies in the industry and sensing technology education in construction engineering and management programs were investigated. The results from the first study in this research informed the learning contents of the learning environment. Afterwards, a learnability study was conducted with industry practitioners already adopting sensing technologies to assess the learning environment. Feedback from the learnability study was implemented to further improve the learning environment after which a usability evaluation was conducted. To investigate the pedagogical value of the learning environment in construction education, a summative evaluation was conducted with construction engineering students. The research contributes to the definition of the domain-specific skills required of the future workforce for implementing sensing technologies in the construction industry and how such skills can be developed and enhanced within a mixed reality learning environment. The design features such as the concise outline and sequential design of the user interface, further revealed that knowledge scaffolding can improve task performance in a mixed reality environment. This research further contributes to the body of knowledge by promoting immersive hands-on learning discourses previously confined by technology. It opens a new avenue for both researchers and practitioners to further investigate the opportunities offered by mixed reality for future workforce development.

The purpose of this study is to explore how racial and gender discrimination is reproduced in concrete workplace settings even when anti-discrimination policies are present, and to understand the various reactions utilized by those who commonly experience it. I have selected a particular medical center, henceforth referred to by a pseudonym, “The Bliley Medical Center” as my case study. In order to examine the gaps between the normative component instituted to regulate human behavior and the behavioral component in a workplace setting, I will employ critical race theory and feminist theories of intersectionality. The works of critics such as Delgado and Stefancic, Patricia Williams, and Patricia Hill Collins, among others, foreground the utility of storytelling as a means to 1) understand the gaps between formal policies and organizational behavior, 2) call attention to the experiential knowledge and evidence that is traditionally excluded in discrimination cases, and (3) to explain how formal anti-discrimination policies can actually be used to legitimize discrimination. Based on the results of this case study, we can conclude that an alternative interactionist, critical race, and intersectional approach is especially needed in terms of calling attention to traditionally ignored social processes that aid in the reproduction of workplace inequality in concrete workplace settings, thus expanding the current workplace discrimination scholarship. / Master of Science

The state of the economy has brought changes in the construction industry creating a more competitive employment environment in the construction industry as well as an increase in project requirements due to complexity, duration of work, fewer employees to do the work, and the type of projects being undertaken.  These changes have created an increased need for managers to possess both technical skills and also emotional competencies.  Employers are now seeking to hire individuals who exhibit emotional competencies and other soft skills, such as empathy, verbal communication and relationship building. Soft skills improve the development and maintenance of relationships among the diverse group of professionals necessary to complete projects.  With the construction industry being nomadic in nature, the ability to develop and maintain relationships can be especially important. Employers are placing more emphasis on these soft skills when evaluating potential hires and starting salaries. With these changes comes the realization that students seeking to gain employment in the industry need to have a competitive edge.  While soft skills are critical for students graduating from construction focused programs, opportunities to learn and enhance these skills are not always available within the curriculum. The majority of students graduating from college programs today are part of a generation referred to as Millennials"a generation differing greatly from those that have come before them. For Millennials to gain a competitive edge and maximize employment opportunities, they must first have an understanding of what the industry perceives students need to be successful in the industry.  Program curriculums must also find a way to produce students that offer more than just technical knowledge to employers.  This is not always possible within existing programs trying to meet the demands of accreditation requirements within the credit hours required.  One option construction focused programs could consider to incorporate opportunities for students to gain a competitive edge would be through the mandatory participation of a structured internship experience. This research sought to address these issues and offer insight into what characteristics industry felt were necessary for student success.  The work also sought to establish whether students had an understanding of these characteristics and whether they felt they were strong or deficient in these areas.  The research also identified the role internships played in current accredited construction focused programs and whether student participation in internships had an impact on their understanding of the characteristics required to be successful in the construction industry. / Ph. D.

The average age of principal farm operators rose from 50.3 years in 1978, to 57.1 years in 2007, as farmers retire and new farmers do not enter farming (NASS, 2013).With declining numbers of entrants into farming, agricultural educators and service providers must better understand strategies for effectively preparing beginning farmers. On-farm apprenticeships in the U.S. show promise as a means to prepare farmers and are increasing in number (Niewolny and Lillard, 2010). Lave (1988) writes 'knowledge-in-practice, constituted in the settings of practice, is the locus of the most powerful knowledgeability of people in the lived-in world' (p. 14). Thus, farming, as a complex set of interwoven skills, is best learned in situ, as situated learning. On-farm apprenticeships therefore may allow learners to construct knowledge in context, and build identities as farmers. In this thesis, I share findings from a mixed methods study that explored what kinds of on-farm apprenticeships are available, and to whom; and important educational practices, structures, and institutions that support on-farm apprenticeship learning. This study comprises data from a survey (N=45) of Virginia farmers who host apprentices, and interviews (N=12) with farmers and on-farm apprentices. Findings describe who undertakes on-farm apprenticeships, and suggest that apprentices develop expert identities through situated learning with farmers. Findings describe how farmers participate as educators, and how farms function as sites of situated learning. This study also found that on-farm apprenticeships are embedded within alternative food movements, with social reproduction potentially occurring. I also explore broader implications for preparing beginning farmers. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

This interview study investigates the embodied experiences of adult educators, exploring how they perceive and utilize bodily knowledge in their instructional practice. Through interviews and observations with five adult educators, the study highlights challenges in articulating the role of physical experiences in teaching. The study reveals four major themes: (a) participants perceive or approach instruction as a performance, engaging with various performance tools like voice, sound, proximity, and posture to impact content delivery and classroom management; (b) bodily knowledge informs the educator's improvisational skills as they receive sensory input and adapt to student and environmental cues during teaching; (c) while recognizing the importance of bodily knowledge, participants struggle to articulate and connect their physical experiences to instructional practice despite training in embodied learning and pedagogy; and (d) participants often prioritize tasks and student needs over attending to their bodily sensations during instruction. The study challenges assumptions about educators' identities. It underscores the complexity of integrating bodily knowing into teaching practice, advocating for further research into the embodied experiences of adult educators across diverse contexts. Recommendations include developing healthy physical habits and recognizing the 'felt sense' to enhance instructional effectiveness. Methodological suggestions advocate prioritizing bodily knowledge observed through movement and action and exploring movement analysis techniques. This study contributes to the evolving field of embodied education research and emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and leveraging the embodied aspects of teaching practice.