The online consumer engagement is becoming very significant for companies striving to build their relationship with their consumers. Social media gives an opportunity not only to reach consumers in a passive way, but to engage them in active communication and to upload content that is consequently updated and drawing followers´ attention. Successful online consumer engagement can improve consumers’ loyalty and trust in the brand. Therefore, it is important for a company to be aware of actions that can encourage consumer engagement on social media. The goal of this study is to help marketers achieve higher consumer engagement that will consequently lead to more loyal customers.

A student response system is a technology that allows an entire classroom of students to respond to questions and receive immediate feedback from teachers during instruction. However, little research has examined the use of student response systems to support student behavior in elementary schools. This study focused on using an electronic student response system to improve class-wide behavior in two general elementary school classrooms. An ABAB and ABA reversal designs embedded within a multiple baseline design across classrooms was employed to evaluate the outcome of the intervention. Although limited, the results indicated that the classroom teachers implemented the electronic student response system with fidelity, and their implementation of the intervention resulted in reduced disruption and increased academic engagement. Social validity data indicated that the electronic response system intervention was acceptable to both teachers and students to some degree.

This study examines the Hispanic Scholarship Consortium (HSC), a scholarship program in Central Texas that serves Hispanic college students. This study analyses trends in awarding and persisting with the program. A better understanding of what influences persistence rates can help scholarship programs in implementing policies to increase college completion rates. The findings can assist programs identify needed changes to improve scholarship application and award processes. These results can also help programs assist scholars during their college careers by identifying at-risk students early on and developing supportive practices to promote student persistence. Additionally, scholarship organizations can utilize metrics to identify long-term trends among their scholarship recipients for ongoing program evaluation and enhancement. This mixed method study utilizes both quantitative and qualitative research methods by analyzing student focus group data along with HSC program data. Quantitative analysis is used to determine predictors of persistence in the HSC program. The qualitative analysis results are used to find themes regarding students’ perception of HSC offerings. The study focuses on college students who receive scholarships from the HSC. It examines the relationship between persistence in HSC with student factors such as high school and college grade point average (GPA), gender, college major, college type, first generation status, low-income status, citizenship, high school graduates from schools with more than 35% free and reduced lunch (F&RL) population, and scholarship award amount. Additionally, it examines the relationship between scholarship award amount and student factors. Ultimately, this study provides insights for best practices in scholarship programs. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of scholarship programs and their potential for influencing persistence and college graduation rates. The knowledge gained should not only benefit HSC, but also provide recommendations for other scholarship programs and possibly a state supported initiative. / text

This study investigates the relationship of student engagement with the design of structured group learning experiences (SGLEs) implemented by increasing numbers of community colleges. Using data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) and the Community College Institutional Survey (CCIS), I employ Vygotsky's activity systems theory as a framework for interpreting the results of hierarchical linear models where student engagement measures are outcome variables, and the several covariates selected in terms of SGLEs as a social activity system. The results provide evidence that, among 24 different curricular elements of SGLEs, engagement is positively related to only a few of them, in particular co-curricular and community activities (campus or community service project(s), participation in campus activities/events outside the classroom, and service learning). There was limited evidence that engagement is related to duration and intensity of the programs; instead the evidence suggests that the people involved, both the personnel that teach and facilitate the programs, and the characteristics of the student participants, matter most to engagement. Even as this study provides the first views of the contours of student engagement within high-impact practices on a national scale, it also suggests that what may be important for engagement is that the programs bring people together for a purposeful experience at all. The results suggest the need for increased attention to co-curricular and community activities and professional development by practitioners; and for research, they propose hypotheses for further research such as the relative import of participation vis-à-vis program design, and they suggest new conceptual approaches to the study of high-impact practices generally. / text

Before entering school, children begin their science learning with their parents at home. This study proposes that parents' beliefs and actions regarding science shape their children's knowledge and skills that they then bring to school. Studying parents' beliefs about and practices with their children within the topic area of science provided insight into their influence in helping their children make sense of the world. Therefore, the purpose of this study aimed to investigate parents' beliefs about children's science learning and their actions in facilitating their children's science learning when they visited a science museum from socio-cultural perspectives. To investigate this, a qualitative case study examining nine Taiwanese parents of kindergarteners was conducted. The study was conducted in two parts. Data sources included field notes, parent interviews, and documents such as pictures of the equipment these parents bought for their children. First, through interviews with parents, their beliefs about their children's science learning were identified and examined. Four parts including parents' gendered science beliefs, parents' perceived importance of science learning, parents' beliefs about how science learning should proceed, and parents' beliefs about their engagement in science learning were found. Part two of the study examined how these nine parents' beliefs guided them in making decisions when they interacted with their children in a science museum through observations and follow-up interviews. In most cases, parents' beliefs appeared to be important resources for helping them find a proper way to interact with their children. Three issues including the person who took the lead at the family visits, the quantity of parents' intervention, and the scaffolding strategies these parents employed were found in their interactions with their children. Parents were aware of why they behaved in particular ways: because of their beliefs. Based on the findings, the researcher suggested that parents' beliefs were an important mechanism for influencing children's science learning. A seemingly simple behavior, such as letting children explore one object longer than others, might reflect what was recognized as important in their beliefs. Lastly, the implications for early childhood educators, parents of young children, and future research were provided. / text

This paper analyzes a contentious road-building project by elucidating the different values involved and articulated in the decision-making process, delineating the various networks of institutions, individuals, organizations and materials formed around these values, and describing the outcome of the conflict as a function of the interactions between and among these networks. The project in question is the South Lawrence Trafficway, a section of Kansas Highway 10 (K-10) intended to route traffic south around the City of Lawrence, as opposed to its current alignment through the local streets of the city. This particular project has been contested for decades, primarily because of the historical, cultural and environmental values placed on the land through which the road is routed, known as the Wakarusa Wetlands, Baker Wetlands, or Haskell/Baker Wetlands. The analysis focuses on moments of value articulation- critical points during the conflict during which actors and networks of actors express their values with the intent of affecting the outcome of the decision. This paper’s analysis of the conflict draws on Henrik Ernstson’s framework for studying environmental justice and ecological complexity in urban landscapes, along with research on place meaning and desired outcomes for land-use decisions and natural resources planning efforts. The report will examine the decision-making process behind the proposal and approval of the South Lawrence Trafficway, taking into consideration the various institutional and individual actors (and networks of actors) involved, the positions, motivations and strategies of these actors, and the documents used in arguments for either side (maps, documents, court decisions, reports, etc.). The paper begins with an introduction, which includes a condensed summary and chronology of the South Lawrence Trafficway project. Literature review and research design sections follow. The next chapter discusses the actors, networks, values and materials involved in the conflict, as well as the legislative and institutional context within which the conflict occurs. The paper concludes with a summary of findings, and the proposal of future research questions. / text

As online learning becomes more popular, higher education is becoming more interested in this new medium of learning. However, attrition has become a developing problem for colleges and universities that offer online classes, as some students found it was difficult to stay engaged in their online courses. From the literature, it was hypothesized that instructional designs that incorporate collaborative activities will lead to higher perceived engagement levels than those that incorporate individualistic learning. An exploratory study used a self-report survey instrument to measure students' perception of level of engagement in six graduate-level online classes (n=66). Half of the courses in the study integrated formal collaborative activities as a significant component of the course and half represented learning environments characterized by whole group and individualistic learning. The results showed a significant positive relationship between classes that used collaborative activities and engagement levels. However, the coded responses of the participants showed that while classes that use such activities had higher levels of engagement, it is possible that this may be attributable to other factors external to the formal elements of collaboration in the course. Recommendations are offered for future research that may help identify the elements that contribute to engagement in online courses. / text

Academic service learning has grown in popularity at colleges and universities as a way to address social issues using study, reciprocity, and reflection. While the merits of service learning are well documented, gaps in the literature indicate a need for further development of pedagogical models, qualitative research about students' lived experiences, and research focused on community partners. This dissertation presents an interdisciplinary model for implementing academic service learning in social work education, in-depth understandings of student experiences in a service learning course, and insight into the experiences and perceived benefits of community partners. The first article presents a 3-component service learning model that capitalizes on the structure of a university-community partnership, mobilizes interdisciplinary teams of students for community-identified projects, and integrates student, community and faculty reflection on complex social structures. Article 2 offers a phenomenological analysis of 17 blogs written by service learning students working in a rural town through their blogs. The findings of this study suggest that the reflexive aspect of blogging fits well with the service learning principle of reflection, and reveals the students' emotive experience over the course of the semester. Additionally, blogging demonstrates the attributes of service learning pedagogy to support the acquisition of knowledge and understanding of complex problems in a real life setting not attainable solely in a classroom setting or through traditional classroom tools, such as exams and papers. Article 3 consists of a phenomenological analysis of interviews with 9 community partners, a combination of agency employees and active citizens that worked with a network of service learning classes in a rural Southern town. The findings support the contribution of service learning to communities, the importance of investing in reciprocal relationships, and the value added of including community partners who are members of informal networks and civically active residents. The research presented in this dissertation informs the growing popularity of service learning in social work with findings that demonstrate a useful implementation model, highly meaningful transformative impact on students, the resilience of the community to challenges of hosting service learning, and the invaluable fostering of inspiration and hope in the community-university relationship. / text

Fantasies are defined as byproducts of human imagination and mental activities to internalize unusual external objective stimulus. In the literature, utilization of fantasy in educational settings promoted intellectual and emotional improvements. However, the research implications from these fantasy research studies are mostly limited to traditional game design and classroom teaching. There are two research purposes in this study. The first is to examine how different types of fantasy and student fantasy proneness influence science learning, factual information acquisition, and game engagement in a 3D educational game environment called “Alien Rescue.” To accomplish this purpose, this research investigated the effects of fantasy type and fantasy proneness on science learning, factual information of alien characters, and game engagement. The second purpose of this study is to investigate student’s perception of the varying types of fantasy. To accomplish the second purpose of the study, this research inquired how student identified each type of fantasy and related his or her past experience to the embodied characteristics in alien characters. The participants of the study were 103 students who used Alien Rescue in four classes as their science curriculum for 10 days. The students in two classes were assigned to a treatment group using models with portrayal fantasy and the students in two classes were assigned to the other treatment group using models with creative fantasy. Employing mixed methods, this study analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data such as surveys and student interviews. The results in the quantitative part of the study showed that portrayal fantasy was effective for science learning, alien information acquisition, and game engagement. Specifically, the students who used portrayal fantasy models showed higher improvement of science knowledge and scored better on both alien information acquisition and game engagement. High fantasy proneness group also showed better game engagement. The finding with qualitative data showed that the students pointed out eight elements in identifying 3D fantasy objects, and those elements were relevant to the design elements that the researcher included in the 3D modeling procedure. The students also showed a perception pattern that they understood 3D game characters based upon previous experience regardless of fantasy type. The findings suggested that portrayal fantasy was effective in enhancing content learning, factual information acquisition, and engagement in educational games because the familiarity of the fantasy elements makes the identification of the fantasy characters easier and faster. However, too deep involvement in fantasy resulted in ineffective and inefficient learning outcomes. The findings also suggested that eight components of 3D models were essential elements in identifying fantasy game characters by learners as well as designing the 3D characters by game designers. / text

This multimedia dissertation, situated in Rhetoric and Composition, Digital Media Studies, and Civic Engagement, articulates a sustainable, agile approach to “wicked problems.” These complex, definition-resistant, interlocking problems (such as racism or climate change) aren’t ultimately solvable; rather than wicked problems being “acted upon,” they can only be creatively and rigorously “responded to” by networks of committed individuals and institutions. This dissertation posits that a wicked problem necessitates a “wicked response”: a sustained, emergent, and fluid strategy that focuses on changing relationships – to people, to space, and to knowledge. In order, to make this argument, I present the case of Mart, a small, formerly prosperous town in East Texas that has been in decline over the last half of a century. Throughout this dissertation, I analyze the ongoing efforts of the Mart Community Project (MCP), a cohort of Mart residents, international artists, and students and instructors from a variety of departments at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the past two years, the MCP has engaged in over twenty-five discrete projects, all with the aim of helping the Mart Community reimagine itself in the face of its primary wicked problem: a lack of civic cohesion. In the first chapter I explore how language fails to define or describe a wicked problem, yet is still necessary in order to transform it. I illustrate this contradiction in part through the Chambless Field mural, a successful MCP community arts project that by “writing community” became a productive response. My second chapter examines service learning and demonstrates how university/community partnerships and “participatory engagement” can be part of a nuanced approach to a wicked problem. Using the work of UT students in design-oriented and civic engagement classes, I demonstrate in the third chapter how “mapping” can be both a savvy pedagogical tool and a key element in reinventing the relationships of people to space and to one another. This dissertation offers up these diverse strategies with the sincere hope that the particulars of the MCP’s wicked response might be productively generalized to aid others participating in similarly challenging civic engagement work on wicked problems.