Online education has received excessive attention in recent decades as its characteristics and potential have undergone intense debate and scrutiny. Similar debate and scrutiny surround the content of first-year composition (FYC) courses. As we continue to define what composition studies entails, we redefine what we study in FYC. Yet discussions of blended delivery mode---using both online and on-ground teaching methods---get lost amid these debates. This dissertation addresses the dearth of research on blended online writing instruction by asserting the essential nature of connections between the content and the delivery of FYC courses. Through case studies of two experienced instructors teaching FYC in a blended environment for the first time, this dissertation evaluates the composition--both as a noun and as a verb-of FYC courses in light of the technology involved. Through an analysis of interviews with instructors, students, and faculty involved with FYC, I highlight the points of contact--the interfaces-that themselves create the experience of a class. This analysis applies interface theory from rhetoric and composition to the pedagogical acts of teaching FYC and reveals how attention to classroom interfaces can benefit our pedagogy. This project also incorporates student performance data (in the form of portfolio evaluations), student perception data (in the form of surveys), and comparative institutional data (in the form of website analysis) to better understand the varied causes, effects, and implementations of blended learning. By looking outside the classroom environment, I show how schools influence the way blended courses are perceived by those who create them. The differences in student and instructor expectations for this kind of class emerged as particularly influential in determining how successful a blended course can be. The perspective taken by an instructor in terms of experience and expertise also emerged as a significant determinant of perceived success, particularly for instructors themselves. This dissertation reveals the delicate balance instructors must navigate between relying on expertise in the field and exploring the course delivery as a novice. This balance allows instructors to be responsive, flexible, and dynamic in their classes while also assisting students in their efforts to better understand FYC course content. Overall, this dissertation defines and advocates for a hybrid approach to FYC instruction as an essential evolution of our pedagogical praxis. Students lead increasingly hybrid lives and learn in increasingly hybrid ways. Instructors must adopt hybridity in their classes to accommodate not only students' changing learning styles but also the changing nature of composition as a field and writing as its subject matter. And finally, institutions must consistently define and implement principles of hybridity to help reduce confusion and frustration across the disciplines. Suggestions for educators and institutions alike are provided to help meet the needs of today's students.

The purpose of this research study was to examine the current use of clinical practice by full-time occupational therapy faculty members. Clinical practice, including faculty clinical practice and moonlighting were addressed. The seven research questions addressed were: (a) the perceived benefits of clinical practice as identified by occupational therapy faculty members; (b) the perceived barriers to clinical practice as identified by occupational therapy faculty; (c) if perceived benefits and barriers of clinical practice as identified by occupational therapy faculty differ as a function of their academic institution's Carnegie Classification (The Carnegie Foundation, 2000); (d) if perceived benefits and barriers of clinical practice differ among respondents according to tenure at the institution, tenure status, doctoral degree, rank, administrative duties, and gender; (e) the incidence of clinical practice in occupational therapy faculty members; (f) the relationship between participation in clinical practice and the Carnegie classification of the occupational therapy member's academic institution; (g) the characteristics (tenure status, doctoral degree, rank, administrative duties, and gender) of faculty members that participate in clinical practice either within or outside the faculty role; and (h) the characteristics of clinical practice as described by faculty members and how these differed if the clinical practice is conducted as part of the faculty role or outside the faculty role. Data were collected using an on-line survey that contained 43 questions designed to elicit information that addressed the research questions. The surveys were electronically mailed to the population of full-time occupational therapy faculty members obtained from a search of each academic program's website. A total of 224 responses were obtained. Descriptive statistics, ANOVAs, and Chi Square Test of Associations were used to analyze the data for the independent variables. The results showed that 60 respondents indicated that they participated in some type of faculty clinical practice as part of their faculty role. Most of this work was in a facility that was associated with the academic institution. Most of these respondents were not tenured, did not have a doctoral degree, and did not participate in administrative tasks. Most of these respondents worked in Doctoral-Extensive universities and held the Assistant Professor rank. Most worked two to four hours per week and did not receive release time or financial benefits. There were 99 respondents that indicated that they participated in moonlighting in a wide variety of settings. Most worked in their area of clinical expertise. Most of these respondents were not tenured and did not participate in administrative tasks. Only 37% had a doctoral degree. Over half had the rank of Assistant Professor. Almost 42% worked in Masters I academic institutions. Most worked less than 2 hours per week outside the faculty role and they received full financial benefits. The top three benefits for participating in clinical practice were to maintain clinical skills, enhance teaching, and improve credibility with students. The top three barriers for participating in clinical practice were teaching responsibilities, not a component in tenure decisions, and the additional responsibilities of practice. There were no statistically significant differences between the benefits or barriers to clinical practice and the Carnegie Classification of the respondent's academic institution. One ANOVA was significant between the barriers to clinical practice and if the respondent had a doctoral degree. There were no statistically significant differences between the benefits or barriers and tenure at the institution, the respondent's tenure status, the respondent's degree status, faculty rank, administrative duties, and gender except the respondents that had a doctoral degree had significantly higher barrier scores than those that did not have a doctoral degree. In general, less than five percent of the variance was explained by any of the independent variables. None of the Chi Square analyses revealed any significant differences between the academic institution's Carnegie Classification and if clinical practice was required, if a faculty participated in faculty clinical practice, or if a faculty member participated in moonlighting. In conclusion, although many faculty members recognize the benefits to participation in clinical practice, the barriers to clinical practice may be too great to outweigh the benefits for some faculty members. Most reported that clinical practice carried little weight in promotion or tenure decisions. In order for the scholarship of practice to flourish, active support from all academic institution administration is critical.

This paper reports the results of a two-phase study examining the effectiveness of a set of five online learning modules in increasing student understanding of information literacy topics. The modules were deployed within the foundational class of an online Master of Library Science program. Using Qualtrics-based surveys, Phase 1 assessed 15 students for their possible knowledge gains as well as their perceptions of their experiences with the instructional content. Through a combination of statistical and qualitative analysis, the researchers found modest knowledge gains as well as positive student perceptions of their instruction. Based upon the moderate success of Phase 1, the online learning modules were retained in subsequent offerings of the course. Three years after the Phase 1 study, a Phase 2 study was conducted with 30 students over two semesters to examine student knowledge and perception changes possibly occurring after utilization of the modules. Through the analysis of student reflection writings, the researchers found that all students presented with a minimum desired level of competency postinstruction. Furthermore, the researchers found that knowledge gains were reported primarily within the area of information search strategies. Findings suggest that online learning modules on information literacy topics can be a welcome addition to the first course in a Master of Library Science program sequence and can help instill confidence in new students who are studying to become library science professionals.

Over the last two decades there has been heightened interest in redefining faculty scholarship in higher education (Boyer, 1990). Trends have included the development of cultural frameworks for understanding how disciplines and institutions influence faculty work and how socialization processes impact academic career development. Despite the fact that the number of occupational therapy practitioners who have pursued doctoral training in pursuit of an academic career has failed to keep up with the need for qualified faculty, academic interest in developing disciplinary scholars to build the knowledge base of professional practice has been slow to develop. Furthermore, leadership interest in guiding the development of future faculty by studying how current occupational therapy faculty members are developing as scholars has been limited (AOTA, 2003). The purpose of this study was to develop a framework for describing scholarship in occupational therapy faculty members. A theoretically grounded case study design guided the selection of two occupational therapy departments, representing both a research university and a master’s college. Narrative data from occupational therapy faculty members in these institutions provided in-depth perceptions of how faculty members in diverse institutional settings develop a professional identity. Rich understandings of how clinical and academic socialization processes converge as faculty members in academic departments integrate competing influences from the academic culture, the institutional culture, and the professional culture to prioritize faculty work roles. The study revealed that although occupational therapy departments are succeeding within their institutional contexts, personal faculty priorities as clinicianteachers and institutional missions that create an imbalance in roles that favor teaching, continue to disadvantage certain faculty sub-cultures from evolving as disciplinary scholars. The implications of the failure of occupational therapy faculty members to adapt the researcher role as part of a professional identity include barriers to the development of disciplinary knowledge to support practice, and to the development of successful faculty careers that can be advanced in any institutional environment. The study identified a critical role for program leadership to act as change agents within departmental cultures to balance the need for productive disciplinary scholars, as well as effective clinician-teachers.

<p dir="ltr">Title IX is a law for federally funded educational institutions created to prevent discrimination based on sex. While Title IX has been helpful in some respects, there are still astronomically high rates of sexual violence on college campuses - despite ongoing and/or required sexual violence education programs for first year students. Unfortunately, the current state of educational programming around Title IX or sexual violence issues on US college and university campuses is focused almost solely on prevention – with very little if any education about what the Title IX process is for reporting acts of violence. The educational program developed here aims to close the gap of knowledge and give college students a reasonable expectation of the standard procedures and processes; and provide resources through an in-person presentation.</p>

Teaching and learning online is an increasingly important aspect of higher education, especially post-Covid-19. Previous studies have shown a relationship between Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and teaching efficacy and teaching efficacy and student success. However, the contextual factors impacting TPACK have not been adequately explored. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if the contextual factor of institutional culture impacts TPACK among online higher education faculty at institutions in the Southeastern United States as well as to what extent specific dimensions of institutional culture effect TPACK levels. Data were collected using an anonymous online survey that was shared with potential participants through email and social media. Data were analyzed through SPSS software using a multiple linear regression model to determine significance between the independent variables, the seven dimensions of institutional culture, and the dependent variable, TPACK. Results indicated that there is no significant relationship between overall institutional culture and TPACK. However, significance was found between two individual elements of institutional culture, 1) collaboration and team learning and 2) connection between the organization and its environment, and TPACK. These findings indicate that higher education administrators should focus efforts creating opportunities for faculty to engage in professional development opportunities and move beyond siloed work to more collaborative projects. Administrators should also ensure that the institution is connected to the local, regional, and global community through aligned institutional goals with the needs of the community and establishing opportunities for faculty to connect globally. Future research should be conducted to confirm the findings in this study and should continue to explore the relationship between the varied aspects of institutional culture and the complex elements that constitute quality online teaching.

Heterogeneity in the school education quality plays an important role for those who want to pursue a bachelor's degree in Peru since access to higher education is highly correlated with socioeconomic status. In that sense, an intervention for disadvantaged students took place for the first time in 2022 and was constrained to the assessment of a scholarship called “Beca 18”, the biggest scholarship that the public institution called PRONABEC addresses every year since 2012. The intervention included additional tools for a group of applicants: (i) full-time online classes for 2 to 4 months; (ii) an electronic device with an internet connection; and (iii) the admission exam payment fully covered up to 2 times. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention in increasing the likelihood of the treated to access higher education through the 2022 “Beca 18” scholarship process. As the treatment was not randomly assigned, a control group was estimated using the Propensity Score Matching methodology based on individual characteristics. Results showed that there is no statistically significant effect of the intervention in the treated applicants and invite to re-evaluate its design and implementation.

This qualitative study sought to understand community college faculty’s perceptions of and experiences with culturally responsive teaching. Participants were full- and part-time faculty currently employed at community colleges in the Southeastern United States and purposefully selected to provide information-rich data. Data collected from the semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants were coded and thematically analyzed. Emerging themes included faculty’s inclusion of varied categories of cultural diversity when describing students; limited knowledge related to culturally responsive teaching; perception that culturally responsive teaching is centered on connecting and building relationships with students; belief in the value of providing students exposure to different cultures; perception that culturally responsive teaching increases students’ employability; perception of numerous challenges with the implementation of culturally responsive teaching; identification of current strategies they believed reflected culturally responsive teaching practice; recognition of the need for more professional development related to culturally responsive teaching; desire for professional development experiences with practical strategies; and identification of the challenges related to professional development. The findings may inform community colleges’ implementation of culturally responsive teaching and related professional development, as well indicate areas where more research about culturally responsive teaching in community colleges is needed.

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