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Epiphany 3 Series B 2018
No full textThis PDF comments on the Propers for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Series B and offers ideas for proclamation and preaching
Exploring Perceptions of Advanced Online Faculty Professional Development Needs: A Case Study
No full textOver the last 10 years, funding for higher education has steadily declined. Illinois public institutions had to make many adjustments, particularly because higher education funds were cut by 50% in some cases, and on-campus enrollments declined by as much as 25%. Despite these issues, institutions with online enrollments sustained steady enrollment. The goal of this qualitative, descriptive, single case study was to examine the types of training participated in by online faculty, what training they perceive they need, and to inquire if they perceive their feedback is incorporated into PD offerings. Data collection consisted of a PD observation, survey, and/or interview. When faculties are advanced, according to this study, they still wish to learn new things and grow in their capacity as online instructors. In addition to their attendance at in-service PD, these faculty frequently schedule one-on-one sessions for help. Faculty also embrace the opportunity to gather with their peers informally; specifically, communities of practice are becoming common. These communities promote connectivity over shared interests or challenges and provide a social network for learning through shared experiences, success, and best practices. Faculty have specialized needs, and have many varied factors that influence their online teaching knowledge and ability that can be supported by customized institutional PD offerings
Marion County, Oregon Integration of School Emergency Preparedness
No full textCollaboration between schools and emergency managers is paramount in addressing the whole community approach to emergency management for increasing preparedness (FEMA, 2011). As every disaster is local, a unified and collaborative approach should be taken to ensure schools are not a hindrance but rather an asset for preparedness, response and recovery efforts. Schools must have ownership and accountability for ensuring they are prepared for emergencies. Additionally, local emergency management agencies with their capabilities, capacity and knowledge must take action in response to the opportunity to build partnerships and expanded their efforts to create a resilient community
Examining the Relationship Between CBI Methods and Student Academic Achievement Scores in Higher Education
No full textThe international tertiary community continues to experience a substantial growth in ESL students, which represent a significant portion of total enrollment. To meet this demand for bilingual education EAP (English for Academic Purpose) programs such as CBI (content-based instruction) curriculum have been widely adopted as the preferred pedagogical approach to address this growing trend in higher education. Despite this popularity, there is a lack of longitudinal research on the efficacy of CBI courses, that link this approach to sustained improvement on student academic achievement scores. This study incorporates a mixed- methods design that investigates the academic performance of two sample groups over a three- year (2014-2016) period, by using ex post facto academic GPA scores. The quasi-experimental sample is compared to the control group after receiving the CBI intervention in the second semester of the participants 2014 freshmen year. The findings suggest a positive sustained relationship between CBI curriculum and increased academic performance post intervention. Additionally, a survey and semi structured interviews were conducted on students and faculty to evaluate perceptions of CBI’s efficacy to promote enhanced L2 proficiency and improved long- term academic achievement scores. The results of this effort support the quantitative analysis, and indicate the majority of participants strongly consider CBI methods as a suitable pedagogical technique, to acquire language and content knowledge while enhancing long-term academic performance. This study was unique because it investigated the longitudinal impact of CBI methods on student performance in Mainland China. This research may inform future practitioners, administrators, and policy makers when developing ESL programs in the higher education environment
Teaching Middle School Children Affected by Homelessness: An Interpretive Phenomenological Investigation of Teachers’ Lived Experiences
No full textThe human experience occupies the central role in phenomenological research. In this interpretive phenomenological study, the researcher recruited and interviewed secondary school teachers from three public urban schools in the Pacific Northwest in order to have them describe their lived experiences that relate to instructing students affected by homelessness. The researcher used two semi-structured, conversational interviews with six participants who reflected on how their classroom experiences influenced their teaching, engagement strategies, emotional states, and student relationships. The conceptual framework for this study included: Homelessness in America, public school setting, impact of homelessness, and teacher perspective. In this study, the researcher identified gaps in pre-service teacher programs with regard to support the marginalized population of students affected by the homeless experience. The essence of the lived experience of the participants’ in this study is centered around a teachers’ drive to seek introspective reflection and gain knowledge, along with building positive relationships with their students, which leads to increasing engagement strategies with all students, including those affected with homelessness. Based on discovering the essence of the lived experience of educators who work with homeless adolescents in a public school, the researcher has begun to fill in the missing gap of literature and potentially assist educators to be more effective in supporting this marginalized population of students
Leadership Styles in an Online Higher Education Setting: A Phenomenological Study of Online Professional Learning Communities
No full textThe world of online higher education is still in its infancy. This provides the opportunity for universities to create environments where online adjunct faculty acknowledges a sense of belonging and collaboration working with leaders who inspire, support, and mentor. Leaders, who truly listen, are open and honest. Support will inspire online adjunct faculty to deliver a high caliber of instruction to students. In this study, leadership styles and working in collaboration within a virtual environment were investigated using a qualitative, phenomenological study design. Adult learners in leadership capacities in online higher education described their lived experiences in working with online adjunct faculty in professional learning communities (PLCs). Results revealed that treating online adjunct faculty as professionals, having a support system, building relationships and community, a leader’s values/qualities, a leader’s professional skills/styles, collaborative climate, and challenges to collaboration are the themes present in this study. Conclusions from this study support the idea of collaboration as being instrumental to allow online adjunct faculty to be supported in an online environment led by collaborative leaders
Employee Longevity in Difficult Environments
No full textWorker tenure in this country averages 4.5 years (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Stressful work environments cause loss productivity and profitability to companies and a diminished well-being and ill health to employees. Why, then, do some employees remain working in difficult environments despite the dangers to health? This phenomenological study researches reasons employees continued to work for longer than five years in difficult environments. Discussed are impacts of difficult environments on employees and the negative health repercussions experienced. These negative effects are also experienced in organizations through turnover, lower productivity, and reduced profitability. This study incorporates factors of toxic environments on well-being, the effect of corporate culture on employees, the change in employee vision of the workplace and the idea of free agents, generations in the workplace, and Systems Thinking. Elements of the Person-Environment Fit Theory were used to build the foundation and analyze the data.
The research identified three industries considered difficult in which to work – outdoor work, manufacturing, and restaurant. The phenomenological study analyzes the responses of 25 participants employed at ten different companies deemed difficult workplaces and seeks to determine why they remained in those workplaces for longer than five years. Industries represented included two companies in the outdoor work category, three companies in the manufacturing category, and five restaurants
Music Educators Who Take the Lead: A Phenomenological Study of School Leaders With Formal Backgrounds in Music and Experience as Music Educators
No full textThis dissertation contributes to the scholarly conversation on the effects that leaders and leadership models have on educational organizations and how to cultivate a diverse pool of educational leaders within a complex educational landscape. The researcher developed a three-tiered conceptual framework related to: (a) the components of effective school leadership, (b) musicians and their capacity to lead, and (c) the developmental stages of teacher-to-leader transitions. Using an approach rooted in hermeneutic-interpretive phenomenology, the researcher led seven participants—each music educators who became educational administrators—through a series of semistructured interviews to reflect upon their lived experiences during their pathway to leadership, connecting their roles as musicians, music students, educators, and lifelong learners to their self-professed understandings of the qualities and practices that lead to successful school leadership. Findings revealed a participant transition to leadership marked by a dynamic, nonlinear continuum toward the formation of leader identity and the practice of educational leadership, and centered on the discovery of three overarching thematic strands—competencies, relationships, and values related to change action—that highlighted the participants composite utilization of: (a) a range of observable, well-exercised leadership competencies, (b) productive, nurturing, and reciprocal relationships with a wide variety of educational stakeholders, and (c) idealistic individual and community values to guide transformative change. Findings support the development of leader capacity through a shared leadership model, the management of unintentional organizational impediments to the recruitment, training, and selection of effective educational leaders, and further research on unique teacher reference groups and their relationship to effective educational leadership
Teachers Experience With Latino Academic Underperformance: A Qualitative Case Study
No full textTeachers who instruct Latino students face many instructional challenges. Latino students must learn a new language as well as grasp grade level content. Along with learning a new language, they struggle with not having enough background knowledge, not being sufficiently exposed to cultural content, low self-confidence, and lack of parental involvement. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of Latino students’ academic struggles from the perspective of their teachers. This study was guided by the following research question: What experiences do educators teaching non-performing Latino students in reading encounter at elementary schools located in the Southern United States? The sample was obtained through snowball strategy and it consisted of eight participants who were Title I elementary teachers from the Southern United States. The data collection instruments were interviews and journal entries. An inductive analysis was used to analyze collected data. The key findings of this study were that teachers understand that Latino students lack background knowledge and they have to provide appropriate scaffolding to help students make connections to ease comprehension. The teachers expressed the need for them to include more cultural tasks in the classroom to increase student engagement
Contributing Factors to the Successful Completion of Online Courses at the Community College Level
No full textThis study sought to determine if the discrepancy between successful completion rates of online and face-to-face courses at the community college level is partially due to differences in the proportion of part-time students and the proportion of students without clear academic goals in each modality. In addition, this study looked to see if relationships exist between successful completion of online courses and the proportion of coursework taken online in a given term. An archival data set containing 20,119 student records for the fall of 2016 from a community college in the western United States was utilized for this study. The data supported that part-time students successfully complete their courses at a lower rate than full-time students (p\u3c.01) and proportionally there are more part-time students in online courses than in face-to-face courses (p\u3c.01), students without clear academic goals successfully complete their courses at a higher rate than students with clear academic goals (p\u3c.01) and proportionally there are more students without clear academic goals in online courses than in face-to-face courses (p\u3c.01), and successful completion of online courses is related to the proportion of coursework taken online in a given term for both full-time students (p\u3c.01) and part-time students (p\u3c.01). In addition, the evidence supported that the proportion of coursework taken online in a given term is related to successful completion of face-to-face courses for full-time students who take online courses (p\u3c.01) and also for full-time students in general (p\u3c.01). The same conclusions were not supported for part-time students