The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Laura Alderson

for the degree of Doctor of Education

November 7, 2017 at 1:00 pm / Virtual via Google Hangouts

Major Advisor: Deborah Lowther, PhD

Using Digital Tools to Achieve Connectedness in Higher Education Online Courses: Faculty Perceptions and Practices

ABSTRACT: This research examined higher education faculty perceptions and practices regarding the role of digital tools, specifically, social media and communication tools to achieve connectedness between the faculty member and students and among students in fully online courses. The study was guided by three research questions: 1) What are faculty perceptions of connectedness and its importance with regard to achieving connectedness? 2) In what ways do faculty use social media and/or communication tools in online courses to achieve connectedness? and 3) What do faculty report as key benefits and challenges to achieving connectedness in online courses? A qualitative, intrinsic case study approach and purposeful sampling were used to ensure relevant information would be obtained from five business college faculty who teach fully online courses and potentially used social media and communication tools in these courses. Data were collected using face-to-face semi-structured interviews, which were recorded and transcribed. Constant comparative analysis of data involved categorizing and sequencing of data to discover emerging themes as associated with the research questions. The findings suggest that to achieve connectedness in fully online courses, faculty must be available, responsive, sensitive to student needs, and create an online environment of connectedness. Additionally, connectedness among students is often more important than between faculty and students. Faculty used social media and communication tools for student encouragement, course support, and sharing her/his personality with students, while students used these tools for peer teaching, mentoring, and community building. Connectedness was thought to benefit students by helping them feel less isolated, more engaged, and achieve greater course success and a sense of relatedness. Faculty reported challenges related to the difficulty of achieving early semester student engagement, cheating, lack of resources/support, and work environment constraints that inhibit achievability of connectedness in fully online courses. This study has implications for designing online courses that incorporate the use of social media and communication tools to foster connectedness between faculty and students and among students. Future research is needed to examine student perceptions of connectedness in fully online courses and possible influences of connectedness on course completion and retention.

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Alexander Barton

for the degree of Doctor of Education

November 8, 2017 at 12:00 pm in Ball Hall 110

Major Advisor: Stephen Zanskas, PhD

Graduate Counseling Students’ Perception of their Preparation to Counsel Children

ABSTRACT: This exploratory study examined masters level counseling students’ perceptions of their preparedness for counseling children. A web-based survey was distributed nationally to students in clinical mental health, rehabilitation, and school counseling programs to explore the students’ desire to counsel children, their perception of their overall ability, and their theoretical preparation. Differences were found among three counseling specialties and the level of student preparation. Significant differences were found between rehabilitation counseling students and clinical mental health students. Significant differences were also found between rehabilitation counseling students and school counseling students. Significant differences were also found between students that had coursework for counseling children and students that did not. Differences were also found between students that had clinical experience counseling children and those that did not have clinical experience counseling children. Implications for counselor educators, student preparation, and future research are discussed.

Keywords: counseling children; clinical mental health; school counseling; rehabilitation; masters level counseling students; perceptions; preparedness

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Brian Bruijn

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

October 30, 2017 at 11:00 am in Ball Hall

Major Advisor: Elin Ovrebo, PhD

Domestic Sex Trafficking Survivor-Advocates’ Experience with Aftercare

ABSTRACT: In recent decades, the United States government passed laws to make human trafficking a federal offence and fund efforts to mitigate the use of humans for illegal labor. There has been little research regarding aftercare services for survivors of domestic sex trafficking. For this qualitative study, eight survivors of domestic sex trafficking (DST) were interviewed about their experiences with aftercare. The semi-structured interviews were analyzed using grounded theory. The core category, or central finding, of this study was “For DST survivors, a successful restorative aftercare experience is bookended by high-risk phases of building trust and connection that is critical to healing, hope, and future success.” Other findings focused on relapse (or going back to one’s trafficker after having sought restorative support), continued support for survivors when the aftercare program is complete, and the importance of community collaboration for service provision. It takes a concerted effort on the part of survivors, service providers, and communities working together, in the context of a safe and ethical aftercare setting, to establish an environment where healing can occur.

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Margie Stevens

for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

October 30, 2017 at 1:00 pm in 103 Ball Hall

Major Advisor: Alison Happel-Parkins, PhD

Navigating Cultural Differences in an Afterschool Literacy Program

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how undergraduate tutors navigate cultural differences with second grade students in an afterschool literacy tutoring setting. This study explored the following research questions 1) What cultural assumptions do tutors make throughout the tutoring process about the students they tutor? 2) How do tutors’ cultural assumptions influence the tutoring process? 3) How do tutors and students navigate instances of cultural misunderstandings as they arise? 4.) How do the tutors perceive a change in their cultural assumptions by the end of their participation in the tutoring program? Findings revealed four themes that influenced how novice tutors navigated cultural differences in tutoring elementary students in an afterschool literacy tutoring program. These findings included: 1) Caring and respectful relationships were purposefully established; 2) Race and socioeconomic differences led to misunderstandings between the tutors and students; 3) Incorporating the student’s home culture and technology bridged cultural mismatches; and 4) Discussions of racist events disrupted the normal flow of tutoring. Findings indicate that while purposefully developing caring and respectful relationships is time consuming, it is an important asset in the tutoring relationship. Second, it is argued that the tutors need to develop skills related to cultural competency. Finally, in addition to becoming culturally competent, tutors need to develop a racial and intersectional awareness.

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Matthew Binion

for the degree of Doctor of Education

August 7, 2017 at 3:30 pm in 301 Browning Hall

Major Advisor: Jeffery Wilson, PhD

Students Affairs Administrators’ Understanding of Motivations to Attain a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration

ABSTRACT: Students are motivated to pursue education for various reasons and understanding those motivations can help administrators and faculty better serve graduate students who choose to participate in doctoral studies. This study analyzed qualitative data in an effort to better understand how student affairs administrators perceived their motivations while discerning doctoral study in the field of Higher Education Administration (HEA). This study used Self Determination Theory (SDT) as a framework for understanding how motivational factors influence students to participate in doctoral education. The results showed that there existed three major themes that described the participants experience with considering pursuing a doctorate in HEA; Motivational Orientations, Discernment Processes and Environmental Factors. Implications and recommendations for action and future study are presented. As a result, the findings suggest that changes in how doctoral education is promoted and encouraged, the importance of the doctorate as a credential as well as creating communities of support can help to increase doctorate representation in the area of Higher Education Administration.

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Melanie Austin

for the degree of Doctor of Education

August 3, 2017 at 11:00 am in Browning Hall

Major Advisor: Jeffery Wilson, PhD

Influence of Community Ties on Rural Single Mothers’ Participation in Community College: A Qualitative Cross Case Study

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to understand how resources in the community impact rural single mothers’ access, participation, and success in higher education. In particular, this study focused on how rural single mothers’ community ties impact their social capital resources and perception of agency and achievement in pursuing higher education. The theoretical framework for this study included a critical feminist social capital theory and utilized a community cultural wealth model, focusing on social capital, to highlight how rural single mothers navigate and develop social capital in rural communities to open up opportunities and provide them with social mobility. Research questions that guided the study included: 1. How do the communities influence the decision of the rural single mothers to access an Associate’s Degree program in community college? 2. In what ways do communities influence the opportunities of the rural single mothers to successfully participate in an Associate’s Degree program in community college in terms of social capital resources? 3. In what ways do communities influence the opportunities of the rural single mothers to successfully complete a community college Associates Degree program in terms of social capital resources? In this qualitative cross-case analysis there were three rural counties in Tennessee that each represented a bounded case. The counties in this study included Haywood, Franklin and Lake Counties. Interviews with rural single mothers were transcribed and analyzed for emergent themes from each county. Further, the emergent themes from each county were analyzed to determine themes that emerged across all of the cases. Results indicated four emergent themes: role strain, social capital needs, disenfranchisement and identity formation. The impact of the emergent themes differed between the counties and was dependent on how rural the county was and what social capital was available. Participants described creating alternate social capital through informal networks; as well as, expanding the definition of mothering to include activism to address gaps in social capital needs, especially social capital needs that impact their children.

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Mallory Garrett

for the degree of Doctor of Education

October 23, 2017 at 1:00 pm in 405 Ball Hall

Major Advisor: Neal Miller, PhD

THE EFFECTS OF DELAYED TIME-OUT, DELAYED TIME-OUT WITH RULE, AND IMMEDIATE TIME-OUT ON SHAPE CHOOSING BEHAVIORS

ABSTRACT: The possibility of using a delayed consequence has great potential for anyone looking for effective methods to reduce problem behavior. In some situations, it may be difficult or even impossible for caregivers to administer time-out immediately following an instance of problem behavior due to practical constraints (e.g., being in a public place or not having sufficient staffing). In such cases, a delayed time-out procedure could have some advantages. However, very little research has been done previously on this procedure, and the concept remains largely untested with human subjects.  One concern about delayed consequences is that rather than reducing the intended behavior, it may unintentionally reduce behaviors that occur in closer temporal contiguity to the time-out. This might be addressed by the addition of rules along with the delayed consequence, which state the nature of the contingency. Research has yet to explicitly examine the question of how to arrange time-out to optimize its efficiency and effectiveness when the delivery is delayed. This study focused on the effects of delayed time-out, delayed time-out with a rule, and immediate time-out on an arbitrary behavior of adults. Due to the novelty of this procedure and the translational nature of the question being asked, an analog situation with adults was used to study the parameters of the procedure instead of implementing it with children in a classroom or home. This way of studying delayed consequences is consistent with prior research on the topic, and is intended to extend our conceptual understanding of how this type of learning occurs, in hopes of informing future applied work. The effects of the procedures on the target behavior differed across participants, though in general the delayed time-out plus rule appeared to be the most effective of the three. The implications of these results were discussed along with directions for future research on the topic.

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Adrain Christopher

for the degree of Doctor of Education

October 10, 2017 at 12:00 pm in 405 Ball Hall

Major Advisor: William Hunter, EdD

Examining the effects of Numbered Heads Together upon On-Task Behavior and Quiz Scores on Employability Skills content of Students Identified with Intellectual Disabilities in a Post-Secondary Education Program

ABSTRACT: Enrollment in post-secondary education (PSE) programs is vital for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) in order to decrease the unemployment and underemployment of this population. Traditional teaching methods (e.g., lecture and note-taking) are often used during instruction in PSE classrooms despite the challenges these methods present for students with ID. Researchers suggest that there are positive correlations between increased active student engagement and percentage of time on-task, as well as academic performance. To date, strategies like Number Heads Together (NHT), a peer- mediated instructional strategy (PMI), has shown to be a more effective strategy than the commonly used method of traditional instruction (i.e., lecture and note-taking). The current study compared the effects of NHT to lecture with Guided Notes (GN) during an employability skills content lesson in a segregated post-secondary education (PSE) classroom. Three students diagnosed with ID participated in the study. An alternating treatment design was used to determine the effectiveness of NHT and/or lecture with GN upon on-task behavior and the scores of teacher-created quizzes on employability skills content. The current study extended the previous literature by investigating a new population (students with ID), a new setting (post-secondary education program), and a new content area (employability skills). Results of this study suggest that Number Heads Together was a more effective strategy than lecture with GN in regard to increasing percentage of time on-task and percentage correct on teacher-created quizzes on employability skills content, which verifies and extends the findings of previous studies. Social validity surveys and treatment integrity checklists for the participating teacher and students are included with the results. A discussion of the study limitations, implications, and future research is also included.

The College of Education announces the final Dissertation of

Domeniek Harris

for the degree of Doctor of Education

October 9, 2017 at 10:00 am in 123 Ball Hall

Major Advisor: Reginald Green, EdD

Servant Leadership Among Senior Pastor’s Wives, Minister’s Wives and Women in Ministry

ABSTRACT: This study consisted of 180 participants comprised of senior pastor’s wives, minister’s wives and women in ministry. The Servant Leadership Questionnaire developed by Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) was used to determine to what extent the survey population exhibited the five factors of servant leadership: altruistic calling, organizational stewardship, emotional healing and persuasive mapping. This research utilized a quantitative methodological approach and convenience sampling to answer five research questions. The following tests were employed to gather the data: The R-ANOVA, MANCOVA, and correlation. This study answers the problem of the void in the literature regarding the extent to which pastor’s wives, minister’s wives and women in ministry function as servant leaders. This research design was used to determine a significant relationship between specific role, educational attainment, tenure in ministry, and race. Servant Leadership is the theoretical philosophy that servant leaders should ascribe to. Servant Leadership proposes that leaders must be a servant before ascribing to leadership. This theoretical approach to leadership is not a new leadership philosophy. Servant Leadership (SL) can be traced back to Biblical times. Robert Greenleaf coined the term servant leadership in 1970. Servant leadership is the essential leadership philosophy that spiritual and religious leaders should ascribe to. Servant leadership places direct intentional on the well-being of the follower’s over the needs of the leaders. The data revealed that the survey participants exhibited three of five servant leadership factors. Statistical significance was found relative to organizational stewardship, persuasive mapping, and altruistic calling. The participants reported that there were six major characteristics that all leaders must possess: integrity, servanthood, vision, compassion and humility. Participants reported that to be more effective servant leaders that needs the following supports: mentorship, training, community of clergy wives and women in ministry, human and financial support, resources such as books, classes and materials, and rest. For the most part senior pastor’s wives, minister’s wives, and women in ministry are servant leaders, they exhibit three of the five servant leadership factors, however coaching, training, and mentorship is needed for them to acquire the other two factors of servant leadership.