To address the question of how to develop the capacity for every instructional coach to provide job-embedded professional learning for every teacher and student, the Utah State Board of Education's quality instruction team designed and built a statewide 22 networked professional learning system that includes instructional coaches, local education…

Undergraduate research is a high-impact practice (HIP), but it can be difficult to implement well. Faculty generally lack training for effectively mentoring students. A semi-autonomous faculty organization at Utah Valley University has maintained a faculty development program, the Mentoring Undergraduate Research Academy (MURA), and other…

Ballet dancers are exposed to the high likelihood of lower extremity injury due to repeated high-impact jumps under stringent ballet rules. The injury incidences occurring in dancers during jump landings are highly associated with excessive vertical ground reaction forces (vGRF) and the sharp loading rate (LR). The aim of this study was to compare…

Purpose: The global labor market has been upended and a new landscape has emerged. New models for ensuring the value and relevance of post-secondary education are needed. Learners need better understanding of the value and relevancy which the education provides and more immediate return on the educational investment. Education providers must…

Strong, ongoing collaboration between business and higher education offers a solution to a growing skill shortage. But to see changes at scale, partnerships must exist within an ecosystem that fosters regular communication, relays industry needs to the academic community, and demonstrates to educators the larger marketplace for those skills. This…

Although it has been established that U.S. students typically enter college unprepared to engage in interreligious conversations, it is unclear whether and to what extent a university course focused on the sociolinguistics of religion equips students to feel better prepared for such conversations. Therefore, this study employs an exploratory case…

Over the past 50 years, colleges and universities have taken on increasingly important roles as anchor institutions in U.S. cities, partnering with local communities to promote development and well-being. Such community-campus partnerships rely on the work of community engagement professionals (CEPs), staff tasked with administering, coordinating,…

During 36 years of continuous operation, The Brigham Young University-Public School Partnership has held fast to the values and principles on which it was based. All partners collaborate for excellence through efforts resulting in actions that benefit all participants and students. Though partners share goals and dispositions, many changes in…

Between Utah's strong economic measures and numerous nationally recognized achievements (i.e. Best States Rankings, Top States for Business 2019, Utah Ranks Among the Fastest Growing States in the Nation), it is clear that the state's economy has experienced one of the strongest expansions in the country. As Utah's economy prospers, the need for…

Objective: Previous research suggests that both adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), positive childhood experiences (PCEs), and current life experiences are associated with emotional wellbeing and mental health. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of these life experience and coping processes on college student emotional and…

In 2018, the BYU ARTS Partnership Native American Curriculum Initiative (NACI) was developed in response to teacher questions regarding the teaching of Native topics. Despite increased movements towards reconciliation, Native groups continue to be marginalized in Westernized educational settings. Additionally, teachers lack clear guidelines…

Interest in universities as anchor institutions within their communities and cities is growing as civic leaders search for ways to build local wealth. Systematic analysis of the effects of anchor institution initiatives remains difficult due to the disparate nature of anchor initiatives and a relative lack of a shared language describing the work.…

Individuals need the shortest path to opportunity and employers require the shortest path to a skilled diverse workforce. To solve for this, Western Governors University (WGU) has created a skills-based architecture to map our competencies and credentials to high-demand knowledge, and technical skills as well as powerful, enduring, employability…

Mormon college students may leave or delay their studies to serve missions for their church, typically for 18 to 24 months. This dissertation studies the impact of serving a mission on the spiritual development and psychological wellbeing of these students. Using a two-factor ANOVA fixed-effects, nonexperimental design, five measurement scales on…

Background: Experiential educators face difficulties assessing participants and programs because there are so many measurement tools to choose from, many measures have validity issues such as those based on self-reported data, objective tests may not adequately measure social or psychological outcomes, and tests in content disciplines often assess…