Students' learning experience mainly depends on the knowledge and skills they learned in class. The objective of an interior design program is to teach students innovative design thinking and how to express their creative ideas. Students do individual and team assignments to learn relevant design cases and methods. The main teaching focus of…

The purpose of this study is to explore how students' prior knowledge, skills, experiences, and networks (including family and community) influence major choice decisions among low-income and working-class students at Arizona's three state universities. Using a funds of knowledge framework, a survey was distributed to students at the three…

This dissertation explores the development and implementation of a contextually relevant leadership development program aimed at fostering the growth of academic advisors at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC), particularly those with aspirations for leadership roles within the advising domain. Recognizing the…

The purpose of this action research study was to improve the implementation of a large-scale redesign of teacher preparation programs at Arizona State University. This was a highly complex redesign that impacted over 150 courses across 27 programs, involving more than 200 faculty and 2,500 students annually. As a result, implementing the redesign…

Inclusive educational spaces are necessary for all post-secondary students to thrive and enjoy their college experience. Faculty and staff may unintentionally create non-inclusive educational spaces, however, with behaviors relative to race/racism and microaggressions driven by racial implicit bias. Via this mixed-methods action research study I…

Given the increasing number of students with dis/abilities entering higher education institutions (HEI), it is imperative higher education faculty have the knowledge, skills, and disposition to effectively support students with dis/abilities. Therefore, this study engaged higher education faculty at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC) at…

The operations within universities have become increasingly complex and challenging for various reasons. Notably, some of those challenges have been combated by developing talent within the organization. Although many professional development opportunities abound at Arizona State University and within the ASU Foundation, the options for developing…

Arizona State University's Sun Devil Fitness and Wellness department plays a vital role in enhancing the physical health and well-being of its student population. However, the demanding responsibilities placed on campus recreation professionals, combined with the high expectations for student engagement, have led to a concerning rise in employee…

Preparing graduates for full-time employment following graduation has become an increasing concern for universities. Student services departments who employ students have been tasked with providing intentional development opportunities for them. At Arizona State University those opportunities have been taken on by professional staff members (PSM)…

The quality of support provided to students in higher education can have a powerful impact on the student's experience, their perceptions of challenges, and their overall academic success, particularly retaining in and completing their degree. Though many universities create robust services to support undergraduate students, existing literature…

The Academic Operations team within the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University, like many teams, is in the process of navigating great change. This change comes not only from within the organization but also as a result of external factors, such as the adoption of a hybrid work schedule. The purpose of this action research…

Personalized learning is gaining popularity in online computer science education due to its characteristics of pacing the learning progress and adapting the instructional approach to each individual learner from a diverse background. Among various instructional methods in computer science education, hands-on labs have unique requirements of…

This study employed Participatory Action Research (PAR) which applied critical pedagogy, actor-network theory, and social network theory to create and implement an "Application Framework for Critical Pedagogy" (AFCP) with the goal of making critical pedagogy more broadly accessible to a wider range of faculty in higher education.…

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to explore improving first semester training practices for graduate teaching assistants (TAs) in the Spanish program at Arizona State University's (ASU) Tempe Campus. Adding to research on TA training in higher education, a communities of practice (CoP) framework was combined with concrete…

In this convergent mixed methods research project, I address the question of why large numbers of college students take women's studies courses yet are reluctant to major in the field. Using availability bias and intersectionality as my theoretical framework I hypothesized that the reluctance to declare women and gender studies as a major stems…