This study employed quantitative methods to analyze survey results related to the heutagogical learning preferences of undergraduate students in the United States. Heutagogy, an emerging theory focused on a self-determined and student-led approach, has shown positive benefits associated with 21st-century skills and high-level learning necessary to…

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs, which teach content knowledge in English and a partner language, have shown promise in attaining academic achievement, bilingualism/biliteracy, and sociocultural competence. Recently, scholars have argued for adding critical consciousness as a foundational goal to challenge the hegemonic…

When measuring latent constructs, for example, language ability, we use statistical models to specify appropriate relationships between the latent construct and observe responses to test items. These models rely on theoretical assumptions to ensure accurate parameter estimates for valid inferences based on the test results. This dissertation…

The introduction of Science Education Standards for the K-12 education system of the United States and those of Bhutan is aimed at providing students with equitable access to quality science instruction and to promote a scientifically literate society. These reforms in education systems require teachers who are well prepared to translate the…

Effective management of digital identities and personal data is essential in modern society. Personal information management systems (PIMS) empower people to control their digital identities and personal data. Using the reasoned action approach (RAA) developed by Fishbein and Ajzen (2010), I derived the RAA-Trust Model for PIMS Adoption and…

Self-reported positive effects of peer mentoring for mentors and mentees have included enhanced academic performance, greater sense of belonging, and retention, among other widely accepted benefits of the intervention. However, minimal quantitative or mixed methods research has focused on mentoring staff who design, implement, and therefore…

When multiple clients are collaboratively learning and training a shared model, incentives problems can arise. The clients may have different learning objectives and application domains, or they may be competitors whose participation in the learning system could reduce their competitive advantage. While collaborative learning is a powerful…

In the contemporary era, the landscape of innovation and entrepreneurship is dynamically evolving, fueled by a substantial surge in venture capital investments and the rapid expansion of the global startup ecosystem. This burgeoning growth not only highlights the vibrant nature of modern economies but also brings to the forefront the critical…

At the end of the twentieth century, during his work as a physicist and specialist in elementary particles in France, Basarab Nicolescu addressed the need for a revolution in educational methodology. He developed a methodology of transdisciplinarity as a new approach to the world of knowledge theories that would seek to reconcile science and…

This qualitative descriptive study aimed to explore how Latina professionals in supervisory roles described a long-term affiliation with a professional association in Arizona. The fundamental theoretical foundation of the study is the social cognitive career theory, which led to four research questions. The idea was to describe Latina…

The purpose of this study is to analyze which behaviors are or are not helpful for debugging when a novice is in a state of unproductive persistence. Further, this project will exploratorily use a variety of analytical techniques -- including association rule mining, process mining, frequent sequence mining, and machine learning-- in order to…

The present dissertation examined the initial state of L3 phonology in native speakers of French and German who were Spanish-English bilinguals. The present work analyzed perception (Chapter 3), production (Chapter 4) and the perception production interface (Chapter 5). The results revealed that these bilinguals are influenced by both of their…

Over a century ago, rhetoricians called on writing instructors in the U.S. to accept and even encourage language diversity among learners. Yet scholars of composition, rhetoric, and writing studies are still advocating for this via arguments for linguistic justice and translingualism, even referring to strict adherence to a single, mainstream…

This mixed-methods dissertation study analyzed curriculum and teachers' enacted instruction to determine if there was overlap between the evidence-based practices in teachers' enacted practice and those that were also contained in the curricular materials. Participants in this study were kindergarten through third-grade teachers (n=25) from…

The purpose of this self-study is to better understand and address the factors that influence continuous improvement efforts led by the researcher/practitioner. To this end, this study applies Bolman and Deal's 4-frame model of organizational learning lenses to school improvement indicators on the Illinois 5Essentials Survey. Through taking Bolman…