This qualitative descriptive research aimed to examine and determine the effectiveness of online education by addressing the challenges of the nontraditional student experience while taking fully online asynchronous courses versus synchronous ones. The study strived to determine new approaches to enhance online education and increase teaching…

Learning takes motivation; therefore, educators need to pay attention to what motivates the student to improve one's learning. It was not known how community college psychology students describe the use of gamification as a motivator for improved learning. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how psychology students at…

This study explored the use of hybrid online learning methods as employed in an alternative school environment in the rural Midwest. Using Self-Regulative Theory as a theoretical lens, this study discusses how self-regulative abilities play a role in the academic success of students of varying backgrounds. Findings suggest that both alternative…

This paper explores the intersection of U.S. graduate music student experiences and mental health. A literature review discussing nineteenth-century mechanist piano pedagogy practices, Carl Seashore's Measures of Musical Talent, the impact of neoliberal capitalism on students, and an overview of current U.S. studies on university music student…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how the instructor uses transformational leadership with the students in the classroom and how this interaction impacts the online learning experience for the student. By incorporating this leadership style to the instructional learning methods used in the classroom instructors can reinforce what…

Over the past several decades, science education reform has emphasized moving from content driven courses to more interactive, inquiry-based methodologies. This change has been supported by research by Chi (2009) and represented as three-dimensional learning in the Next Generation Science Standards (NRC, 2013). The typical structure of many high…

Institutions of higher education must tailor the learning experience to meet the needs of all adult learners and increase student retention and lower dropout rates. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how post-secondary online learners described their engagement and instructional techniques they have experienced in an…

Existing research on elite universities finds that high school pre-college years are consequential for later educational success, both for middle-class students as well as lower-income students (Jack, 2016). However, far less is known about the pre-college student engagement strategies of community college students. I conducted 80 semi-structured…

The aims of this qualitative study were (1) to understand the experiences of two middle school English Language Arts and Reading (ELAR) teachers as they planned and implemented critical literacy into a unit in their existing curriculum and (2) to understand the experiences of students as they engaged in a curriculum embedded with critical…

The challenges first-year urban teachers face today are challenging while at the same time promising. It is challenging because there are concerns around training and development and readiness with an emphasis on classroom management. There is also hope and promise; it can be argued that the profession has more tools, resources, and access to…

Learning to program is increasingly important. Yet, it is becoming clear that most students struggle when learning to program (McCracken et al., 2001). This is leading to a divide where some people can program but many others can't. Prior research has traced poor student outcomes to their early experiences learning programming. Still, little is…

The process of professional actor training is one that requires vulnerability and often leads to self-discovery. At the same time, studies have shown that the impact of acting on performers is complex and can also lead to psychological trauma. This dissertation addressed the questions (a) What are the experiences of former students of BFA Actor…

In response to social developments and the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the social work profession began to develop a formal identity which included a commitment to social justice. Today, that concept of social justice includes diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in education and practice. Teachers and researchers have rarely…

Joy in education is an underexplored construct that could serve as the key ingredient to cultivate positive learning environments and inspire innovation. The purpose of this study was to determine how joy might flow to students and what teacher efforts, instructional decisions, and administrative supports might influence the level of joy in the…

This mixed methods research study explores the university student learning experience of IP subnetting. Using a constructivist perspective, VR software was designed, written, and utilized in a learning process to gather both quantitative and qualitative data about the experience of learning IP subnetting. Participants underwent pre-test and…