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Public-facing statements about anti-racism and linguistic justice have become common tools for educational organizations to promote values of criticality and openness. Such statements often explicitly reject practices that equate language difference with deficit and continue to harm marginalized groups that speak languages or use pronouns that fall outside of the "mainstream." As with all language policies, enacting such statements is far from straightforward as individual social actors bring to bear their own experiences and interpretations of the policy. Drawing on the methodological framework of nexus analysis and theoretical foundations regarding the re-entextualization of language ideologies, this dissertation examines one US university writing center's language statement as it seeks to decenter English-dominant standard language ideologies and to promote inclusive language practices in the center. In particular, this study highlights how four writing center consultants interpreted and appropriated the statement in diverse ways. Data sources included documents related to onboarding and training, extended semi-structured interviews about consultants' prior experiences with language difference and consulting practices, audio-recorded observations and field notes of hour-long writing consultations, participant journals, and post-observation reflection interviews. A poststructural, multi-scalar discourse analysis revealed tensions between policy and practice, as well as several profiles of ideological negotiation within the consultants. Discourses valuing competition, excellence, and expertise at the university level came into tension with discourses of relationality and collaboration within the writing center. In response to requests to correct clients' grammar, consultants developed and revised practices that re-entextualized their past experiences with language diversity as well as the center's policies about language. The choices to accept or challenge expertise positioning and agree or refuse to make direct edits on clients' writing were identified as key moments where consultants (re)created discursive relationships between their actions and institutional discourses about language use. Educational institutions seeking to support linguistic diversity through such value-laden language policies should also develop reflective and collaborative tools to assist its members in navigating these ideological tensions. The study lends continued support to using language ideology as an invaluable conceptual tool for administrators and educators interested in grappling with complex social problems. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the process by which culturally responsive school leaders (CRSL) become CRSL in secondary public schools. Although there is a clear need for leaders trained in culturally responsive practices, little is known about high school leaders' journey to become culturally responsive school leaders (CRSL). This study sought to acquire greater detail on the formative experiences and seminal moments that occurred for leaders, which led to the school leaders self-identifying as CRSL. Research Methods: This study utilized a qualitative research methodology through narrative inquiry to answer the research questions. Interviews were conducted to collect participants' narrative stories. Participants met three criteria to be a part of this study: 1) school leader in a public high school, 2) five years of educational experience and 3) an interest in inclusion as it relates to culturally responsive school leadership in their screening questionnaire. High school leaders described the events, people, practices and/or policies that brought them to believe that they are culturally responsive in their school communities. Discussion and Implications: The analysis of the data revealed that personal experience in life and education and equity training were the major factors that led these leaders to become CRSL. This paper provides reflections on these findings and future research needs. This paper also discussed implications for policy and practice based on these findings. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

As science becomes increasingly computationally intensive, the need for computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS) practices in K-12 science education is becoming paramount. Incorporation of CT/CS practices in K-12 education can be seen in national standards and a variety of allied initiatives. One way to build capacity around an emerging educational practice is for a team of researchers to partner with a local school or district in a Research-Practice Partnership (RPP). Over the past four years, our team has worked with a local middle school via a RPP to help support a school-wide STEM ecosystem that aimed to integrate computational thinking concepts throughout all elements of the school day (core curricula, electives, after school activities, etc.). Throughout this partnership, we have worked closely with science teachers to develop and implement computational modeling units that aim to develop both computational thinking skills and scientific knowledge. This research considers the far-reaching impacts of this RPP by examining science teachers' infusion of CT/CS into their science curricula, the development of a scientific computational modeling unit, and students' understanding of both metamodeling and scientific concepts after participating in the implementation of the computational modeling unit. The first paper in this dissertation is written for a practitioner journal. It discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic led to the rapid revision of a previously utilized disease transmission modeling unit in order to reflect the current scientific consensus regarding the behavior of the coronavirus. The paper details what a middle school science computational modeling unit about COVID-19 using the Use-Modify-Create (UMC) instructional strategy looks like in the classroom, and how the pandemic may have impacted student understanding of disease transmission through the use of computational modeling. This work demonstrates the efficacy of engaging in agile curricular revision and instruction to capture salient, emerging real-world events that can help contextualize student learning around what might otherwise be experienced as abstract science concepts. The second study is a qualitative study that utilizes a combination of modeling theoretical frameworks to investigate eighth grade science students' understanding of the nature, purpose, and revisability of the same computational model depicting the spread of COVID-19. Student exit-ticket responses, student interviews, and multiple-choice responses were analyzed to determine students' levels of understanding of metamodeling concepts. This work also compares student descriptions of what they learned using the computational model to student responses from before the pandemic, when students used a more generalized epidemics modeling unit. The results suggest that the unique context of engaging students in SSI-centered scientific modeling that is directly related to a natural phenomenon that they are directly experiencing could increase their level of understanding of metamodeling components, and even add additional complexities to their comprehension rooted in the socio-scientific nature of the content and context. The third paper is a case study that examines the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of seven middle school science teachers at the magnet middle school engaged in the CT-focused RPP. Through the analysis of semi-structured interviews, a CT self-efficacy survey, and lesson plans, themes regarding the relationship between the variables being studied are presented. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation comprises three cross-disciplinary essays on information systems, marketing, and financial outcomes research for nonprofit service organizations. In our first essay, we explore service quality impacts on the constructs of positive and negative word of mouth, developing and validating a new measurement scale, testing it empirically, and finding support for our hypotheses that the quality of the digital services experience has a significant impact on positive and negative word of mouth. In a new branch of service-oriented word-of-mouth research, we find the opinion of the unrestricted use of generative artificial intelligence also affects positive word-of-mouth. In essays two and three, we examine online reputation, exploring how internet footprint and reputational constructs of prominence and perceived quality impact operational revenue and philanthropic donations. In both essays, we find a significant impact of online reputation on strategic financial outcomes for nonprofit service organizations. Our research uses a mixed methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate our hypothesized relationships comprehensively. This approach allows us to explore these relationships in both explanatory and confirmatory manners, enabling us to evaluate new variables and relationships while also exploring potential emergent impacts. We aim for a robust analysis that intentionally seeks completeness, expansion, and triangulation in assessing the effects of our hypothesized relationships on our dependent variables. By integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches, we enhance our empirical statistical findings with a deeper understanding of the underlying causal mechanisms, which provides evidence of consistent patterns that facilitate robust and non-accidental generalizations. Essay One: From Experiences to Advocacy: Exploring Service Quality and Word-of-Mouth Recommendation for Nonprofit Service Sector Organizations. Service quality excellence may lead to a competitive advantage for nonprofit services firms. This study examines nonprofit higher education services and their impact on driving positive and negative word-of-mouth recommendations. We develop and validate a new scale to test the relationship between service quality and positive and negative word of mouth. Importantly, we test positive and negative word of mouth as separate constructs, as neither a mirror image of one another nor mutually exclusive. Additionally, this research stakeholder opinion of unrestricted generative artificial intelligence in higher education. Through empirical analysis, we confirm our hypothesized relationships, finding digital service quality positively and significantly impacts both positive and negative word of mouth. This research explores student opinion on emerging broad student, faculty, and administration use of generative artificial intelligence and is, at the time of writing, the only academic paper that considers generative artificial intelligence use as a significant driving factor in positive and negative WoM sharing. Finally, we present a validated instrument and theoretical framework to study digital service quality and WoM in any service industry, not just higher education. Essay Two: "Exploring Financial Resilience in the Nonprofit Service Sector During Times of Crisis: The Role of Online Reputation." Online reputation is an important intangible asset that nonprofit services firms can leverage to increase demand and drive revenue. During disruptive times of crisis, online reputation alone may not be enough to sustain financial performance; however, it may afford protection, and serve as a buffer to negative financial impacts. First, our research empirically tests and finds support for new online reputation variables and internet signaling antecedents as they impact financial performance. Second, our study explores these relationships and their financial impact during the global COVID-19 pandemic, finding online reputation alone was not enough to protect from financial loss due to the pandemic. We also find nonprofits with stronger online reputations financially fared better than those with lesser online reputations, providing evidence a strong online reputation may afford financial protection and can be leveraged to minimize financial loss. Finally, to better understand the underlying mechanisms at work in our constructs and explore phenomena identified in our empirical analysis, we use semi-structured expert interviews and thematic coding to gather and analyze qualitative response data, resulting in insight, justifications, and boundaries for our reputational relationships. Essay Three: Inspiring Generosity: The Influence of Online Reputation on Philanthropic Giving for Nonprofit Service Sector Organizations During Times of Crisis. Furthering our research into online reputation, we explore how online reputation impacts philanthropic giving for nonprofit service organizations. In a cross-disciplinary exploration of information systems and broadened marketing, our research examines the constructs of online reputation and how it impacts charitable giving to U.S.-based higher education institutions before and after the onset of the COVID-19 global health crisis. Through quantitative analysis, we find a significant positive impact on the strategic financial outcome of donations using new quality- and awareness-signaling antecedent internet footprint variables, and reputational prominence and perceived quality variables. Through qualitative analysis, we explore the underlying mechanisms of our empirical relationships, using expert case studies to understand how online reputation positively impacts strategic financial outcomes, both during times of normal operations and crisis. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The purpose of this study was to understand K-12 school department chairs' lived experiences with burnout, a condition caused by chronic workplace stress that manifests as exhaustion, cynicism and mental distancing from one's work, and a sense of ineffectiveness (World Health Organization, 2019). Semi-structured interviews conducted over Zoom with eight K-12 school department chairs provided the data for this phenomenological study, set in the theoretical framework of job demands-resources theory, to answer the following question: What are the lived experiences of K-12 school department chairs who self-report experiencing burnout in their roles as department chairs? Four themes emerged from this study. First, "spectrum" of burnout, reveals that participants' burnout experiences ranged in degrees of severity based on cyclical patterns of stress or significantly challenging events in their personal or professional lives. Second, "death by a thousand paper cuts," refers to the ever-increasing demands that most participants had been experiencing throughout their careers. Third, students matter most, shows how the relationship dynamics between department chairs and their students appeared to bring their biggest sense of accomplishment and greatest challenges. Finally, creating space, involves participants' efforts to set healthy boundaries between themselves and their work at school. The study's findings suggest that school administrators support K-12 school department chairs by establishing clear expectations for their department chair responsibilities, adopting best practices for addressing student misbehavior and apathy, and exercising caution when imposing additional demands on teachers. Furthermore, the study's findings also suggest that educators create personal space away from work to prioritize their physical and mental well-being. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Adult science entertainment events (ASEEs) constitute a new mode of engagement with science defined by their focus on adult audiences and the use of social venues to create low-stakes environments for learning. ASEEs vary widely in format, ranging from science-at-the-bar events, where patrons can enjoy a drink while listening to presentations, to museum after-hours events, where adults can explore exhibits outside regular visiting hours. The sheer number of these events represents a significant field-wide effort being put into these programs. I conducted a comparative case study of three ASEEs, using observations, interviews, and document analysis. In the first paper, I defined ASEEs as a unique subfield of informal science education and created a research agenda for these programs. In the second paper, I created an empirically derived framework for understanding how design and implementation decisions shape engagement. In this framework, I defined how the structure and framing of an event establish an interactional genre and explain the relationship between these elements and how people perform facets of their identities. This framework demonstrates that event genres can be evoked, and therefore can be altered. As part of this paper, I explore how elements of the structure and framing of these events evoke the carnivalesque (Bahktin, 1984) or subvert the traditional norms of science. In the third paper, I applied this framework to address gender equity at these events and found that female-presenting people's expertise was more frequently contested than male-presenting people's, even when drawing on equivalent resources. Additionally, I found that even in genres where expertise was less salient, the gendered landscape still skewed to favor male-presenting people's experience. Looking across the three papers, it appeared that the carnivalesque elements of these events might be what makes them low-stakes and fun; however, it also seems that these elements may introduce risk for some groups; therefore, what makes these programs fun needs to be examined. ASEEs are worthy of further research to ensure these programs are equitable spaces for science learning. The structure, framing, genre, and performativity framework appears to be a promising approach for examining equitable engagement in these programs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The concept of precision medicine aims to provide additional context to patient data for healthcare providers. Precision medicine overlays three additional layers of patient data on top of standard patient information: environmental exposure, personal lifestyle and behavior patterns, and information gleaned from their genome. While precision medicine promises to provide physicians and their patients with increased levels of customization for preventative and primary care, there is evidence that preparation relating to the genomic pillar of precision medicine is not yet adequate to ensure successful deployment. Aim 1 in this dissertation explored the knowledge gap between primary care physicians and genetic experts via a validated survey instrument and compared these two group's ability to interpret genetic tests and their self-efficacy when working with genomic data. Results found the correct interpretation rates for the two groups were relatively high (74.4% for providers, 83.4% for specialists). Additionally, higher correct interpretation rates were associated with age, prior genetic test consultation experience, and level of trust assigned to the reports. Aim 2 mapped out the ideal educational techniques to help increase patient comprehension of genetic testing results by conducting a scoping review; 26 manuscripts were selected in this review. The papers were categorized into three themes that emerged: education interventions, curriculum development, and review papers. Finding from this review established that there is a need to develop web-based educational tools designed with active learning methodologies, additional randomized controlled trials are needed to develop more robust evidence, and clinical outcomes need to be linked with educational interventions. Aim 3 captured the development of a mhealth telehealth app; a proxy software solution to assist healthcare providers with a artificial intelligence driven clinical decision support as a method to assist with genetic data education and interpretation. AI driven CDSS was found to have some significant hurdles still yet to overcome. Precision medicine has moved from theoretical and planning stages into real world initiatives and there are now large amounts of resources being invested. It is critical to investigate solutions and continue identifying future roadblocks while they remain manageable. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The 2007 Head Start Reauthorization Act mandated that all Head Start teachers have at least an associate degree and 50% of teachers within each Head Start program should have a baccalaureate degree in early childhood education. The problem addressed in this study was that Head Start teachers from a Midwestern region encountered barriers as they pursued higher education to meet mandated requirements to continue employment. The purpose of this study was to explore the life experiences, barriers, coping strategies and views of support needed by Head Start teachers who were completing their degrees. Tinto's academic and social integration model and Cookson's interdisciplinary sequential specificity time allocation comprised the conceptual framework for this study. Research questions focused on life experiences, barriers, coping strategies, and support Head Start teachers need as nontraditional higher education students. A basic qualitative research design was used, and data were collected through interviews with nine Head Start teachers pursuing higher education. Data were analyzed in an iterative coding process and synthesized into five themes. Findings indicate that Head Start teachers use their life experiences, various types of support from family and colleagues, and various coping strategies to overcome the financial and life barriers they face while pursuing a higher education degree. The resulting project consisted of a white paper with recommendations for Head Start leaders focusing on the potential development of specific programs to support Head Start teachers in successfully pursuing a higher education degree. This project contributes to positive social change by enhancing awareness about the supports needed by Head Start teachers to successfully overcome life barriers and build effective coping strategies while pursuing higher education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Continued professional learning and development of school leaders is a way to improve schools and promote positive organizational change (Andreoli et al., 2020; Kim, 2020; Rieckhoff & Larsen, 2012) as well as and a way to support sustainability in a profession with high rates of turnover (Levin et al., 2020). Although principals and assistant/associate principals (APs) are not the only leaders in a school (Leithwood & Mascall, 2008), their positional influence is significant (Leithwood et al., 2020). As organizational leaders, the development of principals and APs warrants attention, particularly since there is reason to believe that as these administrators continue to learn, their practices become more effective (Bickmore, 2012; Kim, 2020). Authentic learning opportunities for school leaders has been connected positive student outcomes; however, as Darling-Hammond et al. (2022) noted in their recent report, most administrators encounter obstacles in their professional development. Authentic learning opportunities are essential for principals and APs because they are in positions that benefit from further learning and training require after assuming their roles (Armstrong, 2015; Peters et al., 2016; Oleszewski et al., 2012) and throughout the duration of their administrative careers (Cardno & Youngs, 2013; Duncan, 2013). Without well aligned professional learning support from school districts and university partnerships, research has shown that school leader development can be stifled (Barnett et al., 2017); leaders can have detrimental gaps in their knowledge (Acton, 2021), and their personal motivation to pursue professional growth may lessen (Honig & Rainey, 2014). A lack of attention towards school leader learning has undesirable outcomes, yet research has not focused on continued principal and AP learning and development to the extent that it attends to teacher professional development (Ford et al., 2020). In response, this multi-article study examined the topic of school leader learning and development in three independent, but conceptually connected, papers. Through a systematic literature review and two narrative studies, this research aimed to explore and document the professional learning preferences, needs, and experiences of school leaders, with a focus on principals and APs at distinct stages in their careers. Article one showed the characteristics of selected empirical studies published between 2011-2021; it revealed how school leaders learned and which approaches were effective or meaningful, as well as how school leader learning has been supported and hindered. This study identified learning topics offered to leaders and addressed the alignment between what was offered and what school leaders wanted and needed to learn. Article two explored the perspectives and experiences of ten experienced principals in Alabama and showed that established school leaders desired ongoing, social learning opportunities that offered applicable content and was led by experts who were relatable and transparent. Although they described a lack of time, money, and district support as hindrances to their professional learning, experienced principals believed their further development was connected to overall school improvement. Article three explored the perspectives and beliefs of 5 APs in Alabama and showed that novice APs desired local level, context specific learning opportunities as they navigated their transition into formal school leadership. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation researches the barriers encountered and resiliency learned for Black administrators on their path to becoming superintendents in California. Using critical race theory as the lens of the conceptual framework, this research used a qualitative method. The research questions inquired about how the barriers of mentorship, career pathways, and anti-Blackness affected their career trajectories. The study used interviews with Black California superintendents. This research shed light on how the barriers impacted the journey to the seat of superintendent. The paper concludes with evidence-based recommendations to reduce barriers. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Written Corrective Feedback (WCF) in writing classes is fundamental to interactions between teachers and students about students' writing and to help students further improve their writing. As one of the main feedback sources, teachers' cognition (e.g., teachers' thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs) needs to be probed to properly understand teachers and their teaching (Borg, 2006). Currently, there is little research regarding teachers' cognition and their practice of offering WCF in mainland China. The purpose of this study was to explore ESL teachers' knowledge of, experience with and practice of WCF, and to investigate the connection among these aspects. The participants were teachers of English from a major normal university. The phenomenological methodology was used to explore teachers' cognition and practice of WCF when teaching writing to undergraduate and graduate students. The study employed a triangulated approach that included a questionnaire administered to 55 teachers, interviews with two teachers and a study of the two teachers' feedback responses to 68 students' papers/journal entries, which were collected to further explore the interviewees' practice of WCF. Questionnaire data was statistically aggregated and tabulated. The interview data was analyzed using Hycner's 15 steps. The teachers' responses on students' papers were analyzed according to WCF types (direct CF, indirect CF, metalinguistic, focus of feedback, electronic CF, and reformulation) and error types (organizational errors, stylistic errors, and linguistic errors) and the results were tabulated. Findings indicated that ESL teachers possessed different levels of knowledge concerning WCF and used a varying number of WCF types to target error types. Most teachers were not well trained or provided with opportunities to be equipped with the necessary skills, to further improve their cognition and practice of providing feedback. Differences existed between teachers' perceptions of the employment of WCF and their actual practice of it. The findings are an indication that administrators should consider employing multiple strategies to better equip teachers of writing to teach and provide feedback more effectively and efficiently. The future of providing WCF on writing in mainland China is dependent upon a workforce that excels in feedback cognition and practice. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Electronic medical record (EMR) use has improved significantly in health care organizations. However, many barriers and factors influence the success of EMR implementation and adoption. The purpose of the descriptive qualitative single-case study was to explore health care professionals' perceptions of the use of EMRs at a hospital division of a major medical center. The study findings highlighted the challenges in transitioning from paper records to EMR despite the many benefits and potential improvement in health care. A description of the 16 health care professionals' perceptions of EMR use emerged by adopting the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model and NVivo 10 computer software to aid with the analysis of semi-structured, recorded, and transcribed interviews. Themes emerging from the analysis were in five categories: (a) Experience of health care professionals with a subtheme of workflow, (b) Challenges in transition from paper to EMR, (c) Barriers to EMR acceptance, with a subtheme of privacy, confidentiality, and security, (d) Leadership support, and (d) Success of EMR. The findings of the case study may inform health care industry decision makers of additional social and behavioral factors needed for successful EMR strategic planning, implementation, and maintenance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Field education is the signature pedagogy of a social work education. Successful field placements rely on the willingness of social workers in the field, referred to as field instructors, to provide education and guidance to social work students with little to no compensation for this service. This paper reports the results of a survey of 648 field instructors for students in BSW, MSW, site-based and distance education social work programs in the United States. The research reports the rewards, motivations and supports that are important to the field instructors as well as their satisfaction with these factors, and compares the responses of field instructors working with BSW and MSW students, and the responses of those working with students from a site-based program to those working with students from a distance education program. The responses reveal several significant differences between the BSW group and the MSW group and many significant differences between the site-based field instructors and the distance education field instructors. This study also compared differences in the experiences of field instructors who have supervised both a student from a site-based program and a student from a distance education program at both the BSW and MSW levels. The findings revealed statistically significant differences in all eight of the factors presented, with greater levels of satisfaction reported for the site-based experiences. The results of this study provide information for field directors that will guide them in recruiting field instructors and in providing appropriate training and support to them throughout the experience, taking into account the different rewards, motivations and supports that were identified based on the type of program they have (BSW, MSW, site-based, or distance education) and in developing incentives and supports to attract and retain quality, committed field instructors for both site-based and distance education social work programs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The purpose of this dissertation is to understand the impacts of social service data collection and use on the lives of young people and those that serve them, and to offer ways for youth, nonprofits, and funders to positively evolve these systems. It grew from three simple questions without clear answers: what's happening, how's it working, and what's possible? My colleagues and I have the privilege of sitting in many gatherings - with young people, staff in youth-serving organizations, and non-profit organizational leaders. In all of these organizations, we heard the ripple effects of these questions, but never the questions themselves. We witnessed organizational leaders being pitched database systems that would double revenues and algorithmic analysis that would improve youth outcomes "and" save money. One message became clear to me: data is "in" -- as in, in fashion, in vogue, in-spiring. But data for what? For what purpose? In service of whom? Why now? Why being sold by a shiny corporation? We tried asking these questions. In some places we engaged in productive conversation. In other places we were ignored. But as we peeled back the curtain (and yes, it often seems there's a Wizard of Oz figure lurking somewhere in the shadows), the too-good-to-be-true promises often turned out to be just that. Or, were at least unproven. Perhaps worse, the significant costs of these new technologies -- including the human costs -- were often untallied. This dissertation aims to provide answers to these questions. It is a summary of three papers on the subject, addressing these questions from the lenses of young people, staff working in youth-serving organizations, and at the organizational level. "Real Big Data: How We Know Who We Know in Social Service Work" asked youth how they experienced data in their institutional lives (school, after-school, etc.) and how they feel data could be used to support them. Their answers are enlightening and provide a significantly different, though not infeasible, alternative framework for data use in youth-serving organizations. "Surfacing Data Use Practices in Youth Work: Present State of the Field and Next Steps" discussed this same question with youth and social service workers. Their answers offer examples of the ways organizational drives for data collection and use are changing how work gets done -- for better and worse. Combined, they form a framework for better data use. "Bigger Data, Less Wisdom: The Need for More Inclusive Collective Intelligence in Social Service Work" examines trends in data collection/use and identifies the importance of more inclusive efforts toward data in youth-serving organizations. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The phenomenon of interest in this exploratory case study was the self-reported leadership skills of first-generation college students who were actively participating in intramural sports. Specifically, the purpose was to describe participants' reports of engaging in behaviors or actions, during intramural sports, that are aligned with the leadership practices described by Kouzes and Posner (2014). Kouzes and Posner's (2014) "Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Becoming an Exemplary Leader" served as the lens for this investigation. Kouzes and Posner (2014) identified Five Practices of exemplary leaders: (a) Model the Way, (b) Inspire a Shared Vision, (c) Challenge the Process, (d) Enable Others to Act, and (e) Encourage the Heart. Practices, as defined by these authors, are behaviors and actions that are developable and available to anyone who wants to take on the challenge of leading. The participants in this study included 12 first-generation college students who were actively participating in intramural sports at a public four-year institution in the Northeast United States. Students who volunteered to participate in the study completed a paper and pencil version of the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (S-LPI; Kouzes & Posner, 2013). Each student also submitted a research-driven photograph and participated in a semi-structured interview focused on his or her personal-best leadership experiences related to intramural sports participation. The data were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative procedures. This generated 47 notable findings related to the self-reported leadership skills of first-generation college students who were actively participating in intramural sports. Conclusions were drawn and recommendations for practice and future research are presented. Overall, findings from the survey, photographs, and interviews revealed that students most often reported engaging in leadership behaviors or actions related to Enable Others to Act followed by Encourage the Heart, Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, and then Challenge the Process. Additionally, students explained that they acquired the leadership skills they described during the interviews by being nurtured early on by family members, participating in sports and recreation, and work and school experiences. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Students and their parents/guardians rely on school counselors to provide counseling services based on ethically sound principles. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence about what influences a school counselor's ethical decision making. Ethical decision making for this study was defined as the degree to which decisions pertaining to confidentiality, parents' rights, and diversity and values align with professional codes of ethics and fundamental ethical principles. This study investigated the relationships between the dependent variable, school counselor ethical decision making, and the independent variables of (a) personality traits, (b) level of professional association membership, (c) level of involvement in professional associations, and (d) years of experience. Data were collected through a mixed-mode (online and paper-and-pencil) self-report survey distributed to school counselors in three states. A total of 167 school counselors, both with or without professional membership affiliation, participated in the study. Respondents provided data relative to demographics, the "Keirsey Temperament Sorter II" (Keirsey, 1998), and ethical scenarios developed by the principle researcher. Ethical scenario topics common in school counseling--confidentiality, parents' rights, and diversity and values--were utilized and specifically developed to be compatible with differing legal statues and school policies across the three states in the study. Correlation and ANOVA statistical analyses were used to determine relationships between the factors and school counselor ethical decision making. Results indicated differences in ethical decision making regarding confidentiality and parents' rights based on years of school counselor experience. Late career counselors showed ethical decision making more closely aligned with ethics codes on issues of parents' rights, however, less aligned on issues of confidentiality. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

his research project firstly considers what is known about Queer women's experiences of minority stress, and the ways they respond. Then a qualitative project explores and seeks to understand the impact of minority sexual orientation for UK clinical psychology trainees who identify as female and gay or lesbian. Section A: This literature review presents the current theoretical models and empirical data for Queer women and minority stress. It then uses a meta-ethnographic approach to extract primary and second order concepts from thirteen qualitative papers which describe Queer women's experiences of minority stress and their various responses. Third-order constructs of 'threat', 'response' and 'position' are extracted from this data and a model of how these interact for Queer women is described. Implications of how minority stress may present in Queer women, and the interaction between mental health and responses to minority stress are discussed. Section B: This empirical paper explores the experiences for lesbian/gay women on clinical psychology training, and the impact of minority sexual orientation on personal and professional development. Eight interviews are analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Three super-ordinateand nine subordinate themes emerged relating to psychological, relational and theoretical processes trainees engaged in largely in the absence of a shared reflective practice around sexuality and gender. Implications for training and practice are discussed.

This thesis uses a qualitative design to explore the experiences of adolescents with type 1 diabetes (AT1D) regarding their diabetes management. The literature review involved a systematic review of the literature on adolescents' experience of diabetes management, and a meta-synthesis of their findings. Adolescents described barriers to diabetes management including a lack of knowledge, skills, support and resources to feel equipped to manage their diabetes. They reported becoming overwhelmed by the complex regime and levels of responsibility, which was enhanced when parents intermittently took over control. This sometimes led to resentment and rebellion, resulting in deliberate mismanagement. Non-deliberate mismanagement included adolescents' belief that they could intuitively determine their blood glucose levels without monitoring them as per their regime. Implications include researching the concept of intuitively monitoring blood glucose levels and increasing knowledge and resources for adolescents to feel self-efficacious. Five adolescent-caregiver dyads were interviewed about their experiences of using a blood glucose monitor in the empirical paper. Thematic analysis of this data found themes of: Practicalities of using the device, where participants evaluated the device and it's impacts on diabetes outcomes; Emotional consequences relating to mostly reduced anxiety yet the potential for guilt and shame; Choice/Control regarding their diabetes management practices; Social responses, where participants described the device as allowing them to be discreet to maintain social relationships and feel like a 'normal teen'; and Responsibility, whereby participants described the need for responsible use of the device and the potential for conflicts with caregivers when this is not achieved. Future implications include research into those with issues managing their diabetes or the newly diagnosed and providing supportive communication training to service providers and family members. The final paper examines contributions to theory development and clinical practice and summaries areas requiring further research.

Immigration worldwide is at an all-time high resulting in significant changes in school populations internationally. Schools have a key role in the resettlement of International New Arrivals (INA) and the perspectives of INA pupils can play an important part in the development of provision which effectively meets their needs. The first paper is a systematic literature review exploring the secondary school experiences of INAs. Using the PRISMA framework, 35 potentially relevant studies were identified of which 10 met the inclusion criteria. A thematic synthesis of the studies identified the following key themes: sense of belonging, acquisition of the English language and lack of acceptance. Findings also highlight similar perceptions across different INA groups relating to the importance of social inclusion of pupils into schools. Implications for school practice are considered. The second paper is an exploratory qualitative study exploring the experiences of three male adolescent INAs as they transferred into secondary school in one local authority in the UK. Two interviews using interpreters were carried out with each participant and analysed using thematic analysis. Key themes generated from the data included navigating the learning context, the school transition experience and developing a sense of belonging. Findings also reflected the role of INA pupils as active agents in shaping their own experiences in school. Implications for school practice and future research are considered. The third paper outlines the dissemination of evidence to professional practice within the context of educational psychology. An overview of the literature on evidence-based practice, practice-based evidence and effective research dissemination is given. This is followed by a summary of the research implications from Paper One and Two and concludes with a strategy for dissemination.

Literature is one of the primary means through which God has revealed Himself to the world. Christian writers, therefore, should be bold to portray their God in and through the religious experiences of their characters. Evaluating classic and contemporary literature, four distinct methods of portraying religious experience may be described, each with varying levels of flexibility and faithfulness. Works of literature such as fantasy fiction may include any and all of these methods, even while that literature pursues other themes. In this thesis, an Artist Statement describes the included work of fiction, with its literary context, impetus, and personal significance. A Critical Paper follows, studying and describing the four types of religious experience in literature. Finally, the Creative Manuscript attempts to put these four types into practice in the context of a coherent story, using the beginning of a longer novel.

Section A is a systematic literature review, examining possible factors which may impact on the risk of experiencing postnatal mental health difficulties for women who had an unplanned pregnancy. Sixteen papers were found to be relevant for inclusion in the review. Findings are summarised under six key themes; pre-existing mental health difficulties, sociodemographic factors, mother's perception of the pregnancy, obstetric factors, social factors and paternal factors. Findings are discussed in relation to their clinical relevance, and recommended further research is outlined. Section B is an empirical study using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore the experience of a pregnancy that was not planned, for women postnatally. Eight first time mothers who had a baby aged between six and twenty-four months were interviewed. Five subordinate themes, with subthemes, are discussed in the findings. These include unique considerations for women who had a pregnancy that was not planned. Limitations of the study and research and clinical implications are considered.

With the improvement of living standards and the construction of public transportation, many people travel more frequently. They want to record those experiences and get more enlightenment when they look back upon the memory. Additionally, many people have eagerly requested to share their travel experiences due to the development of social media and the information explosion era. Less than a decade ago, people would travel without a smart device. They tended to take photos along the way with a film camera, and stick them on a physical photo album to share with friends and family. The other traditional method of documenting the journey includes keeping a paper journal, creating a scrapbook, using a sketchbook, and sending postcards home. Those are the epic handmade styles of building a solid connection between owners and their traveling memory, but hard to survive from heavy-duty trips and future preservation. After I deep dive into the problem area, I found out that nowadays, people are willing to record digitally by using phone notes, becoming vloggers and bloggers, posting photos on Instagram, and making Tiktok Videos. However, the fast-paced domestic lifestyle and existing tools can hardly meet people’s demand for systematic documentation of travel events. Therefore, organizing information structurally and visualizing the experience could help them get more pleasure when reflecting on these memories and sharing them with others. My deliverable is designing a mobile-based application that will make travel-record easier and build the emotional connection between users and their travel stories. The document method of this app would be diverse, which includes taking photos, notes, voice memos, mood marks, and footprints.

Music has long been an important medium for fulfilling and expressing emotional needs. In fact, music can become a powerful tool to create emotional responses in humans, such as happiness, sadness, awareness, as we see in recent decades in cinema, social media and advertisement. Today, a combination of different media is used to arouse our emotion and feeling, but often music has been used to accompany a visual realization, rather than vice versa. In my work I explore new modes of communication between people and sound by transfiguring music notation to a visual graphic. The scope and scale of my work ranges from miniature individual components to artworks the size of a room. Through my realization, the technique that I use permits me to play with images in the way that musicians play with sounds. In this paper, I introduce this new language, which is an art form based on unlimited combinations of simple elements that are capable of expressing a broad range of human emotion and experience.

Through curated space and abstracted sculptures that reference the viewer’s body, Gut Feeling, acknowledges the viewer’s experience as the focal point of the exhibition. I designed the whole gallery as an art object using both positive and negative space. The sculptures act as one unified system that guides the viewer through the exhibition in a counterclockwise rotation inward. The viewer follows the forms as they puncture through the walls of the gallery, while considering their own body’s relationship to the forms being seen. The viewer directly engages with the scale of the forms, sculptural placement, and sensory experience; these elements stir humbleness in the viewer by tugging on the string that connects all of us despite our difference, our abject bodies. This paper is divided into two parts. The first part seeks to address the systems and historical factors that make up the museum’s authority such as architecture, archives, rituals, and the viewer’s role as a visual consumer. Part two focuses on my thesis exhibition Gut Feeling how it was developed and draws connections to the metaphorical body of the gallery and the viewer’s own body. As an artist I believe it is important to critique the artwork in the space it is presented in, while reflecting on how artwork is developed, constructed, and conceptualized.

The rise in popularity of farmers markets in the United States reflects consumers’ negative response to more traditional food distribution systems. Farmers markets provide consumers with a more local and often more personal food purchasing experience. This paper examines consumer motivations to attend farmers markets in Minnesota using the concept of embeddedness. Values of social embeddedness, spatial embeddedness, and natural embeddedness are used as a framework to analyze the range of non-economic motivations and values sought by patrons of farmers markets. This work contributes to existing literature on non-economic motivations to patronize farmers markets and support local food systems.

In Books with Bodies: Experientiality in post-1980s Multimodal Print Literature , I examine contemporary British and North American authors’ use of books as platforms for multimodal narration. “Multimodality” refers to the concurrent use of several semiotic systems (such as writing, maps, charts) for communication. The pointed juxtaposition of different semiotic systems in a literary text requires a combination of perception processes on the reader’s part. My dissertation charts the ways in which multimodal literary books published in response to the proliferation of electronic reading and writing interfaces from the 1980s onward prompt metacognitive awareness about "reading" as an experience that is grounded in bodily interactions and sensory contact with the modes and the platforms that mediate literature. I term this metacognitive awareness about the readers’ embodied engagement with the text’s material form "presence," by revising Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht’s notion of "presence-effect." The theoretical framework for this dissertation comes from three fields: I combine approaches to multimodality that originated in the study of social semiotics, insights from the cognitive sciences--the “second-generation” models of cognition--and twentieth century philosophies of experience, particularly those of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Serres, and Gumbrecht. By analyzing multimodal fictions, poetry, and lyrical essays such as Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003), Salvador Plascencia’s The People of Paper (2005), Anne Carson’s Nox (2010), Jonathan Safran Foer’s Tree of Codes (2010), and Doug Dorst and J.J. Abrams’s S. (2013), among other texts, Books with Bodies subverts the distinction between higher-order mental abilities (such as language processing) and lower-order perceptions (like touch) which underlies prior scholarship on the cognitive impact of literature. Indeed, I argue that the tendency to unpack the literary experience primarily in terms of how the mind processes language persists due to the equation of cognition with computation in first-generation artificial intelligence (AI) researches that influenced cognitive literary studies. Drawing on insights from queer and disability studies, I show that when we take cognition as analogous to information processing, we pathologize behavioral or cognitive differences. Thus, at a time when AI researches are finally moving beyond language processing to consider embodiment, my dissertation demonstrates the manner in which contemporary literature can contribute to the understanding of embodied, enactive intelligence.

The field of English Language Arts has a long history of valuing students’ experience and placing it at the center of curriculum and instruction. However, the means of making experience educative for students has proved to be a challenging conceptualization, especially within the realities of classroom life. This dissertation addresses this issue by exploring how a particular school used an 18-week experiential program called “Walkabout” to create opportunities for students’ experiences to become educative individually and collectively through narrative performance. In Walkabout, students reflect upon the educative value of their experiences through multiple oral and written narrativizations of experiences over time. I frame the practice of making experience educative in two ways. First, I build upon Dewey’s (1938) notions of continuity and interaction. Second, I rely upon sociolinguistic scholars who conceptualize narrative according to its situated function as manifested by language-in-use. The larger ethnographic research project from which this study is taken was a two-year study tracing the writing experiences of two senior classes involving 18 case study students. This study was the focus of the second year of the larger study. I use the methods of case study and interactional ethnography to trace students’ participation with narrativizations of experience according to Rogoff’s (1995) three planes of activity—apprenticeship, guided practice, and participatory appropriation—to structure my discussion of students’ sociocultural participation with narrativizations of experience over time on institutional, interactional, and individual levels. Students were apprenticed into making experience educative over time through three primary moves: (1) making immediate evaluations tellable (2) constructing identities through narrativizations and (3) engaging in reflective meaning making on previous and ongoing narrativizations. These moves were evident in the students’ evolving language in use in how they narrativized their experiences over time in different narrative environments such as journals, class discussions, class papers, and public presentations. These moves were also influenced by the historical, institutional, and interactional forces that shaped the Walkabout program and its teachers, including an emphasis on individual and community growth and readiness to transition from adolescence to adulthood. By addressing student-generated narrativized topics over time, teachers were able to transform students’ immediate narrativized evaluations of experience into more complex topics. Three case study students demonstrated both resistance and acceptance of teachers’ attempts to engage them in reflective meaning-making but in all cases students did engage in robust dialogues where they at least considered alternate constructions of meaning regarding their narrativizations of experience. This study offers narrativizations of experience as a way to realize Dewey’s (1938) argument that experiences can be made educative through continuity and interaction and carries theoretical, pedagogical, and methodological implications for the value of using students’ experience as heuristic for teaching and learning.

August Cieszkowski is one of the greatest philosophers of Polish philosophy of nation and history. He was also a thinker for whom religion played a formidable role in his philosophical system. If it had not been for religion, this system would not have existed at all. The present paper shows the importance of religious thinking in the whole historiosophical system of Cieszkowski. It underlines the fact that while the developing science was striving to “disenchant the world”, Cieszkowski as a philosopher wanted to “enchant the reality” afresh. However, this “enchanting” was not being performed “against science”. Quite to the contrary, this Polish thinker was employing scientific achievements to demonstrate that “religion is everything”. Divinity is not placed in the mysterious and isolated sacred any more but constitutes our daily life and action.