Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Leadership and Change

COVID-19 changed how faculty members approached teaching in higher education in the United States. This study specifically looks at the changes in faculty-student interaction (FSI) during the COVID-19 pandemic. While extensive literature exists on the topic from the student perspective, the disruption in education necessitated a more extensive study of the faculty perspective. A multiple-case study methodology was employed to explore the experiences of a small cohort of faculty members at a single institution and how they fostered positive interactions with students from Spring 2019 through Spring 2023. The data collected included semi-structured interviews, course syllabi, teaching philosophies, and a pre-interview questionnaire with demographic data. The findings revealed that faculty initially faced hurdles engaging with students but swiftly devised strategies to adapt. Their approaches primarily emerged from internet searches and conversations with other faculty in their communities of practice. Additionally, faculty members who taught prior to the pandemic used their prior teaching experience but also credited having access to course materials designed for online learning as a strategy for positive interaction. Finally, returning to in-person teaching with social restrictions presented significant challenges in comparison to teaching online. A key implication for practice is requiring faculty to teach asynchronous courses periodically to ensure familiarity with best practices for online learning and access to updated teaching materials. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Chair); Harriet Schwartz PhD (Committee Member); Kristan Cilente Skendall PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Art Education; Business Administration; Business Education; Communication; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Education History; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Sociology; Educational Technology; Gender Studies; Health; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Multicultural Education; Pedagogy; Public Health; Social Research; Teaching; Technology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, EDU Policy and Leadership

A quasi-experiment was carried out in a college success strategies course to evaluate the impact of structured interpersonal interaction on undergraduate students' Academic Engagement and Academic Achievement. The course, EPL 259: Individual Learning and Motivation, employs a blended learning instructional model – Active Discovery and Participation through Technology (ADAPT; Tuckman, 2002) – that requires students to spend the majority of class time working independently on online activities. In the quasi-experiment, students in six treatment sections were exposed to some combination of two types of interpersonal interaction: Student-Student Interaction and Student-Instructor Interaction. Student-Student Interaction was facilitated in two different formats: (1) through in-class, cooperative learning activities, and (2) through online, asynchronous discussion board activities. Two sections of EPL 259 received the first Student-Student Interaction format, two sections received the second format, and two sections received neither format. In addition, in each of these three pairs of sections, one section also received Student-Instructor Interaction, facilitated through weekly, one-on-one meetings between each student and his or her instructor. The desired outcomes, Academic Engagement and Academic Achievement, were each measured in two ways. Academic Engagement was measured: (1) through analysis of data on students' course-related behaviors, including rates of attendance, tardiness, submission of assignments, and late submission of papers, and (2) through students' scores on a multifactor survey of course engagement. Academic Achievement was measured: (1) through total points earned on written assignments and online activities, and (2) through grades on the comprehensive final examination. A series of Analyses of Covariance (ANCOVAs), utilizing participants' Prior Cumulative GPA and measures of Conscientiousness and Extraversion as covariates, was carried out to assess (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Leonard Baird Ed.D. (Advisor); Wayne Hoy Ed.D. (Committee Member); Bruce Tuckman Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology; Experiments; Higher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, EDU Physical Activity and Educational Services

There has been an overabundance of research studies that have shown why Faculty-student interaction is beneficial for students, from higher academic performance to being more successful in life overall. Despite this, it is a struggle for those who work to get faculty involved with students outside the classroom, usually student affairs professionals, to find effective ways to get faculty to engage in various co-curricular initiatives. Some faculty pursue opportunities for this different type of relationship with students, while others do not for variety of reasons. There are also programs that tend to foster Faculty-student connection more than others, but it is rare for these programs and/or research to focus on the faculty perspective regarding why they continue to participate. Based on Cox's (2011) typology of Faculty-student interaction outside the classroom, this study will focus on faculty who would say they have experienced Personal Interaction with students. At this level, interactions became intentional and a “fundamental shift” happened in the relationship. Students realized they were valued by the faculty member as a unique individual and possibly even friend and knew that the faculty member had a genuine concern for their well-being and success (Cox, 2011, p. 52). For this study, I will employ phenomenological methodology to seek a deeper understanding of the lived experience of faculty members who indicate they have experienced Personal Interaction with students. By studying Faculty-student connection from the faculty perspective, my hope is to assist student affairs and academic affairs professionals in better understanding faculty motivations and needs when getting involved with students outside the classroom. This information can then assist them in designing intentional processes and programs that will encourage more Faculty-student connection. Final findings and implications will be discussed at the conclusion of the study.

Committee: Tatiana Suspitsyna PhD (Advisor); Colette Dollarhide PhD (Committee Member); Amy Barnes EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, EDU Teaching and Learning

This research examines student interactions in elementary science learning. The research questions are: (1) How do students interact with other students within the context of an elementary school science class? (2) How do student-student and teacher-student interactions promote science learning? The study is grounded in socio-cultural epistemologies and views learning as processes of doing scientific practices and as processes grounded in dialogue, a situated activity. Lave and Wenger (1991) raise awareness of the consideration that “learners inevitably participate in communities of practitioners and that the mastery of knowledge and skill requires newcomers to move toward full participation in the sociocultural practices of a community” (p. 29). Thus, individuals have some agency to construct knowledge as a result of becoming a member and participant of political, ethnic, and cultural communities (Gilmore, 2011). Using ethnographic research tools, i.e., science classroom observations and student interviews, the findings show that students interact with other students in three major learning practices: science practices, engineering and technology practices, and general practices. The major social settings in student interactions are small group (group of two or of three) interactions with a teacher-led discussion. In the three major learning practices, “observing” and ”testing” are likely to promote science learning and “describing” is the way that these practices contribute to student communication of knowledge in science. “Describing” is also the highest frequency code in teacher-student interactions.

Committee: Karen Irving (Advisor); Donna Farland-Smith (Committee Member); Sarah Gallo (Committee Member) Subjects: Elementary Education; Science Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1970, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

EDD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the higher education undergraduate student body and the structure of course offerings have drastically changed. As we continue to transition from emergency remote courses to quality online learning experiences, we must respond thoughtfully as well as empirically. The purpose of this study was to examine quality learning experiences as perceived by students in online courses and use the new knowledge generated to add to current research and enhance practice. Through qualitative data collection, I intended to answer the following research questions: (a) What do students perceive as quality learning experiences in their online courses? and (b) How can understanding the student experience and perception of quality in their online learning environments improve course development procedures in online courses? Eight participants were interviewed regarding their experiences of quality in online courses. Results of the study determined Barriers, Interaction, Structure, and Community are the themes that students identify when defining quality online learning experiences. It was also indicated that students were more satisfied with their high quality online learning experiences. Implications and recommendations for improved practice and action steps are also provided. The researcher contends that these findings demonstrate the need to systematically build quality into online courses, which will offer students better learning experiences.

Committee: Elizabeth Kenyon (Committee Chair); Enrico Gandolfi (Committee Member); Christina Collins (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Educational Technology

Doctor of Professional Studies (D.P.S.) in Instructional Design Leadership, Franklin University, 2021, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

Discussion board forums have become commonplace within online learning environments (OLEs). With student enrollment in online classes continuing to rise and the emergence of COVID-19, more students will be utilizing discussion forums within OLEs than ever before. Positive pedagogical support for the use of discussion forums abounds, but studies on the efficacy of discussions in online forums show mixed results. This study seeks to compare two types of discussion forums. One type, instructor-led scaffolding, was designed with pedagogy such as feedback, discussion prompts, and scaffolding implemented by the instructor. The second type, technology-enhanced scaffolding, was designed to foster autonomous motivation in students, while some feedback and scaffolding were implemented automatically by the technology-enhanced platform and offloaded onto discussion TAs provided for instructors by the platform. The study used the Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) to measure student knowledge construction levels and interpreted results to determine the impact of pedagogical design implementation on student knowledge construction in undergraduate online learning environments.

Committee: Meghan Raehll (Committee Chair); Matthew Barclay (Committee Member); Lewis Chongwony (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Artificial Intelligence; Design; Education; Educational Technology; Instructional Design

Master of Computer Science, Miami University, 2020, Computer Science and Software Engineering

Network analysis techniques help investigate the significance of nodes/actors that play central roles where the nodes represent people, and the links represent the communication between them. This thesis analyzes how collaboration helps students' learning process and proposes a tool that could be integrated with Canvas to analyze student discussion data. To begin, we analyzed data collected from online student discussions on Canvas, in a Level-1 Programming course. These discussion topics were classified into classroom experiences/learning, question/answers, opinions, and comments. Modeling of the patterns of discussion board interactions as networks and applying various node-based network measures helped to unravel the similarities of student interaction patterns, and gain insights into their progress in the course. The experimental analyses include finding the most challenging/debated topics in the course, analyzing the leadership and team-based qualities, and analyzing trends in student participation. The results of the study reveal that participation in online discussion forums has a positive impact on the students' grades. In summary, the inferences drawn from this research can help instructors understand the student learning behaviors/patterns and guide the development of better pedagogical approaches that benefit students to overcome the common misconceptions that they confront in the course concepts.

Committee: Vijayalakshmi Ramasamy (Advisor); James Kiper (Committee Member); Hakam Alomari (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science; Education

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2019, Higher Education

African American faculty at predominantly White institutions face a conundrum. African American students experience an achievement gap and Student Involvement Theory suggests that faculty interaction has greater impact on student achievement than any other type of involvement. These faculty may feel an obligation to serve such students yet simultaneously feel disincentivized to do so in order to satisfy tenure requirements, which typically do not prioritize service. This study sought to discover how these faculty perceive this challenge within the context of campus racial climate. Campus Racial Climate was the conceptual framework and Critical Race Theory was the theoretical framework employed in this study. Information was collected by analyzing institutional documents, interviewing faculty, and conducting member-checking to verify accuracy. Three themes regarding faculty perceptions about student-faculty interaction emerged: Faculty Experiences, Student Rapport, and Institutional Milieu. This study also arrived at four key conclusions. First, homophily (gravitation toward those who share important social characteristics) influenced perceptions of student-faculty interaction more than campus racial climate. Negative campus racial climates have been noted to motivate African American student-faculty interaction and were believed to be a primary impetus for it. However, this study revealed that the motivation for such interaction exists whether the climate is positive or negative. Homophily, was perceived as having a constant and direct influence on views about student-faculty interaction while campus racial climate was regarded as having a contextual and indirect influence on the same. Second, campus racial climate did not directly influence views about African American student-faculty interaction. However, campus environment (without respect to race) and race (without respect to campus environment) did influence perceptions. Third, the ques (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Penny Poplin Gosetti Ph.D. (Advisor); Shanda Gore Ed.D. (Committee Member); Kevin Jordan Ed.D. (Committee Member); Ronald Opp Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2017, College of Education and Human Services

New teachers are supported extensively while participating in teacher training programs and during the first years of teaching. During this time, there are opportunities for the new teacher to explore their self-identity and determine how they will interact with students in the classroom. As teachers enter the later years of their careers and are considered experienced, they are forced to contend with changing political and societal factors that influence their experiences around teaching in the classroom, often times without the extensive support that is provided for the teachers in their first years. Through a lens of social constructivism, narrative inquiry was used to “story” the lives of four teachers in high schools around a Midwestern metropolitan area. The theoretical framework, constructed around theories of experience and self-identity formation, explored these teachers' personal experience narratives and mapped their moral sources, traditions, and epistemological beliefs. The research found that the experiences teachers narrated were either stories of empowerment or stories of skepticism, and worked to influence the narrated self-identity and teacher/student interactions in both supportive and challenging ways.

Committee: Frederick Hampton Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Anne Galletta Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mark Freeman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mary Frances Buckely Ph.D. (Committee Member); Julie Burrell Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1969, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1967, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1966, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2017, Secondary Education

Conducted over 5 weeks, this multiple case study involved seven secondary science students in an urban, STEM-focused high school. Observations, documents, and interviews were used to obtain feedback on teacher-to-student respect from the student point-of-view in answer to the question: What actions by teachers do students reckon as representations of teacher-to-student respect in the classroom? The purposes were: to understand a complex phenomenon, to add to the educational knowledge base, and to inform constituencies (Newman, Ridenour, Newman & DeMarco, 2003). Two themes, person-to-person respect and learner-to-learner respect, emerged along with seven categories of teacher actions of respect: Gives, Lets, Treats, Listens, Understands, Helps, and Answers. Students reckon as respect any teacher action that affectively or cognitively meets or exceeds students' respect desires or respect expectations by encouraging or supporting students as persons or as learners. Two respect-reckoning questions and two meaning-making questions were representative of the types of questions students ask themselves; despite use of similar mechanisms, students reckon respect and make meaning variably. Interpreted via Goodman's (2009) framework, person-to-person (interpersonal) respect serves as a gateway to learner-to-learner respect. Of the three categories of interpersonal respect (Gives, Lets, and Treats), Gives serves as a precursor to Lets and Treats. By respecting a student, a teacher earns that student's respect. Though investigated via science, results are presented via art in a play: Between the Bells.

Committee: Francis Broadway Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Science Education; Secondary Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, EDU Teaching and Learning

This study explores L2 (second language) students' experience with the writing tutorial in a university writing center. University writing centers were initiated to provide writing instruction to L1 (first, native language) students and have since developed to enhance their writing ability for academic purposes. With the shift of the concept of literacy in the U.S, the focus of writing instruction in the writing center has moved from focusing on the rules of grammar and punctuation in order to “make better writing”, to a collaborative pedagogy aiming to “make better writers” (North, 1984). However, as international students are increasing in the American university, their concerns for writing in English as L2 writers seem to have some conflict between the writing center's philosophy of writing instruction and the expectation that the international students have to fulfill their own needs to improve their writing ability. This study, in this light, was conducted to gain a better understanding of the work of writing centers with L2 students in terms of how the tutor and the L2 students interact with each other during the tutorial, focusing on issues and elements that inhibit the L2 students from improving their English writing ability. From the perspective of social constructionism, this study is framed by the notion of instruction as a conversational accomplishment, and learning in this view occurs as a social process mediated through interaction. With a particular focus on analyzing the talk and interaction transcribed form videoed tutorials and interviews with tutors and tutees, this study aims to examine the nature of L2 learners' writing practices occurring in the one-to-one writing tutorials with the tutors and to provide a comprehensive vignette of experiences of L2 writers in the writing center. Nine issues that capture the dynamics of the international students' interaction with Writing Center tutors emerged from the analysis of the corpus of data: six origin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Alan Hirvela (Advisor); Caroline Clark (Committee Member); David Bloome (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Education; English As A Second Language; Foreign Language; Language; Language Arts; Multicultural Education; Multilingual Education; Rhetoric; School Administration; Teaching

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2013, Industrial, Interior Visual Communication Design

This thesis examines how design can inform the services offered by a graduate student governance organization at a major university. The research applies the Experience Cycle model (Evenson and Dubberly, 2008) and emerging service design thinking methods to develop a series of service experience lifecycle maps illustrating the interactive components, both tangible and intangible, of student council services. The main research question is “How can university student governance bodies utilize a service design framework to propose more transformational student experiences?” A transformation of student experience focuses on a graduate student journey where students can concentrate on their primary function and less on finding the resources that will help enable their research and writing. Additionally, a transformational student experience can extend from the confines of graduate school into the professional world by providing the necessary skills needed for employment after graduation. Each of these key components places importance on understanding developmental service spaces in order to provide services that are more relevant and responsive to the needs of graduate students and other core stakeholders at the case study organization. The research applies the Experience Cycle model (Evenson and Dubberly, 2008) and emerging service design thinking methods to develop a series of service experience lifecycle maps illustrating the interactive components, both tangible and intangible, of student council services. The methods for data collection include survey, interview, observation, and two participatory workshops with graduate students, Council Delegates, university administrators, and the faculty advisors of the organization. The main investigation focuses on the rudimentary stages of graduate student development, that is, their choices to attend graduate school and why they chose a particular institution, the pressure points resulting from their decisions, areas of (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Peter Chan (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Sanders (Committee Member); Brian Stone (Committee Member) Subjects: Design

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2007, Curriculum and Instruction: Educational Technology

Course management systems (CMS) are widely used in higher education to deliver courses completely at a distance. Although research suggests learning is influenced by social interaction, there is comparatively little research on why and how students enrolled in a CMS-based, fully online course interact with their peers. A review of the literature suggests the history of distance education is primarily constructed of applied practice, largely unchanged throughout periods of technological innovation. The purpose of this study is to discover students' perceptions of social interaction among peers enrolled in a university-level, fully online, CMS-based course. An online survey provided an objective measure of peer interaction. The results revealed hierarchical patterns in reasons for interaction, communication methods used, and the perceived value of interaction in academic success. The study also revealed significant demographic differences regarding reasons for interaction and communication methods used. Content review suggests students have a strong interest in how instruction is provided online. Improvement in learning skills, communication literacy, and information literacy are recommended to increase online learning outcomes. Additional research is suggested to expand the knowledge of distance education.

Committee: Robert Sullivan (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Higher

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2011, Communication Studies

The purpose of this study was to begin research based on students' perceptions of student-teacher interaction on the social networking site Facebook. Specifically, whether interaction on Facebook between students and teachers could increase the social dimension of the student-teacher relationship, in turn increasing the task dimension. The study focused on understanding the role a teacher's sex and age plays in student-teacher interaction on Facebook. Additionally, the research examined student perceptions regarding whether students or teachers should initiate interaction on Facebook. Finally, the study allowed students to share their ideas regarding what types of information teachers should and should not share with students through Facebook. Although few significant results were found, the results indicated that students were open to a small increase in student-teacher interaction on Facebook, but that such interaction should remain mostly task oriented. Discussion of the results and suggestions for future research are also provided.

Committee: Lawrence Nadler (Advisor); Todd Holm (Committee Member); Judith Weiner (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication