Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

Employability is key to libraries as they continue to diversify their services to include career services to meet the job seeking needs of community members. But not all community members are aware that libraries play a key role in preparing the workforce. This dissertation probed and sought ways to improve job seeking outcomes for patrons in the Baldwin Public library. A qualitative, participatory action research study used a phenomenological research approach to understand the experiences of library patrons' job seekers for the purpose of improving job seeking outcomes within the system. The study's action plan recommendations include the development of a learning center, programs as symbol of family ties and more which support and improve job seeking outcomes.

Committee: Elizabeth Essex (Committee Chair); Michelle Covert (Committee Member); Michelle Chamblin (Committee Member) Subjects: Information Science; Library Science

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

Employers indicate their new employees lack the employability skills to be successful in the workplace. These skills are integral to the career and technical education (CTE) curriculum in Ohio. CTE teachers are responsible for grading and assessing student mastery of employability skills. This study examines Ohio CTE teachers' grading and assessment practices to determine student mastery of employability skills and provides an analysis to determine whether a relationship exists between their grading and assessment practices and demographic variables. The researcher sent a Google Survey to colleagues who completed the survey or forwarded the survey to eligible participants. Ninety-nine respondents completed the survey. Results indicate CTE teachers use behavior, work habits, and professionalism/employability often to determine students' grades for employability skills. Authentic assessments are used quite a bit or more by 93 percent of respondents. The cognitive level of assessments to measure employability skills focuses on having students apply what they learn quite a bit or more by 93 percent of respondents. The survey items were grouped into four factors for a multivariate analysis, revealing a significant interaction between a CTE teacher's career field and the multivariate factor, p < .001. Further research can examine why these interactions exist and how teaching and learning of outcomes related to employability skills are impacted. Many CTE teachers use grades as a measure of accountability, which can obscure a clear understanding of students' strengths and areas for improvement. Career and technical education teachers need professional development on research-based grading practices.

Committee: Karen Larwin Ph.D. (Committee Chair); James Powell Ed.D. (Committee Member); Mara Banfield Ed.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Vocational Education

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.), Franklin University, 2022, Business Administration

The problem facing organizations is that of high employee turnover and lack of employee engagement. The lack of employee commitment caused by skill shortages and economic growth undermines the organization's ability to survive and compete. Previous work ethic and job satisfaction research have established a statistically significant positive correlation between reduced employee turnover and employee commitment. This quantitative research study uses a purposeful sample of MBA students to examine if and to what extent a relationship exists between work ethic and job satisfaction in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This population was selected because they are both students and full-time employees across multiple industries. Rather than rely on religious or cultural values, the study is based on Self Determination Theory (SDT), which provides a universal base to explore a possible relationship between an individual's work ethic and job satisfaction. This theoretical perspective shifts the focus of traditional work ethic and job satisfaction values from cultural and religious to individual development as it interacts with the perceived opportunity. This research establishes a universal base that can apply across similar and dissimilar cultures. Finding from this data indicate a strong correlation between Employability Skills Assessment (work ethic) and job satisfaction A moderate correlation was established between the sub-factors of initiative, dependability, and interpersonal skills. Graduating students who master the necessary employability skills will be more successful according to the ESA scores and more likely to achieve job satisfaction.

Committee: Beverly Smith (Committee Chair); Charles Fenner (Committee Member); Daniel Dayton (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Administration

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

This study examines the factors that contribute to a student`s career readiness during the secondary years. The study attempts to identify the skills employers most value, the skills employers identify as the most difficult to find in prospective employees, and the experiences that employers believe high school students should engage in frequently to develop these workplace skills. Exploratory factor analysis is utilized to examine the quantitative results of the study. The results indicate social emotional literacy is needed most often in jobs for employees to successfully perform job-related tasks. The results suggest that digital literacy skills, while not as highly valued by employees, are found less frequently in newly hired employees. The research examines the frequency in which employers believe high school students should participate in various instructional activities. The research results indicate that employers believe high school students should most frequently participate in activities that help develop their mathematics and technology skills.

Committee: Karen Larwin PhD (Committee Chair); Carrie Jackson EdD (Committee Member); Patrick Spearman PhD (Committee Member); Sherri Harper Woods DM (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2019, Management

Identity development is a key part of flourishing, but how an at-risk emerging adult student shapes a life project meant for a flourishing life has been understudied. There is a notable gap in current literature examining the effects of capital negotiation (social capital and identity capital) on life project design, and informal educator behaviors on emerging adult student employability and identity capital, which we argue are critical, missing elements of a flourishing life project. Previous research on informal student-faculty interactions has addressed academic/educational outcomes of those interactions, leaving void the potential identity capital development and negotiation also resulting from those same interactions. In the same vein, much research has addressed counseling life designing, some even for vulnerable youth, but little attention has been devoted to informal edu-mentor behaviors regarding the planning of a life project for at-risk emerging adult students across educational settings. This work borrows from othering and literature on under-resourced students to begin to define at-risk, but we concentrate its definition by specifying Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). This dissertation's intensive interviews and structural equation modeling investigated behaviors of faculty that foster bonding with students, the consequences of which resulted in student identity capital development. The research offered herein developed from a three-part exploratory sequential mixed methods project addressing how an at-risk emerging adult student negotiates capital in shaping a life project across educational settings. The initial phase leveraged a grounded theory approach to examine the student-teacher relationship from the secondary school teacher's perspective. I investigated the particular behaviors, social and emotional intelligence competencies, and practices that made a teacher good at the facilitation of a relationship with othered students, specifically (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paul Salipante (Committee Chair); Diana Bilimoria (Committee Member); James Gaskin (Committee Member); Kalle Lyytinen (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Community Colleges; Continuing Education; Education; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Higher Education; Management; Organizational Behavior; School Administration; Secondary Education; Social Psychology; Social Research; Systems Design; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

The duties required of a musician earning a living wage are starkly different than the musicians twenty years ago. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, pure performance opportunities were often enough for music professionals to support themselves, but the musicians of today require a set of skills not explicitly instructed in a four-year degree, most prominently career management and rudimentary financial management proficiencies. Today, the vast majority musicians are now required to utilize skills tangentially related to the creation and performance of music, with various manifestations of a “portfolio” or “Protean” career becoming a preferred term of scholars and administrators alike. Considering a new performer/teacher/administrator paradigm, institutions of higher education training the musicians of the future have a responsibility to current and future students to maintain pace with current employment trends. For this dissertation, I investigated students and administrators at four-year degree granting institutions and found gaps between what students desire from their education, the goals of administrators in providing this degree, and what the workforce requires. Specific considerations for department policy are presented, and opportunities for future research in a variety of arts disciplines are highlighted.

Committee: Wayne Lawson Ph.D. (Advisor); Jan Edwards Ph.D. (Committee Member); Tatiana Suspitsyna Ph.D. (Committee Member); Margaret Wyszomirski Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Fine Arts; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Music; Music Education; Performing Arts; School Administration; Secondary Education; Teacher Education; Vocational Education

Master of Arts in Education, Defiance College, 2005, Education

Vocational school employability instructors across the state of Ohio participated in the study. Sixty-eight surveys were sent out to 58 vocational schools and skill centers across the state of Ohio. Thirty-eight surveys were returned. The purpose of the study was to determine the level of compatibility between ITAC competencies and what Ohio vocational teachers said they were teaching and what the researcher was teaching in her classes. The results of the survey indicated that subjects most frequently being taught matched those expected by employers in the Integrated Technical & Academic Competencies (ITAC) and suggested by the state of Ohio.

Committee: Suzanne McFarland (Advisor) Subjects: Vocational Education

Doctor of Education, University of Akron, 2013, Secondary Education

This investigation identified the perceptions of Ohio students with intellectual disabilities on the transition process when exiting high school. The study re-examined the findings from the data on the Ohio Longitudinal Study (Baer, Daviso, & McMahan Queen, 2009). The study took data upon exiting an Ohio high school, and with one, andthree and, five year intervals. The following questions were explored: • What critical courses of study or experiences do students with intellectual disabilities identify as unavailable? • What experiences did they rate as the most valuable during the transition process? What fields of work did they anticipate working in, compared to what they are currently working in? • What are the participants' reported reasons for unemployment? The top tier of services and activities that were unavailable surround a theme relative to employment and employability training. When identifying the highest rated experiences;the top tier of service and activity rating also involved a theme surrounding employment and employability training. Students top choices were paid work on own, and career and technical education, or in school job. The top five anticipated and actual fields of work for the African American and the white populations were identified. While looking at the reasons for not working by gender, the most prevalent factors to consider are the bleak economic conditions and how that would impact employment opportunities. The majority of the responses indicated that they could not find any job. The difference among genders for the question cannot find any job was a p value of .038 demonstrating a significant difference between male and female genders. An area for future research is the amount of career investigation and exposure that is needed for students to choose an appropriate field of employment. Implications for educational practices indicated by the findings demonstrate the need to offer many employment expe (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Shernavaz Vakil Dr. (Advisor); Alfred Daviso Dr. (Committee Member); Xin Liang Dr. (Committee Member); David Witt Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Education; Education Policy; Literacy; Regional Studies; Secondary Education; Social Research; Special Education; Teaching