Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2014, Instructional Technology (Education)

American undergraduates completing their degrees and entering the job market are expected to have twenty-first Century skills to be able to solve problems, work collaboratively, think globally, and to use new technology in support of these skills. Nationwide polling suggests that most graduates are entering the workforce lacking the skills that employers desire. Problem-based learning arose from medical education but has been adapted to fit in other disciplines where its outcome is the development of the twenty-first Century skills. Nelson's (1999) Collaborative Problem Solving instructional model was implemented in a client-based internationally-focused undergraduate problem solving program at a large, Midwestern university. The model was implemented once during the Fall Semester and a second time, with a revised version, during the Spring Semester of the 2013-2014 academic year. Data were collected throughout both semesters to evaluate the model's effectiveness, efficiency, and appeal through observations, interviewing, an evaluation questionnaire, and document analysis in the form of question prompted student journaling. Findings reveal changes for this context that include methods to help a facilitator model collaborative and problem-solving behavior and to give the students greater experience with collaboration. Specific recommendations for improvements are offered for instructional activities and participant roles. A separate focus is dedicated to the use and implementation of technology to support the CPS model and the development of twenty-first Century skills. Recommendations for the use of technology include discussions of potential uses for discussion boards, a learning management system, an online scheduling client, and a mobile group chat application. A practitioner may use the resulting recommendations for changes to the model in conjunction with the original publication when employing a collaborative problem-solving model in a higher education classro (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Teresa Franklin (Committee Chair); Dawn Bikowski (Committee Member); Greg Emery (Committee Member); David Moore (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, Teaching and Learning

Peoples and cultures have been interacting since the dawn of history, but global conflict, recent advances in technology, and the changing demographics of the United States make peaceful coexistence in a multicultural world a matter of urgency for this and future generations. Although education is often cited as the key to the global village of tomorrow, little research has been done to explore how the lifeblood of literacy—the books of childhood that teach and entertain—can bridge cultures to connect worlds. This study seeks to address that very question by comparing the literary and lived experience of Australian culture with five pre-service teachers from the Midwestern United States. Children's literature was the foundation for the project, first as the focus of pre-departure readings in the home country, and then as the basis for a researcher-led three-week study tour where participants met with authors, illustrators, students, teachers, and others as they experienced Australian culture first-hand. Reflective journaling, class discussions, participant observation, and a post-program debriefing yielded data that were analyzed through grounded theory. The developmental model of intercultural sensitivity, and its associated inventory, was used to contextualize response to the phenomenological experience of culture in both literary and lived experience. Results of the study show that children's literature can be an enjoyable and dynamic means to facilitate cross-cultural learning, serving as common ground and catalyst for intercultural exchange through each phase of the program. Theoretical benefits were argued then demonstrated for children's literature as a tool in furthering global education with pre-service teachers. A five-stage model for cultural relativity is proposed that reflects the disparate ways in which culture is reflected in children's literature, thus laying the groundwork for further study on national identity and cultural imperialism in global pub (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Barbara Lehman (Advisor) Subjects:

Master of Sciences (Engineering), Case Western Reserve University, 2008, EECS - Computer Engineering

This thesis explores the use of machine learning in the context of autonomous mobile robots driving on roads, with the focus on improving the robot's internal map. Early chapters cover the mapping efforts of DEXTER, Team Case's entry in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Competent driving may include the use of a priori information, such as road maps, and online sensory information, including vehicle position and orientation estimates in absolute coordinates as well as error coordinates relative to a sensed road. An algorithm may select the best of these typically flawed sources, or more robustly, use all flawed sources to improve an uncertain world map, both globally in terms of registration corrections and locally in terms of improving knowledge of obscured roads. It is shown how unsupervised learning can be used to train recognition of sensor credibility in a manner applicable to optimal data fusion.

Committee: Wyatt Newman PhD (Advisor); M. Cenk Cavusoglu PhD (Committee Member); Francis Merat PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science; Engineering; Robots

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Educational Studies

Worldview diversity education is an integral aspect of preparing students to negotiate difference in an interconnected world and to work together toward solving global problems. It intersects with diversity and intercultural learning, contributing the missing piece of religious, secular, and spiritual worldviews to global learning. This study utilized a survey and comparative case study to explore non-U.S. global liberal arts colleges and universities' engagement in worldview diversity education, common approaches, and how senior campus leaders expressed worldview diversity education in relation to larger education purposes, policyscapes, and priorities. Incorporating a view of education practice as policy and of worldviews as representing not just systems of belief but also cultures of belonging, this study contributes to the identification and development of worldview diversity education policy and practice among global liberal arts colleges and universities.

Committee: Matthew Mayhew (Committee Chair); Amy Barnes (Committee Member); Tatiana Suspitsyna (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; International Relations; Religious Education

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Leadership and Change

Capacity building for globally competent educators is a 21st Century imperative to address contemporary complex and constantly changing challenges. This action research project is grounded in positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship, relational cultural theory, and relational leadership practices. It sought to identify adaptive challenges educators face as they try to integrate globally competent teaching practices into their curricula, demonstrate learning and growth experienced by the educators in this project, and provide guidance and solutions to the challenges globally competent educators face. Six educators participated in this three-phase project, which included focus groups, reflective journal entries, and an exit interview. Data were collected, grouped into emergent themes, and organized into cohesive categories. The data from this project supported the creation of two foundational models for educating for global competence. The first is pedagogical and the other, coaching. Both models are in developing stages and are grounded in key theoretical frameworks and the data shared by the participants. Globally competent and globally responsive pedagogy tasks educators with examining their practice through a global and cultural prism to gain clarity of perspective, build social capital, improve relationships, and meet ever-changing local and global challenges. The approaches honor and respect diversity so as to dismantle systems of oppression and fight policies and social norms rooted in cognitive biases. The model integrates theory and key findings from this study to support educators to integrate and implement global competence. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd.

Committee: Lize Booysen DBL (Committee Chair); Jon Wergin PhD (Committee Member); Emily Schell EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Bilingual Education; Black Studies; Community College Education; Continuing Education; Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; English As A Second Language; Environmental Education; Ethnic Studies; Families and Family Life; Foreign Language; Gender Studies; Higher Education; Hispanic American Studies; Instructional Design; International Relations; Language; Language Arts; Middle Eastern History; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Modern Language; Multicultural Education; Multilingual Education; Native American Studies; Pedagogy; Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Structure; Social Studies Education; Sustainability; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Individual Interdisciplinary Program

Global health experiences or global health abroad experiences (GHEs) are unique experiential learning opportunities to infuse and teach critical lessons on health disparities. These experiences aid in the promotion of social justice in healthcare and equip healthcare professionals to better serve the needs of the population. In this dissertation, I explore the role GHEs play in training and preparing the next generation of health professionals. Cultural education for healthcare professionals (HCPs), including the use of cultural competence training, has emerged as a requirement for several professional accrediting agencies in an effort to train health professionals to deliver better care across cultural lines and address health disparities. However, research in this area has not explored how GHEs may directly influence or impact healthcare student perspectives. Through immersive learning, GHEs could be an effective platform for deep understanding of social determinants to health. With a robust integration of pedagogical practices, GHEs have the potential to not only contribute to changes in attitudes, skills, and knowledge in the short-term, but to possibly shape the lifelong pursuit of intercultural competence. The purpose of this qualitative research is to understand student outcomes from GHEs by using such experiences as ideal conduits where students grapple with and realize disparities in health.

Committee: Peter Mather (Committee Chair); Gillian Ice (Committee Co-Chair); Yegan Pillay (Committee Member); Lesli Johnson (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Health Care; Health Education; Higher Education Administration

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, 2019, Computer Science and Engineering PhD

The recognition of single objects is an old research field with many techniques and robust results. The probabilistic recognition of incomplete objects, however, remains an active field with challenging issues associated to shadows, illumination and other visual characteristics. With object incompleteness, we mean missing parts of a known object and not low-resolution images of that object. The employment of various single machine-learning methodologies for accurate classification of the incomplete objects did not provide a robust answer to the challenging problem. In this dissertation, we present a suite of high-level, model-based computer vision techniques encompassing both geometric and machine learning approaches to generate probabilistic matches of objects with varying degrees and forms of non-deformed incompleteness. The recognition of incomplete objects requires the formulation of a database of six sided views (e.g., model) of an object from which an identification can be made. The images are preprocessed (K-means segmentation, and region growing code to generate fully defined region and segment image information) from which local and global geometric and characteristic properties are generated in a process known as the Local-Global (L-G) Graph method. The characteristic properties are then stored into a database for processing against sample images featuring various types of missing features. The sample images are then characterized in the same manner. After this, a suite of methodologies is employed to match a sample against an exemplar image in a multithreaded manner. The approaches, which work with the multi-view model database characteristics in a parallel (e.g, multithreaded manner) determine probabilistically by application of weighted outcomes the application of various matching routines. These routines include treating segment border regions as chain codes which are then processed using various string matching algorithms, the matching by center (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nikolaos G. Bourbakis Ph.D. (Advisor); Soon M. Chung Ph.D. (Committee Member); Yong Pei Ph.D. (Committee Member); Arnab K. Shaw Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, East Asian Languages and Literatures

The purpose of this study is to determine why students at U.S. elite universities prefer to study abroad in Japan in short-term (8 weeks or less) programs rather than the traditional mid-length (more than 8 weeks but no more than 1 semester) and long-term (longer than 1 semester or quarter) programs. Although participation in study abroad among U.S. students to all destinations has increased by approximately 45% over the last decade, almost all of the increase comes from short-term programs. Conversely, mid-length and long-term programs have experienced steep declines in enrollment, dropping from 41% of total number of students studying abroad to just 36.6% and from 5.3% to just 2.4%, respectively, over the same period. The decrease in enrollment is a problem because extended participation and experience in the foreign country where the language is spoken and culture practiced aids the journey to high cultural and linguistic competency in a foreign language and culture (Davidson, 2010; Dwyer, 2004; MacAloon, 2008; Medina-Lopez-Portillo, 2004; Kehl and Morris, 2008; Zorn, 1996). Using a mixed-methods approach, 112 1st- and 2nd-year Japanese-language students at elite U.S. universities and 22 Japanese-language instructors were surveyed on the study abroad decision process, followed by seven interviews with respondents who volunteered to participate in the subsequent qualitative phase. Study findings clearly show that Japanese-language students at elite U.S. universities (a) have a strong interest in studying abroad in Japan, (b) mainly wish to study abroad to improve their Japanese-language skills and gain proficiency in the Japanese culture, and (c) are hesitant to study abroad in Japan in mid-length and long-term programs because they fear they lack time in their undergraduate curriculum and worry that appropriate courses needed for an on-time graduation are unavailable abroad. Importantly, no significantly statistical difference emerged between science, technology, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mari Noda Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Xiaobin Jian Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Charles Quinn Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Education; Foreign Language; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, Individual Interdisciplinary Program

This case study of a global service-learning program in Thailand aims to better understand how service-learning can provide a relevant and effective mentoring environment for fostering global citizenship, an increasingly widespread goal of higher education institutions. This study draws individually from the disciplines of higher education and international development as well as from the intersection of these fields as they manifest in the pedagogy, philosophy, and practice of global service-learning and global citizenship development. Studies shows that service-learning can contribute to student development but little is currently known about how the service-learning context serves as a mentoring environment for students. The construct of the mentoring environment is drawn from Parks (2000; 2011) concept of mentoring communities, which she describes as providing the gifts of recognition, challenge, support and inspiration. These gifts of the mentoring community are delivered through particular features of the environment such as a network of belonging; big enough questions; encounters with otherness; and habits of mind. Parks proposes that this mentoring environment has the potential to create a context for emerging adults to learn, develop and make meaning of their adult lives. In the case of this this global service-learning program in Thailand, the data revealed that the global service-learning mentoring environment held particular gifts and features and additional dimensions to Parks' theory of mentoring communities. Moreover, the global service-learning mentoring environment fostered outcomes for participants related to self-authorship and global citizenship identity development not entirely captured by Parks original theoretical framework.

Committee: Peter Mather PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Pedagogy; Teacher Education; Teaching

Master of Science in Computer Engineering (MSCE), Wright State University, 2017, Computer Engineering

A good distance metric is instrumental on the performance of many tasks including classification and data retrieval. However, designing an optimal distance function is very challenging, especially when the data has high dimensions.Recently, a number of algorithms have been proposed to learn an optimal distance function in a supervised manner, using data with class labels. In this thesis we proposed methods to learn an optimal distance function that can also indicate the importance of attributes. Specifically, we present several ways to define idealized distance functions, two of which involving distance error correction involving KNN classification, and another involving a two-constant defined distance function. Then we use multiple linear regression to produce regression formulas to represent the idealized distance functions. Experiments indicate that distances produced by our approaches have classification accuracy that are fairly comparable to existing methods. Importantly, our methods have added bonus of using weights on attributes to indicate the importance of attributes in the constructed optimal distance functions. Finally, the thesis presents importance of attributes on a number of datasetsfrom the UCI repository.

Committee: Guozhu Dong Ph.D. (Advisor); Keke Chen Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michelle Cheatham Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Engineering; Computer Science

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, Higher Education (Education)

This study examined the intercultural experiences and learning outcomes of U.S. undergraduates participating in four different short-term study abroad programs in three different African countries. Whereas the design for this study targeted nontraditional destinations in general, it proved difficult to get responses from students from the two institutions who had participated in programs in other nontraditional destinations. Utilizing a constructivist grounded theory methodology in the study design (Charmaz, 2006) qualitative interviews and participant journals /reflective papers were used as data sources. A total of 12 U.S. undergraduate students who had participated in short-term study abroad programs to South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania took part in this study. The study utilized the constant comparative method in the interpretation and analysis of data. From the data analysis, five dimensions of transformational learning in study abroad were identified: (a) positioning as learner, (b) situating the experience, (c) experiencing dissonance (d) resolving conflict and (e) making with other cultures. These dimensions provide insight into the learning processes within culturally disparate contexts that affect perspective change.

Committee: Peter Mather PhD (Committee Chair); Laura Harrrison PhD (Committee Member); Yegan Pillay PhD (Committee Member); Bruce Martin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education

Master of Science in Engineering, University of Toledo, 2009, Computer Science

The current trend in machine learning ensemble classifier research is to improve performance, at times marginally, beyond what existing methods can deliver. This tendency has consequently complicated ensemble designs to a level that is possibly not justified for many domains. This thesis proposes a new design for classification ensembles, Global-Local Hybrid Ensemble (GLHE), which offers robust performance with a less complex design than comparably performing ensembles. GLHE exploits two sources of diversity in its base-classifiers, heterogeneous (hybrid) and homogeneous. Heterogeneity is achieved with two learning algorithms – one global and one local – that are assumed to have an intrinsic difference in learning to ensure high levels of diversity. Homogeneity is implemented through the use of multiple parameterizations of the same learning algorithm to allow both global and local learners to explore their respective region of the hypothesis space while also creating additional, albeit small, diversity among the base-classifiers.A comprehensive simulation study is conducted to profile the performance capabilities of the proposed design, considering three types of classification performance measures, three types of diversity measures, and training/testing execution time as features of analysis. GLHE is implemented with decision tree (global) and nearest-neighbor (local) learners, and its performance on 46 benchmark datasets compared to more than 70 ensembles from the literature and in-house simulations. Specific hypotheses are tested and evaluated with nonparametric statistical significance calculations. First, it is shown that GLHE performs comparable to hybrid ensembles with more learning algorithms (more complexity) and better than data manipulation ensembles. Second, the importance of co-presence of global-local learners and heterogeneous/homogeneous diversity in the GLHE design is validated; along with our assumption the global and local learners produce high l (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Gursel Serpen (Advisor); Henry Ledgard (Committee Member); Han Yu (Committee Member) Subjects: Artificial Intelligence; Computer Science

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, EDU Teaching and Learning

Today, global interconnectedness is not simply a dream of the future, but is a present fact of our lives. With the increasing complexity of a global society, there is a good reason for schools to take an active role in developing students' competence to be effective players in the increasingly pluralistic, interdependent, and changing world in which they live (Kniep, 1986; Case, 1993; Merryfield, 2001). Respected scholars generally agree that the primary purpose of global education is to prepare young people to live effectively and responsibly in a global society (Anderson, 1990; Lamy, 1991, Selby & Pike, 2000). In order to maximize the potential of global education and to fulfill its purpose, there is a need to branch out from the trend of global education research that investigates how teachers infuse global perspectives in K-12 classroom subject teaching or how higher education's use of single destination or short term study abroad programs as a way to assist students in gaining a better understanding about the world, and investigate the process of students' learning about it as well as development of world-mindedness beyond the classroom especially through international cross-cultural experiential learning (Barnett, 1998; Taylor, 2000). I conducted a qualitative study to investigate the ways in which students retrospectively understand their transformation toward world-mindedness during their participation in an educational global voyage program. The purpose of this study is to gain better insights and understanding about the changing perspectives students have about the world and their relationship to it as a result of international cross-cultural experiential learning. For the purposes of this study, world-mindedness is defined as the ability to perceive the world as a whole and to see one's own position on a continuum of time and interconnected spaces (Alger & Harf, 1986; Case, 1993). I used a qualitative inquiry method mainly for its naturalistic approach, a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Merry Merryfield (Advisor); Binya Subedi (Committee Member); Andrienne Dixson (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, EDU Teaching and Learning

This study contributed to the broader scholarly discussion on global citizenship education by examining and documenting an inquiry into three secondary social studies teachers' changing conceptualizations of teaching for citizenship in a globalized world. The study theorized that 1) Teachers change their conceptualizations of teaching for citizenship by shifting or recreating their identities and 2) Teachers' identities are locations of agency for global citizenship and global citizenship education. While thinking about, reflecting on, or constructing new understandings of the concept of citizen and teaching for citizenship in a globalized world was important to changing teachers' conceptualizations, it was insufficient. Each teacher had a concept of what it means to be a citizen—an identity as a citizen—and this helped to define their understandings of teaching for citizenship. As the teachers are citizens themselves, change in their conceptualizations had ramifications for them personally. The findings indicate that teachers must fundamentally practice new forms of being and relating to others. The study concluded that teachers' identities are locations for making choices about who we are, how we want to relate to others, and what kind of world we want to live in.

Committee: Merry Merryfield (Committee Chair); Steve Miller (Committee Member); Cynthia Tyson (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Multicultural Education; Political Science; Social Studies Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2009, Educational Leadership

There is an undisputed need for intercultural and world knowledge, skills and abilities, and a growing focus and interest in education abroad as a vehicle for achieving these learning outcomes. In an effort to advance the understanding of international education and explore specific aspects of short-term education abroad programs, a large and growing segment, this study focuses on how students are prepared, and the intercultural learning and engagement outcomes that result from the experience. This study used a mixed methods, pretest-posttest control group design with 3 groups of students – 2 that studied abroad and received different pre-departure orientations and 1 that remained on campus – as well as data from Hammer's (2003) Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), student journals, trip reports and personal interviews. Qualitative data were used to illustrate the quantitative findings and more fully express the results. Much can be drawn from the results of this study. The trend for each of the research questions was in the predicted direction. The analysis of the posttest Developmental Orientation (DO) scores and DO stages for each student group indicate that students who participated in semester-length pre-departure orientations had the highest net intercultural development gains among the three groups. The 2 study abroad groups combined achieved a larger gain than the on-campus group. While the DO gains were not statistically significant, the DO stage gains were significant between the study abroad and control groups, and between the two groups participating in the different predeparture orientations. The qualitative data seem to support the DO stage findings. Certainly, the constraints of the small size of the groups, the limitations of the design, and the only modest interpretation of the DO stages using a non-parametric test imply that the results of this study should be taken in moderation. The implications of this study are interesting and worth furth (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carolyn Ridenour Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Kathryn Kinnucan-Welsch Ed.D. (Committee Member); Dean McFarlin Ph.D. (Committee Member); Charles Russo JD, Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Higher Education; International Relations