Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2023, Educational Administration (Education)

This study explored the Deming System of Profound Knowledge as a method of leadership and management in K-8 education. The study focused on the process of acquiring and understanding Deming's teachings as they related to the principalship and educational leadership. Using autoethnography as methodology, I leverage personal qualitative data and related educational leadership literature to present my personal journey of becoming an educational leader who practices Deming's System of Profound Knowledge as their primary method for leading and managing a school. Upon reflection and analysis, I found W. Edwards Deming's System of Profound Knowledge practical and valuable as a leadership method in today's schools. Though the mastery of Deming's teachings was a long, complex process, it greatly improved my leadership practice. The findings highlight essential knowledge and skills required to understand and practice the System of Profound Knowledge. It connects educational leadership and Deming's method and recommends further research.

Committee: Michael Hess (Committee Chair); Leonard Allen (Committee Member); Mustafa Shraim (Committee Member); Jesse Strycker (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Armed Forces; Behavioral Sciences; Business Administration; Business Education; Communication; Continuing Education; Early Childhood Education; Education; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Sociology; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Management; Mental Health; Middle School Education; Military History; Military Studies; Operations Research; Pedagogy; Preschool Education; School Administration; Statistics; Sustainability; Systems Design; Teaching

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 Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, ED Policy and Leadership

Higher education in the U.S. is experiencing a wave of distance education activity, with nearly twenty percent of all U.S. higher education students taking at least one online course in the fall of 2007 (Allen & Seaman, 2008). Accompanying this activity is a renewed concern on the part of distance learning administrators, faculty, and professional associations about the overall quality of these efforts. Governments and institutions use a variety of approaches to measuring quality—internal and external committee reviews, formal assessments using standards and benchmarks created by government or professional bodies, and reviews of inputs and outputs akin to the quality assurance approaches of business and industry. This interpretive study explored the interaction between quality standards, faculty, staff, and managers by conducting an instrumental case study of one institution's efforts to implement quality at the level of course creation and design. Big Town Community College's Department of Distance Education and Instructional Support currently uses a widely available set of course design standards to assess and improve quality in its offerings of online courses. The course design standards, in the form of a rubric, are made available by an organization called Quality Matters (MarylandOnline, 2006). The study uses activity theory to analyze data and theorize about the case (Engestrom, 2008). The primary finding of this study is that the Quality Matters rubric supported the design work of faculty and staff in significant ways—especially by helping to create a shared object for their course design activity. However, it also led to contradictions in the activity—both between staff and faculty and the design standards themselves, and also between staff and faculty and the division of labor used at the college for designing a Web-supported course. Other findings revolved around the question of how the project management model in use at Big Town supports and hinders t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Voithofer PhD (Committee Chair); Anika Ball Anthony PhD (Committee Member); David Stein PhD (Committee Member); Zhenchao Qian PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Theory; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2021, Curriculum and Instruction Mathematics Education (Education)

In school mathematics, students' opportunity to learn varies according to the nature of instruction. Mathematical tasks––that is, problems or activities for student engagement––are critical instructional tools that shape students' mathematical thinking and reasoning. The cognitive demand of a task––the amount, types, and levels of thinking required to solve it––often changes as a teacher modifies the task during planning, setup, and implementation with students. Therefore, school mathematics teachers are instrumental in determining what and how much students learn through their selection and implementation of instructional tasks. This study explored the perspectives of 9 high school mathematics teachers on their selection, planning, setup, and implementation of mathematical tasks and identified the teachers' reasons for instructional decisions at each of these four phases. Using a thematic analysis approach, the researcher interviewed teachers before and after observing the enactment of a high cognitive demand task. Interviews also focused on teachers' perspectives of how their task unfolded and the cognitive demand associated with each phase of the task. The researcher and a co-observer analyzed each teacher's instructional task as it was (a) selected from curricular source materials, (b) adjusted during the teacher's planning, (c) set up prior to student engagement, and (d) implemented with students, using the Instructional Quality Assessment rubrics (Boston, 2012) at each phase. Interview data yielded 18 themes for teachers' task use: 5 for task selection, 5 for task planning, 3 for task setup, and 5 for task implementation. When selecting tasks, teachers frequently considered their learning environment (face-to-face, remote, or hybrid), potential student engagement, real-world contexts, mathematical content, and previous success with the task. During planning, teachers were flexible, adjusted their plan based on the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Gregory Foley (Committee Chair); Allyson Hallman-Thrasher (Committee Member); Mathew Felton-Koestler (Committee Member); Gordon Brooks (Committee Member); Melissa Boston (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Educational Studies

Researchers almost unequivocally agree that school leadership matters because school leaders occupy formal positions within highly bureaucratic systems and have a vast influence on the organization of schools. Because of the elusive and complex nature of leadership, however, it has been challenging to identify how principals become effective and through which mechanisms they impact teaching and learning. Since 1980, researchers have conceptualized 14 leadership models. One of those models is instructional leadership, which is generally defined as the school leader's ability to collectively and strategically utilize her or his influence to improve the core technology of schools—teaching and learning. There is an additional consensus among researchers that the effects of instructional leadership on student achievement are indirect and that various other mediating factors exist. Therefore, within educational research there remains a desire to develop and test theoretical frameworks to decipher the black box of instructional leadership. This study was designed to address this mission by developing a complex theoretical model to examine how instructional leadership influences instructional quality, which is directly associated with student achievement. More specifically, this study investigated the interrelations between instructional leadership, teachers' perception of school climate, teacher collaboration, and instructional support by using a large-scale, complex survey data known as the Teacher and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018. Multi-level structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze data from a nationally representative sample of 164 principals and 2548 teachers who instruct in grades seven through nine. The study results show that teachers' perception of school climate was a statistically significant predictor of school climate and that school climate was positively and significantly associated with instructional support. However, inst (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Noelle W Arnold (Advisor); Anika Anthony (Committee Member); Yvonne L Goddard (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Curriculum and Instruction Instructional Technology (Education)

This study examined student's perceptions of different forms of technology use for instruction purposes by faculty and whether these different forms of technology can predict instructional quality. The study sought to explore whether different forms of technology: Productivity Tools, Presentation Tools, Communication Tools, and World Wide Web Tools, reliably predict instructional quality. The study also aimed at examining which of the predictors is more important in predicting instructional quality.Data were collected with an online questionnaire comprising three parts. Part I of the instrument collected demographic information. Part II was designed to measure faculty instructional quality as perceived by students. Part III of the instrument relates to the various forms of technology and the seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education (Chickering and Gamson, 1991). A large Midwestern University Teacher Education program was the accessible population from which a convenient sample was drawn. A total of 121 responses were used in the analysis. The response rate of the study was 56.6%. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results of the analysis revealed that approximately 57% of the variance of the student evaluation of Instructional Quality can be accounted for by the linear combination of Productivity Tools, Presentation Tools, Communication Tools, and World Wide Web Tools. The analysis indicated that only two of the independent variables, Productivity Tools and Presentation Tools contributed significantly to the regression. Findings from the supplementary multiple regression analysis of the independent variables: Faculty encourages student and faculty interaction scale - S1, Faculty promotes cooperation among students scale - S2, Faculty promotes active learning techniques scale - S3, Faculty gives prompt feedback scale S4, Faculty emphasizes time on task scale - S5, Faculty communicates high expectations (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Teresa Franklin PhD (Committee Chair); George Johanson PhD (Committee Member); Greg Kessler PhD (Committee Member); David Moore PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Software; Teacher Education; Teaching; Technology