Background: Communities consist of interconnected sub-systems, such as schools, healthcare organizations, and businesses, each fulfilling specific functions that contribute to the overall well-being of the community. Effective community responses to crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, require collaboration across these sectors. However,…

The purpose of this study was to examine how positive impacts could be achieved on student's ability to successfully navigate financial aid processes within the Maricopa Community College system and specifically at Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC). By evaluating existing processes and implementing enhanced system protocols (ESP), this…

Accountability pressures are substantial and growing in higher education. Regional accreditors have assimilated the language and purpose of assessment as part of the reviewing cycle for re-accreditation with the intention of making institutions more responsive in demonstrating improvement of student learning outcomes. Despite this, educational…

Response to intervention (RTI), an educational reform effort designed to meet the needs of struggling learners, has been adopted by an increasing number of states as a primary component of their educational service delivery model for low-achieving students (Burns et al., 2013; Castillo & Batsche, 2012). RTI models are multi-tiered…

This thesis is concerned with the development of techniques that facilitate the effective implementation of capable automatic chord transcription from music audio signals. Since chord transcriptions can capture many important aspects of music, they are useful for a wide variety of music applications and also useful for people who learn and perform…

As social behavior moves increasingly online, the study of social behavior has followed. Online traces of social systems, whether to study online behavior directly or the online traces of offline activity, have made possible previously unavailable empirical analyses of people, groups and organizations. However, practically observing any social…

A valid, reliable survey instrument was created to be used by public relations student-run firms and other applied public relations courses to gauge client satisfaction. A series of focus groups and pilot tests were conducted to ascertain themes, refine questions, and then to refine the entire instrument. Six constructs to be measured, including…

Between 2002 and 2012, information technology (IT) procedural decisions related to technology, fraud, bias, greed, and misleading information increased cost by more than $44 billion. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore IT professionals' experiences of IT procedural decisions. The research questions were intended to learn from…

The objectives of this research are to demonstrate how text was used in (1) developing a theory to examine collaborative interaction in virtual worlds, (2) creating a framework for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of dealing with large text datasets for social network analysis, and (3) approaching an understanding of the role of meaning…

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to determine if student growth as measured by value-added measure of fourth grade 2011-2012 reading test scores was correlated with teacher observation ratings on the Teach and Cultivate Learning Environment domains of the Teaching and Learning Framework Rubric. A second purpose of the…

Globalization, rapid technological changes, and competitive pressures have resulted in company leaders' worldwide adopting of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to improve productivity and business operations and reduce costs in the post-implementation phase. The research addressed organizational leaders' inability to optimize…

Social work education programs accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) are expected to cultivate the knowledge and skills students require to competently challenge social injustices and advance social and economic justice in their professional practice (CSWE, 2008a). Because social work educators play a key role in this effort…

Clinical work, including ordering, is known to be interruptive, multitasking, collaborative and distributed yet current clinical computer systems emphasize linear, normative and solitary work. Although the evidence of a work-technology disconnect is well documented by researchers, there is less understanding of the origins of this disconnect.…

A phenomenological study was conducted examining the decision factors of underrepresented minority (URM) students' lack of plans for graduate school in the college of technology. Research conducted based on Systems Theory found that information, people, and organizations influence students (Berger, 2002). Comparisons were drawn about accuracy…

Enterprise architecture is a relatively new concept that arose in the latter half of the twentieth century as a means of managing the information technology resources within the enterprise. Borrowing from the disciplines of brick and mortar architecture, software engineering, software architecture, and systems engineering, the enterprise…