This capstone project occurred in collaboration with Cornerstone Christian Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada. As a role-emerging area of practice, occupational therapy must focus on integrating services in private schools just as much as public schools. The need for resources to support future fieldwork students at Cornerstone Christian Academy makes…

At the turn of the century, a school leadership crisis emerged with school districts facing high turnover and a lack of replacements, as well as available new hires with the requisite skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to succeed in leading a school (Gates et al., 2003). School principals play a key role in student success and principal…

Transitioning from student paramedic to graduated, independently practicing paramedic can be a stressful and shocking process for many students. Their experiences in field training and their relationships with preceptors are critical in how successful this transition can be while they are beginning their career and the process of life-long…

Field experiences during teacher preparation are fundamental to helping teacher candidates understand their future roles and responsibilities and can effectively prepare them to meet diverse student needs across a variety of contexts. This multiple case study examined the perspectives of three special education dual certification teacher…

With over 44% of new teachers leaving the profession in the first five years, it is important for teacher education programs to consider how to prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) with the knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to take on the challenges they will face in the K-12 school system (Ingersoll et al., 2018). Clinically rich methods courses…

This dissertation combines three complementary studies that focused on the assessment and determined the quality of the written performance feedback practices and processes used by university supervisors with special education teacher candidates (SETCs) to improve their practice during field experiences. In the first study, a systematic review of…

In an effort to prepare American high school students for future careers, many states have implemented specific career readiness standards and programs. One such program is known as Extended Learning Opportunities (ELO), which are hands-on, credit-bearing experiences outside of the classroom with an emphasis on community-based career exploration.…

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore preservice teachers' experiences with video observations at Central University. The theory guiding this study was Bandura's self-efficacy theory as it provides insights into the internal and external factors that affect an individual's perception of their capabilities.…

Researching the process of development during field experience before an elementary education teacher is hired is necessary to better understand their teaching self-efficacy. The purpose of this qualitative, single case study design was to explore how field experience, as part of a university undergraduate teaching program, developed novice…

The demand for technology integration has presented teachers with new pedagogical choices for designing engaging learning experiences for students. These technology choices are becoming abundant and varied, confronting teachers and administrators with determining how effective these methods are for teaching. This research was focused on one of…

This applied dissertation was designed to investigate student responses to three different instructional strategies used to fulfill level I fieldwork requirements: traditional in-clinic rotation, a combination of virtual simulation and traditional in-clinic rotations, and virtual simulation. A multi-decade occupational therapy (OT) fieldwork…

This qualitative, phenomenological case study addresses a notable gap in the existing research literature on the impact on the end-users of a creativity training course with a simulated field experience to support public school teachers' creativity development. Specifically, the study examined the phenomenon of creativity of two K-12th grade…

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, over 4.9 million public school students in the United States are emergent multilingual students (also referred to as English language learners or ELLs), and by 2025, it is estimated that one in four U.S. students will be an emergent multilingual student (NCES, 2019). Research on preparing…

Clinical experience is an essential element of any educator preparation program. These experiences provide authentic, real-world learning environments for teacher candidates to practice and improve their instructional skills. Analyzing how clinical experiences impact teacher readiness assists in the development of effective educator preparation…

Problem Statement: As social work education programs have expanded, there is a desire to understand how cloud-based technology can better support field education administrators with the student placement process and potentially reduce workload. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that influence the frequency of technology…