YouTube viewers watch over a billion hours of videos monthly and have multiple choices on professional development resources. User-generated content (UGC) on YouTube is created by individuals instead of brands and uses different typologies of video production styles. This study examined 80 YouTube microlearning videos that provided insight into…

This dissertation investigates how collective process-oriented documentation tools, combined with Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, can enhance knowledge construction in hands-on, open-ended learning environments, such as makerspaces. Through a three-year design-based research, the study developed and tested a collective documentation…

Rooted in Chicana/Latina feminism and interdisciplinary frameworks, this dissertation uses autoethnographic (Behar, 1996), participatory (Baquedano-Lopez, 2021; Irizarry & Brown, 2014), and art-based research (Leavy, 2015; Delgado Bernal, Burciaga & Flores Carmona, 2012) to document Mexicana/Latina campesinas' education in agriculture in…

This quantitative study examined school district leaders' engagement in a community of practice and reported the relationship between inter-district collaboration and school district leaders' learning and changes in professional learning efficacy. The theoretical framework involved Wenger's (1998) Community of Practice theory and the Standards for…

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. and affect 40 million adults, or 18.1% of the population each year. Anxiety plays an essential role in encouraging productive learning outcomes; however, uncontrolled anxiety could result in heightened emotions that create barriers to learning. Employees who have anxiety disorders…

Children in under-resourced schools are often subjected to a "pedagogy of poverty," in which their school days consist primarily of independently completing worksheets and preparing for assessments. By contrast, children in more affluent schools often experience engaging, hands-on learning opportunities. This discrepancy is identified as…

Research has shown time spent outdoors in quality environments benefits the health, physical, mental, and cognitive development of young children. Despite these findings, many teachers in traditional preschool programs spend only a small part of the school day outdoors for gross motor and social development. The number of preschools that spend…

In recent decades, open, online learning environments have become progressively more popular and well-funded. An integral aspect of this open learning movement is the transition of a substantial amount of control of the learning process from designers and instructors to the users engaging with the environment. With heavy investments coming from…

The purpose of business training programs is to improve performance, which improved performance changes leadership behaviors based on the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) learned in training. One of the most common criticisms of leadership training is the tendency to focus on teaching theory but not on applying theory into practice, that…

Despite there being a significant amount of research investigating workplace learning, research exploring firefighter workplace learning is almost nonexistent. The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to explore how firefighters conceptualize, report, and practice workplace learning. The researcher also investigated how firefighters…

Institutions of higher education are entering a new era, one where cost, value, and quality are at the front of mind. To proactively ensure long-term viability, institutions must operate differently. This qualitative case study examined how the St. Alexander University School of Education's Annual Report Process impacted institutional…

Technology is a learning and teaching tool that enhances students' communication, innovation, and critical thinking skills, also known as 21st century learning goals. Successfully using technology in the classroom to promote these learning goals, however, has presented some challenges for teachers. While research has identified a variety of…

This study (1) described secondary business educators on demographic variables; (2) described the self-directed learning level of business educators according to the OCLI and Bartlett-Kotrlik Inventory of Self-Learning; (3) determined if relationships existed between learning levels and selected variables; (4) developed a graphic model to explain…