This dissertation is about a particular style of research. The philosophy of this style is that in order to scientifically understand deep learning, it is fruitful to investigate what happens when neural networks are trained on simple, mathematically well-defined tasks. Even though the training data is simple, the training algorithm can end up…

Low performing schools remain an issue within Louisiana. The problem addressed by this study was low student performance in underperforming schools due to lack of understanding in pedagogy by teachers. The use of master teachers as instructional coaches is one way this school district sought to improve student achievement. The purpose of this…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a program evaluation case study on the impact of standards-based grading in a North Carolina school district. The implementation procedures and end products of grading reform were assessed using the CIPP model. Data from teacher questionnaires, principal implementation checklists, interviews, and…

College students complete end-of-term surveys during their undergraduate education to report on their experiences of curriculum, faculty, and overall course satisfaction. Significant decisions are based on these surveys' results, despite limited and potentially unrepresentative results. Low student response rates on digital, electronic course…

Researchers have known for several years that when a child is reading below proficiency by the end of third grade, it is likely the child will continue to struggle learning to read through the child's academic career (Dickinson & Porche, 2011; Wasik & Hindman, 2011). Yet, the problem of children falling below third grade reading…

This dissertation developed a new learner corpus of Japanese and introduced an error and linguistic annotation scheme specifically designed for Japanese particles. The corpus contains texts written by learners who are in the first year to fourth year university level Japanese courses. The texts in the corpus were tagged with part-of-speech and…

Since the founding of the United States, teacher preparation has been undergoing constant revisions to continue to improve instruction and meet the needs of all students in public schools. Teacher residency programs are on the rise with funding from the state and federal government increasing annually. Despite the increase in funding, there is…

This dissertation describes a qualitative research study that grows our understanding of the career development experiences, supports, and barriers of social entrepreneurs who are gifted adults (SEGA) so that we may nurture the career development of future SEGA. Research questions for this study probed the career development experiences, supports,…

Research has shown that cross-sectional mediation analysis cannot accurately reflect a true longitudinal mediated effect. To investigate longitudinal mediated effects, different longitudinal mediation models have been proposed and these models focus on different research questions related to longitudinal mediation. When fitting mediation models to…

In language learning, aided language modeling refers to the method by which communication partners provide models of the communication system used by individuals with complex communication repertoires that involving both symbols and speech. Providing aided language models creates opportunities for individuals with complex communication repertoires…

Research in phonetics has established the grammatical status of gradient phonetic patterns in language, suggesting that there is a component of the grammar that governs systematic relationships between discrete phonological representations and gradiently continuous acoustic or articulatory phonetic representations. This dissertation joins several…

This case study explored the unique context and dynamics of leadership in an education abroad office. The focus was on how leadership took place in the synergistic interactions among the leader, the followers, and specific situations in such an office. Interviews, observations, and document review were used to collect data. Hughes, Ginnett, and…

Much research on how curriculum reform occurs in higher education has focused on top-down models that deemphasize individual agency and overlook bottom-up processes of innovation. This case study, in contrast, described and analyzed the process by which an engineering instructor used the strategies and tools of entrepreneurship, honed through his…

This study explored the college choice decisions for students who undermatched to a community college during their college choice process. Specifically, this project utilized a qualitative multi-site case study design to understand the college choice process for students who were admitted into a four-year institution but chose to enroll in a…

With the innovation of the internet, the learner is able to access his or her online classroom anytime, and anywhere based on the customized online learning environment by instructional designers. Creating online learning environments, also known as instructional design, can be challenging. This research focused on how instructional designers…