Learning to teach is rife with challenges. Preservice teachers' self-efficacy can potentially mitigate the stress of these challenges, and teacher education programs are fundamental in helping them build this important resource. As such, understanding the foundations of self-efficacy is important for researchers and teacher educators alike.…

Scholars in the field of Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy have called for more work on the intersections of race and technologies (Banks, 2006, 2011; Gilyard & Banks, 2018; Haas, 2018; A. H. Powell, 2007). There is a particular need for research on how Black Americans engage with digital technologies beyond school settings. This project…

Though colleges have focused efforts on admitting more African American students, a need to improve engagement and retention exists. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine if community college was a source of social capital for African American male students by way of early integration into an academic and social network. Relying…

This dissertation seeks to better understand the experiences of families as they navigate systems and networks to gain access to the opportunities they want and need for their themselves and for their children. The specific area of focus for this research is how families, and more specifically women and mothers, are entering into a Formal Early…

The relationships between social network centrality, social construction of knowledge, and nurse practitioner competency among adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner students participating in asynchronous online discussions were explored. Social network centralities (betweenness, in-degree, out-degree, closeness, and eigenvector) were…

There is a substantial body of literature on the economic benefits of workplace literacy programs, and much less empirical studies on the social or non-economic outcomes of workplace literacy programs, particularly in the context of low-income refugee workers. Adopting a social network approach, this study examines the impact of workplace literacy…

Social networking sites have become part of the daily life of many individuals, including learners and teachers, who use technology and web-based social platforms as means of regular digital interactions. The popularity of social networking sites has dramatically increased over the last decade, especially among younger adults. Nevertheless,…

Historical analyses of educational attainment trends have revealed disparities concerning Black males, particularly with respect to attainment of advanced degrees. The purpose of the present study was to identify critical factors that promoted educational attainment of advanced degrees among ten Black men who were leaders within educational…

This research reveals the social relations of the art world through an investigation of visual artists' ordinary art-making practices. Drawing on extended ethnographic research, the article attends to art and ordinary work, clarifying how visual artists' work, is not only shaped socially and historically, but also reveals tensions about what…

One of the factors that influence the level of employability is the motivation to learn and social support. This study aims to determine the effect of motivation to learn and social support on student employability. The participants in this study were 255 students of class XII in State Vocational High School 1 Kalasan Yogyakarta, obtained through…

This paper examines the use of social media as a collaborative and engagement tool for participants in a middle school science research project conducted over a three-year period. Sky Stories is a learning initiative that employs a blend of Indigenous and Western knowledge of astronomy to engage Year 5-8 middle school students in investigative…

In the last few years, social learning, i.e., learning based on the analysis and discussion of topics by means of social collaborative systems, mainly social network services such as Facebook or Twitter, has acquired a great importance and led many instructors and institutions to deploy courses that include activities to be performed in them. For…

This article aims to extend the current understanding of social networking in small creative traditional sectors in developing countries. Most of the relevant studies have tended to focus on developed countries while neglecting the developing countries perspective. However, our study stresses that small craft firms--subsector of creative…

This paper is a report of an examination of educational professionals' perspectives on their decision processes to use a Twitter personal learning network (PLN). When investigating each of the participants' decision-making processes to accept or reject the use of a Twitter PLN, the externally supported individualized learning experience was…

Children's ability to establish peer relationships is an important issue in early childhood education. Making and maintaining friendships fosters children's social skills development. This longitudinal study examines the transitivity, mutuality, and stability of five- and six-year-old children's peer relationships over one preschool academic year.…