This research study explored perceptions of readiness to participate in distance learning among the certified behavioral workforce in Florida. The study sought to determine if there were significant differences in perception of readiness to participate in distance learning between certified behavioral health professionals at the administrator…

As an insider-action research project, there are really two projects at work in this study (Coghlan & Brannick, 2010)--the core project and the dissertation project. The aim of the core project is to promote organizational change for my organization, the Women's Center, by facilitating the first iteration of a participatory evaluation with our…

The advent of information technology has enabled firms to collect significant amounts of data about individuals and mine the data for developing their strategies. Profiling of individuals is one common use of data collected about them. It refers to using known or inferred information to categorize the type of an individual and to tailor specific…

Nursing education is at a crossroad today. Stressors in nursing programs include expanding enrollments to meet growing workforce demands for more registered nurses, demanding workloads with low average nursing faculty salaries compared to practice peers, and growing numbers of faculty retirements. The purpose of this study was to identify the…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine whether instructional designers and performance technologists utilize instructional design models when designing and developing electronic performance support systems (EPSS). The study also explored if these same designers were utilizing instructional strategies within their EPSS to support…

The anticipated nursing shortage in the United States is well documented and continues to be a topic of discussion. A nationwide solution has been for nursing programs to increase their enrollment of nursing students. This could be difficult for many nursing schools; as many have a shortage of qualified nursing faculty with which to instruct…

The student full-time equivalent (FTE) measure has a long history in U.S. postsecondary education. Credit hours, contact hours, and their derivative FTE have been used as proxies for both student and faculty effort. FTE ultimately became a core measure for planning, evaluating and assessing human resource allocation within higher education.…

One of the most influential studies affecting educational policy is Glass and Smith's 1978 study, "Meta-Analysis of Research on the Relationship of Class-Size and Achievement." Since its publication, educational policymakers have referenced it frequently as the justification for reducing class size. While teachers and the public had long believed…

This exploratory study examines differences in K-12 educators' use of technology for instruction across school economic factors. Survey data from 94 practicing K-12 teachers are analyzed. This study finds that schools' economic factors explain variation in how teachers use technology to promote higher-order thinking skills. Our findings support…

Reflective learning can assist a learner's purposeful and conscious manipulation of ideas toward meaningful learning and knowledge integration. Blogs have been used to support reflection, but Blogs usually do not provide overt mechanisms for students to make connections between different parts of an experience, which is integral to reflective…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of conducting ethnographic research. Methodology definition and key characteristics are given. The stages of the research process are described including preparation, data gathering and recording, and analysis. Important issues such as reliability and validity are also discussed.

In this paper we present an experimental strategy to measure the micro power dissipation due to Foucault "eddy" currents in a copper cylinder rolling on two parallel conductive rails in the presence of a magnetic field. Foucault power dissipation is obtained from kinematical measurements carried out by using a common PC webcam and video analysis…

This paper presents preliminary data on how an assessment instrument with a unique structure can be used to identify common incorrect ideas from prior coursework at the beginning of a biochemistry course, and to determine whether these ideas have changed by the end of the course. The twenty-one multiple-choice items address seven different…

The diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) spectra of sand samples exhibit features reflecting their composition. Basic multivariate analysis (MVA) can be used to effectively sort subsets of homogeneous specimens collected from nearby locations, as well as pointing out similarities in composition among sands of different origins.…

Weather is a topic that occurs many times in the standard course of study (NRC 1996) from elementary school through high school. The activity described in this article allows students to collect data on the questions that interest them about the weather, and learn from their peers about a range of other questions that were investigated. No matter…