This article-based dissertation consists of two manuscripts related to factors affecting the success and persistence of pre-nursing students. The first manuscript was a matched cohort study that compared selected academic variables between two groups of pre-nursing students admitted to a pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing program via two…

This study aimed to understand graduate-level Elementary Preservice Teachers' (EPST) mathematical dispositions before, during, and after a graduate elementary math methods course taught through a rehumanizing, ambitious and equitable math teaching framework. In this study, EPSTs' dispositions included four constructs: math anxiety, math teaching…

Institutions of higher education have been consistently offering more virtual classes over the past decade. The need to understand the implications of these increased virtual class offerings has become essential in recent years. The purpose of this study was to explore virtual classes within a college of agriculture and the impact on student…

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational-predictive study is to investigate if and to what extent Teaching, Social, and Cognitive Presence combined and individually in an online General Chemistry for Science Majors class predict Intent to Persist in STEM for Hispanic community college students in California. The sample size was 148 Hispanic…

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) instruction in the United States has been a major focus of educational reform since the release of the PISA rankings in 2000, which showed that the U.S. was behind many other countries on the international stage in the areas of Science and Math. Students are also leaving the "STEM…

Career readiness in STEM is the foundation for developing the next generation of innovators and problem solvers in our rapidly advancing society. This Spotlight will help .identify the math skills students need for high-demand careers; review ways schools can help students take more college-ready courses; examine data on student demand for…

Touted as the future of language teaching, task-based pedagogy is grounded in current Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theories, and is in line with the trend of learner-centeredness in general education. However, the method has yet to be fully embraced by the language teaching community due to the lack of 1) clear delineation of pedagogical…

The Coronavirus pandemic forced educators to leave the comfort of their classrooms and transition to an online teaching platform. During the beginning of the pandemic teachers were lost and experienced feelings of anxiety, fear, and depression. K-12 teachers had no plan or training to pivot to remote learning. Physical distancing lead teachers and…

Recent emergency online learning, forced upon students around the globe as a result of COVID-19, has exposed many challenges to both learner and instructor in the online learning environment (Schultz and DeMers 2020). Among these numerous challenges is that of insufficient time management skills and learner motivation (Rouse 2013). While young…

We present a system for math placement and intervention that pairs ALEKS PPL with an online, standards-based "bridge" course designed to prepare students interested in STEM for PreCalculus. To determine the efficacy of this system we studied ALEKS PPL placement scores, bridge course grades, ALEKS concept mastery percentages, and…

The following study focuses on learners of French in an English-dominant context and contributes to a better understanding of language hierarchization by investigating attitudes toward different varieties of French. It aims to identify a possible correlation between the evaluation of different varieties of French and the participants'…

The aim of this study was to explore the relationships among participation, peer support, self-regulated learning (SRL), course discipline and academic performance in small private open course (SPOC) environments. The study sample comprised of 309 undergraduates who completed SPOCs within the past year and consisted of 53% males (N = 164) and 47%…

Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and/or Queer (LGBTQ+) education laws are defined as laws that prohibit or limit schools from discussing same-sex relationships, broader sexuality, and gender issues in their sexual education curriculum. This study presents a historical context of anti-LGBTQ+ sex education laws, examines the extant literature on…

Widely accepted as a foundational course within health professions education, anatomy is often taken at the beginning of the health professional curriculum and students are expected to be prepared for the rigors of the course. Anatomy preparedness, evaluated in this study, has been defined as matriculating into a graduate or professional anatomy…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the rapid implementation of online learning in California's 9-12 public schools, necessitating an examination of administrators' perceptions of this new educational landscape and its impact on student engagement. This qualitative dissertation explored how administrators perceived the effectiveness of online learning in…