Is It Who Am I or Who Do You Think I Am? Identity Development of Adolescents With Substance Use Disorders

The purpose of this study was to unearth how adolescents with substance use disorders achieve the task of identity formation and the construction of self-concept in the midst of the drug culture and society that exists. It sought to uncover the social constructs designed to ignore and/or remove human complexities and allow an intersectional approach to be brought to a study on this population. Historically, there has been a failure to investigate the underlying social attitudes and behaviors that impact the very delicate and vulnerable process of finding self. Psychosocial and relational adjustment are strongly influenced by the extent to which adolescents successfully develop a coherent and structured sense of identity. One’s life pathways and decisions are guided by a consolidated sense of self. An understanding of key identity literature led to a methodological design using both Grounded Theory Methodology and Situational Analysis to provide a thorough description and understanding of the entire situation around identity development for adolescents with substance use disorders. The detailed analysis of the interviews provided by 20 adolescent females served as the basis for the development of a theoretical model depicting the findings from both the dimensional analysis and situational analysis. The research provided empirical evidence that adolescents in this situation form a pseudo-identity to achieve a sense of belonging that has pervaded their existence due to familial, social, and cultural factors. This pseudo-identity is reinforced by acceptance into drug-seeking and substance-using groups, as well as by leadership and practices in treatment, therapy, healthcare, criminal justice, and other macro forces. The research provides practical implications for prevention and intervention practices, as well as leadership practice. Recommendations for future research invite further exploration into whether the situation for the participants in this study hold true across diverse sampling. An animated version of the theoretical model is provided as a supplemental file (mp4). It is embedded in this text, as well as, provided on the AURA link following. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.ed

Is It Who Am I or Who Do You Think I Am? Identity Development of Adolescents With Substance Use Disorders

The purpose of this study was to unearth how adolescents with substance use disorders achieve the task of identity formation and the construction of self-concept in the midst of the drug culture and society that exists. It sought to uncover the social constructs designed to ignore and/or remove human complexities and allow an intersectional approach to be brought to a study on this population. Historically, there has been a failure to investigate the underlying social attitudes and behaviors that impact the very delicate and vulnerable process of finding self. Psychosocial and relational adjustment are strongly influenced by the extent to which adolescents successfully develop a coherent and structured sense of identity. One’s life pathways and decisions are guided by a consolidated sense of self. An understanding of key identity literature led to a methodological design using both Grounded Theory Methodology and Situational Analysis to provide a thorough description and understanding of the entire situation around identity development for adolescents with substance use disorders. The detailed analysis of the interviews provided by 20 adolescent females served as the basis for the development of a theoretical model depicting the findings from both the dimensional analysis and situational analysis. The research provided empirical evidence that adolescents in this situation form a pseudo-identity to achieve a sense of belonging that has pervaded their existence due to familial, social, and cultural factors. This pseudo-identity is reinforced by acceptance into drug-seeking and substance-using groups, as well as by leadership and practices in treatment, therapy, healthcare, criminal justice, and other macro forces. The research provides practical implications for prevention and intervention practices, as well as leadership practice. Recommendations for future research invite further exploration into whether the situation for the participants in this study hold true across diverse sampling. An animated version of the theoretical model is provided as a supplemental file (mp4). It is embedded in this text, as well as, provided on the AURA link following. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA, http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.ed

Adaptive Guidance: Enhancing Self-Regulation, Knowledge, and Performance in Technology-Based Training

Considerable research has examined the effects of giving trainees control over their learning (Steinberg, 1977, 1989; Williams, 1993). The most consistent finding of this research has been that trainees do not make good instructional use of the control they are given. Yet, today’s technologically based training systems often provide individuals with significant control over their learning (Brown, 2001). This creates a dilemma that must be addressed if technology is going to be used to create more effective training systems. The current study extended past research that has examined the effects of providing trainees with some form of advisement or guidance in addition to learner control and examined the impact of an instructional strategy, adaptive guidance, on learning and performance in a complex training environment. Overall, it was found that adaptive guidance had a substantial effect on the nature of trainees’ study and practice, self-regulation, knowledge acquired, and performance

Autism and Education: A Comparison of Practices and Suggestions for Adaptation

ABSTRACT Based on my experience and research, I believe more educational resources are needed for teaching students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I have combined interviews of participants --two certified and currently practicing art teachers working in the public school setting, two adaptive art specialists, and two art therapists-- with relevant information from my Review of Literature to compile an initial set of practices and adaptive techniques specifically for art teachers to use in constructing a successful learning environment in the art classroom for students with ASD. According to my review of literature, three factors necessary for creating a successful learning environment for students with ASD are preparation, collaboration, and instruction. To examine these factors, I focused my interviews on these topics. Results were aligned with the initial research as those interviewed described a need for more complete and applicable training, more opportunities for collaboration, and information about possible strategies to use with students with ASD in the art classroom. INDEX WORDS: Art Education, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Art Therapy, Adaptive Ar

Maximizing Competency Education and Blended Learning: Insights from Experts

In May 2014, CompetencyWorks brought together twenty-three technical assistance providers to examine their catalytic role in implementing next generation learning models, share each other's knowledge and expertise about blended learning and competency education, and discuss next steps to move the field forward with a focus on equity and quality. Our strategy maintains that by building the knowledge and networks of technical assistance providers, these groups can play an even more catalytic role in advancing the field. The objective of the convening was to help educate and level set the understanding of competency education and its design elements, as well as to build knowledge about using blended learning modalities within competency-based environments. This paper attempts to draw together the wide-ranging conversations from the convening to provide background knowledge for educators to understand what it will take to transform from traditional to personalized, competency-based systems that take full advantage of blended learning

Teachers\u27 metacognitive awareness and metacognitive instructional practice: A mixed method study in Egypt

Metacognition plays a vital role in 21st entury learning as it is found to be avery important predictor of learning. Research shows that metacognition can be taught and promoted inside the classroom. However, a gap was found between theory and practice where instructional practices that are actually done by teachers to promote metacognition are scarce. Litereture suggests that developing teachers\u27 metacognitve skills is a prerequisite for promoting metacognition inside the classroom. In addition, research investigating teachers\u27 metacognition is scarce with methodological concerns about the exisiting studies since they use self report for data collection that are not found to be ecologically valid compared to online measures like observations with several calls for mixed methods to give a holisitic view about teachers metacognition. The current study is a mixed method study that collects data through a quantitative followed by a qualitative method. For the quantitative study, 394 teachers from 31 schools from different socioeconomic levels in Cairo answered the Arabic adapted version of the Metacognitive Awareness inventory (MAI). Statisitcal analysis shows high level of metacognitve awareness by Egyptian teachers. In addition, t test an ANOVA shows no significant differences inteachers metacognitive awareness based on gender, subjects taught, type of schools or grade level. The only signifcant difference found was in experience where teachers with 6 to 15 years of experience show signifcantly higher metacognitive awareness compared to teachers of 16 or more years of experience while there was no siginificant difference between novice teachers (0-5 years of experience) and teachers with 6 to 15 years of experience. For the qualitative study, four female teachers were interviewed and observed through two cycles of pre-observation interview, class observations and post observation interview and several themes emerged of how teachers think and use metacognitive instructional practices to adapt their instructions

Design of a Learner-Directed E-Learning Model

How can one create online educational material that support and motivate students in guiding their own learning and make meaningful instructional decisions? One of the main focuses on designing e-learning is about creating an environment where learners can actively assume control and take responsibility for their own learning with little or no guidance from the tutors. This research aims to discover a new way to design learning that would cater to individual choices and preferences. The idea goes beyond learner-centred design; it is about learner control and direction. As an option, learners should be able to choose to be in the driver’s seat, to direct their own learning journey. As a starting point, this research explores the use of two educational theories - Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) theory as the underpinning instructional design for a Learner-Directed Model to support students’ online learning in both domain knowledge and meta knowledge in the subject of computer programming. One unit material from an online Introduction to Java Programming course has been redesigned based on the proposed Learner-Directed Model for the experimental design study. The study involved a total of 35 participants divided randomly into one Experimental Group and one Control Group. They were assigned to either a Learner-Directed Model (Experimental Group) or a linear model (Control Group). Pre/post tests, survey, follow-up interview as well as log file analysis were instruments used for assessing students’ domain knowledge, meta knowledge and their attitudes for their overall learning experience. Learning experience is further broken down into perceived ease of use and user satisfaction; system usability; learner experience; and perceived controllability. The results of the study have revealed that there is statistically significant difference between the survey results for the Experimental Group and the Control Group. The Experimental Group reported a higher level of overall learning experience and better attitudes in general. However, there was no statistically significant difference existing between the two groups on the domain and meta level knowledge improvement. Based on these results, I have proposed further research directions and put forward a number of recommendations and suggestions on learner-directed e-learning design

An Exploratory Comparison of a Traditional and an Adaptive Instructional Approach for College Algebra

This research effort compared student learning gains and attitudinal changes through the implementation of two varying instructional approaches on the topic of functions in College Algebra. Attitudinal changes were measured based on the Attitude Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI). The ATMI also provided four sub-scales scores for self-confidence, value of learning, enjoyment, and motivation. Furthermore, this research explored and compared relationships between students\u27 level of mastery and their actual level of learning. This study implemented a quasi-experimental research design using a sample that consisted of 56 College Algebra students in a public, state college in Florida. The sample was enrolled in one of two College Algebra sections, in which one section followed a self-adaptive instructional approach using ALEKS (Assessment and Learning in Knowledge Space) and the other section followed a traditional approach using MyMathLab. Learning gains in each class were measured as the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores on the topic of functions in College Algebra. Attitude changes in each class were measured as the difference between the holistic scores on the ATMI, as well as each of the four sub-scale scores, which was administered once in the beginning of the semester and again after the unit of functions, approximately eight weeks into the course. Utilizing an independent t-test, results indicated that there was not a significant difference in actual learning gains for the compared instructional approaches. Additionally, independent t-test results indicated that there was not a statistical difference for attitude change holistically and on each of the four sub-scales for the compared instructional approaches. However, correlational analyses revealed a strong relationship between students\u27 level of mastery learning and their actual learning level for each class with the self-adaptive instructional approach having a stronger correlation than the non-adaptive section, as measured by an r-to-z Fisher transformation test. The results of this study indicate that the self-adaptive instructional approach using ALEKS could more accurately report students\u27 true level of learning compared to a non-adaptive instructional approach. Overall, this study found the compared instructional approaches to be equivalent in terms of learning and effect on students\u27 attitude. While not statistically different, the results of this study have implications for math educators, instructional designers, and software developers. For example, a non-adaptive instructional approach can be equivalent to a self-adaptive instructional approach in terms of learning with appropriate planning and design. Future recommendations include further case studies of self-adaptive technology in developmental and college mathematics in other modalities such as hybrid or on-line courses. Also, this study should be replicated on a larger scale with other self-adaptive math software in addition to focusing on other student populations, such as K - 12. There is much potential for intelligent tutoring to supplement different instructional approaches, but should not be viewed as a replacement for teacher-to-student interactions