THE INFLUENCE OF FORMAL MENTORING ON TEACHER BELIEFS OF K-12 CLASSROOM TECHNOLOGY USE DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC

This dissertation explores the influence and transfer of knowledge related to instructional technology that occurs in the formal teacher mentoring relationship of seven mentoring dyads in a suburban Missouri public school district. This multiple case study was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020-2021 school year. The unit of analysis in this study was a mentoring dyad that consisted of an experienced mentor teacher and a novice teacher. A multiple case study method was utilized. Individual interviews and two focus groups were conducted via the Zoom video conference platform to gather data to inform the research study. Thematic analysis of the interviews was utilized to examine each individual case of the mentoring dyad. A cross-case analysis was performed on the seven mentoring dyad cases to examine the nature of the influence of the mentoring relationship and the teaching knowledge related to technology education transferred during the formal mentoring program. Two focus group sessions provided additional information to reinforce and clarify themes developed in analyzing the individual cases in this study and aid in the multiple case study analysis. The analysis revealed several aspects of the teacher mentoring relationship that influenced both mentor and mentee\u27s instructional technology beliefs and usage. The findings revealed (a) the importance of creating a solid personal relationship between the mentor and mentee, (b) the need for improved teacher matching for optimal knowledge and resource transfer, (c) the importance of creating a solid foundation for new teachers, (d) the reciprocal nature of knowledge exchange in the relationship, and (e) the impact the pandemic had on mentoring. The mentoring relationship and the induction programs established in schools using mentoring are often not utilized to their full potential. These programs often miss a powerful opportunity to help create a stronger foundation of teaching skills and resources to strengthen their newest and most vulnerable teachers. A concerted effort is needed to create a teacher mentoring experience specifically designed to transfer knowledge and resources in this relationship

Site-Based Leadership: Extrapolating From Small Business to Charter Schools

Using a participant-observer perspective, this comparative case study sought to identify similarities between business and education to contribute to charter school training, leadership development, and school reform. This inquiry is a qualitative comparative case study using a participant observer perspective presented in a scholarly personal narrative (Charmaz, 2006; Nash, 2004; Yin, 2009). The researcher draws inferences from experiences and interviews in an independent, family-owned business and from the study of leadership styles at a Minnesota charter public school. Leadership themes and community relationships are explored to understand the characteristics that lead to and sustain success. Utilizing the business leadership theories of Collins (2001), the charter school leadership findings of Hamm (2008), and the researcher’s life experience in a family-owned small business as a lens, common characteristics of small business and charter school leadership are discovered. Themes are identified that coalesce around passion, community engagement, and teambuilding as characteristics that lead to successful leadership in a small business and a charter public school. Using the themes as a base, community leaders identify future trends in charter school organizational structure and leadership. Leaders contemplating opening or redirecting a charter school can consider this comparison as they create their own leadership training and professional development

Beyond the PDF

It started with a question: how would we collect a museum exhibit, a blog, or a borne-digital dissertation? Three years later, the University of Iowa Graduate College and University Libraries collaborated to organize a regional meeting on the future of the dissertation and applied lessons from three fine arts, non-monograph, thesis pilots to ingest our first borne-digital dissertation. Insights will be shared from these experiences as well as advancements in our thesis and dissertation policies and practices

Neuropsychological Outcomes of U.S. Veterans with Report of Remote Blast-Related Concussion and Current Psychopathology

This study explored whether remote blast-related MTBI and/or current Axis I psychopathology contribute to neuropsychological outcomes among OEF/OIF veterans with varied combat histories. OEF/OIF veterans underwent structured interviews to evaluate history of blast-related MTBI and psychopathology and were assigned to MTBI (n = 18), Axis I (n = 24), Co-morbid MTBI/Axis I (n = 34), or post-deployment control (n = 28) groups. A main effect for Axis I diagnosis on overall neuropsychological performance was identified (F(3,100) = 4.81; p = .004), with large effect sizes noted for the Axis I only (d = .98) and Co-morbid MTBI/Axis I (d = .95) groups relative to the control group. The latter groups demonstrated primary limitations on measures of learning/memory and processing speed. The MTBI only group demonstrated performances that were not significantly different from the remaining three groups. These findings suggest that a remote history of blast-related MTBI does not contribute to objective cognitive impairment in the late stage of injury. Impairments, when present, are subtle and most likely attributable to PTSD and other psychological conditions. Implications for clinical neuropsychologists and future research are discussed. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1–11

Beck depression inventory, second edition, Czech version : demographic correlates, factor structure and comparison with foreign data

Objective: We aimed to examine whether demographic characteristics (i.e., sex, age and education) correlate with total scores of the Czech version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), understand the factorial structure of this scale, compare our results with findings of studies conducted in other countries and provide preliminary normative data for use in clinical practice. Methods: Data of 450 participants were analysed using correlation analysis, non-parametric tests and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: Women, and participants with lower education, tended to score higher than men, and participants with higher education. There was no significant relationship between age and total scores. CFA confirmed two factors: cognitive-affective and somatic. Czech participants scored lower than participants in other studies. Preliminary normative data are presented in the form of percentile values for the whole sample and stratified according to gender and education level. Conclusions: We recommend the usage of the BDI-II total score while taking into account also the cognitive-affective and somatic factor subscores. The comparison of our results with other foreign findings shows the need for the development of locally specific normative values for self-reported depression scales

Children’s language abilities predict success in remote communication contexts

Remote communicative contexts are part of everyday social, familial, and academic interactions for the modern child. We investigated the ability of second-graders to engage in remote discourse, and we determined which of several abilities—language, theory of mind, and temperament—predicted their success. Fifty 7-to-9-year-old monolingual English speakers with a wide range of language abilities participated in standardized testing and an expository discourse task in which they taught two adults to solve the Tower of London, one in simulated video chat and a second in a simulated phone condition. The discourse was scored for the inclusion of 15 items deemed relevant to the explanation. Children included from 27% to 87% of the items. They communicated more information via gesture than spoken word in both conditions. They included more spoken information in the phone condition than the video condition and more information overall in the phone condition. Performance was positively associated with spoken language ability. There was no relationship between performance and theory of mind, temperament, ability to solve the Tower of London, age, or sex. We conclude that 7-to-9-year-olds adjust the modality and content of their message to suit their remote partner's needs, but their success in remote discourse contexts varies greatly from individual to individual. Children with below-average language skills are at risk for functional impairments in remote communication

International meta-analysis of PTSD genome-wide association studies identifies sex- and ancestry-specific genetic risk loci.

The risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following trauma is heritable, but robust common variants have yet to be identified. In a multi-ethnic cohort including over 30,000 PTSD cases and 170,000 controls we conduct a genome-wide association study of PTSD. We demonstrate SNP-based heritability estimates of 5-20%, varying by sex. Three genome-wide significant loci are identified, 2 in European and 1 in African-ancestry analyses. Analyses stratified by sex implicate 3 additional loci in men. Along with other novel genes and non-coding RNAs, a Parkinson's disease gene involved in dopamine regulation, PARK2, is associated with PTSD. Finally, we demonstrate that polygenic risk for PTSD is significantly predictive of re-experiencing symptoms in the Million Veteran Program dataset, although specific loci did not replicate. These results demonstrate the role of genetic variation in the biology of risk for PTSD and highlight the necessity of conducting sex-stratified analyses and expanding GWAS beyond European ancestry populations