Demarginalizing Black Ordained Women’s Voices in the Black Baptist Church: A Phenomenological Study of Black Women Ministers’ Lived Experiences When Seeking Cleric Leadership Roles

This dissertation sought to understand the living experiences of Black Ordained Women in the Black Baptist Church. The study employs a phenomenological perspective and interviews to gather the voices and lived experiences of ordained Black women ministers who have served in the Black Baptist Church at various times. Womanist Theology and Black Feminism form the theoretical basis of the study. Black ordained women interviewed in this study are currently or formerly associated with the Antioch District Missionary Baptist Association, the Antioch District Congress, and the Regular Arkansas Congress of Christian Education. Although some Black ordained women remain with the Black Baptist Church, others have gone to other churches to pursue leadership positions. Using phenomenological interviews to collect the data and crafted stories approach, this study centers on the experiences of Black women ministers within the Church to better understand the challenges and institutional structures they may have encountered in their roles. The study focused on two groups of Black ordained women clergy—ministers and senior pastors. The participants\u27 ages varied from 46 to 70, covering the age range established in the participants\u27 criteria. Five ministers of the Black Baptist Church comprise one group. The second group comprises two pastors. One pastor is affiliated with the Black Baptist Church. Another pastor left the Black Baptist denomination and became a member of another denomination. She did not leave the Baptist Church to pursue a senior leadership role as a pastor; however, her beliefs no longer aligned with the Baptist doctrine. The research explored the limited power Black Baptist ordained women possess when it comes to being considered and participating in the senior-level cleric decision-making process. In their in-depth interviews, both groups of Black Baptist ordained women ministers voiced their lived experiences concerning the patriarch\u27s senior cleric decision-making processes within the Black Baptist Church. There are four significant contributions to this study. First, the study contributes detailed, in-depth information about the challenges and barriers that seven ordained Black Baptist women ministers faced and still encounter as they seek gendered occupations in the Black Baptist Church. Secondly, this study is the collective and practical perspectives from the participants’ voices. Black women can take the disparities they encounter to develop and implement strategies to address those issues at the local, state, and national governing bodies of the National Black Baptist Convention. Thirdly, Black male pastors, senior leaders, and congregations can use this study’s findings to better understand and assist in demarginalizing the disparities participants encounter as they seek senior leadership roles within the church and conventions. Fourthly, the participants unanimously indicated education is key to dismantling the myths and misinterpretation of scriptures when it comes to leadership roles Black ordained women can hold in the Black Baptist Church. The primary focus of the training is to provide teachings on how to recognize gender and racialized sexism biases, remove barriers, and address disrespect issues associated with Black women seeking leadership roles within the Black Baptist Church

Use of a Portland Cement Accelerator with Mineral Trioxide Aggregate

The use of Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA) is gaining popularity among clinicians. Despite the many ideal qualities it possesses, it is often difficult to manipulate and often requires a second appointment for placement of a restoration to allow for setting. If the time to set of MTA can be accelerated to a single appointment time frame without significantly altering its properties, then MTA may gain even wider acceptance. The purpose of this study is to identify the percentage of a Portland Cement Accelerator (PCA), that when added to MTA, will decrease the time to set of MTA towards a single appointment time frame. Ten Teflon sample molds were prepared to hold 20 standardized chambers in each. Three sample molds were prepared with a 5.0% (by weight of MTA) accelerator, 3 with 10.0% accelerator and 3 with 15.0% accelerator mixed with MTA and water. Another sample mold contained a mixture of MTA and water only and acted as the control. Samples were tested using a dial indicator microgauge apparatus that measured the depth of needle penetration starting at 2 minutes and then every minute up to 15 minutes. Samples were also tested at 3, 4, 24, 48 and 72 hours. A mixed-model repeated measures ANOVA showed the four accelerator groups were significantly different and there was a significant time trend. The 5.0% accelerator group set significantly faster compared to the 15.0% and the control at 15 minutes or less (p\u3c0.05). In conclusion, it appears that 5.0% PCA when added to MTA can accelerate the setting reaction

AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC INQUIRY INTO THE BARRIERS THAT AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN FACE AS SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS: A GUERILLA WARFARE

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Learning Analytics: A View on the Design and Assessment of Asynchronous Online Discussions for Better Teaching Performance

In recent years, the impact of learning analytics has been investigated and explored in higher education contexts. This article aims to show how their application in online educational contexts is providing great support for teaching performance, especially in relation to the methodology applied, the monitoring of students’ interactions and participation, and the evaluation of activities, and how it can favor improvements in student performance and satisfaction. We therefore present the results obtained from use of the DIANA (DIAlog ANAlysis) tool designed for the research project “Use of learning analytics in digital environments: impact on the improvement of university teaching practice” (LAxDigTeach-21085GE). This study followed a mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative) to better complement the data provided by learning analytics, given that the numerical data must be meaningful in the specific context in which they are collected. The results obtained are in line with previous research and show that the use of learning analytics have helped to improve teaching performance in relation to monitoring student interactions, participation, and evaluation, but are limited in terms of improving their performance and satisfaction. No generalized conclusions can be drawn as yet in light of the fact that the research project of which this study is a part has recently completed the pilot stage and we have only analyzed the information obtained in one of the participating subjects.This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain in the competition “Proyectos I+D+I 2020 Retos Investigación y Generación de Conocimiento” under the Project titled “Uso de analíticas de aprendizaje en entornos digitales: impacto en la mejora de la práctica docente universitaria (LAxDigTeach)”, grant number PID2020-115115GB-I00