Travel Seminar reflection: experiencing the incredible India

This article was originally published in The Prophet -- a journal created by and for the students at the Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) to amplify the voices of STH students by promoting and sharing a range of perspectives on matters of concern including, but not limited to, spiritual practices, faith communities and society, the nature of theology, and current affairs. It serves as a platform for STH students to share their academic work, theological reflections, and life experiences with one another and the wider community."This past winter break I was fortunate to have the opportunity to take the travel seminar to India... " [EXCERPT

Podcast episode 4: Reflections on Travel Seminar to India

This article and podcast was originally published in The Prophet -- a journal created by and for the students at the Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) to amplify the voices of STH students by promoting and sharing a range of perspectives on matters of concern including, but not limited to, spiritual practices, faith communities and society, the nature of theology, and current affairs. It serves as a platform for STH students to share their academic work, theological reflections, and life experiences with one another and the wider community.Christina Richardson (MDiv ’19) and David Schultz (MDiv ’18) discuss their experience abroad in India

The examination of a middle school teacher preparatory program through the lens of invitational leadership

Conducted have been studies on the development of adolescent students, the leadership style of middle school teachers, and the diversity of student. However, individual studies have not addressed the complex skills necessary for an effective middle school teacher. Today's teachers face rapid developmental changes of adolescents, increased expectations, and face the challenge of being unprepared to meet the needs of diverse students. Preparing these teachers needs to begin as early as possible in preparatory programs. By building programs specific for middle school educators, universities can prepare teachers to be inclusive and culturally aware. Therefore, this study used a social justice lens to examine invitational leadership principles in a middle school education program at a public university. Using the principles and domains of invitational leadership identified by Purkey and Novak (2016), the researcher focused specifically on the inclusion of caring, respect, trust, optimism, and intentionality in the program as well as the use of people, places, policies, programs, and processes for creating an inviting culture in the program. The results concluded the program was effective at including the principles and domains of invitational leadership by role modeling, building relationships within the community of learners, and offering collaborative opportunities to the students

MAXIMIZING EFFICIENCY IN AGRICULTURE

Productivity Analysis,

Perceptions of sex educators: A qualitative analysis

The fear of children getting victimized by strangers is the basis for several current pieces of legislation, specifically Megan’s law, despite the lack of corresponding empirical data. This legislation causes significant negative consequences for those who are on the registry, especially for juvenile offenders as they have unique challenges they face regarding labeling and societal reintegration. As most juveniles receive most of their sex education in school, and a lack sex education is a contributing factor to the commission of sex offenses, this study aims to explore a proactive method of preventing sex offenses. This study includes exploratory interviews with sex education teachers to highlight the critical gap between training for sex education and teaching sex education, and the difference between teaching sex education and knowledge about sex offenses. This study opens the dialogue regarding these connections and calls for proactive thinking in preventing juvenile sex offenses

Early College High School Graduates' Perceptions of College Readiness During Bachelor's Degree Attainment

Texas has approximately 200 designated early college high schools (ECHS). The present study aimed to acquire feedback from ECHS graduates to identify how students could be prepared more effectively for postsecondary education degree attainment and identify potential areas of disconnect between ECHS and 4-year colleges. To explore early college student postsecondary preparation, former ECHS students were interviewed using a semi-structured interview design. Three dimensions of Organizational Socialization were used to frame findings from the document review and participant responses: performance proficiency, people, organizational goals and values. Participants shared stories illustrating how ECHS provided many college preparatory supports and activities in all three dimensions to help socialize students within institutions of higher education. Students reported they felt prepared for postsecondary education after graduation. They also said they continued to use several college preparatory activities in their postsecondary setting. Participants discussed some areas in which they felt underprepared and recommended more support in the areas of personal finance, social network support, and college match

Examining the Relationship Between Treatment Variables and Referral Processes on Probation Outcomes

Almost half of the justice-involved individuals on probation do not complete supervision successfully, highlighting the need to understand how different intervention types may increase supervision completion rates. Though prior literature has found that treatment effectively reduces recidivism, specifically treatment completion, there is a dearth of information understanding its effects on supervision completion. Looking at treatment as a general resource, this study assesses how treatment involvement affects probation termination and whether the degree of treatment participation or referral processes influences the likelihood of an individual completing probation. Partnered with a local Texas probation department, primary data was collected on 738 justice-involved individuals. Probation files were reviewed to gather information on treatment participation and probation termination outcomes. Findings indicate that the degree of treatment participation significantly influences the odds of an individual successfully completing probation, even when controlling for other variables. Specifically, an individual completing treatment showed the most significant difference in completing probation compared to other degrees of treatment participation. Contrary, the stage of supervision in which the treatment was initiated does not make a difference in supervision outcomes, with no significant difference in whether the treatment was referred to as an initial court order at the start of supervision or a subsequent court order due to noncompliance. These findings suggest that the intervention itself, rather than the intervention processes, is most significant in understanding rehabilitative efforts in relation to completing a probated sentence. Implications from these findings urge policymakers to implement treatment as a condition of supervision for those on community corrections and encourage officers to help their clientele complete their mandated treatment program. This study extends knowledge by being the first to analyze the degree of treatment participation in relation to probation termination and the first to look at whether the stage of supervision in which treatment was initiated impacts probation completion. As an unsuccessful termination of supervision results in incarceration, implementing treatment as an intervention method and encouraging treatment completion can reduce overall incarceration rates and help break the notion that the criminal justice system is a rotating door

Towards a framework for the analysis of CSCL (computer supported co-operative learning) discourse

The thesis aims to develop a possible description of electronic discourse in CSCL\ud through a data-driven description of the linguistic behaviour and discourse strategies of 4\ud groups of postgraduate students engaged in an asynchronous CSCL task during-February\ud 2000 and February 2001.\ud The study develops an analytic framework for the coding of the messages. The\ud framework consists of three levels, with a default inheritance relationship between these\ud levels. The top level concerns the aim of the messages, identified within the broad\ud context of Levinson's Activity Type. The mid-level consists of the traditional\ud conversational analysis categories, with some minor adaptations to the CMC medium.\ud The third level is based on a neo-Gricean approach to utterance interpretation, with\ud special attention to Levinson's (2000) theory of generalised conversational implicature.\ud The analysis was conducted through intensive reading of the coded data to identify\ud categories of speaker behaviour. The categories were then collated to address the research\ud question. 19 categories were identified, covering 4 aspects of discourse behaviour.\ud As an additional test of the discourse analysis framework, the coded output was used as\ud data for a separate theory-driven question. The question was to seek evidence of\ud behaviour typical of the iterative dialogue that characterises Laurillard's (2002) model of\ud learning through conversational dialogue.\ud The research study found that the majority of the discourse categories identified by the\ud framework are valid, although some need to be refined. In particular, 4 basic message\ud structure types, and distinctive patterns in the use of indirect and direct forms of\ud expression are clearly identified in this data. There are also clear indicators of strategies\ud used to maintain cohesion and coherence. In the test case, the coded data was used to\ud identify six types of critical learning behaviour that are broadly consistent with\ud Laurillard's model of learning

Social Needs Resource Connections: A Systematic Review of Barriers, Facilitators, and Evaluation

Healthcare organizations increasingly are screening patients for social needs (e.g., food, housing) and referring them to community resources. This systematic mixed studies review assesses how studies evaluate social needs resource connections and identifies patient- and caregiver-reported factors that may inhibit or facilitate resource connections