Perceptions of Doctoral Graduates on the Usefulness of Written Reflections as an Instructional Strategy

One of the goals of the Ed.D. in Leadership and Professional Practice at Trevecca Nazarene University is for candidates to be reflective practitioners. Since the inception of the program in 1999, written reflections as an instructional strategy has been encouraged by the administration and used by several professors. This focus is supported by the conceptual framework that informs all courses and programs in the School of Education and includes the national standards adopted by INTASC (Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium) which calls for teacher education candidates to be reflective practitioners who plan, implement, and evaluate effectively. This standard is applied to all programs, including those at the master’s and doctoral levels. Research by Ballantyne and Packer (1995) in Studies in Continuing Education reported that the analysis of journal entries by 13 students enrolled in education doctoral programs confirmed the usefulness of journals in reflecting on and connecting academic learning and experience

Algebraicity of the Appell-Lauricella and Horn hypergeometric functions

We extend Schwarz' list of irreducible algebraic Gauss functions to the four classes of Appell-Lauricella functions in several variables and the 14 complete Horn functions in two variables. This gives an example of a family of functions such that for any number of variables there are infinitely many algebraic functions, namely the Lauricella $F_C$ functions.Comment: 24 pages, 6 tables, 2 figure

Critical criticism’s critique: 13 theses, or, it is all rubbish

Book synopsis: Well this is it: the end, last gasp, final straw; in short, the concluding dark volume in a series of books some idiot called ‘critical inventions.’ Let us be like wry Oscar Wilde, said the idiot, and dream of the critic as artist, or at least as someone else, as someone other than who we had thought he was, or been taught he was. Let us, continued the idiot, set the critical dogs off the leash and see what they come back with. And here they are: no less than twenty-four press-ganged souls all huddled together for warmth; some are critics, some are poets, and some are critic-poets; among them such as Steven Connor, Jonathan Dollimore, Ewan Fernie, Mark Ford, Kevin Hart, Geoffrey Hartman, Esther Leslie, Willy Maley, and Michael Simmons Roberts. … So, twenty-four voices, twenty-four shots in the dark, or maybe shots at the dark, or possibly the head, or even the foot. But whatever, each is a shot at pushing the battered perambulator of dear old criticism so far and so fast that someone somewhere – whether in anger, derision, or pain – might just cry ‘Crritic!,’ that curse of all curses, the best of all possible anathema. But maybe, just maybe, the exclamation ‘Crritic!’ will here double as a cri de coeur, or howl of self-loathing, or scream of delight, or laugh in the night, or just a smashed-up and beaten old prayer. We shall see

Prediction of academic success of Bouve-Boston School.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Boston Universit

A classification of the irreducible algebraic A-hypergeometric functions associated to planar point configurations

We consider A-hypergeometric functions associated to normal sets in the plane. We give a classification of all point configurations for which there exists a parameter vector such that the associated hypergeometric function is algebraic. In particular, we show that there are no irreducible algebraic functions if the number of boundary points is sufficiently large and A is not a pyramid.Comment: 24 pages, 8 tables, 13 figure

A Social-ecological Approach to Voluntary Environmental Initiatives: The Case of Nature-based Tourism

This paper addresses the role of voluntary environmental initiatives by the tourism industry to alleviate social dilemmas for the management of natural resources

Linking Disability and Intercultural Studies: the adaptation journey of the visually impaired migrant in Ireland

This study focuses on the lived experiences of the visually impaired migrant in Ireland and this is the first study to document the lives of these members of Irish society. It examines how visually impaired migrants are simultaneously adapting to their disability and a new cultural environment while living in Ireland. In so doing this study aims to link the two academic fields of Intercultural Studies and Disability Studies and theoretical underpinnings for this study are drawn and woven together from both fields. As such this study draws from the development of theories relating to disability as well as the intercultural aspects of migration. Qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants living in the larger Dublin region, which comprised of two groups; migrant users and providers of services for the visually impaired. Data analysis was assisted through the software package Atlas.ti. A grounded theory approach to collecting and analysing data was adopted as this facilitates the flow from raw data to codes to concepts. Purposive sampling was employed and the typical method of grounded theory of constant comparison was not used, rather interviews were analysed individually once they were all completed then compared. Research findings indicate that the cultural perceptions of disability may help or hinder the individual’s adaptation process both to their visual impairment and to living and integrating into a new culture in Ireland. Findings cluster around the three areas of cultural perceptions of disability, support networks and cultural barriers to adaptation. Synergising theoretical concepts and data steered the development of a new integrative model which identifies the inhibitors and facilitators for the process of adaptation to visual impairment for a migrant in Ireland