Evaluating Improvisation As A Technique For Training Pre-service Teachers For Inclusive Classrooms

Improvisation is a construct that uses a set of minimal heuristic guidelines to create a highly flexible scaffold that fosters extemporaneous communication. Scholars from diverse domains: such as psychology, business, negotiation, and education have suggested its use as a method for preparing professionals to manage complexity and think on their feet. A review of the literature revealed that while there is substantial theoretical scholarship on using improvisation in diverse domains, little research has verified these assertions. This dissertation evaluated whether improvisation, a specific type of dramatic technique, was effective for training pre-service teachers in specific characteristics of teacher-child classroom interaction, communication and affective skills development. It measured the strength and direction of any potential changes such training might effect on pre-service teacher’s self-efficacy for teaching and for implementing the communication skills common to improvisation and teaching while interacting with student in an inclusive classroom setting. A review of the literature on teacher self-efficacy and improvisation clarified and defined key terms, and illustrated relevant studies. This study utilized a mixed-method research design based on instructional design and development research. Matched pairs ttests were used to analyze the self-efficacy and training skills survey data and pre-service teacher reflections and interview transcripts were used to triangulate the qualitative data. Results of the t-tests showed a significant difference in participants’ self-efficacy for teaching measured before and after the improvisation training. A significant difference in means was also measured in participants’ aptitude for improvisation strategies and for self-efficacy for their implementation pre-/post- training. Qualitative results from pre-service teacher class iv artifacts and interviews showed participants reported beneficial personal outcomes as well as confirmed using skills from the training while interacting with students. Many of the qualitative themes parallel individual question items on the teacher self-efficacy TSES scale as well as the improvisation self-efficacy scale CSAI. The self-reported changes in affective behavior such as increased self-confidence and ability to foster positive interaction with students are illustrative of changes in teacher agency. Self-reports of being able to better understand student perspectives demonstrate a change in participant ability to empathize with students. Participants who worked with both typically developing students as well as with students with disabilities reported utilizing improvisation strategies such as Yes, and…, mirroring emotions and body language, vocal prosody and establishing a narrative relationship to put the students at ease, establish a positive learning environment, encourage student contributions and foster teachable moments. The improvisation strategies showed specific benefit for participants working with nonverbal students or who had commutation difficulties, by providing the pre-service teachers with strategies for using body language, emotional mirroring, vocal prosody and acceptance to foster interaction and communication with the student. Results from this investigation appear to substantiate the benefit of using improvisation training as part of a pre-service teacher methods course for preparing teachers for inclusive elementary classrooms. Replication of the study is encouraged with teachers of differing populations to confirm and extend results

The Impact of Simulation-Based Mastery Learning for Central Venous Catheter Dressing Changes With Staff Nurses at a Nebraska Critical Access Hospital

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this pilot feasibility study was to assess if a simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) intervention on central venous catheter (CVC) dressing changes by staff nurses at Nemaha County Hospital could further develop staff nurses’ central line care skills by increasing their knowledge of a central line dressing change, improving their comfort level and learning self-efficacy with central line care, determining if there is a relationship between knowledge, learning self-efficacy and comfort in the clinical area, and assessing nurses’ satisfaction on the SBML intervention. The clinical research questions being explored are, “Will nurses in a Nebraska critical access hospital in Auburn, Nebraska who engage in a SBML intervention on central venous access dressing changes and cares develop their skills and increase their knowledge, comfort level, and learning self-efficacy with such cares after the intervention? Will they increase their satisfaction and positive attitude learning via the SBML format? Methods A SBML workshop for central line dressing changes was implemented at Nemaha County Hospital’s yearly skills fair. The proposed study design was a pretest-posttest, educational pilot intervention. The staff nurses used live SBML to demonstrate a CVC dressing change for internal jugular venous catheters. A 19-point checklist devised from the Center for Disease Control and the hospital’s policy was used to evaluate their performance. Participants completed a knowledge assessment, comfortability rating assessment, and self-efficacy assessment pre and post intervention. An assessment of satisfaction and attitude was completed at the end of the intervention. Demographic data was collected for descriptive purposes. The theoretical framework used in the study included the behavioral learning theory as it focuses on behavior change and improvement, with behavior change being indicative of knowledge, learning, and competence acquisition. Learning in simulated social environments contributes strongly to learner knowledge, behavior change, competence, and personal development. Results A sample size of 11 registered nurses (RN) and 3 licensed practical nurses (LPN) participated. There was a significant positive Pearson correlation between change in comfort and change in self-efficacy pre and post intervention. There was a significant difference on change in comfort between day and night shift with night shift having a larger increase in comfort compared to the day shift nurses. Skill development was measured once immediately post demonstration. It was found that there were no significant differences on the outcome measures between LPNs and RNs. Conclusions Clinical staff at critical access hospitals may have little opportunity to experience seldom performed nursing tasks. Overall, the comfortability and self-efficacy for central line dressing changes improved after the SBML intervention. Participants reported a positive attitude towards utilizing SBML during education of central line dressing changes. The disadvantage of this study was the small sample size and the lack of opportunity to redemonstrate the skills assessment. Ideally, a larger sample size with more clinical staff or staff from multiple hospitals could offer more insight into the benefits of utilizing SBML for training skills

The Gaze and a Sufi Ethics of Vision in Majidi’s The Willow Tree: Form, Meaning, and the Real

In his 2005 film The Willow Tree (Bīd-i Majnūn), Majid Majidi offers a complex moral commentary on the faculty of sight. To do so, the filmmaker draws from Sufi theories of gazing, in which desire must be for ultimate meaning (maʿnā), as conveyed through the vehicle of perceivable form (ṣūra), a distinction with both metaphysical and ethical implications. Majidi presents sight, when devoid of contemplation, as a sort of voyeurism, especially in contrast to the privacy and immediacy of speech and especially within the context of the modern city. Moreover, his use of a blind protagonist whose sight is suddenly restored makes Jacques Lacan’s (d. 1981) psychoanalysis an especially useful tool for understanding the implications of Majidi’s film: In Majidi, much as in Lacan, the gaze undoes barriers and a sense of self-mastery, arousing the protagonist’s obsession with the void and an insatiable desire. Through references to Sufi ethical writings and a protagonist morally defeated by the image-centric media of contemporary urban Iran, The Willow Tree explores problems of representation and commodity fetishism. The resolution is a response to what might be called “moral voyeurism” that highlights and laments the artificiality of modernity’s objects of desire

An Analysis of Teacher Perceptions of Self-Efficacy in Working with English Language Learners

This applied dissertation was designed to provide insight into teachers\u27 perceptions of their ability to work effectively with limited English proficient (LEP) students. Data from the writer\u27s district, as well as state and national data, show a persistent achievement gap between the academic performance of LEP students and non-LEP students on various indicators. LEP students are dependent upon their classroom and subject-area teachers for their academic growth. However, these teachers are generally unprepared to meet the academic needs of LEP students. Established instruments were used to survey the 895 teachers in the research district to determine how teachers across a large school district in New Jersey felt about their ability to teach LEP students effectively. This study also sought to determine whether there were pockets of greater self-efficacy by establishing whether there is a relationship between reported teacher self-efficacy and independent variables such as demographic category or area of specialization and to discover which initiatives or training teachers report as contributing to greater self-efficacy in working successfully with LEP students

SUPPORTING TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION LEADERSHIP OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY-RELATED SELF-EFFICACY DEVELOPMENT

Meaningful use of technology by students is often unevenly distributed in schools. In order to increase outcomes for all students, a review of literature was conducted that identified the critical role school site administrators, principals and vice principals, play in making technology integration successful. After identifying the importance of school site administrators in supporting technology integration, a needs assessment was conducted that identified participants’ self-conception as technology integration leaders as a likely avenue for intervention. The intervention was aligned with Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory, specifically, the four sources of self-efficacy development, as a means to increase technology leadership among participants. Phase 1 of the intervention consisted of a 1-day professional learning workshop conducted in early October 2019. In Phase 2 of the study, four cases were selected for participation. Each of the four selected cases included the principal and vice principal at a school. Phase 2 consisted of a professional learning follow-up session and the delivery of a technology integration workshop to school site staff by the participants. To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, a mixed-methods analysis of the process was conducted, and the resulting data for this small sample revealed that the technology-related self-efficacy beliefs of participants increased following the intervention. Further analysis of the qualitative data revealed increased intent to act as technology integration leaders at their school sites following the intervention. Findings indicate that technology-related self-efficacy development may increase the intent of school site administrators to act as a technology integration leaders