Browsing by Author "Jennings, Louise, advisor"

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Open Access
A classroom of horrors and lessons from the dark: an affective learning framework for engaging students in literacy
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Davis, Justin Daniel, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Birmingham, Daniel, committee member; Brinks, Ellen, committee member; Timpson, William, committee member
While student engagement has long been acknowledged as important in the learning process in scholarship, the concept of engagement has just recently shifted from an idea of passive compliance to overt interest. Much of the research continues to focus on largely cognitive aspects of engagement such as higher level thinking processes, taxonomies, and rigor. While cognitive engagement is important, far less attention has focused on affective, or emotional, engagement. The researcher seeks to capture personal student experiences around engagement and analyze participant responses for possible themes to examine the potentially positive impacts and possible constraints of using the horror genre as a means to apply a proposed Affective Learning Framework in order to effectively and holistically engage students. The Affective Learning Framework consisted of four key domains: Relevancy/Connectedness, Interest/Autonomy, Hook/Controversy, and a Positive Learning Environment. Broadly, the purpose of this research is to capture the insights and voices of secondary students around using horror as a means to emotionally engage them in literacy and relevant real-world issues in an after-school horror literature club in an effort to battle feelings of boredom and disconnectedness that students often experience in the classroom. It examines horror as a potentially powerful teaching tool in secondary and post-secondary settings. As a qualitative study, the analysis of open-ended survey questions, transcribed dialogue, and interviews resulted in a thematic analysis case study in order to detail the potential of emerging or common themes as they related to the application of the Affective Learning Framework. As student voice is often lacking in the literature about what they feel about engagement, and this was a primary driver for the purpose of this study, student voice is a critical aspect of this research. The study also addresses meaningful implementation of the horror genre into reading and writing, with further implications around the use of subgenres and how this work may fit into the general classroom setting through the Affective Learning Framework.
Open Access
A decolonial analysis of peace education in India and Pakistan
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Jalal, Runeela, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Timpson, William, committee member; Archibeque-Engle, Shannon, committee member; Ehlers-Zavala, Fabiola, committee member
This dissertation investigates the current state of peace pedagogy in formal and informal educational platforms in India and Pakistan. The overarching goal is to amass pedagogical strategies for peace teaching by understanding the aspirations of peace as understood by the local wisdom in the spirit of decolonial educational approaches. The socio-political postcolonial conflict scene is understood through the theories of Structural Violence (Galtung, 1969) and Cascades of Violence (Braithwaite and D'Costa. 2018). It was important as India and Pakistan were colonized for a century and the postcolonial conflict climate has its distinctive nature. There is considerable research done to explain the postcolonial repercussions on a society entailing violence, conflicts, and nationalism and how such negative impacts trickle down into the education system in India and Pakistan. Additionally, The Theory of Positive Psychology (Seligman, 1998) defines the parameters of decolonized peace pedagogy for analyzing educational documents and the work of self-motivated peace practitioners working with non-governmental organizations (NGOs). After this foundational understanding is developed for this research study in Chapter 1, Chapters 2-4 explore the possible implementation of peace pedagogy in education in India and Pakistan through three interrelated articles. The first article is a systematic review of the peace pedagogy literature in postcolonial lands around the world. These regions mainly are located in the Global South which includes Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The second article takes a closer look at the place of peace pedagogy in existing formal/informal educational platforms through document analysis of policy papers, college programs, and a few non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan and India. The third article focuses on the efforts of NGOs at the grassroots level through phenomenological interviews with peace practitioners in Pakistan and India; this study focuses on how these practitioners engage with local communities to make meaning of peace at the local level and devise a suitable peace pedagogy to continue their mission of peace education. Chapter 5 addresses implications of this research study by contributing to the decolonial ways of building knowledge for implementing peace pedagogy in postcolonial lands specifically India and Pakistan. In doing so, Chapter 5 summarizes comparative knowledge through a literature review of peace pedagogy in postcolonial lands around the world and India and Pakistan. This helped identifying gaps which prevent linear implementation of peace pedagogy from early education up to graduate level in India and Pakistan, thus, compromising the objectives of establishing peace. Recommendations for the education system mainly through the lessons learned by the self-motivated peace educators and activists are put forward for considerations.
Embargo
A mixed methods analysis of the impact of a positive psychology-based college readiness course on first-year college students in Vietnam
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2025) Phan, Khuc, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Gloeckner, Gene, advisor; Aragón, Antonette, committee member; Williams, Elizabeth, committee member
This multiple-article dissertation presents a mixed-method study investigating the impact of a positive psychology-based College Readiness course on academic success among first-year college students in Vietnam. The course was developed in response to low retention rates and challenges faced by Vietnamese college students, aiming to reinforce factors associated with academic success, including psychological well-being, self-efficacy, and skills for effective learning. This study examined the effectiveness of this course in enhancing these outcomes. Through a systematic review of 32 ProQuest-indexed studies, Article One identified five key factors associated with college students' academic success: motivation and engagement, personality traits, self-efficacy, psychological well-being, and skills for effective learning. The review also examined the effectiveness of first-year support courses in addressing these factors. The findings of this chapter guided the development of the College Readiness course. Article Two presented a validation study for the PERMA-Profiler questionnaire, one of the instruments used to examine the effectiveness of the College Readiness course to ensure its appropriateness for assessing the psychological well-being of college students in Vietnam. Articles Three and Four reported on a convergent mixed methods study with a quasi-experimental approach, investigating the impact of the College Readiness course on Vietnamese college students' psychological well-being, self-efficacy, and self-confidence in key skills for learning. The study included 58 participants, with 36 in the experimental group and 22 in the control group. Quantitative data were collected using self-reported measures at three time points, while qualitative data were gathered through open-ended survey items and focus group interviews. The findings demonstrated that the course had a positive impact on self-efficacy and overall psychological well-being, with effects sustained six weeks post-completion. Additionally, most individual factors related to psychological well-being and self-confidence in learning skills showed significant improvements that persisted through the six-week follow-up. The qualitative data provided richer insights into the specific areas of impact and influential course elements. Article Five examined the relationships between the experimental students' IELTS scores at admission and these academic success factors prior to the College Readiness course, immediately after, and six weeks after the course ended. Collectively, these five articles contributed to the understanding of how a positive psychology-based College Readiness course can benefit Vietnamese college students by enhancing factors associated with their academic success. The results provide practical implications that can inform the design of first-year support programs, helping educators make well-informed decisions regarding the integration of positive psychology strategies to enhance students' academic success and support their transition to college in both the Vietnamese context and globally.
Open Access
Examining comprehensive internationalization at two state comprehensive universities (SCUs): a comparative case study of the internationalization process
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Griffin, Jermain, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Kuk, Linda, committee member; Wolgemuth, Jennifer, committee member; Mumme, Stephen, committee member
This study examines how state comprehensive universities (SCUs) made internationalization an institutional priority amidst competing interests. This study integrated the American Council on Education's Model for Comprehensive Internationalization (2012), organizational change theories including evolutionary and revolutionary change (Burke, 2014), and literature on SCUs (Fryar, 2015; Henderson, 2005, 2007) in a qualitative comparative case study design to understand how comprehensive internationalization can be achieved at an SCU. The research is presented in three manuscript chapters. The first manuscript chapter focuses on how campus advocates for internationalization understood the concept of comprehensive internationalization. Internationalization at both institutions was centered on the curriculum and co-curricular experiences, with less attention to other features of a comprehensive international model. This key finding corroborates past iterations of how internationalization is described in US higher education, raising questions about the ground support for broader efforts of internationalization at SCUs that encompasses other key features of comprehensive internationalization as outlined by leaders in the field, including the American Council on Education (ACE) Center for Internationalization and Global Engagement (CIGE) (2016). The second manuscript chapter explores how internationalization advocates characterized how internationalization occurred at their institutions and how it was working. Participants from both institutions attributed increased communication between colleagues, primarily among the faculty, but also with some staff divisions, as key to building momentum for internationalization at their institutions. Finally, the third chapter examines how SCUs managed comprehensive internationalization against other competing interests. Participants from both institutions shared different degrees of struggle with finances and public support for publicly-funded higher education among other competing interests.
Open Access
Experiences of students with disabilities: factors that influence their withdrawal as baccalaureate degree seeking students
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Thompson-Ebanks, Valerie, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Valentine, Deborah, advisor; Bundy-Fazioli, Kim, committee member; Kuk, Linda, committee member
This study explored factors those students with invisible disabilities (SWIDs) associate with their voluntary withdrawal from a mid-western state land grant university (LGU) after completing 60 or more college credits. Social constuctivism, which assumes the existence of multiple realities shaped by individual experiences, is the philosophical framework that undergirds the methodology of the study, which is further framed from an ecological perspective. The ecological perspective provides a lens from which to understand the transactional context of the disability experience for SWIDs. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from the five participants, all former students with invisible disabilities. The data were coded and contrastive thematic analysis was conducted from an ecological perspective. The findings resulted in a dynamic model that captures the layered contexts of the ecological model and the dynamic interaction among the factors. For example, individual factors included: personal characteristics related to disability, feelings of adequacy, sense of belonging, and students' expectations and perceptions of the university and other environmental systems. Environmental factors included: family system expectations, university system expectations and requirements, and community systems expectations. The complex interconnectedness of a number of the factors is a central idea in many of the participant's experiences. The inter-related, dynamic nature of the factors is illustrated through descriptive case analyses of each participant's experiences. Implications of the research findings and recommendations for future studies are included.
Open Access
Factors influencing access to higher education in La Rinconada, Peru: an ethnographic case study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Busch, AnneLiese M., author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Lynham, Sue, committee member; Kuk, Linda, committee member; Sagas, Ernesto, committee member
Studies show that there is a large gap in participation in higher education between Peru's poorest members of society and their wealthier counterparts despite the existence of 51 public universities located across Peru that are free of cost. Quantitative studies addressing this topic rely on a culture of poverty paradigm and have argued that this discrepancy is due to a lack of culture that prioritizes higher education among Peru's poor. The purpose of this study was to investigate why it is that the poorest segments of the population in Peru overwhelmingly do not pursue higher education despite the existence of tuition-free public universities, to understand the extent to which culture and systemic factors outside their control explain this phenomenon, and to examine how mining families perceive the role of and access to higher education for their children. This study focused on the community of La Rinconada, Peru for three primary reasons: (a) La Rinconada is representative of many illegal mining communities in not just Peru, but Latin America in that it is perceived as a city where low-skilled workers have an opportunity to generate more income working in the mines than by relying on positions that pay minimum wage (now 930 soles per month, which is equivalent to approximately $284); (b) more than 98% of La Rinconada's population is comprised of individuals belonging to the lowest socioeconomic level of Peruvian society; and (c) the population of La Rinconada has nearly quadrupled within the past decade and continues to grow. This study employed an ethnographic case study approach including recording and documenting observations of La Rinconada and Juliaca, the two sites in which the interviews were conducted, and conducting interviews with three separate groups of study participants including 14 teachers, 17 parents employed in a mining-related industry and 10 students. Field notes of all observations were kept and recorded as well as all interviews and conversations with the interview participants following their consent. The interviews were transcribed in Spanish and were then translated into English. Codes and patterns for each of the three groups of interview participants (teachers, parents employed in a mining-related industry, and students) were identified and were used to identify the three resulting themes. The observations I recorded and documented in La Rinconada demonstrate the harsh conditions of day-to-day life for its residents and highlight the extent to which the parents I interviewed are willing to go in order to provide a better life for their children; a life which for most participants included the pursuit of higher education. In the interviews I conducted I identified three themes: acceptance of harsh conditions for more opportunity, importance of higher education and the obstacles to pursuing it and the perceived role of higher education in future success. My findings indicate that for the parents employed in mining-related industries higher education was a priority because of the perceived financial and personal stability it would enable their children to enjoy and the social status and prestige a bachelor's degree would signify for their children because they would now be considered professional as opposed to a laborer. In general, for residents of La Rinconada, financial constraints and distance from institutions of higher education were identified as being the biggest obstacles to accessing higher education. My findings show that despite the fact that half of the individuals I interviewed had not pursued higher education themselves, all of the participants stated that they valued higher education and viewed it as essential to achieving financial and personal stability and they emphasized their desire for their children to pursue higher education.
Open Access
Funds of knowledge: a constructivist study to examine the assets of culturally and linguistically diverse families
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Huerta-Kelley, Norma, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Coke, Pam, committee member; Frederiksen, Heidi, committee member; Gloeckner, Gene, committee member
This dissertation crosses the barriers of language and culture in education, by examining the funds of knowledge of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families from research framed by an Appreciative Inquiry lens. Northern Colorado is predominately white, but home to a small diverse and vibrant Latino community whose stories of strength are invaluable to educators all across the United States. I conducted one pilot focus group, three bilingual focus groups and four face-to-face, bilingual, follow-up interviews with Latino parents/guardians of school-aged children. I examined themes constructed through participants' funds of knowledge as described to me through their personal stories or "dichos". All participants identified as CLD, and their participation was determined by using the following criteria: ethnicity, gender, migrant status, and home language. This research proposes a constructivist model of study that incorporates findings through the identification of several themes that answer the research question, "What are the "funds of knowledge" of culturally and linguistically diverse families?" The findings examine participants' perceptions regarding: parent biographies and experiences and how they influence support for their children's education; strengths and assets of CLD families; what they want their children's teachers to know about working with CLD families; and aspirations for their children. These themes relate to prior research and informs culturally responsive instructional strategies that can be used by administrators and teachers so they can better understand CLD students and create more inclusive environments. These practices can bring CLD students, many of whom continue to struggle to achieve at high levels, closer to the academic arena of postsecondary readiness.
Open Access
Online writing research in the upper-division composition classroom: constructions of social engagement and critical dialogue
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Welker, Alyson, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Gloeckner, Gene, committee member; Lynham, Sue, committee member; Doe, Sue, committee member
This dissertation is comprised of three related articles examining social engagement and critical dialogue practices in the upper-division online writing classroom. The three manuscripts are presented with bookend chapters to introduce and discuss the larger research project. The over-arching questions this research asks are: How are teaching and learning supported and constrained in online writing instructional environments? How can constructions of social engagement in the online Writing Arguments classroom support critical learning and critical dialogue? The three articles examine the teaching of writing in an upper-division online writing course, Writing Arguments, which is a rhetorical theory course in composition. This compilation of continually evolving research captures the dual importance of enhancing online education as well as the need to construct social engagement in the online classroom. Additionally, as the Writing Arguments course lends itself naturally to areas of opposition and difference, the final two studies focus specifically on critical dialogue and learning in the online classroom.
Open Access
Operationalizing successful strategic planning processes in a high performing community college
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Garstecki, Marcus, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Quick, Don, advisor; Walters, Jack, committee member; Hall, Bruce, committee member
This study assessed the effectiveness of the strategic planning processes in a high performing community college. Lake Area Technical Institute (LATI) in Watertown, South Dakota was identified as a high performing institution based on earning the 2017 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The study utilized a qualitative, single site, case study to provide insight into the elements that led to a successful strategic planning process. The data collection included interviews with twenty-three employees including faculty, staff, and administration. A document analysis of relevant planning documents was conducted, as well as an observation of the college's strategic planning session, and observation of the institution's strategic planning and Aspen Prize related artifacts. The results of this study provide strategic planners insight into how a high performing institution created and successfully implemented a strategic plan. Four a priori codes, or main themes, were developed prior to the study to guide my research. These four themes included: employee perceptions of strategic planning, employee participation in the strategic planning process, implementing the strategic plan, and linking budgets and resources to support the strategic plan. Within these themes, findings suggest that the following factors contributed to successful planning efforts at LATI. Theme One indicated that an inclusive planning process that values employee engagement and a positive culture throughout the institution generated extensive support for the planning process. Theme Two indicated support for a cross-represented group of employees and external stakeholders in the process and most importantly, valuing the input received from those participants. The results from Theme Three indicated several steps that led to successful implementation: conducting an annual planning process, assigning responsibility to the initiatives that comprise the plan, utilizing committees or teams implement the initiatives, communicating the details of the strategic plan to the campus community through multiple methods, and regularly assessing the plan. Theme Four discusses the ongoing resource allocation process that occurs throughout the fiscal year that supports the strategic plan. The research also explored the impact of winning the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence on the institution and how the Aspen process impacted the strategic planning process.
Open Access
Supporting student engagement and learning through the dialogic-inquiry activity of written conversations in an elementary classroom: an ethnographic case study
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) LaFond, Kitty, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Aragon, Antonette, committee member; Stevenson, Cerissa, committee member; Reid, Louann, committee member
This study describes a fourth-grade elementary, general-education classroom located in a city in Colorado. The participating teacher was also the researcher in this study. She spent 10 weeks in field observation and data collection. The study was informed by two pilot studies, was based in the theoretical framework of constructivism, and an ethnographic methodology was utilized to describe the classroom environment. Analyses of the data were completed using the five parts of an ethnographic case study: (a) data managing, (b) coding and developing themes, (c) describing, (d) interpreting, and (d) representing. The research question for this study focused on examining how the dialogical inquiry activity of written conversations supports or constrains student engagement and the learning process. The findings from the study present evidence that the dialogical inquiry activity of written conversations played a supportive role in the interconnection between relationship building and the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive (EBC) constructs of student engagement and the learning process. The study found that relationships were the integrated factor that tie the three EBC engagement constructs together. Findings illustrate how written conversations support building a classroom community, helping the teacher see students through a relational lens, and building student-to-student relationships and teacher-to-student relationships. Written conversations were also an effective pedagogical tool in supporting the learning process. iii Findings illustrate how written conversations provided opportunities for engaging in a wide array of literacy practices through authentic writing activity. Multiple examples of students' written conversations demonstrate how student literacy practices grew more proficient through the written conversations over time. The findings also illustrate how teacher-researcher-devised assessment tools made visible a broad range of literacy skills that students developed and demonstrated through the practice of written conversations, addressing many learning standards that are less prevalent in other areas of the curriculum. Although there is much evidence in this study of how written conversations support relationships, student engagement, and the learning process, one constraint should be noted. Written conversations are a tool that facilitates dialogue; but if the teacher attends to only what the writing looks like and not what the student voice is saying, the result could be a decrease in student engagement. Additional constraints to the effective implementation of written conversations that relate to culturally responsive teaching practices are addressed. In summary, written conversations supported student engagement and the learning process because written conversations played a key role in building relationships within a community of learners. Written conversations supported relationship building, relationship building supported student engagement, and student engagement supported the learning process.
Open Access
"Take me to the river": mapping global flows from crayons to connections
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Kirhner, Jean Denison, author; Kamberelis, George, advisor; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Anderson, Sharon, committee member; Vigil, Patricia, committee member
In this dissertation I studied an ongoing professional development project that involved educators from Belize and the United States. In the end I argue that sustainable change within transnational and transcultural professional development activities and research projects is most effective when it involves Freirean-like dialogue, sharing life stories and sharing lifeworlds. Using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach, I used interviews, focus groups, personal communications, and field notes of professional development activities to document the life stories, shared dialogue, and lived worlds of my colleagues in Belize. Using a basic thematic analysis approach, my Belizean colleagues and I distilled themes from the data to more deeply understand my colleagues' lives and perspectives on literacy and education. Embracing a fully collaborative (or participatory) research approach, I chose to represent our collective work as a narrative. Several key themes emerged from analyses: the effects of colonialism and postcolonialism on the entire enterprise, the exigencies of becoming a teacher in Belize, the effects of engaging in Freirean dialogue, sharing life stories, and sharing life worlds on teachers' identities and practices. First, I describe the context of colonialism/postcolonialism in which this work was embedded. Then I chronicle the early years of Belize Education Project's work. I begin by describing the origins of the Belize Education Project (BEP) and its focus on providing material resources and "best practice" teaching strategies to teachers in Belize. Importantly, I describe a watershed moment in which I realized that something more—something more human and more humanizing—was needed for the project to flourish. After that, I map the exigencies of becoming and being a teacher in Belize, a trajectory closely linked to forces of colonialism/postcolonialism. I also explain how intentionally enacting Freirean-like dialogue, sharing life stories, and sharing lifeworlds, led to key changes in the professional identities and practices of all BEP participants, my Belizean colleagues as well as members of Belize Education Project in the United States. Finally, I discuss the effects of changing relationships, identities, and practices on pedagogy and student outcomes in Belizean classrooms. I conclude by discussing the relevance of my findings for transnational and transcultural professional development work and global educational stewardship.
Open Access
The body and the word: at the intersection of religion and rape culture within church as a site of education and social formation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Lyter Bright, Laurie, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Souza, Caridad, committee member; Aragon, Antonette, committee member; Anderson, Sharon, committee member
The work of this dissertation is to name and understand the intersection of religion and rape culture in the context of Christianity through understanding churches as sites of education and social formation. My positionality as researcher is shaped by my identity as a clergyperson and an activist in addressing gender-based violence. While those aspects of my identity frequently overlap, my roles as a clergy member and as an advocate for survivors of rape culture feel too often like living in parallel worlds. The overlap of these identities seemed readily apparent to me, yet I was not hearing rape culture discussed by other clergy, nor was the church providing space or meaningful support in the fight against gender-based violence. The perceived gap is where this research began. These two facets of my experience and identity cemented in me a desire to understand the intersection of faith and the lived realities of sexual violence. I interviewed scholars, preachers, and authors contributing to the discourse of the #metoo movement and who work to bridge the space between scripture, ritual, and community praxis. Participants are leaders in the focused and growing movement of addressing rape culture in theological scholarship and church teaching and preaching. Through semi-structured interviews, I sought understanding of three key lines of inquiry centering on the reasons and paths by which rape culture and church both intersect and interact. Through modified constructivist grounded theory analysis of these interviews, I determined that the church is indeed a contributor in the co-creation of rape culture. The duality of this conclusion is that the church already possesses the pedagogical pathways necessary to serve as a site of disruptive education in rape culture instead.
Open Access
The effects of alternative spring break on the color-blind racial attitudes of undergraduate college students
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Johnson, Jennifer J., author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Bruyere, Brett, committee member; Gloeckner, Gene, committee member; Kuk, Linda, committee member
Many Americans cite the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the country's first non-White President, as proof of the arrival of the United States as a post-racial nation (Harlow, 2008). Despite this, according to an Associated Press Poll in 2012, racist attitudes in the United States have worsened since 2008 among American adults age 18 and older. Recent events, such as the killing of Black teenager Michael Brown in Fergusson, Missouri by a White police officer in August 2014, the death of Eric Garner, a Black man, at the hands of a White New York City police officer in July 2014, and the subsequent demonstrations and riots following grand jury decisions not to indict the officers reinforce the notion that racial issues are alive and well in the United States today. Service-learning experiences, including alternative spring break, are an especially relevant venue for exploring race and racial attitudes as students often engage in service across racial differences and study systems of oppression. The purpose of this mixed-method, explanatory sequential study was to describe the effect of alternative spring break on color-blind racial attitudes of undergraduate students at four institutions of higher education in the United States. The overarching research questions of the project are as follows: (a) What is the effect of alternative spring break participation on undergraduate students' color-blind racial attitudes as measured by the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS)?; (b) What factors influence the color-blind racial attitudes of undergraduate students participating in alternative spring break as measured by CoBRAS?; (c) How do alternative spring break program coordinators interpret CoBRAS scores of students from their institution? The Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Survey (CoBRAS) was utilized as the instrument to measure color-blind racial attitudes. Students participating in alternative spring break were given the instrument prior to spring break and after spring break. Additionally, alternative spring break coordinators had the opportunity to interpret the results from their institution. Students who participated in alternative spring break showed statistically significant lower total CoBRAS scores, as well as statistically significant lower CoBRAS scores on all three CoBRAS constructs (Unawareness of Racial Privilege; Unawareness of Institutional Discrimination; Unawareness of Blatant Racial issues). Lower CoBRAS scores indicate a reduction in color-blind racial attitudes. Factors that influenced lower scores on the instrument included host institution, issue focus of trip (people vs. animal/environment vs. mix of people/animal/environment), and gender of student participant. Through their interpretation of the quantitative results, program coordinators at the four participating institutions suggested that a) training, b) diversity of participants and leaders, c) community partners, d) developmental level/skill of trip leaders, and e) current events could have influenced the scores.
Open Access
(We)ducation: a narrative and autoethnographic analysis of the teaching and learning process postured as an intimate relationship
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Modesti, Sonja, author; Jennings, Louise, advisor; Anderson, Karrin, advisor; Burgchardt, Carl, committee member; Banning, Jim, committee member
This project argues that the roles of teacher and learner are no longer definable by traditional conceptualizations, and instead, the intimacy with which teachers and learners experience these roles is comparable to a deeply meaningful, multi-faceted relationship. Many of the dynamics present in the traditional conceptualization of an intimate relationship are the material and embodied dynamics also experienced by teachers and learners as they engage the educational journey. Therefore, this study seeks to identify learners' and teachers' relationship(s) with education as "intimate." Structured as a series of critical scholarly reflections based on a review of the personal and professional life documents of a learner and teacher who has served as a public educator, college professor, and graduate student, this project is written in the style of autoethnographic, narrative vignettes. The journey as a teacher and learner is chronicled, punctuating and analyzing the similarities between the process of teaching and learning and theoretical features of an intimate relationship. Each vignette recounts a conceptual intersection that is both literally and metaphorically linked to themes located in the discourse of interpersonal relations. Analysis of the vignettes reveals a three-part conclusion about the general, theoretical, and embodied relationship between teaching, learning, and intimacy. Thus, the narrative and the accompanying reflections and analyses raise and (re)frame current theoretical, pedagogical, and philosophical questions about education, pedagogy, individual and cultural/institutional change, and identity.