Model dissertations What makes these good part 2

Exploiting Rapid
Change in Technology
Enhanced Learning
… for Post Graduate Education
Analyzing Dissertations
What Makes These Work? Or Not?

It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out;
it's the pebble in your shoe. Muhammad Ali
It's better to look ahead and prepare, than to look back
and regret. Jackie Joyner-Kersee

Why? Because you’ll develop…
1. Your own voice faster
2. A toolbox that works for you
3. Understanding that will help your relationship
with your supervisor/committee chair
4. You’ll begin to understand your dissertation or
thesis as a project you are managing…
transferable skill #1
Goal: To Get You to Look at
Others Finished Dissertation or
Theses Differently

Agenda
Taking a look at what makes them good…
Innovation vs Good Solid Work… both are important
Part I
1. Abstracts
2. First Paragraphs
3. Layouts/organization
4. Writing style
Part II
1. Lit review logic
2. Clarity of methodological design
3. Good use of theoretical frame
4. Great and unusual findings.

Dissertations / Thesis
From WVU, Morgan State – keywords education
1. First year student expectations: General education goals at a
multi-campus community college by Sherri Anna Robinson
2. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/894213089.html?FMT=AI
Chapter 2: Review of Literature (33 pages)
Theoretical Models Related to Student Effort and Persistence
Community college student expectations
Essential college outcomes
Community college and general education
Summary

First year student expectations: General education goals at a
multi-campus community college by Sherri Anna Robinson
This chapter will explore college student expectations and perceptions of general education
outcomes, goals and related curriculum. In order to understand the impact of student
expectations on the college experience, the first sections will provide an overview of relevant
college impact models pertaining to student effort and retention. Pace's Path for a Student
Development and College Impress Model (1979, 1984) and Vincent Tinto's Longitudinal Model of
Departure from Institutions of Higher Education (1975, 1987, 1993) provides an understanding of
how student experiences affect their quality of effort and decisions to withdraw from college.
Next, the relevant empirical literature surrounding several key issues will be explored.
First, the review will provide an overview of the expectations of community college students and
their reasons for choosing to attend. The top eight intellectual skills identified by the
Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) member institutions as common
learning goals will be reviewed. Next, it will highlight the literature describing general education
in community colleges to reveal how the learning outcomes are presented to students. The last
section will explore undergraduate students' perceptions of their general education experiences
to provide an understanding as to whether there is a connection or a mismatch between intent
and reality.

Use of the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS)
by career services directors at two-year public community
colleges by Barbour, Wayne C.,
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/753944231.html?FMT=ABS
Chapter 2: (73 pages)
Background
Student Affairs
Career Services (6 subheadings)
Accountability in Higher Education
Professional Associations and Organizations (2 subheadings)
History of the Council for the Advancement of Standards in HE
Purpose and Use of the CAS Standards (7 subheadings)
Summary

Use of the Council for the Advancement of Standards
(CAS) by career services directors at two-year public
community colleges by Barbour, Wayne C.,
This study determined how professional standards are being used, specifically at two-year
public community colleges by career services directors. In addition, by determining if the
characteristics of career services directors and their institutions are associated with the use of
the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) at two-year public
community colleges, this study addressed the problem related to the lack of research
regarding the use of professional standards for assessing career services programs at two-
year public community colleges.
The first section acknowledges the services that are provided under the umbrella of student
services. The second section provides a discussion on the evolution of career services in higher
education. The third section explores accountability issues in higher education that have
directly impacted the quality of student services programs in colleges and universities. The
fourth section characterizes professional associations and organizations. Finally, a review of
the literature is provided, which concerns the need for and the creation of the Council for the
Advancement of Standards for Higher Education as a guide for professionals in the areas of
student services.

Comparative Studies: one quantitative and one comparative case study
The Positive Alternative Credit Experience (PACE) Program
A Quantitative Comparative Study
by Warren, Rebecca Anne
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/910007849.html?FMT=AI
A comparison of the career and technical education
programs in a US community college and a Chinese
institution
by Hou, Harry, Ed.D

A comparison of the career and technical education
programs in a US community college and a Chinese
institution by Hou, Harry, Ed.D
Introduction 51
Restatement of the Purpose and Research Questions 51
Research Design 52
Qualitative Methodology 52
Case Study Method 53
Participants 55
Case Selection 55
Participant Selection 55
Instrumentation 57
Data Collection Methods 58
Documents 58
Interviews 59
Demographical Questionnaire 60
Field Notes 60
Data Collection Procedures
61
Ethical Considerations 63
Data Analysis Procedures 64
Coding into Categories and
Themes 65
Within-Case Analysis 66
Cross-Case Analysis 66
Trustworthiness, Reliability, and
Transferability 67
Limitations 69
Summary 69

The Positive Alternative Credit Experience (PACE)
Program A Quantitative Comparative Study by Warren,
Rebecca Anne
Chapter Three: Methodology...........................................................................................102
Overview..............................................................................................................102
Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................103
Research Design...................................................................................................103
Research Questions and Hypotheses ....(10 subheadings)..............................................................104
Definition of Terms – Demographic Characteristic Variables…………...….…106
Research Site Context..............................................................................107
Research Populations...........................................................................................109
The PACE Program .................................................................................109
The four traditional high schools…………………….…………………115
Sampling Methods………………………………………………………...……116
Participants……………………………………..……………………………….120
PACE Sample……………………………………………….…….……120
Descriptive characteristics…………….…………...…….………121
Demographic characteristics…….…………………..………..…121
Matched Sample……………………………………………….……….122
Descriptive characteristics……………………...……………….122
Demographic characteristics……………………….……………123

The Positive Alternative Credit Experience (PACE)
Program A Quantitative Comparative Study by Warren,
Rebecca Anne
PACE and Matched Sample Similarities………………….……………124
Descriptive characteristics - averages……………………….…124
Demographic characteristics – percentages present…(2
subheadings)…………126
Data Collection timeframes - outcome data……..…………….….…..130
Data Analysis Procedures - Characteristics of Samples Hypotheses Testing…..131
Descriptive characteristics comparisons………………………..…….132
Demographic characteristics comparisons……………………………132
Data Analysis Procedures - Research Hypotheses Testing………………….…133
Summary……………………………………………………………..…………

Theoretical or Conceptual Frames

Cracking the transition code: A paradigmatic framework of
competencies that construct the reality of 50+ Black
executive transitions
by Foster, Jylla Moore, Ph.D.
http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/305157997.html?FMT=ABS
Modeling the co-development of strategic and conceptual
knowledge in mathematical problem solving
by Campbell, Mariana Elaine

Cracking the transition code: A paradigmatic
framework of competencies that construct the reality
of 50+ Black executive transitions
Chapter 2: Literature Review 19
Introduction 19
Adult Development Theory 21
Career Development Theory 31
Transition Theory 51
Transition Tipping Points 57
Black Literature That Informed the Study 60
The Transitioned Life of Carl Jung 65
Integrating Theory and Practice to Construct a Transition System 76
Objectives of This Study 78

There are three primary streams of theoretical literature that converge to form the
foundation for this research. As noted in Figure 2, adult development theory, career
development theory, and transition theory intersect to formulate the literature review.
These three streams further integrate conceptual constructs that were derived from
the exploratory interviews and extant literature that related to this participant set that
are the subjects of the study. Careful examination of the competencies for success
discovered within these literature streams, combined with the exploratory interviews,
revealed a framework to determine key competencies for success in transitions.

Most of the scholarly literature relative to adult development theory explores stages of the
life cycle prior to the 50+ transition phase. The emerging population of 50+ Black executives
who have transitioned or are transitioning with the shifting of the population demographics is
a critical group of individuals to research. Established definitions of adult development and
career stages have been researched as comingled components to establish the transition
competencies for this study.
A gap exists at the intersection of the theory explored and the practice associated with the
transition of 50+ talented Black executives. Within this gap resides the question that was left
unanswered in the literature that was examined: What are the transition competencies
employed by 50+ Black executives who transition from first careers to second pursuits?

Modeling the co-development of strategic and
conceptual knowledge in mathematical problem
solving
Chapter 2: Literature Review 4
Conceptions, misconceptions, and intuitions about mathematics and science 4
Theories of conceptual change in science and mathematics 6
Knowledge and learning: Perspectives within mathematics education 6
Chapter 4: Theoretical Perspective 19
Empirical approaches to epistemological questions 19
Knowledge in pieces (KiP) 20
Knowledge systems and their dynamics 21
Reference models 22

Knowledge in pieces (KiP)
The Knowledge in Pieces (KiP) epistemological perspective (diSessa, 1993) is a
powerful and evolving heuristic framework for considering the nature of knowledge,
its deployment, and how knowledge organization changes as individuals learn.
Though many of the principles can be (and have been) stated quite generally, KiP
remains most elaborated in the domain of physics (Notable and more recent
exceptions in the domain of mathematics that have strongly guided the current
analysis include Izsák, 2000; 2005; Pratt & Noss, 2002; and Wagner, 2006; 2010).

Historically, Knowledge in Pieces as a perspective on knowing and learning was
informed by two main traditions: developmental psychology (e.g., Piaget’s genetic
epistemology) and artificial intelligence. From developmental psychology came an
interest in and ultimate accountability to be able to explain long-term and central
learning and developmental processes. From artificial intelligence came a
commitment to the fine- grained accountability that is required by attempts to model
moment-to-moment cognitive activity, ultimately computationally. Thus, one can see
that the commitment to understanding change across very long time scales is paired
with the commitment to understand the details of learning at very small, moment-to-
moment timescales.

Great and Unusual Findings – Left for
another webinar later this summer

What’s Up at MN & DN this summer?
1. VERY IMPORTANT – backwards
map your summer work
2. 30 day writing challenge, 30 day
work-life balance challenge, and
365s -
keep you in touch with your work
3. Group work – RLC writing OR
Lingerers
1. For non – university users… Buy a book and get the website usage for free
2. For anyone who has literature & a story with or without data…. Time to get
published?

Avoid this one
1. VERY IMPORTANT – backwards map your summer work
2. 30 day writing challenge, 30 day work-life balance challenge, and 365s -
keep you in touch with your work
3. Group work – RLC writing OR Lingerers

Model dissertations What makes these good part 2

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