ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Public Opinion Poll on Community Priorities: Sacramento
Author: Sierra Health Foundation
Date: 2009-07-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Profiles,Public Agencies,Public Opinion,Local Issues,Program Development,Outreach Programs,Public Policy,Youth,Youth Programs,Surveys,Strategic Planning,Budgets,Law Enforcement,Questionnaires,Child Development

The primary goal of this study was to measure public perceptions, opinions and priorities as they pertain to youth issues in Sacramento for the purposes of further developing public and private youth programming and public policy in the Sacramento region. By presenting a &quot;statistically reliable&quot; profile of public opinion on youth issues, the survey results and analyses presented in this report will provide Sierra Health with information that can be used to make sound, strategic decisions in a variety of areas, including program development and enhancements, community outreach, marketing, budgeting, policy-making, advocacy and planning. In brief, the survey was designed to: (1) Measure the importance that Sacramento voters assign to various local issues, as well as their perceptions of how well these issues are being addressed by government agencies and community groups; (2) Profile their support for two different frames for addressing youth from alternative approaches--one focusing on enforcement, the other focusing on youth development; (3) Identify the specific programs and services they would most favor funding; and (4) And evaluate how public debate about youth issues may shape the public's support for funding youth-related initiatives. (Contains 15 tables, 21 figures and 4 footnotes.) [This report was prepared by True North Research.]
Sierra Health Foundation's Positive Youth Justice Initiative. Briefing Paper
Author: Sierra Health Foundation
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Child Welfare,Juvenile Justice,Youth Programs,Employment Experience,Guidelines,Health Promotion,At Risk Persons,Child Neglect,Child Abuse,Trauma,Crime,Academic Failure,Program Design,State Policy

In December 2011, the Sierra Health Foundation board of directors approved a framework for a new youth development initiative. The framework built upon the foundation's recently concluded REACH Youth Development Program and incorporated findings and recommendations from the highly regarded &quot;Healthy Youth/Healthy Regions&quot; and &quot;Renewing Juvenile Justice&quot; reports released by the foundation earlier in the year. The &quot;Healthy Youth/Healthy Regions&quot; and &quot;Renewing Juvenile Justice&quot; findings also supported an important lesson that emerged from the REACH Program: While inclusive youth development approaches are important, one of their shortcomings is the likelihood for young people most at risk for poor health, education and economic outcomes to be unengaged. In response to this information, the foundation pursued a course of inquiry that sought to combine on-the-ground experience and research to design a program for youth who have experienced documented neglect, abuse and/or trauma, have been formally involved in the child welfare system and who currently are engaged in the juvenile justice system. Often referred to as &quot;crossover youth,&quot; the initiative seeks to affect developmental paths--repeat criminal behavior, education failure, lack of employment experience, untreated trauma, social and familial disconnection--that have been shown to have negative long-term effects for this extraordinarily vulnerable population. The initiative seeks to set a new path for juvenile justice in California by establishing a vanguard of select county systems and leaders to produce what noted researcher Jeffrey Butts and his colleagues describe as &quot;Positive Youth Justice.&quot; In seeking to foster this major shift in juvenile justice practice and policy, the risk of falling short of expectations is balanced with the fortuitous opportunity to improve the health and life chances of one of California's most vulnerable youth populations--youth with child welfare histories who are currently engaged in the juvenile justice system. Accordingly, this briefing paper describes the policy context in which the Positive Youth Justice Initiative will operate and presents the rationale for the targeted population and selected design elements.
Recovering the Power Inside: A Qualitative Study of Critical Reading in an Iranian University
Author: Ghajar, Sue-san Ghahremani
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Critical Reading,Critical Literacy,Concept Mapping,Student Journals,Interviews,Undergraduate Students,English Literature,Qualitative Research,Cognitive Structures,Student Empowerment

A fundamental goal of critical literacy approaches is to bring a change and empower students as critical agents and subjects of decision making. Students are expected to do more than simply accumulate information; they are encouraged to challenge their &quot;taken for granted&quot; belief structures and transform themselves as well as their immediate social environment. In this article, we present a qualitative enquiry in a university reading course based on critical literacy. We explored how learners reflected on their individual/community and word/world concerns through critical understanding of texts and how they challenged and shattered their &quot;taken for granted&quot; beliefs and started to transform into critical agents of voice and position. The data consists of 400 concept maps, called webs, and personal journals by fifty undergraduate English literature students at an Iranian University, as well as oral and written interviews. The data was qualitatively analyzed in search of themes that could illustrate students' early thinking structures and their empowerment and transformations into subjects of decisions. The study revealed that, through webbing words/worlds and critically challenging texts, students took the opportunity to approach the knowledge and information presented to them analytically and critically. On this basis, we discuss how students were able to gain the power of critiquing, freeing their thoughts, finding and expressing their voice and position, discovering personal meanings in texts and contexts, cooperating and participating, and understanding learning for meaning through the critical act of reading. (Contains 3 figures.)
Perceptions of In-Service Teachers Regarding Technology Integrated English Language Teaching
Author: Saglam, Asli Lidice Gokturk
Date: 2012-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Technology Integration,Second Language Instruction,Language Teachers,Experienced Teachers,Questionnaires,Educational Needs,Computer Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Teaching Methods,Faculty Development,Semi Structured Interviews,College Faculty,English for Academic Purposes,College Instruction,Teacher Attitudes

Technology is changing paradigms in education rapidly and teachers are caught unguarded due to lack of professional training in this aspect. This study reflects the perceptions of nine ELT [English Language Teaching] instructors with M.A TEFL degrees and with over six years of professional experience. Despite the lack of formal professional training as part of their pre-service teacher education, these instructors need to cope with the demands of this transition in daily implementation. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, open-ended questionnaires and field notes. An inductive analysis approach was used to analyze the data and emergent patterns of data were used to develop coding categories. Results indicated that respondents held positive views about the role of educational technology for enriching language instruction. However, they also acknowledged the challenges faced and emphasised the need for ICT [Information and Communication Technology] training not only for teachers but also for students. It is concluded that participants make use of technology to teach academic and linguistic skills in an integrated skills approach, encourage students to construct knowledge, expose students to life-long learning skills and strategies, cater for different students who have different learning styles, find and create teaching materials, develop skills through exposure to existing on-line sources and create a motivating environment that is conducive for learning. Appended are: (1) Interview Questions; and (2) Open-Ended Questionnaire. (Contains 5 tables.)
Clarification of the Blurred Boundaries between Grounded Theory and Ethnography: Differences and Similarities
Author: Aldiabat, Khaldoun
Date: 2011-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Ethnography,Grounded Theory,Research Methodology,Qualitative Research,Graduate Students,Student Research,Research Design,Guidelines,Nursing Education,Selection Criteria,Comparative Analysis,Philosophy,Data Analysis

There is confusion among graduate students about how to select the qualitative methodology that best fits their research question. Often this confusion arises in regard to making a choice between a grounded theory methodology and an ethnographic methodology. This difficulty may stem from the fact that these students do not have a clear understanding of the principles upon which to select a particular methodology and / or have limited experience in conducting qualitative research. Addressed in this paper are three questions that will help students make an informed decision about the choice of method. The answers to these questions constitute key elements in the decision-making process about whether to use a grounded theory or an ethnographic methodology.
A Study on a Group of Indian English as a Second Language Learners' Perceptions of Autonomous Learning
Author: Yildirim, Ozgur
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Personal Autonomy,Student Attitudes,Teaching Methods,Cultural Background,English (Second Language),Guidance,Researchers,Second Language Learning,Independent Study,Student Responsibility,Teacher Responsibility,Learning Processes,Cultural Pluralism,Second Language Instruction,Indians,Foreign Students,Engineering Education,Qualitative Research,Graduate Students

Learner autonomy has been one of the most popular terms in the language learning field lately. Researchers have been conducting studies to see different aspects of learner autonomy and to bring different suggestions to teachers to promote autonomous learning in their classrooms. Students of a particular cultural background would not show the same level of readiness for learner autonomy as the students of another culture. Cultural and educational settings of the instruction affect how the teachers and students perceive the concept of learner autonomy, and these differences in perception obviously affect how the ways to promote learner autonomy work. As the perception and realization of learner autonomy changes depending on the cultural background, it is important to see the autonomy-related perspectives of different learners and teachers around the world. Thus, aiming to contribute the relevant literature from this standpoint, the main aim of this study was to explore four Indian English as a second language (ESL) learners' perceptions related to teacher and learner responsibilities in the language learning process and to get an idea of how ESL students in the Indian educational context perceive the concepts related to learner independence. Three interview sessions were conducted with the participants in order to reach the aim of the study. The data were analyzed according to three main categories: (a) aspects of language learning for which the participants saw the teacher as the most responsible figure in the classroom; (b) aspects of learning for which the participants considered students to be more responsible; (c) aspects that both the teacher and the students share equal responsibility. It was hoped that the results of the study would provide guidance to teachers and researchers, especially the ones working with multicultural student groups, to understand the effects of culture on the interpretation of concepts related to learner autonomy.
Tutor Computer Formative Teachers' Opinions on the Effective Use of Information Technologies at Schools: Trabzon Province Sample
Author: Simsek, Alper
Date: 2010-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Computer Uses in Education,Information Technology,Technology Integration,Semi Structured Interviews,Content Analysis,Case Studies,Qualitative Research,Teacher Attitudes,Opinions,Curriculum Implementation,Problems,Inservice Teacher Education,Educational Needs,Elementary Secondary Education

The aim of this study is to determine the level of the use of information technology at schools in Trabzon and some evaluations about the problems faced during this process were done considering the formative teachers' opinions. The question which is &amp;quot;What are the opinions of formative teachers about the process of popularizing the effective usage of information technologies in schools?&amp;quot; was determined as the problem of this research. In the research conducted as a special occasion study, 9 teachers who work as tutor computer formative teachers in Trabzon, are determined as the sample group. Face to face interviews were conducted with the sample group on the problems and sub-problems of the research. First degree coding was applied on the data obtained by the interviews and themes were determined via this coding and data matrixes were set. Deductions were made by benefitting from the set data matrixes. The obtained results show that the use of information technologies at schools in Trabzon has been increasing but it hasn't reached the aimed level yet. (Contains 9 tables.)
Experiences of Pre-Service Teachers in Case Based Discussion Groups in Blended Learning Environment
Author: Kalelioglu, Filiz
Date: 2012-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Theory Practice Relationship,Preservice Teacher Education,Computer Mediated Communication,Discussion Groups,Blended Learning,Early Childhood Education,Preservice Teachers,Case Method (Teaching Technique),Instructional Effectiveness,Qualitative Research,Student Attitudes,Case Studies,Education Courses,Classroom Techniques,Females,Undergraduate Students,College Instruction,Integrated Learning Systems,Instructional Design,Comparative Analysis,Interviews,Observation,Data Analysis

Blended learning can facilitate many opportunities about usage of online discussion for different purposes. As a tool in blended learning, online discussions widen the walls of classroom discussions in a virtual manner. Especially, in teacher education programs case based discussions are very helpful for pre-service teachers to practice real-life situations. By this way, the link between theory and practice can be established. This study aims to examine the pre-service teachers' experiences about three different discussion structures in a case based blended learning environment. This study also explored their thoughts toward the effects of online discussion on their professional development and their suggestions to increase the effectiveness of online discussion. The participants of this study were 14 pre-service teachers from the department of Early Childhood Education (ECE) of a funded university. The six open-ended questions were asked in order to explore the opinions of the pre-service teachers. The qualitative data were analyzed through the matrix displays. (Contains 1 figure.)
Post-Colonial Theory and Action Research
Author: Parsons, Jim B.
Date: 2011-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Action Research,Foreign Policy,Theories,Participatory Research,Justice,Disadvantaged,Indigenous Populations

This essay explores connections between post-colonial theory and action research. Post-colonial theory is committed to addressing the plague of colonialism. Action research, at its core, promises to problematize uncontested "colonial" hegemonies of any form. Both post-colonial theory and action research engage dialogic, critically reflective and collaborative values to offer a fuller range of human wisdom. The authors contend that post-colonialism theory calls for justice and seeks to speak to social and psychological suffering, exploitation, violence and enslavement done to the powerless victims of colonization around the world by challenging the superiority of dominant perspectives and seeking to re-position and empower the marginalized and subordinated. In similar ways, action research works to eradicate oppression, powerlessness and worthlessness by affirming solidarity with the oppressed, helping humans move from passive to active and by fundamentally reshaping power. Because both post-colonial theory and action research position the insider or oppressed in an ethic of efficacy, it values community, relationships, communication and equality, and is committed to reciprocity, reflexivity and reflection. Thus, both hold the potential to help reconstruct conditions for a more democratic and just society. (Contains 9 footnotes.)
Classroom Management That Works
Author: Cleve, Lauren
Date: 2012-09-09
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Student Evaluation,Student Attitudes,Semantic Differential,Student Interests,Best Practices,Classroom Techniques,Teacher Surveys,Elementary Schools,Observation,Questionnaires,Check Lists,Interviews,Portfolios (Background Materials),Journal Writing,Student Journals,Self Evaluation (Individuals),Student Needs,Goal Orientation

The purpose of this study was to find the best classroom management strategies to use when teaching  in an elementary school setting. I wanted to conduct the best possible  management tools for a variety of  age groups as well as meet educational standards. Through my research I found different approaches in different grade levels is an important factor in reading students academic needs. Using different data collection tools: Active observing, teacher survey, specialist survey, semantic differential questionnaire, a goal checklist, email interview, student portfolios, student journaling and student self-assessment I was able to gather evidence of best practices. when it comes to classroom management.  Student journaling and student self-assessments were the two areas of management that I found most effective. Using these two forms of data really helped me get a better hold on how I can reach students needs and wants in the classroom. When students took a hold of their own learning good behavior increased. An appendix presents: Data Matrix and Student Interest Survey results.
Teachers' Views about Effective Use of Technology in Classrooms
Author: Eristi, Suzan Duygu
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Technology,Teaching Methods,Technology Integration,Qualitative Research,Elementary School Teachers,Teacher Attitudes,Instructional Effectiveness,Focus Groups,Observation,Problems,Guidelines,Technology Uses in Education

Effective use of technology in educational environments and its successful integration increases the productivity of instructional processes. Constant and good-quality support supposed to be provided for teachers is quite important for technology use in educational environments. Thus, it is necessary to find answers to the question of what kinds of activities could be used to provide teachers with constant support for technology integration in educational environments. In this respect, the present study aimed at determining teachers' views and their suggestions about the process of technology integration into educational environments and about the problems experienced in the process. In the study, the research sample included a total of 21 teachers teaching at Tepebasi Resat Benli Elementary School in the city of Eskisehir. Of all the participating teachers, 11 of them were elementary school teachers, and 10 of them were field teachers. In order to find answers to the research questions directed in line with the overall purpose of the study, the qualitative research method was applied. The research data were analyzed with the help of thematic analysis. The research data were collected via the focus-group interviews held with the teachers, observations and researcher journals. The data collected in the study were gathered under two main themes depending on the open-ended questions directed to the teachers regarding technology use and on the related literature. These themes were &quot;Problems experienced by teachers regarding technology use in class&quot; and &quot;Suggestions for effective use of technology&quot;. (Contains 2 tables.)
Native and Non-Native Perceptions on a Non-Native Oral Discourse in an Academic Setting
Author: Dikilitas, Kenan
Date: 2012-07-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Native Speakers,English (Second Language),Oral English,College Faculty,College Students,Interviews,Video Technology,Content Analysis,Language Patterns,Vocabulary,Morphemes,Syntax,Connected Discourse

This qualitative study investigates discourse-level patterns typically employed by a Turkish lecturer based on the syntactic patterns found in the collected data. More specifically, the study aims to reveal how different native and non-native speakers of English perceive discourse patterns used by a non-native lecturer teaching in English. The data gathered from a Turkish lecturer teaching finance, and the interviews both with the lecturer and the students. The lecturer and the students were videotaped and the data was evaluated by content analysis. The results revealed a difference between the way non-native and native speakers evaluate an oral discourse of a non-native lecturer teaching in English. Native speakers of English found the oral performance moderately comprehensible, while non-native speakers found it relatively comprehensible. Appendix A presents Lecture Transcriptions. (Contains 2 tables.)
Modeling Cognitive Strategies during Complex Task Performing Process
Author: Mazman, Sacide Guzin
Date: 2012-10-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Cognitive Processes,Performance,Failure,College Seniors,Prompting,Task Analysis,Protocol Analysis,Eye Movements

The purpose of this study is to examine individuals' computer based complex task performing processes and strategies in order to determine the reasons of failure by cognitive task analysis method and cued retrospective think aloud with eye movement data. Study group was five senior students from Computer Education and Instructional Technologies Department at a state university. A computer based complex task including a logical reasoning process was developed and utilized. Data was collected with cued retrospective think aloud containing a gaze video replay and eye tracking. All the retrospective protocols were transcribed for analysis then a coding schema was developed iteratively from segments. By drawing area of interest fields (AOI) of task panel, eye movement data in specific processes and fields were analyzed by using fixation duration and fixation count metrics. None of the participants completed the task successfully within the given amount of time (max-10 min.). The findings yielded seven cognitive strategies ("information gathering-reviewing", "identification well-defined instructions", "cue-seeking", "using cues", "assumption", "trial and error" and "crosschecking") and their actions obtained from the task performing process. Furthermore, this process is modeled by defining sequences and the relations between the actions and cognitive strategies. It has been revealed that trial and error is the most employed strategy and participants used trial and error without reasoning. Moreover, it has been revealed out that participants mostly failed in choosing and using the right strategy. (Contains 5 tables and 7 figures.)