Browsing by Subject "Program Evaluation"
Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item A Study of Motivation Types and Behavior of Graduate Students in Future Faculty Preparation Programs(2011-08-08) Ray-Blakely, Charita DionneThere currently exists a challenge in higher education to improve undergraduate education. The development and more adequate preparation of future faculty, who are current graduate students, is one of several options identified as a viable strategy to address this challenge. This dissertation explored the quality of motivation as a factor affecting the preparation or socialization of future faculty at two top-tier universities. The quality of motivation is believed salient to preparation and socialization. This study focused on the motivation types of teaching-focused future faculty preparation program (FFPP) completers, their programmatic experiences, and various personal and social factors, such as gender, program, and academic discipline, as reason for motivation type. This mixed methods research study was based on the tenets of self-determination theory and revealed quantitatively, through inferential statistics, that a significant difference exists in the motivation type of participants based on gender, program, and academic discipline. Qualitative findings, from focus group interviews, were that FFPP design characteristics included elements to satisfy the innate psychological need for competence but fell short in meeting the need for relatedness. The findings offer insights into aspects that affect the quality of motivation in program participants. They also suggest that in order to more adequately prepare and socialize future faculty, consideration must be given to the importance of satisfying innate psychological needs in an effort to enhance the quality of participant motivation. Both findings support the importance of relatedness in affecting the quality of motivation. The findings of this study support the notion that certain demographic or contextual factors, as well as the satisfaction of innate psychological needs are critical to motivation quality, internalization, behavior, and socialization. The results of this study will contribute to program developers' awareness of motivation quality and its effect on behavior to enhance the design of teaching-focused future faculty preparation programs and socialization. Through the use of motivation quality, this study serves as a catalyst for the more adequate preparation of future faculty to improve undergraduate education.Item Addressing Water Quality Mitigation Challenges Through Evaluation(2014-05-27) Berthold, Troy AllenThe Arroyo Colorado River currently does not meet the State of Texas? criteria for water quality. As a result, the Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan was developed, and implementation of the plan has been ongoing since 2007. Over the last few years, attendance at meetings and participation in education and incentive programs have decreased. Water quality can be restored only with individual participation; however, there has been a lack of information available to individuals to properly implement the Plan. This study sought to collect data that will ultimately prioritize implementation efforts of the Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan. The research was conducted with agricultural producers in three counties of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas: Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy counties. Research questions for this study were 1) What are the primary educational needs for agricultural producers in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy counties related to water, 2) What are the primary barriers to management practice adoption through incentive programs, and 3) What areas of the agricultural component of the Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan have been implemented effectively according to agricultural producer perception? Sixteen, eighteen, and twelve manifest variables (measurable variables), respectively, made up the primary constructs of this study. Of the 1,200 participants selected for this study, 63 questionnaires were undeliverable and 274 participants responded, resulting in a 24.1% response rate. Data were collected using mailed and internet surveys. Results indicated that water quantity related variables were the primary educational need, followed by water quality, financial incentives, and conservation practice manifest variables. Primary barriers were related to economic manifest variables, followed by information/awareness, programmatic, and producer/operation. Finally, results indicated that education was the most effective component of the program, followed by technical assistance, cost-share assistance, and monitoring and assessment. Further, significant differences between levels of various demographic variables could be identified in participants? response to manifest variables. A key finding was that those who have heard of the Arroyo Colorado Watershed Protection Plan were more likely to have responded as having adopted sustainable agricultural practices than those who had not heard of the Plan. Recommendations were made for education programs to focus on water quantity while bringing in aspects of water quality, followed by technical aspects of financial incentives and conservation practices. Avoiding barriers should consist of revising cost-share levels for the initial cost of installation and ensuring that cost-share assistance is readily available when it is requested. Finally, to improve the program, monitoring and assessment projects should do a better job of relaying information about conservation practice effectiveness, which also ties back into some of the barriers and educational needs related to water.Item An Evaluation of the Perceived Effectiveness of the Municipal Forester Institute on its Participants(2011-02-22) Kirk, Melanie Rena'Despite the plethora of strategies used to educate urban foresters, many of the training programs offered are not being evaluated for effectiveness, regardless of the entity offering the training, which limits important information on whether the programs were worth the dollars spent. This study evaluates the effectiveness the Municipal Forester's Institute (MFI) had on its participants. The MFI was developed as an in-depth leadership institute to train municipal foresters in both the managerial and leadership aspects of urban forestry. The research subjects in this study were the participants of the 2006 MFI. The satisfaction survey measured the participant satisfaction rate on a 5-point Likert scale (1= Not at all, 2 = Slightly Satisfied, 3= Somewhat Satisfied, 4= Mostly Satisfied, 5=Completely Satisfied), and yielded an overall score of "Mostly Satisfied" (4.56). A five point Likert scale online evaluation was used to measure the behavior change, and change in knowledge of the study (1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Somewhat Agree, 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4 = Somewhat Agree, 5 = Strongly agree). The behavior change and increase in knowledge portion of the survey was divided into categories that mirrored the objectives of the study. These results had statistically significant increases, which were determined not to have happened by chance. The final section of the survey included three openended questions that participants identified as overwhelmingly positive impacts that the trainings had on their position, career, and personal life. Overall, the stakeholders of the Society of Municipal Arborists can be assured that the participants of the 2006 Municipal Forester Institute were satisfied with the training; had a substantial increase in knowledge; and positive change in behavior, which acknowledge this as an effective training program that had a positive impact on its participants.Item Assessment of a Texas Structural Pesticide Applicator Training Course Based on Performance of Participants Seeking Commercial or Non-Commercial Applicator Licenses(2012-08-15) Brown, Jacob 1988-This study sought to examine the performance of participants in training courses of the Agricultural and Environmental Services (AES) unit and determine variables affecting participants' scores on the General Standards Examination (GSE). The data sample for the study comprised 150 individuals who completed the 8-hour course between February 2011 and February 2012 and submitted instruments developed for this study (demographic and evaluation survey, pre-test, post-test, and GSE). The demographics of the pest control industry in Texas - or, more specifically, the demographics of those taking a Structural Pesticide Applicator Training (SPAT) course from AES - have not changed much since 1998. The major differences in demographics between the two groups of individuals investigated (commercial and non-commercial applicants) were in age and size of business where employed. Commercial participants tended to be younger than non-commercial participants. Those seeking commercial certification tended to be employed in smaller firms than did those seeking non-commercial certification. This study found moderate, positive correlations between the pre-test, post-test, and GSE. Finally, though the examination scores were correlated, there were statistically significant differences between participants' performances on the pre-test, post-test, and GSE. These differences were quadratic; all three pairs - pre-test and post-test, post-test and GSE, and pre-test and GSE - differed, with pretest scores in the middle, then post-test scores highest, and GSE scores lowest. The researcher recommended that further research be conducted on demographic variables that may affect the outcome of the examinations, and that the rigor and relevance of the pre-test and post-test be increased to predict more accurately the results of the GSE.Item Relating parent satisfaction to interpersonal experiences : development of a therapeutic assessment based parent questionnaire(2010-05) Austin, Cynthia Anne; Keith, Timothy, 1952-; Borich, GaryThe research study proposed in this report reviews and integrates the literature on client/parent satisfaction with Therapeutic Assessment. Specifically, the importance of parent collaboration and the intervention potential of child assessment are highlighted. The result is the development of a parent self-report measure that could be utilized in multiple settings to assess the interpersonal and collaborative experiences of parents. It is these experiences of parents which have been shown to be more highly related to general satisfaction than outcomes or demographics. The methodology includes Confirmatory Factor Analysis to revise the scale and MANCOVA to compare traditional assessment with collaborative/therapeutic assessment practices in multiple settings.