This study explores the social construction of gender perceptions among U.S and U.K. fifth grade students engaged in book club. Using a reader response framework, this study endeavors to discover how meaning is negotiated through print and film literacy, specifically related to gender. By using four Newbery and other award winning pieces of…

Membership in social networking sites is increasing rapidly. Social networking sites serve many purposes including networking, communication, recruitment, and sharing knowledge. Social networking sites, public or private, may be hosted on applications such as Facebook and LinkedIn. As individuals begin to follow and participate in social…

Over the last decade, increasing attention has been given to the networking in the tourism industry (Lynch, 2000; Pavlovich, 2003). The existing literature mainly focuses on the interrelationships among tourism stakeholders at sector level and the structure of the interorganizational networks in tourism industry. However, little research has been…

This study explored social presence and interactivity in an online undergraduate program designed for adult students. Although social presence and interactivity have been shown to be important contributors to student satisfaction, and therefore essential to student recruitment and retention in online programs, the ultimate goal for the examination…

Recent advances in interactive web technologies, combined with widespread broadband and mobile device adoption, have made online collective action commonplace. Millions of individuals work together to aggregate, annotate, and share digital text, audio, images, and video. Given the prevalence and importance of online collective action systems,…

This dissertation reports on a qualitative investigation of two research questions: What experiences lead secondary social studies teachers to become passionate and committed to teaching toward social justice? How do these teachers conceptualize and practice teaching toward social justice in the social studies? The study, which employed a life…

Over the last several years there has been an increase in the amount of graduate education in nursing offered online in Web-based programs. There is a lack of research into the role played by online graduate nursing course discussion, an important component of many courses, in the process of socialization for advanced nursing roles. To understand…

Improving the retention and graduation of African Americans and other minority groups in higher education is an important but highly politicized issue on college and university campuses. Prior studies emphasize the relationship between minority retention and achievement, cultural diversity, and racial policies and climates at predominantly White…

This study investigates how students in third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classes at a rural school are socially constituted as "struggling readers," and how this social status impacts reading achievement. It examines the ways that some students are positioned as inferior readers in relation to their classmates during peer-to-peer literacy events.…

The number of project failures and those projects completed over cost and over schedule has been a significant issue for software project managers. Among the many reasons for failure, inaccuracy in software estimation--the basis for project bidding, budgeting, planning, and probability estimates--has been identified as a root cause of a high…

Students' conceptualizations of academic writing are often based on their cultural and social expectations of what it means to be a student or an instructor in the academy. These expectations are as varied as any target population and continue to grow as multi-cultural heritages continue to expand. First-year student writers' performances are…

There is high uncertainty associated with the outcomes of Information Technology (IT) investments and innovations. In such environments, IT actors (firm and individuals) are also unsure about their actions and preferences. The social relationships of these actors create substantial value for these actors in multiple ways (e.g. providing social…

Many scholars have proposed concepts relevant to spatial reference. Herskovits (1982) proposed that the topological concepts support, contiguity and containment are basic in English, while Levinson et al.'s (2003) examination of nine unrelated languages revealed that the concept attachment is primary. Neither of these proposals is confirmed in…

The University of Alabama opened its doors in April 1831, and over the next six years, the first president, Alva Woods, was confronted by numerous episodes of student misdeeds. Knife fights, dueling, shootings, slave baiting, hazing, the torture of animals, and the destruction of property were common events on campus. Woods--a Baptist minister…

Apprehending that race is social, not biological, this study examines U.S. racial formation in the early twenty-first century. In particular, Hollywood and Supreme Court texts are analyzed as media for gathering, shaping and transmitting racial ideas. Representing Hollywood, the 2004 film "Crash" is analyzed. Representing the Supreme Court, the…