Browsing by Author "Burns, Amy A."

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    At Home and Abroad: An Exploration of the Development of Global Citizenship Identity through Service-Learning
    (2018-09-19) Muehlethaler, Stephanie Elisabeth; Spencer, Brenda L.; Burns, Amy A.; Saunders, Sue
    Post-secondary institutions strive to create experiential learning opportunities to foster students’ development. Service-learning, a form of experiential learning, has been employed as an effective strategy for exploration and development of outcomes that have been associated with global citizenship identity (Beard & Wilson, 2010; Jacoby 1996, 2015). This research explores students’ development of global citizenship identity from a different vantage point – engagement in a college-level, co-curricular service-learning program that offered both an international and domestic experience. The following question guided my study: What elements of a co-curricular service-learning trip foster and shape students’ understanding and development of their identities as global citizens? This study utilized case study methodology to gather in-depth perspectives on the experiences of college students who participated in either a domestic or an international co-curricular service-learning experience. Participants were interviewed twice: prior to and after they returned from the travel portion of their experience. Additional data sources included participants’ journals and photos that they took as records of their experience. For this study I developed and applied a conceptual framework to reflect how college students may understand and develop a global citizenship identity. This framework is supported by Jacoby’s (1996, 2015) argument that service-learning can be co-curricular, and experienced both domestically and internationally, Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) theory of identity development, and Baxter Magolda’s insights on self-authorship. Additionally, the framework incorporates Brigham’s (2011) model for global citizenship pedagogy and OXFAM’s definition of global citizenship (2006). Findings illustrate that participation in service-learning in one’s own country can foster development of global citizenship identity. This study demonstrates that when co-curricular service-learning experiences are thoughtfully designed, incorporating both reciprocity and reflection, they can be both successful and transformational for participants. Findings highlight how challenging it can be for students, even after engaging in service-learning, to define global citizenship and articulate an identity as a global citizen. This research contributes to the gap in Canadian scholarship pertaining to this topic, and findings are intended as a starting point, including some cautions, for post-secondary service-learning educators as they develop experiential learning opportunities designed to foster students’ global citizenship identity development.
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    Perceptions About the Leadership of Learning Leaders: A Qualitative Case Study
    (2018-09-11) Williams, Rhonda; Spencer, Brenda L.; Lock, Jennifer; Brandon, Jim; Crippen, Carolyn; Burns, Amy A.
    The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of instructional leadership practices of learning leaders that support teacher instruction and potentially student learning in middle school settings. I conducted a case study that included four urban public middle schools (Grades 4 to 9) and explored the perspectives of four principals, four teachers, and four learning leaders. This study was guided by three main research questions: (a) What learning leader practices are perceived by principals, learning leaders, and teachers to be effective in supporting student learning? (b) What learning leader practices are perceived by principals, learning leaders, and teachers to be effective at improving teacher practice? (c) How are principals’, teachers’, and learning leaders’ perspectives similar or different? A critical review of the literature has demonstrated that learning leaders can play a vital role in school leadership by supporting teaching practices and student learning in schools. I conducted 20 semistructured interviews with the participants. The data was coded and organized into themes. Based on the data analysis, the findings from research questions one and two revealed that the participants perceived that school leaders need to implement certain physical and organizational structures to effectively support teacher practice and student learning. However, the findings did indicate that structures alone will not adequately support teacher practice and student learning. The findings show that learning leaders established trusting relationships with teachers allowing them to promote a collaborative school culture and develop teacher’s instructional capacity. The results of this research suggest that effective learning leaders were those who possessed the skills, knowledge, and characteristics that encouraged effective teaching and learning. The findings from research question three revealed that principals, teachers, and learning leaders held similar perceptions about leadership practices that support teacher practice and student learning. A conclusion drawn was that creating a school culture focused on collaborative instructional leadership has a positive impact on student learning and teacher practice.
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    Resilience and Mental Health in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
    (2018-10-29) Pepperdine, Cameron Robert; McCrimmon, Adam W.; Hindes, Yvonne L.; Burns, Amy A.
    Resilience is the capacity to experience positive outcomes by adapting to adversity. Resilience arises from interactions between risk and protective factors. Various risk and protective factors can promote mental health or contribute to the development of mental illness. Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often experience adversity and risk due to the core symptoms of each disorder. Further, these individuals are also more likely to experience mental illness compared to other individuals. The present study examines various resilience factors and their relation to mental health/illness in youth with ASD or ADHD in contrast to a non-clinical control (NCC) sample. Results indicate equivalence of resilience factors across the three samples; however, the relations between resilience and mental health differed across samples. Specifically, youth with ASD or ADHD had fewer significant relations between resilience factors and mental health compared to the NCC sample. Implications of this finding are discussed.