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Influenced heavily by medical models that embrace rigidity, encourage conformity, and perpetuate hierarchical structures in which the learned are elevated to the status of sage, nursing education struggles to find its identity. Although outwardly compatible with constructivist views that encourage creativity, authenticity, and collaboration in learning, the profession's unmet need for legitimacy becomes a stumbling block toward progress. In as much as educators seek pedagogical change toward meaningful learning that re}ects traditional methods of memorization and regurgitation of content, nursing education continues to develop curricula that is teacher focused and content driven (Peters, 2000). Consequently, constructivist ideals present significant challenges for nursing, as educators are left to do the intensive work of negotiating a fundamental shift in paradigm that is contrary to long- held beliefs about the role of the nurse educator in the learning process. However, given the apparent connections required to develop salience and contextualization in nursing practice, learner-centered approaches are necessary if radical transformation in nursing is to take place. This paper explores a new conceptualization of nursing education by way of constructivist epistemology, a dynamic approach to the development of the professional nurse identity.

This paper examines the controversy within the Black Church concerning women attaining the role of pastor. The data are gathered through a survey and interview process from a convenience sample of male and female ministers-in-training and pastors within the Black Church. The study indicates the problematic nature of females engaging a dominantly male leadership process. Issues of access to training, gender roles within the religious organizations, contradictions that face the congregation and the cost for female aspirants are explored. The study indicates that women experience a male dominate leadership pattern and tradition and inequitable treatment as ministers-in-training and pastors within the Black Church. The study also points to change and the desire for change that is engaging the Black Church.

Agency theory, as normally described, presents the business world as a litigious place, pitting principals against agents, all of whom seek only to maximize their personal welfare. In this paper, I review the central propositions of agency theory and show that many of these propositions while the subject of much criticism in the ethics literature, are really not in conflict with basic Scriptural teachings. I also show how agency theory can be extended from its original boundaries found in the tradition of property rights literature to encompass a broader role for the firm that is consistent with the fundamental requirements for ethical conduct. Finally, I show how this new conceptualization of agency theory is consistent with Scriptural teachings regarding the responsibility of mankind and his fallen nature. In this broader conceptualization, agency theory is transformed from a "values-free" description of business conduct based solely on self-interested behavior into a framework that guides business persons to make ethical decisions based on Scriptural principles.

This study examines the use of social networking websites as a predictor of re-enrollment intentions of first-year online undergraduate students at a for-profit online higher education institution. This study was based on the theories of Tinto and his interactionalist point of view and replicated Kord’s work that was performed on a traditional ground campus. Students were surveyed in Kord’s study at the end of their first semester, whereas students in the current study were surveyed at the end of their third course, which represented the end of a traditional ground campus semester of 15 weeks. Survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as inferential analysis to determine whether a correlation existed between social networking website usage and re-enrollment intentions. This study provides recommendations for future research and identifies actions higher education institutions can take to improve student retention. Specifically, results demonstrated no significant correlation between student involvement with social networking websites and re-enrollment intentions, which duplicated Kord’s results from the traditional ground campus study.

Building on human capital theory and job market signaling theory, this exploratory case study examined the perceptions of practitioner graduate students—students who pursued their graduate degree while working full-time in the field of their study. The case study included participants who graduated from any one of four graduate programs-nursing, design, architecture, and business-at two universities: Arizona State University and Grand Canyon University. Shortly after the practitioner graduate students completed their degrees; researchers conducted semi structured interviews with the participants and subsequently coded the interviews thematically. According to the coded interviews, these graduate students—who had been simultaneously graduate students and professionally employed in the field of their study-identified two pedagogical competencies within their programs as particularly practical and transferrable to their workplace success: critical thinking and collaboration. These two themes, critical thinking and collaboration, consistently emerged irrespective of degree program or institution.

The current research study is an in-depth qualitative inquiry which explores factors affecting academic performance of NCAA Division I African American male basketball players. The primary instruments used for this investigation were a self-developed demographic questionnaire, unofficial college transcripts, and tape-recorded face-to-face interviews. Data were acquired from ten former student-athletes. Each participant in this study was male, received a full athletic scholarship to play intercollegiate basketball at an NCAA Division l institution, and self-identified as either Black or African American. Seven unique NCAA Division l colleges and universities were represented, including schools from four different athletic conferences (PAC 12, Big 12, Mountain West, and Western Athletic). This inquiry provides a platform to discuss factors that influence the academic achievement of NCAA Division I African American male basketball players in large part because it gives voice to the experiences of a diverse range of participants who attended a wide variety of institutions.