Using Action Research to Transform a Traditional Reading Practicum

This chapter describes how faculty from the University of Central Florida collaboratively worked to transform an undergraduate reading practicum course utilizing action research and case study methodology. Seeking to develop preservice educators as teacher researchers, the reading faculty responded by developing and implementing the Action Research Case Study Project. This semester-long project required faculty to redesign the course to reflect this emphasis. This chapter includes the modifications made to the course content, the creation of rubrics for evaluating the project, and feedback mechanisms employed to facilitate student success. The project has been implemented for two semesters; various data sources are shared to document the effectiveness of the project including faculty input, survey data, student work examples, and student reflections.

Analyzing Educational Methods Regarding Human Trafficking Awareness Preferred by Students

Human Trafficking is the emerging social-safety issue surrounding most communities across the globe. Unfortunately, due to it’s untraceable nature, and free victims fearing to go public with information, human trafficking is not often discussed or warned against. The purpose of this study is to target local students from Central Florida through analyzing their preferred approaches of education regarding the basis of human trafficking. The method involved a completely anonymous online survey with ten specific questions distributed to high school and college students from across six schools in addition to interviews with two adults actively engaged in the cause of human trafficking and three chosen student participants. The questionnaire sought to collect students’ passionate opinions on handling the teaching of difficult social troubles such as human trafficking. A total of 123 respondents completed the survey; 44.7% particularly desired annual presentations, 37.4% chose the inclusion of content in classes already required, and 9.8% selected mandated online courses. Interviews revealed that educational methods should not be prioritized, but instead the initiative or beginning force in means to widely spread accurate truths about human trafficking. Overall, these students from Central Florida demonstrated that in order to promote human trafficking awareness, productive conversations throughout schools as well as small incentives such as visual posters, pamphlets or resourceful packets are enough to secure an increase in knowledge of the dangers and commonality of human trafficking.

Fear of Falling, Fall Risk, Depression, and Anxiety in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Fear of falling is common in the older adult population with an estimated 43% being affected. We aimed to examine the associations among fear of falling, fall risk, depression, and anxiety in community-dwelling older adults. For this study 124 participants ranging from 60 to 96 years of age were recruited from the community settings in Central Florida. Fear of falling, fall risk, depression and anxiety were assessed using the Falls Efficacy Scale International (FES-I), the CDCSTEADI fall risk assessment, the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) for depression, and the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory Short form (GAI-SF) for anxiety respectively. Data was collected via the Qualtrics survey. Comparisons were made for those below age 75 and those aged 75 and older, with 51.6% being under 75. Four ethnicity categories were also used: African American (8.1%), Asian (2.4%), Hispanic (14.5%), and non-Hispanic white (75%). All participants scored above 4 on the STEADI scale indicating fall risk. 42 scored positive for fear of falling on the FES-I scale and of that 42, 35.7% had a history of one or more falls in the last year (p < .01). 46.8% of the participants screened positive for depression and 100% of participants were positive for anxiety. Using one-way ANOVA analysis, we found significant relationships between (1) depression (p<.01); (2) STEADI (p<.01) and FES-I.

Reviewer Acknowledgements for International Business Research, Vol. 14, No. 12

International Business Research wishes to acknowledge the following individuals for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Their help and contributions in maintaining the quality of the journal are greatly appreciated. International Business Research is recruiting reviewers for the journal. If you are interested in becoming a reviewer, we welcome you to join us. Please contact us for the application form at: [email protected] Reviewers for Volume 14, Number 12   Ahnaf Ali Alsmady, University of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia Anca Gabriela Turtureanu, “DANUBIUS” University Galati, Romania Anna Maria Calce, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy Benjamin James Inyang, University of Calabar, Nigeria Bruno Ferreira Frascaroli, Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil Chokri Kooli, International Center for Basic Research applied, Paris, Canada Chuan Huat Ong, SEGi University Kota Damansara, Malaysia Chunyu Zhang, Guangxi Normal University, China Cristian Marian Barbu, “ARTIFEX” University, Romania Francesco Scalera, University of Bari "Aldo Moro", Italy Giuseppe Granata, University Mercatorum of Rome, Italy Gnahe franck E, JIANGXI UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMICS, COTE D’IVOIRE Hanna Trojanowska, Warsaw University of Technology, Poland Henrique Fátima Boyol Ngan, Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao, Macao Hind Ahmed, Ahfad university for Women, Sudan Ivano De Turi, LUM Jean Monnet University, Italy Janusz Wielki, Opole University of Technology, Poland L. Leo Franklin, Bharathidasn University, India Ladislav Mura, University of Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Trnava, Slovakia Lee Yok Yong, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Leow Hon Wei, SEGi University, Malaysia MALIK ELHAJ, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, USA Marcelino José Jorge, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Brazil Marco Valeri, Niccolò Cusano University, Italy Maria-Madela Abrudan, University of ORADEA, Romania Mohammad S. Knio, City University College of Ajman, UK Mustafa Özer, Anadolu University, FEAS, Turkey Omer Allagabo Omer Mustafa, Sudan Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Sudan Pascal Stiefenhofer, University of Exeter, UK Rosemary Boateng Coffie, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and |Technology, Ghana Roxanne Helm Stevens, Azusa Pacific University, USA Sachita Yadav, Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management, India Sara Saggese, University of Naples Federico II, Italy Shrijan Gyanwali, Pokhara University, Nepal Stoyan Neychev, University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria Sumathisri Bhoopalan, SASTRA Deemed to be University, India Wanmo Koo, Western Illinois University, USA Yan Lu, University of Central Florida, USA

Got Faith? - An in-depth analysis and review of five faith-based prisoner reentry programs in Florida

In the United States, prisoner reentry programs are a necessity to re-integrate back into society and are of two types: Faith and Non-Faith. With increased emphasis placed on reforming the criminal justice system policies due to Black Lives Matter and other non-profits actively working to change the system from the outside, reentry programs are having a resurgence of interest for effective public policy. There are significant barriers for major policies at the state, local, and federal to be alleviated, nevertheless, our research wanted to consider the effectiveness of five faith-based, male-only reentry programs in central Florida. Small focus groups were utilized to better understand the concerns and issues returning inmates faced in the program as well as when returning to society. Reentry participants were found to have high confidence in the success of their participation in their faith-based program’s efforts on their personal and family growth.

Performance of Seven Tea Accessions in North-central Florida: Correlations between Potential Yield and Growth Parameters over 2 Years

Tea (Camellia sinensis) is a promising new specialty crop for production in Florida. However, few data exist on the establishment phase of tea plantings in this environment and on how early growth parameters may predict yield potential. We tested seven accessions of tea grown under field conditions in north-central Florida for leaf yield and growth parameters—namely, pruned biomass, trunk diameter, trunk height, trunk width, trunk height × width, and canopy area—in the second and third years after planting. Our analyses indicated that the accession Fairhope performed best overall. Pruned biomass and trunk diameter were the best predictors for leaf yield. The harvested leaves produced good-quality black tea, with caffeine levels comparable to commercially available tea. These data indicate that nondestructive measurements of growth can be useful to assess yield potential of tea, and that regionally adapted tea accessions can be identified during the establishment stage.