Department

Organization Development

Date of Paper/Work

Winter 12-7-2021

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Organization Development (Ed.D.)

Type of Paper/Work

Dissertation

Advisors

David Jamieson, Mark Salisbury, Marcella de la Torre

Abstract

This research sought to examine the extent of learning agility as a construct in education paraprofessionals in Minneapolis public and charter schools. Learning agility is defined as an individual's ability to learn from experience and use relevant aspects of that learning in novel situations (Eichenger and Lombardo, 2000). The study focused on current and previous education paraprofessionals, licensed teachers who previously worked as education paraprofessionals, and education paraprofessionals who work in the general education and special education resource rooms.

A version of Burke's Learning Agility Inventory (2016) assessment tool was administered to participants using the Qualtrics survey and open-ended questions in semi-structured interviews to gauge the existence and extent of learning agility, any challenges faced at work, and how they manage these challenges if any.

Quantitative data was collected from close-ended questions on a 7-point Likert scale and qualitative data from interviews, and both sets of data were analyzed. The assessment includes questions based on the nine dimensions of learning agility developed by Burke (2016). The nine dimensions are, flexibility, speed, experimenting, performance risk-taking, interpersonal risk-taking, collaborating, information gathering, feedback-seeking, and reflecting. Scores from the assessment are computed by calculating the mean of all items in each dimension.

Keywords

learning agility, paraprofessionals, Nine dimensions of learning agility, Eichenger and Lombardo, Burke (2016), success factors, Lovelace

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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