Dissertation Proposal Announcement Ed.D. Program: Raina Graham “Perceived Benefits And Challenges Of Learning Management System Online Training For Behavioral Assistants With The Children’s System Of Care Who Serve Youth In New Jersey: A Quantitative Study”

Behavioral Assistants (BAs) within the New Jersey Department of Children and Families Children’s System of Care (DCF CSOC) support youth with behavioral health needs. As online learning has expanded across behavioral healthcare workforces, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, training delivery has increasingly shifted to online modalities (Bernson-Leung & MacNeill, 2023; Spatioti et al., 2023). Despite this shift, there is limited research examining how these online training modalities support the development of the Behavioral Assistant workforce. This study seeks to address this gap by examining BAs’ perceived benefits and challenges of one of their required courses, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) online training, which is delivered through the Schoox Learning Management System in both on-demand asynchronous and synchronous formats.

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study is to evaluate BAs’ perceptions of the DSM-5-TR training offered by the Rutgers CSOC Training and Technical Assistance program in two formats: on-demand asynchronous and synchronous online learning. Guided by the Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2006), Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison et al., 1999), Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching (Wlodkowski, 2003), Learning-for-Use model (Edelson, 2001), and the Wraparound framework (NCFIE, n.d.), this study explores how different instructional modalities and LMS features influence perceived knowledge acquisition and application to professional practice.

Participants will include BAs within the CSOC workforce who have completed the DSM-5-TR training within the past 24 months. Data will be collected through a Qualtrics survey measuring perceived benefits, challenges, knowledge and skill application, and the effectiveness of LMS-embedded instructional features such as videos and reflection prompts. The study also examines factors influencing modality selection and gathers participant recommendations for improving the Schoox LMS training experience.

This research contributes to a limited body of literature on online training within behavioral healthcare workforces and is the first known study focused specifically on BAs’ experiences with LMS-based training in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. Findings may provide instructional design strategies and recommendations to improve online training for the BA workfore.