Education Commons^™

Book Review: Robot-Proof: Higher Education In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence By Joseph Aoun, Jordan O'Connell

Essays in Education

This book review examines Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Joseph Aoun, which focuses on the imperative to evolve higher education in preparation for AI-driven job labor market shifts that are only now entering the public consciousness. Aoun advocates for a new "humanics" curriculum that emphasizes cognitive skills and literacies robots cannot replicate. Highlighting numerous historical reinventions of the our education systems over the centuries, Aoun makes a compelling case that our colleges and universities once again find themselves responsible for preparing Americans for the technological displacements and miracles still to come.

Translanguaging In World Language Higher Education, Alessia Barbici Wagner

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increased global migration and a myriad of other social and political factors has made today’s universities more diverse than ever. As a result, teachers in higher education regularly find multilingual learners from a variety of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds in their classrooms and must consider this diversity in their teaching. One of the ways that teaching can better serve today’s multilingual and multicultural student population is through translanguaging. The objective of this dissertation is to investigate the intentional and unintentional use of translanguaging by multilingual language learners and world language instructors in higher education. Additionally, this qualitative case study …

How Doctoral Students In A Formal Leadership Program Conceptualize Followership: A Mixed-Methods Study, Katy J. Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this exploratory mixed-methods study was to determine how doctoral students in a formal leadership program conceptualize followership. The methods used to conduct this analysis included distributing a Qualtrics (released in August 2022) survey and conducting one-on-one interviews with a sample of degree-seeking doctoral students within a formal leadership program. The researcher collected quantitative and qualitative data addressing students’ followership style, leadership attitudes and beliefs, and perceptions of followership. These data were analyzed concurrently using a triangulation design. A total of 67 students completed the survey, and seven students were interviewed. The findings revealed that the participants employ …

Autism Friendly Lesson Planning: A Universal Design For Learning Training For College Level Instructors, Juliann Stark

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The literature on adults on the autism spectrum is a vastly growing one, but there is still a great need for more in-depth research. There are common misunderstandings about individuals on the autism spectrum that leads to stigma from the overall population in the United States (John et al. 2018). As more individuals on the spectrum enroll in higher education, their needs in the classroom are becoming more apparent to instructors at this level. This literature review explores research on the community of people on the spectrum, their needs in the college setting, what can be done to accommodate these …

The Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy And Career Action Steps Of Humanities Students: A Quantitative Survey Analysis, Catherine Gorman Cordova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an era of governmentally controlled education systems sustained through performance-based funding metrics, the value of higher education is often considered justified by socioeconomic impact and degree employability. Although modern academia traces its roots to the humanities and liberal arts for its foundation, degrees without direct job relation, and the students seeking these degrees, are often considered less employable than majors directly linked to vocations. However, the humanities and labor market are not mutually exclusive. Influenced by Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) (Lent, et al., 1994), Self-Efficacy Theory (Bandura, 1977), and Career Maturity Theory (Crites, 1973), this cross-sectional quantitative survey …

An Examination Of An Engagement Indicator For Non-Traditional First-Generation Black Students Enrolled In U.S. Institutions, Chantae D. Still

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

More students than ever have been provided access to higher education; however, the increase in enrollment is outpacing the data on successful completion rates. Student engagement has been identified as fundamental for college student success and retention.

The purpose of this study was to provide a description of the student engagement of non-traditional first-generation Black students attending 4-year public institutions in the United States. Using the Student-Faculty Interaction (SFI) National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) scales of student engagement, this study examined the relationship between SFI and selected personal characteristics of traditional and non-traditional, first-generation first-year and senior-year Black students, …

An Assessment Of The Financial Literacy Of Undergraduates At One Community College In Texas, Melissa J. Weathersby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At a Texas community college, stakeholders wanted to strengthen the financial literacy module offered in the student development course for undergraduates. The problem was that no formative data existed on students' financial literacy, and it was not known if knowledge of financial literacy for students who participated in a prior financial literacy class in high school differed from students who had not. The purpose of this study was to obtain formative data regarding students' needs for financial literacy education and to examine whether the knowledge of financial literacy for college students who participated in a prior financial literacy class in …

Learning Style Patterns Among Special Needs Adult Students At King Saud University, Abdulrahman Alshuaibi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Few studies of learning styles among adults with special needs exist worldwide. Even though there are large numbers of adults with special needs, this population in university education has been largely ignored in educational research. Therefore, this study aimed to gather and analyze learning styles of adult special needs students and to provide data for researchers interested in the fields of learning styles, adult education, and special education. This study examined the learning style patterns among special needs adult students at King Saud University as measured by the dimensions of the Index of Learning Styles, which include active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, …

A Mixed-Methods Study: Self-Efficacy And Barriers To Participation In Workplace Wellness Programs, Massiel Perez-Calhoon

Dissertations

America needs a healthy workforce to sustain the country. The scourge of obesity continues to plague Americans despite government initiatives such as the Affordable Care Act and wellness programs in the workplace to combat this epidemic. However, despite initiatives to make America healthy, barriers continued to impede the nation’s health. Lack of awareness and sensitivity to what motivates individual participants versus group participants built formidable barriers to accessing all workplace employees equitably. The purpose of this study was twofold. First, the intent of this study was to explore the relationship between self-efficacy and the impact on participation and engagement when …

Flipped Teaching And Learning In English Language Programmes In Higher Education, Rania M Rafik Khalil

English Language and Literature

Flipped teaching over the past fifteen years has invaded the classrooms of schools and has helped evolve the teaching strategy of different disciplines. Although the concept emerged as inverted teaching to allow space for active learning in the classroom, flipped teaching today, has found its way to higher education settings. Higher education institutions such as Harvard University, have used this approach in physics and other disciplines. Literature reviews however, show that there is little research in the field of English as a Foreign Language which can be found related to using the flipped approach. This paper aims to share the …

Effect Of An Interactive Component On Students' Conceptual Understanding Of Hypothesis Testing, Sarah Anne Inkpen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Premier Technical College of Qatar (PTC-Q) has seen high failure rates among students taking a college statistics course. The students are English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in business studies and health sciences. Course delivery has involved conventional content/curriculum-centered instruction with minimal to no interactive components. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to assess the effectiveness of an interactive approach to teaching and learning statistics used in North America and the United Kingdom when used with EFL students in the Middle East. Guided by von Glasersfeld's constructivist framework, this study compared conceptual understanding between a convenience sample …

Instructors' Perceptions Of Connectivist Characteristics In Adult Undergraduate Courses, John Bannister

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The enrollment of college students in the United States who are classified as adult learners will continue to grow, bringing new challenges to degree programs. Multiple studies have provided insight into how best to teach these learners. However, to maximize learning, institutions must now consider strategies that merge adult learning principles with the integration of technology and students' personal and professional networks. Connectivism, based largely on the work of Siemens, and andragogy, based on Knowles, provided the conceptual framework that guided this basic qualitative interpretive study that examined how instructors experience and interpret the characteristics of connectivism (autonomy, openness, diversity, …

Navigating The New American Classroom: How Adjunct Faculty Empower Themselves To Reach Out To The New Diverse Population Of Students, Yvonne Macrae

Educational Studies Dissertations

With widened access to higher education, and a rise in the enrollment of diverse students, it is increasingly important to understand the experiences of the adjunct faculty members who teach these students. While a number of studies have been conducted on adjunct faculty, most of them focus only on the challenges they face in higher education in general. Few studies have been conducted specifically on their experiences teaching business and management courses in a college of professional studies and/or continuing education. In this qualitative study, thirteen adjuncts with 4 to 30 years of teaching experience in two different universities were …

Factors That Impact African American High School Equivalency (Hse) Students' Pursuit Of Higher Education, Jamiyla Chandler-Melton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans account for a disproportionate percentage of students who pursue college education in comparison to European Americans. Indeed, a considerable number of African American High School Equivalency (HSE) students are not enrolling in college once they earn their HSE diploma. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine 3 African American HSE students' perceptions about factors that influenced their pursuit of higher education at the selected HSE study site. These 3 students were selected for their inclusion because of their ethnicity, enrollment in the HSE program, academic underpreparedness and lack of pursuit of higher education, and strong …

Helping The Adult Learner Succeed: How Community College Libraries In Massachusetts Are Serving This Growing Population, Katherine A. Turcotte

Librarian Publications

Education is something that is valued more each and every day. A growing number of people in today’s society realize the importance of education and the increasing need to return to school. As the number of adult learners continues to rise, so too does the need to reach out to this population to make sure they are being presented with the appropriate tools and resources needed to succeed. Because it is theorized that adults (those age 25+) who return to school are likely to enroll in a community college, rather than a four year university, this study looks specifically at …

An Examination Of The Differential Impact Of University/College Research Emphasis On Levels Of Counselors' Resilience, Erica Ann Handon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Counselor resilience is the ability to transform adversity into growth opportunities that become part of the professional's identity and the core values of a counselor. However, researchers have yet to identify why some counselors exhibit higher levels of resilience while others exhibit less. Counselor resilience can be learned and nurtured at any point of an individual's development. The purpose of this study was to examine how differences within the foundational edification of a research-embedded curriculum impact a counselor's level of resilience. Participants included practicing counselors who received their counseling degrees from a 2014 U.S News and World Report (USNWR) Nationally …

Perceived Academic Needs Of Military Veterans Within A For-Profit, Yvonne Rose Ross

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of recent U.S. military veterans attending college has increased due to the Veterans Education Assistance Act; however, retention and graduation rates for this population have declined. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the experiences and academic needs of recent military veterans as they transition from the military to academic life at a for-profit, proprietary college. In addition, this study identified differences in the problems faced by male and female veterans and explored whether veterans understood the resources available to them as they enrolled in higher education. Schlossberg's transitional theory was the conceptual framework used in …

The Construction And Validation Of An M-Learning Framework For Online And Blended Learning Environments, Dick T. Hamann

CCE Theses and Dissertations

With the wide adoption of mobile technologies, new opportunities exist with regard to how these technologies can be used to support teaching and learning. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the use of mobile learning (m-learning) frameworks that support adult students in online and blended learning environments and consider ways to support administrators, faculty, and students in the adoption of mobile technologies for teaching and learning.

The goal was to develop and validate an m-learning framework capturing the administrative, communication, and instructional elements that must be considered when integrating m-learning technologies to support adult community college students. Using design …

An Examination Of The Psychological Contracts Of Contingent Faculty Teaching At Urban, Proprietary Colleges, Ann Marie Marlier

Theses and Dissertations

Even though proprietary colleges and universities continue to gain market share in the higher education landscape, negative perceptions about proprietary institutions remain including reliance on contingent faculty to meet fluctuating student enrollments. Little research about the experiences of contingent faculty teaching in proprietary settings exists, and even less research exists about the unwritten expectations, or psychological contracts, contingent faculty bring with them to the employment relationship with an institution. As heavy use of contingent faculty continues, campus administrators need a more comprehensive understanding of how to best manage the expectations, benefits, challenges, and resources of this type of employment relationship. …

Atlas Program Profile Analysis Framework Data From: Adult Transitions Longitudinal Study, Laura Gluck

Master's Capstone Projects

This paper explores the theoretical basis and past research exploring what helps adults to learn effectively in the Adult Basic Education (ABE) setting. Information on eleven ABE-to-college transition programs was compiled through the Adult Transitions Longitudinal Study (ATLAS) data collection. Statistical analyses of the resulting program-level variables were conducted to examine their effect on transition course participants’ college outcomes. Four of the twelve variables analyzed were found to significantly impact the likelihood of participants enrolling in college and successfully earning at least three credits: 1) whether the program uses grades versus pass/fail marks; 2) whether the program has a documented …

Perceptions On Collaborative Learning: A Case Study Of Female Community College Instructors, Marilyn Christine Armstrong

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the 1980s, academic assessments called for "the ability of individuals and groups to talk, listen judge, and act on issues of common interest" (Morse, 1989, p. 30). More recently, corporate research findings, Are They Ready to Work? Employers' Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce (The Conference Board, Inc., Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Corporate Voices for Working Families, & Society for Human Resource Management, 2006), report the workplace is seeking college graduates with skill in collaboration (e.g. build diverse relationships, negotiate, manage conflict). While the interest in …

Faculty Diversity, Kyle Scafide, Barbara Johnson

Kyle Scafide

This article presents a broad view of issues related to faculty diversity. Headings include Demographics, The Growth of Faculty Diversity as an Ideal, and Barriers in the Academic Workplace. Race, ethnicity, and gender are the most common characteristics that institutions observe in order to measure faculty diversity. An even broader approach to faculty diversity involves age, socioeconomic background, national origin, sexual orientation, and diverse learning styles and opinions. Until the latter part of the twentieth century, the professoriate in the western world was composed almost exclusively of privileged, heterosexual males of Caucasian descent. Higher education institutions are generally concerned with …