Education Commons^™

The Impact Of Student Leadership Engagement On Meaning In Life And Work During College, Heather Janel Strine-Patterson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The rising need, cost, and debt for postsecondary education has increased attention and scrutiny on its value, and colleges and universities must underscore outcomes beyond employment of graduates. Psychological well-being is a promising area to expand the value of postsecondary education. Using correlations, multiple regression, and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), this study seeks to contribute to an emergent body of empirical knowledge about the impact of postsecondary education on students’ well-being by specifically examining the relationship between participation in cocurricular and extracurricular experiences and students’ well-being defined by their sense of meaning in life and work. To this end, …

Student Engagement And Post-College Outcomes: A Comparison Of Formative And Reflective Models, Courtney Sanders

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Student engagement is a complex construct that is thought to be related to positive outcomes during and after college. Previous research has defined engagement in diverse ways and there are inconsistencies in the models that are used to measure this construct. Many studies have used a reflective measurement model (i.e., exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis), wherein changes in a latent construct are thought to precede and in some sense, explain variation in observed variables. Others have argued that engagement is best measured using a formative model in which the relationship flows in the opposite direction. In other words, within formative …

Integrating Implementation Fidelity And Learning Improvement To Enhance Students’ Ethical Reasoning Abilities, Kristen L. Smith

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Examples of demonstrable student learning improvement in higher education are rare (Banta, Jones, & Black, 2009; Banta & Blaich, 2011). Perhaps because outcomes assessment practices are disconnected from pedagogy, curriculum, and learning improvement. Through partnership with the Madison Collaborative, the current study aimed to bridge this disconnect. Specifically, researchers applied implementation fidelity methodologies (O’Donnell, 2008) to an academic program, under the guiding framework of the Simple Model for Learning Improvement (Fulcher, Good, Coleman, & Smith, 2014). In doing so, researchers helped faculty create and elucidate an ethical reasoning educational intervention and accompanying fidelity checklist. Both were well-aligned with a University-level …

Evaluating The Performance Of Propensity Score Matching Methods: A Simulation Study, Jessica N. Jacovidis

Dissertations, 2014-2019

In education, researchers and evaluators are interested in assessing the impact of programs or interventions. Unfortunately, most education programs do not lend themselves to random assignment; participants generally self-select into programs. Lack of random assignment limits the claims that researchers can make about the impact of the program because individuals who self-select into the program may be qualitatively different from individuals who do not self-select into the program. Propensity score matching allows researchers to mimic random assignment by creating a matched comparison group that is similar to the treatment group on researcher-identified variables.

There are a number of matching methods …

You Only Live Up To The Standards You Set: An Evaluation Of Different Approaches To Standard Setting, Scott N. Strickman

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Interpretation of performance in reference to a standard can provide nuanced, finely-tuned information regarding examinee abilities beyond that of just a total score. However, there is a multitude of ways to set performance standards yet little guidance regarding which method operates best and under what circumstances. Traditional methods are the most common approach adopted in practice and heavily involve subject matter experts (SMEs). Two other approaches have been suggested in the literature as alternative ways to set performance standards, although they have yet to be implemented in practice. Data-driven approaches do not involve SMEs but rather rely solely upon statistical …

Argument Education In Higher Education: A Validation Study, Paul E. Mabrey Iii

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Argument education can play an important role in higher education for leadership development and responding to increasing calls for post-secondary accountability. But to do so, argumentation teachers, scholars, and practitioners need to develop a clearer definition and research agenda for the purposes of teaching and assessing argumentation. The research conducted here contributes to this project by first establishing a definitional construct and observable behaviors associated with learning and practicing argumentation. Second, an argument education assessment instrument was created based off of the literature-supported definition of argumentation. Third, debate and argument education subject matter experts reviewed the definition, behaviors, and assessment …