Education Commons^™

Students’ Meaning-Making Journeys Towards Self-Authorship Through Self-Designed Gap Year Experiences, Erin Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological, qualitative study addressed student perceptions of their meaning-making process towards self-authorship in a self-designed gap year experience and was conducted in a public higher educational institution in the Southeast. Data was gathered through interviews from a purposeful sample of gap year program participants and program administrators. Emerging themes and categories were identified by coding and analyzing the interview data, such as continual reflection reinforces the value of individual meaning-making, self-expectations versus self-worth, the influence of societal expectations are minimized, and self-designed learning helps to solidify changes in self-authorship. The data showed a strong connection between multiple meaning-making contexts …

Here They Are, Send Them: An Evaluation Of The Send Program At Merrimack College, Jordan T. Mason

Community Engagement Student Work

The purpose of this study was to gather a deeper understanding of the SEND Program at Merrimack College. This program evaluation sought to determine if the SEND Program was meeting its short-term outcomes for the program. The current literature highlights the important and significant aspects of alternative break/global service-learning programs as they can provide great educational experiences for students. A survey was sent out to a cohort of alumni SEND participants to gather their perspectives of the program. Overall, the survey respondents noted positive responses of their experiences in this program, indicating that they had some level of a positive …

Alignment Or Detachment: College Educators’ Perceptions Of Experiential Learning Pedagogy, Wayne D. Finseth

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The main purpose of this study was to investigate how college educators’ perceptions of experiential learning influence the design, implementation, and assessment of their courses. A second purpose of this study was to examine the way’s college educators use experiential learning in their classes. A final purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between a college educators’ prior experience with experiential learning and how they utilize that prior experiences to design, instruct, and assess their courses. A descriptive research design was used in this study. A randomized and anonymous survey containing 29 items was emailed out through Qualtrics …

Does Experiential Learning Add Value In Financial Literacy Education: A Qualitative Investigation, Abra Akers Endsley

Online Theses and Dissertations

According to Marketwatch.com the lack of financial literacy among U.S. citizens has cost upwards of $200 billion over the last twenty years. Besides racking up student loan debt that averaged about $37,172 per student in 2016 (Marketwatch.com) millennials and those in Generation Z are also the most likely to engage in risky financial behaviors like payday loans, pawnshops and tax refund advances (PwC, 2016; Mottolla, 2014). Being financially vulnerable as young adults compounded with today’s increasingly complex financial environment (Batty et al., 2015), make fertile ground for mistakes that have lifelong impact.

Over the last 20 years, much has been …