Education Commons^™

Understanding The Impact Of Pedagogical Changes In An Honors Activism Course: A Case Study, Aaron Peeksmease

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The purpose of this portfolio is to document learning outcomes after initiating three pedagogical changes in an Honors Sociology of Activism course taught at UNL in both the Fall of 2022 and Fall of 2023. The first change was to provide students with prior student work of an assignment to see if student performance on the assignment improved. Findings indicated that providing examples of previous student work did not raise grades on the overall assignment, but did result in stronger projects for that one aspect of the overall assignment. The second change examined the impact of introducing reading quizzes and …

Institutional And Individual Approaches To Change In Undergraduate Stem Education: Two Framework Analyses, Stephanie B. Feola

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine institutional change initiatives in STEM and to understand the impact of engaging with a specific change strategy on a biochemistry educator’s instructional practice. Institutional change initiatives involve executing an intentional strategy to influence teaching practices within a specific institution. This research investigates NSF-funded change initiatives at three public research universities that were focused on encouraging the adoption of evidenced-based instructional practices (EBIPs) by STEM faculty. As part of an effort to understand how the three institutions approached this task, framework analysis was performed using the initiative’s annual reports to NSF. Further …

Portfolio For Soci 346: Environmental Sociology, Gwendwr Meredith

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

Environmental sociology, SOCI 346, is the study of how social systems interact with ecosystems. As such, it is a very broad course that is tasked with understanding complex and often controversial questions about the social causes, consequences, and responses to environmental disruption. In this teaching portfolio, I enumerate how I use a backward design for crafting assessments that cater to my specific teaching goals and learning objectives for the course. In the first stage of this process, I reflected on what learning outcomes I wished to achieve and determined that structuring the course in modules aligned with the learning objectives …

Positive Deviance As A Framework For Understanding Motivations And Barriers To Exercise For University Students At Campus Recreation, René Dario Herrera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to use qualitative research methodologies to better understand motivations and barriers to exercise for university students at campus recreation. The secondary purpose was to identify any correlations between physical activity habits and academic success. Ethnographic data obtained from a positive deviance sample and critically analyzed with feminist and postmodern theory could provide additional validation for campus recreation's value in positively contributing to the academic success of university students.

Participant observation, questionnaire, cultural domain analysis, interview, and focus group provided qualitative data.

Results indicate university students who frequent campus recreation to exercise are highly motivated …

Community College Transitioning Experiences Of Dual Enrollment Students, Sandra Lucille Fuline

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Dual enrollment transitioning experiences of students are poorly understood, leaving higher education stakeholders without the proper information to smooth the transitioning process and keep students in college. This basic qualitative study using interviews explored how 10 dual enrollment students described their transitioning experiences from high school to community college by investigating their motivations, ability to acknowledge self-efficacy, and understanding of social interactions using Badura's self-efficacy model and Keller's motivational theory and the attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction model. Data were analyzed through an open coding method to categorize themes and patterns as well as discrepant information. Key findings indicated that …

Reflections On Global Competence By Four Design Educators, Philip A. Bulone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry investigated four design educators’ perspectives and beliefs of global competence teaching and learning, and aimed to inform effective global competence curricula planning and instruction across disciplines. The literature uncovered multiple reasons to warrant design educator reflections: (a) similarities among global competence and design thinking characteristics, (b) design education accreditation emphasis on globally oriented standards, and (c) design thinking as a resource to improve practices across disciplines. Accordingly, the inquiry employed a qualitative design and a multiple case-study approach. Data collection methods included: (a) interviews, (b) image artifacts, and (c) researcher reflective memos. A comparative analysis used systematic coding …

Marketing Strategies For Increasing Latino Enrollment In Higher Education, Melissa Rocio Gomez De La Fuente

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many leaders of higher education institutions in the United States face changes in student demographics, tightened regulatory environments, and reduced state funding. University leaders have an opportunity to leverage targeted marketing strategies in order to increase their institutions' market share in the Latino student segment. The purpose of this study was to explore the strategies that some university leaders use to increase Latino student enrollment in higher education programs. The marketing mix and the Ps of marketing theory comprised the study's conceptual framework. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 3 marketing experts from the higher education sector, who were selected by …

Geographical Literacy, Attitudes, And Experiences Of Freshman Students: A Qualitative Study At Florida International University, Daniela F. Ottati

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore the geography literacy, attitudes and experiences of Florida International University (FIU) freshman students scoring at the low and high ends of a geography literacy survey. The Geography Literacy and ABC Models formed the conceptual framework. Participants were freshman students enrolled in the Finite Math course at FIU. Since it is assumed that students who perform poorly on geography assessments do not have an interest in the subject, testing and interviewing students allowed the researcher to explore the assumption.

In Phase I, participants completed the Geography Literacy Survey (GLS) with items taken from …

College Leve Inqury Learning's Influence On Later Science Thinking Behavior, Eric Gordon Chesloff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Society needs scientists who can collaborate to become keener analysts so that they might better inform citizens. College students who are well educated in science are likely to become better analysts. The purpose of this grounded theory constructivist-oriented study was to illuminate the influence of undergraduate freshman inquiry learning on thinking skills in science courses during the senior college year. The conceptual framework involved the 3 components of the cognitive learning cycle: exploration, concept invention, and application. Research questions concerned college seniors' perceptions of their freshman process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) experience in general chemistry and its influence on their …

Not Designed With Us In Mind: Exploring The Experiences And Needs Of Adult Learners At A Public Research University, Stephanie N. Meyer

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Adult learners are a rapidly expanding student population, constituting more than 40 percent of college students today (Stokes, 2006). Research on adult learners has historically focused on their experiences within adult-centered institutions where they make up the majority student population. Although older students challenge the status quo of higher education, traditional institutions continue to dismiss their needs in the development of policies and practices. The structure of higher education is historically designed to serve youth and assumptions are often made about students that often overlook the needs, availability, and interests of adult learners. For many adult learners who prefer the …

Methodological Orientation Of Research Articles Appearing In Higher Education Journals, Sherri E. Ritter

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to understand the methodologies authors in higher education journals used to obtain knowledge in their fields. This study looked at five peer-reviewed journals of higher education and analyzed the methods of research employed by the authors to help them answer their respective research questions. The methods of research are qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods. Additionally, this study examined the effects of author, gender, and academic rank on the selection of research methods.

Exploring The Complexities Of Learning Motivation In Pre-Service Teacher Education Students: A Grounded Theory Approach, Kristin K. Grosskopf

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative, grounded-theory study investigated learning motivation differences among three achievement groupings of undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nine students participated in in-depth interviews that explored their reasons for pursuing their degree, their learning experiences in a university setting, their perceptions about meaningful learning experiences, and the nature of factors that both enhance and challenge their learning motivation. Participant responses conveyed strategies and conditions that were coded and analyzed, and a theoretical model was developed describing causal conditions that underlie students’ motivation to learn, phenomena that arose from those …

Nursing Faculty Shortage: Nurses' Perceptions As A Key To Administrative Solutions, Evelyn M. Klocke

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The nursing faculty shortage is well documented. Higher education administrators turn away qualified student applicants because of the lack of qualified nursing faculty. Furthermore, they find recruitment and retention of qualified nursing faculty a challenge. The purpose of this study was to explore perceptions of the nursing faculty role, causes of the faculty shortage, and solutions to the shortage as perceived by: 1) nurses currently in a faculty role and 2) nurses with a master’s degree who were not employed in a full-time faculty position. A qualitative study using the phenomenological method was undertaken. Two groups of nurses were interviewed. …