Education Commons^™

The Role Of Faculty In Fostering Psychosocial Wellbeing Among University Students, Kelley Wick

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

The transition to college represents a major life event, and successfully navigating this shift has implications for students’ psychosocial wellbeing. While there is ample support for the idea that social relationships can facilitate student wellbeing during the transition to college, there is limited understanding of the unique role faculty may play in supporting students. The aim of this study was to determine the relation of faculty support to student wellbeing and self-efficacy, independent of peer support and student level of stress. Additionally, the primary questions were to examine whether self-efficacy mediated the relation of faculty support to student wellbeing, and …

Dnp Final Report: The Flipped Classroom: An Evidence-Based, Course Redesign To Increase Retention Rates In A Vocational Nursing Program, Jennifer P. Hauger

DNP Final Reports

Over the past three decades, Vocational Nursing has been taught using a conventional didactic method that is content heavy and lecture focused. Despite having a group of highly qualified professors and an excellent student pass rates on the National board examinations, student retention in a Vocational Nursing Program in central Texas remains below the National benchmark. With a unique student demographic that is identified as non-traditional (over 21, full-time working adults, English Second Language and single parents), we embarked upon the redesign of a Medical-Surgical Nursing course using the flipped pedagogical framework to increase retention rates. Therefore, in 2019 we …

An Analysis Of Grit Scores On First-Year Undergraduate Students' Persistence At A Large Private University, Nina Shenkle

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Student persistence in higher education has become an increasingly high priority as institutions seek to improve undergraduate completion rates. Traditionally, cognitive abilities such as aptitude and intelligence have been used to measure and predict whether a student will be successful in college. However, there is evidence that noncognitive abilities such as determination or effort are as important and as indicative of success as cognitive abilities. This nonexperimental, causal-comparative study utilized a multivariate analysis of variance to analyze archival data of 832 undergraduate students from a large private university to determine the differences between the overall grit score, perseverance of effort …

A Comparative Study Of Student Engagement Based On Intercollegiate Athletics Participation, David Woolever

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The concept of retention in higher education institutions is certainly a hot topic. Institutions have explored first year seminars, engagement with faculty and creating a culture of connectivity and belongingness among the student population to include extra-curricular activities in creating an engaged student that will persist until graduation. Furthermore, academic engagement among student-athletes is one topic that has that has been somewhat neglected while institutions look at ways to increase retention via creating a culture of involvement. In addition, the Student Engagement Instrument (SEI), initially designed to measure engagement among secondary students has rarely been utilized to examine academic engagement …

The Aftermath Of Detroit's Economic Decline And The Exodus Of Urban Teachers: A Phenomenology, Melissa Holtzhouse

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the decision-making process of teachers, Kindergarten through twelfth grade, who left the urban setting in metropolitan Detroit. The theories that guided this study were Rotter’s locus of control and Condorcet’s decision theory as they investigated the experiences leading to teachers’ decisions to leave the urban setting within metropolitan Detroit. Four research questions were included (a) How do select teachers, Kindergarten through twelfth grade, describe the decision-making process they underwent before leaving urban education in metropolitan Detroit? (b) How do participants describe their experiences prior to their decision to leave urban education …

The Difference In Job Satisfaction Between Full-Time And Part-Time Early Childhood Educators Working In Public And Private Schools In South Carolina, Allison Hepfner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to determine if there was a difference in perceptions of job satisfaction among full-time and part-time teachers who work in both private and public early childhood centers in South Carolina. This study adds to the literature by investigating the impact of work employment classification and type of school on job satisfaction of Early Childhood educators. It is important to investigate the job satisfaction of early childhood educators because job dissatisfaction and high turnover in centers can negatively impact young children. This study allowed 200 participants throughout multiple early childhood centers in South …

Factors That Predict Persistence For Non-Immigrant, International Students At A Private, Four-Year University In Georgia, Shawn Adams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore factors that predict the persistence of international, non-immigrant students in higher education. A sample of international students from a four-year private university in Georgia served as the focused population for this study. Persistence research asserts that six factors predict persistence: academic integration, social integration, support services satisfaction, degree commitment, institutional commitment, and academic conscientiousness. These six predictor variables were measured via the College Persistence Questionnaire (CPQ). However, cultural intelligence (CQ) is another predictive factor that merited consideration for the unique population of international students. The Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS) quantifies CQ and …

Experiences Of First-Year Online Community College Students On Academic Probation: A Phenomenological Study, Michael Beck

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of first-year online community college students on academic probation at a small, rural community college in central North Carolina. Four research questions guided the study: (RQ1) How do first-year, online community college students who are on academic probation describe their academic experiences? (RQ2) What do participants identify as reasons for receiving poor grades and being placed on academic probation? (RQ3) How do participants on academic probation describe what they could have done differently to avoid being placed on academic probation? (RQ4) What do participants who are on academic probation …

Evaluating Adn Faculty Job Satisfaction, Karen M. Thies

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background

The U.S. is facing a critical shortage of nurses as the aging baby boomer generation is requiring more nursing care. Contributing to the nursing shortage is the inability to educate larger numbers of nurses, attributable to a lack of nursing faculty. Insufficient numbers of nursing faculty results in qualified applicants being turned away from nursing programs.

Project Design

This project evaluated faculty job satisfaction in 703 accredited Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) programs in the U.S. The Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS) (Stamps, 1997), was designed to measure specific factors of nurses' job satisfaction and was emailed to all full …

Self-Efficacy Score Differences Between First-Year, Male And Female First-Generation And Non-First-Generation College Students As Measured By The College Self-Efficacy Inventory (Csei), Janet Shepherd

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Students of all backgrounds have a transition period when entering college. However, first-time, first-generation college students encounter more problems and have more difficulties becoming acclimated to college resulting in decreased first-year retention rates for first-generation students. These problems and difficulties are related to course work, socialization, and roommate issues. Research has shown that self-efficacy and collective efficacy are important in student achievement. This research study explored if there was a difference in student perception of self-efficacy among male and female first-year, first-generation college students and male and female first-year, non-first-generation college students. A quantitative, causal-comparative study was conducted utilizing the …

How Math Avoidance Influences Degree Completion For Bible College Students: A Case Study Of A Small, Private Institution In Upstate New York, Bonnie Novak

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to describe math perception and avoidance for ministerial undergraduate students at a small, private Bible college in upstate New York. In the research, math avoidance was generally defined as the participants’ perception of math, their delay in completing a credit-bearing math course until their senior year or not at all, and their own learning or degree completion as a result. The theories guiding this study were Tinto’s Retention Theory/Model of Institutional Departure, Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, and Estep’s Theory of Christian Formation. The central question was: How does math avoidance influence persistence …

Academic Performance, Retention Rates, And Persistence Rates Of First-Year, First-Generation, Latino College Students, Jaime Duran

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal-comparative quantitative study was to examine the relationships between the efficacy of a Summer Bridge Academy (SBA) and the impact on students by measuring the Grade Point Averages (GPAs), retention rates, and persistence rates of first-generation, first-year, Latino college students who participated in a SBA at Central Valley Community College against like students who did not participate in same program. The independent variable was participation in a 6 week long SBA, which took place during the summer of 2011. The dependent variables were GPAs, retention rates, and persistence rates, and the control and intervening variables, students …

The Creation And Assessment Of A Social Integration Predictive Model For A Large Suburban Community College, Bob Bade

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this predictive correlation study was to create and assess a model of programs and activities to predict student social integration at a large suburban community college. This study’s model was based upon Tinto’s student integration theory (1975, 1987, 1993) and employed hierarchical multiple regression to analyze the data. The data for this study was archival Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) self-report data from students at a large suburban community college in Florida. Predictor variables included participation in extended orientation programs and student success courses, participation with classmates inside and out of class on academic related …

A Case Study Of The Experiences Of Students With Disabilities Who Did Not Complete High School, Richard Wieringo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This case study explores the experiences of students with disabilities who have dropped out of high school, so as to identify related factors that led to their decisions. Participants included both males and females who were designated as students with disabilities at Ridgeville High School (pseudonym for a Virginia high school) and who dropped out between their third and fourth years of high school, during the 2010 to 2014 academic years. All participants were between the ages of 18 and 24. The case study was conducted through the use of semi-structured interviews, journaling, and observation of the sample population, with …

The Effects Of Gender Composition In Academic Departments On Faculty Turnover, Pamela S. Tolbert, Tal Simons, Alice Andrews, Jaehoon Rhee

ADVANCE Library Collection

Using data collected from a sample of 50 academic departments over the years 1977-88, the authors test several hypotheses about the effects of departmental gender composition on faculty turnover. They find that as the proportion of women in a department grew, turnover among women also increased, confirming the prediction that increases in the relative size of a minority will result in increased intergroup competition and conflict. The evidence also suggests, however, that when the proportion of female faculty reached a threshold of about 35-40%, turnover among women began to decline. The proportion of women had a negligible or negative impact …