Education Commons^™

"I Knew College Was In The Cards For Me: "A Thematic Analysis Of The Communicative Messages Foster Youth Receive About Post -Secondary Education, Lashawnda Kilgore

Theses and Dissertations

A college education is an indicator of success. Unfortunately, research shows that foster youth are attending college at a very low rate. This research study was conducted to understand the messages foster youth receive about college and the impact those messages have on their post-secondary education decisions. Using qualitative interviews, I investigated the communicative messages former and current foster youth received that encouraged or discouraged them in their pursuit of a post-secondary degree. Specifically, I focused on messages former and current foster youth received from their parents/caregivers, peers, school counselors, and social workers.

Through data analysis, three message types were …

Effects Of Improv Comedy On College Students, Colin Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory qualitative study investigated the degree to which participation in college improv comedy affects student development. The study reviews the experiences of students from three different campuses who are involved in improv comedy. Grounded in theories from figured worlds, creativity, student development, memory, cognitive development, identity development, and imagination, this research draws on twelve semi-structured interviews, three group interviews, and three observations of performances. This study answers the following questions: How do college students make meaning of their experience within an improv comedy troupe in relation to academic, social skill, and identity development? What potential does improv comedy have …

An Analysis Of Program Evaluation In Community College Learning Assistance Centers, Doug Franklin

Theses and Dissertations

Learning assistance centers exist in varied formats at many colleges and provide services to support the educational mission such as tutoring, support for special needs students, study skills instruction, writing or math instruction. This study seeks to add to the small body of research on evaluation measures used within learning assistance centers and the program evaluation practices of such centers by determining the prevalence of program evaluation and what measures learning assistance directors perceive they should be using in the evaluation of their program compared to those actually being used?

Learning assistance center directors at 61 public two-year institutions, out …