Education Commons^™

The Role And Contribution Of Rural North Carolina Community Colleges In Social Capital Development, Tanya J. Mcghee

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges are important settings for the development of social capital as well as institutions of higher learning. The democratic mission, geographic dispersion, and close relationship with multiple stakeholders throughout their service regions allow community colleges to be well-suited to act as liaisons and social architects facilitating social capital creation. This is particularly true in rural areas, where community colleges are often among the largest employers and are major cultural and civic engagement centers. In an era of persistent budget reductions and fiscal tension, there is a need to better understand the multitude of ways rural community colleges support communities …

Institutions Of Higher Education And Cultural Heritage Tourism: A Case Study Of The Crooked Road, Virginia's Heritage Music Trail, Terence Michael Gilley

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The southwest region of Virginia has an unstable economy, which cycles through periods of growth and decline. The strategic plans for southwest Virginia propose cultural heritage tourism as a sustainable industry for economic development of this rural region. Institutions of higher education provide education and training for a qualified workforce and community service. This qualitative, single case study on The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail examines the roles of institutions of higher education with regard to cultural heritage tourism for sustainable community and economic development in rural areas. The data sources for this study are the administrators of …

Faculty And Student Perceptions Of Students' Sense Of Community In Online Courses, William C. Fiege

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The Classroom Community Scale (Rovai, 2002b) was used to examine faculty and student perceptions of students' sense of community at two points during an academic semester. The study also examined the relationship between student sense of community scores and their final course grades. A non-experimental research design was used by the researcher to analyze pre-survey to post-survey score means of students' sense of community as perceived by students and faculty. Two hundred sixty-nine (269) students and 48 faculty members representing 56 online arts and science courses at a community college in Virginia completed the pre-survey and post-survey surveys.

Students' perceptions …

Community Development Through Industry And Education Partnerships: An Integrated Evaluability Assessment Of A Cooperative Training Alliance Between Industry And An Urban Community College, Richard E. Witte

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Conceptualizing community college/industry training linkages as unified programs with established evaluable outcomes will allow practical assessment of their value as a community development tool.

The purpose of this study was to conduct an evaluability assessment of the training linkage between Tidewater Community College and Norfolk Naval Shipyard. This alliance was formed to provide professional academic instruction as an element of the shipyard apprentice program. The study established the documented program expectations and the program expectations of state and local community development policy makers, community college leaders and shipyard management. The study evaluated all identified expectations for compatibility across partnership interests, …