Education Commons^™

Examining Institutional Climate In Higher Education: Administering The Nilie-Pace Instrument At A Private University In Central China, Linda Fraser Jacobsen

Dissertations

The first known campus climate study in central China was conducted for purposes of formative assessment by mixed methods, utilizing an instrument called the Personal Assessment of the College Environment (PACE) developed by the National Initiative for Leadership and Institutional Effectiveness (NILIE) at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Surveys were translated into Mandarin and distributed in bilingual format to 1,170 campus employees at Central China University (a pseudonym) in Henan Province, and 945 surveys were returned, a rate of 80.8%. Participants who self-identified included both Chinese and foreign faculty, administrators and staff. Because the North American-normed instrument was administered …

An Examination Of Mature Interpersonal Relationships Among International And American College Students, Bona Aidoo

Dissertations

Educating students to relate harmoniously with people from different backgrounds has become an important agenda for student affairs professional because of the increasingly diverse nature of the American society. The purpose of this study was to assess how American and international college students develop mature interpersonal relationship skills. All the participants were from a mid-sized comprehensive institution in the Southern United States. The two main constructs measured were tolerance and quality of relationships. Attempts were also made to identify other predictors that may influence mature interpersonal relationships: gender, age, educational level, and academic achievement as measured by GPA. Both quantitative …

Understanding Burnout And Promoting Engagement Among Adjunct Faculty In Community Colleges, Michael Alan Bates

Dissertations

This mixed methods study explored the phenomenon of job burnout among adjunct faculty at two suburban Illinois community colleges. The Maslach Burnout Inventory – Educators’ Survey (MBI-ES) was administered to adjuncts at both colleges to determine overall levels of burnout for the three dimensions of burnout – emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. The results of the MBI-ES also allowed differences in burnout levels based on selected employment characteristics and teaching disciplines to be examined. Qualitative methods, specifically semi-structured interviews and document review, provided further insight into these areas. Qualitative methods were also used to investigate the risk …

Evaluating The Pragmatic Analytical Reading Level Instruction Framework: A Mixed Methods Research And Development Case Study, Katherine Elizabeth Bradarich

Dissertations

In light of the escalating literacy demands of the 21st Century workplace, and the reality the adolescent literacy rates remain stagnant despite considerable focus on them, there appears to be a need for translation of the role that reading comprehension plays in the growth of literacy of adolescent learners. A framework that recognizes the inherent complexities of reading at the secondary school level and provides a systematic and targeted means for flexible instruction to remediate the reading comprehension deficits of a diverse population of struggling adolescent readers was developed. The Pragmatic Analytical Reading Level Instruction (PARLI) framework integrates the essential …

Exploring The Relationship Between Opportunities For Students To Participate In Community College Intercollegiate Athletics Programs And Their Aspirations To Attend College, Ashley B. Knight

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the opportunity to participate in community college athletics and students’ aspirations regarding higher education. Students who may not have considered a college education due to a lack of family support, financial resources, or underperformance in secondary education may decide to attend college because of the opportunities to excel in college sports. This interest in sports motivates some student-athletes towards academic accomplishments including completion of a college degree.

This study employed a partially mixed methods approach, which included a survey of community college athletes, focus groups of community college student-athletes, …