Education Commons^™

Keeping The Course: Nursing Student Motivation During A Pandemic, Travis William Storey

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Nurses have always been at the frontline of any disaster or health crisis to hit the country, yet, as the United States battled the coronavirus pandemic, the nation saw its nursing shortage worsen. The emotional and physical toll faced by frontline nurses often became unbearable, leading to a skyrocketing of occupational and facility turnover. Concern grew that the pandemic would have an impact on nursing students as well, particularly on the supply of new graduate nurses. Yet, even in the face of such hazardous working conditions, nursing students persisted in their academic studies. The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental study …

Examining Motivation As A Mechanism For The Effects Of Stereotype Threat On Stem Outcomes: A Longitudinal Mediation Analysis, Delaram A. Totonchi

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Although African-American students start STEM majors with higher levels of interest compared to their racial majority peers, they drop out of these majors at higher rates. One often tested explanation for this racial disparity is stereotype threat–the anxiety related to being judged stereotypically or the fear of confirming such stereotypes. Stereotype threat negatively impacts academic outcomes through a variety of psychological mechanisms including declined motivation. Accordingly, in this study, I examined expectancy-value beliefs as motivational mechanisms for the effects of stereotype threat on STEM outcomes. Participants were 362 African-American students in introductory chemistry and biology courses who completed surveys at …

Motivating And Enabling Factors For Military Service Members Earning A Post-Secondary Degree, Rossie Dean Johnson

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivated and enabled military service members to earn a post-secondary degree. This problem was investigated to better inform institutions of higher education regarding how to recruit and retain military-affiliated members and how to provide career-enhancing information to service members at institutions of higher education.

Education for military service members was a process that facilitated the growth, learning, and maturity of individuals in an effort to achieve their goals while simultaneously achieving the collective goals of the organization. This study sought to identify the enabling and motivating factors that empowered service members …

Improving Second Language Lexical Acquisition Through Personalization And Contextualization: A Look At Intrinsic Cognitive Load Reduction Strategies, Curtis Kleinman

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Cognitive load reduction strategies traditionally seek to reduce the amount of extraneous mental effort required of the learner. Researchers, through effective instructional design, seek to eliminate load-causing agents that are extraneous to the learning topic at hand. However, cognitive load theory research has now shifted to also include the exploration of strategies that seek to reduce the inherent complexities of the target topic itself. The current study seeks to apply two such intrinsic cognitive load reduction strategies—personalization and contextualization. Previous research suggests that cognitive load can be reduced by personalizing the learning environment, which serves to meet the interests of …

The Impact Of Trainee Characteristics On Transfer Of Training Over Time, Kristina N. Bauer

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Given that organizations invest a considerable amount of time and money into the training and development function, it is imperative that trainees transfer the learned material back to the job and continue to use the knowledge/skills. Yet, most studies have not assessed the transfer process over time (i.e., maintenance). Based on the lack of empirical investigation of maintenance, the current study had two goals: (1) to identify which factors are most important for skill maintenance (2) to identify when factors are most important to skill maintenance. To these ends, a model was developed and tested that examines the trainee characteristics …

A Conceptual Model Of Career Development To Enhance Academic Motivation, Nancy Creighton Collins

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop, refine, and validate a conceptual model of career development to enhance the academic motivation of community college students. To achieve this end, a straw model was built from the theoretical and empirical research literature. The model was then refined and validated through three rounds of a Delphi study. The Delphi study solicited the opinions of students who had successfully completed community college programs.

Three research goals guided this study: (1) identify the components of modern motivation theory that apply to the academic motivation of community college students, (2) identify key components of …

Motivation And Performance In Computer Science: Test Of An Integrative Theory, Katherine A. Selgrade

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design and empirically test a parsimonious integrative motivation theory. The theory integrates aspects of expectancy theory, social cognitive theory, goal-setting theory, and commitment theory. The theory was tested with 170 undergraduate, students in an introductory computer science (CS) course.

The study tested relationships among the following variables: CS self-efficacy, mathematics ability, affective commitment to the CS class, goal orientation, effort, and performance. The study also tested the interactive effects of effort and ability on performance. Structural equation modeling was used to test the measurement model and a series of nested structural models. Findings …