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Examining Gifted Students' Transition To University And Its Influence On Learning, Adrienne E. Sauder

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This phenomenological study examined the first-year university transition experience of 39 gifted students and the impact of this transition on their beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions of learning through a multiple methods design via semi-structured individual interviews, focus groups, and survey instruments, specifically the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory and the College Survival and Success Scale. In addition, an autoethnographic component was incorporated in order to (a) frame the researcher’s bias, and (b) provide a means of eliciting analytic insights that connect personal experience to broader theoretical issues. The theoretical framework for this study incorporated three complementary theories, symbolic interactionism, role …

Examining The Socio-Spatial Knowledge(S) Of Disabled And Mad Students In Higher Education, Mark A. Castrodale

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this study I draw on the perspectives and insights of self-identified disabled (n=14) and mad university students (n=3) at two Ontario universities. The perspectives of disability office workers (n=1) and instructors (n=3) are also included to offer triangulated accounts. I address the following research questions: (i) How are disabled and mad students constituted and represented in Ontario university settings? How do they understand and constitute themselves? (ii) What are mad and disabled students socio-spatial university experiences in relation to issues of access and academic accommodations? I draw theoretically on Foucault and other socio-spatial theorists such as Lefebvre and Soja …

University Athlete Transition: Making The Jump From Sport To Life, Natascha Wesch

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The general purpose of this dissertation was to examine how perfectionism might influence career planning through its relationship with career decision making self-efficacy, career goal setting, and career outcome expectations in Canadian university student-athletes. Specifically, this dissertation addressed two main research questions: Does perfectionism enhance or inhibit career planning in university student-athletes; and is this in turn influenced by the relationship between perfectionism (strivings and concerns) and the social cognitive variables of the SCCT (i.e., career decision making self-efficacy, career goal setting, and career outcome expectations)?

In order to validate and test the measurement models of perfectionism, decision-making self-efficacy, career …