Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Refugee Higher Education And Participatory Action Research Methods: Lessons Learned From The Field, Hadas Yanay

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Refugee access to higher education is devastatingly low. Recognizing the complex barriers facing refugee learners, global educational initiatives are innovating flexible learning models which promote blended online and in-person learning modalities. This article describes the implementation of a five month, online-based internship pilot offered to 21 refugee participants in qualitative and quantitative research methods, through a participatory action research (PAR) framework in five different countries -- Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, and Lebanon. The internship is part of the Global Education Movement (GEM), which brings refugees accredited online college degree and career development opportunities. Through direct engagement, observation of the …

Obstacles To Excellence: Academic Freedom And China's Quest For World-Class Universities, Chelsea Blackburn Cohen

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

China’s government has made significant investments to develop universities that already compete with the world’s best. Their progress has captured global attention over the years, with universities around the world forging partnerships with institutions in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and scholars and students around the world flocking to study, teach, and research in the country. But while China continues to stoke its ambitions for developing more world-class universities, respect for academic freedom and other human rights essential to quality higher education lags behind, leaving scholars and students at risk, and the country’s goals in balance.

With the recent …

Effects Of A Peer-To-Peer Mentoring Program: Supporting First-Year College Students’ Academic And Social Integration On Campus, Griselda Flores Ph.D., Antonio G. Estudillo Ph.D.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

This paper presents findings from a peer-to-peer mentoring program supporting ethnically diverse first-generation students at a mid-sized university in the Southwest. Research on mentoring during the undergraduate years has placed emphasis on the quality of lived-collegiate experiences from both a peer-mentor and mentee perspective (Crisp, Baker, Griffen, Lusnford, & Pifer, 2017). Using a mixed methods approach, two survey instruments and qualitative analysis, interviews with peer-mentors and mentees suggested student development occurred through various means: (i) academics, (ii) university involvement, and (iii) the reinforcement of friendship. These findings reinforce theory first drawn from Tinto’s (1993) student integration perspectives (e.g., academic and …

A Big Idea: The Rollout Of Open Suny, Karen E. Case

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Leveraging technology may be a viable solution in the higher education industry as enrollments decline and institutions have a hard time meeting their projected budgets. One innovative approach to mitigating this problem was approved in March of 2013 by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY). It is called Open SUNY. Open SUNY consists of nine components: the creation and expansion of online programs to meet workforce development needs, the development of online credit-bearing experiential learning experiences, support for training of faculty who opt to use emerging technologies, support for student access to online courses, …

An Exercise In Institutional Reflection: The Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument (Lari), Kimberly E. Arnold, Steven Lonn, Matthew Pistilli

Matthew Pistilli

Cooking Up A Course: Food Education At Pomona College, Christina A. Cyr

Pomona Senior Theses

Cooking skills are important but declining, with significant health, social, cultural, political, economic, and environmental implications. Food and cooking education can begin to address some of the negative effects of the cooking skills decline. This thesis makes the case for cooking classes in the education system, especially in higher education. The paper begins with a history of cooking education and skills, outlines the implications of the decline in skills, and discusses the potential for cooking education in higher education. The second part consists of a course syllabus, designed for Pomona College. The third section includes a discussion of the implementation …

Are Black Colleges Producing Today's African-American Lawyers?, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

In past years, almost all of America's black lawyers came from historically black colleges and universities because these schools were the only ones that would admit black students. Today, it appears that black colleges are producing increasingly fewer of the nation's black lawyers.

Unchallenged, Professed Core Values: Do Undergraduate Fraternity/Sorority Members Actually Benefit In The Areas Of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, And Friendship?, Larry D. Long

Larry D. Long

Fraternities and sororities promote the ideals of scholarship, leadership, service, and friendship. Little or no research, however, has demonstrated that college students who join fraternal organizations actually grow in these areas as a result of their fraternal experience. The purpose of this descriptive study was to assess the extent to which fraternity and sorority members experienced gains in the four outcome areas. The researcher analyzed the aggregate results of 15 Southeastern institutions that administered the AFA/EBI Fraternity/Sorority Assessment during the 2008/2009 academic year. The results revealed the respondents did experience gains related to the espoused values of scholarship, leadership, service, …