Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

First-Year Engagement And Intention To Return In Higher Education: A National Study Of Undecided Major Students, Jacqueline Galler

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Research suggests that a student’s persistence in higher education is influenced by their academic preparation, commitments, and involvement, (Tinto 2005). Predictors including student demographics, academic preparation and commitments have shown in previously studies to affect the rate at which students persist in higher education, (Pascarella & Terenzini 2005, Astin & Oseguera 2005, Terenzini & Reason 2005). Involvement at an institution contributes to a students’ engagement and intent to persist in higher education or at a specific institution. Researchers have found that students engage in the university, academically and socially, based on how their values align with the institution, feedback they …

The Perceived Competencies Of Faculty In Online Classes From The Perspective Of The Students Of The Saudi Electronic University, Atekah Alshuaibi

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Since the 1990s, online programs have expanded across Saudi Arabia. However, Saudi universities have encountered a variety of challenges in implementing E-learning. A significant challenge is the lack of instructor training in online teaching skills. Consequently, instructors have been unable to adjust to the rapidly growing nature of learning technology. Thus, a few instructors have remained unenthusiastic about distance learning, and online learning has yielded unsatisfactory outcomes. While there are numerous studies related to online faculty in Saudi Arabia, only one of these studies considers students' perspectives for online faculty competencies in Saudi universities. Hence, this study contributes to the …

Contemplative Practices In Higher Education: Examining Faculty Perspectives, Daria Pizzuto

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Anxiety, depression, and feeling overwhelmed are consistently reported among college students. Contemplative pedagogy is a teaching approach that incorporates yoga, meditation, and other spiritual and physical activities into an academic curriculum. It is an emerging prescription in the field of higher education to alleviate some of the emotional struggles students face, providing an alternative solution to more clinical interactions. Contemplative faculty are higher education professors who regularly implement contemplative approaches in their teaching as a response to students’ needs. Through an analysis of faculty narratives, this study explores the experiences of contemplative educators in 4-year universities in the United States. …

Exploring Postsecondary Market And Discipline Influences On Faculty Role Performance, Wendiann R. Sethi

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Prior research has shown that the type of institution, disciplines, and characteristics of the faculty influence the structure and character of academic work. Zemsky and Shaman (1997) and others have suggested that differentiation among institutions, which has historically been structured along level of degree offerings and size/complexity, is now becoming increasingly structured along the lines of market segments – with many non-selective four-year institutions increasingly resembling two-year “convenience” institutions in terms of their academic organization. The purpose of this study was to test the extent to which academic work is increasingly organized by institutional market segment rather than traditional categories …

Work And Life Integration: Faculty Balance In The Academy, Holly Ehrens

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Faculty work life integration has evolved as an important area of research in the academic workplace. The evolution in thinking about faculty work life integration has progressively shifted focus from the problems of women and parents to research that considers both men and women, married and single, with or without children as participants in the quest to integrate both personal and professional lives.

Though many studies still include the challenges faced by parents and this study is no exception, a more recent focus includes the influence of work group norms and social dynamics in shaping the experiences of faculty in …

Features Of Optimally Motivating College Classrooms: Perspectives Of Preservice Teachers, Donna S. Bogart

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The primary objective of this mixed methods study was to explore the parameters of college students' perspectives on classroom learning environments. Specifically, the investigation sought to identify and describe the relevant features of the college classroom context that undergraduate students distinguished as promoting and supporting academic motivation at one four-year postsecondary institution. Secondarily, the study sought to examine the extent to which there was an association between the achievement goals students endorsed and their perspectives concerning the motivating features of the classroom learning environment. The nonprobability purposeful sample of undergraduate students consisted of 122 preservice teachers who were attending a …