Adult and Continuing Education Commons^™

Why Ask That? Low Stakes Questions Build Engagement, Van Whaley

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

A few low-stakes questions during the term build engagement, encourage persistence, and can improve learning outcomes.

During labs, students work together to learn Anatomy & Physiology… plus answer these Engagement Booster Questions.

The Need
/="/">Students need to meet classmates. After two years of online-only education, returning to in-person labs is a new experience many students find uncomfortable and challenging.

The Existing Resources
/="/">Students in the same lab have several similarities that include enrolling in the same lecture section, similar schedules, the same completed prerequisites, similar majors, and career aspirations.

The Goal
/="/">Building engagement between students should help …

¡Puedes Hacerlo! A Qualitative Case Study Exploring The Experience Of Latina Community College Students With Aspirations To Transfer, Sandra Pizano

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examined the motivation and source of support for first-generation Latina community college students who aspire to transfer to a four-year institution. The study is informed by Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth model, to explore how participants navigate their school environment and the vertical transfer process through an asset-based lens. The study aims to dismantle the deficit narrative that is many times told about communities of color. Eight students who self-identify as first-generation community college Latinas, plan on completing an associate degree within 1-2 semesters of the interviews, and have identified a transfer four-year institution were interviewed for this study. …

Marginalized Community College Students' Perspectives Of Their First Time In Honors And Experiences With Tracking, Trina Sotirakopulos

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Many of the variables that determine college admission are beyond a student’s control, including the academic track they were assigned as early as primary school—often referred to as “ability-grouping” or skills-homogeneous classes. Even in higher education, students feel the effects of unequal sorting and sifting from tracking. The purpose of this study was to learn from marginalized community college students who were in low and middle track courses in high school. The study located how socially marginalized students taking honors courses for the first time perceived their past experiences with tracking, current opportunities in community college honors, and ways tracking …

Blackstone Launchpad University Of Montana Strategic Analysis/Jacob Treece Honors Capstone Report, Jacob R. Treece

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

No abstract provided.

In-House Efforts To Enhance Pre-Service Language Teachers’ Intercultural Competence, Nur Gedik Bal

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The goal of the current study was to ascertain pre-service English language teachers’ impressions of the impact of thematic speaking tasks on the development of their intercultural competence in an online Spoken English course. Moreover, the effect of certain demographic variables on pre-service teachers’ cultural intelligence (CQ) was also investigated. The findings revealed a significant difference between the CQ of students with and without overseas experience. Pre-service teachers who could speak languages other than their mother tongue and English had significantly higher CQ scores than students who could not speak other languages. However, there was not a significant difference between …

Effects Of Mental Health First Aid Course: Knowledge, Confidence, And Stigma Among Occupational Therapy Students, Jennifer L. Ostrowski, Sarah Sampson, Erin Mcgoldrick, Courtney Karabin, Kyra Shields

Journal of Occupational Therapy Education

In the United States, one in five adults are impacted by some form of mental illness in any given year, but only about 40% of individuals seek professional mental health support. While occupational therapists (OT) may work with individuals with mental illness to improve social skills, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental ADLs, and neurocognitive interventions, research suggests there is not enough emphasis on this content in professional OT education. Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training is designed to educate individuals on mental illness, including how to recognize signs and symptoms and how to support individuals experiencing a concern or …

2023 Impact Report, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Foundation Annual Reports

The 2023 Impact Report from the SWOSU Foundation, Inc.

Student Loans, Persistence, And Well-Being: The Need To Support Single Mothers In College: A Qualitative Study, Kimberly Lemon

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This qualitative study focuses on the experiences of adult learner single mothers in college. Specifically, this research sought to understand how student loan debt informs their ability to persist and their well-being. In addition, the study examined the supports single mothers in college receive and the support they need to persist to degree attainment. Using a narrative inquiry design, semi structured interviews were conducted with 2 participants from a mid-sized public university in the northeast of the United States. Participants recounted their experiences throughout their undergraduate and graduate education. Participants spoke of the difficulties faced while enrolled in classes and …

"Entomology In Citizen Science" Course Materials, Kristen A. Lewis

Department of Entomology: Distance Master of Science Projects

"Entomology in Citizen Science" introduces students to entomology in literature, in science articles and studies, and in inquiry-based field experiences. Students engage in citizen science by surveying arthropods in the local environment and posting pictures on iNaturalist. Arthropod surveys conducted in this course will serve as baseline biodiversity measures and will be continued and added to by future classes. Written, visual, and mathematic expression are taught in this course, and course objectives align with the Benchmarks for Science Literacy Project 2061 (American Association for the Advancement of Science; 1993).

Includes numerous supplemental materials.

Evaluating The Differential Effects Of Using A Technology-Based Antecedent Intervention In Comparison To A Technology-Based Treatment Package, Rachel Fosnaught

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

This study investigated the differential effects of using non-contingent reinforcement in the form of attention as an antecedent intervention in comparison to using non-contingent reinforcement in addition to self-monitoring as a treatment package. A multi treatment single case research design was utilized in this study. Levels of student’s on-task behavior were measured to evaluate the differential effects of an antecedent intervention in comparison to the combination of an antecedent and consequent intervention. This study also only used treatments that were technologically delivered to the participants.

Assessing Academic Advisement Preferences Among Master’S Students: A Modification Of The Prescriptive/Developmental Preference Scale, Marian "Gina" Sample

Theses and Dissertations

Academic advisement plays a significant role in enrollment retention and degree attainment. Little is known, however, about what master’s students want and need from their advisement experience, as most research on advisement preferences has focused on undergraduate students. The Prescriptive/Developmental Preference Scale (Yarbrough, 2010) was designed to assess students’ academic advisement preferences, particularly as they relate to prescriptive and developmental advisement. The author of the PDPS, which was piloted with undergraduate students, found that the instrument had construct validity issues, especially regarding the Prescriptive construct. This study aimed to modify and expand the PDPS to reliably assess master’s students’ advisement …

Agency Development Of Preservice Teachers Progressing Through An Undergraduate Education Program, Tracy Christina Stockdale

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests student achievement improves when teachers connect with their students and create lessons and instruction based on their needs (Hattie, 2003; Stronge, 2018). Unfortunately, educators throughout the United States report losing control over the educational decisions they make in their classrooms at startling rates (Ingersoll, 2011; Wright, 2020). A recent study by Ingersoll, Merrill, Stuckey, and Collins (2018) found that approximately 50% of educators leave the profession within their first five years of teaching. An analysis of the attrition data showed that teachers often leave the profession due to perceptions of low classroom autonomy (Ingersoll et al., 2018). The …

“Beggars Can’T Be Choosers”: Individual Experiences And Career Planning Attitudes Among Female Doctoral Students In Europe, Gintarė Lübeck

Conference papers

This study investigates the career aspirations of female PhD students and recent graduates in Europe, and the decisions they made, with a focus on the reasons behind the increasing departure of female academics from academia after the completion of their doctoral studies. Qualitative data from interviews with 15 female PhD students at different stages of their doctoral journeys provided insights into the uncertainties experienced by these women regarding their future in academia. The findings revealed that these uncertainties stemmed from a combination of factors, including challenging experiences encountered during their PhD programmes, perceptions of gender and cultural biases within their …

Coh 1700: Health Care Coordination Syllabus, Sasha Harry

Open Educational Resources

This is the syllabus for a Health Care Coordination course.

The goal of health care coordination is to improve patient outcomes with better health care services. Care coordinators play a critical role in improving patient care. Students will learn how to effectively advocate for patients and interact with members of the healthcare team in finding solutions to provide high quality, value-based, and efficient care. Effective communication styles, assessing patient’s needs and goals, and helping with patients’ transitions of care are among many topics covered in this course. Upon course completion, students will have acquired basic knowledge and skills to educate, …

Binge Drinking In College: A Phenomenological Study, Kristin Andrews

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological research study examined the personal experiences, habits, and perceptions of post-secondary students who binge drink. This study was guided by 3 research questions as well as pre-existing research into collegiate binge drinking. The experiences shared by participants showed that despite serious negative outcomes, students binge drink because they feel negatives are far outweighed by the positive social interactions and fun drinking creates. While all of the participants in this study are considered binge drinkers who abuse alcohol, none of the participants considered their drinking to be problematic. The participants shared their intent to stop their current drinking patters …

Higher Education Awareness Amongst Noncommissioned Officers In The United States Army, Amanda Houser

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Insufficient research exists concerning why active-duty enlisted noncommissioned officers do not pursue education past a high school diploma. Although higher education is becoming a minimum qualification in the civilian world, only 17% of enlisted servicemembers have higher than a high school degree. The purpose of this study is to explore the lived experiences, beliefs, and awareness of Army education benefits and the disconnect between higher education enrollment and active-duty noncommissioned officers. Two-hundred and sixty-five enlisted active-duty noncommissioned officers participated in an online survey and fifty-two noncommissioned officers participated in a one-on-one interview. Using a qualitative, grounded theory research design, both …

Magnetic Hallway Huddles: Attract And Retain High-Quality Professionals, David Wolff, Carissa Gober, Donna Zerr

Open Educational Resources - Teaching and Learning

This presentation was conducted for a national conference about mentoring. The authors discussed Tinto’s Model of Institutional Departure and Schlossberg’s Model for Analyzing Human Adaptation to Transition as theoretical frameworks to explain the transition and retention of university professors. The focus on the study was the three authors who transitioned to the same university during the 2022-2023 academic year. Authors discussed their experiences of the transition and found themes related to the mentoring process that that acclimated them to the institution and influenced their retention.

Going The Extra Mile To Increase The Wilder School’S Student Enrollment, Xueming (Jimmy) Chen

GEHLI - 2026 VCUL Team Project Publications

To align with the themes and goals of VCU Quest 2028: One VCU Together We Transform, the Wilder School has prepared and will implement a schoolwide strategic plan to guide its development to 2028. In this strategic plan, one of the metrics of student success is student enrollment, which is of paramount importance.

After the background introduction, this report gives an overview of the student enrollment data of the five academic programs within the Wilder School during the past 5 years and takes a snapshot of the 2022 MURP student demographic data. Afterward, it briefly introduces the enrollment management strategies …

Unveiling Undergraduate Research Opportunities For All, Justin Fedoryk, Laniece Jones, Timothy Luckritz, Tracy Mcmullin, Teresa Salgado, Meredith Sisson

GEHLI - 2026 VCUL Team Project Publications

VCU is experiencing unprecedented levels of growth in its research operations, having secured more than $460 million in sponsored research funding in fiscal year 2023 and becoming one of the top 50 public universities in the country for sponsored research. Between FY18 and FY22, sponsored research funding at VCU increased by 49% (Crawford et al., 2022). Nonetheless, many faculty members are leaving a key resource untapped: VCU’s undergraduate students. According to Dr. Srirama Rao, Vice President of Research and Innovation, in a recent State of the Research address, only about 600 undergraduate students participate in sponsored research annually. Even faculty …

Vcu Job Shadowing, Austin Adam, Nora Bloch, Sue Kurgatt, Ezrah Medina, Erin Pacelli, Rebecca Segal, Stephanie Thulin

GEHLI - 2026 VCUL Team Project Publications

Job shadowing is an initiative aimed at bolstering students' career preparedness through an immersive exploration of the multifaceted landscape of career opportunities within higher education. By facilitating these experiential learning opportunities, this program endeavors to achieve a twofold objective. Firstly, it seeks to enhance the student experience at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) by cultivating meaningful interactions between students and VCU's typically non-student-facing staff and faculty members. Secondly, by facilitating direct engagement with our students, it is our aspiration that every member of the VCU community, regardless of their traditional roles, will have the opportunity to support our students' personal and …