Digital Commons Network^™

Winter Break Is Here! Are You Taking Classes? How On-Campus Tabling Sessions Improve Student Perceptions Of Winter Term Courses, James Blair, Russell Carpenter, Cassie Bradley

Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

There has been significant disruption and competition in higher education in recent years and this is anticipated to continue moving forward. Universities have expanded product offerings, including courses during their winter break to allow students to catch up, get ahead, or earn additional credentials. We examine the effectiveness of on-campus tabling sessions to see how this marketing strategy impacts student perceptions of courses offered during Winter Term. We find this to be an effective strategy in attracting students with high levels of goal attainment and those with high perceived satisfaction levels of Winter Term courses. This marketing strategy can help …

Disability Services As Related To Higher Education Leadership: An Exploratory Study, Tara Wade Franklin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past three decades, the number of students with disabilities (SWD) attending postsecondary institutions has increased, yet their completion rates remain significantly lower than those of students without disabilities. This mixed methods exploratory study investigates the role of provost leadership in supporting disability services and understanding the needs of SWD in higher education. The study focuses on Texas higher education institutions, examining the relationships between provosts and directors of disability services. Data collected through the e-survey with open-ended questions primarily came from directors of disability services. Quantitative analysis of Likert scale items explored domains such as leadership, collaboration, consultation, …

A Phenomenological Study On The Lived Experiences Of Black Male Faculty At Predominantly White Institutions (Pwis) In Texas And Louisiana, Christopher Allen Frazier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to gain more clarity and insight into a distinctive phenomenon of the lived experiences of five African American male professionals in predominantly White institutions in Texas while seeking tenure and promotion. Using interviews throughout the duration of the study allowed the phenomenological inquiry to gain better insight from a personal lens while hoping to find the true essence of the phenomenon. All participants in this inquiry were African American male professionals who served in educational roles and had at least 3 years’ experience serving in a predominantly White institution in Texas. This …

Perceptions Of Senior International Officers' Efforts Regarding The Acculturation Of International Students In Higher Education: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Ann-Margaret J. Themistocleous

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe Senior International Officers’ lived experiences regarding attitudes and beliefs about the adjustment of international students in private and public universities in the Southeast region of the United States. The theory guiding this study is Berry’s theory of acculturation as it relates to a person’s adjustment to a new culture as they either assimilate, separate, integrate, or marginalize. The central research question focuses on the experiences of Senior International Officers regarding the acculturation process of international students on their respective college campuses. The methodology included a qualitative, transcendental phenomenological approach. The participants …

The Experiences Of Low-Income Students Focusing On An Online Learning Environment In Southwest Georgia: A Hermeneutical Phenomenology, Jayda M. Williams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutical phenomenological study is to understand the experiences of low-income students in an online learning environment and how they are socially and academically integrated at an institution in southwest Georgia. Tinto’s 1997 revised student integration model and theory on how institutions must socially and academically integrate students to improve students’ persistence is to guide this research. The participants for this study are ten low-income students who participated in the data collection tools, which are surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews. The participants expressed their experiences, barriers, social and academic integration, and persistence in an online learning …

Understanding Faculty Perception Of Completely Asynchronous And Synchronous Online Education On Student Retention At Community Colleges In Western Pennsylvania: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of The Faculty Online Education Experience, Sally A. Mercer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand completely online education’s impact on student retention for faculty at community colleges in western Pennsylvania. The theory guiding this study was Michael G. Moore’s transactional distance theory, which centers on three components of online education—structure, communication, and student autonomy. The literature review revealed these factors, and their relevant sub-factors all influence faculty’s experience and knowledge of the factors that impact student retention. The central research question for this study was as follows: What are faculty’s perceptions of completely asynchronous and synchronous education at community colleges in western Pennsylvania? This study …

The Interdisciplinary Music Degree: Music Education, Music Performance, And Music And Fine Arts Administration, Edwin R. Williams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite numerous available careers and degrees in music education, music performance, and music administration, perspectives of many music educators and students desiring an interdisciplinary music degree program inclusive of music education, music performance, and music administration have yet to be expressed or examined publicly. The notion of 21st-century skills presents a demand for flexibility across most facets of K-12 and higher education. These skills necessitate fluency in problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration, thus, music education must move toward more flexible and rigorous preparatory music training programs to remain consistent with current trends. Most undergraduate and graduate degree programs in music …

Professionals, Not Laborers: Historical Contingencies Impacting Faculty Prestige And Unionization, Camden M. Webb

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Some higher education faculty believe that unionization is beneath their status, despite lacking ownership of the means of production. While higher education experienced increasing importance in the United States during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, faculty unionization saw periods of both growth and decline. From a macro-level framework in social structures of accumulation (SSA) theory, with additions from Marx, the Ehrenreichs, Bourdieu, and Simmel, my research develops a theory to explain the impact of changing social structures on status reproduction and faculty unionization. SSA theory explores the historical contingencies that impact relationships between institutions and capital accumulation. Marx’s class relationships, …

Basic Needs Insecurity In U.S. Colleges: Human Rights Unfulfilled, Sarita Cargas, Tammy Thomas

International Journal of Human Rights Education

There have now been fifteen years of research on the basic needs of college students in the U.S. The studies have primarily focused on assessing the prevalence of food and housing insecurity. Determining who is responsible and finding solutions have been less emphasized. The scholarship has also not framed the problems of students’ basic needs insecurity (BNI) as human rights violations. This article argues that applying a human rights lens to the issue reveals that the rights to education, food, and shelter are not being realized, but further, higher education institutions bear considerable responsibility for addressing BNI. Human rights education …

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes Apr 19, 2024, A-State Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

Meeting minutes for the Faculty Senate held on April 19, 2024.

Frameworks For Balancing Care And Excellence In Higher Education (Chapter 2), Daniel L. Dinsmore, Carolyne Ali-Khan

Education: Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we explain our theoretical grounding and provide a framework for what follows. We outline the twin purposes of this book, as we explain our conceptions of care and excellence and the relationship between the two. Like all academic texts our work here stands about other established frameworks, and we diagram this to illustrate where this text fits in the field. Finally, we include an overview of the chapters that follow to serve as a reader guide.

A Small Festschrift In A Big World (Chapter 1), Carolyne Ali-Khan, Daniel L. Dinsmore

Education: Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we provide our personal contexts for Balancing Care and Excellence in Higher Education: A Festschrift in Honor of Jeffrey Cornett. In so doing, we address the place of care and excellence in the 2020’s in our lives through a critical lens, and we examine the ways that these have led to this book. We also place this book in broader contexts to analyze the ways that care has been distorted and weaponized. Further, we examine how care is operationalized in higher education. Through all of this, we argue that each of us bears responsibility for reclaiming care. …

Assessing The Impact Of Library Orientations On Student Engagement And Academic Success, Shivanand Mulimani

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study investigates the influence of library orientations on student engagement and academic success within higher education settings. Using a mixed-methods approach involving surveys, interviews, and academic performance metrics, the research explores the correlation between participation in library orientations and students' familiarity with resources, research skills, and confidence in navigating scholarly databases. Findings indicate a positive relationship between attending orientations and improved academic performance, emphasizing the pivotal role of these programs in enhancing information literacy and shaping students' academic experiences positively. Recommendations include tailored, interactive, and ongoing orientation programs aligned with evolving student needs, aiming to optimize engagement and achievement …

"There Is Power In Being Out": A Three Article Approach Celebrating The Experiences Of Queer University Leaders, Andrew R. E. Lorenzana

Dissertations

Institutions of higher education were historically built to serve a wealthy, White, straight male student population and the leaders of these institutions still largely reflect these demographics. This project specifically aims to celebrate and amplify the life and career of university administrators who identify within the LGBTQ community. Mainly through the use of a portraiture methodology, this three-article study attempts to examine the ways in which LGBTQ identity and career influence one another.

Worldmaking and narrative will be used as a theoretical frame to help analyze the ways in which the telling of a queer individual’s story makes the world …

Alumni Perceptions Of Formative Feedback During The Dissertation Process While Pursuing A Doctoral Degree In Biomedical Science At A Historically Black College And University: A Phenomenological Study, Shontell M.N. Stanford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to discover through the perceptions and lived experiences of biomedical research Ph.D. alums who earned their terminal degree at a southern regional Historically Black College and University (HBCU) if the formative feedback they received impacted their dissertation process. Guided by Bandura’s social learning theory and it’s suggestions of how behavior cultivated by a mentor’s actions and feedback changes the mentee’s behavior and can mature into self-efficacy. This study sheds valuable insight through the lenses of this phenomenological qualitative research methodological strategy of one-on-one interviews, questionnaires, and document reviews. The findings not only uncovered …

Exploring The Writing Center's Role On At-Risk Students' Self-Efficacy And Writing Performance: A Phenomenological Study, Lacey Sipos

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the beliefs and attitudes regarding at-risk higher education students’ experiences with using their institution’s writing center services at a public state university in the Northwestern United States. The research was a transcendental phenomenological approach that used psychologist Moustakas's methodical data analysis procedures and guidelines to construct descriptions that captured the essence of the lived experiences of at-risk students who participated in the study. Bandura’s self-efficacy theory provided the theoretical framework for this study. Previous research continues to examine multiple factors that may contribute to at-risk student populations' underutilization of …

Basic Needs Fulfillment And Course Completion Rates For Online University Students With Disabilities: A Quantitative, Non-Experimental, Causal-Comparative Study, Ashleigh M. King

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental causal-comparative study is to determine if there is a difference in the percentage of courses completed between online university students with disabilities who are experiencing food and/or housing insecurity and those who are not. Students with disabilities at universities are less likely to complete courses than peers without disabilities, and while this discrepancy is often blamed on disability, other factors that impact student performance must be examined to determine if intersecting factors that disproportionately impact people with disabilities, specifically food and housing insecurity, may be contributing to decreased percentages of course completion. The theory …

2024 April 16 - Medical Student Education Committee Minutes, Medical Student Education Committee, East Tennessee State University

Medical Student Education Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

The Pacifican April 16, 2024 A Year In Review, University Of The Pacific

All Issues - Student Newspaper, The Pacifican, Pacific Weekly

No abstract provided.

Associations Between Learning Environment And Study Satisfaction Across Time: Two Cross-Sectional Analyses Of Occupational Therapy Students, Gry Mørk, Susanne G. Johnson, Astrid Gramstad, Linda Stigen, Tove Carstensen, Tore Bonsaksen

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

There is increasing attention toward students’ satisfaction and how they perceive the quality of the program they attend. This study examined stability and change across time with regard to the relationships between learning environment factors and occupational therapy students’ satisfaction with the program. In the two consecutive cross-sectional analyses performed in this study, 163 second-year students and 193 third-year students from all six occupational therapy education programs in Norway participated. The Course Experience Questionnaire was used to assess learning environment factors and study satisfaction. The data were analyzed with Pearson’s correlation coefficient r and with hierarchical linear regression. Bivariate associations …

Who Cares?! Fostering Inclusive And Empowering Environments For Black Students In Predominantly White Institutions: Strategies For Retention And Cultural Engagement, Joel Mandell Stancer, Danielle Allen, Angela Haywood-Gaskin, Kelly Atkins, Rhonda Lingard, Kuriston White-Dunlap

Dissertations

This research focuses on the critical components of caring relationships and how they relate to first-generation Black students’ achievement in higher education. It will reveal how staff-led collegiate programming could benefit first-generation Black college students by allowing them to establish caring relationships and mentorships that allow them to construct a solid support system that is easily accessible to them from the moment they begin college until graduation.

Using data collected from interviews with current college students enrolled in a retention program at a PWI (Predominately White Institution) and in connection with a conceptual framework informed by theorists Nel Noddings, Vincent …

My Story Is In The Structure: An Autoethnographic Study By An Instructional Designer Working In A Centralized Academic Reporting Line, Pamela Williams

Dissertations

Although not officially named in the shared governance of an institution, instructional designers play an important role as they collaborate with administrators and faculty to create high quality, regulatory-compliant courses for enrolled students. Instructional designers working in centralized, academic reporting units may be well-positioned to advance the work of institutions to maintain good standing with the industry and regulatory bodies. To illustrate the challenges, opportunities, and strategies employed by an instructional designer working in such a position, an autoethnographic study was conducted to elucidate how shared governance influences, empowers, and disempowers an instructional designer’s ability to lead and collaborate on …

Anything But Another Essay: Understanding Undergraduate Stem Student Perceptions Of Creative, Project-Based Learning, Emily M. Redding, Lorelei E. Patrick

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

The training of innovative and diverse scientists starts with creative teaching practices. Much of the pedagogy literature on incorporating nontraditional teaching practices in college STEM courses focuses on the use of in-class active learning activities. Less study has been devoted to creative, project-based assignments, such as “UnEssays”. The “UnEssay” is a semester-long assignment that challenges students to complete a library research project on a topic of their choosing and present it using anything but an essay. Although gaining popularity, few studies have assessed STEM student's perceptions of the assignments. To do so, Zoology students were asked to complete pre- and …

A Qualitative Case Study Of An Ultra-Brief Trait Emotional Intelligence Intervention For University Student Leaders, Britne K. Bacca-Haupt, Melinda R. Dilley, Fletcher J. Ferguson, Lisa C. Gillis-Davis, Jacqueline M. Schneller

Dissertations

Emotional intelligence gained interest in the early 1990s from researchers in hopes of assessing how understanding and developing emotions can help individuals be “healthy, rich, successful, loved, and happy” (Mayer et al., 2001, p. xi). Because of the expanded interest, increasing implications began occurring at the postsecondary level of education (Petrides et al., 2018). Trait emotional intelligence focuses on perceptions of oneself and others, illustrating how we regulate our emotions and recognize them in others. This qualitative study aimed to explore the impact of an ultra-brief intervention on the trait emotional intelligence development of university student leaders and how they …

2024 April 5 - Board Of Trustees Finance And Administration Committee Public Notice, Board Of Trustees, East Tennessee State University

Board of Trustees Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

“Redención”: Testimonios Of Latinas Who Chose To Leave The Higher Education Industry, Delia P. Madrid-Nothdurft

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Using the methodological framework of testimonio, this study was an exploration of the experiences of former higher education professionals who identify as women in the Latinx community. Grounded in Latino Critical Theory (LatCrit) and Critical Race Feminism (CRF), this research aims to highlight the narratives of Latina professionals who have separated from the higher education sector. The study is informed by the conceptual framework of Chicana feminist perspective, which contextualizes the analysis of these experiences within a socio-cultural context. Using semi-structured interviews, participants shared their testimonios, providing rich accounts of their journeys and challenges within higher education. Through thematic …

Introduction To 16(2) 2024 And Special Issue: Higher Education In The Digital Age

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Navigating The Maze: The Role Of Pre-Enrollment Socio-Cultural And Institutional Factors In Higher Education In The Age Of Ai, Emily Barnes, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the complex interplay between pre-enrollment socio-cultural and institutional factors and their impact on the higher education landscape. It challenges traditional metrics of academic achievement, presenting a nuanced perspective on student success that emphasizes the importance of socio-economic backgrounds, cultural capital, and K-12 education quality. The analysis extends to the significant role of institutional attributes in shaping student readiness and decision-making processes. The study advocates for the integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven assessments by higher education institutions to cater to the diverse needs of the student body, promoting an inclusive and supportive learning environment. Anchored in an extensive …

Imposters In The Dorms: Exploring The Significance Of Imposter Syndrome In Residential Life Live-In & Live-On Professionals, Samantha Rose Knapton

M.S. in Leadership

Imposter syndrome has been thoroughly studied across fields and disciplines for decades to understand the impact it has on students and professionals in the field. This paper aims to understand the relationship between imposter syndrome and professionals working for residential life departments for colleges and universities while they are living on campus. This study used a mixed methods approach to collect both numeric data as well as a linguistic understanding. Through surveys and interviews, there is a relatively equal feeling of imposter syndrome among residential life live-in/live-on professionals. Many aspects influence the development of imposter syndrome within residential life professionals, …

Full Issue 16(2) 2024

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.