Digital Commons Network^™

A Phenomenological Study Of Faculty Involvement In The Retention And Recruitment Of Students At A Two-Year College: A Progressive Approach, Theresa Marie Strong

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the proven strategies used by faculty to increase retention and recruitment at two-year colleges. The theory guiding this study is van Manen’s theory on hermeneutical phenomenology, as it focuses on the lived experiences of the participants and interpreting their told stories. The setting of this research study consists of two-year community and technical colleges throughout the lower Southeastern United States. Participants in this study include faculty and academic chairs at two-year community and technical colleges throughout the lower Southeastern states who have experience in the student advising process. The faculty and …

Improving The High School And College Classroom Experience For Learners With Refugee Status: Theory, Practice, And Change., Kayte Thomas, Sara-Jean Lipmen

Journal of Applied Disciplines

Refugee populations are increasing globally, and children make up more than fifty percent of those displaced. Unique experiences that come with forced migration including fragmented education, trauma, family separation, grief, and adverse other effects can impact learning in the classroom for refugee students. Existing data indicates that schools lack sufficient protocols to meet the needs of students with refugee status who consistently face risks associated with ill-prepared learning environments, and therefore must rethink possibilities to address this. By adopting strategic decolonized approaches, educational leaders can create supportive environments which improve instructional methods and learning outcomes for these students as they …

A Qualitative Study On Malaysian Academics' Perceptions And Suggestions On Gamified Learning, Mohd. Elmagzoub Eltahir, Nagaletchimee Annamalai, Arulselvi Uthayakumaran, Samer H Zyoud, Bilal Zakarneh Dr, Najeh Rajeh Alsalhi

The Qualitative Report

This study explores lecturers' perceptions and suggestions on integrating gamified lessons in Malaysian higher institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the norm of traditional classroom teaching by accelerating digital integration amongst educators and necessitating the need to address classroom gamification. To further understand educators' perceptions, we conducted in-depth interviews with 25 lecturers. We thematically analyzed the interviews by following the steps undertaken by Braun and Clarke (2006) to identify the emerging themes. The findings determine that educators found gamification suitable in teaching and learning activities during the set induction, reinforcement and assessment of specific skills. Several misconceptions also evident …

Institutional Rhetoric And Campus Reactions: A Multi-Method Case Study Exploring University Communication And Social Responsibility In A Racial Crisis, Rockia K. Harris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This case study explores how an institution in the southeastern conference (SEC) responded to racial reckonings before and after the 2020 murder of George Floyd, how students came to perceive the institution's responses and commitment to diversity and inclusion. To understand this phenomenon beyond apologia and image repair theory, the discourse of renewal theoretical framework and university social responsibility guides this dissertation. This work fills a gap in the literature on crisis communication in response to racism in higher education spaces. Using critical discourse analysis and an open-ended survey, this dissertation further explores the idea of social responsibility of institutions …

Integrating Behavioral Research Findings With A Liberal Arts Paradigm, Jonathan Peterson

LSU Master's Theses

This paper explores the role of behavioral research in understanding the complexity and relevance of creativity. A brief history of the liberal arts and its current application is followed by a discussion of the importance of variability in generating novel and diverse responses, challenging the notion that creativity is solely a product of innate talent. The effects of reinforcement on variability, and how it relates to a complex relationship between reinforcement and the probability of variable responding leads to a discussion of how the combination of previously trained behaviors can lead to creative problem-solving, emphasizing the role of combinatory behavior …

Using Active Student Responding And Competition Via Kahoot! To Improve Student Academic Engagement At College Level, Brittany Pearson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Active student responding (ASR) is an effective intervention used in schools to improve student engagement and academic performance. Among the various ASR modalities, online applications have received much more attention than low-tech ASR modalities due to the widespread use of smartphones and the availability of mobile applications. One totable online application is Kahoot!, which offers a range of interactive features. Considering the limited existing research on using ASR at the college level, particularly, using Kahoot!, this study examined the use of Kahoot! to improve academic engagement in college students. The study was conducted with one undergraduate class in applied behavior …

Perspectives On The Impact, Mission And Purpose Of The Business School, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The business school has been an important success story in the evolution of the modern university. The concept of how the impact, mission, purpose, and value of a management school should be formulated is often delegated to the dean, faculty and advisory committees in most schools. The British Academy has contributed significantly to the emerging debate on the purpose of a business school by both examining the concept of a purposeful business school in business and management education and, more recently, investigating what, and how, business schools should teach, grow and develop. Greater attention has been directed towards developing more …

Business Schools Should Be Schools Of Management: An Evolutionary Perspective, Kai Peters, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This chapter looks at the original driving forces which led to the creation of institutions, particularly in the US, including the vision of their founders which would support our perspective in favour of schools of management. It looks at the years following the Second World War and how the Ford and Carnegie ‘Foundation Reports’ as well as the Cold War led to further evolution away from a school of management to a business school mission. The chapter looks at the period roughly from 1970 to 2000 during which US business school funding, which had been largely provided by the foundations, …

The Hero Within: Developing The Psychological Capital Of First-Generation Students, Mary Elizabeth Sewell

Theses and Dissertations

Psychological capital (PsyCap) is a higher-order construct comprised of four psychological resources: hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism (HERO), and has been linked to academic achievement and engagement (Hazan Liran & Miller, 2019; Luthans, et al., 2012). Interventions designed to build PsyCap may be particularly helpful for firstgeneration (FG) students who face additional challenges in higher education. This study aimed to: (1) explore differences in PsyCap among FG and continuing generation (CG) students; (2) investigate relationships between PsyCap, GPA, and persistence; and (3) examine the impact of a 2-hour PsyCap micro-intervention (PCI) on FG students’ academic PsyCap, academic achievement (GPA), and …

Racial Differences And Lived Experiences: Civil Rights Experiences And A Private, Religious, Predominantly White Institution, Anthony Brandon Bates

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This article explores the expressed thoughts and feelings of 24 research participants who processed and articulated their lived experiences. They each attended the same private, religious, historically, and predominantly White institution and participated in a three-credit course that covered the history of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and '60s, which culminated in an experience in Georgia and Alabama (Civil Rights experience). Methods: In this phenomenological study, the research participants all participated in a semi-structured interview with the same bank of questions. The questions were designed to examine their lived experiences, within the context of participating in the …

Latter-Day Saint Women And Leadership In Higher Education: An Intrinsic Case Study, Elizabeth J. Darger

Theses and Dissertations

There are few women in the highest levels of leadership in most industries, including higher education. This intrinsic case study provides insight into the leadership journeys of 15 female leaders at Brigham Young University, which is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Four prevalent themes emerged about their leadership journeys. First, a leadership role was not part of the participant's life plan. The remaining three themes related to acceptance of a leadership role. Participants reported feeling nudged to consider a leadership role, feeling a sense of relational responsibility in accepting a leadership role, and receiving a …

Accessibility Of Blended Learning For Special Needs Students In Higher Education, Reem Yaseen Al-Sulaimani

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigated the experiences of visually impaired students and their faculty members with blended learning at University X. Qualitative research methods were employed to gather data through interviews with six visually impaired students and six professors. The study analyzed the data using two frameworks, Universal Design of Learning (UDL) and Community of Inquiry (CoI). The findings indicate that the course design, personalization of accessibility, social inclusion and classroom dynamics, university support and resources, and technology accessibility and digital literacy have an impact on the experiences of visually impaired students and their professors. The study provides recommendations for improving the …

Researching Elite Interviewing In Higher Education In Postcolonial Bangladesh, Ariful H. Kabir

The Qualitative Report

The concept of “elite interviewing” is a recent phenomenon in educational research and has been studied widely in the Western context. Drawing on my own experience, this article traces the challenges and difficulties involved in “elite interviewing” in higher education in post-colonial Bangladesh. It is based on a critical methodological perspective, using a thematic analysis of interviews with 28 higher education policy-making elites working between the 1990s and 2010s at the state level in Bangladesh. This article examines how the local power structure within the current socio-political context emerged from a long colonial past, and how this in turn influenced …

Mental Health Needs And Services Utilization Among Undergraduate And Graduate Students In Texas During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Alice P. Villatoro, Vanessa L. Errisuriz, Melissa J. Dupont-Reyes

Public Health

COVID-19 created a global crisis, exacerbating disparities in social determinants of health (SDOH) and mental health (MH). Research on pandemic-related MH and help-seeking is scarce, especially among high-risk populations such as college/university students. We examined self-rated MH and psychological distress, the perceived need for MH services/support, and the use of MH services across the SDOH among college/university students during the start of the pandemic. Data from the COVID-19 Texas College Student Experiences Survey (n = 746) include full- and part-time undergraduate/graduate students. Regressions examined self-rated MH, psychological distress, perceived need, and service use across SDOH, controlling for pre-pandemic MH, age, …

Student Perceptions Of Gender Studies As An Academic Discipline In Pakistan, Rabbia Aslam, Saad Ali Khan

Journal of International Women's Studies

The article aimed to highlight the varied perceptions of students studying Gender Studies as an academic discipline at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Pakistan. The research objective of this article was to document the students’ experiences, perceptions, misconceptions, and anxieties regarding Gender Studies. This research is the result of a continuous journey in this field where we have actively engaged and interacted with students studying in various semesters. The research was qualitative in nature and in-depth interview guidelines were employed to conduct interviews with the students of the Center of Excellence in Gender Studies (CEGS) at QAU, Islamabad. The sample size consisted …

Minoritized Graduate Students’ Recommendations To Communication Sciences And Disorders Programs To Improve Inclusion Of Minoritized Students, Teresa M. Roberts

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Minoritized students in Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) programs have unique insights into inclusion and diversity initiatives based on their lived experiences. In this study, the researcher examined and analyzed recommendations that minorized CSD graduate students provided to programs to increase inclusion. The researcher identified themes within the recommendations using discourse analysis to analyze how students positioned themselves and faculty in relationship to diversity and inclusion. A total of 104 minoritized CSD graduate students across 28 states completed a survey that included demographic information and a writing prompt for recommendations to programs. The study found that students valued broad and …

Dna Ancestry Testing And Racial Discourse In Higher Education: How The (Re)Biologization Of Race (Un)Settles Monoracialism For Graduate Students, Orkideh Mohajeri, Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, Anita K. Foeman, Bessie Lee Lawton

Communication and Media Faculty Publications

The recent proliferation of DNA testing in both popular culture and higher education calls to question whether such testing reifies race as a biological construct and, in particular, whether or not it disrupts or reinforces monoracial categorizations. Graduate students, who are often at a point in their educational journeys to further question and critique commonly held ideas, provide a unique lens through which to investigate discourses surrounding DNA testing. In this qualitative study, we analyze data from four focus groups with 22 racially diverse U.S. graduate students who had recently completed an ancestry test. We identify two specific discourses that …

Internationalization Strategies In Chinese Higher Education Institutions: Examining A Selection Of Award-Winning Four-Year Universities, Yuqian Zhang

Dissertations

China is building the fastest growing higher education system, in quality as well as in quantity, in the world and emphasizes internationalization in education policy as a guide to building its own capacity and developing native talent. With regained self-confidence and geopolitical ambition, China is also emerging as a new potential higher education leader along its New Silk Road. The purpose of this study was to explore internationalization strategies employed at select, award-winning Chinese four-year universities, specifically those awarded the National Teaching Achievement Award, the highest national award in teaching and education in the country, for their internationalization efforts.

This …

Perspectives On The Impact, Mission And Purpose Of The Business School, Eric Cornuel, Howard Thomas, Matthew Wood

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This book explores the impact and purpose of the business school, and addresses some of the most important questions facing management education today. The diverse perspectives brought together by the EFMD in this volume examine a number of common questions, themes and challenges. These include: whether business schools should be viewed as schools of management, given the complexity of the business environment; what is the positive impact of business school research, and the balance of relevant, practical impact and academic rigour; the strategic evolution of business schools and how they may evolve in a more purposeful direction; and why business …

The Everydayness Of Instructional Design And The Pursuit Of Quality In Online Courses, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

This article reports research into the everydayness of instructional design (meaning designers’ daily routines, run-of-the-mill interactions with colleagues, and other, prosaic forms of social contact), and how everydayness relates to their pursuit of quality in online course design. These issues were investigated through an ethnographic case study, centered on a team of instructional designers at a university in the United States. Designers were observed spending significant amounts of time engaged in practices of course refinement, meaning mundane, workaday tasks like revising, updating, fine-tuning, or fixing the courses to which they were assigned. Refining practices were interrelated with, but also experienced …

International Comparison Of Tertiary Education Systems, Ian Teo, Michelle Hsien, Sarah Buckley, Anita Roberts

Higher education research

This report is designed to review high performing tertiary systems internationally (Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, Korea, Singapore and New Zealand) and compare these systems to Australia. This review highlights best practice in international tertiary education systems as well as system weaknesses by considering the following criteria for each country of interest: Tertiary education system performance, including participation, attainment, labour market outcomes, and public and private returns for tertiary education; The national context, including the shape of the broader education system, and relevant demographic and economic characteristics; The structure of tertiary education systems, including linkages between higher education and vocational …

Singapore Management University (Smu): Tracking The Strategy Evolution Of A Start-Up University, Michelle P. Lee, Howard Thomas, Alex Wilson

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The year 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the Singapore Management University (SMU). SMU exists in an ecosystem for higher education that is quite unlike what one might find in other parts of the world. The supportive and stable environment the Singapore government provided in terms of its funding and policies meant a more predictable environment within which a university can make long-range planning. Singapore's development since its independence in 1965 has been undergirded by the belief that a strong educational system is the backbone of the country's economic development. The Era of Evolution is a story of both implementation …

Improving Nursing Student Retention: Early Identification Of Determinants Causing Attrition In Nursing Academic Programs, Tennille Gifford

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Introduction: Student success in higher education is a vital focus for the health of a community and the improvement of an individual’s life. It is equally detrimental if a student leaves an educational program without a degree. The purpose of this project was to improve the early identification of students at risk of attrition in a nursing program by using an electronic dashboard interfaced with a self-reporting student survey to identify determinants that are statistically significant factors for student attrition. Background: The current accreditation benchmark for nursing program completion is 70% for Bachelor of Science in Nursing degrees. Concordia St. …

Cripping And Deafening Covid-19- Re-Framing A Pandemic In Higher Education, Wendy S. Harbour

International Journal on Responsibility

This article looks at ways institutions of higher education (IHEs) can use the models of disability, disability studies, and Deaf studies to “crip” and “Deafen” their response to COVID-19. A review of previous epidemics and pandemics, including yellow fever, the 1918 influenza epidemic, polio, and HIV/AIDS disease, disability, and Deafness. Health services, counseling centers, and disability resource centers expanded over time, and IHEs still rely heavily on them for health, disability, and Deaf concerns. By cripping and Deafening COVID-19 responses, higher education can use a more holistic view of the pandemic, making illness, mental health, disability and Deafness the responsibility …

University Administrators’ Visions For The Recovery Of International Student Exchange In A Post–Covid-19 World, Yusuke Sakurai, Yukiko Ishikura, Ryoko Nakano, Yuki Nabeshima, Yu Sengoku, Akito Okada, Sachihiko Kondo

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: Little is known about how international functions of higher education, such as exchange programmes, can be resumed during recovery from a disruptive global crisis, such as COVID-19. We collected the opinions of administrators of international exchange programmes regarding their plans to resume their exchange programmes in the recovery phase and identified variations in the responses concerning institution type (public vs. private) and the presence or absence of a medical school.

Method: We used multiple-choice survey questions in our study, resulting in 180 valid responses. We examined overall patterns using descriptive statistics and institutional uniqueness using Fisher’s exact test.

Results: …

Dialogues Between First-Generation Mexican American Female Students In Higher Education And Their Parents, Rosa Elena Zavala Morales

Master's Theses

First-generation female Mexican American students are part of the growing Latinx population of students entering American college campuses all over the country. They are students who have had to jump over several obstacles such as traditional gender roles and structures of inequality to attend university on their own. But they are not fully alone. Loyalty to family is a central core value many Mexican American women believe in, making family an integral part of their journey in higher education. Additionally, traditional gender roles, in conjunction with family, play a part in the responsibilities they take at home with their families. …

Recruitment Barriers For Minoritized Females That Limit Access To Higher Education, Tya Miles

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Minoritized Black students who are average academic performers have often been overlooked as a targeted group in empirical studies that look at barriers and other limitations for minority students (Rodriguez, 2015; Stewart, 2013). This study seeks to identify the practices that higher education institutions are currently utilizing to recruit underprivileged minoritized girls who are not high performers or athletes, the effectiveness of those practices, and what changes could potentially be made to improve overall access to college for these students. The qualitative ethnographical study was comprised of semi structured interviews of seven high school personnel, which included high school counselors, …

Chapter 1- Mentoring Origins And Evolution, Bob Garvey

Making Connections

This chapter is in nine parts. The first explores the origins and meanings of mentoring from the Ancient Greek to modern times in different parts of the world. The second section discusses the similarities and differences between mentoring and other developmental relationships.

The third part explores the difficulties in defining mentoring. As an alternative to a definition, the fourth part looks at the dimensions of mentoring and the fifth part explores how the dimensions could be applied in practice. Following this, the sixth section considers a range of mentoring arrangements found in academia and uses the dimensions framework to develop …

Haudenosaunee Men And Masculinities In Higher Education: Perceptions, Reminders, And Responsibilities To Community, Hugh Burnam

Dissertations - ALL

Native men in higher education experience among the lowest persistence and graduation rates in the United States (Condition of Education, 2020). Native men are subjected to systemic barriers brought by settler colonialism such as racism and patriarchal hegemony which negatively impact their perceptions of masculinity and forces them to move away from their traditional cultural teachings (Boyden, et al., 2014; Innes & Anderson, 2015). These systemic barriers also detrimentally impact the perceptions and experiences of Native men in higher education (Poolaw, 2018; Still, 2019). The experiences of Native men in higher education still need to be explored further (Reyes & …

Leading A Community Promise: A Mixed Method Study Exploring The Dynamics Of Adaptive Leadership And Student Success, Elizabeth M. Narehood

Dissertations, 2020-current

The purpose of this study is to gain greater understanding of the dynamics between adaptive leadership strategy and the success of community college students. A strategic alliance formed between a community college and a college promise non-profit organization provides the complex environment to explore these phenomena. The establishment of a “Future Center” on the community college campus serves as the adaptive focal point of the study. The study’s theoretical framework is based upon the interaction of two perspectives: the ecological model of student development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and adaptive leadership theory (Heifetz & Laurie, 1997). Study design utilized a three-phased exploratory …