Digital Commons Network^™

An Examination Of Student’S Motivation To Learn In Higher Education: A Study Of Contributing Factors To Undergraduate Students’ Motivation, Aida Jafari

Theses and Dissertations

Motivation is a complicated concept and difficult to measure and study; nevertheless, it is a substantial factor in students’ performance that demands extra attention. Instructors across all grade levels and disciplines struggle to cultivate classroom environments that focus on student interactions and promote interest where high-quality work is produced (Middleton & Perks, 2014). Educators have been searching for new strategies to improve instruction and student learning, and they keep looking for new ways to increase student motivation (Middleton & Perks, 2014). Moreover, practical knowledge in the classroom depends on the instructor’s ability to stimulate the interest and motivation that brought …

The Importance Of Trust And Authenticity Among Stakeholders Involved In Higher Education Data Infrastructure Redevelopments: An Australian Critical Discourse Study, Elizabeth Cook

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Governments require higher education providers (HEPs) to be transparent in their use of public funds and have developed specialised higher education (HE) data infrastructure to enable the data transfer from HEPs to government departments. In 2018, Australia’s Department of Education, Skills and Employment launched Transforming the Collection of Student Information (TCSI) to enhance HE data infrastructure for student data transfer. This critical discourse study explores the discourses, discursive strategies and perspectives surrounding TCSI. Findings included HEP issues and concerns that the interviewees believed were inadequately addressed or ignored despite the Department’s claims of extensive engagement with HEPs to achieve mutually …

Forum On “The Emotional Landscape Of English Medium Instruction (Emi) In Higher Education”, Sara Hillman, Wendy Li, Özgür Şahan, Kari Sahan, Indika Liyanage, Tiefu Zhang, Rui Yuan, Sarah Hopkyns, Christina Gkonou, Pramod K. Sah

All Works

No abstract provided.

Employer Perceptions Of The Skills Gap In College Graduates’ Written Communication, Julie Minnaugh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

U.S. employers have reported that many college graduates are underprepared in written communication when hired and that lack of preparedness hinders these graduates’ employment success. Higher education institution (HEI) administrators need information regarding which writing skills should be taught across the curriculum to improve student outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate employers’ perspectives on the written communication skills gap that hinders college graduates from being successful in their professional practice. Swales’s six characteristics of a discourse community provided a conceptual lens for the study, as graduates commencing employment represent newcomers to a discourse community. A basic qualitative …

Feedback In Context: A Case Study Of Students’ Perceptions Of The Role, Value, And Use Of Instructor Feedback In A College Writing Course, Susan J. Roach

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This case study investigated first-year composition students’ perceptions of instructors’ written feedback. Participants reported on their understanding of the role of feedback, how they processed feedback, and if and how they used it. Thirty-one participants completed a short online survey; the responses were analyzed to identify students who exhibited a range of attitudes and practices. From this group, 15 students were chosen to participate in semi-structures interviews that included a think aloud exercise that asked them to go over previously graded drafts from their class. The findings of this study support that, although students profess they appreciate and see value …

Experiential Learning Projects As Assessment In Initial Teacher Education, Renee Crawford, Louise E. Jenkins, Lydia Wan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In a rapidly changing global environment, Initial Teacher Educators (ITE) have a responsibility to role-model contemporary teaching approaches, which develop graduates who think creatively and flexibly in educational workplaces. An important aspect of this work is supporting pre-service teachers (PSTs) to understand how to design assessments which facilitate a deep understanding of student learning. This learning can be achieved through the implementation of assessments which model contemporary practices and enrich student learning in ITE courses. This paper discusses new ways to consider the purpose of assessment by focusing on Experiential Learning (EL) as a form of assessment in ITE. This …

Exploring Supervisory Needs Of First-Generation Professionals Working In Higher Education, Angela R. Wellman

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

As first-generation students enter the workforce and traverse through their careers, their work supervisors are solidly positioned to positively influence their experiences. There is very little literature to be found that addresses the professional experiences of first-generation professionals in relation to their supervisors. The purpose of this exploratory study was to learn, directly from first-generation professionals working in higher education, what they believe they need from their supervisors to support their well-being and success. This research also sought to discover how important participants thought that each need statement was, as well to gain insight to what extent the identified needs …

Pedagogy Of Belonging: Pausing To Be Human In Higher Education, Narelle Lemon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Valuing care and self-care in higher education requires a conscious pause and rethinking of how we are together as educators and students. The pandemic caused various complexities, including changes in curriculum delivery, deadlines, and assessment modes, leading to feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, and change fatigue, which contributed to the emergence of panicgogy. This paper argues for the need to disrupt this way of being and experiencing the pandemic through valuing humanity and repositioning self-care and care by and for academics to inform their pedagogy. Presented is the narrative and the design story behind Pedagogy of Belonging (PoB), a systems informed …

Dismantling The Master's House: A Decolonial Blueprint For Internationalization Of Higher Education, Bhavika Sicka, Minghui Hou

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

While critical scholars have attempted to decenter internationalization, limited research has aimed to understand internationalization efforts in the context of the socio-historical particularities of the postcolonial condition. This paper takes a decolonial perspective in the study of internationalization, in light of the Eurocentric tendencies of modernity, whose major manifestation in higher education is neoliberal globalization. We unpack internationalization in the U.S. and examine how it is embedded in and reproduces neoliberalism, racism, and colonialism. Since decolonization is not merely deconstructive but also regenerative, we reconceive what it means to be international and recommend how internationalization can be deployed as a …

Meta-Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Project-Based Learning Approach On Academic Achievement In Higher Education Worldwide, Ziyu Meng

Doctoral Dissertations

This research study conducted a meta-analysis to integrate the studies that investigated the effectiveness of project-based learning on academic achievement based on a worldwide higher-education population. The researcher explored the variables that previous meta-analysis studies used to evaluate academic achievements, such as student grade point average (GPA), course grades, and test scores, to explore the use of these variables in project-based learning. There were 17 studies in total included in the meta-analysis evaluating the effect size of academic achievement, which was influenced in moderator variable by subject-matter areas, school location, hours of instruction, technology support, and group size. The researcher …

Elara Conference - Techniques And Technologies To Support Sustainable Education In The Academic Sphere Year I Book 1, European Common Laboratory For Pedagogical Action-Research And Student-Centred Learning (Elara)

Publications

This research event seeks to encourage a critical dialogue between students, academics and researchers. We aim to promote the student voice within the context of sustainability with a student-centered approach. We also intend to popularise, inspire and share best practices with the purpose of questioning and exploring how to further enhance the learning, teaching and research experience of academics, researchers and students in a digital environment. The event aims to offer a creative space vibrant with participants’ voices debating over innovation and change, thus building a bridge between past achievements, knowledge and expertise, on the one hand, and further investigation, …

Stories To Challenge The Status Quo - Experiences Of Black Minority Ethnic Social Care Students In Ireland, Margaret Fingleton

Doctoral

This study examines Black Minority Ethnic social care students’ experiences in Ireland and is located within the parameters of a number of key global events that occurred in the last decade. It provides critical insights into the students lived experiences of migration, resettlement, employment, higher education and social care scholarship.

Theoretically the thesis is grounded in Critical Race Theory (CRT) drawing on the key tenets of race as a social construction, interest convergence, White privilege, storytelling and intersectionality. A participatory research methodology was adopted which informed all phases of the study. Using a combined semi-structured interview/storytelling method the experiences of …

Effects Of Synchronous And Asynchronous Online Instructional Approaches On English-Learning Undergraduate College Students: An Exploratory Study, Ivana Markova, Cristina Azocar

Journal of English Learner Education

Although the significance of the use of online classes remains evident due to their growing prevalence at US universities, they still remain an untested experience for countless English learners (ELs). This research explores EL students’ perceptions of the opportunities for interaction in synchronous and asynchronous online university classroom modalities. It also examines how socioacademic relations and Bandura’s social learning theory can explain the interactions between students and instructors that influence EL students’ literacy development. Participants (n=105) were selected from a large sample pool of 261 EL undergraduate student participants aged 18 to 35. A mixed methods design was …

The Role Of Academic Mobility In The (De)Construction Of Internationalization: Dialogues And Perspectives From, In And On Global South & Global North, Ana Rachel M. Mendes

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

International mobility has played a central role in the views, policies, and actions of internationalization of higher education, despite representing a highly excluding, elitist process with flows that tend to reinforce asymmetrical relationships and colonial domination by the Global North of the Global South. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate how the international mobility is related to the construction of internationalization. To this end, the views of students and professors participating in the academic mobility of one university in Brazil, the Global South, and another in Spain, the Global North, will be analyzed through interviews and later they will be …

Spatial Metaphors In Introductory Statements Of Humanities And Stem Disciplines: A Study Of English And Mechanical Engineering Departments, Olalekan T. Adepoju

Publications and Research

Advances in higher education, specifically in science and technology, have engendered a significant shift of interest from a mainly liberal arts curriculum to STEM-related fields of study, creating a rift in the value systems undergirding the two academic domains. One of the ways the disciplinary disparity is institutionally expressed is through the language used in describing the core values of these disciplines, specifically in the introductory statements of departments. Using the lens of spatial metaphor to consider how the language expresses distinct realities that align with the public perceptions of the disciplines, this paper examines the metaphorical framings in the …

Full Issue: 14(5s) 2022: Emerging Scholars Issue

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Open Educational Resources And Institutional Repositories: Roles, Challenges, And Opportunities For Libraries, James Hutson, Susan Edele, Elizabeth Macdonald, Paul Huffman, Nancy Messina, Maggie Pavone, Carla Mueller, Gabriela Romero

Faculty Scholarship

The adoption of digital-born, Open Educational Resources (OER) has been proven to improve student retention and learning outcomes, and OER has the flexibly to support multiple modalities of instruction. Institutional Repositories are uniquely situated to act as a platform to support and distribute content that can be created collaboratively between faculty researchers as well as students. However, faculty are still largely hesitant to adopt OER sources for a variety of reasons, not least among them being a lack of exposure and understanding of the potential benefits for both faculty and students in keeping curriculum affordable, up-to-date, and nimble through media-rich, …

Evidence Of Emotional Intelligence In College Presidents’ Public Writing: Does Their Emotional Intelligence Change Over Time?, Karen Powers Liebhaber

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Higher education (HIED) presidents face a wide variety of competing demands and pressures. High emotional intelligence (EI) has been found to be effective in good leadership, but few studies exist which examine HIED presidents’ EI. This quantitative growth model study attempted to expand the understanding of EI and its source of change among HIED presidents. Several conceptualizations link together in this study to better understand HIED presidents’ EI. First, higher EI has been linked to strong leadership and strong communication. Studies show EI can change over time and EI is associated with certain demographic factors. Further, language, particularly written language, …

Vulnerability And Well-Being: International Students’ Experience In North Queensland, Australia

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

A Nexus Of Literate Activity: The Design Of Writing Assignments In The Disciplines, Lauriellen Stankavich

English Theses & Dissertations

Writing plays a critical role in higher education as students are inducted into disciplinary practices through different genres, methodological repertoires and argumentation strategies. In Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiatives, the instructor serves as an embodied reservoir of disciplinary knowledge and an arbiter of literate practices but most crucially employs the mediating capacities of the writing assignment as a potent pedagogical nexus. In this practice space, the instructor acts as designer of the pedagogical experience—the course as a whole and writing assignments in particular. This study used interviews, survey, and the collection of syllabi and other instructional artifacts to examine …

No Dejes Nada En La Puerta: Achieving Equity Through Asset-Based Peer Support, Brooklyn Herrera

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

Higher education institutions are becoming increasingly diverse, and Latinx students are a major contributor to this diversity, as they are the largest and fastest growing minoritized population in the United States. Nevertheless, retention and completion gaps for Latinx students persist (Kolluri, 2021). Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) play a pivotal role in promoting educational equity for Latinx students, but they have traditionally been concentrated in urban areas and a small number of states. In future years, new HSIs will emerge largely in rural environments and states with rapidly growing Latinx populations, such as Georgia.

Informed by community cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), this …

Language Assessment And Writer Identity In Higher Education: A Qualitative Analysis Of Labeling Learners Through Placement Tests, Tizreena Binti Mohd Ismail, Najeh Rajeh Alsalhi

Information Sciences Letters

This study aims to explore the assessment process that labels the language abilities of students even before they begin their first year of undergraduate education at the University. The study was conducted in three ways: first, enumerating stances in the literature that demonstrate how institutionalized labels as a result of the assessment can lead to conflicting identities in students, especially in higher education; secondly, presenting qualitative data on assessment practices and their relationship in instilling a contradictory, deficit writer identity in students. Thirdly, arguing that assessment which labels students affect learner motivation and writer confidence of students ultimately creating negativity …

Language Assessment And Writer Identity In Higher Education: A Qualitative Analysis Of Labeling Learners Through Placement Tests, Tizreena Binti Mohd Ismail, Najeh Rajeh Alsalhi

Information Sciences Letters

This study aims to explore the assessment process that labels the language abilities of students even before they begin their first year of undergraduate education at the University. The study was conducted in three ways: first, enumerating stances in the literature that demonstrate how institutionalized labels as a result of the assessment can lead to conflicting identities in students, especially in higher education; secondly, presenting qualitative data on assessment practices and their relationship in instilling a contradictory, deficit writer identity in students. Thirdly, arguing that assessment which labels students affect learner motivation and writer confidence of students ultimately creating negativity …

Student Voices From A Student- And Faculty-Led Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Committee, Mary C. Wofford, Thales De Nardo, Amy Rose, Yelena Carlisle, Nicholas Fasanello, Emma Himelein-Wachowiak, Karis Kerr, Helen Whiteside

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Speech-language pathologists and audiologists have recognized an increased need for discussions surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the profession. The purpose of this work is to describe one evidence-informed approach to forming a departmental student- and faculty-led committee at a university and to highlight participant student voices from the committee. The committee’s formation, organization, and activities are discussed from the perspectives of its members.

Internationalization Experiences Of Universities In The United States And In Turkey, Gülşah Taşçıa, Bernhard Streitwieser, Seyfi Kenan

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This paper offers an analysis of key stakeholders’ internationalization experiences in a selection of three leading universities in the United States and three in Turkey. We used phenomenological research methodology to understand the mechanisms behind internationalization in each setting, and a research design that allowed us to engage in a detailed analysis of the decisions made by some of the key university figures in each country. The findings will be useful for higher education institutions that seek to better understand the myriad ways that internationalization goals can become operationalized, and the impact of particular goals and strategies in two contrasting …

The Making Of A Bilingual University In The 21st Century, Michael Mena

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

At the southernmost tip of Texas, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) opened its doors on August 31, 2015 as a ‘bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate’ campus—the only one of its kind and at a scale never before attempted in the United States. This is a categorical achievement in the near 200 year-long quest for the educational advancement of Latinxs in Texas—a state historically structured by white supremacist ideologies, violent economic and political disenfranchisement, as well as a racially segregated education system designed to maintain exploitative labor practices (Montejano 1987; González 1990, 2013, 1999; Blanton 2004). This constitutes the …

“Lock Us In A Room Together”—Local Students’ Suggestions For Improving Socialization With International Students, Vander Tavares

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

In Canada, research has examined international-local student interaction by focusing on international students’ perceptions and experiences. As such, the perspectives of local students toward socialization with international students remain less explored. Designed as a survey-based case study with 17 local students at a university in Ontario, this study sought to understand the perspectives of local students on how to improve socialization between the two groups. Additionally, this study investigated how local students conceptualized their experiences of multiculturalism and multilingualism at their university, considering the importance of diversity for the development of intercultural knowledge and intercultural relationships. Findings suggest that local …

Internationalization Experiences Of Universities In The United States And In Turkey, Gülşah Taşçı, Bernhard Streitwieser, Seyfi Kenan

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Full Issue 14(4) 2022

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

International Students’ Perception Of Intercultural Communication From Official University Sources, Liseth Hubbard

Communication Theses

Research on intercultural communication has centered on the difficulties that international students experience during their adjusting journey in their new residence away from home. However, there are relatively few in-depth studies that report on international students’ perceptions of communicative practices from university officials. Following a social phenomenological approach, this study focuses on understanding the impressions and experiences of 12 international students. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews centered on three sensitizing concepts: intercultural sensitivity (IS), intercultural communication competence (ICC), and intercultural learning (IL). Data were analyzed using an iterative phonetic approach as described by Sarah Tracy (2019). The findings were …