Digital Commons Network^™

Perception Of Elite And Universal Systems Of Higher Education: An Explanation Of The Empirical Thresholds, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Systems of higher education are usually divided into elite, mass, and universal, depending on the proportion of young people who attend college. Human experts perceive a system as elite is less than 15\% of young people of the 18--21 age group attend college, and as universal if more than 40% of young people of this age group attend college. The corresponding 15% and 40% thresholds are, however, purely empirical. In this paper, we provide an explanation for these empirical thresholds -- an explanation based on the known psychological 7 plus minus 2 law.

Consolidated E-Book Usage Statistics 2012-2013, Andree Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Consolidated usage statistics for e-books available through the University of Rhode Island Libraries from July 2012 through June 2013. Data from three COUNTER-compliant reports are included: BR2, BR1, and JR1. Usage for titles that received no use during the time period is excluded.

Platforms include:

• Early English Books Online
• EBSCOhost
• Gale
• OVID
• Morgan & Claypool
• ProjectMUSE
• Safari Books Online
• Salem Online
• ScienceDirect
• SpringerLink

The Social Support For International Graduate Students To Obtain Academic Success, Ping He

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Previous studies suggest that international graduate students' academic success is significantly associated with the average grade point (GPA), and this measure is closely related with international graduate students' received academic and financial supports. However, international graduate students' academic success can involve a multidimensional measurement besides the average grade point (GPA). Hence, the current study explored the correlation between international graduate students' perceived social support and perceived academic success from an inclusive perspective. The perceived social support included the categories of academic support, financial support, emotional support and spiritual support. The perceived academic success included the aspects of knowledge learning, research …

A Foreign Affair: A Phenomenological Study Of Barriers To Adult Liberian Refugees' Success In The American College Classroom, Carla White Ellis

English as a Second Language Faculty Publications & Research

Liberia has survived a fourteen-year civil war. Within this time, many Liberians were forced to flee their countries and seek refuge. The United States and Liberia have held a long-standing friendly relationship; hence, there are thousands of Liberian refugees living within the United States. The educational issues of refugees worldwide is lacking in research. Consequently, the purpose of this dissertation is to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of adult Liberian refugees matriculating within American college classrooms. Through phenomenological methodology, the lived experiences of ten Liberian refugees enrolled within American college classrooms produced valuable results. Three major themes were …

The Intellectual And Curricular Spaces Of Knowledge Studies, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

The words “knowledge” and “information” are sometimes used interchangeably, but the connection between them is complex and problematic. Knowledge is a mental product gained from engaging with information. All educational subjects, scholarly disciplines, occupations, and activities produce knowledge as well as information. Because libraries encompass potentially all subjects, professional vision in librarianship would benefit from an examination of knowledge that transcends the methods and topical concerns of individual disciplines. An interdisciplinary (or transdisciplinary) framework in which to view knowledge was pioneered in the post-Sputnik age by Fritz Machlup and Michael Polanyi. Their insights have stimulated scholars to develop research, publications, …

Course Offerings, Spring 2013 [Difficult Dialogues], Clark University

Difficult Dialogues (2006-2013)

Difficult Dialogues course offerings for the Spring 2013 semester. While each semester's Difficult Dialogues programming centered around a theme, the initiative's course offerings covered a broader range of topic approaching the process of dialogues in a variety of ways and across a number of disciplines.

Clark University's Difficult Dialogues initiative was launched in 2006 and ran through 2013. The initiative aimed to raise awareness and develop skills of dialogue as a distinct approach to discourse, as well as encourage its practice among faculty, staff, and students.

Information Technology Effects On Tunisian College Students; Tunisian English Majors As A Case Study, Ahmed Lachheb

Masters Theses

Tunisia has been recently in the worldwide news since December 2010. A country where the “Arab Spring” started that lead to a major political, economic and social shift in the Middle East and North Africa’s region. Change in all the country’s systems and dynamics is occurring on a daily basis during the current post-revolutionary period. However, Tunisia’s profile in academic journals and research is absent due to the lack of research work. In a country peopled with about 10 million, almost half a million students are attending 239 public and private higher educational institutions¹. Seeking higher education is …

Faculty Senate Newsletter, February 2013, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from President: Years ago, American Airlines backgrounded its television advertisements with a hauntingly optimistic jingle featuring one phrase, “something special in the air.” Tone, whether musical or inflectional or atmospheric, is indeed something airy— something halfway between the inferred and the empirical. One of the wonders if not miracles of recent educational policy is the sudden change in tone among the campuses of the University of Louisiana System since the arrival of new, imaginative, and energetic leadership in the “UoL” System office. Nothing has changed in the budget picture and therefore not too much has happened empirically. Nevertheless, and …

Common Data Set, 2013-2014, Office Of Institutional Research, Bridgewater State University

Common Data Sets

No abstract provided.

A Mixed Methods Examination Of Structural Bigenderism And The Consequences For Transgender And Gender Variant People, Kristie Lynn Seelman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For years, transgender activists and their allies have spoken out about the oppression that transgender and gender non-conforming people experience in relation to societal systems and institutions, due to policies and practices that do not acknowledge non-binary experiences of gender, that do not recognize that one's gender may change over time or may not match cultural expectations for gender expression, and that punish and discriminate against trans people (Gilbert, 2009; Lombardi & Davis, 2006; Markman, 2011; Spade, 2006; WWRC, 2010). Scholars have called for human services professionals and researchers to critique the failures of institutions in society (and the people …

The United Colours Of Etiquette: Interculturally In The Higher Education Classroom, Sue Norton, Marty Meinardi

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Making An Impact: New Directions For Arts And Humanities Research, Ellen Hazelkorn

Articles

The severity of the global economic crisis has put the spotlight firmly on measuring academic and research performance and productivity, and assessing its contribution, value, impact and benefit. While traditionally, research output and impact was measured by peer-publications and citations, there is increased emphasis on a “market-driven approach”, which favours the bio-, medical and technological sciences, and helped reinforce a disciplinary hierarchy in which arts and humanities research (A&HR) has struggled for attention. This article charts the changing policy environment across Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway. It draws on evidence from the HERAVALUE project which studied how different stakeholders value …

Social Class And Learning Disabilities: Intersectional Effects On College Students In New York City, Ashleigh B. Thompson

Publications and Research

Purpose - Previous quantitative research documents that college students with disabilities do not attain higher education at rates equal to their nondisabled peers. This qualitative study posits that socioeconomic status (SES) is a determinant of this discrepancy, and explores how SES and disability shape the college experience of New York City (NYC) students with learning disabilities (LDs), specifically.

Methodology - Research findings from semi-structured interviews with students with LDs (n = 10) at a low-SES and a high-SES colleges are presented against the backdrop of administrative data from NYC baccalaureate-granting colleges (n = 44), disability staff surveys (n = 21), …

2013-2014 Course Catalog, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of The Registrar

University of Montana Course Catalogs, 1895-2024

An annual catalog of courses and course descriptions offered at the University of Montana.

Summer Schooled: My Summer As A Bad Student, Laura Browder

English Faculty Publications

We all complain about our weak students--their slacking off during group work; their bizarre inability to comprehend simple directions; their disorganization; their need to tell us how smart they really are, despite appearances; the way they sometimes put their heads down on their desks. Imagine my dismay when I enrolled in summer school and found myself exhibiting most of those behaviors. Returning to the classroom as a student after working as a professor for almost 20 years has changed the way I look at my own students--and has been profoundly humbling for me. Because I was not just a returning …

The Piloting Of An Academic Literacy Education Course (Alec) To Improve Academic Literacy Of First Semester Undergraduate Students In A Western Australian University, Joyce M. Hendricks, Lesley J. Andrew, Amanda C. Fowler

Research outputs 2013

Widening participation has enabled access to higher education for an increasing number of students via a range of non-traditional pathways. Consequently, whilst having a large repertoire of skills and experience, these students may not have developed sufficient competence in academic literacy. The School of Nursing and Midwifery has a large proportion of such students who have difficulty making the academic transition to university study. It is believed that a ‘built in’ approach to supporting these students to develop academic literacy will result in an improvement in their abilities to meet the requirements of the University and to better prepare them …

Measuring Normlessness In The Workplace: A Study Of Organizational Anomie In The Academic Setting, Tayo Glenn Switzer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The dissertation explores leadership and change by examining normlessness in the workplace through a multi-layered study of anomie theory, anomie research in the workplace, and organizational and business management theory. The research validates a quantitative survey designed to measure the level of normlessness experienced by workgroups within an organizational context. The survey reflects a set of six normative aspects that when disrupted produce organizational anomie—a state of normlessness that leads to an increase in worker resistance and a reduction in worker consent. The audience studied in this dissertation is associate professors at a large Midwestern research university. Data were gathered …

Communications Connection - Fall 2012, Nova Southeastern University

Communications Connection

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Newsletter, October 2012, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

LSU Faculty Senate Publications

Message from President: “Diversity” is one of those words that can carry diverse meanings. As one story in this issue of the Newsletter reports, LSU A&M’s diversity office is making a salutary move by the introduction, in its annual report, of numerous colorful icons representing the many diversities that the world has to offer. That modern, dispersed diversity contrasts with the more centripetal sort that attracted attention earlier in Louisiana’s history, when higher education institutions sought primarily and specifically to remedy past injustices through outreach to African-American student and faculty cadres. The flexibility of the term “diversity” comes in handy …

Higher Education Students’ Reflections On Learning In Times Of Academic Language Shift, Anne Marie Kagwesage

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This article deals with the current debate on the use of English as the only medium of instruction in contexts where it is a second or foreign language. More specifically, it investigates Rwandan students’ reflections on using English as the sole medium of instruction in their everyday higher education academic activities. The study is mainly based on individual interviews from students at a University in Rwanda, where the language in education policy has changed considerably over the last decade. The findings suggest that students face different challenges and difficulties in using the newly adopted language of learning and teaching. They …

Ucla Faculty Survey Results 2001-2011, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

Assessment

Faculty survey institutional profile.

Principles Of Learner Autonomy In Action: Effects And Perceptions In A College-Level Foreign Language Class, Heiko Everwien Ter Haseborg

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study was designed to investigate how college learners of a foreign language perceived learner autonomy, its effects on student motivation, and its benefits to different parts of language learning. It utilized a mixed-methods design. Participants were 90 undergraduate students in German courses of different levels. During the course of instruction, principles of learner autonomy were implemented in the instruction. Qualitative as well as quantitative data were collected in the form of a self-assessment survey, learning journals, reflective statements, and an autonomous learning survey. The analysis was focused on (1) how students perceived the ability to make autonomous learning choices, …

Panel Discussion On Libraries And Best Practices In Fair Use, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Faculty Publications

This report covers a panel discussion on the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries, published in January 2012 by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). The panel was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on March 23, 2012 and was hosted by the MIT Libraries. Panelists were Patricia Aufderheide of the Center for Social Media at American University; Brandon Butler of ARL; Kyle Courtney of Harvard Law School; and Jay Wilcoxson of MIT.

Perceived Factors Influencing The Retention Rate Of Native American College Students: A Case Study, Tamara Louise Bergstrom

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The number of Native Americans entering college is higher now than it has been over the past 40 years; however, the degree completion rate has been less than half that of White students. This research study was a bounded case study of Native American students enrolled in the teacher education program. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the perceived factors influencing the retention rate of Native American college students. Some of the theoretical models that explain why students stay or leave an institution before earning a college degree look more toward explaining this phenomenon in a …

The Pacifican February 23, 2012, University Of The Pacific

All Issues - Student Newspaper, The Pacifican, Pacific Weekly

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes Feb 3, 2012, A-State Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Quantitative Literacy Interventions At University Of Cape Town: Effects Of Separation From Academic Disciplines, Vera Frith

Numeracy

The aim of the Numeracy Centre at the University of Cape Town is to develop students’ quantitative literacy (QL) in a manner consistent with their programmes of study and intended roles in the community. Our theoretical perspective on the nature of QL is in line with that of the New Literacies Studies and sees academic QL as practices in different academic disciplinary contexts. This means that for us the ideal curriculum structure for developing QL would fully integrate it into the teaching of the disciplines. This is in practice not achievable in most cases, especially since many students do not …

Academic Development Perspectives Of Blended Learning, Roisin Donnelly, Claire Macavinney

Books/Book Chapters

Technological advances in every aspect of today’s higher education environment create a forum for academic developers to re-examine existing delivery methods for professional development. Within the context of this case study, the term ‘academic developer’ is taken to encompass the role of learning technologist. In order to be responsive and accommodate the changes, traditional instruction methods are being extended to encompass the range of Web 2.0 tools available. Debate is ongoing in the area of blended learning as to the ultimate effectiveness of technology integration. Through exploration of the experiences of two academic developers involved in the design and delivery …

Common Data Set, 2012-2013, Office Of Institutional Research, Bridgewater State University

Common Data Sets

No abstract provided.

The Socialization Of Students At A Midwestern College, Matthew S. Rader

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to understand and explain the overall culture and subcultures of Prairie College (a pseudonym) and how those cultures socialized students to persist or depart from the institution. In accordance with the higher education student retention theory and research of Braxton (2000), Kuh and Love (2000), and Kuh (2001), there is potential for an institution of higher education to serve and retain greater numbers of students when administrators understand the institutional culture (Morgan, 1996; Mintzberg, 1979; Spindler, 1988) in which they work as well as that of students they serve.

Qualitative research methods were used. …