Digital Commons Network^™

Redefining Retention: Analyzing The Experiences Of Black Men In Higher Education Through The Lens Of Race, Masculinity, And Strength-Based Approaches, Roderick Waters

Theses and Dissertations from DePaul University

Black male students have continued to face systemic challenges in higher education, particularly at historically White institutions (HWIs), where they experience lower retention and graduation rates compared to their peers. Although enrollment numbers have increased, institutional barriers, racialized campus environments, and deficit-based narratives have continued to contribute to disparities in academic success. Much of the existing research has focused on the challenges Black male students encounter rather than the strategies, relationships, and institutional conditions that support their persistence. This study sought to shift that focus by exploring the lived experiences of Black men who persisted at an HWI through an …

Experiential Learning In Marketing Education: Student Reflections In A Client Based Project, Samit Chakravorti

AMTP Proceedings 2026

This paper explores student experience with a client based project in an upper division marketing class and its impact on development of work readiness skills, learning and satisfaction with the course. The client was a local small business food cooperative. Student reflection papers submitted at the end of the project were content analyzed based on preset categories to understand the impact of the project on the outcome variables. Analysis shows that for most students the project was interesting, relevant but challenging, increased their satisfaction and enjoyment of the course, and positively impacted learning of profession specific and foundational work ready …

Enhancing Introductory Cybersecurity Learning: A Design-Based Research Case Study, Manny Niri Dr.

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

This study employs a design-based research (DBR) framework to examine the impact of a comprehensive curriculum redesign in an introductory Foundations of Security module for undergraduate students in computing and cybersecurity at a UK public university between 2019 and 2025. The redesign aimed to enhance student learning, engagement, and critical thinking through the embodiment of evidence-based pedagogical strategies, including flipped classroom delivery, blended learning, gamified practical exercises, repeated low-stakes mock assessments, and structured problem-solving activities. Student feedback, assessment outcomes, attendance records, and faculty reflections were analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of the redesign. The results indicate substantial improvements in student …

Diversity Is More Than Non-Discrimination: Groupthink In Higher Education, Adam Goldstein, Sean Stevens, Nathan Honeycutt

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

In this Article, we seek to advance three claims. First, intellectual diversity is an essential bulwark against groupthink. Second, conflating intellectual diversity and non-discrimination undermines both concepts. Third, intellectual diversity should be pursued for its own sake and recognized as a separate and important goal of higher education.

We begin by sharing a set of definitions to identify the problem more precisely. Next, we examine the stakes of groupthink setting in. Then, we will introduce some of FIRE’s research on campus climate, which suggests the presence of an existing monoculture. Through the lens of a case study at Harvard …

University Students’ Attitudes Toward And Intentions To Use Generative Ai In The Classroom: Findings From Pre- And Post-Genai Teaching Initiative Surveys, Yanfeng Xu, Hengtao Tang, Gareth Rees-White, Oz Ince, Allison Byxbe, Michael Stoeltzner, Gloria Washington, Shan Qiao, Sicheng Wang, Mercy S. Namateng, Omar Roy

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

This study aimed to examine and compare factors associated with support for integrating GenAI into classroom settings and the intention to use GenAI tools in future education among students in pre- and post-GenAI teaching initiative surveys in an R1 university in the United States. Online surveys via Qualtrics were administered at the start and end of the Fall 2024 semester. Descriptive and bivariate analyses and ordered logistic regression models were conducted. In the pre-GenAI teaching initiative survey, significant predictors associated with students’ support for GenAI tools were students’ interest in GenAI and perceived usefulness. Significant predictors associated with their intention …

From Answers To Understanding: Bridging The Gap Between Multiple-Choice And Open-Ended Questions, Kathleen A. Siren

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

Assessment is central to effective teaching, and the structure of exam questions significantly influences both learning and instruction. Multiple-choice (MCQ) and short-answer (SAQ) questions are widely used and frequently studied, each offering distinct advantages and limitations for formative and summative assessment. This study examined a modified multiple-choice format, multiple-choice questions with explanation (MCQwE), for which students selected an answer and briefly explained their reasoning. Designed to combine the efficiency of MCQs with the diagnostic value of open-ended responses, MCQwE were implemented in an undergraduate speech science course and compared to traditional MCQs and SAQs in terms of student performance. Findings …

Investing The English Academic Writing Lesson For Developing College Of Languages Graduates Employability, Farah Muayad Issa

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Employment and employability requirements are currently a substantial concern for many Iraqi and international institutions and universities due to their vital role in empowering and enhancing graduates' opportunities of obtaining a job that suits their specializations and mends the gap between job applicants and employers. Most Iraqi universities and institutions lack a supportive mechanism that provides employment skills, requirements, and training courses to empower an eligible applicant. This study invests academic writing lesson to qualify (110) students from the English department who participated in a one-month training course aimed at raising awareness of the importance of understanding and mastering employability …

Insights From Ai Tutors In Undergraduate And Graduate Engineering Courses, Billy Kihei, Sheila Hill, Sumit Chakravarty

Proceedings of the Cognitive Innovation Conference (CognoCon)

As large language models become broadly accessible, questions about how to integrate them productively into engineering education have moved from speculative to urgent. This paper presents the design rationale and early deployment experience of 247officehours.com, a faculty-created, faculty-managed platform that grounds AI tutoring in instructor-selected course materials and connects it to assessment, engagement tracking, and targeted instructional intervention. Drawing on deployment across undergraduate and graduate engineering courses, we describe six core platform features, analyze how student interactions map onto Bloom's revised taxonomy, and identify recurring patterns of productive and unproductive AI use. A tutor–tutee inversion activity, in which students must …

Examining Academics’ Decision-Making Processes And Implementation Challenges Of Blended Learning Models For Future Higher Education, Devrim Akgunduz, Aysegul Kinik Topalsan

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: Blended learning has gained increasing attention in higher education as a hybrid approach that integrates face-to-face and online modalities. This study investigates academics’ decision-making processes and challenges in implementing blended learning models to inform future educational practices.

Methods: An exploratory case study design was employed. Data were obtained from academics representing multiple faculties who participated in a professional development program on technological approaches and learning models. Participants completed the Blended Learning Sub-Model Preparation Form, which was analyzed to identify preferences and challenges in adopting blended learning.

Results: Findings reveal a clear preference for sub-models such as the flipped classroom, …

Tutoring Prompt For Personalized Self-Study Using Generative Ai, Vasiliy S. Znamenskiy

Open Educational Resources

This educational material presents a reusable tutoring prompt for general-purpose generative AI systems (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Copilot, Perplexity) designed to support personalized self-study. The prompt turns a chatbot into an adaptive self-testing engine: it asks a sequence of multiple-choice questions, waits for the learner’s response, provides brief feedback, and adjusts difficulty based on performance. While the approach can be adapted to many disciplines, the current implementation is tuned to College Physics 2e, Chapter 21 (Circuits and DC Instruments) and uses “formulas only” answer choices to emphasize symbolic reasoning and reduce reliance on verbal cues. Shared in the spirit …

Human–Ai Interaction In Graduate Academic Work: A Job Demands-Resources Conceptualization Of Satisfaction And Emotional Exhaustion, Joey Oliveira

Human Resource Development Student Publications and Presentations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies are increasingly embedded in graduate academic work, shaping how faculty and students perform cognitive, analytical, and knowledge-based tasks. As AI tools become integrated into writing, research, and instructional activities, human–AI interaction has emerged as a central feature of contemporary academic work environments. However, existing research has largely focused on AI adoption and technological capability, with limited attention given to how ongoing human–AI interaction influences well-being experiences in academic contexts. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework, this conceptual paper develops a model that links human–AI interaction to student learning satisfaction, faculty job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. …

Rooted And Rising: A Case Study Of Chinese American Undergraduates' Career Pathways At A Pwi Post-Covid, Rebecca Yin-Chow Martinez

Theses & Dissertations

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese American undergraduate students have navigated complex intersections of intergenerational expectations, racialized experiences, and evolving career aspirations within higher education. This qualitative case study explores how Chinese American undergraduate students at a predominantly white institution (PWI) choose their educational and career goals in a post-COVID climate. Guided by the Asian American Intergenerational Model of the Psychology of Working (AAIM), this study examines the influence of familial expectations, personal interests, institutional supports and barriers, and experiences of racism on students’ career decision-making processes. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, a focus group, observations, Career …

Zooming Into Success: Collaborative Virtual Spaces For Dissertation Research And Pedagogy In Higher Education, Stephanie L. Brooke

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Dissertation students face numerous challenges, including narrowing down research topics, managing scholarly writing, and overcoming writer’s block. This article explores the creation and piloting of collaborative virtual spaces designed to support dissertation mentees in their academic journey. Through this project, three distinct virtual spaces emerged, each addressing specific student needs: emotional support, academic writing, and research alignment. The development of these spaces was influenced by theory as well as workplace cultural initiatives in an online program for dissertation mentoring. Creating these collaborative virtual spaces based on student needs led to transformative best practices in virtual learning environments. This method provides …

Fostering Psychological Ownership And Self-Authorship In Higher Education: Pathways To Student Engagement, Growth And Knowledge Creation, Noora Heino, Markku Ikävalko, Anssi Tarkiainen, Terhi Virkki-Hatakka

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

This study explores the intersection of psychological ownership (PO) and self-authorship (SA) in the context of university students’ project-based learning. It examines how students develop a sense of ownership over their course projects, ideas, and knowledge they create, and how this engagement shapes their learning, identity, and sense of self. The findings highlight the role of control and perceived idea quality in fostering psychological ownership, as well as the importance of intimate knowledge and perceived object quality in supporting self-authorship. The study underscores that when students feel connected to their ideas, their motivation, persistence, and engagement increase, especially in creativity-driven …

Experiential Learning Through Electric Vehicle Design Using Lego Technics Parts, Abdullah Amin

High-Impact Experiential Learning in Practice: Pedagogical Essays Guided by the PIRA Framework

Abdullah Al Amin is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

This reflection presents a Lego Technics-based electric vehicle design project that connects mechanics, materials, and fatigue analysis through hands-on prototyping and PIRA-aligned assessment.

From Simulation To Fabrication: Integrating Fluid Power Theory And Hands-On Laboratory Design, Sean Cahill

High-Impact Experiential Learning in Practice: Pedagogical Essays Guided by the PIRA Framework

Sean Cahill is a faculty of practice in the Department of Engineering Management, Systems, and Technology.

This report examines the integration of simulation and hands-on laboratory work in fluid power systems, showing how ELIFF-supported equipment strengthened alignment across preparation, immersion, reflection, and assessment.

Theoretical And Conceptual Approaches To Journalism Education, August E. Grant, Jeffrey S. Wilkinson, G. Nathan Carnes

Faculty Publications

Many journalism programs embrace the teaching hospital model because of its practical approach, employing working journalists as journalism educators. However, critics contend a more conceptual model of journalism education is needed. This essay explores the literature on journalism education models and seeks to integrate the teaching hospital and entrepreneurial journalism approaches with the revised Bloom's Taxonomy and Fink's Taxonomy of Significant Learning. Combined, these models provide a solid theoretical foundation for practical, applied journalism education. This essay applies these four models to journalism education, yielding a matrix of dimensions that can guide the creation or modification of curricula as well …

A Phenomenologically Informed Study Of Black Male Preservice Teachers’ Lived Experiences: Professional Socialization, Social Representation, And The Redesign Of Teacher Education For Equity, William A. Anders

Student Theses

This qualitative research explores the experiences of Black male preservice teachers in New York City’s teacher education programs. To examine the underrepresentation of Black male preservice teachers, the research employs Critical University Studies and Critical Race Theory to investigate the institutional barriers they face. Using semi-structured interviews with seven participants and reflexive thematic analysis, the findings revealed six paramount themes: Pathways in Teaching, Representation and Identity, Experiences in Teacher Education, Racial Bias and Institutional Challenges, the Role of Mentorship and Support Networks, and Teaching Philosophy.

Participants described the challenges that Black male preservice teachers face, including isolation, economic hardships, unsuitable …

Interpersonal Satisfaction And Classroom Silence In Chinese Universities: The Mediating Role Of Social Anxiety, Siguang Zhang

Double Helix Methodology

Introduction: Within Chinese universities, classroom silence, while culturally acceptable, may indicate underlying psychological distress that impedes academic engagement. Drawing upon social-cognitive theory, this study investigates whether social anxiety mediates the relationship between interpersonal satisfaction and students’ in-class silence. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 565 undergraduates from six Chinese universities examined interpersonal satisfaction, social anxiety, and three distinct behavioral indicators of silence (large-lecture, small-discussion, and laboratory contexts). Confirmatory factor analysis established convergent and discriminant validity; Cronbach’s α coefficients ranged from 0.86 to 0.91, demonstrating good internal consistency. A structural equation model (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized mediation pathway while …

Unveiling Perceived Gender Bias In Middle Eastern Academia: Cross-Country Analysis Of Women’S Leadership, Laila Mohebi, Amani K.Hamdan Alghamdi, Sadia Shaukat

All Works

Gender bias remains a significant systemic barrier for women in academic leadership, restricting both career advancement and influence that creates a leadership gap, accenting the need for evidence-based strategies to promote equity and inclusive leadership pathways. Guided by social role theory, which explains in what way incongruence between communal female roles and agentic leadership roles leads to prejudice against women leaders, we investigated their perceptions of gender bias across four countries each with different local sociocultural gender norms, religious interpretations and national policies: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Pakistan. Employing a cross-national comparative and descriptive research design, …

Retrofitting Higher Education Buildings In Egypt: A Pathway Towards A Zero-Energy Campus, Maged G. Nassim Mikhael, Hagar Samy Saad

HBRC Journal

Egypt’s higher education sector expanded rapidly over the last decade, resulting in increased energy consumption, negative environmental impacts, and economic challenges. Existing academic buildings present promising opportunities for energy savings through retrofitting; however, a validated pathway for achieving Zero-Energy Buildings ZEBs in Egypt remains underdeveloped. This study aims to develop a practical scenario and a replicable retrofitting pathway based on a multi-tiered approach that includes passive envelope enhancements, active system optimization, and the integration of renewable energy RE systems. Using the Canadian International College CIC campus as a case study, the research adapted the building energy simulation BES methodology to …

Generative Ai Use And Self-Learning In Higher Education: The Role Of Learning Difficulties, Dana Saleh, Areej Elsayary

All Works

The rapid development of GenAI tools and their adoption in education have shown promising potential to personalize learning experiences. However, their effectiveness is influenced by factors such as familiarity, frequency of use, and the impact on self-learning. This study investigates the undergraduate students' familiarity with Generative AI (GenAI) tools, their frequency of use, and the perceived impact of GenAI on self-learning, with particular consideration of differences between students with and without learning difficulties. Prompt engineering is also included as a secondary aspect of students' GenAI experience. The research employed a quantitative survey design, utilizing validated scales to measure familiarity, usage …

Procedure To Evaluate Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Output For Educational And Clinical Tasks, Lynn Gilbertson, Cody Marie Busch, Jon Spike, Kaitlin Demoss, Jae Thompson

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more ubiquitous and accessible, there is a call to promote awareness, implementation, and evaluation skills among AI users. Free AI platforms offer unprecedented opportunities to transform how education and healthcare tasks are approached. However, a process for evaluating AI output has yet to be standardized. The current study implemented a structured process for guiding graduate and undergraduate students through critical evaluations of various AI platforms, promoting students' critical thinking and career readiness.

A Systematic Review Identifying The Measures And Factors Relating To Faculty Research Success, Muhammad Salahuddin, Richard Hoberg, Robert Stupnisky

Education, Health & Behavior Studies Faculty Publications

Identification of the various methods of measuring faculty research success stands in need of better collection and summary. This study aimed to identify the measures and factors of faculty research success through a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines. Using the Boolean search, 265 studies (i.e., articles and dissertations) from four popular databases were selected for abstract screening. Thirty-six studies were selected for full-text text review, which ranged over 237,980 faculty of STEM and non-STEM areas from 29 countries. The results indicated that faculty research success is measured through several forms of academic publication including number of articles published in journals, …

A Data-Driven Framework For Automation Readiness In Minnesota State University, Mankato Course Scheduling, Prisca Bongu Payanzo Maba

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

University course scheduling is one of the most complex optimization problems in higher education institutions. With universities growing in size and offering a broad spectrum of majors and disciplines, the number of possible course scheduling combinations increases exponentially, rendering traditional ways of scheduling ineffective.

Although operations research has extensively studied automated scheduling algorithms, there has been limited investigations into the organization readiness of academic departments to implement such systems. This paper offers a hybrid data science framework that assesses departmental readiness for scheduling automation.

The study combines qualitative Zoom interview data from 19 academic departments with institutional scheduling rules from …

Values-Based Behavioral Frameworks As Contributors To Organizational Culture In Higher Education: A Literature Review, David J. Park Do

Papers

Colleges and universities almost universally publish statements of organizational values, yet a gap often persists between those stated values and the regularly observed behaviors. This review examines how that gap relates to culture in higher education institutions and specifically explores how translating values into observable behaviors contributes to organizational culture. This literature review used a structured, criteria-guided approach to source identification, selecting sources against three constructs: 1) institutional adoption of values-based behavioral frameworks, 2) organizational culture in higher-education settings, and 3) the perceptions through which organizational members perceive culture. The resulting corpus of 40 sources spans organizational culture scholarship, virtue …

Assessing Interdisciplinary Learning And Knowledge: A State-Of-The-Art Review And Heuristic, Kacey Beddoes, Kristi Bartlett

Product Design Faculty Publications

Background – The need for interdisciplinary training is increasingly important, but assessing the effects of interdisciplinary education initiatives remains challenging. One of the leading difficulties is identifying and selecting the best instrument or technique for a given purpose.

Purpose -- To help researchers and educators identify available options and determine the best options for their purposes, we conducted a literature review and created a heuristic table of available techniques. Our review addresses the questions: 1) What domain-general techniques and instruments exist for assessing interdisciplinary learning or knowledge? 2) What research scenarios, populations, and questions are each technique or instrument most …

A Large Language Model-Based Academic Advising Assistant For Engineering Technology Students, Murat Kuzlu, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Katherine Smith, Otilia Popescu, Adel El-Shahat, Ryan Cotton, Kayla Marie Seegers, William Austin Henderson

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs), have been applied to a variety of domains, such as energy, finance, transportation, healthcare, and education. Among these domains, education has become increasingly popular due to strong interest among educators and students. This study proposes an academic advising assistant system that uses LLMs to help Engineering Technology (ET) students plan their course load based on their educational history, departmental course offerings, and personal constraints, such as their preferred semester course load. The proposed LLM-based academic advising assistant system maintains a database of students' course histories and upcoming course …

A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Racial Justice In Virginia Higher Education, Abigail Green

Honors Theses

This honors thesis examines the extent to which public Virginia higher education institutions engage their institutional histories in leadership rhetoric when responding to the Trump administration’s anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Employing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) following Mullet’s (2018) seven-step framework with an inductive coding approach and grounded in rhetorical history theory, this study analyzes official statements from the Offices of the President and Provost across four case study institutions: the University of Virginia (UVA), George Mason University (GMU), the College of William & Mary (W&M), and Longwood University (LU). Data sources span two time periods: May 2020 …

An Academic Civilization?, Inbar Gotlib-Rivkin, Uri Cohen

Comparative Civilizations Review

Can institutions of higher education be defined as constituting a civilization that has emerged from modern civilization? This theoretical study defines a new concept of academic civilization and demonstrates how prominent characteristics that define the collective identity of modern civilization are manifested in institutions of higher education. The study focuses on six specific characteristics: expansion, flexibility and diversification, center-periphery relations, academic culture, autonomy and academic freedom, and the monopolization of professional training and the professional middle class. The conceptual analysis presented here provides a significant addition to sociological discourse, offering a refined conceptualization of civilizations. The goal is to expand …