Digital Commons Network^™

Lolcats And Celebrities And (Red Panda) Bears – Oh, My!, Mary T. Moser

LOEX Conference Proceedings 2010

Getting - and keeping - students' attention during library instruction sessions is an increasingly Herculean task. We all know the best practices for teaching: be engaging, ask questions, provide opportunities for active learning. But what if those techniques just aren't enough? By experimenting wildly with the presentation of my library instruction sessions, I have found that a lot of teaching power lies within the unexpected. Often, topics with very little direct correlation to libraries make interesting and engaging platforms for teaching information literacy concepts. Some of the add-ons I have used in classes include: slideshows of LOLcat pictures to impart …

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. …

Creating A Culture Of Assessment: 2012 Annual Member Survey, Campus Compact

Higher Education

Campus Compact has conducted an annual membership survey since 1987. The purpose of this survey is to help the organization and its member campuses track the extent of civic engagement activity in order to be able to implement ongoing improvements as well as to report outcomes to various constituencies.

This year’s numbers tell a story of continuing growth in support structures for campus engagement, leading to notable levels of engagement with students, faculty, and community partners. Where possible, comparisons with prior years have been provided to highlight areas of growth as well as those where more work is needed.1 Campuses …

Utilizing Social Networks In Times Of Crisis : Understanding, Exploring And Analyzing Critical Incident Management At Institutions Of Higher Education, Martha Jo Asselin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

crises

Drama And Catholic Themes, Edwin Block

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of “Social Networking Tools For Academic Libraries”, Alison Hicks

Collaborative Librarianship

No abstract provided.

Joining The Academic Chorus: The Success Of First-Generation Female Students At Private Four-Year Institutions Of Higher Education, Sally A. Buckley

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the experiences of first-generation female students at four-year private institutions of higher education. Improving student retention and degree-completion rates has been a long-standing goal of the higher education community. Despite the attention devoted to student retention since the 1970's, only half of the students who enroll in institutions of higher education obtain a degree within six years of initial enrollment. This study considers the experience of college success, interpreted as degree completion, at four-year private institutions of higher education of nine first-generation female students. The results of nine in-depth interviews illuminate …

Three Essays On The Health Insurance Coverage Of Young Adults, David M. Yaskewich

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation examines the health insurance status of young adults during the transition to adulthood. In a series of three essays, I analyze what happens as young adults reach important milestones and the effects of public policies. The first essay is a descriptive study on how insurance status changes after reaching age 19 and graduating from college. The likelihood of becoming uninsured rises sharply once turning age 19 and then peaks at age 23. While the proportion uninsured also increases following college graduation, this increase disappears after one year. The second essay analyzes the effect of a dependent age law …

Exploring Information Literacy In Relationship: Intelligence And Personality As Factors , Timothy A. Cooper

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Two-Year College Faculty Work Experience: The Active Job, The Evolving Institution And The Changing Effort-Reward Bargain, Jacobs Wayne Hammond

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

While significant research describes the occupational experiences of four-year college and university faculty, two-year college faculty have received little attention from scholars. This study enters the existing void. Fourteen two-year college faculty members from a variety of institutions in Minnesota were interviewed utilizing a semi-structured depth interview technique. Questions were derived from sociological and interdisciplinary literature pertaining to the higher education faculty experience. Two-year college faculty were found to hold active jobs, work in evolving institutions and face a decreasing effort-reward bargain. Faculty were also found to be susceptible to experiencing role strain, stress derived from group-decision making processes and …

Partnership Representation In Public Communications: An Analysis Of Community-Engaged Universities' Websites, Christy Kayser Arrazattee

LSU Master's Theses

This study examines the ways in which campus-community partnerships are represented in public communications produced by community-engaged institutions of higher education. Leading scholars of campus-community partnerships and service-learning agree that such relationships should be based on a reciprocal exchange between partners. In public relations endeavors, however, professionals concentrating solely on communicating the university’s achievements may overlook the equal contributions of the community partner. This study analyzed website content and universities publications from six colleges nationally recognized for their community-engagement efforts. Using quantitative and qualitative analysis, web content was analyzed for indicators of reciprocity developed from foundational literature regarding campus-community partnerships. …

Economic Impact Of International Students Attending An Institution Of Higher Education In The United States, Steve S. Kelly

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

International students on American college and university campuses represent important under-recognized complex non-homogeneous minority presence commonplace at institutions of higher education in the early twenty-first century. The impact of international students on institutions of higher education is generally recognized from four primary perspectives including academic, cultural, political and economic characteristics (Funk, 2001). International students represent 3.5 percent (671,616 of 19,103,000) of all students attending institutions of higher education in the United States in the 2008-09 academic year(Institute of International Education, 2011). International students were estimated to generate $17.66 billion to the US economy and $118.9 million to the State of …

A Study Of The Louisiana Community And Technical College System's Leadership Development Institute And The Impact Of Participation, Peggy Leonard Hohensee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Begun in 2001, the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) was created by the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) as a means of improving the leadership abilities of faculty, staff, and administrative personnel throughout the system, a “grow your own” leadership program (Leadership Development, 2006). LDI has evolved into a nine-month program of presentations, lectures, mentoring, self-exploration activities, and internships. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the impact of participation in LDI on the career and educational goals of former cohort members. Phase One of this research project, the qualitative portion of the study, was composed …

Negotiating Cultural Transitions: Contemporary Student Veterans And Louisiana Institutions Of Higher Education, Kay Harrison Maurin

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Student veterans are flooding colleges and universities in numbers not seen since the end of World War II. Little is known about how these contemporary student veterans navigate the transition from military life to campus life. Few studies have documented the transition experiences of these student veterans by institution type or cultural region of the country. In Louisiana, nearly 7,000 students receive military benefits for higher education with this number steadily increasing (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2009, June). This study explores the transition experience of student veterans from military life to university life at four institutions of higher education …

2012-2013 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.

Non-Technical Skill Gaps In Australian Business Graduates, Denise Jackson, Elaine Chapman

Research outputs 2012

Purpose: The need for “job-ready” graduates has catalysed the development of non-technical skills in higher education institutions worldwide. Continued criticism of business school outcomes has provoked this examination of non-technical skill deficiencies in Australian business graduates. The purpose of this paper is to compare findings with existing literature on skill gaps in other developed, culturally-similar economies, underscore the generality of identified problems, and highlight to stakeholders in undergraduate education those areas requiring curricula review.

Design/methodology/approach: In total, 211 managers/supervisors of business graduates and 156 business academics assessed the typical performance levels of Australian business graduates against a comprehensive framework of …

The Mexican Idea Of Twoyear University Degrees: A Model Of Opportunities And Challenges, Gus Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

This study had the following general goals: a) Map some of the political and social factors that prompted the establishment of two-years Technological Universities in Mexico; b) Describe the main features of the model and how it differs from other models; c) Discuss Neoliberal Human Capital Theory as one of the main theoretical backdrop for expanding this kind of institutions; and finally, d) Assess the model’s strengths and weaknesses. To accomplish these goals, the study drew data from existing policies and from a set of six interviews to human resources directors in Monterrey area, Northern Mexico. These recruiters belonged to …

Online Ethical Decision-Making By Business And Education Students In Faith-Based And Non-Faith Based Higher Education Institutions, Kelly Price, Julia Price

ETSU Faculty Works

Abstract is available to download.

Authenticity For Assurance And Accountability: Reconnecting Standards And Qualities For Pla Competence And Course-Based Frameworks, Gretchen Wilbur, Catherine Marienau, Morry Fiddler

SCPS Competency-based Education Publications and Presentations

An authentic PLA approach for quality assurance and accountability integrates the historical contributions of both course-based and competence-based frameworks and intersects assessment qualities with standards. The authors report on a CAEL inquiry project in which LearningCounts.org assessors used multiple frameworks to assess PLA portfolios. An overarching theme of the qualitative assessment data was that specific, flexible, and transparent criteria are required for valid prior learning assessment and these characteristics transcend frameworks. Themes from the analysis were located on a matrix intersecting assessment qualities--clarity, integrity, empathy, and flexibility—with standards for quality assurance in assessing learning. The findings suggest that such assessment …

An Alternative Spring Break Of Leadership And Service: Interpreting The Servant Leadership, Motivations, And Service Participation Of Millennials Who Participated In Project Lead Between The Years 2008-2010, Catharine Ann Noll

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretive, modified grounded theory qualitative study was two-fold. The first purpose of this study was to interpret the knowledge/understanding of servant leadership, lived experience as it pertained to servant leadership development, motivations for participation, and perceived influence service participation had on personal, academic, and career goals of millennials who participated in Pepperdine University's Alternative Spring Break (ASB) leadership development and service program, Project LEAD (Leadership Education and Development), between the years 2008-2010. The second purpose of this study was to use collected data as a means for developing an alternative model for Project LEAD that furthers …

A Study Of Burnout Among Faculty At Fullerton College, Tanzil Khan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to analyze the extent of burnout among full-time faculty at Fullerton College. This study reviewed research on burnout at the community college level and gives insight into burnout's major contributors to. It provides suggestions for intervention to reduce the phenomenon of faculty burnout and recommendations for future research. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) was used to measure burnout focusing on the 3 burnout subscales of depersonalization, exhaustion, and personal accomplishment. Variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and t-test. Data were gathered through a demographic survey and the MBI-ES to answer the following …

The Path To Graduation: A Model Interactive Web Site Design Supporting Doctoral Students, Nicole Simmons-Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This 2-phase mixed method study assessed 2nd-year doctoral students' and dissertation students' perceptions of the current Graduate School of Education dissertation support Web site, with implications for designing a model dissertation support Web site. Methods. Phase 1 collected quantitative and qualitative data through an anonymous electronic survey. Phase 2 consisted of 6 semistructured qualitative Skype interviews. Four themes emerged from the qualitative portion of the study: (a) Mentoring, (b) Student Support Groups, (c) Explicit functions and roles of Dissertation Chairpersons, and (d) the Opportunity to network and interact with dissertation students face-to-face or online. Results. Of the respondents, 42.3% found …

Affirmative Action In Higher Education Symposium: Comment, Lee C. Bollinger

Faculty Scholarship

This issue – affirmative action in higher education – is an issue of enormous significance for the country. So I don't for a second treat this as just another conversation about an important legal question. I think this is one of those issues that define the country.

I'll tell you what I did as President of the University of Michigan, and in the course of that I'll try to explain the ways in which we formulated the cases that went to the Supreme Court and resulted in very important clarifications to the Fourteenth Amendment and affirmative action. Then I want …

Academic Freedom, Intellectual Diversity, And The Place Of Politics In Geography, Reecia Orzeck

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

This paper examines the conservative critique of higher education in the USA. I argue, first, that the right's call for greater “intellectual diversity” in American higher education should be understood as an attack on the professional self-regulation and disciplinary autonomy that are central to academic freedom in this country. Second, I suggest that the right's politicization of politics in the academy brings to light the importance of our developing a vision of the university that accounts for rather than disavows the political nature of the work we do.

Exploring Technology Accessibility For Visually Impaired Postsecondary Students In Ohio, William Christopher Byrd

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The purpose of this applied dissertation was to research the current state of and to make recommendations for accessibility to technology for visually impaired postsecondary students in Ohio. Although the literature cites numerous advances in technology that have positively influenced the access and success of visually impaired students, gaining access to this technology has been uneven.

The problem that visually impaired students are not getting sufficient access to assistive technology to complete an academic program were addressed by surveying the disability support-services staff members about technology available to visually impaired students. Additionally, training was provided for both staff and faculty …

Nsu Center For Psychological Studies Basic Survival Skills Practicum – Ralph E. Cash, Nova Southeastern University

Video Collection of Nova University / NSU

No abstract provided.

Affirmative Action In Higher Education And The Talented Twenty Program In Florida, Miguel Ubiles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Affirmative action in higher education is a necessary component for ethnic minorities to be afforded postsecondary educational access and opportunities to improve their socioeconomic status. The ban of affirmative action in undergraduate admissions, wherever instituted, has decreased the undergraduate enrollment of ethnic minorities. The broad objective of this research is to demonstrate how the elimination of affirmative action has lessened postsecondary educational access for minorities, who presently account for the majority or near-majority population in several states and will soon account for a much larger segment of the national population. This study will use two series of multiple regression models …

Forced Options : Faculty Identity Development And Institutional Culture, Eileen Kogl Camfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Many faculty enter the professoriate with high ideals. They have identity conceptions of themselves as potential change-agents, expanding human knowledge and contributing to the greater good. Over time, for many, this idealism fades and is replaced with job dissatisfaction and bitterness. This study uses intersectionality as a theoretical frame to explore faculty identity development by examining the ways academic socialization into a competitive, hierarchical system privileges certain aspects of an individual's identity while imperiling others. In presenting data based on hour-long qualitative interviews with six mid-career university faculty members in the social sciences or humanities, the specific mechanisms that trigger …

What Constitutes A Mentoring Mindset In Doctoral Students? A Phenomenological Study Of Graduate Faculty Experiences At A Research I University In The Southern United States, Kellie René Carter

All ETDs from UAB

The complex graduate student-faculty mentor relationship mentoring plays a substantial role in the academic and professional success of graduate students within the diverse settings of higher education institutions. An understanding of the mentee's level of preparedness for the mentoring relationship, or mentoring mindset, is needed in order to better inform graduate faculty mentors and graduate students about factors that contribute to a successful mentoring relationship. Existing research tends to concentrate on valued mentor characteristics from the mentee's perspective. However, there is little research on the mentee's preparedness for the doctoral student-faculty member mentoring relationship in a higher education setting. This …

Background Or Experience? Using Logistic Regression To Predict College Retention, Tracee M. Synco

All ETDs from UAB

Tinto, Astin and countless others have researched the retention and attrition of students from college for more than thirty years. However, the six year graduation rate for all first-time full-time freshmen for the 2002 cohort was 57%. This study sought to determine the retention variables that predicted continued enrollment of entering freshmen at a large urban, four-year, public institution. Logistic regression was utilized to analyze the data collected over a four-year period. The population studied was 1,346 first-time full-time freshmen entering fall 2007. The variables chosen for analysis were ACT composite, cumulative GPA and high school GPA, ethnicity, gender, Pell …