Education Commons^™

Persistence Of First-Generation College Students During Campus Closure, Ruby Lin

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic, which caused the largest education disruption in world history. Prior to the pandemic, first-generation college students were considered an underrepresented and vulnerable population at four-year institutions (Engle & Tinto, 2008; House et al., 2020). This study sought to capture the lived experiences of seven first- generation colleges students at a four-year, private institution in Southern California who had to unexpectedly leave their university community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants recount their experiences of having to leave their university campus suddenly without direct access to resources provided …

Journal Of Critical Issues In Educational Practice Vol. 12, Tiffany Bates, Jaime Welborn, Christine Uliassi

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

It is our great privilege to be the editors of this journal. The opportunity to review the scholarly work of others and provide a forum for dissemination is important work. Three original pieces of research are included in this volume of the journal. Selected for originality and timeliness, it is our hope that some part of your educational practice might be informed. It is our goal to feature voices that might be considered outside of the expected or usual.

What is your philosophy of education? One might ask if this is ever a serious question or rather just an academic …

Determinants Of Students’ Intention To Learn Cloud Computing, Charles Changchit, Robert Cutshall, Chuleeporn Changchit

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The explosive growth of data and frequent application updates along with the increasing need to access data and/or applications from multiple locations has resulted in a need to improve the way data and applications are stored and served. Such a need has forced both companies and academic institutions to pay attention to cloud computing technology. Since education is a driving force for the continuous improvement of cloud computing, this study aims at identifying the factors that influence college students’ intention to learn about cloud computing technology. Specifically, the research question focuses on determining which factors drive students’ intention to learn …

Engaged Social Media In Higher Education While Avoiding The Label Of "Striving", Jessica Nerren

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Striving has become a word laden with problematic meanings in the world of higher education. For instance, if a university is too aligned with business, or becomes overly selective, or deviates from original purpose or mission, then, at times, those actions are seen as striving (O’Meara, 2007). O’Meara (2007) defines striving as participation in efforts to improve status and prestige in line with the hierarchy. Allen (2021) echoes the problematic nature of this practice witnessed abroad, equating striving educational practices with neoliberalism, potentially overshadowing primary purposes of the institution, such as learning and teaching, or drowning out important parts of …

To Close The Skills Gap, Technology And Higher-Order Thinking Skills Must Go Hand In Hand, Manying Qiu, Yaquan Xu, Emmanuel O. Omojokun

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Technology is rapidly changing the business landscape. Workforce skills gap is widening in the digital business environment. Universities and employers call for developing students’ higher-order thinking skills along with integrating technology into academic curricula. We conducted a survey to assess learning outcomes from two groups of undergraduate students: business majors and information technology (IT) majors. SAP ERP hands-on case studies were used for this comparative experiment. The student survey results showed that the students of both majors believed that learning SAP software can lead to more rewarding jobs and they felt confident about their competitiveness in the job market. Although …

The Difficulty Of Transfer And Academic Engagement Of Further Education Students When Progressing To Higher Education Environments, Glenn Affleck

Communications of the IIMA

The difficulty of students transferring from Further Education Colleges and progressing to Higher Education Universities in the United Kingdom is a well-known problem. The study presented here focuses on the ability of students to begin to engage with the subject of computer programming on transferring after 2 years of study at a further education college into a 3^rd year of a university programme. There is an assumption that there are environmental factors within the change that cause the problems of student engagement with their studies. The findings of this study concurs with difficulties for many students with beginning to …

Experiences Of Undocumented Students In Schools And At University, Gloria Cortez, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The aim of this article is to document the experiences of undocumented students. Regardless of where a person stands on the immigration issue, he or she still needs to listen to these voices in order to treat people with the dignity they deserve as human beings. This article was inspired by two things. One was a speech given by a former undocumented student at a social justice summit. The other was a literature review by the first author in a paper for her Masters degree in counseling. This literature review formed much of the basis for this article. It captured …

Utilization Of Information Technology As Instructional Support In Higher Education – A Case Study, Linda C. Gordon, Erin Gratz, David Kung, Leeshawn Moore, Shelley G. Urbizagastegui

Communications of the IIMA

Despite significant increases in the growth of online education, a review of research reveals few studies of faculty perceptions of the use of technology in classrooms in higher education. Research can explore and illuminate how to bridge the gap between faculty perceptions and institutional goals and objectives for online programs. The study at hand presents the views of full-time and adjunct faculty across the colleges, both on- and off-campus, and the online community, at the University of La Verne, a private Tier II doctoral degree-granting institution located in Southern California.

Generative Leadership: A Thematic Book Review, Rebecca S. Monroe

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This thematic book review looks at how four texts interweave the topic of generative leadership into a cohesive structure so the reader can bring about change in our educational system. The authors of these texts begin by defining generative leadership and complexity, then move on to discuss mirror neurons and empathy, relationships and the importance of feeling a part of something, and how experience equals learning, which in turns sculpts the brain physically. As you think of the leadership style you want to emulate as you build your own and your staff’s capacity, these resources may easily sum this up …

Critical Analysis Of The Master Plan For Higher Education In California, Joanna M. Oxendine

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The Master Plan for Higher Education in California is often touted as the pinnacle of success in terms of its contributions to establishing open-access, (nearly) tuition-free higher education for all Californians who wish to pursue it. This perception, though, may be skewed, as it does not take into account the historical context of the Plan, nor its potential flaws and shortcomings. This article provides an analysis and critique of the Master Plan, applying historical and theoretical lenses to frame a more complete picture of the Plan both at its 1960 inception and today. Viability of the Plan in the early …

Neoliberalism And Developmental Education: Complexity And Contradictions In California Community Colleges, Antoaneta Gulea

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

The egalitarian mission of community colleges to provide an open access to educational opportunities for all often contradicts the high academic standards for college readiness, and therefore establishes the need for developmental education. Beginning in the 1970s, neoliberalism as a form of governmentality gradually invaded schools and public services including developmental education in a community college level. This paper explores the neoliberal influence on developmental education in three aspects: the effect of decreased institutional funding for the community college system and increased cost of higher education for students in developmental education, increased curriculum management and accountability expectations on a state …

International Students’ College Achievement: A Critical Quantitative Perspective, Eyad Alfattal

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

Colleges exert much effort in recruiting international students who bring financial, cultural and educational benefits to the campuses in which they study. On the other hand, little attention is paid to how these students succeed in achieving their educational goals. The study proposed here describes a planned investigation that will help find out more about international students’ success in American colleges. The study will employ a college student achievement model as its theoretical framework, and it will aim at examining relationships between international students’ GPA and graduation rates while controlling for precollege academic performance. This examination will be done while …

Conceptualizing A Future For Library Classification, Risa M. Lumley

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This paper traces the roots of the positivist epistemology of librarianship; its ideals of neutrality and access as they intersect in the classification and assignment of library subject headings; and the notion of the author as it relates to the creation of library authority files. By legitimizing their own professional neutrality, librarians have wielded tremendous power over what libraries collect as well as how those works are represented, but have done so with little self-reflection. The act of classifying works and assigning subject headings is not a neutral process. It is time for librarians to use new tools such as …