Education Commons^™

The R Factor: Centering Race In The Mentoring Of African American College Students, Bridgette Coble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring provides personal support, academic assistance and career guidance to college students of color whose experiences have been documented to be very different from those of their White counterparts. Achievement inequity, problems of persistence, experiences of racism and student reports of feeling marginalized and misunderstood threaten the ability of students of color to succeed in college. While it may be assumed that race plays a central role in the mentoring relationships of students of color, this assumption may be misguided. The existence of formal mentoring programs and informal mentoring relationships that support students of color does not necessarily ensure that …

A Meta-Analytic Review Of Cooperative Learning Practices In Higher Education: A Human Communication Perspective, William Patrick Huddy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The phrase cooperative learning refers to a pedagogical learning and teaching technique in use in schools from kindergarten through higher education. The technique involves the structuring of an active classroom environment with students working in groups to discover, solve, and at its basic, provide a framework for dialogue and conversation. Cooperative learning is grounded in the development of a theory of social interdependence (Morton Deutsch) which states that individuals, working in groups, can in most cases provide for greater productivity and ideas than individuals working alone. The development of cooperative learning was greatly expanded in the late 1960’s and early …

Nonprofit Marketing Education In The United States: An Examination And Interpretation Of The Prevalance And Nature Of Curriculum, Theresa Meier Conley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The nonprofit sector is a large, growing, and essential part of the United States economy. There is a history of inspired ideas and complex change in the nonprofit sector that marketing educators and business school administrators must understand if they are to be leaders in the continuing evolution of nonprofit marketing education.

This manuscript includes a summarized historical perspective, a selective review of literature from existing nonprofit management and marketing education, a discussion of relevant contemporary issues for consideration, and mixed-method research results regarding the prevalence and nature of nonprofit marketing education. The mixed-method research strategy includes three phases; the …

An Emerging Hispanic Serving Institution Looks Toward The Future: A Case Study On A Collaborative, Community-Based Systemic Change Effort At An Urban Land-Grant College, Eric Dunker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many higher education organizations face the issue of structural isolation (Ruben, 2004) based on a lack of integration and functional coordination between faculty, staff, and students. Community-based research (CBR) offers higher education a more collaborative, wider reaching avenue of organizing a variety of stakeholders around social change. The CBR model is an atypical change model due to its interdisciplinary, participatory, and collaborative structure that values multiple sources of knowledge and focuses on social justice action. As opposed to serving as the 'experts' who were performing research on a community of people, academics and community members who utilize CBR focus on …

Engaging And Enacting Writing In First-Year Composition: Re-Imagining Student Self-Efficacy In Writing, Mary L. Tripp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to educational theory, learning to write necessitates self-belief that one is capable of performing required tasks. This belief is called self-efficacy, a component of human agency. Students who enter First-Year Composition (FYC), are often unaware of the writing challenges that lie ahead, and many educational psychologists posit that self-efficacy beliefs are the most important factor in meeting these writing challenges. While socio-cognitive theory shapes views of self-efficacy in education literature, to date, measures of self-efficacy in writing have focused only on the individual cognitive beliefs as they influence writing performance outcomes. However, current research in writing studies as well …

Maintaining Or Disrupting Inequality: Diversity Statements In The University, Linda A. Merkl

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of my study was to identify whether university Diversity Statements aid in maintaining or disrupting inequality in the university. Using critical discourse analysis, I analyzed an initial sample of eleven Diversity Statements to develop a list of common themes found within the diversity statements. Using a maximum variation method, I then reduced my sample to four universities to provide breadth of information for the final study (Miles & Huberman, 1994). In my case analysis, I first conducted an individual analysis of each of the four Diversity Statements using the common themes from my critical case analysis, common functions …

Rewriting The Question, What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? Career Counseling With 21st Century Emerging Adults, Susan Rene Barclay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adults ask children constantly, "what do you want to be when you grow up?", leading children to focus on an uncertain future as an adult. From very early in life, children attempt to parlay their likes and desires into a career choice. However, as children grow into adolescence, they begin to realize vocation is not as easy as simply making a choice. The years spent in college are usually a more serious time for committing to plans regarding the future and are when many degree-seeking emerging adults face challenges in gaining a concrete sense of direction toward a future career. …

An Exploratory Study Of The Experiences Of Recent Graduates Who Participated In The Ronald E. Mcnair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program, Zaducka Tekeusha Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of recent graduates who participated in the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program at a medium-size southeastern university. This research used a phenomenological approach, as well as qualitative interviews, to provide a detailed and insightful description about the experiences of the participants in this study. They participated in the McNair program as undergraduate students and completed a bachelor's degree during the academic years of 2009–2010 and 2010–2011. One-hour Skype interviews were conducted with ten participants in the McNair program at a southeastern university. Themes from the explication of the …

Parent Perceptions Of The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship, Charity C. Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Author's abstract: The purpose of this study was to understand both contributors and barriers to use of the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship (SB10). Although SB10 was designed to offer parental choice of schools for students with disabilities, it has diminished the capacity of parents to access due process granted through IDEA. Perspectives in this study were provided by parents who chose to rescind their child's participation in the voucher program and parents who continued to access the voucher. Analysis of the lived experiences of parents of students with disabilities in Georgia revealed both similar and diverse experiences, perceptions and concerns …

Multiple Perspectives On Academic Service-Learning Partnerships At The American University In Cairo: A Mixed Method Study, Neivin Mahmoud Marzouk Shalabi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This mixed method study aimed to redress the gap in the literature on academic service-learning partnerships, especially in Eastern settings. It utilized Enos and Morton's (2003) theoretical framework to explore these partnerships at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Seventy-nine community partners, administrators, faculty members, and students from a diverse range of age, citizenship, racial, educational, and professional backgrounds participated in the study. Qualitative interviews were conducted with members of these four groups, and a survey with both close-ended and open-ended questions administered to students yielded 61 responses. Qualitative analyses revealed that the primary motivators for partners' engagement in service-learning …

Disrupting The Deficit Discourse On Historically Black Colleges And Universities: An Organizational Identity Case Study Of Philander Smith College, Shametrice Ledora Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The federal Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, defines a historically Black institution of higher education as "any historically Black college or university that was established prior to 1964, whose principle mission was, and is, the education of Black Americans." Today, there are approximately 105 HBCUs, more than half private, the rest public, and a few two-year institutions (Allen, Jewell, Griffin, & Wolf, 2007). While currently only 14 percent of Black college students attend HBCUs, 70 percent of all Black doctors and dentists, 50 percent of all Black engineers and public school teachers, and 35 percent of all Black …

How Do Stem Minority Faculty Members Describe Their Experiences Of Graduate Student And Faculty Socialization?, Ayana Milele Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To remain globally competitive in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), we must increase our number of underrepresented minority scientists (URMs) as our country's population becomes more diverse. For URMs to move up the educational and professional ranks, they need to be properly socialized as graduate students and faculty members (Tierney & Rhoads, 1994; Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001). Programs such as the Alliance of Graduate Education in Mississippi (AGEM) are designed to assist in the socialization process of doctoral students and, in turn, increase the numbers of the URMs in faculty roles. Therefore, the purpose of this study was …

"I Went To The Woods Because I Wished To Live Deliberately": How A College-Level Academic Course Can Influence A Lifetime, Lauren Elizabeth Victor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study, using the portraiture methodology, provides an analysis of the lifelong significance of an undergraduate program that integrates literature with an outdoor experiential platform. With limited research on long-term effects of an academic outdoor experiential course on one's life, there is space to wonder about the prospect and nature of the long-term significance of an academic course that may offer technical skill, intrapersonal and interpersonal development, and also the delivery of subject matter related to a traditional or mainstream academic area of study.

Utilizing an academic skills-oriented lens as well as a character strengths lens, portraits were crafted of …