Education Commons^™

Mission Enactment And Strategic Enrollment Management At Jesuit Universities, Drew Roberts

Doctoral Dissertations

The larger neoliberal environment that is driving all of higher education has left Jesuit universities and their leadership to face two problems. First, the ability for Jesuit universities to uphold their social justice inspired mission and offer an affordable and accessible liberal education is being threatened because they are pricing out those they seek to serve. Second, there is a growing disconnect between the espoused mission of Jesuit universities and the decisions that their leaders and administrators make to run the enterprise.

This explanatory case study seeks to understand the ways senior-level strategic enrollment officers at Jesuit universities experience and …

Understanding Why Students Take Industry-Based Credentialing Examinations: Instrument Development And Pilot Study, Jennifer H. Lawrence

Doctoral Dissertations

Educational credentialing is complicated for students with the addition of industry-based credentialing (IBC) in traditional academic and career and technical fields (Bahr, 2015; Lumina Foundation, 2015; Xu & Ran, 2015). Human Capital Theory and Cognitive Engagement Theory framed this study which looked at IBC training from the student point of view (Grisham, 2013; Saldana, 2016; Walters, 2004). The body of literature on credential training is sparse and largely focused on institutional policy rather than student perception and participation (Bahr, 2015; Xu & Ran, 2015). There is evidence that salaries are positively correlated with IBCs and studies show that employers pay …

The Experience Of Chinese Students Enrolled In Graduate Music Education Degree Programs In The United States, Kailimi Li

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the experience of Chinese graduate students enrolled in music education master’s and doctoral degree programs in the United States. Specifically, it explored participants’ perceptions of (a) their educational experiences (past and present), (b) the challenges they faced, (c) their strategies for success, (d) the benefits they experienced as international graduate students in the United State, (e) the effect of this experience on their thinking, self-perception, and behavior, and (f) how they planned to move forward or move on following this experience. Participants were six native Chinese graduate students enrolled at the time …

Stem Pipeline For Students With Disabilities: From High School To Intentions To Major In Stem, Joshua Bittinger

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) major declaration intentions of students with disabilities as they graduated high school and entered college. I used data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) because data collection began in high school and followed students into college, facilitating research focusing on access. Before investigating major declaration intentions, I critiqued the definition and measurement of disability in the HSLS:09, drawing from survey research methods literature. The two subsequent analyses focused on psychological and structural components, respectively. My focus on psychological components drew from Eccles and colleagues’ (1983) expectancy-value framework. …

Adopting Active Learning Classroom (Alc) Technology And Overcoming Barriers: A Faculty Development Intervention Model For Technology-Enhanced Learning Spaces, Bradford D. Wheeler

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this study was to understand how instructors use technology, and what challenges they face, but also to increase the participants’ understanding of Active Learning Classroom (ALCs) technologies as it applies to their teaching by applying action research methodologies. This study also seeks to lay a foundation for additional research on ALCs, education technology, and the needs of instructors in terms of faculty development in technology. This study investigates a group of 13 faculty members in multiple disciplines teaching in ALCs. Thus far, research on the impact of technology-enriched learning environments like Active Learning Classrooms has typically centered …

Plazing Inside The Fratriarchal Frame: American College Fraternity Men’S Gender Identity And Hazing, Emily Perlow

Doctoral Dissertations

Hazing is both common and accepted within college fraternity culture. It also annually results in dangerous or destructive behaviors that have long-term consequences for students and organizations. One of the reasons college administrators have been virtually ineffective at addressing hazing is that students do not identify their experiences as hazing. I hypothesize that students are performing accepted gender identities as a mechanism to achieve group acceptance. This performance of gender manifests as plazing, a term I have coined to describe a form of adult play behavior that meets the definition of hazing. Within the play frame, individuals negotiate gendered …

Beyond Access: Sense Of Belonging Of Black/African American Women Writing To Complete The Ph.D, Sabrina Durand

Doctoral Dissertations

Success in the doctoral context has traditionally been measured by persistence. However, solely equating doctoral persistence with success overlooks salient academic experiences that may address how to assist different students in successfully negotiating and navigating the emotionally complex and complicated terrain of graduate school (Gardner, 2009). Sense of Belonging provides an expanded lens through which to view student success in the doctoral context. This qualitative study explores Black/African American women doctoral student’s perceptions of their Sense of Belonging and how it impacts their academic experience during the dissertation phase. A narrative approach using semi structured interviews was used. Data collection …

The History Of Massachusetts Transfer And Articulation Policies In Contexts Of Evolving Higher Education System Structure, Coordination, And Policy Actors, Daniel De La Torre, Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Community colleges carry out dual missions providing occupational and collegiate preparation in local communities across the United States. These institutions prepare students for advanced study via transfer policies that lead to enrollment in baccalaureate institutions. State higher education systems use transfer and articulation policies to strengthen academic pathways between two-year and four-year institutions. These policies rely on established governance to facilitate student transfer between sectors. The transfer and articulation literature stresses the importance of statewide policy guidelines, yet little has been written about the process of transfer policy development involving state higher education governance and policy groups and actors. The …

A Geospatial Analysis Of A Transit Program On California Community College Students, Alicia Kathryn De Toro

Doctoral Dissertations

Subsidized transit policy is a strategy used to lessen environmental impacts and increase institutional accessibility in higher education. Program funding to support this subsidized transit policy can vary between institutions. This research focuses on the geographic analysis of Eco Pass, a student led initiative implemented in the Foothill De Anza Community College District in California to offset transportation costs for students. Through the use of Environmental Science Research Institute software, the research aimed to determine which geographic areas, if any, were of high and low probability of Eco Pass use from data during 2011-2017 using Tobler’s first law of geography. …

Multiple Representations Of The Fundamental Theorem Of Calculus As Enacted In The Curriculum, Sense-Making And Gender, Ileana Vasu

Doctoral Dissertations

Multiple representations of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus (FTC) are deemed essential to creating mathematical habits of mind, but not all classroom instruction includes them. This study articulates the relationship between college students’ experience with multiple representations of the FTC, gained through the enacted curriculum, and their use of multiple representations when problem solving or discussing the FTC. It suggests that students’ use of multiple representations directly relates to their curricular experience, which outweighs a student’s own inclination towards any particular representation. It further suggests that the relationship between classroom experience with a particular representation of the FTC, and its …

Playing The Field: A Case Of Restructuring At The University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Jacqueline Brousseau-Pereira

Doctoral Dissertations

In 2008, the United States economy entered a rapid and profound decline. As a result most public universities experienced decreased endowments and a decline in state allocations. Some universities responded to this crisis by refocusing their institutional priorities and restructuring their campuses. This study used the lens of organizational field theory (e.g., 1993; Davis & Marquis, 2005; Fligstein & McAdam, 2012; McAdam & Scott, 2005) to analyze a decision-making and restructuring process at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass), which began in late 2008 and concluded in 2011. The purpose of the research was to investigate the ways the UMass …

Investigating The Causes And Cures For Unclear Scholarly Writing, Marlene Ingrid Mahony

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation investigated possible causes and cures for unclear scholarly writing. For this study, a stipulative definition of unclear scholarly writing, or “academese,” is that the language tends to be vague and verbose. The problem, according to the included literature, is that people who use or accept vague language have less academic, social, professional, and civic power. Academese, some say, can detach readers and that can accordingly diminish collective exchange. Because higher education is meant to share knowledge, promote agency, and prepare students to communicate powerfully within and beyond the university, this study researched the causes and cures of …

What Do We Really Know About Grit? A Multivariate Statistical Investigation On The Construct Validity Of Grit, Christine M. Collaco

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to collect evidence on the construct validity of grit using convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity principles. To accomplish this purpose and extend previous research on grit, college students from two schools completed an instrument comprised of a cognitive ability test, and a questionnaire. The questionnaire was comprised of existing and multiple measures of grit, interest, self-efficacy, locus of control, and conscientiousness along with a number of college success measures. Structural equation modeling was used as the primary statistical analysis technique. Factor analysis, correlation analysis, and path analysis were also used.

First, the results …

Evaluation Of The Redesign Of A Stem Gatekeeper Course, General Chemistry I, Incorporating Active-Learning Strategies And Implementation Of A Student-Choice Model, Travis Rae Mcdowell

Doctoral Dissertations

"The first courses freshman university students typically enroll in are the introductory science and math, courses that bridge from and build upon their prior educational experiences. These introductory courses often have large enrollment lectures coupled with supplemental sessions to teach using traditional educational practices, which may operate counter to the attitudes and culture of the students who take them. To address this, the general chemistry faculty through collaboration with a team of educational specialists initiated a redesign of the general chemistry course, which primarily serves first-year undergraduates. The redesign efforts included changes such as reducing lecture time and placing emphasis …