Education Commons^™

Understanding The Student Perspective Of Teacher-Student Engagement In First-Year Studies Courses, Anton R. Reece

Doctoral Dissertations

Higher education institutions continue to seek high impact retention methods to address student attrition, particularly during the first year of college. First-year studies courses represent a major institutional intervention and retention resource designed to help higher education institutions meet the unique academic and social needs of students transitioning from high school to college. Teacher-student engagement is considered to be an essential part of student retention efforts. However, most of the research on teacher-student engagement has focused on pedagogical strategies and the teachers’ perspectives of engagement. What is lacking in the literature are studies of students’ perspectives of classroom engagement. This …

A Multi-Case Study Of Teens Who Write Outside Of School For Their Own Purposes, Paula Jill Henderson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of the teen writer as defined as one who answers readily to the label of writer and who reports writing regularly outside of school for his or her own purposes. The research questions guiding this work are: (1) What do these young people write on their own time and for their own purposes? and (2) Why do young writers choose to write and how do they value and understand their own writing practices? In this multi-case study, seven teenage participants were interviewed twice, invited into any of three focus groups …

Analysis Of The Role Of Homework In Predicting And Improving Exam Performance, Charles E. Galyon

Doctoral Dissertations

Homework is one of many factors thought to improve students’ academic performance, given that homework provides a means for students not only to master course content, but also to develop valuable study habits, improve their time management, and learn to work independently. Unfortunately, college students commit considerably less time to homework than is conventionally thought necessary, and their answers to homework questions frequently indicate an erroneous and/or incomplete understanding of the course material. The current study examined relationships between potential predictors of and trends in exam performance in a large undergraduate educational psychology course. The relationship between homework completion, homework …

Early Identification And Improvement Of Variables Related To Course Success, Carolyn Anne Blondin

Doctoral Dissertations

The process of identifying and improving factors related to early exam success or failure in an undergraduate setting (Ed Psych 210) was divided into 2 separate studies. The first study was a retrospective analysis of 2 years’ of data that compared high and low performers on the first course exam with respect to their subsequent success in the course. Mean comparison between initially high (N = 158) and low (N = 163) performers revealed significantly higher means for those in the former group across several academic variables (i.e., critical thinking, grade point average, subsequent exams, practice exams, quiz …

Academic Work Ethic: Predicating Student Assignment Choice And Evaluating The Academic Work Ethic-Student Measure, John Thomas Parkhurst

Doctoral Dissertations

There were several objectives associated with the following three-study dissertation. The initial study was designed to replicate and extend previous research on the partial assignment completion effect (PAC), effort, and students’ assignment choice behavior. Our focus was to determine if individual differences, specifically work ethic, may explain why some students chose to continue to work on a partially-completed assignment as opposed to completing a different, lower-effort assignment. Our experimental and correlational results extended research on PAC and effort by suggesting that individual differences in work ethic may influence students to choose to finish what they started, even when it requires …

Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions And Experiences Of Family Engagement: A Phenomenological Investigation, Tiffany Janise Dellard

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand pre-service teacher’s perceptions and experiences with family engagement in the education of students. The phenomenological method developed at the University of Tennessee was utilized to explore the following research questions: (1) How do pre-service teachers view the roles of parents in their interactions with teachers, administrators and other school staff to facilitate family engagement; and (2) What influences do pre-service teachers cite as helping to form their views of the role of families in the education of students the pre-service teacher’s experiences in the teacher education program as well as personal experiences …

Narratives Of Former Foster Youth In Higher Education, Kathleen Brien Douthat

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to learn about the experiences of former foster youth in higher education. Nationwide, 26,547 youth emancipate from foster care each year. Former foster youth who continue with education beyond high school may elect to receive supportive services through the state’s independent living program. Although these services are intended to provide the necessary support while the youth completes a post-secondary degree program, research has shown that fewer former foster youth enter college and complete a degree than their non-former foster youth peers. Further, there has been very little research that explores firsthand experiences of …

A Story Of Change: Adult Learners’ Experiences Of Questioning Their Beliefs And Assumptions In A Graduate Course In Reflective Practice, Megumu Doi Burress

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of students in a graduate course on the topic of Reflective Practice (RP). A phenomenological method was utilized to frame interviews with eight students discussing challenges to their beliefs and assumptions that arose during the course.

Based on a thematic analysis of the interview data, three major figural themes and one ground theme emerged. The three figural themes indicated that participants experienced changes in their beliefs and assumptions about student-to-student and student-to-teacher relationships and about similarities and differences among their own and others’ belief systems, in addition to their own …

Conversations With A Phenomenologist: A Phenomenologically Oriented Case Study Of Instructional Planning, Karen Anne Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the instructional planning practices of one university professor as he prepared to teach weekly classes for a seminar in existential phenomenology. I applied the phenomenological pedagogy of van Manen and the phenomenological philosophy of Merleau-Ponty, Husserl, Heidegger, and Gadamer in order to understand the process this professor undertook as he planned instruction for his graduate course. The study is a phenomenologically oriented, illustrative, and descriptive case study of this professor’s planning practices over the course of one semester in the context in which those practices occurred.

Findings from this study demonstrate that Dr. Pollio’s instructional planning is …

The Effects Of Self-Regulated Learning Strategy Instruction And Structured-Diary Use On Students' Self-Regulated Learning Conduct And Academic Success In Online Community-College General Education Courses, Bianca Rowden Quince

Doctoral Dissertations

Student success in community-college online courses remains a topic of concern within higher-education research. Online courses offer flexibility and opportunities for students to learn anytime and anywhere. Students who are not prepared for the anytime-anywhere format struggle in online courses. As enrollment in online courses increases, the rate at which students persist through courses with satisfactory academic success is inconsistent. Effective ways to promote student success in online courses is an area that remains under-researched. Self-regulated learning has been shown to promote online student success by supporting student engagement, learning strategy use, and consistent evaluation of academic performance through instructional …