Education Commons^™

Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship Program: The Effects Of Losing Merit-Based Financial Aid On Persistence, Robert Laws Liddell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

College completion agendas necessarily presume year-to-year student persistence. Institutional efforts to retain admitted students has emerged for a variety of reasons, some intrinsic and others extrinsic. Some of these reasons include (1) financial exigency as institutions strive to retain tuition-paying students or meet prescribed enrollment and retention criteria currently used in performance funding strategies; (2) reputation enhancement as institutions attempt to ascend annual publications such as the U.S. News & World Report which rely on retention rates as one of several indicators used to measure institutional quality; (3) gaining a perceived advantage in admissions, marketing, and fundraising as persistence rates …

Reframing The Academic Research Library In The U.S.: Perceptions Of Change From Library Leaders, Victoria L. Stuart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the past five years (2010-2015), U.S. universities experienced a simultaneous downturn in financial support along with rapid changes in technology and increased demand for accountability. Academic libraries, among the most central and visible units in the university system, were often at the forefront of financial cutbacks and increased pressure to demonstrate both unit effectiveness and closer alignment with the overall institutional mission. Little research existed to document academic libraries’ changes during this volatile period in history, or how the role of the academic library as part of the university system evolved during this period. Through interviews with the library …

Identifying Standards Of Quality In Christian Online Theological Education, Ryan Baltrip

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Changes in computer and communication technology have sparked an educational revolution. For over 20 years, higher education, as a whole, has been adapting to the changing educational landscape. Christian theological education, which is not immune to changing educational realities, has also been adapting to decentralized educational tendencies and experiencing rapid growth in distance and online learning. Christian theological education appears to be a decade or so behind higher education in its contemporary adaptation to online learning,. Questions that higher education began asking over a decade ago about online learning are now part of the contemporary conversation within Christian online theological …

An Investigation Of The Perceived Development Of The Life-Long Learning Skills Of Division I Student-Athletes, Andrew T. Goodrich

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the perceived development of life-long learning skills of Division I student-athletes and their non-athlete general student peers. Using grade point averages and graduation rates, athletics administrators are constantly evaluating the academic performance and growth of student-athletes by comparing their results with those of non-athlete general students. Though these traditional metrics are useful in many ways, there is little research on the self-reported development of life-long learning skills.

Due to a changing global economy, employers are less concerned with the knowledge students possess at graduation and are more interested in a student’s …

The Experiences Of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, And Transgender Students At The University Of South Florida, Tampa Campus Using Aspects Of The College Student Experiences Questionnaire, Matthew Douglas Stewart

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative research study examined the college experiences of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students at the University of South Florida, Tampa campus. Students were surveyed, via the web, using select questions from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire during the Fall 2014 semester. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods and the results reported for each scale and question. Recommendations for practice and areas for future research were identified.

There are four research questions that guide this study:

• Question 1: What are the collegiate experiences of gay men, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students as measured using aspects of …

Job Satisfaction Of Adjunct Faculty Who Teach Standardized Online Courses, Claudia A. Ruiz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the job satisfaction of 205 adjunct faculty teaching standardized online courses at a private university in the United States. The extent of the relationship between demographic, motivator, and hygiene factors associated with adjunct faculty job satisfaction were identified. Results from this study indicate that adjunct faculty value work recognition, technical and instructional technology support, and take pride in their teaching. Important faculty satisfaction predictors based on analyses of hierarchical regression models were motivator factors recognition, achievement, and work itself, and hygiene factors policy and administration and salary.