Education Commons^™

Personal Connections Of First-Year College Students, Jaclyn Kopel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A private, not-for-profit, 4-year urban university had been struggling to improve its 1st-year retention rate despite conducting previous studies and implementing various initiatives. This study explored the influence that students' personal connections to the study site had on their experience in their 1st year in college. Tinto's student integration models of attrition, Astin's theory on student involvement, and Berger and Milem's model of persistence served as the conceptual framework. A case study design was employed to examine faculty and staff members' beliefs on how the university established and maintained connections with its students and how faculty, staff, and students viewed …

Instructional Behavior And Its Impact On Student Engagement, Debra Joan Crumpton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this quantitative study was to expand understanding of leadership behaviors and their influence on follower engagement. Researchers have shown that engagement is a predictor of retention and organizational performance. Leadership theory and the conceptual framework of worker engagement were the study's theoretical anchors. Despite a proliferation of leadership studies, engagement antecedents are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to narrow the gap in the literature by examining the extent to which there may be a relationship between college instructors' behaviors and student engagement. Although not traditionally regarded as frontline leaders, extant leadership literature affirmed college …

Exploring Nontraditional Learner Engagement And Motivation Through Music Integration, Jessa Rae Hershner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The increase in population of nontraditional adult learners paired with a demand for multisensory learning created a need for further research in best pedagogy in higher education. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the central question on how the integration of music, lyrics, or music videos into higher education classrooms affected the motivation and engagement levels of nontraditional adult learners. The conceptual framework was based upon self-determination theory, andragogy, multiple intelligences, and visual literacy. A multiple case design was used to collect data from 8 nontraditional higher education students. Data were collected via telephone interviews …

Listening To Our Graduate Students' Feedback: Graduate Student Exit And Alumni Surveys, Alison W. Hong-Novotney

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Student and alumni surveys have become some of the most widely-used methods of assessment of student learning in higher education. While the majority of literature on student surveys and assessment focuses on undergraduate students, this study looks specifically at why graduate student exit and alumni surveys can be valuable tools within a comprehensive assessment plan. Listening to the feedback of current and former graduate students, and then acting upon that feedback, is crucial for the engagement and success of this unique population of students who bring their particular strengths and needs to their educational experiences. This study examined how master’s …

#Networkedglobe: Making The Connection Between Social Media And Intercultural Technical Communication, Laura Anne Ewing

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Preparing students of technical communication in the twenty-first century means training them to rhetorically utilize a wide variety of online tools. Technical communicators are now required to employ social media applications on a daily basis to communicate with clients, consumers, colleagues, and other organizations. These online modes have also opened the door to global communication wider and continue to present opportunities and challenges to technical communicators worldwide. Using Japan as a model, this dissertation sought to demonstrate a rhetorical exigency for teaching intercultural social media communication strategies to future technical communicators in the United States. The goal of this dissertation …

Using Academic Advising To Increase Motivation And Engagement In First-Year College Students, Lisa Remsing

Wayne State University Dissertations

According to ACT Educational Services (2010), more than one-third of college freshmen will not progress to their sophomore year. Several states, including Michigan, have proposed higher education performance funding models, which directly correlate state funds to student retention and graduation rates (Jesse, 2012). As higher education suffers from diminishing resources, there is a heightened focus to increase retention and graduation rates (Tinto, 2007).

The transition from high school to college can be a traumatic time for adolescents. This age group has unique motivational needs as they adjust to an unfamiliar academic environment (Perry et al., 2005). The first year of …