Higher Education Commons^™

The Impact Of The Number Of Dual Enrollment Credits On Racial Minority Students’ Completion Time At Five Virginia Community Colleges, Elizabeth Gardiner Dingess

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The five-year college completion rate for students of color can be 15-20% lower than it is for White students (Fink, Jenkins, & Yanaglura, 2017). Dual enrollment courses have been researched as a predictor of college completion (Taylor, 2015), but fewer racial minority students enroll in dual enrollment courses; this enrollment disparity affects their college preparedness skills and may lead to lower college persistence and graduation rates (Evenbeck & Johnson, 2012). Despite the benefits dual enrollment courses could provide to racial minority students, few studies have examined the differences in college completion outcomes between racial minority and majority dual enrollment students …

First Impressions: A Review Of Diversity-Related Content On North American Lis Program Websites, Ana Ndumu, Dawn Betts-Green

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This study explores library and information science (LIS) program websites from a recruitment and marketing standpoint and sheds light on the availability of diversity - related content. LIS and higher education literature suggests that the Internet and program websites are crucial when it comes to prospective students’ graduate school selection. Using Berelson’s (1952) quantitative content analysis technique, the researchers examined faculty profiles, diversity statements, diversity-related courses, funding opportunities, achievements, and student organizations on program websites. The data indicates that, collectively, LIS programs are successful in sharing information on funding as well as highlighting faculty scholarship related to diversity. Greater emphasis …

Autism And The Academic Library: A Study Of Online Communication, Amelia Anderson

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Increased prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses within the general population is reflected in the growing number of college and university students with ASD. This exploratory study used an unobtrusive qualitative content analysis design to explore the experiences of students with ASD in academic libraries. It seeks to understand their questions and concerns, as well as their experiences in using the library and library resources. Using the social model of disability studies, this study allows for voices of students with ASD to be presented in their own words, not through the perceptions of parents, caregivers, faculty, or staff. ©2018 …

A Multi Case Study Of Community College Discipline Faculty’S Participation In A Disciplinary Literacy Professional Learning Community, Kristen Howell Gregory

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

Many students enter college with inadequate reading, writing, and critical thinking skills to successfully navigate discipline-specific college-level coursework (Duff, 2010; Hyland, 2006; Lea & Street, 1998; Tsui, 2002). As such, college faculty, and specifically community college faculty, are challenged to meet the multiple literacy needs of their students while still maintaining high expectations within their discipline-specific courses. One option is for discipline faculty (e.g., history) to integrate disciplinary literacy instruction within their courses. As discipline faculty are deemed experts in their content area and often not trained in literacy, professional development focused on disciplinary literacy could provide the knowledge and …

Sexual Violence Victimization, Mental Health, And University-Based Health Service Use Among College Females, Julie E. Stoner

Health Services Research Dissertations

Females between the ages of 18 and 24 consistently experience higher rates of sexual violence compared to females in any other age group (Sinozich & Langton, 2014). Approximately one in five college women experience sexual violence victimization (SVV; Krebs, Lindquist, Berzofsky, Shook-Sa & Peterson, 2016) during the academic year. Among undergraduate female students, 23.1% are victims of sexual violence due to physical force, violence or incapacitation (Cantor et al., 2015). Sexual victimization has been associated with several short- and long-term psychological health consequences, accounting for enhanced symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicide risk (Basile, Smith, Breiding, Black & Mahendra, …

The Impact Of Professional Development Grounded In Social Learning On Community College Faculty Efficacy, Shanika Shantell Strickland-Davis

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Community college faculty have experienced a shift in focus from access to access and student success. Given this shift in responsibility for student learning, community college faculty should be sufficiently prepared to teach a diverse student body and subsequently uphold beliefs regarding their ability to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning. Given preparedness is a measure of self-efficacy, professional development for community college faculty is a critical investment in the support and development of teacher efficacy and faculty skill.

Social learning theory specifically speaks to a means of increasing self-efficacy. As a professional development practice, social learning …

When Silence Screams: An Examination Of Reporting Behaviors Among Sexual Assault Victims On Hbcu Campuses, Natasha Robinson

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

According to National Sexual Violence Resource Center (2015), 20% to 25% of college women experience a completed or attempted rape victimization during their college career, but less than 5% of college women file a report with law enforcement (Fisher, Cullen, and Turner 2000). Prior literature indicates that student characteristics/background, alcohol use, and affiliation with Greek life influence students’ chances of being sexually assaulted as well as victim decisions to report. Current research on campus sexual assault victimization and students’ decisions to report has neglected Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) but seem to show that minorities are less likely to …

Contemporary Philosophical Proposals For The University: Toward A Philosophy Of Higher Education By Aaron Stoller & Eli Kramer, Editors, Laura E. Smithers

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Aaron Stoller and Eli Kramer’s (2018) edited volume Contemporary Philosophical Proposals for the University: Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education is a thought provoking addition to the literature between philosophy and higher education. The editors argue for the possibilities of philosophical thinking, particularly a reconstructive philosophy as read through the work of John Dewey, to ameliorate the problems of our neoliberal times. The contributed chapters extend this work to particular sites in higher education as well as through additional philosophers and philosophical schools of thought. This volume will be of interest to philosophers engaged with problems of higher education, university …

Advancing The Engineering Field: Opportunities To Support Transfer Students, Vukica M. Jovanovic, Narketta Sparkman-Key, Konstantin P. Cigularov, Daniela Cigularova, Bonita G. Anthony, Otilia Popescu

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Advancements in technology have made it vital that technicians advance their skills to stay current and competitive in the job market. Many technicians choose to transfer to baccalaureate programs in engineering and other STEM fields in order to advance their skills. As a result, engineering programs usually have a large population of transfer students. Many of transfer students are studying while employed in the field and some juggle a career and family while advancing their education. Accordingly, transfer students face various issues when transferring to different university settings. Some of these issues are related to embeddedness into the university community …

Lessons From Two Years Of Eportfolio Implementation In Engineering Technology Courses, Orlando M. Ayala, Otilia Popescu

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In an undergraduate as well as in a graduate academic setting, an ePortfolio is a collection of student work designed to exhibit student’s achievements, which often includes student’s reflective commentaries. While in academia ePortfolios are used to document the student learning process over time, they have been also well received by employers as work portfolios or showcases. This paper provides detailed explanations of two years of implementation of ePortfolio activities in junior and senior level engineering technology courses. The goal of the paper is to present to the community the best practices learned during the implementation and to provide information …

Graduate News, Graduate School, Old Dominion University

Graduate News

May 2018 issue of Graduate News from the ODU Graduate School.

Graduate News, Graduate School, Old Dominion University

Graduate News

April 2018 issue of Graduate News from the ODU Graduate School.

Reimagining The Chalk Talk: Animated Handwriting As A Social Cue To Improve Motivation In Multimedia Video Lessons, Hillary C. Kaplowitz

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Animated handwriting in multimedia video lessons, such as those popularized by the Khan Academy, has reimagined the classic teaching technique of writing on a chalkboard while lecturing for online delivery. This digital chalk talk effect mimics classroom lectures where words are written letter by letter on a chalkboard as they are spoken. Low-cost applications, tablets, and document cameras allow instructors at all levels to easily create their own animated handwritten videos. As adoption increases, it is important to understand the effects of this strategy.

This study employed a true experimental, between-subjects, posttest design that compared multimedia lessons with different text …

The Impact Of Performance-Based Funding On Graduation Rates At Texas State Technical College, Adam Hutchison

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

As states legislatures seek improved results and increased accountability from higher education institutions, performance-based funding is frequently used as fiscal policy to determine state appropriations. Performance-based funding (PBF) determines an institution’s appropriation by its attainment of metrics, usually student outcomes. Early versions of PBF provided incentive funding for institutions that exceeded outcome goals, but later formulas included more intermediate metrics and required institutions meet targets to receive baseline funding. Prior studies examined the impact of PBF on retention and graduation rates at institutions through state-to-state comparisons and explored the political implications of PBF policies. Researchers found states using PBF did …

Incivility As A Barrier To Embeddedness Among Engineering Students: Does Gender Matter?, Katelyn R. Reynoldson

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

To meet the current demand for engineers, research has focused on how to attract and retain qualified candidates in the field, especially those that are underrepresented (e.g., women; NSB, 2016). The present study investigates incivility and embeddedness, which have been found to be antecedents of retention in both the workplace (Cortina, Magley, Williams, & Langhout, 2001; Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, & Erez, 2001) and the collegiate setting (Caza & Cortina, 2007; Major et al., 2015). To extend previous research, both constructs were examined simultaneously among undergraduate engineering students. Undergraduate, first-year engineers completed an online survey indicating the extent to which …

Exploring The Effects Of Pacing In Community College Courses, Robin Dillon Shepherd

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

For-profit colleges are threatening community college enrollments by recruiting low-income and minority students with the appeal of quick degree and certificate program completion rates. To remain competitive, community colleges are creating guided pathways for student success. A guided pathway is a clear road map to certificate or degree completion. Community colleges that offer guided pathways challenge students to choose an academic program in their first semester and no later than their second semester. Once students choose their academic program they begin taking specific classes in pursuit of certificate and degree completion, which offer students flexibility in format (face-to-face, hybrid, and …

The “Trump Effect?” Challenges To The United States Hegemony In Higher Education Cross-Cultural Exchange: A Case Study Of International Students At Old Dominion University, Raven Alexandra Showalter

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Scholars and politicians today fear that international student enrollment at U.S. institutions of higher education may be declining. While some attribute potential enrollment decline to domestic politics, others believe that globalization may be allowing student flows to diversify across many nations, thus limiting the U.S.’s share of students and soft-power influence. To assess the extent to which U.S. hegemony in cross-cultural higher education is being challenged, I trace the origins of educational exchange at Western colleges and universities from their earliest incarnations in the Medieval Era to the present. I also draw a parallel between the Bush administration after 9/11, …

A Case Study Of The Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, Sonia Vanhook

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The purpose of the study was to identify the impact that the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center (SWVHEC), located in Abingdon, has had on area residents in the past twenty years. The case study presented here is different from others that have been written in that it measures the number of courses offered, student registrations, and professional developments available to local residents. The data was collected and triangulated using different methods, such as structured interviews, archival records, newspaper articles, University websites, and participant-observations. The study included colleges and universities with either main campuses or satellite locations in Southwest Virginia and …

Access With Progress: A Comparative Analysis On The Co-Requisite Model Of Developmental Acceleration, Christopher Sean Wikstrom

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Students who are required to progress through a developmental education program face substantial barriers in the way of annual retention and program completion. A multitude of models exist on college campuses to improve these outcomes, one of which implements an on-time remediation approach. This co-requisite method is designed to reduce the time in developmental sequencing and stop-out points and accelerate students who are placed into preparatory classes to their gateway courses. As a form of developmental acceleration, students can concurrently enroll in their on-level and remedial courses in the same semester. A comparative analysis was performed between three student subgroups …

The Relationship Between Course Delivery Mode And Location With Course Success For Dual Enrolled Students, Dean Morris Roughton

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

High school dual enrollment has increased dramatically in recent years, growing 75% nationally between academic years 2002-03 and 2010-11 (Borden, Taylor, Park, & Seiler, 2013). Proponents of dual enrollment programs cite long-term, positive student outcomes for dual enrollment students: higher GPAs in college as adults (Allen & Dadgar, 2012; Jones, 2014; Karp, Calcagno, Hughes, Jeong, & Bailey, 2007), higher first year persistence rates in college (Jones, 2014; Karp et al., 2007), faster time to degree completion (Allen & Dadgar, 2012; Ganzert, 2014; Hughes, 2016), and higher college graduation rates (Ganzert, 2014; Hughes, 2016). However, very little research has focused on …

Motivating And Enabling Factors For Military Service Members Earning A Post-Secondary Degree, Rossie Dean Johnson

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivated and enabled military service members to earn a post-secondary degree. This problem was investigated to better inform institutions of higher education regarding how to recruit and retain military-affiliated members and how to provide career-enhancing information to service members at institutions of higher education.

Education for military service members was a process that facilitated the growth, learning, and maturity of individuals in an effort to achieve their goals while simultaneously achieving the collective goals of the organization. This study sought to identify the enabling and motivating factors that empowered service members …

Predicting First-Year Mathematics Success At The Community College: Modifications On High School Grade Point Average And The Impact Of High School Quality, C. Caleb Marsh

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, student completion in the first-year college mathematics curriculum has become a significant barrier to student success and retention. Many states, such as North Carolina and Virginia, have been innovative in developing new strategies for placing students into an appropriate mathematics curriculum. A centerpiece of these strategies is to use student performance in high school, as measured by high school grade point average, as a predictor of course success and completion. However, in each system, what is largely absent from their placement models is an attempt to account for the quality of the institution that issued the …

Graduate News, Graduate School, Old Dominion University

Graduate News

March 2018 issue of Graduate News from the ODU Graduate School.

Graduate News, Graduate School, Old Dominion University

Graduate News

February/March 2018 issue of Graduate News from the ODU Graduate School.

Graduate News, Graduate School, Old Dominion University

Graduate News

January 2018 issue of Graduate News from the ODU Graduate School.

Student Readiness: Examining The Impact Of A University Outdoor Orientation Program, Eddie Hill, Timothy Posey, Edwin Gómez, Stephen L. Shapiro

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

This study examined the impact of a university outdoor orientation program on participants’ transition to higher education. Researchers focused on participants’ experiences during the program, utilizing a mixed-methods approach to measure resilience and well-being. Pre- and posttest instruments consisted of two pre-established scales and a series of open-ended questions, which were administered during a 4-day university outdoor orientation program. Findings indicated significant improvement of resilience and well-being in participants through outdoor orientation program involvement. Additionally, direct content analysis identified major themes related to resilience, well-being, and readiness for college.

Undergraduate Kinesiology Students' Experiences In Online Motor Development Courses, Takahiro Sato, Justin A. Haegele

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to investigate kinesiology students' experiences in an undergraduate online life span motor development course. This study was based on a theory of transactional distance (Moore, 1997). Seven undergraduate kinesiology majors (5 females, 2 males) enrolled in an online course at a Midwestern public university in the US participated in this study. Data collection included face-to-face, open-ended interviews, bulletin board discussion logs, and online assessment projects. A constant comparative method was used to interpret the data, which allowed themes to emerge from the data as well as from the theoretical framework. Three interrelated themes emerged …

Eleven Strategies For Getting Into Graduate School In Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Eric Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Getting into graduate school can be tough if you have not done your homework. I outline eleven strategies for increasing your chances of successfully being accepted into an ecology or evolutionary biology lab. Try to get good grades as an undergraduate, do well on the Graduate Record Exam (if applicable), join a lab reading group or undertake an undergraduate thesis, take time to forge relationships so you can have strong reference writers, obtain relevant work experience, author a publication, read peer-reviewed literature, attend national meetings, come up with some good research ideas, develop a relationship with a potential advisor, and …

Graves, R. & Hyland, T. (Eds.). (2017) Writing Assignments Across University Disciplines. Bloomington, In: Trafford., Daniel P. Richards

English Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] For the last three years, I have been part of a team of multi-disciplinary faculty that holds a weeklong workshop each semester for approximately twenty teachers. These teachers, migrating to our cozy space in the library from all corners of campus, have applied—they get paid a modest sum, which is not nothing—to attend our workshop in the hopes of improving their ability to integrate writing assignments into their courses. The workshops are part of a larger initiative, Improving Disciplinary Writing, which was borne out of a needs assessment from our regional assessment body. It is designed to bring …

Institutionalizing Resilience In Us Universities: Prospects, Opportunities, And Models, Morris Foster, James O'Donnell, Mark Luckenbach, Elizabeth Andrews, Emily Steinhilber, John Wells, Mark Davis

ODU Articles

[From Introduction]

The United States is taking a largely region-specific approach to addressing challenges posed by climate change, in contrast with national and international approaches in most of the rest of the world. In locations such as Hampton Roads, New Orleans, and coastal Connecticut, the impacts of climate change tend to be addressed as they become locally evident rather than as part of a larger anticipatory national plan. Given that regional focus, universities can play a unique role in how the United States responds to the challenges of a changing climate. Universities can be knowledge brokers positioned outside or across …