Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons^™

Exploring (Mis)Alignments Between First-Year Students’ Expectations And Experiences, Matthew G. Meyers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Understanding what expectations first-year students have for their first semester of college can help university faculty, staff, and administrators have a better understanding of how to best provide support and resources that meet the needs of their students and lay the necessary foundations for their academic and social success early on. Unfortunately, many students report a variety of social, academic, personal, and environmental experiences that do not fully match their expectations. The purpose of this study was to examine what expectations and experiences first-year college students had about their first semester and how they interpreted both alignments and misalignments between …

Andragogy For All? A Look At Arkansas Community College Students' Preferences For Andragogical Assumptions, Emilee Sides

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Community colleges are tasked with juggling multiple missions. They provide open access to education for adults in their community, work with industry partners to educate the local workforce, and provide relevant programming to the communities they serve. When compared with students at four-year institutions, community college students are older, more ethnically and racially diverse, come from lower socioeconomic statuses, and less academically prepared.

Like other community colleges across the country, one of the primary goals of Arkansas community colleges is to help their students succeed. Unfortunately, the state has historically performed poorly in regard to educational outcomes. To get the …

The Impact Of Graduate Assistantships On The Preparation Of Early Career Student Affairs Professionals, Mary L. Skinner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored the graduate assistantship experiences of early career master’s prepared student affairs professionals and examined the role these assistantships played in the preparation for their current position. The study included 10 participants who had all graduated with a master’s in higher education within the past 5 years, had participated in a graduate assistantship within student affairs, and worked full-time within a student affairs department at the time of the study. Each participant took part in a one-on-one interview that was recorded, transcribed, and reviewed for themes. I followed Braun and Clarke’s (2012) six-phase approach to thematic …

Community Builders And Campus Bureaucrats: Student Leadership On College Campuses, J. Douglas Stump

Journal of Research on the College President

Most universities provide many opportunities for students to be leaders. By placing students in these positions there exists the potential to create a unique set of challenges. This research focused on the challenges associated with leading peers on a university campus. The primary research question was, “In what ways are student leaders able to identify and describe their experiences leading their peers?” This was a case study, collecting data through focus groups and interviews, where participants discussed the experiences of leading peers. Four types of student leaders participated: Sports Team Captains, Resident Assistants, Academic Mentors and SGA Officers. The data …

Power Of The Faculty: Consequences Of No Confidence Votes For College Presidents, Daniel Nadler, Mei-Yan Lu Ph.D., Michael T. Miller

Journal of Research on the College President

The roles of college faculty members have changed, often in relation to increased specialization of their functions as either teachers or researchers. Similarly, the college presidency has changed, relying less on faculty interactions and increasing reliance and interaction on external stakeholders. The result is a less faculty-centric college presidency. The faculty, however, still have significant expectations for involvement with the college president and have the use of a noconfidence vote to express their opinions about the performance of the individual in the presidential position. Drawing upon a sample of faculty senate leaders, the current study found that few of these …

Factors Associated With Student Grades In Animal Physiology I, Margo Hale, Charles Rosenkrans

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Students and faculty alike would like to know what factors are related to success in college courses. The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors that relate to a student’s success in Animal Physiology I (Phys I), an upper-level animal science course at the University of Arkansas. Student data were confidentially collected and coded. Data collected were student high school grade point average (HSGPA); composite ACT score; English, reading, math, and science subscores on the ACT; and student grades in English composition I and II, college algebra, chemistry, biology, microbiology, animal physiology II, and reproductive physiology. Prematriculation performance confirmed …