Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Managing Illegality On Campus: Undocumented Mismatch Between Students And Staff, Holly E. Reed, Sofya Aptekar, Amy Hsin

Publications and Research

Contributing to the literature on the institutional experiences of undocumented youth, this essay by Holly E. Reed, Sofya Aptekar, and Amy Hsin explores undocumented and “DACAmented” students’ experiences managing their illegality on campus and how college staff and faculty manage that illegality while organizing programs and support. Their analysis of in-depth qualitative interviews conducted with more than a hundred undocumented college students and former students and thirty-five faculty and staff members at the City University of New York identifies multiple points of tension. The “undocumented mismatch” between campus management of illegality and student experiences was evident in the exclusion and …

Improving College Students’ Fact-Checking Strategies Through Lateral Reading Instruction In A General Education Civics Course, Jessica E. Brodsky, Patricia J. Brooks, Donna Scimeca, Ralitsa Todorova, Peter Galati, Michael Batson, Robert Grosso, Michael Matthews, Victor Miller, Michael Caulfeld

Publications and Research

College students lack fact-checking skills, which may lead them to accept information at face value. We report findings from an institution participating in the Digital Polarization Initiative (DPI), a national effort to teach students lateral reading strategies used by expert fact-checkers to verify online information. Lateral reading requires users to leave the information (website) to find out whether someone has already fact-checked the claim, identify the original source, or learn more about the individuals or organizations making the claim. Instructor-matched sections of a general education civics course implemented the DPI curriculum (N=136 students) or provided business-as-usual civics instruction (N=94 students). …

Mental Health Literacy In A Diverse Sample Of Undergraduate Students: Demographic, Psychological, And Academic Correlates, Rona Miles, Laura Rabin, Anjali Krishnan, Evan Grandoit, Kamil Kloskowski

Publications and Research

Background: Investigating variables associated with mental health literacy in the college-age population takes us one step closer to providing intervention for this vulnerable group, where growing rates of psychological disorders are a serious public concern. This study adds to the existing literature by incorporating, within a single model, multi-faceted variables (demographic, psychological, and academic) that contribute to mental health literacy in demographically and ethnically diverse college students.

Methods: Participants were undergraduate students enrolled at nine different colleges that are part of a large, urban, public university system. A total of 1213 respondents (62.0% female, 73.3% non-white) completed an in- person …

Academic Libraries For Commuter Students: Research-Based Strategies, Mariana Regalado, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

This volume brings together research from multiple perspectives on the experiences of commuter college students in academic libraries. The majority of American college students are commuters and are more likely than residential students to have responsibilities apart from their roles on campus; the commute itself may impact the student experience. Each chapter is a case study of research on serving commuter students at a particular institution, encompassing a detailed description of the research methods used, analysis of what was learned during the research, and specific interventions or changes made in library services, resources, or facilities as a result. Taking into …

“For A Long Time Our Voices Have Been Hushed”: Using Student Perspectives To Develop Supports For Neurodiverse College Students, Kristen Gillepsie-Lynch, Dennis Bublitz, Annemarie Donachie, Vincent Wong, Patricia J. Brooks, Joanne D'Onofrio

Publications and Research

Although the challenges that autistic students face adapting to college are often pronounced, they are similar to the challenges that students with other disabilities face (e.g., difficulties with social interaction, self-advocacy, and executive functioning). However, extant evaluations of services for autistic college students are very limited despite an emerging literature examining supports for college students with a range of other disabilities. Given that many autistic students do not self-identify as autistic in college, and consequently might avoid autism-specific services, autistic students might benefit from services that are designed to support a broad range of neurodiverse students, or services that are …

New Outreach Initiatives At A Community College, Sharell Walker

Publications and Research

This article explores the development and initiation of new outreach programs by the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) Library department after the hiring of a new librarian. The literature review will address current research that was used in the decision making process whilst putting together outreach initiatives and literature used to develop future ideas. The article discusses the development of these outreach initiatives, the problems encountered during their initial implementation, the outcomes of the programs that were offered, feedback, and the future goals of the library department.

“I Am More Productive In The Library Because It’S Quiet”: Commuter Students In The College Library, Mariana Regalado, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

This article discusses commuter students’ experiences with the academic library, drawn from a qualitative study at the City University of New York. Undergraduates at six community and baccalaureate colleges were interviewed to explore how they fit schoolwork into their days, and the challenges and opportunities they encountered. Students identified physical and environmental features that informed their ability to successfully engage in academic work in the library. They valued the library as a distraction-free place for academic work, in contrast to the constraints they experienced in other places—including in their homes and on the commute.

Serving The Commuter College Student In Urban Academic Libraries, Mariana Regalado, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

Cities often host many colleges and universities; while the commuter student in suburban or rural areas may drive or be driven to school, students at colleges and universities in dense, urban settings rely predominantly on mass transit for their commute to class. The act of commuting to campus has been found by a number of researchers to define and shape the experiences of commuter students in college, though the literature on college students who commute is not extensive. A qualitative study of the academic culture and scholarly habits of undergraduate students at the City University of New York (CUNY) revealed …

“I’M Just Really Comfortable:” Learning At Home, Learning In Libraries, Mariana Regalado, Maura A. Smale

Publications and Research

While commuter students may use their college or university libraries, student centers, or other campus locations for academic work, as commuters they will likely also create and negotiate learning spaces in their homes. Our research with urban commuter undergraduates revealed that finding space for their academic work at home was difficult for many students whose needs collided with the needs of other residents using those locations for non-academic purposes. Understanding the details of students’ off-campus academic workspaces can inform the design of learning spaces in academic libraries.

Enhancing Undergraduate Achievement In Educational Psychology With Instructional Objectives, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Eric Rasmussen, Rosemary Nieto, Cheryl Sims

Publications and Research

Two quasi-experiments were conducted to assess the effects of exposure to instructional objectives on the achievement of undergraduates enrolled in an educational psychology course. Students enrolled in morning and afternoon course sections during the fall semester did not receive objects. Comparable students enrolled in morning and afternoon sections of the course during the subsequent spring semester did. Regression analyses that controlled for age and past achievement indicated that among afternoon classes, exposure to objectives improved performance on the midterm and final exams by at least 7 points. No significant effects were found for the morning classes. It was argued that …